Tradeshow Marketing with Pinterest

Enhance Awareness and Exhibit Traffic through
Targeted Tradeshow Marketing with Pinterest

Incorporating the image-based social media site, Pinterest, as part of your overall tradeshow marketing strategy can add top-spin to your promotional efforts and help yield incremental sales.

Referred to as a virtual pinboard, Pinterest allows people to visually share items of interest and purpose they find on the internet. Users can browse pinboards created by others, and read comments left by others, and discover all kinds of helpful information to enhance their professional or personal lives, as well as grow their businesses.

How it Works

Pinterest members upload and post images, logos, videos, random ideas, and event dates on their designated pinboards, which can also feed other social network accounts.

Users keep their "pins" organized by categorizing them into boards (or folders), according to their preferences.

For example, if a user is involved in baseball card collecting, he or she may have pins categorized by year, team, or division in which the player on the card participates.

This makes it easier to discover the exact information for which other members are searching. Further, most smart phone users can download a Pinterest application that allows them to access their pinboards whenever they want.

Potential for Businesses

Businesses who leverage the strength and reach of Pinterest as part of their tradeshow marketing can further awareness and revenue goals. Since exhibits, banners and products evoke strong visual messages, Pinterest can serve as an excellent addition to marketing initiatives that are already in place.

Moreover, there is no dollar investment required to exploit the benefits and potential reach of this growing social network.

Currently, the majority of Pinterest users are women, who tend to search categories like apparel, cosmetics, arts and crafts, household DIY and recipes. Yet, considering Pinterest's seamless integration with other networking sites, the user base and categories are evolving to include more men and businesses.

Examples of How to Leverage Pinterest as an Exhibitor

Pin information regarding your show attendance, include the location of your booth exhibition times, and contact information.
Feature visuals of products that are going to be on display and/or demonstrated in your booth area. Also consider pinning your sales literature and any promotional items or specials that will be available to attendees who stop by your exhibit.
Provide links to sites where Pinterest members may gather more information about event attendance, as well as your specific products. These links may also take users to e-commerce sites where exposure to items can lead to sales.
Include photos and biographies of the people who will be staffing your booth. Include a personal message from each individual.
Pin information about any promotional drawing, games, giveaways, or entertainment that will take place in your booth area.
If the tradeshow sponsor has a pinboard, post positive information about the pending event (perhaps a photo from last year's show) and information about your company's participation.
During the show, you can upload photos of your booth, tradeshow visitors, and contest winners. Then send a text to your prospects with a link to the new images.

Success with Pinterest

When tradeshow marketing with Pinterest, it is essential to reach out to your defined prospects and clients — and let them know about your Pinterest account, boards, and information. Use Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn marketing, email, direct mail, or text marketing to request a "follow."

Be sure to integrate the Pinterest logo or badge and account link on your website, as well as in the footer of your emails and other digital communications.

Promoting a Pinterest account includes repinning, making comments on others pinboards, and following members' pinboards, similar to the way Twitter users follow each other. Repinning something taken from another's pinboard naturally drives traffic because whenever something is re-pinned, that person is notified of the action.

Usually, the person is curious as to who re-pinned something in which they were interested. They will click on the link leading them to your account, which then gives them the opportunity to skim your boards and potentially become a new customer.

Comments are another way to promote your tradeshow participation. Since comments remain with the pinned item, anyone viewing that item and reading comments is a prospective customer.

In addition, Pinterest members who receive comments on their pinboard are notified each time a new comment is made.

A Final Note about Tradeshow Marketing with Pinterest

When using Pinterest, as well as any other social media site to promote a product or business-related initiative, remember that too much promotion is irritating to people and often results in their avoiding you and/or your company.

For example, Twitter followers are familiar with the scenario in which they start following someone who sounds interesting, only to be bombarded with frequent self-promotion statements and links. Consequently, this kind of marketing ploy results in followers "unfollowing" your company.

Above all, tradeshow marketing with Pinterest should represent just one element of a thoughtfully planned, well-targeted marketing strategy, which includes specific marketing actions before, during and after the show.

For more information on promotional planning, click here: Effective Tradeshow Planning.