Social media is a power tool in both our personal and professional lives. Professionally it can define ventures big and small, including your homestay business.
As well as getting your homestay noticed by all the right people, using social media gives you the opportunity to showcase your offering in all its glory. Best of all - it’s free.
Using this free marketing tool to your advantage may require no money, but it requires time, effort and strategy. Discover how you can harness social media to boost business for your homestay.
Choose your platform wisely
It all begins with choosing the right platform. Facebook is still the largest thanks to its 2.23 billion monthly active users. The key is utilising a social media platform that potential guests use. Instagram is popular amongst younger audiences, but Twitter is also a hit across many more generations.
Create the perfect profile
Choosing a name for your profile or page is a great place to start when setting up socially. Keep your homestay business profile separate from your personal accounts.
This doesn’t mean you can’t add that personal touch, e.g. Sara & Seb’s Spanish Homestay. Keep it simple too, you want your audience to know exactly what you’re about at first glance.
Setting up a social media profile that works for your homestay doesn’t require a marketing degree. With the right knowledge and a bit of practice, you can give your homestay the professional edge it needs to win guests over. Make sure you pack it full of interesting information - not forgetting to include a link to your Lingoo profile.
Use more than words
The brilliant thing about social media is the power to use words and images. Everything you post on your profile should tell a story. This story and your wider profile will be made even more interesting with a few great photos.
Provide snapshots of what a homestay with you is like. Showcase your home’s best angle and include images of the activities your guests will be doing.
Interact with your audience
There’s more to social media marketing than setting up a profile and posting. Interacting with the community you’re building is a great way to engage with potential guests and fellow homestay hosts. You can even use your platform to keep in touch with previous guests.
When you share a status or post, keep an eye on the comments. Reading and responding to these will keep the conversation going and allow you to get to know your audience so much better.
When chatting with potential guests online however, we always recommend using our secure messaging system to talk through and arrange bookings.
Don’t forget the hashtags
Hashtags play a crucial role in cementing social media status, particularly on Twitter and Instagram. They give social media users a simple route to finding posts that are relevant to their interests. They also open up profiles or pages like yours to a wider audience.
Whatever your chosen social network, finding and using relevant hashtags can take your profile from social media newbie to social superstar. Here Airbnb offers their advice on hashtagging the right way:
“You can choose a selection to add to your own posts. Try a combination of specific and general travel hashtags, and geo-tag popular landmarks and locales to increase your post engagement, and also draw travelers to your profile and experience.”
Location tags are another must for people wanting to get their homestay found by the right users on Instagram and Twitter.
Get your guests involved
Guest reviews are the most powerful tool for boosting business. Encourage guests to post about their experiences on their social media accounts and to tag your homestay business profile at the same time.
You can then reshare these experiences on your own profile, just like we do. Tag us and use #lingoo so we can share the love too!
Before posting information about or images of your guests be sure to ask guests (or their parents) for permission.
Now that you’re social media ready, sign up with us and get started with your homestay business today.
