Thursday, January 24, 2013

5 Ways to Market Your Vacation Home on Facebook


Use Facebook to Promote Your Vacation Rental
Promote Your Vacation Rental on Facebook
In our last post, we walked you through the steps to create a Facebook page for your vacation rental.

Unfortunately, merely creating a Facebook page isn't enough to get your vacation rental noticed.

The key to more Facebook inquiries and bookings is to promote your vacation rental's Facebook page.

Curious how this works?

Read on for ROVH's 5 Facebook marketing tips.

More Likes Means a Wider Reach 

Facebook works by sharing content through networks.

Your network consists of the people who "Like" your vacation rental's page. 

Whenever you share something on your vacation rental's page, your network sees your post in their news feed.

If a follower shares your post, their own Facebook network sees your post. Get enough shares through many Facebook networks and suddenly your post has gone viral.

The trick to marketing your vacation home on Facebook is creating content that will go viral.


How to Create Content People Will Share

1. Post useful, intriguing, or fun info. Your followers will naturally want to share something interesting or helpful with their friends, whether its a relevant news story or 10% off seasonal promotion.

2. Use images and videos. Studies show that these two mediums are more widely shared than just text. If your post is mainly text, include an applicable photo. Don't forget that quality counts - use professional-grade photos whenever possible.

3. Post at 3PM EST on Wednesdays. Again, studies show that this is the time and day when people share the most with their network. If you only post 1 time per week, choose this day and time. But... 

4. Try to post at least every other day. It's important to keep your network engaged with your page. A word of caution though - your network will quickly un-Like you if you inundate them with ads. Keep to the 80/20 rule: post 80% relevant content and 20% promotions, e.g. 1 ad for every 5 posts.

5. Provide a way to connect. Include your email address or links to your availability calendar, booking calendar, or website so potential guests can get in touch with you. Your contact info should be included in your page's About section, but it never hurts to include it in posts where appropriate.

And don't forget to respond to readers who engage your posts. Whether it's a like, comment, or direct message it's worth your time to thank your readers or reply in a timely manner.

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