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Top Ten Tips For Getting More Rentals - Tip 3 - Social Media.

HHD TOP TIPS  - Social Media Explained

The world has changed dramatically over the last couple of decades as technology has exploded in our lifes and now we can do things on a little hand held phone that an astronaut wouldn't have dreamed of doing in the 1960s. And we don't even need a degree in rocket science! 

Social Media is a buzz phrase that gets bandied about so much that people don't know what is social about it. 
It is a valid concern to be wary of social media as investing in using these tools takes time and time is money in any business, but whether you are into online conversations or not, they are happening. Everywhere. Marketing takes place by big brands in the social arena constantly and large degrees of money are pumped in by big advertising. Thankfully, you don't need lots of money, just access to a good phone or camera and computer and a few good ideas, time and possibly a person to help out. 

 

The Irish are always online, and always chatting. Here are some statistics from a press release issued just last week by broadband and communications provider in IrelandEIRCOM 

    •    1.3 million people wish to stay connected 24/7

    •    The Irish home now has four potential online devices

    •    A quarter of a million of us check emails on holidays

    •    Tablet ownership has doubled in the last 6 months

    •    1.2 million of us will have access to a tablet by the end of the year

    •    1 in 4  of us access email first thing in the morning

There are so many options it is confusing. But this depends really on what kind of property you are renting and to what type of person you wish to rent it. It also depends on your personality as an owner. There is no point in forcing yourself to be natural with something that doesn't come naturally, it is better always to play to strengths. Below is a list of some of the avenues of Social Media Marketing and how they function. We hope this helps. 

 

We are on Facebook and Twitter and Instagram now and we would love you to interact with us so we can shout out about your property to our followers. Holiday Homes Direct grows all the time and we are growing our social and would like you to come on the journey with us. 
Email HERE with your twitter page, facebook page and any other social media avenues you already use, so we can follow you. You can follow us on the links below. 

The obvious and biggest avenues of generating interest in your holiday home in the social arena are through Facebook Pages and Twitter business account. 

Facebook has a wonderful set up as it allows you to share photos, videos and thoughts in a very user friendly way. 

Facebook Pages can also be linked to HHD's page when you make a post and we can share it out among our fans. 

There is also the possibility of promoting posts and your page at quite a low cost compared with advertising in print media. 

For a guide on using Facebook for your business click the Facebook icon below. 

 

Twitter is a more immediate and fast moving medium and requires a bit more attention than Facebook on a daily basis.
The benefits of twitter are that you can send messages instantly to specific users, for example if someone is staying with you in the villa you can send them a welcome message. Or you can message @holidayhomesdirect with any information on your rental property which you would like to go directly out to our followers. 
Twitter ads are useful also for checking out the engagement of people with your photos and videos and humourous musings. 
We love twitter as we can keep in touch easily and regularly

Pinterest is an image sharing catalogue style site, that allows you to pin interesting images to your 'boards' much in the same way you would a physical cork board in your kitchen. This is great for holiday homes as you can pin images of the local area and geo tag them to your holiday home - meaning that when people search places to stay near a certain landmark, they are more likely to find you. 
Pinterest does require quite a bit of research but it is a lot of fun starting the process as you find you will learn a lot about the area you live in through images alone and you will discover a whole community of people who share interests with you. 

Instagram is a platform that you use from a smartphone and it takes really nice photos and videos and adds all sorts of beautiful/ crazy and vintage looking filters to give the images that old style, artsy feel. This is a perfect app and social platform if you are in a city apartment, or if you are in a coastal town or anywhere where younger demographic tend to be. If your customer is usually a younger, more tech savvie crowd, then an instagram account is a good idea. 

Google Plus offers businesses in a local area the change to have a page linked to their business. The process of starting one requires a personal gmail account and from there getting started can be a bit tricky, but it is worth it if your goal is to get up in the Google Search for your holiday home in your area. Google plus has the advantage of allowing you to add all the people in your 'circles' to your profile - which is essentially all the people in your address book, this means you can easily send out the message about your place and what you are up to to your friends, colleagues and loved ones and encourage them to share it around. 

It also looks beautiful. 

The link on the icon will take you to google pages and explains a bit more about them. 

You may know Linked in as a CV site, but it a great all round social platform for all business and industry news. It is a good idea to have a personal one and follow holiday homes groups and forums on rentals that come up all the time, as they are a wealth of knowledge on your industry. You can also seize the opportunity to spread the word about your property to companies if your place suits this. 

 

The sometimes dreaded TripAdvisor. Most of Holiday Makers love it and Holiday Givers deny it. But it is better to know what's going on and how the reviews are going than to hide away. Trip advisor offers a great insight at times into what we can learn about the business of our business so don't be afraid to check in and look yourself up and to encourage your guests to write a review on there. The more reviews the better. 

 

Don't forget once this information is gathered to update your info at http://holidayhomesdirect.ie owners area, and let us know if you'd like us to tweet or Facebook about your profile page by getting in touch with us on email here.

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