Airbnb

Building a Social Sharing Community

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Introduction
Airbnb has become a truly international brand, capturing the imagination of travelers
everywhere. The company has made their mark in the hospitality industry with over
2 million listings worldwide in over 190 countries. Their social media content has enabled
them to create a sharing economy that their entire brand embodies. In contrast to traditional
accommodation advertising, Airbnb uses social media to showcase their listings - rather
than the destination. By collaborating with their guests and hosts, they are able to feature
authentic content that inspires audiences to book a reservation from any location, whether
its a castle in Ireland or a treehouse in Washington State.

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Key Takeaways

Facebook

Instagram

Adopt social customer care strategies on the platforms your audience uses

Search for content created by your customers and feature their photos in your posts

Connect your campaign with popular conversation that aligns with your brand image

Link to your website in the description text when showcasing your product or service

Monitor which post types your audiences are interacting with most and react accordingly

Use compelling description text to support strong visuals

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On Facebook
Airbnbs exceptional Facebook strategy has led to a massive community of nearly 4 million Fans. Whats
more impressive is their distribution of international Fans, spanning across 5 continents. Growing a global
followership is integral to Airbnbs business model, which relies on hosts to rent out their homes to traveling
guests around the world. The service gives guests an opportunity to live like a local, and experience a country
or city in an authentic way.
Using Socialbakers data, we looked at more than 40 of the top global travel booking pages on Facebook
from March 1 - August 31, 2016. In terms of Fan Growth, we discovered Airbnb ranks in the top 5, and has been
expanding at a rapid rate by gaining an average of 160,000+ new Facebook Fans per month. The summer
season was a great success for Airbnb, June 2016 saw a 49% increase in Fan Growth compared to June 2015
- thats over 270,000 Fans!

Distribution of Fans

Mar 01, 2016 - Aug 31, 2016

100

Countries

Local Fans

Percentage
of Fans Base

Growth

Relative Growth

United States

653 639

18.66%

+ 248 477

+ 61.33%

Brazil

303 483

8.66%

+ 131 078

+ 76.03%

Italy

209 284

5.97%

+ 69 439

+ 49.65%

Germany

175 900

5.02%

+ 51 539

+ 41.44%

United Kingdom

173 903

4.96%

+ 50 359

+ 40.76%

Australia

169 134

4.83%

+ 29 526

+ 21.15%

France

154 213

4.40%

+ 48 896

+ 46.43%

Spain

152 832

4.36%

+ 36 953

+ 31.89%

Mexico

152 416

4.35%

+ 24 416

+ 19.08%

10

South Korea

146 980

4.20%

+ 49 458

+ 50.71%

11

Philippines

125 660

3.59%

+ 16 100

+ 14.70%

12

Thailand

117 992

3.37%

+ 5 000

+ 4.43%

13

Malaysia

81 281

2.32%

+ 13 304

+ 19.57%

14

Singapore

73 769

2.11%

+ 6 930

+ 10.37%

15

India

73 141

2.09%

+ 36 114

+ 97.53%

10k

1M

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Social Customer Care

More and more customers are asking millions of questions on Facebook and Twitter every year. Weve been
tracking social customer care for years with our Socially Devoted benchmark so companies can gauge the
effectiveness of their performance. To qualify as Socially Devoted, companies must respond to at least 65%
of customer inquiries.
Airbnb has implemented an exceptional social customer care strategy to satisfy the demands of their growing
audience on the platforms they use. For instance, they received nearly 5,000 questions on Facebook in the
past 6 months, and responded to 87% of those queries within an hour or less. Compare that to Orbitz, who
were asked 23x more questions and responded to only 38% of them.

Meeting your customers where they are is just half the battle. Customers expect companies to interact with
them on social media, so its imperative to develop relevant customer care tactics to cope with the rising
demand. As a result, this will help to strengthen customer acquisition, retention, and brand loyalty.

Tip: For inspiration, see how KLM Royal Dutch Airlines set the bar for social customer care, leading to 100,000
every week in direct sales on social media.

Social Customer Care Trends

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The Heart of Great Campaigns on Facebook

Airbnb understands that great content is the foundation of every successful social media strategy and has found
the elements to consistently create highly engaging content. Airbnb does not post as frequently as other
accommodation competitors, yet they received the most interactions during the summer months. Lets take
a look at what makes their content so engaging.

Airbnbs content frequently features stories from their guests and hosts, which helps strengthen their image
by reinforcing their brand story of sharing. Using Socialbakers Analytics, we analyzed their most engaging
posts to discover best practices that any company can apply.

Top 10 Global Booking Facebook Pages by Interactions

Airbnb Facebook Interactions

Date Range: March 1 - August 31, 2016

500k

Date Range: March 1 - August 31, 2016

180k
160k

400k

140k
120k

300k

100k
80k

200k

60k
100k

40k
20k

0k
Airbnb

Hostelworld

Wego

Stay Far East

Travelocity

HomeAway Asia

Booking.com

Hoteles.com

Momondo

Uniplaces

0
March

Apr

May

June

Facebook Interactions

Tip: Less can be more: strive to post content that resonates with your audience, and do not publish for the sake of it - solely
to please you or your boss. Become laser-focused about what your customers are expecting from following your brands
Page, and build content that incorporates those aspects; this will help you to consistently create posts your audience
wants to engage with, which will generate more interactions.

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July

August

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In June 2016, Airbnb received the highest amount of interactions, totalling over 154,700 - in one day.
To create awareness by supporting Gay Pride month with their #HostwithPride campaign, Airbnb invited
Fans to create a heart and share it with their communities. Once users clicked on the link, they were redirected
to a microsite where they received half of a heart (or fingerprint). Then they had the option to share their half with
their Facebook community so their friends and family could participate to complete the unfinished heart with
their own fingerprint. This was a well-timed campaign that gave Fans an opportunity to celebrate Gay Pride
month on social media in a unique way. Whats more, it was shared over 15,000 times, making it their most
successful post in the given time period.

While companies usually distance themselves from politics and controversial topics, Airbnb was bold and took
a stance, using social media to remind their Fans that they support them no matter who they love or where they
come from. This perfectly reinforces their Belong Anywhere slogan. Other companies can follow suit and be
part of popular conversation to engage with their audience; just ensure these topics align with your core values
and brand image.

Tip: Facebooks recent change in the News Feed Algorithm have

made Shares more important than ever. To get maximum reach,
its crucial to think in terms of shareability and assess what makes
shareable content different from likable content. Determining how
you measure your social media campaigns success (from Total
Interactions to individual Reactions, Shares, Likes, and Comments)
can positively impact your future content stream and help you
to create more engaging posts.

Facebook News Feed

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Benchmark by post type

Facebook native videos have become the fastest-growing ad type in 2015, and Airbnb also followed the trend
by increasing their video posts by 7%. Airbnbs videos received a high number of interactions in 2015 however,
their audiences content preferences have shifted. In 2016, they published only 19% of Links, yet they accounted
for the majority of their interactions.

Though videos have become widely popular, this illustrates that not all marketing trends can be applied to every
company. While videos may be highly engaging for other industries, Links still remain relevant in the travel
industry. This is likely because guests want to explore links to featured destinations, read travel blogs,
or investigate accommodation details and pricing. After all, the travel industry benefits from e-commerce,
and Airbnb could use this information to create content that audiences are already engaging with.

Airbnb Facebook Interactions by Post Type

Airbnb Facebook Posts by Type

March 1 - August 31, 2016

March 1 - August 31, 2016

photo interactions

photo

link interactions

link

video interactions

video

Tip: Its important to monitor how your audience interacts with each Post Type. LEGO has one of the
worlds best social media content strategies, read our study to find out the secrets to creating content
their audiences love.

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Instagram a visual travel diary for dreamers

Viewing Airbnbs photo grid on Instagram is a cultural experience that encourages Followers to travel
the world and meet like-minded adventurers without leaving their seats. The visuals are clean, on-brand,
and accompanied by poetic description text. Airbnbs Instagram strategy takes a different approach when
compared to their Facebook account. They use the photo sharing app to raise awareness of their unique
listings - which range from tree houses in Washington, USA to castles in Ireland.

Airbnb breaks away from traditional destination selling by highlighting the actual accommodation; as seen in
this Instagram post which received the highest amount of interactions - more than 40,000 Likes. Just one look
at their Instagram page can excite Followers about endless accommodation possibilities. After they post a listing,
they always redirect their Followers to a link in their bio. Rather than planning their vacation around a location,
Airbnb Followers might be planning around a home.

In fact, the majority of Airbnbs photos are truly authentic, coming straight from travel bloggers or other guests
that have used the Airbnb service. By searching through relevant hashtags, Airbnb can find incredible photos that
reveal the services benefits through the eyes of their customers. And the best part - all of this content is already
at their fingertips. When they see a photo that showcases one of their prized listings, they simply reach out and
comment on the users account asking for permission to use the photo - now thats a share community!

Tip: Involve your community as much as you can. Using photos

created by your Fans not only strengthens your customer-company
relationship, but also helps you save on production costs. Start
innovating your visual strategy - click here for a list of Instagram
updates that every marketer needs to know.

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Conclusion
Airbnb has created a community built around sharing. They have consistently integrated this theme throughout

Though Facebook and Instagram are Airbnbs top performing social channels, they are active on both YouTube

their social media content, featuring their guests vacation photos and promoting available listings. Airbnb

and Twitter. They use every channel to cross promote their campaigns and change the language depending

differs from traditional accommodation services because the hosts have complete control over their properties

on their voice for that specific platform. To raise awareness for their campaigns, they create relevant hashtags

and are responsible for communicating with their guests. Airbnb understands the risks associated with a share

on all of their social accounts so their community can easily be part of the conversation. Think about how you

based service and has implemented stellar social customer service to meet their customers where they are in

can feature your audiences content to help develop authentic connections and increase brand loyalty, as well

record record response times which can ultimately improve customer acquisition, retention, and brand loyalty.

as joining relevant causes that support your brand identity and increase brand awareness. Every company can
learn from Airbnbs social media marketing strategy.

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Airbnb is a registered trademark of Airbnb, Inc. in the US and other countries.