Let’s take a walk together through the land of Pinterest. On our journey together you will notice that most people here are ladies and they love to share their newest crafts, fashion goodies, food and, of course, silly pet pictures.According to Pinterest, “Our goal is to connect everyone in the world through the ‘things’ they find interesting. We think that a favorite book, toy, or recipe can reveal a common link between two people. With millions of new pins added every week, Pinterest is connecting people all over the world based on shared tastes and interests.” Pinterest offers people the ability to “pin” or share a their photos or a photo they have found somewhere on the internet with people who are following them by putting the “pin” within a “board.” “Boards” are basically groups of pictures that the user has defined and titled, things such as “Foods I love,” “Places I want to go,” etc.
So you may be wondering, is there really a place here for the hospitality industry? I challenge you to think about this for a minute, where else can you find a group of people who are passionately endorsing brands, styles, places, food; basically anything and everything they like in a visual medium. They are women between the ages of 25- 44 with household incomes of $25, 000 - $75,000.* These are influencers who love to play on social media and are embracing the newest kid on the block, Pinterest.Pinterest gives your guests an opportunity to share what they love most about your hotel through stunning visuals. We all want brand advocates; why not encourage them to share your property with their friends. A quick search for “hotels” reveals boards like “Places!!!! I like these places,” “Hotels I love” and many others.
Also, there aren’t many hospitality folks who have jumped on this bandwagon, so it gives you the opportunity to be a trendsetter. If you search for W Hotels under Pins, you will find lots of people sharing photos; however if you search for W Hotels under people you will find a bare bones beginning of their Pinterest account. This tells me that hotels need to find a way to integrate this into their social media strategies, as these ladies aren’t going anywhere and the Pinterest community is growing.
After sharing why we think the hospitality industry should join Pinterest. Here are our top ways to share your brand on Pinterest:
- Make it fun – I know this is obvious but if you're not enjoying your time on Pinterest, no one is going to want to interact with you. You need to make Pinterest interesting and not just about you. Share pins of things that align with your brand, your city, events, menus, etc. Then hopefully, people will see you as an ally, not a brand promoting itself.
- Create boards that tell your story - Don’t just create boards that spell out specific room types, etc. that’s what your website is for, use this space to tell a story. The Arizona Biltmore has done a fabulous job of creating interesting boards that tell its story.
- Contests – Develop playful contests to entice your guests to “Upload a Pin” or in other words upload and share their favorite pictures from their stays at your hotel.
We have shared with you our ideas on how to utilize Pinterest but here are a few brands that have done exceptional jobs of using Pinterest: Whole Foods, Real Simple and West Elm.Now get out there and pin until your little heart is content. Share the beauty of your brand with the millions of ladies (and I’m sure some gentleman) on Pinterest. If you have any questions, or need social media guidance, reach out to us at Screen Pilot.*Statistics are from Tech Crunch - https://techcrunch.com/2012/03/14/this-is-everything-you-need-to-know-about-pinterest-infographic/
Let’s take a walk together through the land of Pinterest. On our journey together you will notice that most people here are ladies and they love to share their newest crafts, fashion goodies, food and, of course, silly pet pictures.According to Pinterest, “Our goal is to connect everyone in the world through the ‘things’ they find interesting. We think that a favorite book, toy, or recipe can reveal a common link between two people. With millions of new pins added every week, Pinterest is connecting people all over the world based on shared tastes and interests.” Pinterest offers people the ability to “pin” or share a their photos or a photo they have found somewhere on the internet with people who are following them by putting the “pin” within a “board.” “Boards” are basically groups of pictures that the user has defined and titled, things such as “Foods I love,” “Places I want to go,” etc.
So you may be wondering, is there really a place here for the hospitality industry? I challenge you to think about this for a minute, where else can you find a group of people who are passionately endorsing brands, styles, places, food; basically anything and everything they like in a visual medium. They are women between the ages of 25- 44 with household incomes of $25, 000 - $75,000.* These are influencers who love to play on social media and are embracing the newest kid on the block, Pinterest.Pinterest gives your guests an opportunity to share what they love most about your hotel through stunning visuals. We all want brand advocates; why not encourage them to share your property with their friends. A quick search for “hotels” reveals boards like “Places!!!! I like these places,” “Hotels I love” and many others.
Also, there aren’t many hospitality folks who have jumped on this bandwagon, so it gives you the opportunity to be a trendsetter. If you search for W Hotels under Pins, you will find lots of people sharing photos; however if you search for W Hotels under people you will find a bare bones beginning of their Pinterest account. This tells me that hotels need to find a way to integrate this into their social media strategies, as these ladies aren’t going anywhere and the Pinterest community is growing.
After sharing why we think the hospitality industry should join Pinterest. Here are our top ways to share your brand on Pinterest:
- Make it fun – I know this is obvious but if you're not enjoying your time on Pinterest, no one is going to want to interact with you. You need to make Pinterest interesting and not just about you. Share pins of things that align with your brand, your city, events, menus, etc. Then hopefully, people will see you as an ally, not a brand promoting itself.
- Create boards that tell your story - Don’t just create boards that spell out specific room types, etc. that’s what your website is for, use this space to tell a story. The Arizona Biltmore has done a fabulous job of creating interesting boards that tell its story.
- Contests – Develop playful contests to entice your guests to “Upload a Pin” or in other words upload and share their favorite pictures from their stays at your hotel.
We have shared with you our ideas on how to utilize Pinterest but here are a few brands that have done exceptional jobs of using Pinterest: Whole Foods, Real Simple and West Elm.Now get out there and pin until your little heart is content. Share the beauty of your brand with the millions of ladies (and I’m sure some gentleman) on Pinterest. If you have any questions, or need social media guidance, reach out to us at Screen Pilot.*Statistics are from Tech Crunch - https://techcrunch.com/2012/03/14/this-is-everything-you-need-to-know-about-pinterest-infographic/
