With Pinterest rapidly growing in users (over 10 million
worldwide), business owners beg to know, “How can I join this huge party and
use my membership to further my business?” Some industries are better-suited
than others to make the most of Pinterest. Lucky for you, the lodging industry
is one that can fare well by utilizing this online marketing tool.
What is Pinterest
Pinterest is a social media website where users “pin” photos
of things they find interesting on the web. These pins are organized by category
onto virtual “pinboards.” According to Pinterest, “People use pinboards to plan
their weddings, decorate their homes, and organize their favorite recipes.”
Viewers can browse other people’s boards and “repin” ideas they want to stock
away for a future event.
What is the big deal?
An infographic published by Buzz Referrals (featured in this
article)
shows Pinterest is one of the top three referral sites on the internet (trailing
behind Facebook and Twitter). As a business owner in the lodging industry, two
things are relevant to this statistic: 1) Your product or service can easily be
displayed visually and 2) Pinterest is becoming a huge social marketing
tool--referrals from this site can increase your website traffic.
That same infographic states that the top 5 categories
include:
·
Crafts
·
Gifts
·
Hobbies and leisure
·
Interior Design
·
Fashion Collections
How can you benefit
from Pinterest?
Inspiration:
Thinking about updating the look of a room or the exterior of your property.
Gain ideas from your friends or follow your favorite designers to get tips on
decorating and landscaping. Bed and
Breakfast owners will profit from the vast number of recipes they can find on
Pinterest. With the holiday season rapidly approaching, this is a great place
to find holiday decorating and recipe ideas.
Promotion: The
number of ways you can promote your business on Pinterest depends largely on
the complexity of your inn. As a lodging owner, you’ll want to browse the
various categories on the site to see what you could fall under. A few obvious
ones include travel, weddings, food & drink, recipes, and design. Think of
ways you can convey your business through photos. A good place to start is to
set up a corresponding board to each page on your website (Rooms, Food,
Weddings, etc).
Recipe photos may be pinned and repined. If a user is
interested in getting the actual recipe, the photo, when clicked, will refer
them directly to your website.
Post photos of your property to serve as an inspiration to
others. Design is a very popular category on Pinterest. Others may love your
design and want to copy it. If you have a guest who loves a particular room
design at your property, let them know you’ve got photos of each room on
Pinterest for them to repin for future use. Same goes for your recipes.
With travel being a large category on Pinterest, others
might pint photos of your property as places they’ve visited or want to visit
in the future. I have a board titled, “Travel.” I post photos of places I want
to visit. One of my pins is of treehouse
accommodations. Friends of mine might repin this photo. Their friends who like
it will also pin the photo.
Wedding planning is absolutely huge on Pinterest. What a
great opportunity for you! Upload photos of weddings you’ve helped plan or host
on your property. Display photos of the grounds or decorations. If you provided
a wedding cake, snap a photo of that for future pinning. Not only do people get
ideas for what they want for their wedding and reception, they may also like
your property enough to want to host their special occasion there.
General Principles
A good idea sells itself. If you have a recipe, photo or
other idea that is top-notch, it will naturally spread. You never know where a
pin will end up, who will see it, and what action it may prompt. Someone may book a reservation at your
property because they came across one of your pinned recipe photos.
Pinterest is visual. Attention-getting photographs are the
key. Most people using Pinterest scan through several photo thumbnails at once
and only the most eye-catching thumbnails get clicked. Since Pinterest is a
website with photos that link to other websites, consider how you can visually
represent aspects of your business. Descriptions are limited to 500 characters.
If there is an idea you want to display on PInterest, a photo is required.
The idea is for people to be driven to pins you’ve posted, which
will drive them to your website and for your pins to be pinned and repined over
and over and over.
For additional ideas on business Pinterest promotion, view
this article
written by our friends at Suite Exchange.