Social media is among the key marketing tools of our age. Internet’s shift towards a more social platform necessitated some industries, which have always desired to reach more potential customers, to keep abreast of this shift. Industries with an already high level of social interaction have naturally made the most out of this process. Accommodation industry is one of them.
There are several channels of social media marketing which you can use to access your potential guests. Facebook and Twitter are the first channels that come to mind. However, besides the two social networks, there are many alternatives such as Google+, YouTube, LinkedIn and Instagram.
And, of all these social networks, one offers a huge potential for hotel marketing. Yes, we are talking about Pinterest. Let’s have a look together at why Pinterest plays such a significant role in hotel marketing and how one can benefit from this website…
What is Pinterest?
Pinterest is a photo sharing platform where users can create their own collections of a wide range of photos. Users can choose photos to share from any online source, while other users can re-post those photos thanks to the feature of “Re-pin”, in a way similar to Facebook’s “Share” or Twitter’s “Retweet”.
With approximately 30 million visitors and almost 220 million page views, Pinterest is an extremely popular social network. Majority of Pinterest members are users, as is the case with other social networks. However, brands and businesses also actively use Pinterest as a marketing tool.
What makes Pinterest important for marketing?
What sets Pinterest apart from other social networks is its structure based on merely images. Photographs deserve attention as one form of the most influential posts on social media. This is not a unique feature of Pinterest. On Facebook, for example, photographs have the highest effect among all the posts.
Besides, users have different perceptions about social networks. While Twitter serves as a source of news and info/news sharing platform, Facebook makes people feel that they are in touch with their acquaintances. Research shows that Pinterest serves more as a facilitator when it comes to shopping and purchase-related decision making, which makes it a key factor in marketing for industries relying on images.
Effects of Pinterest on hotel marketing
Accommodation industry is among the industries benefiting from images. There are many impressive materials you can share, from the photos of your hotel to surrounding natural and historical heritage and seasonal concepts. Connecting your potential guests through your photographs is a practical way to convince them to book online.
How to use Pinterest for hotel marketing?
We will elaborate on it later. However, we firstly recommend you to start using Pinterest in order to follow what brands and hotels, in particular, are doing on this platform. Then, you could create different boards to introduce your hotel and its facilities. Different boards such as “rooms,” “restaurant” and “beach” may be helpful. Do not, however, limit yourself by only sharing such boards. Enrich your Pinterest account with albums that speak for your concept. To throw out an idea, memorable wedding ceremonies your hotel hosted or attractions of your location may be compiled in different albums. Before creating such albums, you could also prepare some parts of your website to ensure visitors are redirected to your page.
When used effectively, Pinterest is a promising candidate to be the most influential tool for hotel marketing. No matter how high its influence is, though, note that Pinterest is only a tool that complements your entire range of marketing activities. And you have an assistant available for marketing and management of your hotel: HotelRunner. Sign up today and start promoting your hotel on HotelRunner, processing online bookings and making higher profits.
