Vacation Rental Marketing Your vacation rental guests are your best advocates. If they love your place they will tell their friends, write great reviews and talk about the great time they had on Twitter and Facebook; post photos on Flickr and video on Youtube. And if you have a presence on some of these social networks they will become ardent fans and continue to share their comments for a long time after their vacation. It’s all about a feeling of belonging. We love to be part of something successful and enjoy letting others know we’ve been there, seen that, or are planning on going. For an example of this in action take a look at Stu Bradley’s Facebook page Notice that he posts to it frequently about anything, and everything, to do with his gites and campsite at Le Chant d’Oiseau. He shares information about activities in the area, what improvements he’s making to the property, and creates a textual and visual appeal that is hard to beat. The photo shown here is just one example of creating an impact with an image and a few words. From the comments he gets, it’s clear the message is getting across to past, present and future guests and he’s building a following. With a medium such as Facebook, where most people commenting have their own list of friends, the viral nature of such a strategy is easily apparent. Exploring this page is a lesson in how to use Facebook to your advantage. Guests are now posting their photos as well as commenting which adds to the viral nature as tagging individuals in photos distributes them even further. I’m looking forward to talking with Stu later this month as part of the Owner Spotlight series on Renting for Profit. If you want to hear that interview, sign up for our newsletter and I’ll let you know when it’s uploaded.
