The TikTok craze began about a year ago, and it appears that it is here to stay. The app’s name has generated a lot of excitement, and marketers are still figuring out how to incorporate it into their plans best. The vacation rental industry is one of the industries where TikTok still needs to be applied. This post seeks to outline all of the essential components of the TikTok app and how you may utilize them to expand your vacation rental.
TikTok: What is it?
A video-sharing social media site, TikTok is constantly enhancing and introducing new features for its users. Social network users can make, post, and share 5- to 60-second-long movies. These videos include routines, lip-syncs, magic tricks, music challenges, comedy challenges, and dance videos.
To comply with China’s tight censorship regulations, TikTok has a sibling app that only operates there. This app has all the same functions and is used in the same situations. One of the top start-up businesses, ByteDance, is the owner.
Most people will board the TikTok train extremely late, but you must already be developing your TikTok marketing plan. TikTok is still primarily used by teenagers, but it is also becoming increasingly popular among adults.
TikTok’s Standard Features
Let’s quickly go through TikTok’s fundamental features before we explore how vacation rental companies can use them.
1. Uploading and editing videos, first
You can post your videos to TikTok and edit them and add various effects, music, and sounds. Additionally, similar to Snapchat, you may use specific filters to alter the video’s qualities (speed) as well as your facial features (hair, eyes, etc.).
@cloud9cabinsCloud 9 Cabins is a luxurious vacation property in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, with four bedrooms and four bathrooms. #interiordesign #renovation Live streaming of Petit Biscuit 2’s “Sunset Lover.”
2. Live Streaming
You must have at least 1.000 followers on your account to access this application feature. Many rumors surround the “Live Streaming” option, but let’s stick to what we can confirm. To use this feature, you must, however, have 1.000 followers.
The option should be available when you tap the center “Cross” icon to go “live.” Even when the conditions have been met, there have been situations where this option has yet to be offered.
TikTok can be used to conduct live tours of your vacation rental properties, such as:
@moving.mountains
Original sound: moving. Mountains See Me Lodge is your haven from the outer world. It is located in Steamboat Springs and offers a luxurious holiday rental.
3. Use of Social Media
You can save your films to TikTok and then share them with other social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and others. Your TikTok username account is embedded in the video when you save it or post it on other social media platforms, allowing viewers to follow you there.
Ensure that you provide a link to your website, other social media profiles, or contact information at the top of your video if you want viewers to visit those locations:
@raro villas if you’re planning your next vacation in a villa, use the hashtags “rarovillas,” “Puglia vacation rental,” “Italy dreams,” and “tikttokers” Duet Option – Clap Snap (remix) by Icona Pop (Collaboration)
4. Duet Option (Collaboration)
Originally intended for two users to sing along to songs, this feature has proven to be a fantastic tool for teamwork.
TikTok users are increasingly using this feature to make films with pals. Not just for duet singing but also for magic feats, hilarious memes, and challenges.
To create duets, you must first find the video you wish to sing with. Then click the “Share” button on the right. You are recording a video on one side while the original video is on the other.
You have access to every option on the screen when recording. You can alter the video’s pace, apply filters and beauty effects, and set a timer using the options on the right side.
The “Sounds” icon, which displays the newest music trends and trending viral videos, may be found on the screen’s upper side.
The Inn Between, for instance, takes advantage of this function to let visitors see her responses to the videos they take within her vacation rentals.
If your Airbnb home has a ring light, @theinnbetweentx#duet with @corinneup. #playwithlife #lifeathome #airbnb #frioriver #concan #texas #texasgirls Craig Morgan’s International Harvester, number five.Â
5. Extra Features
The TikTok app allows you to make a QR code that you can share with other users so they can find you and subscribe; it has an integrated music library with a wide selection of songs that you can use on your videos; and, most importantly, it has a geolocation feature to highlight live broadcasters in particular areas.
Incorporate TikTok into Your Vacation Rental Business
What does TikTok’s existence signify for vacation rentals now that we know about it? Certain hotels are already utilizing it!
We understand it. There is no true method to calculate your return on investment when it comes to the time you invest in making TikTok videos, which can be expensive. You need to determine if all the views will result in additional reservations.
However, if you want to target a younger audience, TikTok might be a fun method to increase brand recognition and advertise your vacation rental business.
So, what should a proprietor of a vacation home do like you do? Following are some practical suggestions based on what other businesses are doing:
1. Utilize hashtag challenges.
The algorithm of TikTok is by far its greatest benefit. Nobody truly knows the algorithm’s true purpose, so we can only be certain that it is based on “virality” for now.
The key component of TikTok’s virality is the challenges that come with a hashtag and inspire users to contribute their videos.
TikTok enables businesses to design challenges with unique sponsored hashtags. Users can then submit and share their content using this hashtag that addresses the brand’s challenge. A page with the challenge and TikTok Ads will be made, and this is where all of the user-generated content will be kept.
Most firms that use TikTok already try to brand the hashtags by including their name or another specific phrase in the challenge.
The #BookingBoogie challenge, for instance, was launched by Booking.com and required participants to shoot a video of themselves dancing while traveling.
@imnickrobertson Do you care or not? Booking Boogie supports UK comedies. Boogie Booking at booking.com
Although Booking.com undoubtedly has a sizable audience, you can still modify your marketing. Consider who you want to reach, how you can relate to them, and what one straightforward topic they could be interested in posting about. What about vacation weekend wardrobe changes between Saturday and Sunday?
2. Benefit from brand alliances
You might use this as a magic trick. Make use of brand advocates. Consider collaborating with brand ambassadors if your company doesn’t currently have a social media marketing strategy in place.
Don’t get me wrong, though. You are not required to work with well-known individuals like Jennifer Aniston or Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez.
You should take three easy steps for your vacation rental business.
Start by investigating and identifying the traits of your current clients (or desired customers, if you wish to change them). Know their age, gender, interests, and country of origin.
In addition, once you know your target market’s background, you can look into local micro-influencers in the tourism industry. Look at who is active right now, whether they have worked with specific brands already, how they treat their fans, and what kind of content they post.
Thirdly, get in touch with the micro-influencers who made you feel at home and request that they serve as your brand’s spokespersons. Set up an online meeting, go over your proposal, and let them use their TikTok to advertise your company.
As an illustration, “Laurengodwin,” a user on TikTok, has a fan base of about 19 million users. Many young people who follow her make up her fan base. The Taco Bell Hotel thus teamed up with her. When she arrived, she stayed at the hotel and uploaded a video. The video showed her room door, the hotel lobby, the front desk, and the pool and pool bar view.
On a smaller scale, a user with 8000 followers featured The Funky Loft on TikTok.
@shelby Barnes
Would you stay here? – NYC travel advice Death bed (coffee for your brain) – Powfu NYC, new york, Airbnb, boho style, vintage, stay here, travel journals, and Make The Leap
Your homes and vacation rental brand are promoted by collaborating with TikTok users on other accounts with followers that you might not have otherwise contacted.
3. Develop your social media funnel
Although TikTok is a fantastic new social networking tool, there is a significant disadvantage. It does not provide useful data, statistics, or indicators of how well your marketing approach is working.
So, rather than having to wait for the application to deliver data on your sales figures, you may start pointing your followers to your other social media accounts. This will include them in a “new” marketing funnel and make an effort to influence them.
Several accounts, for instance, include their Instagram username or website URL on their TikTok profiles:
4. Affiliate Marketing Advisory Board
In this case, the procedure is comparable to brand collaborations. But you need to do several things differently to develop legitimate affiliate programs. Regardless of their fan base size, find everyone who fits your brand and target audience, send them a unique promo code, and ask them to listen to a pitch. You offer them a specific portion of each code purchased under their name for your holiday rental.
This will generate little traffic for your business or website, but if an influencer is savvy enough to capitalize on your offer, you’ll win.
Does TikTok work well for your company?
It’s incredible how quickly TikTok’s fan base has grown and expanded. Although it’s a hot topic, only some people have used it well.
It all depends on who your target market is and how much time and effort you want to invest in it. Only a few vacation rental firms are using it, so the app can be ideal for you if you’re trying to reach a younger demographic.
Therefore, if your company’s crew is exceptionally innovative and is aware of Internet culture, go for it!
