THE

VACATION RENTAL
MARKETING
GUIDE
TO FACEBOOK
Contents

Introduction 3

Facebook Glossary 4

Why Use Facebook for Your Vacation Rental? 6

How to Set Up Facebook For Your Vacation Rental Business 11

How Can You Grow Your Vacation Rental Business with Facebook? 17

Paid Advertising for Vacation Rentals on Facebook 24

Conclusions 30

2
Introduction

Founded in 2004 and currently the second largest website on the internet,
Facebook boasts a huge 1.71 billion monthly active users. As a result, there’s
really no denying the popularity of Facebook as the world’s biggest social
networking site.

Travel is the most popular topic on the network, so it comes as no surprise that
increasingly, travel brands are trying to use Facebook as part of their marketing
strategies to gain more following and ultimately, more sales.

The changing way that travelers are planning, booking and reviewing their
vacations – with 16% admitting to having posted or discussed vacation
experiences on social media, ultimately leads to one conclusion – vacation rental
owners need to be present on Facebook in order to capture more bookings.

Just like your website, Facebook is another direct channel via which you can
obtain direct bookings, circumventing online travel agencies and their high
commissions.

Even though our stats show that 60% of Lodgify users have a link to their
Facebook Page on their website, this guide aims to convince the more sceptical
vacation rental owners out there (looking at you – other 40%!) of the many
advantages to using Facebook marketing. Additionally, it will explain the steps
for setting up your Facebook for Business page and explore the ways in which
you can grow your VR business with Facebook.


3
Before we dive into Facebook marketing for vacation rental owners, readers
who are new to the site may be unfamiliar with some of Facebook’s
terminology. Let this glossary help you along the way:

Facebook Glossary


Check-in

This action announces a person’s location to their Facebook friends.

Engagement
The number of actions (ex: likes, comments, shares, photo views, link clicks,
video views) related to your Page's posts.

Fan
In Page Insights, and other places on Facebook, “fans” is another way to refer to
the people who Like your Page.

Like
Clicking Like is a way to give positive feedback and connect with things you
care about. When users Like something, the action appears as an update on
their Timeline.

News Feed
The News Feed is where you’ll find a collection of stories, influenced by your
connections and activity on Facebook. This helps you to see more stories that
interest you from friends you interact with the most.

Page
A Page is the most important thing you should set up for your vacation rental.
Pages are for businesses, brands and organizations to share their stories and
connect with people. Like profiles, you can customize a Page by publishing
stories, hosting events and more. People who like your Page and their friends
can get updates in News Feed.


4
Profile
Your profile, is your collection of the photos, stories and experiences that tell
your story. Your profile also includes your Timeline.

Reactions
The reactions button on a post allows people to share different reactions to its
content: Like, Love, Haha, Wow, Sad or Angry.

Share
A share happens when a user reposts any content that they have seen on
someone else’s profile or page to their own profile or page.

Tag
A tag links a person, Page or place to something you post, like a status update
or a photo. For example, you can tag a photo to say who’s in the photo or post a
status update and say who you’re with.

Timeline
Your Timeline is where you can see your posts or posts you've been tagged in
displayed by date. Your Timeline is also part of your profile.


5
WHY USE
FACEBOOK FOR
YOUR VACATION
RENTAL?


6
It’s no big secret that Facebook is the social network. Though what many VR
owners do not understand is that Facebook is relevant for their business,
especially if they learn to take advantage of the many opportunities that lie in its
impressive number of users.

In reality, Facebook is a fantastic medium to build and maintain relationships

with your guests and market your vacation rental business to a wider audience.

Here are the top advantages of using Facebook as part of your vacation rental
marketing efforts:

Increase exposure to potential bookers and stay in touch with

previous guests

As well as posting photographs and other relevant information about your

vacation rental property, you can also use Facebook as a tool to attract
bookings and maintain contact with guests you’ve previously hosted.

Long story short, in every post lies a new opportunity to find potential guests.
The more engagement your page has, the more visibility your vacation rental
gets, and the more credibility your website has!

Communicate quickly and easily with guests and inquirers

Using Facebook is also a good way to communicate with your guests, via
comments and the all-important Messenger app. Guests tend to be heavy users
of Facebook Messenger, and the friendly, informal and personal nature of the
chat system lets them easily inquire or ask any questions they have to you direct
as the vacation rental owner.

Improve the credibility of your vacation rental business

A Facebook Page with many followers or likes can hugely increase the
credibility of your vacation rental business.

7
Think about it, imagine you’re a potential guest. You’re on a vacation rental
website and it links to the company’s Facebook Page, so naturally you’re curious
to check it out – you need to know if users’ photos match the expectations on
the site, if reviews are up to scratch, etc. When you click through to the
Facebook Page, providing you like what you see, it’s likely you’ll “Like” the
Facebook Page to stay updated, too.

So when your Facebook Page begins to gain a good following, this can be used
as a social proof badge back on your own website – it’s like an exchange of
resources. You put in a bit of effort on social media, and you reap the benefits in
terms of increased inquiry rates and booking conversion for your vacation rental
because potential guests can see that you’re the real deal.

Gain more visibility with Facebook Places

Facebook users love sharing their locations on social media with their friends,
even more so when they’re on vacation! In fact, it’s through the check-in tool
that Facebook data analysts worked out that the most popular honeymoon
destination in 2014 was Las Vegas, and that Disney properties were the most
checked-into in the U.S. Just think, that statistic could have included your
vacation rental if you’d have known!

We’ll show you later on how to activate Facebook Places for your vacation
rental so your guests can check-in to your business on Facebook.

Plug new services and products your VR is offering

Managing a Facebook Page needn’t be hard work, when there are so many
tools in place to make it as straightforward as possible.

8
Schedule regular posts to keep your audience engaged – it takes much less time
than maintaining a blog or weekly newsletter. But be sure to vary the content:
flip between photos, videos, articles, recommendations, top lists – whatever
springs to mind that your guests will be interested in seeing!

Build a community around your VR

Once you start gaining fans, as well as entertaining them with your pictures or
posts, don’t forget to ask for their opinions! Happy guests make the best
advocates, and they’ll give you great insights you’ll be able to use for your
business.

Ask your previous guests questions about your amenities, poll users about
improving parts of your property, ask for feedback or a quick survey. Not only
will you get new ideas, you’ll also prove to your customers that you care about
their needs and value what they have to say.

Reach targeted audiences for your vacation rental

Using your community’s information, you can create targeted marketing

campaigns or Facebook Adverts. These are a great way to market your vacation
rental to a niche group (for example, your past guests’ network) or based on
metrics that are measured by the social media site like location, demographics,
interests, behaviours, connections and partner categories. 


9
Drive traffic to your vacation rental website

Sharing content on your vacation rental Facebook Page that encourages users
to visit your site is only going to be beneficial! This goes for everything from
blog posts, to updates, or even special offers and promotions.

If a user (a potential guest) has no choice but to click through to your site to see
the content, that’s one more visitor to your vacation rental site and one more
opportunity to capture a booking!

10
HOW TO SET UP
FACEBOOK FOR
YOUR VACATION
RENTAL BUSINESS


11
Create a Facebook Page for your vacation rental

Let’s get one thing straight: personal Profiles and Pages are not the same thing.
Facebook Pages allow businesses, brands and organizations (like you) to share
their stories and connect with individuals. Just like Profiles, Pages can be
customized by publishing stories, hosting events and much more, and the
people who like your Page and their friends will receive your updates in their
News Feed.

Here’s how you can create a Facebook Page for your vacation rental business:


1. Go to facebook.com/pages/create
2. Click to choose a Page category
3. Select a more specific category from the dropdown menu and fill out the
required information. (Note: There is currently no specific category for vacation rental
homes, so Facebook suggests choosing “Companies and Organizations” as your category
and “Travel/Leisure” as the subcategory. But bear in mind: Facebook Places only works if
your category is “Local Business”)
4. Click Get Started and follow the on-screen instructions.

12
Add a Book Now button

We already know that you can generate more traffic to your website when you
connect it to your property's Facebook page.

Connecting your site to social media channels is highly recommended in order

to drive as many visitors as possible to your website and spread the word about
your vacation rental.

Having a link to your property's Facebook page on your website doesn't just
help to increase visibility, but you can also integrate a "Book Now" button on
your Facebook page that sends potential guests directly to your website.

Here are the instructions to set it up:

Create a Call to Action button


Go onto your property's Facebook Page and click on the "Create Call to Action"
button that appears on the right-hand side of the cover photo.

13
Select the type of Button you wish to add 

Vacation rental owners often choose the “Book Now” option so that guests can
directly book the rental home from Facebook!

Add the URL of your vacation rental website


Then double check everything is spelled correctly before saving your changes.

In order to show your Facebook Page link on your Lodgify website, you will
need to make sure you’ve added the link into your Lodgify settings, too.


14
Add a detailed About description

It’s really important you ensure the About section on your vacation rental
Facebook Page is clear and informative so potential guests know who you are
and what your vacation rental home offers.

Link your website to Facebook with a credibility badge

Be sure to add a link to your own vacation rental website on Facebook to

reinforce your authenticity and show your listings. Then, add a social badge on
your website which links back to your Facebook Page.

By linking these channels together, you’ll create continuity and trust with your
audience, as well as promote your vacation rental brand. You can also add a
HTML widget of a your Facebook Timeline, so that your potential guests see
that you’re active on your social accounts. 


15
Activate Facebook Places

In order to let your guests to Check-in at your business on a Page you manage,
you'll need to activate Facebook Places. But first, when you set up your Page,
you’ll need to choose Local Businesses as the Page category.

If your Page's category is Local Businesses:

1. Click About on the left side of your Page.

2. Click Page Info.
3. Click to edit the Address section, add your address and click Save Changes.
4. After saving your changes, a map will appear in the Address section when
you click to edit it. Click to edit the Address section again. Below the map,
click to check the box next to Show map and Check-ins on the Page.
5. Save Changes.


16
HOW CAN YOU
GROW YOUR
VACATION RENTAL
BUSINESS WITH
FACEBOOK?


17
So now you know all the benefits of starting a vacation rental Facebook
page, as well as the practical steps to take to set it up, but you’re probably
wondering if Facebook can really help boost your business in terms of
bookings and revenue?

We’re here to tell you it can! And it’s not all that difficult once you know
how. The next section will explain the ways you can optimize your
Facebook strategy to truly grow your vacation rental business.

Encourage repeat guests and word-of-mouth recommendations

Let your guests spread the word for you! Set up an autoresponder using
software like Lodgify which will automatically email confirmed bookings
and invite them to like your Facebook Page. You can encourage them to
post their vacation photos, reviews, and even use the Check-in feature. The
memorable stay they had at your place will also motivate them to share
your posts or engage with them in the form of likes, reactions and
comments once they’re back home!

Given that 52% of Facebook users say their friends’ vacation photos have
influenced their travel decisions, the aim here is to make sure that all your
guests’ friends know that your guest has stayed in your vacation rental.

Every time a user interacts with your content it gets published on your
fans’ News Feeds too, increasing your post’s potential reach to hundreds or
possibly thousands of your guests’ friends. So always make sure you
engage back and be responsive to comments.

Also, by ensuring your vacation rental Facebook Page has a Book Now
button, your guests can easily reserve your vacation rental if they’re
convinced enough by your Page and posts!

18
Deliver unbeatable customer service

As a vacation rental owner, using Facebook and its apps like Messenger
can really set you apart from your competition and make you memorable.
You’re able to provide real-time customer service to potential bookers, and
increasingly, more business owners are taking advantage of the option to
install bots which help save time while still maintaining a personalized chat
experience.

Adding personalized, automated messages is easy, and can make all the
difference. Depending on how quickly you respond and to what
percentage of messages you reply to, your Page can win the 52% of
Facebook users badge which can be seen by all your Page visitors.
Messenger is especially important if you have the Book Now button on
your Facebook page, as personalized interactions are known to boost
sales.

Show up in Facebook Places

You’re probably asking yourself how Facebook Places can help grow your
VR business? Well, after guests Check-in, their update will not only appear
on their Timeline, but will also show up in their friends’ News Feeds.
Guest Check-ins will appear on the right hand side of your Facebook Page,
so new visitors will be able to see see how many guests have enjoyed your
services or what kind of activities they’ve experienced.

It can also help drive traffic to your website and Facebook Page when
guests use other Check-in apps like Swarm and Yelp. As well as sharing
their Check-ins on the apps themselves, users can set up their accounts to
share directly to other social networks like Facebook.

If you really want to stand out from the crowd, you could go the extra mile
and offer exclusive discounts or freebies if your guests use these location-
based apps. Not many vacation rentals are doing this yet, but some big
name brands previously been known to offer 20% discounts, two-for-one
offers and even donations to charity for customers that would Check-in in
store.

19
Promote your services and drive engagement

Have you recently installed a new kitchen in your vacation rental or

updated the décor in the living room? Why not take a photo, write an
engaging caption and post it to your Facebook page… It’s as simple as
that!

Even special offers, reduced night rates or even last-minute cancellations

can be promoted to your fans with no hassle, and when people share these
posts – that’s free publicity for you!

Keeping your fans and past guests up to date on what’s new at your
vacation rental couldn’t be simpler with Facebook’s intuitive News Feed
and scheduling functions.

20
Form partnerships with local businesses

Facebook is an extremely useful way to connect and engage with local

business or local events who can spread the word about your vacation
rental to their network – creating a physical community in your
neighbourhood, as well as the online one you’re already establishing.

Make sure to be proactive and Like local businesses’ Facebook Pages

yourself, as well as mention or tag their pages using @ (tags) and #
(hashtags) if you feature them in any content.

Your pre-departure automated email could even include a list of local

restaurants, points of interest or events to visit, with the added extra of
links to their Facebook Pages. Make sure you reach out and let these
businesses know that you’ve done this – they’ll really appreciate it and are
sure to return the favor someday!

Go one step further and approach these local companies in person to form
real-life relationships and create word of mouth buzz about your vacation
rental and its Facebook Page, too.

Use strategies that work for VRs

Another way you can grow your vacation rental business on Facebook is
by running contests, conducting surveys or organizing quizzes. These
strategies have been proven to work for vacation rentals and hotels, so it’s
a great idea to follow their lead with this.

Run contests for your fans to be in with a chance of winning something as

minor as some of your vacation rental merchandise (like a t-shirt with your
logo on) or something much bigger (such as a free stay in your vacation
rental home!). You’ll create a buzz of excitement around your page and
more importantly, your VR.

Contests work for two reasons: they help you grow the number of fans on
your page, and they also help you to grow email leads. Most Facebook

21
third party content applications come predefined with an email capture
form that has to be completed for fans to be able to enter the prize draw.

Carefully curate your content

Using Facebook Page Insights as your guide, you can post content on your
Facebook Page that is tailored to suit your target audiences. Not only can
you find out who is looking at your vacation rental page, when and how,
but you can also see which types of content your users are engaging with
most, helping you to figure out what’s working best for your VR business.

Get creative – after all, you’re never going to know unless you test out
different types of content. Think about videos, solo images, preview links,
galleries or photo albums, Carousel previews and even GIFs.

Once you’ve trialled a few different types of content, you’ll have more of an
idea as to what works (and what doesn’t) so you’ll know in future the kinds
of content your audiences like to interact with. 


22
Join Facebook groups

Lots of vacation rental businesses are picking up on the fact that Facebook
groups can really help out in terms of visibility. They strengthen
communication, connections and relationships with an online community
which can help you grow your business.

There is one tiny downside, however: currently, only users with personal
profiles can join Facebook groups. In other words, you can’t yet join groups
from your vacation rental business Page.

That’s OK, though. You can still use your own personal profile to join some
relevant groups and spread the word about your VR business. Joining
Facebook groups is a great way for small vacation rental owners to make it
to their target market’s News Feed.

Try it out for yourself, search for vacation rental + your city in the search
box and see what group results come up. Are there any interesting
conversations, debates or discussions happening that you could contribute
to as a VR owner who knows about the market?

Through Facebook groups, you can engage with potential guests in a more
personal setting, while still maintaining your role as the face of your
vacation rental brand.

Just make sure you list your job role and the name of your vacation rental
on your own personal profile (for example, Jane Smith, Owner @ Your
Vacation Rental) before you start chatting away and contributing. This way,
if interested parties click through to your profile to see what you do, they’ll
then be directed onwards to your vacation rental website where they can
make a booking. It’s a win-win situation!

23
PAID ADVERTISING
FOR VACATION
RENTALS ON
FACEBOOK


24
Considering Facebook is the world’s biggest social network and it’s free to
use, you might wonder how on earth it makes its money. One popular
answer? Facebook Ads.

Nowadays, in order for small businesses like your vacation rental to reach
potential guests, it can be a good idea to supplement your Facebook page
updates with some paid advertising.

This is nothing to be scared about! In fact, it’s quite a simple concept.

Facebook Ads: The basics

If you’re a complete rookie at paid ads on Facebook, not to worry. Go to

this page to activate them. Facebook does have another tool called Power
Editor (where you can do more complicated stuff like edit multiple adverts
at once), but for now we’re just going to focus on the regular, run-of-the-
mill Facebook ads.

First up in the world of Facebook ad creation, you’ll be greeted with this

message:

25
Depending on what you want to do, such as reach people near your
business, drive traffic to your website or increase conversions on your
website, you’ll need to select the corresponding answer.

In all likelihood, you might have a few of these as your objectives – that’s
fine! Once you know how to create ads, you can run as many different
types as you like.

The great thing about Facebook Ads is that you’re completely in control.

As a vacation rental owner, you choose how much you want to spend
(either a limit for one advert or a total campaign amount) and on what.
Not just that, but you can also measure the outcome of every Facebook
Advert using the site’s Ad Manager.

There are plenty of metrics to help you tell if an advert is successful or not.
These can be broken down into the following customizable categories:

• Performance: Can be customized further to include metrics like results,

reach, frequency and impressions
• Engagement: Can be customized further to include metrics like Page
likes, Page engagement and post engagement
• Videos: Can be customized further to include metrics like video views
and avg. % of video viewed
• Website: Can be customized further to include metrics like website
actions (all), checkouts, payment details, purchases and adds to cart
• Apps: Can be further customized to include metrics like app installs, app
engagement, credit spends, mobile app actions and cost per app
engagement
• Events: Can be further customized to include metrics like event
responses and cost per event response
• Clicks: Can be further customized to include metrics like clicks, unique
clicks, CTR (click-through rate) and CPC (cost per click)
• Settings: Can be further customized to include metrics like start date,
end date, ad set name, ad ID, delivery, bid and objective.

26
You can also set your ads to include a Call to Action that will appeal to
travelers. A perfect example is the aforementioned “Book Now” button,
giving potential guests immediate access to book your vacation rental.

Find new audiences altogether

A great starting point for growing your vacation rental business is by

gaining a loyal following. As well as telling all your friends and family to
become fans of your Page, you can tailor your ads to find audiences that
have the same interests as your previous or upcoming guests.

Create Custom and Lookalike audiences from your existing customer data,
and reach people with an interest in your vacation rental (or more likely,
vacation rentals in your city) very easily. Tools like these audience creators
make Facebook much more cost effective than traditional marketing
channels, and actually help capture real people who could convert into
bookings at your vacation rental.

27
What’s more, you can also target people who have specific travel interests.
For example, target people who are frequent fliers, leisure travelers, people
who are currently on vacation or travelling, people who recently returned
from a trip, as well as people who intend to travel to new destinations.

Deploy different types of Facebook Ads

Facebook have introduced tons of new Ad options and formats, meaning

that it’s now easier than ever to turn your Page fans and website visitors
into guests at your vacation rental. For instance, loads of small businesses
have been hugely successful using Carousel Ads.

These adverts display a selection of images at once (like a carousel) that

all illustrate a specific product or service, such as a series of photos of your
vacation rental home’s interior and exterior.

Take a look at Facebook’s case study with Mallorca VR specialists

Fincallorca to see how they increased their click-through rates and
conversions using personalized dynamic ads like these.


28
Take advantage of Facebook remarketing

Another of the innovative ways Facebook can help you target potential
guests is by using its remarketing pixel. You might be feeling a little lost
with terms like “remarketing pixel”, but don’t fret – it’s really quite easy to
get your head around.

Remarketing features on Facebook help you reach the people who visit
your website and then go to Facebook. As these users have already shown
an interest in your vacation rental property, they’re much more likely to
convert into a booking than someone who has never seen your VR before.

You can use the remarketing pixel to create whole custom audiences of
your vacation rental website visitors, then retarget these potential guests
when they are most likely to make a purchase. 


29
THERE’S ALWAYS
MORE TO LEARN!
This guide should have helped you get to grips with the basics of vacation
rental marketing on Facebook. Now, it’s time you have a go and see for
yourself how you can achieve great results when you use this social
network for your vacation rental.

Start putting our best practice tips into action but be sure to add your own
creative flair – we’re sure it’s hiding in there somewhere! And don’t forget,
get in touch if you have any questions or feedback.

If you’re itching for more social media know-how, why not read up on
Instagram for vacation rental owners.

30
 Design Editor
Tideway HOME GALLERY MAPS RATES AVAILABILITY REVIEWS CONTACT BOOK NOW

Custom Palette

Link Color

Button Colors

Logo Color

Header Color

Background Color ?

Background Image

Background Repetition

ESCAPE TO THE COUNTRY

Logo Image

Phone Number LOCATION CHECKIN - CHECKOUT

Phone on Header

Currency on Header

Lenguage on Header

Logo Text

Subtitle Text

Text Font

Monserrat 1
e 4

THE
ALL-IN-ONE SOLUTION
FOR VACATION RENTAL
PROFESSIONALS
Create a stunning optimized vacation rental website and accept online bookings, manage
all your reservations from one p ace and synchronize property data with external
booking channels using Lodgify's sophisticated tools.

GET STARTED FOR FREE