The ABC’s of turning social media into trusted reservoirs for vacation rental homeowners

There are a number of factors that come together for vacation rental owners to look at the ways they market their properties with the utmost scrutiny. The weak economy is hitting homeowners on both the revenue and cost side of VR, wherever you are geographically, prompting careful assessment of where to spend time and money to get visibility.

Additionally, the scam quotient is increasing and landlords are now skeptical of the legitimacy of their rental inquiries and are protecting their online reputations.

This confluence of all these concerns has VR owners searching social media. What is it? Does it work for a vacation rental? What works best?

Social media is just another form of communication that can take the form of a blog (think Blogger), a social network (think Facebook), a microblog (think Twitter), and can include any number of alternative online vehicles such as YouTube or Flickr. All of these social media outlets can help you promote your VR.

Facebook alone added 100 million users in less than nine months, growing to over 300 million members now. If Facebook were a country, it would be the fourth most populous place in the world. This means that it easily surpasses countries like Brazil, Russia, and Japan in terms of size.

Now, Facebook offers its members access to an application dedicated to vacation rentals. The new app, Second Porch, allows owners to list their properties for rent or exchange, allowing their pages to be public or private. Facebook and Second Porch are low-hanging fruit, easy to join, easy to make friends with, easy to use.

But like most social networks, Facebook is not a set-it-and-forget-it vehicle. Cultivation is needed. You will get what you put in. However, with a little bit of interaction, you will see your friends list grow exponentially. And with each layer of growth, your vacation rental can get more and more exposure. For example, Second Porch allows you to cultivate a community of future guests, past guests, and people who recommend your home. All this can greatly influence future consultations, but it is necessary to invite people to be part of this community.

Twitter is a great way to get your message across in small bites. The feature only allows 140 characters per message, so you can’t really talk about your VR. It is best used to promote your geographic area or your blog, but it will be an unwieldy vehicle for direct advertising of your property. Again, it’s free to join, and if you have a blog, it’s easy to tweet your most recent blog post.

These three features—Facebook, Twitter, and blogging—are best used together, but any one on its own can be effective. All three are free, easy and have a high impact over time. None will work overnight.

More challenging is creating an engaging and effective YouTube video. Sharing photos with Flickr is an easier reach, and your great photo can be a powerful way to showcase your VR location to an audience already eager to find the beautiful and unusual in the world.

Vacation rental owners willing to break out of the box and explore alternatives to traditional VR portals will find a world of help on social media. It only takes the will to find another way.