A Beginner’s Guide To Social Media Marketing For Your Holiday Rental

Social media and holidays go hand-in-hand, whether it’s sharing pictures of your most recent trip to paradise or booking your next weekend away while you should be working. In fact, 52% of consumers say they’ve made plans to visit a specific destination based on an image or video they saw from friends, family or peers on social media.

As a holiday rental owner, you should be maximising your social media channels to spread awareness of your property, show off the location it’s in, drive traffic to your website and, ultimately, increase bookings. That being said, it can be difficult to know where to begin. By the end of this blog, you should be clear what channels are right for you and feel confident to share posts that will work.

So what’s the first thing you need to do?

Define your target audience. The best way to do so is to think about what platforms they’ll be using:

• Instagram – as this is a popular image and video sharing service, you’ll want to use Instagram if your property and/or the area it calls home is particularly beautiful. Out of two billion of its users, 71% are age 35 and under, so this is where groups of young people will be browsing and looking to rent.
• Twitter and LinkedIn – if you’re interested in letting your property to businesses and corporations, these networks are where these demographics tend to live. You can even go beyond just posting to your feed (i.e. ‘organic’ posting) and delve into paid advertisements so this demographic can find you.
• Facebook – create a business page for your property. In other words, a public profile that people can find and ‘like’ to receive regular updates from you. On here, ads can be very easily set up and you can find your ideal guest demographic whether it’s families, retirees or stag dos. For more tips on creating a facebook page, click here.

Now you know what platforms you’ll want to…

Set up your account(s) and ensure:

Your photos aren’t blurry. The level of expectation for professional images on social media will be key to how people perceive your property. Find out more about taking professional quality photos here.

• All the correct information is included. This involves an address, a map, link to your website and, most importantly, how to contact you should they wish to book with you.
• Your page is public and its content is shareable. Not only will this make finding you much simpler, but the ability to share means their friends will be exposed to your amazing property, too.

To get inspired about what to post…

Take a look at other holiday owners’ accounts, your competitors and fellow property owners you know for inspiration. Consider:

• What they’re doing
• What’s working for them (what’s getting them likes, shares, comments)
• The content they’re sharing

The more knowledge you have of the market, the more your time investment will pay off. You’ll gain the ability to focus on the audience and think about what content they want to see – what will attract them to your property? This could be beautiful shots of the pool, a rundown of local activities or a sneak peek of the view from the master bedroom.

Types of content you can share include:

• Beautiful imagery
• Short video clips
• User generated content (UGC), i.e. photos and videos taken by previous guests – just don’t forget to ask for permission!
• Knowledge and images of your local area and recommend things to do. You could maybe do this in a series of Instagram stories which you can save as a highlight on your profile.
• Announcements for deals and special offers. Shout about cancellations to allow for last minute bookings.
• Positive reviews and testimonials. These are very important as potential guests want to see your property validated by other people like themselves.

We’d also recommend:

• Using hashtags and location tags to increase your visibility. Don’t go overboard, though – no one wants to see too many hashtags as it looks like spam, so we suggest using around five per post.
• Posting regularly. A couple of times a week is a good minimum threshold. No one will want to book a holiday letting from an account that hasn’t posted since 2014: they’ll think they’re no longer in business!

Now you’re ready to make the most of your social media channels! For more advice on maximising your holiday rental, we’re always happy to help. Speak to one of our experts today.