Travel brands often allocate a hefty slice of their marketing budget to giants like Google and Meta, overlooking the untapped potential of Pinterest. For many travellers, Pinterest is the starting point to plan their next vacation, pinning everything from beach resorts and mountain getaways to airport outfits. Recently, Pinterest has been releasing bespoke functionalities for travel advertisers, and there’s much more to come! So, let's dive in and explore why you should seriously consider investing time and money in Pinterest.
From Inspiration to Reservation
Pinterest is a search engine, but unlike search giants like Google, where users already have a destination in mind, Pinterest is where the journey truly begins. It's where daydreams transform into bucket lists.
A vast majority of Pinterest users approach the platform with an open mind, eager for travel inspiration but often without a fixed destination. For your travel brand, this is the perfect moment! By curating a selection of compelling images and informative content, your brand can directly influence these early-stage travel decisions.
In essence, Pinterest serves both as a starting point and a guide for travellers. By effectively tapping into its potential, you can shape their wanderlust into actionable travel plans, positioning your travel brand at the forefront of a Pinner's journey. What better reason to embrace it as a pivotal tool in your digital marketing arsenal?
How travellers go from Inspiration to Destination on Pinterest
People Discover an Idea
People come across a travel idea, either because they're searching for it, they’ve previously shown an interest in a related topic or because they're in an advertiser's targeted audience.
Save the Idea for later
If their interest is sparked and they plan to come back to it later, they save the image (including link to your website) on a Pinterest board for future reference.
come back & Book
When they've finished exploring travel options and they're ready to buy, they may come back to their saved content on Pinterest or book directly with an online or brick-and-mortar travel agent.
High Travel Intent
Travel is a hugely popular category on Pinterest, illustrated by the tens of millions of users curating their travel aspirations and future holiday plans on their boards every month. But did you know that Pinterest users also have a much higher travel intent in comparison to users on other platforms? Just take a look at the insights below:
Key Insights on Pinterest Users' Travel Behavior*:
With almost 70 million Pinners showing an interest in travel content every month, these are compelling reasons to build your brand's presence on Pinterest!
Travel Catalogs: from Inspiration to Booked Holidays
Examples of Travel Catalog ads
Although Travel is a hugely popular category, Pinterest’s strategic focus has mainly been on introducing new e-commerce functionalities and partnerships. Bespoke Pinterest advertising tools for the travel market have been a long time coming, but that’s changing!
Travellers can now Look AND Book hotel rooms with Pinterest!
In June, Pinterest announced "Travel Catalogs", their fresh-out-the-oven ad option made just for hotels and rental companies. Travel brands load up their full catalog, and voila, Pinterest rolls out slick ads with all the juicy details like brand, price, and descriptions. For Pinterest users, booking a dream vacation is now as easy as clicking on an ad, taking them straight to your booking site from Pinterest.
Oh, and the cherry on top? Hotels can show ads based on where Pinners are peeking. Like, someone eyeing a Hilton in Paris might get a nudge towards other Hilton hotspots nearby.
TUI, the online travel agent, took them out for a spin. Their ads became more actionable, increasing their optimised click-through rate (oCTR) by 8x! On average, the CTR for Travel Catalogs is 3 times higher than that of other conversion campaigns for travel advertisers on Pinterest.
These Travel Catalogs will be rolled out to hotel and rental companies globally at the end of summer, and yup, they're bringing API support along. Ready to play?
Pinterest's New Travel Tools
Travel Catalogs are initially rolling out for hotels and rental companies. But, keep an ear to the ground, because flight bookings aren't too far behind on Pinterest's to-do list. They're also diving into cool features like deep linking, which means ads could whisk users straight into a travel advertiser's app. Plus, they're testing some snazzy lead ad formats to help advertisers scoop up details from really interested folks.
On the money side, Pinterest plays it straight - they earn from ads, and that's it. So, when someone books thanks to Pinterest, there are zero commission fees for brands. More reason to turn those Pinterest daydreamers into holiday bookers, right?
So, for all you travel businesses out there, Pinterest is pretty much a no-brainer. It's where travel dreams grow wings and take flight. So, why not jump on board?
Curious about boosting your brand with Pinterest?
We help e-commerce and travel brands generate brand awareness, traffic and qualified leads with Pinterest. Whatever stage you're at with Pinterest, we work with you to define the objectives and overall strategic approach that will increase traffic and sales for you. Consistently & Durably.
Want to know more about our Pinterest advertising and management services? Let's chat! -> Schedule your Discovery Call
Want to show up in a positive space where people LOVE to discover new ideas? We help e-commerce and travel brands, generate brand awareness, traffic and qualified leads with Pinterest. Not reaching them there yet? Let's talk!
*Sources: Global Web Index, US, Q1-Q4 2022, Pinterest users vs. Non Pinterest users index; Morning Consult, Luxury Shopping Study, US, December 2022
Mary Lumley - Pinterest Marketing for eCommerce & Travel Brands
Why Every Travel Brand Needs Pinterest
