Pinterest: Putting On Your Best Face

If you've not seen the latest update on the ability to set a cover photo for any given pin board, you should!  Now you can select a pin to permanently represent what the face of a board looks like, rather than the randomness of the last pinned item.

If you hover over any of your boards, an 'edit board cover' command pops up. There are two ways to do it. Click the pop-up command and it'll give you a little slide show to sift through to find the photo that best represents that particular board. Adjust the image up, down, or side to side for optimal display. Click, 'Set Cover', and you're done. 

  But, when you have 117 pins on a board, clicking through to find just the right one is tedious. I found the better way was to go into the board to browse, as you can also set board covers from there. It's much easier to select the best pin when viewing the board overall.

When selecting covers, or even creating them from scratch, I recommend images that are simpler and with large, recognizable aspects or color blocks, over busy, cluttered and complicated images. 

A larger visual expanse will keep your main page from looking like a busy hodgepodge that's confusing to the eye and a turn off. You want to invite people in to browse and possibly connect with you, not make them want to call the hoarders rescue team to clean up a mess. 

Example: Here's my main image for my board titled: 

Color: Tangerine Orange

In the overall scheme of my main page, it's a lot more eye catching than this: 

   Oh, and about that Tangerine Orange. Well, consider having a few well placed board covers with orange in them scattered throughout your main page to draw your viewer's eye through. It's the most visible color to the human eye and marketing agencies use it to bring your eye around an advertisement so that you see what they want you to see. 

If you have a brand color scheme already, or orange isn't your thing, consider a splash of yellow, red, green or bright blue to add some punctuation somewhere. 

 I'd also recommend selecting three main colors, if you don't already have a brand color. Select board covers from pins based primarily on those three colors and then add a few white, grey or black fillers. I selected blues, greens and yellow-to-oranges, with some white and grey board covers tossed in. Here's the result of my first two rows. Click for a full-size view, but also note the visibility of the colors in small size. You primarily see blues, greens and yellow-to-orange colors.

 After you've set the board covers, you can also rearrange the order of the boards. Keep an eye on how each one plays off the other visually, particularly on the two top rows - the rows that people see first. Put less effervescent covers next to more flamboyant covers to keep the flow going. Hence the white bunny between the blue boat and the yellow car. If that messes with your senses and makes you look twice, my job is done!

With Pinterest now the 3rd most popular social media platform, you'll want every advantage you can to capture someone's attention.

 Being primarily a visual platform, the end result of taking the time to select the best covers, colors and display of your content should result in more engagement and follows. 

  Granted, everyone's Pinterest will be different, as we all have different angles and agendas, but there is no reason not put on your 'best face'.