Check Yes or No ✅

 ❤ Getting likes for your listing. With Valentine's Day coming up, it's time we take stock of things we love about our listing. It's easy to be reminded of the not so fun things like stained linens, guests asking for 75% off discounts, and the Wi-Fi going out at the absolute worst time. Take a break from that and write a love letter to your listing to rekindle the old spark. And by love letter, we mean public Instagram post using the resources in this week's post. 

🎧 Listen

This week's Listen comes from the Vacation Rental & Mastery podcast, Why and How to Put Your Airbnb on Instagram for More Vacation Rental Bookings. (12 minute podcast episode)

Do it for the Gram.

What exactly do you post on your listing's IG? There is only so much content you can recycle from your listing photos.

This podcast episode breaks down content ideas (e.g. local attractions, restaurants, and people having a good time, in general) as well as giving you permission to not be so hard on yourself. If you can't post daily, then post every few days. If you can't post every few days, post weekly. The important thing is progress.

📽 Watch

This week's Watch comes from Dustin Baker on YouTube, Copy This Perfect Listing to Get More Bookings on Airbnb. (13 minute video)

Where can you find the perfect short-term rental listing? Airbnb? VRBO? This YouTuber says it's on Instagram.

The crux of this position is that an IG follower is worth a heck of a lot more than being wish listed on Airbnb. By building a relationship on IG, you have the opportunity to touch potential guests every time they get on IG - which is presumably many, many more times than they get on any online travel agent.

While you're building your following, you're also building an audience for a direct booking pipeline as well. Other benefits of optimizing your IG page:

• You'll have interested folks to offer booking deals or cancellations to instead of relying on online travel agents;

• You can setup a link page so that guests can book using whatever platform they prefer;

• Your guests can tag your listing - which can be an incredibly impactful review; and

• You can gain awareness of your listing by collaborating with other members of your online and local communities.

The YouTuber says best way to get bookings using this strategy is to post a story with a link to book and a call to action (Last minute cancellation - Book Now!!!🏡).

📖 Read

This week's Read comes from Shortrentalpro.com, 12 tips on How to Promote your Airbnb on Instagram. (10 minute read)Let's be honest, even you it doesn't cost you any dollars to build your IG account (assuming no paid promotion), it does cost time.

One of the biggest time sucks can be trying to figure out what to do next. The tips in this article can pull you out of a "what to do" swamp. Here are some of the key points.

• Create a professional-looking Instagram account

• Use high-quality photos

• Post regularly

• Utilize Instagram’s features

• Collaborate with influencers

• Run contests and giveaways

• Use relevant hashtags

Go forth and create excellent content.

☘ Potluck

That's a [Jane] photo.     - [Jane]'s friends anytime they see one of the blurry, uncentered, and poorly composed pics she takes, [Jane]'s name has been changed to protect the innocent

Every post doesn't have to be a Pulitzer-worthy photo. However, we want things to look professional and enticing.

Hootsuite is a social media channel manager you can use to draft and schedule post across platforms. You probably won't need all its bells and whistles starting out, but these tips from Greg Sides on the site's blog are very handy.

My favorite tip was to keep it simple. When you're creating content for Instagram, keep in mind that most people will see the pictures on small screens. Having a tiny detail in the bottom corner of a shot as your aha! might not be the best plan if it's too small to see.

Taking photos with your target audience in mind is the way to go.

That's it. Whether this is hitting your inbox on the original publication date or you stumbled upon it days, months, or years later, you're now part of STR Recap history.

Thank you for letting us share the STR journey with you. Please let us know if there is anything you would like to learn more about from this edition or anything you would like to see in the next edition. Until then, keep moving forward.

p.s. If you have someone in your life that has a short-term rental, is interested in short-term rentals, or you think could just use some extra homework, please forward this email their way. That is the best thank you we can ask for.