Most cooking event businesses have heard of Twitter and Facebook and use them to interact with potential attendees. Pinterest is a social media platform that is less known and used among businesses, but just as important, if not more important. Pinterest can be easily used to market cooking events.
Why Cooking Event Businesses Should Use Pinterest
Seventy million people use Pinterest to create visual bookmarks and organize them by boards. The majority of Pinterest users are women between the ages of 18-49, although men are starting to use Pinterest more and more.
Pinterest is great for cooking events because “food and drink” is the most popular category on the platform. It’s like the two were made for each other!
Not only is it popular for the types of things cooking event attendees are interested in, Pinterest for social media marketing can be a lot more effective than Facebook and Twitter. Overall, pins have a longer lifespan than Facebook posts and are more “spreadable” than tweets, meaning one good pin can go a lot farther than one good tweet.
There are many opportunities to use Pinterest to market cooking events. This might be an untapped resource to grow your social media audience and entice potential attendees.
The Basics of Pinterest: Getting Started
Before you start using Pinterest for marketing, it’s important to know the basics of how the social media platform works.
Pinterest users can save pins (visual elements) from other websites or peruse other Pinterest accounts for inspiration. When they see something they like, they can pin it to a particular board. Clicking on a specific pin leads users to the website where they can learn more or buy a product.
Here’s how to get started with Pinterest for businesses:
- Set up a Pinterest business account
- Create boards with different categories like “inspiration” or “recipes”
- Save pins from your site and pins on Pinterest
- Upload new pins to Pinterest
That’s it – the basic flow of Pinterest. Now for some tips to help cooking event businesses get the most from this platform and get the attention of potential attendees!
5 Tips for Using Pinterest to Market Cooking Events
#1. Create Good Pins
Pinterest is a visual platform, so images are the cornerstone of any popular pin. Popular pins incorporate several visual features that engage users:
- Clear, high-resolution images
- Proper sizing
The proper pin size is 736×1102 pixels. Canva is a helpful resource for creating pins that are the correct size. - Link to website
Add a direct link to your website in each pin description so interested users can learn more. - Infographics
Infographics are highly engaging on social media. Create infographics with a short preview of what attendees will learn in cooking classes. For example, “how to make a quick vegetable broth.” Adding infographics into the mix will also diversify your content.
#2. Use Rich Pins
Rich Pins are special pins for businesses that make marketing easier. There are several types of Rich Pins that are useful for event marketing:
- Recipe
This Rich Pin is perfect for cooking events. The recipe pin includes ingredients, cooking time, serving info, and a mouth-watering photo to entice users. It also links back to your website, where potential attendees can get information on how to get even more recipes at cooking events. - Product
Does your event business also sell products like T-shirts or cookbooks? Entice customers with a product Rich Pin that includes pricing and where to buy. - Article
If your event website has a blog, use the article pin to highlight content and drive website traffic that can translate into more event attendees.
#3. Take Advantage of Pinterest Analytics
Analytics are an important part of any online marketing endeavor. Luckily, Pinterest has some pretty robust analytics built in.
With Pinterest Analytics, event businesses can see what content is popular, including what users are pinning directly from the business website. Businesses can also see how much website traffic their Pinterest account drives.
#4. Add a Call-to-Pin
Here’s an easy trick to boost Pinterest engagement: a call-to-pin. This means simply adding a statement like “Repin to your own board.”
It sounds incredibly simple, but pins with a call-to-pin can get 80% more engagement.
#5. Make your Website Pinnable
Successful Pinterest marketing means forging a connection between your website and Pinterest.
Make this connection easy by adding a Pin It button to images on your event website through Pinterest. Also, make sure to include a button on your website for users to follow along on Pinterest. In addition, you can connect other social media accounts through Pinterest to get more followers.
Now you know how to start marketing your events on Pinterest. All you need to do now is set up an account and start pinning!
