Leveraging Pinterest as an Event or Meeting Planner

Pinterest is one of the fastest growing social networks on the planet yes, it is a social network – it has comments, likes and “repins” which make it social. And, it’s now one of the top fifty web sites on the Internet, with millions of visitors per day.

Tips on leveraging Pinterest:

1. Optimize your profile properly

With a great and compelling description, link back to your web site, integration of your other social media accounts, set up multiple “boards” (these are collections of pins which are images or videos) that represents your brand as an Event Planner properly and don’t be afraid to show some personality with your Boards. The mobile event apps deliver the best linking between your social accounts.

2. Use your Smartphone and/or digital camera

Take images of and/or videos (keep them short less than 1-2 minutes) of attendees, short video clips of presenters, interviews of attendees and upload these to an “Event Specific” Board that you share with attendees. You can also solicit images from attendees from your conference app and share these on a Pinterest Board as well – everyone loves to be “famous” for a few minutes. Make sure you don’t share something that might embarrass an attendee later – those late night pictures at the bar may not be a great idea.

3. Share your Pins

Use images, videos and Boards across all of your social media accounts and make sure your Pinterest account (like other social media accounts) is featured via your web site, marketing materials and email signature file, And, don’t just share a Board or a Pin one time – there is nothing wrong with frequently sharing content across your social accounts, as long as you are not sharing it too frequently and you are interspersing other content as well.

4. Remember Pinterest is a social platform.

Meaning, comment on interesting Pins that you find (this also drives visibility for your account), “follow” others on Pinterest who are following you and when you repin an image make sure you “like’ it as well which underscores your implied value in your social “action” if you will. And, remember others can “see” your likes and level of social interaction and engagement on this platform – social media is very transparent and Pinterest is no different.

5. Add Pinterest’s Pin It Button

Add the pin it button to your mobile event app and website. Use your  smartphone shorcuts to makes it easy for you to share images and videos that you like via your Pinterest account. The button is free and works great via any top tier browser (IE, Firefox or Chrome) and it works with 95% of the smartphones on the market today.

6. Use live videos:

We’ve mentioned this earlier – but, important to underscore. Most use Pinterest for images and forget about videos – but, videos can be uploaded to your Pinterest account and you might even want to create a Board with nothing but video content. Ensuring your account stands out from others. Again, keep your videos short – many of your “visitors” don’t have a lot of patience and the best content is content (videos) that is engaging and that resonates with your target audience (not to sound too geeky).