How to Make Your Pins Shoppable

January 13, 2022 Tia Woolery

The new year is here and you know what that means. It's time to amplify your business even more and get that extra $$$ in this Q1!

With that in mind, we both know that starting of the new year right can be a tad bit overwhelming. But it’s also the best time to promote our e-commerce goods or digital products since consumers are looking to learn new skills and are a lot more willing to invest in something that’ll help.

So I thought you should know one surprising & FREE way you can earn a little bit of extra money this new year is with Pinterest.

It sounds crazy, right!? It's because we usually associate Pinterest with blogging, finding home furniture or looking at aesthetic photos for our mood boards. But what if I was to tell you that 87% of 450 million+ Pinterest users have purchased something they discovered there, and 93% are planning future purchases on Pinterest as you read this.

Just think of how much your online business is missing out on making big sales this new year!

But I’m on Pinterest and nothing is selling!?

Well, if you've found yourself asking why your products aren't standing out? Why there's a market of your ideal customers on Pinterest, but nobody is buying what you're selling?

Then, it's because you probably haven't made your Pinterest pins shoppable. That's why today, I'm going to show you how to do just that, so your physical or digital products are ready to sell like hot cupcakes this Winter.

Making Shoppable E-commerce Product Pins

*If you’ve got a shop on your website or through a third party where you sell physical items, then what I’m about to talk about below is for you. However, if you’re more of a digital product business owner, please skip to the section Making Shoppable Digital Products.

So you want potential customers on Pinterest to buy your items, but how can you make them stand out more while also having an organic reach? Well, two words for you, my friend - Rich Pins.

Suppose you don’t know what a rich pin is. In that case, it’s a pin that show’s viewers that there is more context to a pin. In this case, you want to be making what Pinterest calls a product pin, which is a rich pin for products specifically.

A product pin is different from every other pin you see on Pinterest. That is because it shows the most up-to-date price, availability, product title and description from your website (something a standard pin can’t do). And this is what you’re going to be creating today step-by-step.

You can read more about the other three kinds of rich pins & more about product pins on my other blog post - What the heck are rich pins & how do you get them?

How to make Product Pins

Step 1

So, first of all, we want to get the most challenging thing out the way first, and unfortunately, if you’re not a code-loving nerd, then you probably won’t love this part.

But don’t be discouraged. Lucky for you, all you need to do is copy & paste either the Open Graph or Schema markup coding I’ve put for you below. This code needs to go between your <head> </head> section of your HTML code for each page you want to enable product Pins. Only adjust the capitalised or blue text to reflect your products.

Heads up:

Please note that if you’re an Etsy user, eBay user or Squarespace* user, please don’t apply any of this section as you don’t need to.

If you’re a WordPress user & don’t know where your head code injection is, please refer to this article - What the heck are rich pins & how do you get them? This will show you how you can install metadata on your website ready for rich pins

*If you’re a Squarespace user, you only need to connect your Squarespace to your Pinterest account to activate rich pins. Read more about claiming your website here - Connecting Pinterest to Squarespace.

Open Graph Markup:

Schema.org Markup:

content="https://schema.org/InStock" />

</div>

Suppose you’re wondering which metadata markup is better to use for your product pins. In that case, you can use both as they’re complementary to each other. The only difference between the two is that Schema provides a more detailed list of options than Open Graph, where Open Graph is easier to implement.

Step 2

After installing the metadata to your website, it's now time to validate your pins & make your rich pins official on the Pinterest platform.

Head on over to this link right here - Rich Pin Validator, paste in your product’s URL & press validate.

That should do it & now you officially have product pins activated! Yay!

If you do sell on Shopify, however, then please make sure you copy your URL from a page that has a "Buy" or "Add to Bag" button and put ".oembed" at the end of your link before you press validate.

Shopify Tip

This tip is exclusively for you if you do happen to have a Shopify store & you’ve got an easier job than most.

That’s because Pinterest and Shopify have teamed up and have made it easier than ever to connect your Shopify shop on Pinterest.

All you have to do is make sure you have a Pinterest business account first if you don’t already. Then go to your Settings > press on “Claim,” which is in the sidebar > Then click the “Claim” button next to where it says Shopify.

From there, you can have your Shopify connected within minutes. Find out more here - Link your Shopify and Pinterest accounts

Making Shoppable Digital Products

So you're not selling any physical goods, but you still wish to sell your digital product(s) & online course(s) etc., on Pinterest. Well, I hate to break it to you but creating pins about them sadly isn’t enough. You need to grasp every opportunity to sell when you can.

This is why I’ve come up with a simple way to help you advertise your digital products in whatever pins you choose.

Here’s how to do so:

Step 1

Go to your Pinterest, upload any regular blog post pin of your choice, and select the “Tag” Icon. (Preferably one that has a topic you know ties in well with one of your product(s) or course(s)).

Step 2

A box with a “+” sign should pop up, and you want to click on that. From clicking on that, another pop-up box shall show up only this time; it’ll present you with two options.

One is adding product pins you already have uploaded to your Pinterest. So if you have made pins strictly for a product before, now’s the time to select them.

If you don’t have any product pins uploaded, don’t worry because the second option is for you. Click on where it says “URL”, and from there, you can paste in the URL of the page you have your product(s) on or online course. It’ll then bring up any JPEG or PNG files it can find on your website, so make sure you have some mockups ready.

Step 3

After you’ve selected the number of product pins you want to be added to your pin, press “Save Product”, then press “Done”.

Once you’ve done that, all you need to do is fill out your Pin details like your pin description etc. and hit publish.

Now when Pinners click on your pins, your products pop up at the side or bottom of your pin & they can click through to see what it’s all about & you might make a potential sale! Woo-hoo!

Bonus Tip

Suppose you wish to look even more like a professional seller on Pinterest. In that case, you can apply to be an official merchant. This will get you an official shop tab on your Pinterest profile, in turn, makes finding your products even easier for your customers on Pinterest.

To find out if you qualify to be a merchant & apply, head on over to this Pinterest page - Verified Merchant Program, to find out more.

Congrats! You’ve Successfully Made Shoppable Pins

You’re now officially a Pinterest product-pinning queen, and you should most definitely pat yourself on the back right now because that was not easy to go through.

Not only have you learned how to add metadata to your site easily, but you now know more about rich pins, especially product pins. You even know how to connect your Etsy shop & how to promote your digital product(s) and course(s) to earn extra customers faster!

Want to learn more about Pinterest marketing? How to gain more web traffic, clients & passive income? Then join my weekly email list for the latest Pinterest news and tips for your business.

Happy Pinning!

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