Written by: Andy Ogg – Editor for Travel Professional NEWS
Pinterest started as a place for ideas, and now it can be used as a tool to plan travel. With over 110 million active users, the overwhelming success of the social media platform definitely isn’t going anywhere but up. As these days turn to months, the sites functionality, offerings, and interactivity continue to grow with no end in sight. The statistics are overwhelming and while all of that is great, why should you care about or use Pinterest?
Well in short, managing a successful Pinterest profile can make you money, attract new clients and increase your relationships with current clients. Let’s discuss three reasons why Pinterest should be your work in progress from today on.
Use Pinterest to collaborate, plan and create the perfect trip for your clients
Creating a Pinterest account takes about 3 minutes. Creating a Pinterest board takes about 30 seconds. Create a Pinterest board for your clients on their behalf and name it custom, just for them. Invite your clients to “collaborate” with you on this Pinterest board and you both will have the ability to gather ideas, images, places, activities and much more for their upcoming trip. The board serves as a “common ground” if you will, and allows for every collaborator to add pins to the board of destinations or activities of interest.
Imagine your clients are discussing a Hawaiian vacation for their family of 5. They want the full deal with a week long cruise followed by a post stay on the island of Oahu. This Pinterest board, created by you for them, would act as a common “gathering” of the parents, teenagers, and even kids of activities they wish to do on their adventure. You will be notified when something is pinned to the board for your clients and with each pin, is not only another great activity or attraction to make your clients vacation the best, but commission, commission for you.
The collaboration of ideas will not only help you in booking their dream adventure but it will also give you fantastic insight into their preferences, likes and passions. Whether they are the thrill seeking family looking for scuba diving, ATV riding and zip lining or the family seeking tranquility and relaxation, this Pinterest board will show you who they are and what they want.
Build Pinterest boards showing your Niche specialty
Whether you are specialist in Hawaii, River Cruising, Adventure Travel or Group Travel. Create a Pinterest board for each of your specialties, showing your experience and expertise. The active lifespan of a Pinterest board with a unique offering tends to be displayed on up to 200% longer than a post on Facebook or Twitter. While the reach of a Pinterest board does decrease over time in exposure, they live on forever and the board link can always be shared with prospective clients. Your pins on your created boards aren’t just seen by your followers, they are seen by ANYONE looking for that specific topic. Let’s continue using Hawaii as an example. If you specialize in Adventure Travel and know the things to do in the Hawaiian Islands for active clients, your board could show all of these activities and display your contact information on every pin.
Creating a board is free and only involves your time. If you have images hosted on your website of these activities, pin those to your board, they will link directly back to your website. Do you post blogs of your trips? Great! Pin them to your board and Pinterest will link it back to your blog. The power of this is endless and can be sorted by your own desire. Niche is the key, as we all know, so take it one step further and not only create boards for the Hawaiian Islands, but create boards for each type of travel on these islands.
Want to sit by the pool and drink Mai Tais’s?
Perfect, here is my Pinterest board showing the best pools and Mai Tai’s in the Hawaiian Islands!
Want to cliff jump into the blue Pacific Ocean?
Perfect! Here is my board showing all kinds of extreme activities that I can get you to!
Client Experiences > Testimonials
Create a board for “My Clients Adventures” and gather photos from your travelers to share with the world. The imagery may prove to be more effective than a testimonial when someone finds your Pinterest boards. Seeing real people on real adventures is one of the latest trends in effective marketing, don’t let the competition take it away from you, show the world how amazing you are as a Travel Professional and what you can offer them!
The time needed in building a successful Pinterest profile isn’t months, it’s a minute here and a minute there. Pinterest was once highly used by the female population and now nearly 33% of new signups are male, including myself. The possibilities of this platform are endless and seeing as it’s one of the only Social Media platforms increasing annually, there may be reason to be a part of it and promote yourself and your business on this avenue.
If you would like to see more on this topic, email me at andyogg@travelprofessionalnews.com and let me know!
Click here for some additional great statistics on Pinterest: http://www.petermorscheck.xyz/25-facts-about-pinterest-for-2016/