Short Stays, Big Dreams: A Travel & Vacation Rental Podcast
"Short Stays, Big Dreams: A Travel & Rental Podcast" dives into the world of short-term rental management, the stay industry, and travel, offering insights, expert interviews, and actionable tips to help you maximize your rental business and explore the latest travel trends.
Short Stays, Big Dreams: A Travel & Vacation Rental Podcast
Master Social Media to Elevate Your Short-Term Rental Business
Ever wondered how to transform your short-term rental business through the power of social media? Join us as Lorena Martinez, the driving force behind EC Creative’s digital magic, unravels her journey and shares transformative insights. Learn why shifting from traditional marketing methods to harnessing the vast reach of digital channels is not just beneficial but essential—especially in challenging times. Discover why investing in a solid marketing strategy can be the game-changer your business needs.
Lorena dives deep into the importance of knowing your target audience and crafting content that resonates with them. We discuss creating an "avatar" for your ideal customer and aligning your marketing efforts with the latest trends and influencers. Authenticity is a recurring theme, as Lorena explains how being genuine and original can significantly boost audience engagement. Plus, we explore why a keen social media manager is crucial for authentically representing your brand and staying up-to-date with the ever-evolving landscape of social platforms.
To cap it off, we explore practical content strategies that can take your marketing efforts to the next level. Discover the power of podcasting and how to repurpose content across various social media channels for maximum reach. Lorena shares invaluable tips on starting small, leveraging tools like Canva, CapCut, and Zoho Social, and the importance of establishing a direct booking option on your website to build credibility. Tune in for these actionable insights and more to elevate your short-term rental business!
What was the attraction of this market? This is something that will revolutionize the world. We made a whole communication plan around this. We talked to the rector with the parents, we gathered them Before the press realized we all had that contingency plan for something that happens at any time that one would never expect.
Speaker 2:I think it's one of the big mistakes that a lot of short-term rental operators that happens at any time that you would never expect they don't have a strategy when they do so. Okay, that's very good advice, right? And basically what she's talking about is understanding what your avatar is, or understanding who your customer is, and targeting that specific individual. Welcome, my beautiful people. Today I have a very special guest. I want to introduce you to Lorena Martinez. Lorena is my social media marketing manager. She works for a company called EC Creative.
Speaker 2:We've been working with EC Creative for some time now, but the main reason why I'm bringing her on is because you, as a short-term rental operator, as I mentioned before, if you want to be successful in this business or in any business in general, you need to be singly focused, meaning your sole purpose should be on building your business. You shouldn't be trying to wear all hats. So one of the things that I realized early on was the importance of social media marketing, and this is why I want to introduce you to Lorena, so she can give you her insight, her input as to what she does, how she does it. Why is it important? So, without further ado, now, the caveat here is that this video is going to be in spanglish, because I'm going to be talking in english and some spanish, but she's going to mainly be responding in spanish.
Speaker 2:Um, we'll see how it goes, um, but if you have any specific questions, as we're going along, you know, don't forget to leave them in the comments below and I'll try to answer them. But, lorena, welcome, let's start. Can you tell us something about you, something about your career and how you started with social media marketing?
Speaker 1:Perfect. First of all, hello. The only hats that must be used are these, otherwise you have to use only one hat when you are not going to work. That first. When you say it, then, of course, if I am going to tell you, I, as Fernanda said, I am Lorena Martínez. I am from Colombia. I have been working for a long time, more than 10 years. I will graduate in two months as a digital marketing master at a university in the United States. I say that digital marketing found me because I had never expected this to exist. We in Colombia are a little bit behind in technology. I don't know about eight years ago, we didn't have what we have now and never, let's say, when I started my career I am a social communicator and journalist I never thought that this, let's say, was going to exist. Right? Apenas el marketing vino a hacer, digamos, el boom acá en el 2014-2015.
Speaker 2:Entonces fue mucho tiempo después y ahí fueron, digamos donde yo lo encontré y dije esto esto es lo mío, esta es mi pasión super ahora un poquito más sobre el tema de cómo entras a que te atracción de este mercado, more about the subject of how you entered, that is, what was the attraction of this market?
Speaker 1:Well, it was very simple. I was really working as a communicator in a software company and, as always, one says as a communicator does the whole part of communication right. One, let's say, from ignorance. And they say you do the marketing part and I I well, and how do you do that? So I started studying and I said no, this is something that is going to revolutionize the world, that is. I started no, come on, this is something much more powerful than putting a video on television, a cune in radio. I say this is worldwide and I will be able to work worldwide with brands, let's say important. So I said come, what possibility there is that I can study this and help brands.
Speaker 1:I even focused a lot on helping entrepreneurs here in Medellín. Yes, because this is a service that used to be a luxury. Now it really is a need. That's what I I tell you now. Before, when companies were breaking down or needed to make some cuts, the first thing they cut was communication and marketing. Now I say that's what they should cut less, because that's the entry for the new sales. So for me, the passion is to be able to help entrepreneurs, entrepreneurs to be known, to show their real, let's say, their true self. For me, that is, let's say, the essence of what I do and what I am most passionate about Super, and that's very important this part.
Speaker 2:I'm going to say it in English. I asked her what brought her to the field right, and what's her passion about this field. And the key comment that she made and I've been saying this a long time right, I don't care what business you're in, your key focus should be in customer acquisition. Right, because if you don't have a customer, then you don't have a business. And through that customer acquisition you need to market.
Speaker 2:And it's sad to see that oftentimes, when things get rough or when people are starting out, the area in which they spend the least amount of money is in marketing, and I think that's a big mistake. I think, if you're struggling, you should double down in marketing right Now. There is that caveat that you need to do the correct marketing. Hence why I firmly believe that you should surround yourself and expend a lot of time and effort in your research on identifying your right, right partner in relationships to who you're going to be working with within marketing, and we're going to touch on this going further. But one of the reasons why I hired and I've been working with Lorena and EC Marketing was because of the fit right. Their vision on what marketing should be and my vision are aligned, and that's very important. So, uh, lorena, so the next question that I have for you what can you share with us some exciting projects or campaigns that you have worked with either in the past or you're currently working today?
Speaker 1:Claro que sí, digamos, yo diría que tres que podría mencionar que yo digo que han sido algo que me ha marcado, inclusive yo sin saber que hacía marketing. En ese entonces yo trabajaba para una universidad en Manizales, acá en Colombia. Yo era la jefe de prensa de la universidad y nosotros siempre hacíamos pues I was the head of the university press and we always did obviously good publicity, organic publicity of the university. But when negative things came out, it was where I said wow, this is what I need for my life, lo que yo necesito para mi vida. Entonces, una vez en la universidad, unos estudiantes se fueron en un bus para un viaje después de la universidad y tuvieron un accidente. Casi uno de ellos casi fallece en ese accidente. Entonces tú no te imaginas los medios encima de la universidad atacando. Pero antes de esto, nosotros hicimos todo un plan comunicacional en torno a esto of the university attacking.
Speaker 1:But before that, we made a whole communication plan around this. We talked to him with the rector, with the parents of families we met, before the press realized everything we already had is, let's say, that contingency plan for something that happens at any time, that one would never expect. And we ourselves were the ones who talked to the press and we told them what happened. This, this happened in less than an hour. In less than an hour, we already had all this set up and this was a marathon. We spent two days in a row, that is, without sleeping, at the university, attending to the parents, talking to the press, the rector. We told him what to say, how to say it, how to structure it, because this is a case, let's say, sensitive to people and we never got, let's say, a case of denunciation against, let's say, the university, because we handle everything in a very good way. If we hadn't done this, believe me, they would have denounced the university so much that we would have lost a lot of money, including students, and our image would have dropped too much. So this seemed to me well. We didn't sleep in those two days, but I say that it marked me a lot. That was very, very good and that was a long time ago, but we did the part of, did the part of a good marketing at that time.
Speaker 1:Another thing that I really liked is my old job. We had to create several sub-entreprises. They liked to work for other markets, in Mexico or the United States, but in these markets we needed to create companies that were, let's say, aligned with the language, with the language, how they were expressed. So it also helped us a lot to create companies from scratch and start positioning them, which is not easy, right?
Speaker 1:And let's say I already have in my head how companies are structured from the communication part and it seems to me, let's say, extremely interesting from the communication part and I find it extremely interesting from the creation of the logo, how we can impact people, that people feel identified with the brand and it seems to me that it helped us a lot and that company, even at this moment, those super companies sold them and had a good profit at the time and it's not because I'm here with you on this podcast, but I always wanted to travel and work and at this moment, to say that I can contribute to your company and say come on, we are going to show the culture, but from the bottom, from the root, not only what people see above, but we are going to go record and if we have to go to a neighborhood where it is not very dangerous but people are interested and like to know about this, I love that, the possibility of knowing other cultures and knowing and showing the world that, let's say, they are losing a lot of things for not traveling, and encouraging this.
Speaker 1:I think it is a supremely beautiful project and it is something that I love.
Speaker 2:I'm glad, super, super. Now we are going to talk a little bit about the responsibilities and the role that you have working with us. The question I'm asking her now is as our social media marketing manager, what is her primary responsibility?
Speaker 1:Well, the first is to be on the ball, to be in the move, to be all the time looking at what is trending, what is being shown to the people, what is being liked, what is being moved. I mean almost not to enter the trend after, but to come and see what we can do more and always be very aware of the networks, a mistake that many entrepreneurs make. I wouldn't say that a social media marketing does it, because if it's good, he knows that he should do it. But many entrepreneurs, when they make their own content, they upload content for upload, literally without any strategy. Anything they upload and say, oh no, come on, but it's because I'm having no more than 100 likes or 100 views. Well, come on, this is loose.
Speaker 1:Yes, so let's say, my biggest responsibility here in this company is to create that communication strategy where we all the videos and all, let's say each one of the contents is rooted with the other. For example, if we upload a video talking about Madrid, then the post where it talks about Madrid and here an Airbnb of Madrid, and so then people know that we are talking about this sector. That is my main responsibility First, see trends and second, be creating strategies and always aiming for the final goal. That's what I do.
Speaker 2:Here's what's very important, what she just said, and I'm a big fan of what she just talked about because I think it's one of the big mistakes that a lot of short term rental operators if and I say a big if, because a lot of people are not taking advantage of social media but even those that are participating in social media, they don't have a strategy when they do so, and I think that's very important. I'm going to be. You know, I'll admit that when I first got into the game, into the short-term rental game, and started implementing social media, I was one of those that she just mentioned. A, I didn't have a strategy and B, I was really kind of focusing on likes and subscribers, right, or likes and followers, when in reality, that shouldn't be the focus, right, the focus and that strategy should be about accomplishing your mission right, and I'll give you this example I don't care if you have 1,000 followers or 100,000 followers. What's important is who is following, who is engaging, and can you convert those to customers.
Speaker 2:Again, I am not in the social media business. I'm in the short term rental business. I'm in the travel business. So if I'm not converting these followers or these people that consume my content, content into customers then then I'm wasting my time and I'm wasting my money, right? So that's very important that you understand. You have to have that strategy. I'm not an expert in this. This is why I hired EC Creative and, specifically, why I work with Lorena because they are the experts, right, and you should be doing the same. Next question that I have is what's a initiative or a plan within the current structure of our social media that you think it's important, or do you think it's something that we're gonna be focusing on in the future?
Speaker 1:Well, let's say, with the short-term income part and, obviously, the travel agency part, for me the most important thing is that many times what they post is what they believe or like. Yes, for example, it is not that this photo I did not like it, because I do not know such a thing is not seen. And then that photo, I liked it, so it is blurry, and then they upload it. Right. Then let's say what is the objective of mine at this moment with the company is to really post what people are looking for, what people are consuming, where our target audience is. If our target audience is Americans who like to come to Latin American countries to know the culture, to eat good food, then we are going to show that.
Speaker 1:If my target audience is I don't know, they like the bachelor party, they like the nocturne life, we are going to show what that life is like. Right it is. Let's say, the main initiative is to always focus on our target audience. If you do not have a defined target, if you do not know what your target is, You're throwing a net at the sea and you're looking to see what you're going to fish instead of fishing one by one, which is the idea that doesn't allow it on social media. It allows us to fish one by one quickly, not like we did with traditional television, but that's the main point here.
Speaker 2:Okay, that's very good advice, right? And basically what she's talking about is understanding what your avatar is, or understanding who your customer is and targeting that specific individual. I think that's hugely important because she's right. Hugely important because she's right. Oftentimes we have a tendency to create content or post up pictures that we like, but we meaning me, I'm not my customer the people watching this are my customer, so we have to cater to that. In order to do that, you have to understand what the trends are and, more importantly, understand what your avatar is so that you can target that.
Speaker 1:So, following up on that, how can you explain how you, or what do you do to to figure out what's trending, to figure out what my trending, to figure out you know what my, our specific avatar is yeah, first, what I do is follow those influencers or gurus who are very strong in marketing and in marketing I'm not even talking about travel agency or that type of business, but in marketing in general and not even do what they say. My advice is don't do what they say. Do what they do. How their videos start, what they say, what they show, how they are visualized in their videos and what they are showing. This is how I identify myself.
Speaker 1:Many times, it is that there is no specific niche videos like that. How do I do it? Where do I get ideas from? Well, first, if they are not using artificial intelligence, we have been left for many years yes, let's say a year ago, a year and a half ago. We are using this and it is not for us to use, for example, chatgpt, which takes out all the work. From there we get ideas and we look for. When we talk about us, we are talking about the whole team. We look for ideas and from there, from our creativity, we focus, depending on the client.
Speaker 1:So, for example, with you, fer, I sit down and I say, well, this is Fernando's personality, he does this, he likes it that way, he speaks in this way. What can I show from that personality I am Fernando. I am Fernando from my personality. What can I express?
Speaker 1:That is the most specific point for me to be able to look for training and be able to say this is what would work for him. Because, although I just said that one should not upload a photo that one likes and others do not, I must show or impact with my stamp. I must be original. I cannot be a copy of other people. I cannot simply go out and look for a video trending and do it specifically. Well, depending on the trend, yes, if it's a good dance, we do it, but if it's something, let's say, a specific topic always try to be very original, even with Fernando. I love working with Fernando and it's because I pass the idea to him and he reads it and well, let's get it out. I always tell him not to read literally, because when he reads literally, it seems like a script and this is what you can do the least.
Speaker 2:So I'm just going to recap what she just said, because I think it's really, really, really important, right? Uh, basically, what she said is you have to be authentic, right, um, I am. And and this is why I mentioned, when you're doing and when you're going to hire a social media marketer or somebody going to work in relation to social media, it has to be a good fit, right, they have to understand you, they have to understand the type of person you are, because to be authentic in the social media world is probably one of the most important components if you want to grow. You can't copy someone else. You can't do what someone else is doing, because that's not you.
Speaker 2:And when you actually, for example, with me people that see me on social media, when they meet me in person, that's who I am. You know they're not meeting a stranger. You know they're not meeting me and saying, well, you're the complete opposite of what you are on social media. No, I'm the same person. So this is why, when you hire a social media manager, they have to know you, they have to know your personality, so they can cater your content to the person you are and exhibit and express that to your avatar, right? So next is can you, you know, looking at the landscape of social media that is constantly evolving? What do you think is some of the current trends that businesses should be aware of, or they should be looking, looking for?
Speaker 1:well, that also depends a lot on the platform. So we know that this, what we are doing now, is managing, let's say, moving the stop, as we say here, and that is that making a podcast is supremely important. It is not difficult and it is, let's say, one of the most fruitful things that can do. For example, we take out the compodcast, we talk about important topics, we have guests who are specialists in such a topic and, let's say, the people who want to listen to this type of videos, information. They will always stay connected. Yes, then we are going to have people who are interested in our topic and not just, let's say, vanity data, but I don't know so many views because they simply liked the intro. No, here we are going to be able to see how long people were connected and how we can measure this. Apart, for example of this will will help us.
Speaker 1:I do not know if this podcast takes half an hour. An hour, imagine the amount of mini rules or rules that we can post on social media and it is extra content that we can get out of there. So we can kill 50 birds in a single shot with a podcast. This is one of the trends. Let's say what has been running for a few months, to come here to be able to have it with a good quality, that first of all, with a good light, a good topic, not to talk for talking something that let's say you know that your audience may be, let's say interested and hopefully, with the guest right, An invite that is, let's say that knows, let's say guest who knows about what he is talking about. If we are going to talk about other social networks, tiktok is something that moves too much. We can say that almost weekly trending is coming out and they can become super viral and there are things that maybe we are not interested in. I'm not saying that you go to TikTok to dance. If you are not interested in dancing, vuelvan súper virales y hay cosas que quizás no nos interese. Si no estoy diciendo que tú vayas a tecto a bailar, si a ti no te interesa bailar, es tú tienes que ser auténtico y no simplemente por digamos, mezclarte en esta plataforma. Lo vas a ver, pero si hay otras cosas que quizás te interesen, pero tienes que estar en la movida, no te puedes demorar mucho tiempo en grabar y que ya no sé te demoras dos, dos semanas y a la tercera semana lo pones y ya el trending pasó. Así es life.
Speaker 1:You can't take too long to record and I don't know you take two weeks and the third week you put it and the trend and it happened, that is a trend that is coming out. Let's say, to float at this time is to do it at this time and mount it from today yes, because later you will know that you are left then better not to do it. If good, instagram is a little more about telling your story through videos, images. It is much more, let's say, a calmer platform. Before it was very busy, but TikTok arrived and took it over and Facebook.
Speaker 1:We know that it is a little more for adult people before it was for young people. Then here you can publish as your I do not know your children read that you have, even on the same linkin. That is when I already had you a little more professional. But what I tell you is try that your content is so varied that perhaps people can follow you on all your networks and not say that it is the same. If on YouTube you put your entire podcast on your social networks, on your Instagram you put a short click and say, come, go to my YouTube and watch my full video, always relating all our networks so that people are connected.
Speaker 2:Well, continuing with that same topic, because for me this part is very interesting. For example, you manage the TikTok, instagram, facebook and YouTube right. So and since I never get into TikTok, then I don't understand this platform as such. But explain to me, because you just told me that it is different, what we put on TikTok and what we put on Instagram, what we put on our game, what we put on youtube or facebook of the content, how it changes or enters more deeply in that.
Speaker 1:Of course, yes because we know that the formats of youtube and the other networks are supremely different. So, on youtube, on instagram, even if you can put longer videos, the idea is not to bore people. So what we do is we say how to see our social networks. For example, I from TikTok. Many times I tell them to visit us on our YouTube. For example, in TikTok you do not manage the copy or the caption, which is like the text that goes accompanying your video is not the same if it is only a job, a call to action and a few hashtags that we know are trending in tictok. I do not put the same text on instagram. For example, on instagram, if that is the people, if they are more interested in the game than a body, a short message, but that gives us more context or more information about the video, then this is what we do is change a little this. There are times in dicto we also change the cover, if not in dicto, that sometimes they are more interested in the cover appearing as such, although I, with you, I try to always have a cover. If you see, on your instagram it always has something specific, because it is not something that the video came out blurry, not always. I try to make it a good hook that people call attention. But here we also say in tic toc we can make the changes. Or, for example, in the music that I use on instagram is different from the one I use in tiktok because they are different 20 audios that are handled on different platforms. So you have to go see what is being handled on instagram that is being trending and that is being trending in tiktok. I can't just duplicate the content. There is content that I do not publish in tictok. Yes, for example, many let's say those that are travel videos, like a lot in tecto and I like a lot on instagram that is posted all but sometimes the faces. There are days that are simply like you walking a blog, and so many times we see and analyze that these videos do not have so much impact on tic tac. If we say with you, I do not handle it so much because we have a lot of material, but with others, we say with other clients who do not send us material, that this is, let's say, the headache for all of us, all of us social media manager, when we say what are we going to do? We do not have material. There is where they are going to start, that they see that the numbers go down is because of that. And then they say but come, but because my network is not working.
Speaker 1:Ahí es donde van a empezar que ven, que los números bajan es por eso. Y entonces dicen pero ven, pero porque mis redes no están funcionando, pues, claro, no nos están mandando material importante, entonces nos toca publicar lo mismo en todas las redes porque no tenemos más. Sí entonces, por ejemplo, hay veces tú publicas algo en tu instagram que yo sé que en tiktok no va a funcionar, entonces no se publica así porque son cosas mucho más rápidas es saber identificar esto. Sí, obviamente, then it is not published, and because they are much faster things is to know how to identify this.
Speaker 1:And obviously, in an ideal world, one could say come on, let's put everything laughs and trips in text. And well, because everything is like that. But we see that there are also videos. Let's say that people love it in your text, for example, if we are going to see here, quickly, I am going to text to me, I love it. Even I started to create my own account and mine and start to see what people liked. But, for example, if we see your text here.
Speaker 1:They like it a lot. For example, once you had a talk with chris camacho in a restaurant. They love that type of format, more not produced, but more casual. They like this a lot. They also like a lot, for example, the part of the Airbnb. When we show them, when we show the picture, we show what the amenities of that Airbnb are. They like this type a lot. Yes, so what happens I am not saying is do not publish on TikTok this and that. Do not publish, but analyze what is working and what is not. If you see that your Facebook ideas or your videos are not working in such a way, then stop publishing this, but let the same platform do this analysis. It is not that I simply upload a video it had 200 views and then I will not upload it again. It again. No, you have to give it a good time for the platform to analyze and the algorithm to analyze what is working and what is not. And there you analyze yourself and see what you can publish and what you cannot publish.
Speaker 2:Super, super interesting because I learned something new because I didn't did not know. I know I did know that what we are publishing on youtube is cut, but I did not know that also a video on our that works well in this, no, maybe it does not work well in the and vice versa. I didn't know that part. Very interesting, thanks for sharing that. Now I ask you what are the tools or software that you use that you like that can benefit someone who is in this type of business?
Speaker 1:Well, let's talk about what I handle and what I would recommend to people who do not have, let's say, a marketing company and the people who have, let's say, contacted a marketing company. The first thing is that we know that the entire artificial intelligence part, such as ChatGPT there are that type of tools. That type of tools. Do not throw it in a broken sack. Seriously, they are supremely important. But please, I tell you, do not let Chat, chatgpt do all the dirty work for you. That has to come from here, from your creativity. You have to give everything, everything, everything to the chatgpt so that it can give you what you are looking for and not the other way around. Yes, because, seriously, if you are going to see a video or a script or what you are going to say, an audio created by ChatGPT is immediately noticeable when it is you or when it is the machine creating. But all these tools are super good. Another recommendation is Canva. I will even tell you quickly here I have been against Canva a lot. Those of us who are designers know it and we said but no, look at what photoshop, illustrator, that is that. Of course it is not a super powerful tool. Of course I make covers and I create them here. I do it here and I do this well. If it is something very created, that you need to make a fence, or, let's say, a very important, interesting thumbnail, that you need to put more work in it. But believe me that you save a lot of time with Cambro. But a lot and more if you pay the pro. Great, because you have access to images in the bank of supremely beautiful images from all over the world. You will be able to handle designs that you can even take hours working here with your creativity. Obviously you can change and customize it. Then now I know that when they listen to me, they will say how to create me camba. And now I handle it, I think, and I was the same with illustrator and photoshop, obviously, but it is a tool that makes work much easier. For example, if you are a content creator and you are not working with someone professional to edit videos quickly for CapCut networks, it is a very good tool. I use it when I don't need to work a super long video, but if they are short, you can remove the background, you can put effects. There are many tutorials of Capco that are super easy. Even the free version is very good.
Speaker 1:So another tool that I like a lot, let's say, to program your content. I don't know if you know, we program your posts, only your posts. We program it through a tool called metric, or also another tool that I know very well. I don't work in the current company, but I worked in the past company is so with zeta, zeta o h o si o es o eso pues, una herramienta que maneja srm, maneja eso es ojo social. Puedes publicar y programar contenido a través de esta herramienta. Te trae todas las estadísticas, lo mismo de métricos, pero mi mayor recomendación es que tratemos de que nuestros.
Speaker 1:But my biggest recommendation is that we try to make our videos. That's what I was going to tell you. The videos are published manually. This we have analyzed and we have seen that the videos that are published, that are programmed through a platform, do not have as much engagement as when the platform sees that you are the one who is interacting and creating this content through this platform. I would say that, basically, this and obviously what you can manage with your team if you have a team, a team, then look for a way of how you can communicate with it. If it is, I don't know through the same Google chat or lookar cómo te puedes, digamos, trabajar y puedes comunicarte, pero eso es lo que nosotros manejamos actualmente.
Speaker 2:So let's recap what she just the tools that she recommends that you get are and correct me if I'm wrong, and this one's big for me because I've been preaching those that follow my channel know I've been talking about this and that is AI. Right, in this case. She mentioned chat gbt, but in my case I talk about not just chat gbt, but there's ai host, um, we implement and and she said it, and I've said this before, and this is not pretty fun, like, like I've said this a lot if you're not using ai in your short-term rental business or in your travel business, you are missing out people, you are behind the times and you're going to get left behind. So, ai, she mentioned cap. Uh, cap cut right and I'm somewhat familiar with it, but um, but then again, you know um, I, I have people to do my social media, but if you're doing it yourself, she's recommending Cat Cup, but I want you to touch and talk more about, because you mentioned that Soho had a CRM.
Speaker 2:I like CRMs, right, and I'm a big fan of CRMs. Can you expand more about what the CRM capabilities are and why would you need a CRM for a social media tool? Of course, yes.
Speaker 1:Look, let's say I use it a lot. I used it a lot when I was working especially for let's, especially for my own company. Me and my brother were working on the whole marketing part through a network of businessmen here in New York and this helped us a lot to have control, obviously, of our system, of our clients, and know, let's say, how they were in. Yes, then we knew when they had arrived, when they had closed the negotiation, including we could put there what are the insights, what are the KPIs of them, how we were getting there, what were the sales through these social networks. For example, when we advertise and we say, see, we did through this, I don't know advertising in SEM, we did this sale, then write it down there because there are obviously those are statistics that interest the client.
Speaker 1:But when you handle as a marketing agency, you manage many clients, then this can come out of your hands right. You can say come on, what was the goal of that person, how much was sold, how much was the ROI or return on investment of what he did in advertising? And then, monthly, we have to pass this information to the person there. We had to go back to our excel to see what was happening in change. We say, managing with this crm in soho helped us a lot to. Management was even free in this at that time. It was free, obviously has its payment, but it is when you handle an impressive amount of data. But this helped us control our business and help him.
Speaker 1:Through Soho Analytics and from Soho Analytics we dragged all this information that we put in each client and we could manage all these statistics directly and pass them on to the client. So that was very good, because they knew what they were standing on, that the investment was worth it, or they knew what they were doing, that the investment was worth it or not really and what we were doing right. So for this we used it and that's why I say, just like we are talking for entrepreneurs, having a CRM, whether you are SOHO or not, the one they manage is well. I know you have said it, but if you don't have a CRM and you are managing everything through an Excel tablet, I tell you that you can get out of your hands quickly. But if you don't have a CRM and you're handling everything through a little Excel table, I can tell you that you can get out of your hands quickly.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so she's 100% right people, you need a CRM. And in our case, as a short-term rental operator, we use the CRM for dual purpose. Right, because we have, in essence, two customers. Right, especially us, because we manage properties for other people. So the property owner is a customer and then the guest is another customer, and when you start to grow, you need that CRM on both ends. But for the short-term rental operator whether you're a mom and pop operator where you're only managing one property a lot of times I hear I don't need a CRM. Yeah, you still do, because in a year and hopefully you're successful in a year you're going to be handling lots of guests and using a CRM will help you greatly to remarket these people. I can't see how you retarget and remarket guests without it. So that's my sales pitch for using a CRM and I highly recommend that you stay on top of that. Now, lorena, can you share a tip or a technique that short-term rental operators can use in their social media to create more engagement?
Speaker 1:Yes, what I say is stop, please stop publishing only the properties. This is like literally seeing a menu, that is, if you want to have the menu, it is very easy. On Instagram, you can put Airbnb in the highlighted stories. Airbnb is that you have available and people can enter and they can see what they have available and you can put the link of your website. Please, if you have a website, put it there and you can send it. People can use this as if it were a menu in a restaurant, but a menu of Airbnb.
Speaker 1:But stop showing Airbnb, airbnbs and properties. What does this do? This makes people not see a person behind this. Show yourself, show yourself talking. If you want, go to the Airbnb, show the Airbnb. But show yourself and talk to people face to face, always being very honest, showing what you are really going to offer. If you are going to offer an Airbnb with certain limitations, tell them. Do not say that the Airbnb is very small, only from a room, super comfortable for family. No, it is from a room. But look, it has this and this and this and this. Yes, so, yes, it is.
Speaker 1:Let's say it is not so difficult to create content. Yes, let's say it makes it difficult for you to talk to the camera. I understand that not everyone has the ability to talk to the camera like Fernando Fernando is natural. If you have, let's say, a little fear, start first with your voice, then record your voice, show some interesting information about the location of nearby restaurants, nearby gyms, that you see that people can be looking around you and start recording your voice and look for images and you can edit this, editing in, cut off this. After that you can start showing your face. If you don't want to talk directly to the camera, then you can show yourself in the airbnb or eating in the restaurant that you are going to recommend and little by little, let's say talking to the camera.
Speaker 1:This is the final objective. Always say to the eyes of the person there is nothing more interesting and more important when you arrive and talk to the eyes of the person, because that is where they pay attention to you. There is where they are talking to me. It is not like I am talking. When they are talking to me, then I have to pay attention with respect. That is what a let's say, your audience feels when they're watching your content. That's my first recommendation. I know it's difficult for some people to create content and be able to talk, but start doing that. Or, for example, I started with my own TikTok, imitating or doing some audios de un video trending no eres tú hablando, no tienes tanto, digamos, problema, y te estás mostrando hasta que ya momento otro. Puedas digamos en un podcast de estos, con tranquilidad, eso lo que digamos. Yo le recomiendo, pero sobre todo, dejen de posear solo de bien bits ok, phenomenal information there, people.
Speaker 2:I can't tell you what I mean. That's per gold, that's a hundred percent solid gold information you just got and I'm going to. I'll be the first one to admit that when I first started social media, which has been several years now, I never posted my pic, nothing about me. Like I never posted my face, like I didn't feel at the time that that was necessary. I also made the mistake that she just mentioned that initially I was single, focused on properties, like I would only post pictures about my, the properties that I was acquiring. I was posting. At that time we were, we were doing a lot of acquisitions, posting simply that and posting our, our, our, you know, the short-term rentals that we had. We were just focused on that man. Was that a mistake? I literally wasted two years of being on social media by just doing that. Right.
Speaker 2:I think it's hugely important and we talked about this in the beginning, about being authentic, right. People need to know who they're working with. Myself. That I stole from Aaron Novello a long time ago. One of the quotes that I steal from him is who you work with. Matters and people that are going to work with you need to know who you are.
Speaker 2:So and as Lorena mentioned, I know it's difficult for a lot of you guys to you know to put yourself out there. But I'm telling you, if you're going to be in this business and you want to be successful, somebody needs to be the face of your business. If it ain't you, you need to find someone that's going to stay with you. Right, Put that person out there. But I firmly believe that those that put themselves out there are those that succeed or have a greater chance of succeeding in any business, not just the short-term rental business, any business. I mean, just look around Grant Cardone, I just mentioned. Aaron Novello in the real estate world, jose Morales, which is on the eXp real estate world, but even in general people, investors, brandon from BiggerPockets there's just too many of the name. They put themselves out there right.
Speaker 2:And here's another very important reason why you need to do this right. It's just I'm going to mention this again it's all about branding, and when I talk about branding, I'm talking about branding you, you and your company. This is why I hate when I hear people say I'm in the Airbnb business. Unless you own it or you work for Airbnb, you're not in the Airbnb business. Airbnb is a platform that short-term rental operators use to advertise their properties, right? So I hate that because you're just marketing Airbnb or you're giving Airbnb free marketing. That's not you. So, um, number one. So I'm going to conclude this video. First of all, I want to thank Lorena Uh. She gave you a lot of phenomenal information, a lot of tools, a lot of tips that you can use to use social media to help grow your business. But before we conclude, lorena, do you have any closing thoughts? It could be in general, or anything specific that you want to share with the audience.
Speaker 1:The moment is now, or anything specific that you want to share with, with the audience. Believe me, if you are not in networks, your business and you do not exist, so let's get out. We don't have to simply create a profile, look at a strategy that you consider that can work and start to measure. We don't have to create and buy machines and cameras. With your own cell phone, go out and record and from there it starts, and after that you start to see the fruits. There you can start to buy. Let's say what you need, but many people and I'm not just saying about this business, but from all the entrepreneurs that I know many expect to have many things to start and they waste time, years, to be able to promote themselves. At this moment is the moment, that is, if you are in this video is the signal that you need to start creating your content.
Speaker 2:Well, she just told my closing statement. I'm just gonna recap what she just said, because basically, everything she just mentioned was what I was going to use for my closing. But you know, the key here is to start right. You have to. You have to start people and, like she said, you don't need any fancy equipment. All you need.
Speaker 2:I do all my, all my videos are done on my iPhone. I don't own a camera. This video is on my laptop. So all you have to do is just simply start because, like she said, if you're not on social media and the same things I'm going to mention about a website if you don't have an ability for people to book your properties directly through you people, you don't exist. Right, you don't have a social media footprint, you don't exist. It adds a lot of credibility to your business when you do so. I'm going to close this. I want to remind you guys to subscribe to the channel if you haven't subscribed, because most of you guys that watch are not subscribing. So hit that subscribe button, hit the notification bell, follow me on Instagram. I love you guys and I'll see you in the next one.