Jenn Barber is a social media strategist who helps clients connect with opportunities on social media. Some of her client successes include growing a Facebook page to over 40,000 likes in under 6 months, attracting over 680,000 referred visits from Pinterest alone, and having content retweeted by major publications. Travelers extensively use the internet and social media for travel planning and research. Pinterest has over 10 million monthly unique visitors in the US and is a popular site for users to organize and share images they find interesting or inspiring on customized boards. Marketers can leverage Pinterest for travel marketing by showcasing their content and services, sharing tips, avoiding direct pricing, connecting with the community, and running contests to

2. SITELAB INTERACTIVE
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
@jbarber5000
 Attracting over 680,000 referred visits from
Pinterest alone
 Writing engaging content Retweeted by the
Huffington Post and Self Magazine

3. 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

4. ENTER PINTEREST
another social media site

5. 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.

6.  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

7. 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

8. CVBs, Media, Attractions, Airlines, Hotels…

9. SO WHAT…
are these people doing?

10. EXPRESSING THEMSELVES

11. CREATING REMINDERS

12. SHARING & RECOMMENDING

13. LEARNING & EXPLORING

14. SEARCHING & DISCOVERING

15. WELL, I’M READY
how about you?

16. First, let’s decide where we’ll go…
Evaluation – Beautiful Pictures

17. Ok, what will we do when we get there…
Collection – Easy-to-Share Content

18. What are we going to pack…
Preparation – Helpful Tips & Amenities

20. We’re back… that was fun!
Sharing – Beautiful Pictures

21. GET STARTED
some recommendations

22. 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

23. Hass Avocado
Board
Collaborative 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
CASE STUDY

24. Visit Savannah
Variety of Visuals
 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)
CASE STUDY

25. Four Seasons
Austin Build Around Lifestyle
 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
CASE STUDY

26. Best Western
Contest – Create board
 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
CASE STUDY

27. Jetsetter
Contest – Curator
 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
CASE STUDY

28. 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

29. HOW ABOUT
some tips and tricks

30. INCREASE ENGAGEMENT
Include a call to action in pin description

31. INCREASE VISIBILITY
Pin 1 hour before the the peak periods

32. GET FOUND
Use keywords in images, descriptions, and titles

33. INTEGRATE WITH SOCIAL MEDIA
Integrate with other social media

34. INTEGRATE EMAIL MARKETING
Include follow icons and “pinspiration” in email

35. CHECK ORIGINAL SOURCE
Ever clicked a pin only to go to an error page?

36. ON THE WEBSITE
On the home page, footer, and “Pin It” on pages

37. 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

38. MEASURE SUCCESS
Metrics
 Referral traffic
 Clicks per pin
 Re-pins per pin
 Average visit duration
 Conversion rate
Platforms
 PinReach
 Repinly and more…
Benchmark and measure success!

39. Q&A
it’s your turn