Pinterest
, the powerhouse social network where 100 million active users share content, links and products illustrated by attractive visuals, has fast become one of the most popular social media channels. Recent reports indicate that Pinterest is sending more referral traffic to websites than Yahoo! search, LinkedIn, Google + or Youtube.
As with any popular social networking platform, our first thought is, “how can we use it effectively for event promotion?”
So here are some tips on using it to promote events…
Decide if Pinterest can help attract the right attendees for your event
Before you start using Pinterest for event marketing, you need to be sure this social network will help you reach the right customers. Here’s when Pinterest might work for you:
- You’re trying to attract a female audience. 71% of Pinterest users are women – and an even higher percentage of Pinterest’s most active users are women. While one third of all sign ups now come from men, and although male monthly users grew 120% last year, Pinterest is still a bit of a girl’s club at present.
- You’re trying to reach 25 – 44 year olds. Over 50% of Pinterest’s users are between 25 and 44.
Get the right promotional content
To make Pinterest work for your event promotion, you need images or videos of your events that stand out. Content work bests on Pinterest when it has a visual wow-factor. Here are some ideas –
- Invest in a nice camera or hire professional photographer. The most popular images on Pinterest are glossy, high-res images, not photos taken on an iPhone.
- Make sure your photos have a clear focus (i.e. don’t just Pin big group shots). Content works best when it is about a specific subject such as a great outfit, a cool dance move or a crazy lights display.
- Add your logo, but make it non-intrusive. People don’t mind Pinning content that has a brand logo – as long as it doesn’t detract from the actual visual content.
- Try Pinning videos – but make sure the still image that represents your video is still attractive and visually appealing as that is what will encourage people to watch.
- Consider editing your images to include relevant quotations. Inspirational or funny quotes along with images are incredibly popular on Pinterest.
Think beyond your event to promote your brand
If your aim is increasing brand awareness and driving visitors to your website, think about ways to go beyond simply taking crowd shots at your event and leverage some of Pinterest’s most popular subjects.
- Recipes. ‘Recipe’ is one of the most popular tags on Pinterest. Can you take a series of photos of your venue’s classic cocktail ingredients and include the recipe for the drink in the comments of your post?
- How-Tos or DIY. ‘How To’ and “DIY” pictures are also incredibly popular. Can you include a how-to for a dance move that will fit in well at your event, or how to create the perfect “DIY” fancy dress outfit for your night?
- Quotes. Inspirational or funny quotations spread like wildfire on Pinterest. Do you have any great quotes that might be relevant to your events that you could include on photos or on their own?
For all of your images, make sure you host them on your own website’s blog or photo albums. Then, install the Pin It button to your browser and Pin the images directly from your website – that means that the Pin on Pinterest will link back to your website. You’ll also want to include a description for each of your images that references your brand name as well.
And with 75% of Pinterest usage taking place on mobile devices it is worth looking further into the benefits of mobile with our guide on How to get connected with mobile marketing
Have you used Pinterest for your event marketing? How has it worked for you?
This blog post was written by Natalie Grout evvnt Communications Manager.