Should you be promoting your vacation rental on social media? Social media has transformed the digital marketing process today. With over 4 billion users worldwide, it’s no doubt that businesses should jump on there, and the short term rental industry is just no exemption. Done correctly and strategically, it can help you make connections with your potential guests and turn them into bookings.
The best part about marketing on social media is that you don’t have to be a professional marketer to advertise your listings. All you need is creativity, dedication, and consistency. With all these, you’ll be able to post content and write captions to get people excited about your home.
Here are the top social media platforms you need to be on to maximize your bookings
Before diving into creating your own social media calendar and strategy, it is important to determine the best platforms for marketing your vacation rentals. Our recommendations – get into Facebook and Instagram! These two biggies are mostly where your potential guests will hang out.
1. Facebook
Never miss out on advertising on the most popular social media platform. When targeting the older demographic, this is easily the best place to reach them. Even tough it isn’t their mainstay, the younger generations are still on it, too, and they might even be interested to click on your post or links.
Some ideas to market your vacation rentals on Facebook are:
1. Post photos and videos about your home and town. Try to diversify your content, not just featured content about your home but also interesting facts and places to go in your town. Your guests will most likely be interested in festivities, local attractions, and things unique about your place.
2. Share your blog links. Facebook is the most convenient way to share your links and even help grow your website traffic. Write about must-dos, places to go, restaurants to try, and any other topics that might interest your guests.
3. Engage with other Facebook pages. Look for local Facebook business pages, organizations, and events. Comment, like, and share their posts. Doing this will not only boost your online presence but you are also helping a local business grow.
4. Find relevant Facebook groups and start posting content. There are a lot of travel groups you can join, too. Post your property availabilities and don’t forget to feature your town, too. You can also join Airbnb hosts and vacation rental owners groups where you can learn more tips and tricks to advertise your property and grow your business.
5. Run ads. Boost posts that are performing well or you can run an entire ad campaign. When running ads, you can set demographics to target those who will most likely see your campaigns.
2. Instagram
For more visual content that appeals to the younger generation, Instagram is your go-to social media platform. It goes hand-and-hand with Facebook and you can cross-post your content on both platforms.
Some ideas to market your vacation rentals on Instagram are:
1. Brand and optimize your profile. Put an appealing profile photo which might be your logo or an attractive photo of your home. Choose a username that should be easily read and remembered. Put in your business category and your direct booking or website links.
2. Post interesting content like before and after reels or photos, reviews, beautiful property photos, yourself as a host, and property walk-throughs.
3. Engage with your audience through comments, likes, mentions, and sharing their content on your stories. Follow local businesses, events, and organizations too, and mention them in your stories.
4. Organize your Instagram highlights and feature the most interesting facts and things to do and try in your town. You can also add FAQs about your property.
Effective social media marketing tips for your Short Term Rental Business
Without a clear strategy, your social media marketing efforts will be wasted. Read on for some tips to keep in mind when starting social media marketing.
1. Choose the right social media platform and be consistent when posting. Create a social media content strategy and calendar and plan your posts ahead of time. Mark important dates and create relevant content for them. When using Facebook and Instagram, use the Facebook Business Suite to schedule posts in advance.
2. Engage, engage, engage! Without consistent engagement, your social media strategy will be in vain. Engaging with your target audience will broaden your reach more to potential guests.
3. Analyze. Don’t forget to track your metrics. There are a lot of social media tools that you can use to see your insights but the best one when using just Facebook and Instagram is the Facebook Business Suite. It’s free and just like any other social media tool, it gives insights into your reach and engagement.
4. Watch tutorials and listen to podcasts. There are lots of free tutorials on Youtube to give you an in-depth overview of social media strategies that you can implement when delving into this form of marketing. Here’s one we recommend for you to watch and this podcast is a good one to listen to.
5. Hire a social media manager. Join Facebook groups for hosts like you because most likely social media managers that specialize in providing services for vacation rental owners also hang out there, or ask for recommendations from fellow hosts, or for an easier way, visit our helpers list and create an account with us to find your perfect social media manager.
We hope that these tips will help and guide you when starting your social media marketing. Happy booking!
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Vacation Rental Marketer
Naomi specializes in helping c-suite women leaders in the hospitality industry. With her educational background in hospitality and years of working as a marketing virtual assistant, she has honed her skills in crafting engaging social media content, developing effective marketing strategies and creating meaningful connections with industry experts and audiences.
