Lay My Hat

I see a lot of discussion in this section about Facebook, but I was just wondering if anyone uses any other forms of socia media such as Twitter, G+, pinterest and so on? I have 'dabbled' in all these except Twitter so far, but not got very far with any of them.

Has anyone had success with these sites? Is it worth it? And if so, which are the most likely to work?

Thanks
Jenny

To be truthful they all work, but only if you put the time in. Consistency is the key. Facebook works for me so that's where I spend most of my time, but I can name different owners who have great success in each of the medias: G+, by linking a feed to their website, getting their posts onto page one of Google in specific searches, Twitter, loads of followers and getting retweets; Pinterest, followed a course, knows the tricks of how best to use it, Instagram, driving traffic to their website and Facebook.

So take your pick.

We have a number of SM accounts. After FB we use twitter the most, then YT, Others after that, like Instagram hardly at all.
We have a business and a life to get on with!

Take a look at Alan Egan's Social Media Integration online course: http://www.bookingsplus4g.com.

I can recommend the course (which has given me the confidence to ditch the big boys). I have also found his G+ user group extremely helpful for sharing tips.

You need to be prepared to invest time on this though... not just while you work through the course (at your own pace), but on a regular basis with social media postings. It's no quick fix.

I have had most success with Twitter (8 bookings) and one bookings through FB. I also use Pinterest which does drive traffic back to my website but don't do Instagram. I dabble in G+ from time to time with little effect, mainly because dabbling is no good.

As others have said you need to commit time to which ever platform you are trying to get known through. My FB booking came about after the guests had also seen an article I wrote in a magazine about my garden. I also blog and that helps as it gives me things to tweet about/add to FB.

Ugh, it all sounds like hard work! The trouble is I get sporadically enthusiastic and go through phases of enjoying posting to fb and sometimes G+....then get stressed that I have to keep it up even when I'm really busy with other stuff. I need some kind of strategy - I don't really have the time for courses or to go into it in a big way, but I feel that fb at least would benefit my rental, and as I said I do sometimes enjoy it. Maybe a really good quality post about my area once a week or so with the odd anecdote in between?

The thing is, Jenster, that it IS hard work! The people for whom it works are those who put an enormous amount of time into it (look at Nemo, for example - she's a prime example!).

I think it's about choice. You can chose to spend money on marketing by using listing sites (with all the 'stuff' that that entails), or you can choose to spend 'time'.

Most of my energy goes into my websites these days, though not to 'sell' my rental but to promote my area. Bookings come in as a by-product of my focus on being a 'travel guide'. I do have Pinterest accounts for both properties, though I'm definitely in the 'could-do-better' category there, and I'd like to do better so that's on my list. I have FB pages too, but mainly use those to keep in touch with past and future guests. I'm firmly in the 'never sell' camp there too.

And finally - don't overlook the humble blog. I rarely blog now - just don't have the time - but I used to, at least once a week, from well before we opened here. Many of my first (and repeat) guests came from that early blog - and I made some good friends through it too. I still get enquiries from people who've found it - it's still up on Blogger, although I no longer post there. These days I add articles to my website which keeps it moving and current.

The key is to do what you enjoy doing otherwise what's the point? It is about being social after all, so you simply can't approach it in the same way as creating an advert on a listing site. So good quality, on a reasonably frequent basis, is better than nothing, but also better than spreading yourself thin and doing nothing well across several platforms. Different media suit different people too.

You can also use something like Hootsuit which is free and allows you to schedule posts. I would recommend sticking to just a couple but doing them well, it does take time to build engagement but try to use a variety of posts and see what kind of posts your followers engage with best.

Facebook, Twitter, G+ and Tumblr, all linked to website posts. Now dabbling with YouTube ....