If you’re a holiday cottage owner you’ll probably (or hopefully!) have a whole host of great images of your property, the surrounding area and places your guests can visit.  But how do you make the most of them and use them to increase your reach and engagement through Facebook and Instagram?
Here are just a few key points for you to consider:

Getting the balance of your content right

Every guest will be inspired and engaged by different messages and images; some might be balled over by the view from your cottages, others by the spacious interiors or by the sun setting over the beach.  Make sure you use a good range of photos – whether that’s of the cottage and the facilities, or the best places they can visit when in the area.

Learn from what works

I’ve already said that people will be inspired by different images and content, so make sure you understand what makes your audience tick.  Take a few minutes each month to look back at what you’ve posted and when; which posts worked well and had those like and comments rattling round at a rate of knots? Which posts didn’t?

Get them swiping left and right rather than scrolling up and down

Facebook and Instagram both have vertical newsfeeds so most of the time on those platforms is spent going up and down.  If you can get them going side to side, then they’ll spend more time on your content which is always a winner! How do you do that? By adding more than one image; galleries are a winner on both Facebook and on Instagram.

The alternative to a gallery

Collages can also be quite effective in drawing attention as you’ve got several different images in one, increasing the chances of potential content titillation!
Here’s a few apps that you can use to quickly create collages of your photos:
Pic Collage Photo Editor
Pic Stitch Collages Editor
Encollage Pic Collage Maker
Layout for Instagram

Getting your timing right

The Facebook algorithm likes posts that gain engagement within the first couple of hours so ideally post your photos at times at which people are most likely to be online.  That would be in the evenings and particularly on a Sunday afternoon / early evening.
Posts that go on early in an evening will gain considerably more interaction than those that go on mid-morning.
When it comes to Instagram there isn’t a chronological ordering to posts, but we have found that those posts that go on at around 8 – 9am or 7 – 10pm gain the most likes and comments.

Remember you can still schedule on Facebook

Don’t panic – I’ll never ask you to give up every evening burried in a mountain of social media activity – you can schedule on Facebook by clicking on the little white triangle you’ll see on the big blue ‘publish’ button when the time comes to get it live.

Don’t share from other social networks

Syndicating a post across multiple networks in seconds can seem like a real time saver but are you doing more harm than good? No social network, whether it’s Facebook, Instagram or Twitter, like you auto posting from other networks and your reach will potentially be penalised.
If you’re wanting something to appear on Facebook, then do this from Facebook and likewise for Instagram.

Always make sure you’re tagging your location

If you’re putting a post onto Facebook or Instagram, then it’s worth tagging your location (this also applies to Instagram stories if you’re using them).  More and more users across Instagram are using location tagging to find their dream holiday destinations (I’ve even done it myself) so this is an emerging and growing trend to take advantage of).

Hashtags on Instagram

Use between 10 – 15! Sounds a lot? If you run out of inspiration, then take a look at other accounts that are really rocking Instagram and learn from what they do well! Don’t always use the same ones or you’ll end up reaching the same people with every post.  Variety can increase your reach here.

Be sure to interact on Instagram

If you don’t spend time interacting, liking and engaging with other accounts then you’ll find that your Instagram reach will lower significantly. So go out there and be socialable!

Here’s a link to the recent presentation I gave on this topic:

Download the Powerpoint Presentation