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Every social media platform has its own personality and purpose. Facebook is for community-building. Instagram is a visual billboard. Pinterest is a search engine. Yep! You heard that right. It’s not a visual scrapbook or meant to be anything other than, a VISUAL SEARCH ENGINE. And because people are on there using search terms, you want to make sure the pins you create are solid. And searchable. And one more cog in your sales funnel leading the people on the path to YOU! In this post, I breakdown a pinnable graphic and explain what elements you will want to add when you’re creating a Pinterest pin!
Anatomy of a Pin
- Use an eye-catching (but copyright-free) image for the background.
- Make sure you watermark your image or add your website. People change the URLs on pins all the time.
- Your Pin description should be short but thorough and include your website.
- Be sure to include 2-3 hashtags at the end of your description.
- Use your personal brand colors in your Pins to help create brand awareness. Develop your own style for pins! And be sure to use a 2:3 ratio (like 600 x 900 pixels) when choosing your pin size.
- Use geometric shapes to catch your audience’s eye and stop their scroll.
- Include no more than 2 fonts– 1) Bold, fun, attention-grabbing and 2) Something lighter, thinner and very readable.
1. Background Images
There are many free and low-cost sites to find images to use not only for your pins, but your business in general. Photo sites, like Pixabay are a good place to look for images that are clean, professional, and copyright-free. I caution you against simply doing a google search and using any ol’ image you find. Many of those are owned by the person who created them and you can get into hot water using them without permission. Especially using them to promote YOUR business.
I have put all my favorite design resources including free image sites into a handy toolbox for you! Access all the goodies here!
2. Watermark Your Pin Images
Make sure to add your logo, website, or a personal watermark of some kind when creating a Pinterest Pin. You want to make sure your pin/graphic can ultimately lead back to you. Your pin will start out in the universe because you will add it to a board yourself. BUT, ultimately, that pin can change many times over as it gets re-pinned and pinned again. You want to have something on the original image to let people know it came from your zone of genius!
3. Creating a Pinterest Pin Description
Your description should be catchy, not spammy, and give the Pinner a hint at what they will get if they click on your pin. BUT. You don’t want to give away the farm in your description either. The idea is to catch their attention with your image, pull them in with your description and then use a ‘call to action’ to get them to click through to your blog post, article, product site or wherever you are trying to lead them.
You also want to use words or phrases in your pin description that Pinterest users may be searching for. Try to use SEO-friendly terms. Search Engine Optimization is a whole different universe to delve into. There’s definitely not enough room in this post for a lesson in SEO. If you’re really interested in tackling this, check out the online course ‘SEO Success’ at The Purple Teacup Co. I have taken several of Hope’s classes and they are awesome!
4. Add Hashtags to Your Pin Descriptions
Pinterest has jumped onto the hashtag bandwagon in the last year or so. Using hashtags while creating your Pinterest pins is very similar to how you might use hashtag strategy on Instagram. EXCEPT. On Pinterest, you will only want to use 2-3 hashtags. Any more, and your pins may end up getting pushed further down the algorithm (at least this is the most current info at the time this post was published).
So be sure to choose your hashtags carefully to get the most bang for your hashtag buck!
5. Use Personal Branding
Be sure to include design elements from your personal branding. Whether it’s the colors you’re using, or graphic elements. The more you use a template for your pins, the more recognizable they will be. They will have a similar feel and aesthetic about them. If you have someone who enjoys your content and is used to finding it on Pinterest, they will stop their scroll their scroll! Your pin will show up in their Pinterest feed and it will catch their eye because the elements you used are familiar to them. Using your personal branding in your pins is a great way to create brand awareness.
Pinterest also likes you to keep your pins vertical and stick to a 2:3 ratio!
6. Geometric Shapes
Use interesting shapes, color blocks, lines, and rectangles in your pinnable images! These will help draw the Pinner’s eye to your pin! You don’t have very long to grab someone’s attention and get them to click. And there is a lot of noise in their Pinterest feed that your pin has to fight with to engage them. Shapes say “Hey! Look at me!” urge the viewer to click!
7. Fonts & Typography
Oh boy, this is another topic that is not easy to chunk down into a quick little paragraph. You can check out my Font Pinterest Board and Brand Tips & Trends for some other ideas and typography theory. But the short of it….follow this rule of thumb:
- Only use 2 fonts in your branding (3 max!)
- Find contrasting but complementary fonts
- 1 Font should be bold, fun, and eye-catching
- 1 Font should be lighter, thinner, and different in style from the first font
To wrap up….
This post is honestly just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to learning strategy and creating a Pinterest pin. The information here will definitely get you going in the right direction. But if you are loving these tips and craving more, there are two courses I highly recommend for you. I’ve taken them both, as well as many others out there. And these two are the BEST!
Beginner Pinterest — Winning with Pinterest — This course is a fantastic and thorough overview, but will not overwhelm with too much information. It’s also very affordable!
Advanced Pinterest — Pinning Perfect — THIS is the mother of all Pinterest courses. And yes, it does come with a bit of a price tag. BUT. I tell you, it literally is the ONLY Pinterest resource you will ever need. AND, Melissa and Anna update the course twice a year with the latest information on pinning directly from Melissa’s source who works at Pinterest.
Hopefully, you feel more confident in your pin abilities after reading these ideas. Comment below and let me know what tip helped you the most!
I love this step by step GUIDE! Really helpful to evaluate my own pins!
Super helpful — thanks for the breakdown