There have been several “Pin it to win it” contests on Pinterest lately but none that I’ve seen in the tourism space. Here are two good examples (Adorama and Better Homes and Gardens) that can may inspire you to manage your own Pinterest contest.
Adorama
In celebration of their newly launched Pinterest account, Adorama is running an #iloveadorama contest.
Here are the contest specs:
- Contest period: 9 days (March 9-18, 2012)
- How to enter: follow Adorama on Pinterest; pin an image tagged with #iloveadorama; comment about it on their Facebook page
- Winner selection: the pin with the most “likes” wins
- Prize: $100 Adorama Gift Card
- Promotion: contest details landing page from e-blast; Pinterest board description; Facebook post; tweet
Pros:
- Very short contest period won’t allow contest fatigue
- Rules are explained clearly on landing page
- Pin must be of an image you’ve taken yourself (copyright legality)
Cons:
- Contest period may be too short to allow an optimal amount of entries
- People might not understand what a hashtag is or how to use it
- There’s a lot of controversy about Pinterest copyrights right now, especially among photographers
- Contest details are not listed on Pinterest board, which is where the Facebook post linked
- People may not understand that the pin with the most “likes” will be named winner
- A specific voting period (where people can “like” the pin) was not clarified so pins that enter first have a greater chance of earning more likes
Results so far?
The contest is about halfway over (at the time this blog post was written). There are 134 pins on their contest board but most of the pins have 0-3 likes while one pin as 23 likes. There could be a delay with people entering their pins and Adorama pinning them to the official contest board.
The contest seems fairly easy but I think randomly selecting the winner from all the pins would make it even easier. If users promote their pin on Adorama’s board to get more “likes” for a greater chance to win, it would create the desired contest buzz but I’m not sure that people understand how or why they should do this. The Pinterest “geeks” can figure this out but new/inexperienced Pinterest users might have a hard time.
Overall, for a contest geared towards photographers who are leery of Pinterest, I think the contest is doing well.
Better Homes and Gardens 
Pinterest and Better Homes and Gardens just seems like a perfect combination.
They are very active and have over 30,000 followers. Their “Pin & Win Contest” resembles other contests where followers promote BHG by pinning items from their site.
Contest specs:
- Contest period: 2 months (March 7 – May 4, 2012)
- How to enter: create a “My Better Homes and Gardens Dream Home.” board with at least 10 images, all from BHG.com, stating why it would be a part of your dream home, and submit URL via BHG Facebook tab.
- Winner selection: judges will score the pins based on “Overall Aesthetic of the Board (33%), Creativity of the pins and descriptions (33%) and Representation of the home (34%)”
- Grand prize: $4,000 check from Meredith Corporation
- Other prizes: 10 finalists will each receive a $100 American Express gift card
- Promotion: Sporadic pins that promote the contest; Facebook post; tweet; other advertising
Pros:
- Rules and instructions are very clear
- Contest period is long enough to support high barrier to entry rate (multiple steps for entry process)
- Grand prize value is high enough to support long entry process
- Users must pin items from BHG.com, which promotes the site further and eliminates any copyright issues
- BHG pinned images about the contest to help promote it
Cons:
- Barrier to entry is high by asking users to create board, add description and submit on Facebook page
- Contest period may be a little long
Results?
I think this contest is really put together well. The barrier to entry is high but the prize has a high enough value to make it worthwhile. Besides, most Pinterest users probably already pin items from BHG.com onto a “dream home” board of their own. This just gives them an extra incentive.
The problem destinations may have with this type of contest is that people will probably pin images from other sources and there could be legality issues over correct copyrights. As with this contest, the prize value needs to be high enough for this type of barrier to entry.
Have you seen other types of Pinterest contests? If you’re running a Pinterest contest for your destination, please share it in the comment section below.