What social media should really be used for

Ep#20 - What social media should really be used for

Hello, and thank you for joining me today. This is episode 20 of the Direct Booking Success podcast. I'm your host, Jen Boyles, and I'm delighted to be here with you today.

Today I want to talk about social media and what it should be used for. Now, this might sound a bit controversial, as so many people teach social media, as you know, the centre of your market.

And this is not how I think of social media nor how I teach about it. In my direct booking success group program, I see many people chasing followers on Instagram, placing a significant emphasis on social media. Spend so much time and energy jumping on the latest trends, dancing around, creating real after reel, and then being disappointed when they don't hit those targets and followers they set for themselves.

I see this when I speak to my free Facebook group's holiday and vacation rental owners and managers. In the Marketing Hub, people worry about the number of followers under their engagement rates. Social media is usually one of the first things people ask for help.

And confession time. I don't have a massive following on social media. Yes, I'm active on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn, but I limit my time on those platforms. I’d like to know how many followers, likes, or connections I have. What I am concerned with is if those numbers are steadily climbing upwards, and they are.

This tells me that those wanting to hear from me are growing. This group of people is growing, and that is what makes me happy. I don't expect anything I post to go viral, nor is that something I'm aiming towards. I use social media as part of my overall marketing plan. Yes, it is just a part of it.

Social media should only be part of your market. Only some of your effort and time should be spent on social media. I like to think of social media as an acquisition source, a way to get in front of new potential guests and engage with your past guests.

Trap number one vanity metrics. The metrics are the number of followers or likes you get on social media. Could you not get hung up on them? I had seen many people work hard on a poster or fundamental and then get so disappointed when it didn't get the reaction they were hoping for. Significantly few posts go viral. And if you did create something that went viral, how would you know that the people liking it are your ideal guests?

They might be the complete opposite of who is the perfect fit for your place. And in that case, it would be a waste of your time: trap number two, Happy Cupcake Day and other meaningless awareness days. I use Happy Cupcake Day a lot with my clients. An awareness day that you know has limited uses.

I don't care if it's happy Cupcake Day. This has nothing to do with my vacation rental business. If I were a cupcake baker, then I could use it on social media, which would be a perfect fit. But for any other business, the link is just tenuous and probably meaningless. This is a waste of your time creating and posting.

If you're constantly posting stuff that has no link to your business or you, your followers are turned off; they will start to unfollow you. Trap number three posting just for the sake of posting anything. Have you ever felt that panic that you need to post something on social media?

You don't know what you are; you haven't got anything prepared, but you're just so scared that if you aren't continually posting, the algorithm will punish you, so you post a photo of a sunset. Isn’t that nice? Yeah, no one cares. Sorry to tell you that if you don't accompany that photo with a more profound message or story, it won't do you any favours.

So let's talk about what to do instead.

Create a content plan. A content plan is your plan of what you will post, when and where, with categories and ideas that fit into what you are doing in your business, who your ideal guest is and what they want to know about. Yeah, everything goes back to your perfect guest. I would like to see if I can get through an episode on a podcast without saying the ideal words, guest.

You may think you know, but until you have nailed down who that ideal guest is, you'll only be guessing. So fill your content plan with ideas about what yoperfecteal guest wants to know. And here is the kicker. Use a call to action to get them off social media and onto your website. This is precisely how social media should be used.

It should be used to get your ideal guest off social media and onto your website to book their stay. Having many followers or likes on social media might make you feel good, but if they aren't heading over to your website to book a holiday, you might as well not have any on social media.

If they are well done, that is a great result. Tell those reading or viewing your post to go to your website. This is called using a Call to action. You are telling them what to do next, and it will work. Your followers, you know, won't always make that leap. Everything is always more accessible when someone tells you what to do next.

My Facebook group is The Marketing Hub for Holiday and Short-Term Rentals. I'll pop a link in the show notes, and this upcoming Ask Me Anything will be about using social media. So please come and join me there. If you aren't a member, you can join for free. Just hit the link in the show notes and go and join us.

Hope to see you there.