As we’ve learned, social media can be one of the greatest assets to fitness clubs and marketing departments. A relatively recent development, Pinterest, has become the new popular social network. Although fairly simple, its simplicity makes it confusing for how clubs of all sizes can use it as a marketing gain. In order to remove some of your confusion, we contacted Erica Stenz, the marketing assistant for Club One in San Francisco, who heads up social media, including Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest. Here are her responses to our inquiries:
1. What is Pinterest?
Pinterest is a social media network that allows users to post and share images or videos. Users “pin” images from their computer or “repin” from other users to their personal pinboards. These pinboards become a collection of images usually based on a common theme to represent the “individual self” or a company brand (for business Pinterest profiles). Users are then encouraged to interact, share, “like” or “comment” on items that others have posted.
2. How does it differ from Facebook?
Simply put, Pinterest is more basic than Facebook because it’s an image and video focused sharing platform. People can create a Pinterest profile by signing up through Facebook and then share their pinboards on both profiles with the Pinterest App.
3. How does Club One use it in its marketing campaigns?
We very recently created a Pinterest business page for Club One Fitness (www.pinterest.com/ClubOneFitness). Our objective is to inspire our members to lead a healthy life by pinning images that motivate them — as well as represent and also strengthen our brand equity. For example, our profile picture reflects our current marketing campaign: “One Mind. One Body. One Life.”
Another way we connect with users is with our “Motivational Monday” Facebook campaign. We upload our “Motivation Fitness Quotes” every Monday when we change our Facebook Cover Photo. This gives members a dedicated site to view all of our branded motivational fitness quotes and share them with friends. In turn, it helps to cross-promote through both networks.
4. How does Pinterest help Club One in brand recognition?
In my opinion, it’s the easiest social media platform we have that can illustrate our brand because it’s visual! Pinterest reinforces our Club One brand because we upload and repin images and videos that are consistent with Club One’s marketing campaigns across all of our social networks. In this way, members can see who we are and what we’re all about.
5. How do you believe clubs of all sizes can use Pinterest?
Larger clubs are likely to use Pinterest for brand reinforcement and brand awareness.
Smaller clubs have the advantage to highlight members and personalize their Pinterest pages a bit more than larger clubs. For example, a smaller club hosting a weight-loss challenge could highlight their members by posting before-and-after pictures of their winners.
6. How do you grow followers on Pinterest?
Much like Twitter, we follow other users’ Pinterest pages to help grow our number of followers. To generate popularity, it’s also good to use hashtags (#) highlighting key words, so that people can find us easier when searching on Pinterest.
Of course, it’s also important to cross-promote pins on other social media networks. For example, we change Club One’s Facebook cover photo every Monday, and then post the following comment: “Also be sure to check out Club One’s Pinterest page for more Motivational Fitness Quotes at www.pinterest.com/ClubOneFitness.”
7. How could Pinterest negatively impact a club?
My concern with Pinterest is that it could turn away members from interacting with us on our more prominent social media networks like Facebook that are more ROI focused. The key is to encourage cross-over rather than create siloed communities.
8. In your opinion, what has been the best Pinterest “Pin” you’ve seen Club One use?
I’ll answer that question based on results! The “pin” that Club One has had the most success with is our “Muttville Thanks Club One” pin that we uploaded from YouTube. This video represents our commitment to community involvement and social responsibility.
Our brand promise was delivered effectively through this video pin that received more than 300 views thanks to our ability to post it on Pinterest and through our collective social media channels.
Interview by Tyler Montgomery, editor
