Pinterest might be most well-known as a digital scrapbook used to plan extravagant weddings, add DIY projects to lengthy to-do lists and daydream about vacation (we even has an aspirational travel board). But, today Pinterest is another tool that strategic PR practitioners should consider adding to their arsenal. In this increasingly visual world, there’s truly no better social platform for PR professionals. While Twitter might be a great way to connect with and get to know journalists’ interests and Facebook a place to share clips, Pinterest is an effective tool to “show, not tell” the media your ideas. Here’s why adding Pinterest boards to your pitching efforts is worth the time:
Seeing is Believing
We all know it’s visuals that sell a story, but when you only have a few seconds of a journalist’s attention (if you’re lucky) you only have a handful of carefully selected words to get the idea across. Instead of a few paragraphs or bullet points likely to get skimmed, get straight to the point with your pitch by teasing the idea with an intriguing blurb, followed by a link to a Pinterest board. Furthermore, instead of saying “let me know if you need images,” a Pinterest board instantly showcases the high quality images you have available (and are likely able to provide at a moment’s notice – perfect for those working under tight deadlines).
Steering Clear of the Inbox Limit
In PR, we’ve all been warned that pitches with attachments are more likely to be sent straight to the trash (that’s if they even made it past those pesky spam filters). Pinterest provides an ideal platform to avoid attachments while still providing supporting visuals for the pitch, without using precious inbox space with large attachments.
Playing in the Digital Editor’s Sandbox
The most successful pitches are those tailored specifically to the publication and writer. So, why would you pitch an online-only, visual-based outlet without tailoring your pitch to their product? By linking to Pinterest boards within pitches to digital editors, you acknowledge an understanding of the digital landscape where they live, but you also provide easy access to web links, short informational captions and the availability of images and sharable social content.
A Sense of Place with Place Boards
We often find trends among our travel and tourism clients that are well-suited for the ever-popular listicles and round-up slideshows in online content. Place boards, a feature added to Pinterest late last year, allows users to tag locations for their pins on a map. These help provide an idea of proximity, as well as context, of the physical location of the elements of the pitch. In travel, for example, it helps us show where all our clients around a particular theme are located. - April ( @april_ingle)
