Are you aware that, according to the 2018 Social Media Statistics, there 200 million monthly active users and 100 billion of Pins being created?The chances of your Pins being seen and clicked is low particularly if you don’t have enough followers, you’re not part of any board groups, and you don’t optimize your Pins for search.
The importance of having a consistent visual branding on Pinterest is in order for your target audience to instantly recognize you in a pile of visuals.
Let me give you a good example.
Aside from using it for work or marketing, I love going to Pinterest to find the usual stuff like outfit ideas, easy-to-do recipes, travel tips, and, of course, quotes.
Here’s an example of what my home page looks like as I am writing this piece:
Now for you, this may seem like bunch of visuals and you probably can’t even tell who made them. However, for me, there’s one visual (oops make that two) that stands out the most – the one inside the red square.
I can straight away tell that this picture quote is from Word Porn because of three reasons:
- They always use the same font which is a typewriter font.
- They always use the same background which is white.
- Their name is always included in the visual.
Suppose one day, they stop creating their quotes using one of these three, I think I won’t be able to recognize them. They’ll just be another random quote I see on Pinterest. Now, this is the main point and definition of branding: to make your entire self or company stand out from the others. As defined by Business Dictionary, branding means…
Visual Brand Consistency Examples on Pinterest
There are some visuals on Pinterest that whenever I see them, their name instantly pops into my head – with or without logo. You can take inspiration from these ones.
- Lauren Hooker – Elle & Company
Just look at how creative entrepreneur, Lauren Hooker, does her Pinterest game. Not only can you see the similarities of the Pin images she makes, she also used them to create cohesiveness by using them as board image covers.
Lauren is consistent using:
- The same font – a sans serif font
- The same template which has a small rectangular shape at the bottom
If you’ll go to Lauren’s Pinterest page, you’ll see how she uses different colors. Nonetheless, I can recognize that the images are from her because the colors she use are soft and pastel like.
- My Five Acres
Just like Instagram, Pinterest has a lot of users sharing content about travel and pictures of beautiful places. It’s no brainer, we love seeing photos of different places and country.
With all of the beautiful travel photos and tips I see, My Five Acres stands out the most for me because of how they do their visuals.
My Five Acres is consistent using:
- The same template (square around the top and small rectangular shape at the bottom)
- The same type of orange for the shapes
- Their logo inside the small rectangular at the bottom
- Polyvore
Ah yes, outfit ideas. One of the reasons why I and most women go to Pinterest is to look for what to wear to a certain event or what should we pair with our newly bought black jeans. There are plenty of style ideas but there’s one page that stands out the most to me, Polyvore. It’s basically how they do their visuals.
If you’re habitually looking for fashion ideas on Pinterest, I know you’ll agree with me.
Polyvore is consistent using:
- The same template – white background and black text in the middle
- The same fonts – a combination of serif and sans serif fonts
- Social Media Examiner
If there’s one thing I see on my homepage every single time that would be marketing tips. I’m pretty sure all of them are helpful but Social Media Examiner’s visuals, with no fail, are the most noticeable to me which I end up clicking.
Social Media Examiner is consistent placing:
- Their URL at the bottom
- An icon or object at the top that is related to the topic
They may use different colors but you’ll see all of them are kind of vibrant to the eyes. You’ll also notice that they use different fonts.
- PureWow
Again, one of the reasons why I and other women go to Pinterest is because there are lots of cooking tips and recipes.
There may be tons of helpful food ideas appearing right before my eyes but PureWow perfectly captured my attention with their Pin images.
PureWow is consistent using:
- The same template – white background, showing six pictures, and black text at the top.
- The same font – a serif font
How To Be Visually Consistent on Pinterest
- Use the ideal image size
The go-to Pin image size is 735 pixels in width and 1128 pixels in height.
But, of course, you are free to creatively use any size you want just like what Polyvore and PureWow do with their Pin blog post recipe images which are longer than usual.
Whatever size you want to use, simply be consistent about it.
- Use at least 2 branding elements in your visuals
According to visual brand strategist, Orana Velarde, there are four visual brand assets you should be using if you’re dead serious about building a visual brand identity: logo, colors, fonts, and visuals.
When you’re making picture quotes or blog covers for Pinterest, use two or all four of your visual assets like clockwork – just like the examples I mentioned earlier.
What if you’re not the only one in your team creating Pin images? How do you keep yourself and the others on the same page?
Fortunately, there’s an exact tool for this. Visme’s Brand Kit allows everyone in your team to have an access to all the visual assets and templates your brand is using.
There you have it. Everything you need to know about building a visual identity on Pinterest. Well, almost. Let me know if I missed something.
Either way, I hope I got my point across.
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