HomeAway Confidential© 2010 HomeAway. All rights reserved.

HomeAway Summit 2012

HomeAway Confidential© 2009 HomeAway. All rights reserved.

Show of Hands:

Does anyone use Twitter?Who would like to use it, but not sure what it is good for?Do you think you can find travelers using it?Would you like to connect with other local businesses?Has anyone had success with Twitter?http://twitter.com/homeaway

HomeAway Confidential© 2009 HomeAway. All rights reserved.

Disclaimer:Facebook is a higher priorityIt takes more time and effort to effectively engage on TwitterAre your travelers here?

Basics:Create a Twitter profile at twitter.comUsername should align with business or property nameBio including your site or Facebook pageUpdate on regular basisSearch for people by interest, name, location and key wordsProactively reach out to users

HomeAway Confidential© 2009 HomeAway. All rights reserved.

Definitions:

Tweet: Short update of information in 140 characters@ Reply: A Tweet posted in reply to another user's message, usually posted by clicking the "reply" button next to their Tweet in your timeline. Always begins with @username @ Mention: Mentioning another user in your Tweet by including the @ sign followed directly by their usernameDirect Message (DM): Tweets are private between the sender and recipient.

Re-Tweet (RT):A Tweet by another user, forwarded to you by someone you follow. Often used to spread news or share valuable findings on Twitter.Followers: A follower is another Twitter user who has followed you., and you can follower others you are interested

Hashtag: The # symbol is used to mark keywords or topics in a Tweet. www.hashtags.org to search for trends and popularly used tags. #TravelTuesday #TTOT #FF FollowFriday

HomeAway Confidential© 2009 HomeAway. All rights reserved.

Why Use Twitter?

Good for:– Finding potential

travelers– Connecting with local

businesses and events, organizations

– Publishing short updates about your business and links to other sites

– Communicating with potential customers in real-time

– Promoting your vacation rental during slow seasons

HomeAway Confidential© 2009 HomeAway. All rights reserved.

Content

HomeAway Confidential© 2009 HomeAway. All rights reserved.

Keys to good content

Keep account constantly updatedPay attention to hashtags and keywords Create and share various types of content@mention users involved in your tweetwww.crowdbooster.com– Recommendations on who to follow– How your account is performing

HomeAway Confidential© 2009 HomeAway. All rights reserved.

What do you think the top 5 mistakes

Owners make on Twitter would be?

HomeAway Confidential© 2009 HomeAway. All rights reserved.

Top 5 Mistakes

1. Only publishing links to your vacation rental2. Not engaging with other users3. Not targeting your content to the appropriate

audience“@todayshow www.vrbo.com/12345”– Today show doesn’t know who you are– If there is only a link, there’s no context– More effective to send it to the local Chamber of

Commerce who can respond with some context– Still need a message around the link

4. Continuous messages to unrelated users about your rental “@andersoncooper you should check out my rental” “@andersoncooper think u would like my vacation home

www.homeaway.com/12345”“@mattlauer stay at my condo for your next vacation”

5. Only publishing one type of content– Photos, video, links, weather, restaurants,

attractions, events