Instagram is the social media platform of choice for many Airbnb hosts, and it’s arguably the most effective social channel for marketing your vacation rental business.
In this post, we’ve covered how to market your vacation rental on Instagram. We included some practical Airbnb Instagram marketing ideas you can try, as well as some best practices to keep in mind.
Ideas for Airbnb & Vacation Rental Instagram Marketing
Here are some ideas for how to market your Airbnb or vacation rental business on Instagram.
Post photos of your property. This is the most obvious idea, but it can be very effective, especially if you have great photography. If you don’t have great photography, you can give your Instagram strategy a huge shot in the arm by taking better photos.
Post before & after photos. Give your followers a behind-the-scenes look by posting photos of before and after a remodel. Pro tip: post the “after” photo in the first spot to keep your Instagram grid looking nice.
Post reviews. Use a tool like Canva to create a consistent, branded graphic with text from your best reviews.
Share user-generated content. User-generated content (UGC) is just content that other people create about your business. If your guests post great photos or videos that feature your property, ask if you can share them on your own page. Encouraging your guests to tag you in their posts is a great way to find this content.
Introduce yourself. If you’re comfortable (or even if you’re not, but you’re brave), get behind the camera and introduce yourself. You can share this as a photo in your feed with a caption, or better yet, share it as a video in your stories and save it to your Highlights.
Be active in your Instagram Stories. Whether you’re working on a remodel, or stocking your Airbnb, there are activities you’re doing that will be of interest to potential guests and even other hosts, who will follow along for updates.
Being active on Instagram Stories can be a really effective way to build an engaged following. Plus, maybe you’ll end up quitting your day job to become an Instagram influencer. 😉
Post video walk-throughs. Create a video walk-through of your property, so guests can see what it’s like inside. You can pin these to your Highlights, so potential guests who find your Instagram account can watch them when deciding to book.
Do a giveaway. This is a popular approach to growing your Instagram following and engagement, and it can be very effective. Give away a free night’s stay in your Airbnb or vacation rental, and ask your followers to like, comment, and/or share to be entered in the giveaway. This is a great way to promote your Airbnb on Instagram.
Organize your Highlights. Create Stories with helpful information about your area, and add them to your Highlights. You can organize them into topics like FAQs, Local Restaurants, Hikes, Attractions, Property. You might post videos of hikes, city walk throughs, or any other interesting content ideas you can think of. Make your Instagram page a hub for local information about your area.
Work with Instagram influencers or photographers. You can get some great content for your property by offering a free stay to a popular influencer or photographer. Plus, you’ll get the exposure of their audience. This also applies to TikTok, which has quickly become a popular platform for influencers.
Best Practices for Instagram
Here are some things to keep in mind if you choose to use Instagram to market your Airbnb or vacation rental business.
Post consistently. Choose how often you’re going to post, and be consistent. Maybe you post daily, or twice a week, or just weekly. But it’s a good idea to stick to a regular schedule. Check your Instagram insights to see when your audience is active, to get an idea of what days and times might be best to post.
You can use a tool like Buffer, Hootsuite, or Later to schedule posts in advance. You can also now use the Instagram Creator Studio to schedule posts on your desktop right through Instagram.
Respond to comments. You can encourage more engagement on your Instagram posts by responding quickly and thoughtfully to comments.
Have Instagrammable properties. Many of the properties that have success on Instagram are “Instagram-worthy” or “Instagrammable.” Basically, this means having a property that’s visually appealing. Having good interior design, staging, and vacation rental photography can have a big impact on your success on Instagram.
Encourage your guests to tag you. You might include a sign in your Airbnb that lists your Instagram handle or a hashtag they can use to tag you in their posts. This is a great way to get quality user-generated content that you can share. Be sure to ask permission before sharing.
Learn from other accounts. Instagram has a tendency to make you jealous. Jealous of people’s perfect lives, and in the case of Airbnb hosts, their perfect properties and social media presence. Paying attention to what is working for other accounts can be a great source for Instagram marketing ideas.
When you come across Airbnb or vacation rental Instagram accounts that make you jealous, try to identify what exactly is making you feel that way. Is it their photography? The interior design? Their post engagement?
Ask yourself what you can learn from their success, and how you might be able to replicate it.
Check out the Floorspace Instagram for some great vacation rental accounts you can follow for more ideas.
We hope this gives you a better sense of how to promote your Airbnb on Instagram. We recommend creating an Instagram marketing plan, so you can try some ideas out, and then re-evaluate and adjust your strategy as needed.
This post is part of our series on social media marketing for vacation rentals, which is part of our vacation rental marketing guide. Check out our other helpful resources for hosts.
