Are you looking to reach your audience in a new way? Pinterest campaigns are quickly becoming an exceptionally efficient way for Chicago home builders to display their products and increase interest in their companies. In fact, we often see Pinterest as a top social media referral source for our client’s websites.

One of the reasons that Pinterest is so popular is the visual stimulation users get while on the site. Pinterest has over 70 million users and is quickly becoming an important social media outlet for showcasing homes, mostly due to its unique platform based on visuals and external links.

Why should you care? Photos are the ideal way to capture the attention of a broad audience. By showing pictures of your products and how they could be used, people are more likely to visit your company’s Pinterest page and then visit your website for more information. When you add your photos, make sure to pin them from your website because this will help to increase your website traffic. When visitors to your Pinterest page click on your images, they will be taken to your website to see the full story.

In the spirit of generating Pinterest traffic, hosting a Pinterest contest can be a very successful social media campaign. Things to consider for a Pinterest contest include asking participants to make a separate board, promoting a specific hash tag for the contest along with encouraging participants to re-pin varying images from your boards. Don’t make pinning the contest rules, asking participants to vote or comment or requiring participants to pin from only select boards part of your contest rules. These requirements are tedious and are less likely to generate a good number of participants.

Using Facebook and Twitter to promote the contest is also an important part of generating entries. Make sure to include links to your Pinterest page when you post about the contest on your other social media outlets.

For more Pinterest tips, make sure to register for the FREE mRELEVANCE webinar, “Using Pinterest to Sell Homes,” on April 15, 2014 by going to www.marketingrelevance.com/webinars.

Mitch Levinson, MIRM, CAPS, CGP, CSP is managing partner with Marketing RELEVANCE, publisher of Chicago Real Estate Forum and the author of “Internet Marketing: The Key to New Home Sales.” He can be reached by phone at 847.259.7312 or email at mitch@mrelevance.com.