Airbnb

Social Media Strategy

2/19/2017
Elizabeth Kough
Table of Contents

• Slides Title
• 1 Cover Page
• 2 Table of Contents
• 3 Executive Summary
• 4-8 Social Media Audit
• 9 Social Media Objectives
• 10-13 Online Brand Persona and Voice
• 14-16 Strategies and Tools
• 17 Timing and Key Dates
• 18 Social Media Roles and Responsibilities
• 19 Social Media Policy
• 20-22 Critical Response Plan
• 23-25 Measurement and Reporting Results
Executive Summary

• Most of Airbnb’s followers settle on Facebook and Instagram. These

social platforms draw most of the audience most likely because they
offer great platforms for visual content. As a travel site that matches
travelers with hosts and excursions, the largest audience demographic is
between 18 and 30. The company’s goal is to increase volume and
conversion rate from social media platforms to the website and we hope
to accomplish this goal by investing in paid ads on Twitter and promoted
content on Facebook. The goal is to also increase company engagement
with audience through hashtags, polls, and questions.
Social Media Audit

• Including:
• Social Media Assessment
• Website Traffic Sources Assessment
• Audience Demographics Assessments
• Competitor Assessment
Social Media Assessment

Social Network URL Follower Count Average Weekly Average

Activity Engagement
Rate
Facebook Facebook 5,143,043 8 posts /week .087%
Instagram Instagram 1.5 million 12 posts /week 2.22%.
Twitter Twitter 571 thousand 16 tweets and .092%
retweets /week

Assessment Summary:
Instagram tends to have the most engagement. Yet, Twitter and Facebook provide
a more consistent ability for the audience to share content.
Website Traffic Sources Assessment

Source Volume % of Overall Traffic Conversion Rate

Instagram 1000 5% 1%
Twitter 1000 5% 2.2%
Facebook 3000 20% 2.2%

Assessment Summary:
Facebook generates the most unique traffic to the website, while Instagram tends to have
a lot of engagement but lead to little traffic. The small amount of traffic on Instagram is
probably because the link remains in the “bio” of the profile rather than being added to
each post.
 Audience Demographics Assessment

Age Distribution Gender Primary Social Secondary Primary Need Secondary Need
Distribution Network Social Network
60% 18 - 30 50% female 50% Facebook 40% Instagram Lodging during Renting a room
travel or apartment
out
20% 31 - 40 50% male 30% Instagram 30% Twitter
10% 41 - 55 20% Twitter 30% Facebook
10% 56 - 80

Assessment Summary
The largest age range using Airbnb is from 18 to 30, an even split between gender, and most of our
audience primarily uses Facebook. Our target audience has a split need between lodging during travel
and renting out a room to said travelers.
Competitor Assessment
Competitor Name Social Media Profile Strengths Weaknesses
Couchsurfing Facebook, Instagram, Focus on the It seems like a lower
Twitter travelers rather than luxury travel option
the listings
VRBO Facebook, Twitter Interacts with Lacks an Instagram,
customers that ask and lacks visual
for help or for content
listings on posts
Homeaway Facebook, Instagram, Has a banter-like Not many
Twitter brand voice that interactions with
could appeal to a customers
younger demographic

Assessment Summary:
Some of the competition focuses more on the audience rather than the properties. Yet,
weaknesses tend to be platforms that aren’t social or aren’t engaging with their audience.
 Social Media Objectives
• Overall Business Goals:
• Increase interactions with audience and help the relationship between travelers and hosts
• Social Media Objectives to Support Business Goals:
• Increase unique visitors from social platforms by 20% in 6 months
• KPIs
• Quantitative
• Number of Followers
• Rate of Conversion
• Amount of Content
• Qualitative
• Increased sentitment through positive feedback from both hosts and travelers
• Key Supporting Messages
• We Accept (#weaccept)
• Ability to travel anywhere
• Exploration
Online Brand Persona and Voice

• Adjectives that describe our brand:

• Reliable
• Safe
• Fun
• Adventurous
Examples of Brand Voice in Social Media
Interactions
Strategies That Will Support Our Social Media
Objectives

• Strategies:
• Paid
• Owned
• Earned
• Tools
• Existing Subscriptions/Licenses
 Strategies

• Paid:
• 1. Boost a piece of organic content from Facebook for the week – must have a minimum of
3,500 likes and 100 shares
• 2. Use Twitter Ad Campaign for Website clicks - the company only pays for the amount of clicks
the ad creates. Run the ad for a week and reevaluate
• Owned:
• 1. Encourage and promote travelers pictures to be posted on Instagram page
• 2. Have a photo and/or caption contest either through Instagram or Twitter. Create a hashtag
for best picture based on a theme (Valentine's Getaway, Family Vacay, etc.) on Instagram or
post a photo to Twitter and challenge followers for best caption
• Earned:
• 1. Monitor social platforms for mentions of Airbnb company or travel - offer coupons for
positive experiences using Airbnb or coupons to people with negative experiences from other
companies
• 2. Find travel bloggers and have them write reviews about certain areas, ask them to make a
blog post about a trip Airbnb organized
Tools and Existing Subscriptions/Licenses

• Tools:
• Approved: Hootsuite
• Rejected: Uber
• Existing Subscriptions/Licenses
• Photoshop
• Hootsuite
 Timing and Key Dates
• Key Dates
• Valentine’s Day
• March (spring break)
• New Year’s Eve-Day
• June - August
• Lead Times
• At least a month before a holiday or long weekend in order to give families and individuals time
to plan a vacation
• Internal Events
• Holidays
• Long weekends
• Reporting Dates
• Every 3 months on the last day of each month
Social Media Roles and Responsibilities

• Social Media Director : Eric Toda

• Responsibilities:
• Higher-level planning
• Budgeting for social platforms
• Final approval of content
• Social Media Manager : Jasmine Atherton
• Responsibilities:
• Day-to-day execution
• Manage campaigns
• Social Media Coordinator : Tan Lam
• Responsibilities:
• Publishing content
• Monitoring engagement
• Responding to questions and comments
 Social Media Policy
• Engagement with audience from Airbnb should be friendly, helpful and polite.
Employees should use social media to spread news about Airbnb features, new
locations, and any new deals. Employees are also encouraged to post pictures and
information from personal trips or work trips. Employees should not engage with
hostile people or putting down competitors. Any mention of Airbnb should be
professional. Airbnb is strict about social media policy. Any violation of social
media etiquette will be reviewed by supervisors and punishment is can extend to
job termination. You may also be subject to legal action. Any questions about
appropriate media publishing can be directed to supervisors or the HR team.
• Examples:
• Appropriate: “at @airbnb #weaccept all hosts and have a strict non-discrimination policy.”
• Inappropriate: “How can anyone think of using @couchsurfing over @airbnb?”
 Critical Response Plan

Contact Information:
Owner Name Telephone Alt. Telephone Email

Marketing Director Kim Yang 999-269-4939 999-385-2947 kimyang@airbnb.com

Social Media Director Eric Toda 999-390-9173 999-912-4824 erictoda@airbnb.com

jasaltherton@airbnb.c
Social Media Manager Jasmine Altherton 999-013-3810 999-360-9270 om
Social Media
Coordinator Tan Lam 999-938-1249 999-835-9124 tanlam@airbnb.com

PR Agency Grapevine Inc. 999-024-9381 999-471-4701 wow@grapeinc.com

Critical Response Plan – Scenario One

• Scenario One – Inappropriate Tweet from @Airbnb

• 1) Tweet is screenshotted
• 2) Tweet is removed
• 3) Contact Jasmine Altherton
• 4) Altherton contacts Yang to discuss implications and further action.
• 5) If media has responded, Yang to contact all media directly.
• 6) Altherton to create follow-up tweet (including an apology) to be approved by
Yang.
• 7) Altherton and Yang meet with employee to decide if disciplinary action is
needed.
• Pre-approved Messaging
• Dependent on inappropriate tweet but to include: Altherton's name and position
and apology on behalf of company
 Critical Response Plan – Scenario Two

• Scenario Two - Complaint of inappropriate behavior from either host or traveler

• 1) Social listening protocol including mentions of Airbnb's name with negative keywords
(awful, worse experience, inappropriate, etc.)
• 2) Altherton to alert Yang of any negative mentions of the sort.
• 3) Yang to evaluate the spread of mention of incident.
• 4) If media has picked up on issue, contact all media directly.
• 5) Altherton to continue monitoring any and all mentions of incident.
• 6) Yang to discuss with Grapevine Inc. if a longer statement is necessary and to compose
one if needed
• Pre-approved Messaging:
• Depends on the situation but includes "We are conducting an investigation into what
happened at ____. We hope any and everyone involved in the incident will contact us
directly."
 Measurement and Reporting Results

Social Network Data:

Average Weekly Average

Social Network URL Follower Count Activity Engagement Rate
Instagram
Instagram 1.6 mil 12 posts/week 2.16%
Twitter
20 tweets and
Twitter 573K retweets/week .112%
Facebook

Facebook 5.5 mil 10 posts / week .09%

Measurement and Reporting Results

Website Traffic Data:

Source Volume % of Overall Traffic Conversion Rate

Instagram 500 5% 1%
Twitter 1500 10% 2.5%
Facebook 3000 20% 2.2%

Results Assessment:
We experienced an increase in conversion from Twitter and Facebook and a decrease from
Instagram.
Qualitative KPIs and Future Action

• Qualitative KPIs:
• Looking at 100 comments on Facebook and 100 on Instagram its seen that its mostly
positive feedback with people loving the pricing of rooms and excursions. Sentiment
Analysis:
• The majority of sentiment has been positive. The one negative thing would be not enough
hosts during holiday times.
• Future Action:
• It's mostly travelers that comment, start a conversation with hosts either through polling
or questions.
• Create a hashtag to start a conversation about best experiences, places to stay, tips from
locals to travelers