Miami Herald contributing columnist Tasha Cunningham explored how small businesses can use Pinterest, a social network that acts as a virtual pin board of sorts, in their marketing mixes.
"Pinterest allows small businesses to tell a story successfully through images. This works especially well for restaurants, hotels and beverage companies," because they have products or services that are very visual, explained Ellen Marchman, principal with GetInk PR in Miami, in Tasha's column today. "Pinterest is a great tool to use with Facebook and Twitter to add another dimension to relationship building through social media."
In today's guest post, Tasha talked to a restaurant company executive to get his take on how he is using Pinterest:
By Tasha Cunningham
Looking to add Pinterest to your small business marketing mix? BizBytes sat down with Lalo Durazo, Managing Partner of the Jaguar Hospitality Group to find out how he uses Pinterest to promote his four Miami restaurants.
Q. Why did you decide to use Pinterest as part of your marketing?
A. We felt Pinterest was a natural step in our marketing efforts. We’ve greatly enjoyed interacting with our customers through other social media outlets. We see Pinterest as a fun and creative way to share our ideas, tips and of course our restaurants' dishes. It’s a great way to learn more about our customers and what they want to see more of in all of our restaurants. Jaguar Ceviche, Talavera Cocina Mexicana and Peacock Garden Café were all created with strong visual components. From our vibrant ingredients right down to the color of the paint on the walls, Pinterest is a great place to share these images.
Q. How did you get started?
A. We got started with a Pinterest page for the Jaguar Hospitality Group simply by poking around on the site and searching for other businesses and individuals we were interested in following. We have so many beautiful images we wanted to share so we started with those. From there we have added everything from recipes from our chef, links to videos, and anything online that we find inspiring.
Q. Did you find Pinterest easy to use?
A. Yes, we found Pinterest very easy to use. The site has a wonderful “Help” section, which answers every possible question you might have. We work closely with our PR firm on all our social media and they are also able to assist as needed.
Q. How much time do you spend updating it each day?
A. This varies, but together with our PR firm we aim to devote approximately 1 to 2 hours per day to our social media efforts. For us, Facebook, Twitter and now Pinterest are ideal for sharing real-time updates from the kitchen and to receive immediate feedback from our customers. Executive Chef Oscar del Rivero loves to snap photos of his new creations in the kitchen. If he receives a special ingredient and creates a new dish that will be offered for a short period of time, we can share that with our followers right away.
Q. What kind of results have you seen? Has your use of Pinterest increased the number of customers coming to your restaurant?
A. We’ve seen added interest in all three of our restaurants from our followers. For example, you might have heard about the cuisine at Peacock Garden Café but we’ve used Pinterest to showcase what it’s really like to visit with pictures of our garden and even the flowers and herbs we’ve planted for spring. We’ve also received positive feedback via Facebook and Twitter indicating people are enjoying our Pinterest boards and are excited to follow us.
Q. Do you plan to permanently add Pinterest to your marketing mix or are you trying it out to see how it works for you?
A. We are still learning how the site can benefit our marketing efforts. So far, we’ve only seen positive results from using it.
Q. Is there anything small business owners need to know about Pinterest that you’ve learned from your experiences?
A. We’ve learned it’s beneficial to follow and reach out to as many users as you find interesting. We have also noticed recently that it is a great place to interact with local and national media; many newspapers, websites and food blogs are now active on Pinterest. We really like the idea of creating this network where we can share images and ideas with others as a way to build camaraderie not only with customers but also with local businesses like ours.
Read Tasha's column in Business Monday here.
For more tips on using social networks in your small business, see BizBytes101.com