Pinterest is a beloved visual bookmarking site that is an amazing way to generate traffic to your website.
This week, Pinterest announced a new feature that opens up the door for marketing opportunities: Place Pins.
Place Pins add a map and location to your pins so you can actually see where the pins are in the physical world, not just the digital world. As Pinterest explains on their blog:
Place Pins were designed to combine the beautiful imagery of a travel magazine with the utility of a map online so you can share it with friends. You can access them from anywhere on your smartphone, too, which means you can find new places on the go and even get directions!
Place Pins also include extra details like the address and phone number right on the Pin so you can easily pull up useful info on a weekend adventure or before a night out.
Pinterest offered some ideas on how to use the new service, but here at 9 Clouds we wanted to share some ways marketers should use the new feature to help customers find their business.
If you want to learn more how to use Pinterest and Place Pins, make sure to get an exclusive pre-release copy of our Field Guide to Social Media.
5 Ways to Use Pinterest Place Pins for Marketing
1. Map Your Locations
Showcase multiple locations of your store. You can give customers a visual of how to get to your store and what’s nearby. You can show which store has the walk-in valet service or which is near the local landmark.
Actually seeing a storefront makes it much easier for someone to walk in serendipitously next time they are out and about.
2. Crowdsource Local Knowledge
Be a local expert. Ask your customers and Pinterest followers to add interesting information about your community to a shared board. It could be anything from the best Christmas lights in town to the best burrito stands.
These boards get your audience involved with your Pinterest board (and probably following you) and also make you look like the local expert.
3. Showcase Your Clients
Just as you would write a case study and put logos on your website of who you work with, you could create a map of where your customers are. A client showcase is a great way to thank your clients for their business (they get a link after all) and to show potential customers the types of clients you work with and the ability of your business to work with customers around the globe (or local community).
At 9 Clouds, we highlight members of our social media education tool: 9 Clouds Academy. View our board to see where our members live!
4. Be a Local Guide
Provide a guide for visitors to your community. You can highlight the places where you and your employees spend your time so you add a human element to your business and community.
Your favorite coffee shops, meeting locations, Sunday outings and local watering holes are all pins that visitors would want to see. Your customers would also enjoy knowing the people behind the logo and you may just find potential customers who hang out at similar locations.
We shared our favorite spots on our 9 Clouds IRL board.
5. Educate Your Customers
At 9 Clouds we subscribe to the philosophy of inbound marketing, meaning if you can teach people about your industry, many of them will come back and hire you to provide the very services you taught them about.
The Pinterest Place world offers a new way to teach potential customers. Instead of YouTube videos showing how to do something, you can show them where they can gain more knowledge about a specific skill or area.
If you are an architect, you could showcase places where someone could look at different types of architecture in your community and learn what types of style they like. If you are a marketer, you could highlight physical locations that are good examples of marketing like signs you like, businesses that do marketing well or places that have room for improvement.
How are you Using Pinterest Place Pins?
Leave a comment and tell us what you recommend. Then, follow our boards as we experiment with this powerful new feature.
If you want to learn more how to use Pinterest and Place Pins, make sure to get an exclusive pre-release copy of our Field Guide to Social Media.
