Pinterest is one of the best platforms for growing your blog or online business, and with good reason! Unlike social media platforms, your pins live on the platform forever and a pin you post today can send you consistent website traffic for days, weeks, months, and even years. There is A LOT to learn about Pinterest, but one question that I get asked all the time is this: should you brand your Pinterest pins?
The answer is a big fat, no questions asked, “YES!”
Why You Should Brand Your Pinterest Pins
As I already mentioned, Pinterest is NOT just another social media platform. Pinterest is a content-sharing platform, where your pins can live forever. It’s not like other social media sites where you post your content and it gets lost in the feed within a few hours. Pinterest is a long-term strategy that can provide your blog or business a flow of traffic for years to come.
According to Pinterest, “Unlike social networks, where most of your reach happens in the first 24 hours, your Pinterest content keeps growing in reach over time. As more people discover and save your Pins, you’ll see traffic continue to go up.”
How cool is that?
Branding your blog or business is an absolute must if you want to be seen as a trusted source in your niche. I know many people just getting started online shy away from the term “branding” or think they don’t deserve it, or aren’t “big enough” yet… But none of that is true.
There is no better time than NOW to start branding your business, and Pinterest is a fantastic place to get started.
Amplify your know-like-trust factor
I’m sure you’ve heard that phrase before. Your know-like-trust factor is the journey that someone takes when getting to know your brand. Step one is simply knowing about you. Step two is getting them to like your brand. Only when they know you and like you, will they begin to trust you.
If your goal is to build a connection with your audience (who doesn’t want to do that?), your visual branding is the first step when building that relationship. If you’re not showing up consistently with the same visual aesthetic, your viewers are going to have a hard time getting to know you and building that connection.
On the flip side, when you show up visually consistent in their Pinterest feed or search results, they will begin to recognize you as the expert in your niche. You’ll grow those connections MUCH faster when you brand your Pinterest pins.
If you’ve got a lot of great content, your viewers will be more inclined to check out more and more of your pins, immediately being drawn to them because they all look consistent.
I’m sure you know what I mean… When you see a pin pop up in the feed from somebody you’ve already enjoyed running into before, you NOTICE IT.
Save yourself TONS of time!
Raise your hand if it takes you WAY too long to create just a single pin. #guilty!
If time is something you’re constantly searching for more of, branding your Pinterest pins can cut your design time in half. Why? because you’re not on the constant search for new fonts, colors, and images. When you have a solid visual brand, you’ll always know what colors and fonts to use, along with the style of image that sets the vibe of your brand.
Free Pin Design Workshop
If you’re a visual learner, you’ll want to register for my free on-demand Pin Design Workshop, where I have an entire lesson on increasing your visibility on Pinterest through visual branding!
If you’re ready to go from pin design shame to pin design gain, this training is going to teach you all about visual branding on Pinterest – along with a lesson on unique design techniques that will help you stand out in the feed, and one of my BIGGEST time-saving hacks that I used to hate to admit.
Click right here to save your seat, and I’ll send you over the on-demand workshop right away! (On-demand means no waiting for a specific time to watch that you can’t even commit to!)
How to Brand Your Pinterest Pins
Now that you know what visual branding is, and why it’s important to brand your pins, you’re probably wondering HOW to brand your Pinterest pins?
Don’t let the term “branding” scare you away. Since Pinterest is a visual platform, we’re really only going to focus on the visual aspect of branding.
And the good news is, is that once I break it down for you, you’re going to realize that it doesn’t have to be time-consuming, hard, or overwhelming. You can create a consistent visual brand for your pins with a little creativity and a few hours of time. (I promise, it will pay off!)
In a nutshell, there are a few elements that will make up a visual brand for your Pinterest pins. Read on (or register for the workshop) to stop banging your head against the wall worried that you’re showing up inconsistently.
Fonts
When creating pins – or any graphics for your blog or business – it is important that you stick to 2-3 fonts for everything that you create. Using the same fonts will help your viewers start to recognize your pins in their feed. A good rule of thumb is to pick one very easy-to-read font (they say that Pinterest can actually read your pins – crazy, huh!?) paired with an accent font that you can use for some brand personality.
The easiest fonts to read on a digital device are called sans-serif fonts. They are fonts that don’t have those little feet on the ends of the letter strokes. This font that I am typing in right now is a sans-serif font.
Choosing an accent font is where the real fun begins! Your accent font is one thing that will help set your brand apart visually on Pinterest. Think about the words you might use to describe your blog or business. Are you sassy? Friendly? Down to earth? Luxurious? I can promise you that there are plenty of fonts out there that exude whatever descriptive words you choose. When choosing an accent font, you’ll want to make sure that it’s readable, and that it pairs nicely with your other font.
Colors
Let’s add in another very important element of your visual brand (on and off Pinterest). Your colors! The colors you choose should support the tone and vibe of your brand, and how you want your viewers to feel when they interact with you.
When choosing colors for your pins and other graphics, you’ll want to shoot for 3-4 colors. I find that one dark color, one light color, and an accent color to use for buttons and call to actions will do the trick. You can always use black and white, too. I like to consider those two freebies.
The colors you choose for your visual brand will help your viewers connect with you, and recognize you among other pins. it’s a constant that you can easily inject into your pins to ensure that you’re looking consistent any time somebody stumbles upon your pin.
When choosing colors, make sure the psychology behind them lines up with your own unique brand. For example, using a green color palette would relate to things like fresh, organic, and money. Orange is playful and exciting, while blue is trustworthy and solid.
Photos
In case you forgot, I’ll remind you that Pinterest is a visual search engine, so your image choice is very important. When choosing images for your pins think about what kind of emotions they will create for your viewer. Find a set or two of stock photo bundles that mesh well with your chosen colors and fonts. If styled stock isn’t the look you’re going for, try to use images that are similar in style and composition.
You also want to avoid over-used images that are already being used all over Pinterest. When searching for images, don’t go with the first one that catches your eye. Try to think outside of the box and get creative with your image choices!
If you’re struggling to find images that are “on brand”, don’t worry too much, you can always use some simple design techniques, such as a color overlay to create some consistency across your pins.
Logo or text URL
Every single pin you ever create should have your logo, or at minimum a text URL. I recommend keeping it in the same location for the sake of consistency. You always want any piece of content you create to be able to be traced back to your website, and Pinterest pins are no different.
Adding your logo or URL on your pins also deters others from stealing your pins and pointing them to their own content. If it does happen, you still get credit and the user could still find your website if they choose to do that.
Branding Your Pins is a Good Idea
Showing up consistently on Pinterest will help you stand out on a crowded platform, and it doesn’t have to be overwhelming or hard. You can brand your Pinterest pins with a little bit of creativity and guidance from someone who is totally obsessed with designing pins! (that’s me!) Not only will you amplify your visibility and recognition by branding your pins, but you’ll also save a TON of time during the pin creation process, something we could all use a little more of!
I can’t wait to see what you create, and don’t forget to sign up for my free ON DEMAND Pin Design Workshop, The 5-Part Pin Design Formula!
