5 ways to use Pinterest to help market your show.

Yesterday we talked about Pinterest.  But talking and taking action are two very different things.  In fact, those two things are what separate an entrepreneur from a wannabe.

So how do you take action with Pinterest?  How can you turn it into a marketing machine for your show?  Or should you?

Here are five ways you can use Pinterest to market your show:

1.  Don’t use it.

I know, that seems counter-intuitive to this post, doesn’t it?  Well, just because there’s a new toy on the market, doesn’t mean you should play with it.  Pinterest may be free but your time isn’t.  And remember, Pinterest is still in the early-adopter phase and your audience may not be there yet.  According to this infographic, about 50% of users are under 35, and about 75% are under 44.  Only 28% make $100k or more.  So if you’re a traditional Broadway play, it might be a little early for you to be pinning.  If you’re a show focused on getting a younger, female, audience, however . . . pin away, my friend, pin away.

2.  Get a page.

Just like your show has a Facebook page, go grab a Pinterest page and start putting up your favorite images.  Just remember, like the F-Book, Pinterest is a social site.  Don’t sell too hard.  You want people engaging with your brand.  Billboard-like images screaming at the viewer to buy tickets are going to get people going the opposite direction.  Social networks are social by nature.  You wouldn’t hard sell your “friend”, right?  So don’t do it here either.  TIP:  Pinterest is still in its “you must be approved” for a page stage, so apply right away so you can be ahead of your competition.

3.  Make stuff on your site pinable.

If you want people to “spread the word”, you need to make it easy for them to do so, no matter what your promotion.  Translating that to Pinterest means, you gotta make things pinable.  And, duh, you gotta tell them to do it.  Attach a PIN THIS note next to the image that you think best (soft) sells your show, and put it in an easy-to-find place.

4.  See what people are pinning about you.

People may already be pinning you and you don’t even know it.  Search the site, and see what images people are using of yours, or what people are saying.  TIP:  A quick way to do this is to go to:  www.pinterest.com/source/YOURWEBSITE.  If you find people are pinning you, guess what, you’ve just found some of your most passionate customers.  Interact with them.  They’re already spreading the word naturally, imagine what they could do with a little suggestion.

5.  Find the tastemakers and follow their pins.

It’s a similar strategy to Twitter, but if you follow the biggest Pinterest pages, and they start checking out what you are pinning, your stuff may spread to a wider audience faster.  It’s like high school – hanging out with the cool kids could get you “pinned” by the Captain of the Football Team that much faster.

We’re just seeing the beginning of the Pinterest revolution.  They’ll be making big changes to their community now that they have so many more users (and so much more data as a result).

Will they stick?  Will pinning become the new Twitter?  Or will it be the old MySpace?

Too soon to tell.  But I don’t know about you, I’m not waiting around to see what happens before jumping on board.

When my shows have the right demo, I’m going to start pinning right away.

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