It really looks like Pinterest, which enables posted images to be linked back to specific websites would be ideal for cities or counties wishing to promote their tourist attractions and build both public awareness and local pride. According to the NYT: “Organizations like the Gilt Groupe, L. L. Bean and the National Pork Board have flocked to the site to spread their messages.
Source:
http://pinterest.com/cityoftylertx/
The city of Tyler, Texas with 7 boards on the image sharing site Pinterest provides a model of how a small city (100,000) can use the service to promote itself, its economy, tourism etc. Boards include beautiful images of city flower gardens, places to visit including a beautifully renovated 1930 theater and a museum in an old plantation house etc. etc. Communities need to become more aware of ways of promoting themselves and engaging with their communities not only through text based social media (Facebook, Twitter) but through images as well. Cities and other government entities could do worse than learn from Tyler’s example.
Source: pinterest.com
Think about using Pinterest to drive engagement with your county, town, city. Pinterest has proven extremely popular and all kinds of images are being posted and shared. Think about avid fans creating and posting images of your county or city and sharing them far and wide. Its a good an fun and very inexpensive way for your place to get known: As in the Mashable article, commercial applications are getting results already but there is no reason why local government entities should not use it as well:”Pinterest isn’t just driving record levels of traffic to the websites of retailers and publishers — it’s also driving sales, some early data indicates. Wayfair (formerly CSN Stores), the second largest home goods retailer by revenue, has found that Pinterest referrals are more likely to make…
