how travel brands use social pinning the right way

Jenn Barber – Social Media Strategist

From startups to large enterprise brands, I consult

SiteLab’s clients to connect them with

opportunities to engage with social media. A few

of my client successes include:

Growing Facebook likes to over 40,000 in less

than 6 months

Attracting over 680,000 referred visits from

Pinterest alone

Writing engaging content Retweeted by the

Huffington Post and Self Magazine

SITELAB INTERACTIVE

@jbarber5000

TRAVELERS USE SOCIAL MEDIA

Travelers use the Internet for most of their travel planning

87% of travelers used the Internet for most of their travel planning

62% research an upcoming trip

45% sourced initial trip idea

31% watched travel video

Social Media influences travelers

52% have changed their original travel plans

50% of travel companies agreed direct bookings generated from

social media

Source: MediaBistro.com

ENTER PINTERESTanother social media site

Pinterest is a place to organize and share online images that you find

interesting or inspiring. Once uploaded or shared on Pinterest, these

images become known as pins, which the user can place on

customized, themed boards.

Pinterest hit 10MM US Monthly Unique Visitors faster than any

independent site in history

12 MM registered users (#5)

104 MM monthly visits (#3)

68% Women / 32% Men

Most age 25-44; 28% have a HH income of $100K+

Time Spent by Avg Social Networking User/Mo – 405 mins (#1)

Source: MediaBistro.com

SOCIALLY INTEGRATED 9 MM Monthly Facebook-connected users

More than one-fifth of Facebook-connected users are on Pinterest

daily (which represents more than 2 MM members)

Generates more referral traffic to websites than YouTube, Google+,

and LinkedIn combined

Pinterest API plays nice with email marketing (MailChimp), Facebook,

Photo Sharing (Flickr), Browsers, and Video (Vimeo)

Source: AppData.com

CVBs, Media, Attractions, Airlines, Hotels…

SO WHAT…are these people doing?

EXPRESSING THEMSELVES

CREATING REMINDERS

SHARING & RECOMMENDING

LEARNING & EXPLORING

SEARCHING & DISCOVERING

WELL, I’M READYhow about you?

First, let’s decide where we’ll go…

Evaluation – Beautiful Pictures

Ok, what will we do when we get there…

Collection – Easy-to-Share Content

What are we going to pack…

Preparation – Helpful Tips & Amenities

We’re back… that was fun!

Sharing – Beautiful Pictures

GET STARTEDsome recommendations

TRAVEL MARKETING ON PINTEREST

Showcase your stuff

Share some secrets

DON’T include pricing on your pins

Connect with the community

Collaborate

Build your brand image

Create variety with videos

Stay social

Add buttons to your site

Run a contest

Hass Avocado Board

Slow growth of followers in the beginning

Created “Avocado Lovers” Board

Invited a few bloggers in the community, and

then opened it to anyone who requested

Low maintenance, delete duplicates

Results: 11,170 followers, 10,158 pins to 1 board

/ 12,429 followers to profile

Unsolicited blog posts

Lots of content and conversation starters

More followers than Dunkin Donuts, Panera

Collaborative Board

CASE STUDY

Visit Savannah Marketing the Savannah area for leisure

tourism, meetings and conventions

Began using Pinterest in November 2011 as an experiment – in just 3 months attracted nearly 12,000 followers

Sept 2012: 16,038 followers with 32 boards

Personalized – “… by Amy B.”

Organized by Interests and Lifestyle

Pinterest tab on their Facebook page

Harness the power of Paula Deen (and butter)

Variety of Visuals

CASE STUDY

Four Seasons Austin

Builds boards around the city

Austin Lifestyle – weddings, adventures, day trips

Amenities – in-house dining options, amenities, spa services, meeting space

Sept 2012: 690 followers with 19 boards

Contrast this with Chicago (327 followers) and

Los Angeles (567 follower) who are much less

city-focused.

Other hotel ideas – city, design, event photos,

what a wedding would look like

Build Around Lifestyle

CASE STUDY

Best Western Niche – Celebrating Small Business Week

“How to Enjoy the Traveling, of Travel”

Prize - $500 Best Western Gift Card

“Share with us the things you enjoy while out on

the road traveling for business.”

Pin items to YOUR board and then post the link

in the comments on Best Western board

Showcases what they’re good at – Budget

Travel for business or pleasure

Contest – Create board

CASE STUDY

Jetsetter Community that provides members with insider

access, expert knowledge and exclusive deals on the world's greatest vacations to travelers

Asked fans to make the ultimate travel destination pinboard from Jetsetter.com and web with #JetSetterCurator hashtag

4 categories – escape, adventure, style, cosmopolitan (market research), posted exs

Big name Panel of Judges – Arianna Huffington

Prizes for best pinboard & most followers

1.6 MM followers

Contest – Curator

CASE STUDY

CONTEST BEST PRACTICES

Contest type – Best pinboard, Most likes/repins, Sweepstakes

Consider board names and placement

Include detailed instructions – hashtags, board title, comments, forms

Review Pinterest’s Terms & Conditions

Create a landing page with contest info, rules, and regulations

Make sure your images are pinnable and land users on relevant page

Support contest through eblasts, blogs, Facebook, Twitter, website

Benchmark engagement

Use thoughtful copy for image captions

HOW ABOUTsome tips and tricks

INCREASE ENGAGEMENT

Include a call to action in pin description

INCREASE VISIBILITY

Pin 1 hour before the the peak periods

GET FOUND

Use keywords in images, descriptions, and titles

INTEGRATE WITH SOCIAL MEDIA

Integrate with other social media

INTEGRATE EMAIL MARKETING

Include follow icons and “pinspiration” in email

CHECK ORIGINAL SOURCE

Ever clicked a pin only to go to an error page?

ON THE WEBSITE

On the home page, footer, and “Pin It” on pages

AVOID LOOKING LIKE A SPAMMER

Do not only include links to your website

Do not post the image more than once

Do not use stock images

Do not fail to organize your boards

Do not neglect to “like” and repin

Do not pin your image in the wrong category

MEASURE SUCCESS

Benchmark and measure success!

Metrics

Referral traffic

Clicks per pin

Re-pins per pin

Average visit duration

Conversion rate

Platforms

PinReach

Repinly and more…

Q&Ait’s your turn