Family, Allosaurus & Holiday Rental Facebook Marketing
Holiday Rental Marketing
Holiday Rental Marketing
Before I talk about lean short-term and holiday rental Facebook marketing I wanted to talk about my almost nine-year-old son who has such a thirst for knowledge and he loves to learn about what I do, and well just learn all the time. He devours books like I do cheese and wine!
This week his class created a mini expo and his stand, and presentation was based on the Allosaurus. He was pretty pumped about the event and it went well. After I handed him a book that is far beyond his years but I thought you know what, you're never too young to learn and if you have entrepreneurial interest and ability then I say nurture the heck out of it!
I think my late Dad would be proud that his grandson is following in his, and my, footsteps.
So yes the book that was handed to me by a very special mate aka BFF, best male friend and colleague (you know who you are) is The Lean Startup (Eric Ries) - I purposely haven't hyperlinked to their page from here or from the image (because you should never hyperlink to external pages that take your prospective customer away from your own - Google It :)).
This was around the time that I was invited to contribute to an exciting travel app startup that he was a founder of. This has essentially shaken up my whole approach with projects, business and life in general. I absolutely positively recommend that you get yourselves a copy of this book whatever stage you're at. I actually apply the principals to everything, including my new hairstyle which has been a work in progress for a few months now. Small tests, analyse, pivot, retest, analyse and so on.
At the start of the year, I thought how can I continue to create interesting and relevant content on my Welcome In consulting business Facebook page. Ideally, I'd be writing these blog articles and filling them full of keywords such as short-term accommodation consulting Australia, short-term accommodation marketing, short-term accommodation business development, holiday rental marketing Australia, holiday rental digital marketing Australia, holiday rental business consulting Australia, direct bookings and so on. We all know what we need to do to organically grab the attention of our target market and increase traffic or reach to our social media posts. The dilemma is if we do it ourselves it takes time. A lot of time. And skill and authenticity.
If you're short on time, know you need to be posting to Facebook twice per week, then I suggest a very lean strategy and that is what I developed for the Welcome In Facebook page. It's 365 free tips and tricks in 2018. I'm up to 44. The plan was one per day and well that was near on impossible however I can post a couple on those days too, by way of catch-up.
So this is where I put in my little plug. If you are a short-term or holiday rental operator (owner or manager) you might find following my Welcome In Facebook page helpful, with all my tips and tricks - free!!
Social Media definitely works but I find the most successful campaigns are those which involve real content, that builds a story that is of interest to the target market (for you guys it's the prospective guest). Start with one post per week, keep it brief and make sure each post has a lovely image or video that sells your property, the region and all the other awesome experiences within it. After you have the foundations up and running then you can look at boosting your posts, Facebook Pixel - custom audiences and mostly I find this sort of stuff is best left to the experts and well the experts cost money so chip away with what you can until you can justify the investment.
A few closing recommendations;
Always capture your short-term holiday rental accommodation guests contact details.
Provide Facebook icon and hyperlink to your holiday rental business Facebook page in all communications.
Provide your logo and hyperlink to your website.
Provide links from your website to your social media pages and for visitors to subscribe (free) to a newsletter database.
Re-market to your previous short-term holiday rental accommodation guests but don't do it too often otherwise you'll become annoying. Make sure there is something in it for them to read. Ie subscribers receive 10% off future bookings and/or a free bottle of bubbly on arrival.
Always think about digital marketing integration. Link your email signature with website and social media pages, newsletter subscription page, link website with social media, email subscription, link your social media pages and posts to your website and so on. Interconnecting all opportunities to engage with your target audience.
Don't jump in and invest in sophisticated and expensive social media campaigns until you gain a basic understanding of how it all works.
The content you produce is the best. If anyone tells you any different then they do not have your best interests at heart because you can pay someone to write content for you and boost your posts but will they really know your product and how will you continue to engage your audience when they go.
Consumers are savvy now. They can pick up on paid content with a push sales component. Don't do the big sell with all your posts. This will indirectly happen when you tell your story because followers will like your page and know where to find you if they are keen to book because you will have your call to action in all communications.
The best posts are those like this which are written by you, posted to your short-term holiday rental accommodation website and shared on your short-term holiday rental accommodation social media pages.
If you'd like to learn more I am currently drafting a guide/ publication for managers and other short-term or holiday rental accommodation stakeholders. Subscribers will receive a discount when it becomes available later in 2018.Have a superb day!CheersNatalie :)
I feel like I'm getting to that stage in my career where I know a bit about the short term and holiday rental accommodation industry in Australia and so if you'd like to read more articles to help you grow and sustain your operation/ business you might like to subscribe (free) to receive my blog articles in your lovely inbox.
I'm also on Facebook! Instagram & Linked In!
Have a superb day!
Cheers
Natalie :)