Do Hosts Use Social Media to Increase Bookings?

Tools
1

How do you do this?

Do you think the use of social media would be helpful to a Host who: 1) Has property that 90%+ of the time is rented for people to visit family in the area – that is, not a destination, though an hour from Boston, 2) who would be starting from scratch in social media – has no accounts or followers or sills in social media?

If so, how would the Host go about creating ‘content’? I have created an Airbnb guidebook to the area and am exploring the area – restaurants, events, what to do. But gut sense is that such content is pretty irrelevant for our guests as they or their family presumably know the area better than I, a newcomer to the area. Plus, they’re coming to visit family, not sightsee.

2

It depends is the answer.

You need to use social media channels that are seen by those visitors that you have identified as your target market - as part of a wider marketing approach.

If you want to trial. Put together a content plan to promote your listing and area, use photos, video and words . And relevant hashtags.

You can run competitions, promotions etc .

You need to do some market research and follow rekevant influencers, bloggers and organisations (such as your local tourist office)

There is only a point doing this if you are prepared to put in the time to develop and post engaging content.

3

Thank you.

Given the facts above, especially that 90%+ of our guests are here to visit family, do you think realistically that I could target such people (how would I find them?) and develop content that they would be interested in?

4

Use Facebook, but none of the other social media sites. In addition to having friends on Facebook I belong to several groups. One is the local public forum. I starting noticing people asking about local places to stay so I posted my Airbnb link (simple copy from your listing detail) and have received a few bookings. Also people who know me and see the listing then often call me directly. We have hosted for over a decade so locals know that we host and sometimes mention our place in online comments. When we started I have business cards printed with our three Airbnb room links. You could do that with a direct number if you prefer. Others here have more robust direct booking experience and will, no doubt, steer you well. I agree that you don’t need a lot of local information given your audience. Just your room description, any amenities, the price and how to book should be sufficient.

5

Thank you!

That sounds simple enough. I will have to learn how to use Facebook; I’ve never really used it. As you suggest I’ll join a few groups. Maybe locals who have family visiting might suggest our listing based on our growing knowledge of the area, the listing itself and our guidebook.

I have worked hard on the Airbnb guidebook to the area. I might be able to post that guidebook link on the Facebook page and maybe that will attract some folks. I have received some feedback from just one or two ‘natives’ here that they learned things from the guidebook that they didn’t know even though they’ve lived here forever.

Since I work a little on the guidebook almost every week, maybe that’s my content and no extra work for me since I do it anyway.

6

You’ll need to develop a social media plan of action and stick to it. Remember that consistency is the most important thing, particularly when you are getting established.

Develop your target audience and you can then decide which media you want to use. For example, I don’t know anyone who uses Facebook these days so I don’t spend any time or money there. (Money because at one time I used to have a business account with paid ads).

Social media posts should always be useful but keep your goal in mind at all times.

You want potential guests to see your branding because that’s what reflects you, rather than the social media branding. That way, you are fully in charge.

Therefore, the easiest and most effective way to use social media these days is to promote targeted blogs, taking your readers to a place where you control your image.

For example, Facebook would be seen by many people today as being a bit fuddy-duddy and I know that’s not the image I want to portray. Others are fine with it but nevertheless the branding might not be on point.

Remember to use curation services too such as Pinterest and Flipboard. But certainly don’t have all your eggs in one basket.

It’s a huge subject and takes time to develop but can be very worthwhile.

I write a couple of blogs that are posted to social media every day but it’s possible to start with just one per week. More work will equal more results though.

First though, decide what it is you need and determine your goals. Once you’ve done this, you can develop your campaign.

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7

Thank you.

Would it be appropriate to ask for links to your blogs?

8

We have gotten some Airbnb guests from Facebook, but I think it takes a lot of work.

First, I have nearly 5,000 friends on my personal profile on Facebook (5,000 is the maximum FB allows). Many of them are customers from the photography business we owned and from the pet products business we still run. I maintain quite a presence on Facebook in order to keep in touch with a whole lot of people.

For probably 75% of the people I know on Facebook, I have customer records that include names, addresses, phones, and emails. That is an advantage for which I’m grateful.

Be aware that Facebook really frowns on people conducting or promoting business on their personal profile (personal page). Instead, they want business to be done on business pages. I have one of those, as well. I think I have just under 2,000 “friends” on that page (they aren’t really friends on a FB business page because biz pages work differently than personal pages).

Many people do conduct business on personal pages, but FB can and has deleted their pages summarily if they get caught. I know a lot of people to whom that has happened.

As Jaquo said, FB is an aging audience. That works for me, because so many of my previous and current customers are there.

In reality, we’ve gotten Airbnb customers from FB because we already know those people. They’re already my FB friends. I don’t think any strangers have found our Airbnb through FB.

FB works for me largely because I built our presence there over the last 12 years and have thousands of loyal friends and followers. If I were starting a new business now, I don’t think I’d go to that trouble for the small amount of return.

On the topic of blogging, that is indeed a huge subject. More and more people I know are pretty much done reading blogs. Blogging by itself can be a tough row to hoe when it comes to building an audience.

What works better for me is to tell a lot of personal stories about my husband and me, our pets, our house, Virgil’s cooking, and our travels. Short and funny is best. I also ask a whole lot of open-ended questions on FB. If I hit on a good topic, hundreds of people will reply and other conversations will sprout.

Any type of social media is a moving target. Jaquo suggested Pinterest and Flipboard. Those are undoubtedly good for now, but the social media audience migrates as new technology develops.

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9

For my tour business and my STR, joining my local tourist bureau was a no-brainer, especially since the room tax I was collecting goes to support their operation. Pre-pandemic the monthly breakfasts were a great way to network and get my rack cards and business cards out (most card racks in airports, ferry terminals, highway rest areas, and in visitor centers in my state belong to the local visitors bureau, and only members can have cards in the racks).

For most small businesses, it only costs a few hundred dollars per year to join, and dues often include a listing in the bureau’s printed visitor guide. The bureau’s staff and volunteers become part of your marketing, especially if you take advantage of the networking possible.

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Ask who @HostAirbnbVRBO

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I agree if your market is mainly holiday makers your local tourist board is normally a key partner.

12

Yes - you could target families in your area who have visitors as well as the visitors themselves.

You find them by targeting channels your market research shows they use to find somewhere to stay. As mentioned one channel to use would be to advertise on your local tourist board website.

(my day job is marketing and comms - so this sort of audience segmentation and market research is something we do all the time).

13

As for targeting families, does the neighborhood have a FB or NextDoor listing?

We have used our neighborhood’s FB page to advertise our rooms as “guest rooms for the neighborhood,” for when neighbors can’t or don’t want to have friends/family stay at their home. We’ve gotten quite a few guests that way.

For us, doing so works because we know just about everyone in our area and have been very open about doing Airbnb.

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14

If you know those neighbors well enough to know they wouldn’t send problematic rellies to you, that could be great. But if there’s a good reason they don’t want them in their own home (aside from their place being too small), it could prove to be an issue. If they turn out to be bad guests, then hosts could be reluctant to leave an honest review.

Because I live in a touristy beach town, there are many people who own vacation homes here, but only come and occupy the homes once a year for a month or so. While many of the homes are vacation rentals the rest of the year, some homeowners prefer to have a responsible local long term renter in them.

Back before I had my own place here, I was in that position, as were many of my friends in the neighborhood- we all had to move out for a few weeks or a month when the owners came down.
There was a lovely older couple in the neighborhood who had a sweet studio apartment over their garage, that they never wanted to rent out- they just wanted it to be for family and friends when needed.

So they would offer all of us who had to move out of our own homes to stay in their studio, and they refused to accept any money. You had to buy them bottles of wine or take them out for dinner so you didn’t feel guilty about accepting their generosity.

15

What we’ve experienced with neighbors’ guests who stay here is great guests. Even when neighbors say that their relatives are a PITA, it turns out that they’re considerate and cooperative when here. Apparently their PITA-ness has more to do with dysfunctional relationships. Not with us.

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16

That’s great. I would also trust my close-by neighbors to not send me any objectionable people. (As I trust the great guests who I give my direct contact info to, not to pass it on to anyone who would not also be a good guest).

But I’m pretty sure it was on this forum that a host had had guests who were rellies of some neighbors who turned out to be awful guests and the host felt stuck because she was understandably wary of leaving a bad review and creating bad blood with her neighbors.

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18

I work in digital marketing, and second, third and fourth what everyone is saying. Do your market research. I used AllTheRooms for a little bit and it was a good starting point to understand my primary competition. If you live in the same area as your STR, you should know some things about the area, start from there. Subscribe to any local email newsletter you can find, I love Axios. Make up a calendar (I use Google Sheets) of local events, so you’ll have an idea of what’s coming up.

Once you know your audience, tweak who you want your target audience to be, and make small changes from there to your space. I strongly prefer people in their 40s & 50s visiting here for family or whatever. My building is from 1921, so my focus on furnishings has been classic & comfortable but not ‘old lady’. I’m setting up the other half of my duplex now as a STR, and experimenting with a Boho theme. I’m very curious to see if I get a different demographic booking. Besides the Boho theme (Okay, so it’s just bright boho rugs my husband didn’t want me to order for our house) I’m going to focus on teas, yoga, add some wellness books, hammocks, plants, that kind of thing.

I made up a website for my listing, gave my place a name, incorporated, all of that. Working on promotion is a hobby for ‘someday’ but then again, Des Moines IA isn’t really a smokin’ hot AirBnB destination either. :slight_smile:

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19

Christine, just to profile you from your pic, Facebook is now the domain of 40+ which might be why you are recommending that. Do you have any other marketing skills or is that recco personal?

in fact all the various sites have a strong demographic attached.
so if you are chasing the millienial family & boomer crowd, then FB is a good site to be on. of course, you can easily do instagram too cos they are both integrated.

Now i’m also not going to sell other places cos frankly sm is a giant time suck and could have little return, plus you could totally waste your time on places like tiktok if you don’t understand the culture there. on insta i tend to target other bigger fish, hoping they will feature me at some point. for me this means the local tourism board, plus all the wineries and restaurants, and also we do wedding preparation so i am targeting that audience too.

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20

haha, we should collab!
I am setting up a new space and was going to do mid-century but now have decided on Boho (actually the 2 can be combined), cos i bloody love boho but my house doesn’t suit it, it’s too traditional . So I will enjoy creating a fun eclectic space ( and I still get to dabble in opshopping/thrifting and diy) and get all that “i love emerald green” out of my system, plus finding caneware and boho stuff on fb marketplace is so easy right now. We get a lot of young couples so i’m sure this theme will appeal to them, and probably be whimsical to Boomers, who lived through that age for reals. (I will be sure to have Beatles, Stones, Neil Diamond, Gladys Knight, etc) in the record player . Pricing will be my only challenge, cos there’s a bit of difference between what young ones and Boomers see as “value”.

you only need, at most, 365 guests per year. depending on your space, less 100 per year. considering you have 300million + in your country, I think you can find 100 people who think Des Moines is a smokin hot place to be! dont’ undersell yourself.

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21

I do get all ages even though my husband and I are in our 70s. We have lots of colleges and antique dealers in the area which drives much of our business. We reduced from 3 rooms to one so sadly we are even turning away some repeat guests. Winding down so we don’t put much effort into marketing. I don’t have any special marketing skills, but gained some hospitality understanding and skills from business education and working in the hospital industry for decades.

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