It’s the third most popular social media platform in the country — behind only Facebook and Twitter.
Pinterest, a virtual pin board that lets participants organize and share their interests by “pinning” images to their boards, gets more than 20 million visits a week, primarily from women.
So it only made sense that Visit Savannah, which already has a Pinterest following that’s 10 times larger than the next destination marketing group, would use it to promote a “girls getaway” contest.
Marketing specifically to women, the “Savannah No Boys Allowed” Pinterest contest, which began July 27, will give one winner and her guest a prize package worth more than $3,000 from such local hospitality partners as the Mansion on Forsyth, Poseidon Spa, 24e, Savannah Theatre, Jepson Center for the Arts, Jazz’d, Fab’rik Savannah and the Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace.
“Visit Savannah has been a leader in using social media as a marketing tool and has gained a huge following on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram by producing great content,” said Melissa Yao Hille, chief marketing officer for Visit Savannah.
“Pinterest, being all about visuals, is a perfect way for us to use Savannah’s charming and beautiful imagery to our advantage to reach new audiences and deliver engaging new content,” she said.
With nearly 15,000 Pinterest followers, Visit Savannah is digital light years ahead of other destination marketing organizations, according to leading social media and tourism researcher Anne Hornyak.
The state of Michigan’s tourism arm, Pure Michigan, is second with 1,450 followers. Among tourism groups, Visit Savannah had the most new followers in June and is one of the most active, with 32 pin boards and more than 3,000 pins.
Users following the Visit Savannah pin boards can “repin” their favorite Savannah images to their own boards to share with their Pinterest followers and Facebook friends.
The idea, Hille said, is to create more Savannah awareness and buzz and “hopefully inspire more people to visit our beautiful city.”
For the “Savannah No Boys Allowed” contest, followers create their own boards using either Visit Savannah pinboards or images they have collected to represent the elements of their dream girlfriends’ getaway. Boards are submitted through the Visit Savannah Facebook page, and a panel of judges, including representatives of businesses who donated to the prize package and Visit Savannah staff, will select a winner.
“We want the winner to tell us — through her contest entry board — what she and a girlfriend would do on a Savannah getaway,” Hille said, adding the winner will be the board that gets the most interaction.
The contest, which has already had more than 60 entries submitted, ends Monday, with a winner to be named the following week.
ON THE WEB
To enter or learn more about “Savannah No Boys Allowed,” visit http://pinterest.com/visitsavannah/ or blog.savannahvisit.com/.