Since its launch in early 2010, Pinterest has been a place for people to explore the world through exceptional and exciting imagery. Recently, Pinterest users have realized the huge opportunity that the site offers in planning travel and have started creating boards to showcase their favorite destinations, properties, etc. In fact, Pinterest users pin about 1.5 million places on a daily basis, proving the channel's worth as a sales tool for hoteliers worldwide.
Now, Pinterest has created an even more useful tool for consumers that will also help hoteliers turn customers' travel inspiration into reality: Place Pins. Using Place Pins, Pinterest users can pin businesses, such as a hotel, restaurant or store, and the image (pin) will be overlaid the exact location of the business on the map.
Let's look at an example: I'm on a fabulous vacation in St. Maarten and am taking photos of my hotel, which is right on beach and features amazing outdoor amenities (like pools, spas, etc.). I upload my beautiful images to Pinterest and add a pin on the map where the hotel is located. Now when my friends view the pictures that I took, they know exactly where I took them and where they will need to go to experience the same beauty.
How can Place Pins help hoteliers market their property?
Place Pins offers a huge opportunity for hoteliers to turn ‘lookers' into ‘bookers', by combining the beautiful imagery of a travel magazine (showcasing a property's most beautiful features) with the utility of an online map (showing consumers the property's exact location). After price, a property's location and visual appeal (how it looks) are important deciding factors for consumers when choosing a hotel for an upcoming vacation. Place Pins also include extra details like the address and phone number right on the pin so users can access contact information for the property without having to click through multiple web browsers. This makes it easier for a consumers to see a pin of a beautiful hotel, check the locating using the place pin and click through to the hoteliers website to search availability. Because the pin links directly to your property's phone number, email address and website, Place Pins can increase a property's direct bookings and revenues.
How to get started
First, it is important to note that Place Pins is still a very new addition to Pinterest (it is still currently in beta), so at this time, only a few hotels have access to the tool. However, that doesn't mean that you shouldn't adjust your strategy accordingly for when the tool goes live.
Obviously, the first step to use Place Pins is to create a Pinterest account for your property (if you don't already have one). If you do already have one, great job! Once you've got your account set up, you can begin creating Boards, which are essentially photo albums. To create a Place Pins Board, choose ‘Add a Map' when you create a new board or edit an existing Board's settings (to add a map). After creating the Place Pins Boards, you are able to map all of your new and existing pins on the board to help your customers plan their next adventure at one of your properties.
Best practices
Hotels should be creating Boards with Place Pins on a variety of different subjects related to your property, including:
- A Board to showcase the destination and local amenities
- A Board to illustrate the experience that guests would have staying at your property (amenities, beautiful dishes of food, rooms, etc.)
The sky is the limit to the types of boards that you can create using Place Pins!
Imagine that you are a property in Miami Beach and using Place Pins, you create a board titled ‘Miami Beach', where you are pinning images of local restaurants, attractions, the beach and of course, your own property. It is important to think strategically when naming your boards, as the keywords that you choose can have an effect on the traffic that your boards receive. Because customers are mostly searching by related keywords (i.e. Miami Beach, South Beach, beachfront pool party, etc.), always be aware of what keywords a customer could use to search for your property when naming pins and boards. So when a Pinterest user searches for the keywords ‘Miami Beach', your property's board will be listed in the results, showcasing your images, your property and the exact locations where they were taken.
Once users have found images that they like and want to share, they can re-pin a property's images to their profile (which shares it with their friends), along with its exact location (on a map), the property's address, phone number and website, making it even easier to spread the word about your property and translate your beautiful images into bookings and money in the bank.
Still unsure as to whether Pinterest Place Pins will be a valuable addition to your property's social media strategy?
Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts is among the first hotels to receive access to Place Pins and their marketing team has done an exceptional job integrating Place Pins into their pre-existing Pinterest marketing strategy. See for yourself how it works and how it can help you improve your online visibility, direct bookings and revenues by visiting Four Seasons' Pinterest page.
Additionally, if you have any questions about your property's existing Pinterest page or if you would like help planning your social media strategy around the integration of Place Pins, please don't hesitate to contact me at any time at jenn@jlnpr.com.
About the Author
Jennifer Nagy is a public relations professional with extensive experience in media relations, marketing and social media marketing for travel technology companies. Jennifer's work has focused on crafting coherent messaging and creating high-profile media exposure designed to launch new technology brands, create new business opportunities and increase client revenues. She uses her extensive travel technology experience, entrepreneurship acumen and her knowledge of marketing and public relations to create campaigns that put jlnpr's clients in front of the audiences that matter most.
As well as her PR and marketing work, Jennifer writes a regular column for The Huffington Post, offering advice for small business owners on how to more effectively market their business, as well as hospitality marketing columns for high-profile trade publications, including ehotelier and Hotel Business Review, among others. For more information about jlnpr, please visit www.jlnpr.com or contact Jennifer at jenn@jlnpr.com.
