Did you know Pinterest in the fourth most popular social networking site? It maintains a position in the top five year after year, and the site’s estimated 250 million monthly visitors and show-and-tell functionality make it a perfect platform for destination marketers. Here are five tips for using Pinterest to market a destination.
1. Give some direction with place boards. To direct users to particular points of interest, take advantage of the map function. When you create a new board, check the option to create it as a place board (this setting can be toggled on and off anytime after creation if you change your mind). You add a pin by typing in the name, and Pinterest pulls location information from Foursquare. From there, you can select a user-uploaded photo or upload your own. (Tip: To drive traffic to your website, click “edit pin” and replace the Foursquare URL with a link to the same point of interest on your website.) Map boards are great for restaurants and attractions, because they give followers a sense of proximity as well as sample itineraries. Visitors can see what there is to do and eat in a certain area, or what spots to hit on a road trip.
2. Tailor boards for specific interests. A broad “restaurants” board is not going to be as effective as making separate boards for different cuisines and experiences. With targeted interest boards, followers will be able to find exactly what they’re looking for, whether it’s a casual sandwich shop at the beach or a rooftop lounge with a view. The same goes for attractions. Instead of one big “things to do” board, consider breaking it up into categories like historic sites, museums, parks and nature. Make individual boards for everything. Quality over quantity rings true here. Ten specific boards with 10 pins each will get much more traction than one board with 100 pins.
3. Think keywords, keywords, keywords. If someone is using Pinterest to plan a trip to your destination and she types the city name in the search bar, your pins won’t appear if you’re not using the right keywords in your captions. Beyond including the obvious (city and state, and location name), add any commonly used abbreviations or nicknames. Whatever words you know people use to search for your destination, use those. Don’t worry about captions being too long or wordy. Pinterest is a visual tool, and most users are paying more attention to what they’re looking at than what is written underneath. The important thing is that people are able to find your content.
4. Promote original content. When you’ve written a blog post or article for your website, go ahead and give it its own board. Do you have an article called “7 Restaurants to Try at the Beach”? Create a board with the name title and create seven pins. Don’t forget to include the article URL in each one.
5. Be picture perfect. This one goes without saying, but it should be stressed that images are your most important asset on Pinterest. Make sure you’re sharing compelling and attention-grabbing photos. Great images result in clicks and repins, which only lead to more clicks and repins. Think like a consumer: If you’re not excited about your pictures, your followers won’t be either.
__
If you need help with social marketing efforts, read more about Interfuse’s digital marketing services.