Using Facebook To Promote Your Static Caravan
Using Facebook to promote your static caravan is a great way to get new custom and to maintain engagement with previous guests and increase repeat bookings. Facebook is staggeringly popular and people spend a lot of time engaged in one way or another with it. This, combined with the ability to post pictures and video, makes it an enviable marketing tool. However, it does have its peculiarities, which are worth thinking about, as you decide how to promote your static caravan.
The resources needed to promote your static caravan
First of all, decide how much time and money you are willing to spend at a keyboard keeping up your marketing presence. Doing it right may involve many hours sat at a computer, a task which is certainly not suited to everyone. This is why for many, it can be a good idea to leave it all to a marketing or lettings agency, many of whom will help you in setting up and maintaining a Facebook page for your static caravan. In addition, they may help you to use Facebook in other ways to promote your static caravan.
Be aware that even this strategy will not be entirely without some work and is not free. The raw materials for a Facebook campaign, whether it is run by you or someone else are still needed from you. A steady flow of good quality, engaging pictures, updates and news will all still have to be produced to make the most of what Facebook is.
While it can work and involves the least effort, it is not usually enough to simply lift your existing ad from a holiday site or lettings agency and just repeat it on Facebook with a link to click on. To get the most out of this and many other social media sites, a more creative strategy that takes advantage of the medium will often bring more success.
Engage with the Facebook audience
Engaging regularly with previous guests and returning visitors, if your Facebook page is popular enough can be an invaluable marketing tool.
Sometimes the more indirect way of using Facebook to promote your static caravan and attract followers is the best. The example of Villager Jim is a good one. He regularly posts beautiful, funny, interesting pictures of the countryside around his home. Often they have a ‘spot the little owl camouflaged somewhere in the picture’ element to them, encouraging engagement.
Occasionally, he will post something reminding his growing audience (who like beauty, comedy and wildlife) that he has a holiday let to rent. It seems to always be booked. This is a long-term strategy, which aims to build an audience first before the not-so-hard sell. Think about what attracts people to the area your static caravan is in as it probably is a lot more interesting than the property itself. If you live nearby or use it for some of the year yourself, be ready with your camera to snap local beauty spots and wildlife to keep your page interesting.
Advertising on Facebook to promote your static caravan
Alternatively, and running alongside this strategy, there is the option to take out a paid advert on Facebook.
Facebook ads are great for targeting a particular audience, allowing you to adjust who sees the ad on their timeline by various parameters such as age and location. At the same time, it is a huge, highly competitive and fast-moving arena in which encouraging engagement and then translating that into bookings can be very hit and miss. Be aware that although an ad with a small reach can seem very affordable, the bigger the target audience, the more you pay and vice versa.
Another advantage of paid advertisement on Facebook is that by placing an ad, you will have immediately gone some distance away from any suspicion of trying to scam anyone. Because Facebook is free, there are unfortunately unscrupulous fraudsters who will post pictures and details of static caravans which they don’t own and take bookings for holidays that don’t exist. The fact that you have spent money to reach people makes it less likely in their minds that you are anything but genuine in what you are offering. Genuine engagement with guests on your page will also add to your credibility.
Know what you want from your advert. While you want to maximise likes and engagement you really need to increase traffic to a site like your own website, or that of your lettings agency or your holiday park, where a booking can be made.
Facebook can be a powerful marketing tool to promote your static caravan. A steady, consistent approach can help you create awareness and increase bookings. Do be mindful of the time and/or money that you spend and measure your results so that you can decide whether you’re getting value from your efforts.
This is a marketing article from My Holiday Home Insurance, a specialist provider of insurance for holiday homes, leisure homes, holiday lodges and static caravans. Our team of experienced advisers are always happy to help, so for more information call our Northampton office on freephone 0800 988 0890.
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