A lot of people use pinterest for personal use. We can find a lot of inspiration for several purposes such as; finding a present, looking for wallpapers, decorating your room, and many more things! But did you know that Pinterest can be used as a business tourism tool ? Let’s find out together!
What is Pinterest exactly?
Pinterest is a kind of social media tool where you can share your own or discover interesting images and/or videos. The thing that makes Pinterest unique, is that they use the idea of using bulletin boards, where each image and video represents a ‘pin’. Discover new ideas, get inspiration for your next project or travel destination, find several DIYs or tutorials and much more!
How to use the tool
- Open Pinterest on the web or download the app.
- Make an account & insert all of your information (name, profile picture,…)
- Write something about yourself or your business on your profile biography (Make it interesting!)
- Start using Pinterest by searching for interesting pins and boards.
Take a look at our in-depth video tutorial below:
Using Pinterest as a tourism business tool
Create a business account to get access to analytics, special pin formats and more and claim your website.
As a tourism business you can use Pinterest as a tool for sharing photos of what you offer within your business.
- Use it as a marketing strategy
- Inspire people to travel again
- Engage your audience
Target group
Pinterest is an inspirational app used by anyone looking for products that reflect their desire for fresh looks, new things and inspire their next purchase.
Therefore, it is aimed at a creative sector, open to new ideas, innovative and with an artistic vision.
It’s the millennials that favor Pinterest the most with 36 percent of Pinterest users falling between the ages of 18 and 29. Pinterest limits use of its platform to users aged 13 and above, but its self-service advertising tools only publish age and gender data for users aged 18 and above.
- Women make up more than 60% of our global audience
- Male Pinners and Gen Z Pinners are up 40% year over year
- US Millennial Pinners are up 35% year over year
- 45%of people in the US with a household income over $100K are on Pinterest
459 million people use Pinterest every month to find ideas and inspire their next purchase. If Pinterest were a country, it would surpass the United States as the third-largest in the world.
The target audience for Pinterest is there to try new things. To save new ideas.
People use Pinterest to plan for the future. Reach them here, and you’ll reach them before your competitors do.
Types of content when using Pinterest as a tourism business tool
The top 10 Pinterest categories are:
- Home décor
- DIY and crafts
- Entertainment
- Education
- Art
- Women’s fashion
- Food and drinks
- Beauty
- Event planning
- Gardening
Communication with the followers
It isn’t as much about personal communication, but for finding inspiration in its beautiful mosaic of categorized imagery. Essentially, a search engine.
There are pins that have gone viral on Pinterest, and when you look on that person’s account, they only have 15 followers. On the outside, it wouldn’t look like they have a successful Pinterest account, but in actuality, they are driving people to their websites, where the conversions are made.
What kind of metrics does Pinterest offer?
Top Social Media Metrics to Track
- Impressions. Impressions are the number of times your content is shown to users;
- Reach. Reach is the number of users who see your content, even if they see your content multiple times;
- Audience growth rate;
- Engagement rate;
- Click-through rate;
- Bounce rate;
- Average time on page;
- Referrals.
Special tips
There are many actions that can be done to improve the visibility and performance of tourism marketing in Pinterest, here are some tips to do so:
Creating timeless pins
Unlike other social media like Instagram or Facebook, Pinterest’s posts have a longer lifespan, normally between 3 and 6 months. This means that any travel company should be interested on creating content that still works after this period of time. Therefore, external links should keep working after a while. Anyway, it is still possible and recommended to use some temporary and seasonal information, but most of it should not be based on seasonal like in other social media. The content a company uploads on Winter should preferably still work in Summer.
Creating appealing designs
On this social media, the visuals are equally or even more important than in others. People will not click on a pin unless it is visually attractive to them. And the design of the pin and its beauty is not the only important aspect when designing, it is also important the information given as just a photo might not give information about where it is or what is the goal of the pin. Therefore, adding text that briefly describes the pin like where it is and why is it special or what they are trying to show on the pin will help enormously to make people click on it. Instead of just a photo of someone on a forest with snow, it could say as well: Experience the silence in a Finnish forest. Or enjoy the nature in FInland, or similar.
Working on the optimization of SEO
An optimized SEO content will make it show up among the first positions, and that is what any travel company wants when people look for content similar to theirs. In order to achieve this, having functional and optimized links as well as a good keyword phrase will help to position the pins among the first. To work on the keyword phrase, a good way is to look for similar content and discover what people are looking for, maybe they are looking for something more specific like extreme sports in an area or for the sustainability. In any case, knowing about it and including it will help together with optimizing the title, landing page and the description of a pin.
Tourism accounts that excel when using Pinterest as a tourism business tool
Switzerland Tourism Account
During the pandemic, the tourism account of Switzerland increased its activity and engagement with users thanks to a campaign they launched to compensate for the losses. They created quizzes and a competition to win a trip to Switzerland, through which users interacted a lot and participated considerably. The quiz had a completion rate of 80% and with it, users got to know more about Switzerland and about their matching place in that country.
Visit California
This Pinterest account offers virtual tours of its destinations and also shares the hashtag #VisitCA with which people can share their experiences and indirectly promote the account. They post this hashtag on every pin they post and thanks to their design as well they are ranked among the first in United States.
Travel Texas
Last but not least, this account has no less than 96% engagement rate, which is incredibly high. This is thanks to how their account is organized, offering and suggesting things to do on all of their boards. In addition to this, they include on almost every board the keyword “Texas”, which makes them show up amongst the top ones when someone looks for this destination, optimizing its SEO considerably.
Our impressions of using Pinterest as a tourism business tool
Pinterest is a social media channel that is not often used for marketing. Our impression is that Pinterest can be a good way to market your business as long as it is used in the right way. Pinterest requires a bit more creativity, but this gives you a company also a lot of freedom in the way of using it. When it is used right this can be a optimal channel that gives good result. Pinterest is user friendly which is a plus for the target group.
Some other usefull videos
- A 7 step strategy by Alex Tooby
- Pinterest for beginners by Nick Foy TV
- How Pinterest works! (2022 Tutorial) by Katie Grazer
- Complete Beginner’s Guide by Howfinity
- 2022 Pinterest Marketing Tutorial (for beginners) by Shruti Pangtey
Written by
Maia, Paula, Stella and Daphne
Sources
- Pinterest. (n.d.). All about Pinterest. Pinterest Help. https://help.pinterest.com/en/guide/all-about-pinterest#:%7E:text=Pinterest%20is%20a%20visual%20discovery,organized%20and%20easy%20to%20find
. - Tansey, D. (2018, May 19). Why Pinterest is NOT “Social Media”, and Your Followers Don’t Matter. Linkedin. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-pinterest-social-media-your-followers-dont-matter-deidre-tansey/
- Aslam, S. (2022, March 3). 51 Pinterest Statistics You Need to Know in 2022. Omnicore. https://www.omnicoreagency.com/pinterest-statistics/#:%7E:text=46%25%20of%20U.S.%20women%20adults%20use%20Pinterest.&text=80%25%20of%20US%20mothers%20who,active%20pinners%20are%20below%2040.
- Splice – Video Editor & Maker (App)
- Pinterest. (n.d.-b). Get started | Pinterest Business. https://business.pinterest.com/en-in/getting-started/
- Search Influence. (2019, August 15). Does Pinterest Marketing Work for Tourism? https://www.searchinfluence.com/blog/does-pinterest-marketing-work-for-tourism/
- Megginson, M. (2013, June 18). 3 Great Pinterest Tourism Marketing Accounts. Business 2 Community. https://www.business2community.com/pinterest/3-great-pinterest-tourism-marketing-accounts-0526380
- Business Pinterest. (n.d.). Switzerland Tourism Success Story | Pinterest Business. Pinterest. https://business.pinterest.com/en-gb/success-stories/schweiz-tourismus/
Hi Maia, Paula, Stella and Daphne!
Thank you a lot for this blogpost. Since the beginning is very informative and you analyze every stage of the experience, guiding an imaginary person that wants to start using Pinterest as a business tool.
This blogpost has a lot: from defining the target group, how to use it, suggestions, more links to other sources and practical examples.
I actually like Pinterest a lot for its aesthetic, even if as you underlined there is not that much interaction. From your post I understand it’s useful if used as a complementary channel with others to raise awareness.
Again thank you and great work!
Laura
Thank you Laura for your comment! As you mention, it is a very effective tool that together with other platforms can give a tourism business the repercussion and presence in the digital world it needs.
I am glad you use it, hopefully you continue like that!
Thank you for sharing this very interesting blog post on Pinterest as a business tourism tool.
Honestly, I have never used Pinterest or have even created an account myself and had absolutely no clear idea what I can do on this social media platform and or even how to use it. But when I read the introduction of your blog, I realized why. It seems like, I am not even anywhere near the target audience of this platform which is totally fine for me. Some of my friends are obsessed with Pinterest and spend hours getting inspiration for their home decor or newest fashion trends. Anyway, I also did not think and expect, that Pinterest could be used as a tool in the tourism business sector at all or to promote products within the tourism industry.
What fascinated me the most in your post is the fact that Pinterest’s posts have a longer lifespan than on other social media platforms. The fact that pins could show up in a user’s feed weeks or even months after you originally post them if they’re relevant to a user’s search is a great feature. You have also mentioned, that Switzerland Tourism has used it to encourage potential visitors to learn about Switzerland and participants could also win great prizes. I think this really shows that if marketing departments of companies use this media platform in the correct way, they can reach an even bigger target audience than on other platforms maybe.
I also liked in your post, that you were visualizing the text with pictures, provided additionally some helpful links to learn even more about Pinterest and used very understandable and smooth language throughout the entire post.
Hi Simon,
Thank you so much for your comment and for all the information you give on it. I have to admit that it was also an unknown platform for me and even more its use as a tourism business tool. It is also for this reason that I chose this platform and loved to learn more about it.
I agree, it is shocking and also very different from other social media platforms the lifespan of the content posted and I think this is one of its main differences among others.
You might start using it more from now on, now that you know how it works, who knows. In any case, I am glad you learned and enjoyed all the information we provided on this post!
Hi Maia, Stella, Paula & Daphne!
I was looking forward to this one because I’m l-o-s-t with Pinterest. I’ve only ever used it for some gift ideas (and I can see that I’m not alone because home décor and crafts are the top two categories), but I find the app difficult to navigate for some reason.
It was interesting to learn about the site statistics. Especially the point that if Pinterest were a country, it would surpass the US as the third-largest in the world. That’s incredible. I think the way you explained that it’s a search engine and how it’s primarily used for inspiration are good reminders as to why I’ve maybe found it difficult to navigate – I’ve simply tried using it in the wrong way.
The connection between tourism and Pinterest has never really crossed my mind, which made this post even better. I found the visual tours on Pinterest particularly interesting, so I checked out the Visit California account. And I can see why this has been so successful – it’s aesthetically pleasing and the collections are helpful, too. Thank you, I’ll keep exploring the app!
Hi Sanna,
I am so glad you got to use the app after reading this post and that you got to understand it better as well. I agree, many people do not know how useful it can be in the tourism sector but the results can be extraordinary if it is done correctly like in the case of the Switzerland Tourism Account or California itself as you mentioned.
Making it visually attractive is something that in most of the cases makes the difference on this platform, together with giving a useful and appealing information.
Thank you so much for the feedback, I hope you enjoy Pinterest more from now on!
Hi! Thank you for sharing information about Pinterest, especially for sharing how to use it in tourism. I use Pinterest myself but I have never really used it as a tourism tool. I’m surprised by how many different kinds of metrics the app offers. Very informative, easy-to-follow, and clear post! 🙂
Hey!
I’m so glad you’ve discovered another new utility for Pinterest and that from now on you can take this creative tool into account in the tourism sector. Thank you very much for your comment.
Well done! I especially appreciated how you had found examples of successful accounts.
Thank you very much for your comment. We’re glad that the examples have been helpful.
Hi! Thank you for your post, it was very interesting to read it. I never used Pinterest myself and couldn’t imagine that it could be used for tourism businesses. You have some nice visual examples in your post and links with additional information, that give the reader quite a full picture of this tool. When looking at the examples Pinterest seems to be an effective tool when promoting the whole destination and certain companies as a part of it.
Your post is informative and easy to read with plenty of examples, facts, and links.
Great work!
Thank you for the great post on Pinterest!
I must say that I have never thought of using Pinterest for marketing purposes, let alone for tourism businesses. Your post gave a lot of good information of how the app can be used as a marketing tool and I believe it could be really beneficial. I was surprised of how many monthly users there are and that some tourism companies actually use it for marketing. As mentioned in the blog, the posts have to work throughout the year, meaning that it might require a little more work than other social medias. Overall a really good post. well done!