If you’re planning on launching an online course, you’re probably wanting to use Pinterest to market that course, right? It’s a solid idea! With its ability to drive long-term traffic and reputation for more purchase-motivated users, Pinterest is a powerful tool for selling online courses.
There’s a catch, though…
Pinterest works best as a long-game marketing strategy, which can be a challenge if your course isn’t available year-round.
So, how do you harness the power of Pinterest to sell your online course, especially if you’re working with a tight launch timeline? I’ve got the answers for ya.
In this post, I’m going to break down proven strategies for using Pinterest to market both evergreen courses and live course launches. By the end, you’ll have a clear roadmap for leveraging Pinterest to maximize your course sales, no matter when your cart is open!
Marketing Evergreen Courses on Pinterest
The real benefit of Pinterest isn’t just in sporadic growth or viral pins, but the accumulation of results over time. That’s what makes it such an ideal platform to sell evergreen courses.
Pins can live on for months and years after they were first published, sending consistent traffic and potential buyers to your course, which is ideal for ongoing enrollment.
If you plan to sell an evergreen course — one that’s available to purchase all the time — you can essentially market it the same way you would any other digital product on Pinterest.
Naturally, there are going to be different approaches depending on the price point, content, and audience for the course, but there are a lot fewer things to consider if your course checkout is always open.
As with all things in Pinterest marketing, it comes down to the content. Whether you’re just building out content to support your online course sales or you’re looking to repurpose what you already have, here’s what you’re going to want to do to use Pinterest to sell your online course on autopilot.
Designing a Pinterest-Optimized Sales Funnel for Your Course
Marketing your evergreen course on Pinterest isn’t just about getting people to the sales page. The majority of your Pinterest audience is probably brand new to you and your offerings, so they’re less likely to buy right away. That’s where a sales funnel comes in to guide them from discovery all the way to hitting that “enroll now” button.
I know as soon as the word “funnel” gets thrown out, it feels like we’re in a boardroom meeting with jargon like KPI and ROI getting flung around at top speed. But I promise, you don’t need a business degree to understand the basics of a sales funnel.
Essentially, a sales funnel is the journey you take your potential students on, from discovering your content to making that purchase.
On Pinterest, we can repurpose all of that content to help consistently sell your online course. Here’s how…
Top of Funnel Content:
The top of your course sales funnel is all about driving awareness and getting as many eyes as possible onto your content. People might not know they need your course yet — or even any course at all — but they’re curious. They’re ready to learn and are looking for the solution to their problems.
This is where broad, educational content comes in handy. Create blog posts or other long-form content that address common problems or questions related to the topic of your course.
This is the important part, so I’m going to say it again — create content related to the topic of your course.
Yes, any content at all will help draw more eyes to your brand, but we specifically want people who are going to eventually be interested in your course.
Some of this content might feel repetitive or even like you’re “giving away” parts of the course for free, but there’s an importance balance to find here. You have to prove to your audience that you are capable of solving their problems and educating on the topic.
If you ask me, there’s no such thing as “too much” value.
For example, if you’re selling a course on social media marketing, you might write a blog post about “How to Grow Your Instagram Account.” Even if this is the same exact premise as your course, in your blog post you’ll just cover it at a higher, more general level. Save the nitty-gritty details for your paying students.
On Pinterest:
Design pins with scroll-stopping graphics and enticing titles to get users to click from Pinterest to your blog posts. Top of funnel content will likely make up the majority of your pinning strategy for online course sales, so don’t skimp on the pins here!
Middle of Funnel Content:
Once you’ve captured your people’s attention, it’s time to nurture them. The middle of your funnel, or the consideration stage of awareness, is where you’re going to provide more in-depth content to help your audience decide whether your course is the right fit for them and your needs.
This could include more in-depth blog posts as well as lead magnets like free guides, webinars, etc.
On Pinterest:
Continue creating pins for your blog content in this stage, but also create pins that link directly to your lead magnet opt-ins! A free resource is a lot easier to “sell” than a course, and this is how you’re going to get people on your email list.
From your email list, you’ll be able to sell your online course more effectively to a warmer, more nurtured audience.
In your middle of funnel blog content, make sure you’re also including calls to action for those free lead magnets. Don’t miss out on an opportunity to turn scrollers into subscribers!
Here are a few calls to action you can swipe rn!
Bottom of Funnel Content:
At the bottom of your online course sales funnel, it’s all about conversion. Your audience is ready to make a decision, they just need that final push over the finish line. Where bottom of funnel content in your social media and email strategy might look like testimonials and case studies, those don’t tend to perform as well on Pinterest.
Remember, Pinterest users are still mostly interested in how you can help them solve their problems. No one’s going to be looking for “kind words from past students”.
On Pinterest:
Bottom of funnel content for Pinterest is going to look like creating pins that link directly back to your course sales page. It’s not a guarantee that people will buy from those pins, but if users have engaged with your content before and end up on the sales page, the purchase is always a possibility!
Repurposing Your Sales Funnel Content for Pinterest
One of the best things about Pinterest is that you can repurpose content endlessly to keep a steady stream of students flowing to your evergreen course. Here are a few ideas to get the most mileage out of your funnel content!
1. Create multiple pins for your blog posts
Each blog post you create can be turned into several different pins. Focus on creating pins that emphasize various aspects of the post, targeting different segments of your audience and their different desires, but always staying on topic to your course.
For instance, if your blog covers five tips for Instagram growth, you could create a pin for each tip, as well as a general pin for the entire post, and even multiple iterations of each of those!
2. Turn your webinar slides into infographics
Webinars are a common way to sell online courses, but they’re often overlooked when it comes to repurposing content. Those meticulously designed slide decks are an absolute goldmine for content, particularly Pinterest content.
If you feel comfortable, you can take some of the most valuable snippets from your webinar and turn them into infographic pins. Infographics are visually engaging and tend to get saved more, which is a strong signal to the Pinterest algorithm.
3. Interlink your top, middle, and bottom of funnel content
I know we just went through and separated out the different content for each stage of your funnel, but that content doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Your educational blog posts should link to other relevant blogs, as well as linking to the related lead magnet. If it makes sense, you can also throw in a call to action straight to the course itself!
Once your content is ready to roll, you’ll want to ensure it gets in front of the right eyes. This is where your pinning strategy comes into play.
Pinterest Strategy for Selling an Evergreen Course
You’ve got the content, and it’s optimized for Pinterest. But hitting “pin” once and calling it a day isn’t going to cut it. Consistency is crucial if you want to make continuous sales from Pinterest! Here’s how to keep the momentum going after you first make your course available to purchase:
- Do keyword research to find the most relevant phrases users are looking for related to your course and funnel content
- Build keyword-informed and curated boards around the topic(s) of your course
- Continue to publish pins linking to your course sales page, lead magnets, and related blog posts
- Consider creating new blog posts on similar subjects to give the Pinterest algorithm fresh content to work with
- Use tools like Tailwind to maintain a consistent pinning schedule
Using Pinterest to sell an online course that’s always available is relatively simple in the grand scheme of things. It’s just like any other product or landing page, and Pinterest will help drive long-term visibility, steady traffic, and new students continuously.
If you’re thinking of using Pinterest to sell a course with a limited launch window, though, things get a bit more complicated. Not impossible! Just more complicated…
Marketing a Live Course Launch on Pinterest
While you might not have the benefit of time when it comes to marketing live courses on Pinterest, with the right strategy and backend setup, you can still use Pinterest to sell your course effectively!
The nature of Pinterest is that content posted there takes time to get seen and start sending traffic back to your site.
That means if you’ve got a super short launch window, Pinterest users might end up clicking on a link that leads them to a broken link or a closed sales page.
They’re disappointed and you’ve just lost out on a potential sale. *whomp whomp*
Don’t worry though! There are still plenty of ways to use Pinterest to sell your online course, both directly or indirectly.
1. Use Pinterest to build your email list during the pre-launch phase
If you already market your business on Pinterest, or if you have plenty of time before your course launches to get started, the work you’re already doing will inadvertently help you get more course sales.
One of the primary benefits of Pinterest marketing is growing your email list. As long as the audience you’ve been attracting aligns with the target audience for your course, it’s likely you already have a warm, nurtured audience of subscribers to promote the course to!
The important thing to consider here is if any of your lead magnets or email sequences reference specific details/dates about the course. After the cart closes, you’ll want to go back and make sure your lead magnet delivery and copy is evergreen!
2. Use Pinterest to specifically grow your waitlist
If you really want to cultivate a specific audience to sell your online course to, it might be worth creating a specific lead magnet and funnel to get people onto your course waitlist.
This is an especially great option if you’re building your course out behind the scenes and don’t want to share it publicly on other platforms. You can promote that specific freebie on Pinterest and start building that waitlist so they’re primed once you launch.
3. Strategically increase the frequency of related content before the launch
You want your audience to be primed and ready to buy your course. You don’t want to be talking about email marketing for months and then try and sell them on your Instagram growth course out of the blue.
As you plan your Pinterest content strategy in advance of your course launch, plan to ramp up pins about the topic of the course to get your audience and the Pinterest algorithm ready!
4. Use redirects to avoid broken links
I’m not going to tell you that you can’t promote your live course launch on Pinterest. You totally can. And you can totally link to the course sales page, even if it’s not evergreen. However, what I don’t want you to do is end up with a bunch of broken links that tank your credibility with your audience, Pinterest, and Google.
So if you want to use Pinterest to sell your course with a short launch window, here’s what I want to make sure you do…
Whatever URL you use for the course sales page, make sure that it either stays active or that it redirects to a waitlist landing page for the course.
5. Run targeted ad campaigns to your webinar or sales funnel
I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Pinterest ads in this list of ideas to sell your course using Pinterest, but I’ll admit it’s not my area of expertise! When we’re talking about launches with a short timeframe, ads can be a way to get your pins seen more quickly, but it’s not foolproof.
If you’re going to run ads for your course, I recommend running an ad to a free opt-in first rather than directly to the course sales page.
You can learn more about the different types of ads here!
And there you have it! As you can see, it’s totally possible to use Pinterest to boost your online course sales, you just have to be a bit more thoughtful in your strategy. If you’re still a little lost on what’s the right move for your Pinterest marketing, walk yourself through this flowchart:
Should You Use Pinterest to Sell Your Online Course?
Will it be an evergreen course?
- If yes, then promote your course on Pinterest, but wait until it’s available to purchase.
- If no, proceed to the next question.
Will there be a waitlist available before cart open?
- If yes, then you can promote your waitlist or list building offer on Pinterest.
- Make sure the landing page stays active or redirects to your course sales page.
- If no, proceed to the next question.
Will there be a waitlist available after cart close?
- If yes, then you can promote your course on Pinterest.
- Make sure the course sales page stays active or redirects to your waitlist landing page.
- If no, then you probably shouldn’t directly promote your live course launch on Pinterest. Here’s what you can do instead…
3 Ways to Use Pinterest to Get More Course Sales (Without Directly Linking to Your Course)
- Pin to various lead magnets and freebies to grow an engaged email list that’s ready to buy when you launch
- Create blog posts around the topic of your course and include calls to action in those blogs
- Share valuable content that builds your authority and expertise as well as building a community of super-fans
The Right Way to Use Pinterest for Your Online Course Marketing
Selling online courses with Pinterest is a great way to add a passive income stream to your business. However, it’s not as simple as creating the course and waiting for students to come rushing in the digital doors.
That’s the catch with most forms of passive income.
While you may not have to do work every time that product or course sells, you have to be actively marketing it all the time. Luckily, with Pinterest, you can make some of that marketing a bit more passive, especially if you’re selling an evergreen course.
Whether you’re looking for a way to drive more interest for your evergreen course or prepping for a live course launch, Pinterest can be a great way to reach new students and make sales more passively.
For evergreen courses, the key is to consistently create relevant, high-quality content that attracts and nurtures your target audience through your sales funnel. For live launches, it’s all about making sure your audience is continually growing and making sure you have a plan to engage users who encounter your course after the cart closes.
By crafting an intentional content strategy, repurposing your sales funnel content, and following all the Pinterest best practices, you can effectively leverage Pinterest marketing to grow your audience and your income.
No matter what your goals are in using Pinterest for your business, having a plan and getting started sooner than you think will help you achieve them more quickly.
Need help coming up with one? Book a Pinterest strategy intensive and walk away with an account that’s optimized for discoverability, custom keywords designed to reach your target audience, and a strategic content plan so you know exactly what to pin and why it’ll work!
