With 4.2 billion individuals utilizing social media globally, it has become critical for every company. The short-term rental market is no exception to this rule. If done correctly, social media marketing for vacation rentals may drastically increase your reservations. As a vacation rental owner or property manager, you benefit greatly from having an internet presence.
Social media will not only help your company get in front of potential visitors and turn them into reservations, but it will also increase your business overall.
Not only does it enable you to communicate with possible tenants, but it also provides you with a platform to share your knowledge, cross-promote with other local companies, and even reach a larger demographic, such as millennials.
We’ve put up the definitive Social Media Marketing Guide for Vacation Rentals to assist you in learning more about utilizing social media as part of your marketing efforts. The following are subjects covered in this article:
- What Is Social Media Marketing and How Does It Work?
- Why Should You Advertise Your Vacation Rental on Social Media?
- How to Develop a Social Media Marketing Strategy for Your Vacation Rental
- How to Put Your Strategy into Action
- The Most Important Social Media Platforms for Vacation Rental Owners
- What Are the Benefits of Using Social Media for Vacation Rentals? The use of social media marketing to persuade new users is quite effective. When a person engages with anything you’ve published (picture, video, blog, or article) on certain sites, such as Facebook and LinkedIn, it instantly shows in that user’s news feed. As a result, something as easy as a “like” on your page or post might be viewed by hundreds, if not thousands, of people.
- Consequently, you get more free promotions and may reach folks you would never have thought about. People will stumble into your page while browsing through their feed. Each post you publish is an exciting chance to meet new people who may become consumers.
Here are just a few of the many advantages of social media and how you may use it to reach out to prospective guests:
1. Transform yourself from a host to a professional
- Social media enables you to share your expertise, demonstrating that you’re more than simply another vacation rental owner who can assist if anything goes wrong. In a nutshell, it’s a chance to demonstrate to visitors that they’ll be in excellent hands when staying in your house while on vacation.
- For instance, you may write something like, “It’s spring cleaning time on Firebird Lane.” Cleaning up the gutters isn’t enjoyable, but it’s vital to protect your next trip from being ruined by heavy rain!”
- This demonstrates that you understand the importance of property maintenance and upkeep, as well as your concern for your visitors — you don’t want someone’s vacation to be spoiled because you forgot to clean the gutters!
- Hospitality is very important to you. Furthermore, if a hurricane or storm strikes, you, like all other companies, want to demonstrate that you have taken the appropriate precautions to safeguard visitors and put their safety first.
2. Interact and grow
- Because social media is only one aspect of a wider digital marketing landscape, it’s a must-have for advertising your vacation rental. Social media helps you establish connections and assist your company get in front of potential visitors and converting them into reservations.
- Make an effort to interact with your visitors uniquely. For instance, you might question, “What’s your perfect morning coffee view on vacation?” and then post a snapshot of the view from your property along with a cup of coffee to capture people’s attention as they go through their newsfeed. In this manner, visitors will imagine themselves doing the same in your establishment. You’re not just selling a product; you’re also selling an experience. Consider how you may promote comments, likes, and shares while writing content and uploading photographs. And after you’ve gotten a few comments, be pleasant and react regularly. Thank individuals for retweets on Twitter and likes on Instagram, as well.
- The more followers you have, the more your online reputation for your vacation rental company. Your vacation rental company will develop, attract more customers, and produce more reservations overall if you are engaging.
3. Increase the number of clients you have
- If your property is only listed on one site, social media might help you get more exposure for free! You’ll be able to reach a wider audience thanks to the many accessible platforms. You can interact with various sorts of visitors through social media, including travel influencers, fitness and wellness travelers, millennials, and domestic and international travelers. Consider all of the tourists who choose to stay in hotels. Vacation rentals can be shown to deliver the same experience as staying in a hotel using social media platforms.
- With many active users on Instagram and Facebook nowadays, individuals may quickly find your page by browsing through their feed. They can also locate you based on your location, tags, and tales, enabling you to connect with individuals you would not have met otherwise.
4. Collaborate with other local companies
- The possibilities for collaborating with other businesses are limitless. Anyone going on vacation will almost certainly frequent the nearby restaurants, retailers, parks, and tourist attractions; why not form a partnership with these local businesses to reach a new audience and offer your renters something they won’t get anywhere else: discounts to the places where they’ll almost certainly be spending money?
- For example, you might advertise a promotion like this online: “Anyone who hires our property for more than two nights in April receives a complimentary drink and entrée at Mama Luna’s Grill, only a five-minute walk away!”
- In exchange for your promotion of their company, the restaurant may be willing to retain your business cards or fliers at the cash register or plan a few social posts advertising your rental. In either case, you both stand to benefit! Find a solution that benefits both sides.
- Don’t forget to include eye-catching visuals to help your offerings stand out and increase interaction.
5. Publicize bargains and other special offers.
- Everyone enjoys a good bargain. So, if you’re ready to give a three-day weekend deal, let your readers know. Facebook is an excellent tool for instantly disseminating information. So, by publishing bargains and special offers regularly, you can give your fans exactly what they desire.
- Nowadays, most travelers follow companies on social media to access specials and discounts, which is why Instagram is a useful tool, particularly if your target demographic is unlikely to use Facebook. When planning promotions, consider holidays and seasonality, such as Valentine’s Day.
- This might be a terrific free strategy to enhance your reservations by offering added-value promotions during the low season. While most social media platforms provide paid advertising to promote your postings, keep in mind that every post is an advertisement for your vacation rental in some manner. You may acquire free exposure from these social networking sites if you organize it properly.
6. Establish credibility
- Social media not only offers your company a professional appearance but also establishes trust. Consider how many companies have Facebook or Instagram profiles. Guests that come across your ad will want more information, and social media will provide that information while also establishing your company as credible. They may also read reviews left by prior visitors. Having a brand name for your vacation rental serves as the foundation for your marketing and will help you establish a reputation for your property. So, after you’ve chosen a name, you can use it across all of your platforms, providing you not just credibility but also more visibility. A brand distinguishes you from the competition and gives your visitors a lasting impression of your vacation rental. Furthermore, with a brand name, you may let your visitors use it to promote your rental. Instead of “that property we stayed in,” travelers will refer to your vacation rental brand name when they return home.
7. Volunteer as a community expert
- Over-promoting your rental homes on Pinterest, Facebook, and Twitter is a certain way to lose friends and followers. Instead, take a deep breath and take a step back.
- Use Twitter and Facebook to promote fantastic local activities and stunning beaches around your vacation property. You will naturally capture your audience after establishing yourself as a neighborhood authority and a go-to source for all the town’s must-see attractions. You can then gently remind your regular readers that you offer the ideal rental for them.
- Create a blog area on your vacation rental website to demonstrate your experience. Use this platform to create in-depth articles on what’s happening in your community and then share the stories on social media. You’ll not only establish yourself as a community expert, but it’ll also help your site get a greater reputation and internet exposure.
8. Encourage visitors to share their stories
- A satisfied visitor might be your most powerful friend. Encourage customers to create a review and to post their vacation images and experiences on social media, identifying your business in the process. They may also share a link to your vacation rental website on their Facebook and Instagram pages, as well as other social media sites. Keep in contact with previous customers. Anyone in the hospitality sector should strive to connect with previous customers. Respond to reviews on social media and your website, answer frequent queries, and thank customers for their business. At the same time, keep in mind that you must do all you can to prevent unfavorable feedback.
9. Guests can imagine themselves staying in your vacation rental
- The property itself is, of course, the selling point for any vacation rental company. Including graphics in every social media, post is a method to attract people’s attention. Furthermore, prospective guests want to inspect your vacation home and the surrounding region before making a reservation. Make sure you have many amazing photographs to present to meet their expectations. On social media, there are no boundaries, so post pictures of your spiral staircase, outdoor barbeque, or even your new duvet covers! Upload anything you believe may pique the interest of future visitors.
10. Increase the number of repeat customers
- Previous customers are valued much more than the ratings they write. You want to not only bring in new customers but also keep the existing ones coming back.
- From here, you may continue to dazzle them with social media updates, videos, and images of modifications made to the property by posting a sign or writing your social media username on a whiteboard and displaying it in your vacation rental. They’ll remember you for future travels if you keep them updated regularly.
- Customer loyalty may also be rewarded by highlighting repeat customers and providing them with discounts or special offers. You may reward current customers and demonstrate to potential consumers how much you appreciate your visitors.
How to use social media to promote your holiday rental
- There’s never a terrible moment to start planning your vacation rental business’s social media strategy. Still, there are a few things to keep in mind first, such as keeping your objectives simple, recognizing your audience, keeping up with the competition, and having a plan to track your success.
- A social media strategy entails much more than merely posting about your company on social media networks. Similarly, the information you publish may have a beneficial or bad influence on your company. Having the correct vacation rental plan in place may assure a favorable return on investment and a pleasant social media experience.
- Define your objectives.
- Setting objectives for your social media initiatives is crucial. Your social media approach will be more successful if your objectives are clearer and quantifiable. When your campaign’s objectives aren’t being reached, you may change your strategy. Social media marketing, unlike conventional marketing, enables you to track campaign results in real-time. As a result, if something isn’t working, you may change your approach to better results.
- Your social media strategy should only have one or two key objectives. Attempting to do too much in a single campaign often results in a lot of labor and little success. As a result, keep things basic and focused.
- A good social media strategy also requires an understanding of your target demographic. Who would be your ideal visitor? Know your target audience’s demographics, such as age, income, and motivations, and use that information to create buyer personas. This will help you to convey the correct messages to your target audience at the right moment.
- Finally, recognizing your competitors should always be part of any well-defined social media plan aim. Keep in mind that their target demographic is likely to be the same as yours. Look at the websites of your top three or four rivals to see what they’re up to. What kind of material do they publish, and on what platforms do they publish it? Knowing what works for your competitors can give you a better sense of what will work for you as well.
Create a social media plan.
- Schedule your material around when your visitors are most likely to be online. It won’t make sense to upload it at 3 a.m. Central Eastern Time if the bulk of your readership is from Italy. Do some research to determine the optimal times to publish your pieces so that the bulk of your visitors can see them.
- How often do you intend to post? Begin with 2 to 3 posts each week to evaluate whether it’s doable and if it is assisting you in achieving your social media objectives. You must also be consistent and explicit about the frequency of your postings. You don’t want to bombard your followers with posts at all hours of the day, but you also want to create a rhythm that works for your company.
- Make sure you’re planning your material to not seem repetitious to your audience. Add variation and value-added information to your plan to make it more interesting. This provides your viewers a topic to discuss and an incentive to return for more.
Plan your content
- It’s crucial to think about when you’ll publish, but it’s maybe even more important to think about what you’ll post. A little imagination goes a long way when it comes to content production. You want to make sure that your material is carefully created to captivate your audience and, as a result, improve your reservations. What can you say to get more visitors?
Captions that are easy to remember
- The majority of internet visitors spend less than 15 seconds on each page. That’s a very little amount of time to maintain your audience’s attention. Because you only have a few seconds to create a lasting impact, keep your material concise and sweet.
- Start with a question for your followers, such as “What is your favorite vacation memory?” and a beautiful photo of your vacation rental. Questions and simple descriptions such as “paradise is just a click away” assist in enticing prospective visitors.
- You may add more to your posts to get more followers and post interactions. You don’t want to tell your life narrative to a group of people who aren’t interested. Start small, keep it interesting, and tailor your material to your followers’ requirements.
Captivating photographs
- Of course, a clever phrase isn’t complete without a captivating photo! Many social media platforms, such as Instagram and Snapchat, are nearly entirely visual. You want your images to conjure up an idea of what a holiday in your short-term rental might be like.
Show visitors around the opulent master bedroom, submit a snapshot of the youngsters playing ping-pong in the game area, or demonstrate the size of the patio. Consider your social media to be a digital booklet for promoting your business. What do you want to draw attention to? What can you capture that will give your visitors the wow factor?
Locations and tags
Most social media platforms allow you to “tag” your photo’s location. For a variety of reasons, you’ll want to put your vacation home on the map.
First and foremost, including the location of your property helps to establish trust. When your website’s stated location matches what you’ve shared on social media, it’s a good sign that your rental is legitimate.
Remember that your vacation home images don’t have to be the only thing you post on social media. You may also use tags to highlight some of the region’s greatest restaurants, museums, or parks. Users looking for locations to visit in town will be referred to your vacation rental social media profile if you do this. It’s a fantastic approach to reach out to a larger audience and increase reservations! Adding your location also helps attract possible visitors who are simply passing through.
Locations aren’t the only thing that tags may be used for. As described above, you may cross-promote with other companies and tag them in your postings. You may also tag individuals and businesses. If you tag them in your post, there’s a strong chance they’ll share it, giving you access to their audience as well.
Hashtags
Hashtags are similar to keywords for images. You may hashtag anything you want in the shot, as well as related concepts. Because social media sites can’t “read” your images, hashtags can help you explain what’s in them.
If you post a photo of your cabin’s porch, for example, you may include hashtags like #cabin #porch #porchswing, as well as more general topics like #offthegrid #gooutdoors or #adventure.
Follow the community’s progress
Social media is a little like a real-life connection in that it is a back-and-forth. You must be active on your followers’ pages if you want them to interact with your staff. Unfortunately, social media stardom does not come overnight, so if you want your page to develop more momentum, you’ll need to sustain conversations with your fans.
You must be strategic about your relationships, just as you must be strategic about your material. Remember how we said that billions of people, not millions, use social media daily? You won’t reach everyone, but you don’t have to.
It’s best to concentrate your engagement efforts on the community you’re attempting to reach, whether it’s your current customers or future visitors. Share images from past visitors’ stays, leave comments on local restaurant articles, or “follow” travel influencers from your community. The more you engage with your followers, the more likely they are to like your page as well.
Examine your progress
Once your campaign is up and running, be sure to test and analyze your efforts regularly. Not everything will always work for everyone. You may need to tweak your efforts from time to time to focus on what is important to your target audience. This may be accomplished in several ways. Consider the following scenario:
- Conduct audience surveys
- Analyze data
- Look for bogus accounts
By polling your audience on their preferred content, you can get immediate feedback on what they enjoy, hate, and want to see more of. It also aids in increasing client interaction on your social media accounts.
Running analytics on your social media initiatives is another approach to fine-tune your efforts. There are several excellent tools available to assist you with this. According to TrustRadius reviews, NetBase and Spredfast are the two best-rated tools. NetBase received an 8.5 out of 10 rating from TrustRadius reviewers, with Meltwater Media Intelligence Platform, Radian6, and Brandwatch as alternatives. Spredfast had an 8 out of 10 rating from reviewers, who also considered Sprinklr, Percolate, and Hootsuite as alternatives.
Social media analytics tools can tell you how well your posts are doing in terms of views interaction and which ones outperform others. With this knowledge, you can fine-tune your plan to provide more of your prospective visitors.
Finally, keep an eye out for phony profiles created in your company’s name on social networking networks. It’s not something we want to believe will happen, but reality proves us wrong. By reporting bogus accounts to the social media platform, you can guarantee that your prospective customers locate and connect with your legitimate accounts, which is beneficial for your social media strategy and overall company.
Because social media is continually evolving, so should your social media strategy. Adapt your plan to succeed as your audience and engagement develop by setting new social media objectives and continuing to expand your online presence.
What are the best social media sites for holiday rentals?
Although there is no one-size-fits-all solution, you may discover that each social media platform addresses a specific requirement for your company. For example, you may publish more millennial-friendly material on Instagram while keeping your Facebook page focused on your older visitors. Experiment with each platform to find which one works best for your company and visitors.
Because Facebook owns Instagram, you shouldn’t have too much problem using this one if you’re comfortable with the first platform. The primary distinction is that Instagram is mostly concerned with aesthetics. Make sure your Instagram marketing approach matches that. The bulk of this material should be centered on photographs and videos.
Facebook was one of the original social media sites, and it boasts over 2.700 million monthly active users (and counting!). You may post images, make suggestions, go live, join groups, and even arrange events on such a large network. This is a fantastic tool for being creative with your vacation rental company and reaching out to customers in various ways.
Join travel-related Facebook groups or go live to provide a tour of your vacation home! The possibilities are as limitless as your ability to attract new visitors.
TikTok
For younger generations, this platform is all the rage. This social media network offers it all, from dancing videos to creative courses. You may be wondering how your vacation rental fits into this… This is an excellent question.
Current events greatly influence TikTok. Using hashtags like #PicturesquePicnics or #PlantTikTok to promote your business and show off your vacation rental is a subtle approach to promoting your brand and showing off your holiday rental. Trends change daily, so do your homework to ensure that your material reaches as many people as possible.
Pinterest is a DIY and home design wonderland. Using a Pinterest method, you may unwittingly become an authority on all things design and inadvertently attract visitors. You’ll start to build a Pinterest following if you post material like how you renovated an old bar cart or a before and after series of your bathroom makeover. By connecting your website to your Pinterest homepage, you may convert these craftsmen into visitors.
Twitter, unlike Pinterest or Instagram, isn’t as obsessed with aesthetics. Twitter is an excellent platform for sharing information about your rental property. Tweets are character-limited status updates of up to 280 characters. Long stay discounts, new dates available, or a recent addition created for your home are all examples of things you might mention. This area is ideal for keeping your audience up to date and engaged.
Snapchat
This kind of social networking is ideal for expressing your creativity! Because most Snapchat material is just fleeting, you won’t have to spend too much time deciding what to publish. To highlight your home’s greatest features, keep the content light and enjoyable.
This is also an excellent platform for personalizing your vacation rental company. Add Bitmojis to your Snaps to give your visitors a sense of who’s behind the screen.
What should I take away?
Because the world is turning digital, so should your vacation rental. Social media is an amazing platform for showcasing how fantastic your property is. Don’t skip out on using your social media profiles to dazzle visitors with photographs, video tours, or customer testimonials.
Keep in mind that success does not come easily. Marketers that have been around for a while realize that social media is simply one aspect of advertising. Allow plenty of time for your company to get exposure and expand. Continue your other marketing efforts, and your rental units will soon be fully booked year-round.
