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Pinterest and the travel Industry

January 23, 2012 | Hotel Marketing

In the travel industry, DMOs are going to have the easiest time creating a presence on Pinterest. The point of the site is to drive someone to your tourism destination, which can be done easily through pictures that will tell your story.

The beauty of Pinterest is that it gives marketers a key advantage to consumer insights. How? Use the site as your own personal focus group. By doing so, you are afforded the benefit of learning about the interests and lifestyle of those pinners that follow your brand. This gives you more insight into their choices than the user simple entering “travel” as an interest on Facebook. Using this tool, you stand to gain a huge advantage by leveraging your target customer’s needs, and to better suit your needs as well – everybody wins.

Another smart approach, as is with any good social media strategy, is to find a clever way to involve and feature your guests, customers, and visitors by spotlighting them on your pins. For hotels, think of guests showcasing themselves enjoying your property – think a picture of a guest cannonballing into the pool. For retail, think of a picture of a customer wearing an outfit from your establishment. For a DMO, think of showcasing tourists in front of a landmark. And for a restaurant, think of a picture of a guest ready to dig into an appetizing, signature dish.

In the travel industry, DMOs are going to have the easiest time creating a presence on Pinterest in my view. The point of the site is to drive someone to your tourism destination, which can be done easily through pictures that will tell your story. It will be a bit harder for hotels and restaurants to create a presence without overly self-promoting. It can be done, but will require creativity and patience and a good dose of thinking outside of the box.

Get the full story at TIG Global

Read also *10 tips to get the most out of Pinterest for your business* at The Next Web

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