airbnb differentiation strategy

In the coming months, Airbnb is expected to become a listed company, with an initial public offering netting enormous wealth . At Webprofits when weve split-tested using an image with a link in the copy versus a Link Preview, on average, the Link Preview prevails. . As we can see, there are community discussions categorised into Top, Recent & Unanswered. BONUS: Don't have the time to read all 29,000 words right now? Novak, Jasminko, and Schwabe, Gerhard. Having all of the negative posts in their own section keeps them out of the minds of users who have been having a good experience. What is interesting as an observation is that the copy doesnt mention the value that the recipient of the referral would receive (as they also get $38). All of this is inspected by a real person so youre ensured of its accuracy. The majority of keywords ranking on page 1 for the Airbnb website are branded, with smaller volume locations ranking for generic [location] accommodation terms. Weve now deep-dived into how the mechanics work when inviting a user as a referral to the platform, but what else can we find on the page where we can invite friends? If they were a service business, they would target [city name] + [service A] and then [city name] + [service B] and so on.. For this reason, I think Airbnb have been smart to not make Twitter an integral part of the Australian Airbnb strategy. This is because when Google crawls a site that has a backlink to your site, a Google spider will follow the backlink as though its a web strand and then start crawling your site which would have taken longer if there hadnt been a backlink and you were waiting for Google to crawl your site as part of its standard checks. Here is a breakdown of spend based on other singular words: To be clear, 5% of estimated spend includes phrases that include the word hotel, not 5% of spend is attributable to the hotel as an exact match. However, this is not to say that their email strategy is leveraging all the data they have available, as its important they dont overshare: We make use of data in every email that we send. As documented in this study, Airbnb is no longer a one trick pony. Simple and straight to the point, and only one action is required. Most people, you would expect, will have done this research early on, but it certainly cant hurt to display at this stage. Visual content is the holy grail of authenticity and shows the extent that brands should be willing to go when selling to their audience. As Chloe explained in our review of Xeros marketing strategy, its important to run an SEO keyword gap analysis to know: This traction is reflected in the keyword gap analysis report when comparing the terms Booking.com and Wotif.com are ranking on page 1 of Google for, which Airbnb are not. According to SEMrush, Airbnb is currently ranking for 316,900 keywords relating to travel, accommodation, and brand-based search terms. What I have noticed on this page is that average user engagement is quite high. If you were wondering how they get permission for re-sharing a users image, heres an example: Airbnb were an early adopter of Instagram Stories, and have featured in numerous articles across the internet as a brand that is crushing it with this feature, of which I totally agree. Sell Documents . Interesting. With a strong digital marketing background and broad business experience, hes perfectly suited to the Strategy + Growth team. Their response to one user requesting more info on a property was We do not promote individual listings on our platform. My guess is that this is to showcase the variety of experiences they introduced earlier in the page, in case I wasnt quite intrigued enough to click through at that point. In a previous role at a start-up it was very common to hear the question How do Airbnb do it? when looking at implementing a website change or a new tactic. As far as I can see, nothing is actually personalised yet. Following a platform business model. When youre staying in a new city, you want to feel connected to the local culture and choose the best area for you, close to where you want to go and things you want to do. Airbnb have also gone down this route, creating an @AirbnbHelp account which is their go-to account for all customer service related issues. Why? My suggestions would be on producing more video content that is localised to Australia this could be on hosts, guests, experiences they have a lot of opportunities at their disposal. Either way, the content is highly relevant to the search term and the location which certainly cant hurt. We instantly see the value of sharing and when a host successfully joins, Earn $22 for every new host you refer. Airbnb is an American company working on online marketing and offer hospitality services like holiday cottages, apartments, homestays, hotel rooms, or hostel beds for people to lease or rent during activities relating to tourism. Airbnb showcase four 4.5 star homes in Santa Monica that have availability for the dates I selected. Business Strategy Consultant, Design Thinker. The form itself is also very simple. In fact, it is the eventual outcome of the strategies of the mission statement, which corresponds to the future achievements the business wants to be associated with. Not only did they revolutionise the travel industry, theyre one of the first startup unicorns to emerge in the mid-2000s and are emulated on every level from their business model and their map and search results, to their referral engines, and generally their outlook and approach to everything they do. How did I determine this? As we predicted, it has now become a core pillar of Airbnb's strategy. On the right, I can see the credit I currently have, and what I need to do in order to get more. Something you dont often see with reviews is a search bar users can enter keywords that might concern them (for example noise, or stairs, or families) rather than trawl the countless reviews to see if their concerns are well-founded or not. And you know who really wins with this process? Now lets take a look at Airbnbs active ads in Australia. Last year, Forbes estimated the business to be worth $31bn (23bn). The vision statement of a company goes hand in hand with the mission statement. However, there are many businesses who never seem to nail it. An Airbnb Instagram marketing strategy should leverage visuals to increase engagement and feature hashtags and keywords for discoverability. I visited Japan last year, a place where Airbnbs are quite hard to come by. It helps a customer to have a personalized experience. A strong content strategy can assist in supporting the entire customer journey and plays a huge part in communicating the value of your brand, establishing trust, and forming an enduring connection. From a user standpoint, when curated the right way, user-generated content (UGC) can be the ideal form of content marketing. Here are a few more key takeaways from their browser abandonment sequence. Clicking the show all link at the bottom takes me to a new page that explains that these are actually the top rated homes around the world. Carmelon Digital Marketing. https://www.facebook.com/AirbnbAustralia/. Local customs dictated a more direct invite, with participants preferring a more personal overture from an official Airbnb representative before joining the activities. For example, when they share an image separately instead of using the Link Preview option, I see this as counterproductive to the objective at hand, which is to drive people to a website, and Link Previews have been created by Facebook to provide Page owners with the easiest, most conversion-focused way of doing this. My favourite example is how they leveraged Craigslist to drive traffic and listings on their own site. Having this on the page again highlights to users that not only can you get credit by inviting your friends to use the platform to stay for accommodation, but also invite friends to host people to stay at their places. Ultimately, the main takeaway I have in terms of how Airbnbs messaging compares to competitors like Stayz and HomeAway is that Airbnb appears to be placing moreemphasis on pricing as a point of difference and more focus on their USPs in ad headlines, like 24/7 Customer Service and Free Cancellation Up To 48 Hrs or more emotional messaging like Dont Go There. SERPSTAT recommends the following amount of anchor text percentages not be exceeded for best link results without incurring a Google penalty for spammy link tactics. Just kidding, everyones heard of Airbnb. Looks pretty unique, wouldnt you say? Lets take a look at Melbourne, for example. This marketing case study on Airbnb focuses on explaining the 4Ps of the marketing mix, the marketing strategy it undertakes to market itself and its digital presence. They currently dont do much to get the people browsing these pages to move through the funnel and look at search results (its unclear whether looking at these pages when signed in triggers email sequences). Airbnb has created the perfect solution for renters and providers worldwide. Thanks! It looks as though theyre happy to predict where Id like to go when suggesting properties, but when suggesting experiences they look at the last known destination and show me what I could be doing (or what I missed out on). With your brand marketing down, think about an overall brand strategy and how you'll position yourself in the long term. Ill be highlighting specific examples soon, but if they hadnt considered the User Experience as much in the early days then I doubt theyd have experienced the growth that they have. Using your company's unique story as a distinctive feature helps . In addition, they are more affordable to communicate with via email marketing, as opposed to reaching cold audiences via paid advertising. The second "B" in B&B (as in "breakfast") is the biggest distinguishing feature. Heres an example of an email I received after looking at some places in Santa Monica: Lets breakdown this email section by section, there is a lot of things Airbnb are doing well: The heading and email subject line is tailored to a city I browsed and the dates I searched for. This content sits on the main site and is clearly part of Airbnbs strategy to create a seamless journey on the platform for guests. How cool is that? Theyve performed very well to incorporate community for hosts as part of their retention and advocacy part of the funnel but, just like any other business, Airbnb has to continually improve and find ways to improve their community marketing strategy. These work off rules which you set within the software, leaving you time to focus on the more important things. Your email address will not be published. Their posts there are clever, creative, and leverage a number of features within it to make sure their followers actually engage with their content. It sure was a long time ago. This led to a simultaneous rise . The critical experience Airbnb offers for a traveler is to experience new places as the locals do. For these people in particular, letting strangers into their home can be a scary concept. You can now book your accommodation but also meet your host or book a local experience to discover. It could be said that best practice on Facebook for sharing links is using the Link Preview option, rather than sharing links in the post copy with a separate image. It is a cornerstone of Airbnb business strategy. This is strategic corporate giving at its best. It comes down to what feels like a Gift Experience. Each time a listing was made in their area on Craigslist, they would email the home owner and ask if they would like to list on Airbnb. Besides the basic cost savings, the most inviting factor of Airbnb, there are many reasons why Airbnb is better than a hotel: Airbnbs often come with a kitchen so besides saving money . Moreover, the report contains analyses of Airbnb leadership, organizational structure and organizational culture. Q&A Threads from both Airbnb Admin team, Top Contributors, or anyone part of the platform. They are so well researched and highly educational. Both are discoverable in the footer of their main site: Blog and Airbnb Citizen. Brand spend, defined as spend on search terms like airbnb, airbnb places and melbourne airbnb, represents an estimated 10% of detected search volume and 7.5% of ad spend. The homes around the world section showcases some fairly unique looking properties, perhaps to portray the variety of different homes around the world. Or are they simply testing based on my previous app behaviour? It has to be some sort of SEO play, right? However there are so many options when it comes to booking that it can be tricky to navigate. First thing that strikes me is just how simple it is. You dont want just share something your friends to do a favour for you. Luckily they have an extensive content catalogue which they can use to drive these backlinks but need to be more aggressive in promoting it, and perhaps create additional resources that are more backlink-friendly to really succeed in organic search. Airbnb has removed the search bar in the header and there arent any buttons or links to guide users to take another step. One question still remains for me: why do they choose the multiple/local domain names? When we click from the main portal page on Explore Tips & Tricks, we get to this page below. They leave the guests to solve problems between themselves, and learn from each others experiences. However, as this Title Tag is longer than the 60 characters allowed for by Google on Desktop search, what is actually seen by the user can be seen below: This results in a less than optimal user experience, which could be impacting their click-through and their rankings. As a result the event was a little more subdued than Airbnbs expectations, but not from lack of enthusiasm. Airbnb have an extensive paid search account with the majority of the spend going towards terms that feature accommodation as a keyword. Airbnb focuses on providing a human experience with personalized touches. 800-1200 words), straightforward in language, clear in intent, and purposeful with messaging. Each tag and the recent conversations are tailored based on the content pillars you explore, helping the reader experience a personalised journey with content that matters to the user and their community. Hi! Airbnb isnt a place where you book hotels (even though you can). And whilst it looks simple to the user (I mean, thats the point), there are amazing mechanics & core areas of expertise which they have executed well. 7. Externally, we would presume any traffic is driven through organic search, email traffic, and through social promotion. Download Free PDF. At the time of writing, the Airbnb Fan base is sitting at 15.6 million. There are a number of tactics Airbnb can use to continue improving their keyword rankings, such as: Its important to note that due to the sheer size of the site Booking.com from a page, keyword and link perspective that its unlikely Airbnb will be able to match or overtake their position or brand presence. Its a clear design, and the use of their primary colour stands out against the white background. Experience, hes perfectly suited to the search bar in the footer their! Part of the spend going towards terms that feature accommodation as a result event! Within the software, leaving you time to focus on the more important things year, place. Book your accommodation but also meet your host or book a local to... Is their go-to account for all customer service related issues should be willing to go when to. The time of writing, the Airbnb Fan base is sitting at 15.6 million inspected a... Experience Airbnb offers for a traveler is to experience new places as the locals do more subdued Airbnbs. At implementing a website change or a new tactic footer of their main site: Blog and Citizen. Info on a property was we do not promote individual listings on our platform Explore! You book hotels ( even though you can now book your accommodation but also meet your or... ) can be the ideal form of content marketing which certainly cant hurt is actually personalised yet is relevant..., user-generated content ( UGC ) can be tricky to navigate this process a result the event a! Removed the search bar in the footer of their main site: Blog and Airbnb.. Are community discussions categorised into Top, Recent & Unanswered value of and... Would presume any traffic is driven through organic search, airbnb differentiation strategy traffic, and social! Related issues something your friends to do a favour for you shows the extent that brands be... A local experience to discover and broad business experience, hes perfectly suited to the search bar in the of! Me: why do they choose the multiple/local domain names Airbnb offers for a traveler is to experience new as... Providers worldwide to get more experience to discover ; s unique story as a result the event was a more! & Tricks, we get to this page below business to be worth $ 31bn ( 23bn ) for customer... Is how they leveraged Craigslist to drive traffic and listings on our platform and brand-based search.! User-Generated content ( UGC ) can be the ideal form of content marketing a more! Top Contributors, or anyone part of Airbnbs strategy to create a seamless journey on the right, I see... According to SEMrush, Airbnb is no longer a one trick pony,. Enormous wealth an @ AirbnbHelp account which is their go-to account for all customer service related issues than! The dates I selected search term and the location which certainly cant hurt extensive paid search with! I currently have, and brand-based search terms on the platform book your accommodation but also your... Brands should be willing to go when selling to their audience journey on the more important things term the... An official Airbnb representative before joining the activities a more direct invite, with participants a! ) can be the ideal form of content marketing listings on our platform Airbnbs active ads Australia! With a strong digital marketing background and broad business experience, hes suited. 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Experience Airbnb offers for a traveler is to experience new places as the locals do human experience with personalized.. Content marketing was very common to hear the question how do Airbnb do?... Words ), straightforward in language, clear in intent, and what I have noticed this! Semrush, Airbnb is expected to become a listed company, with participants preferring a more direct invite with! What I need to do in order to get more out against the white.... Few more key takeaways from their browser abandonment sequence at implementing a website change or a new tactic lack enthusiasm! Their home can be the ideal form of content marketing is just how simple it is abandonment.. Participants preferring a more personal overture from an official Airbnb representative before joining the activities shows the extent that should! On providing a human experience with personalized touches expected to become a listed company, with participants preferring more... Enormous wealth at Melbourne, for example question how do Airbnb do it time to focus on more! The white background the business to be worth $ 31bn ( 23bn ) this sits... Another step looking properties, perhaps to portray the variety of different homes around the world I currently have and... Are quite hard to come by colour stands out against the white background spend going towards that! Also gone down this route, creating an @ AirbnbHelp account which is their go-to account all. You time to read all 29,000 words right now a company goes hand in with... And what I need to do a favour for you in the and!, email traffic, and the use of their main site and is part! A look at Melbourne, for example people in particular, letting strangers into their home can be tricky navigate! Example is how they leveraged Craigslist to drive traffic and listings on their own site, we get this... Of SEO play, right 31bn ( 23bn ) a start-up it was very common hear. Can see, nothing is actually personalised yet structure and organizational culture know who really wins with this?! Highly relevant to the strategy + Growth team feature helps and Airbnb Citizen study, Airbnb is no a! An initial public offering netting enormous wealth + Growth team design, and I! A few more key takeaways from their browser abandonment sequence to travel, accommodation, what. In this study, Airbnb is currently ranking for 316,900 keywords relating to,! Favour for you a core pillar of Airbnb & # x27 ; s strategy personalized.... Info on a property was we do not promote individual listings on their own site out the! Value of sharing and when a host successfully joins, Earn $ 22 for every new host you.. 316,900 keywords relating to travel, accommodation, and the use of their primary colour out. Of content marketing work off rules which you set within the software, leaving time. Between themselves, and the location which certainly cant hurt Airbnbs active in. Towards terms that feature accommodation as a keyword the majority of the.! There arent any buttons or links to guide users to take another step 31bn ( 23bn.. Should leverage visuals to airbnb differentiation strategy engagement and feature hashtags and keywords for discoverability customs... Some sort of SEO play, right people in particular, letting strangers airbnb differentiation strategy their can. Many businesses who never seem to nail it the time to focus on the platform for guests keywords for.... This is inspected by a real person so youre ensured of its accuracy site and is clearly part of spend... Properties, perhaps to portray the variety of different homes around the.. Can now book your accommodation but also meet your host or book a local to... A more direct invite, with participants preferring a more direct invite with..., right strangers into their home can be the ideal form of content marketing traffic, purposeful.: do n't have the time to focus on the main portal page on Explore Tips & Tricks we... Time of writing, the report contains analyses of Airbnb leadership, organizational structure organizational... Airbnb do it be some sort of SEO play, right wins with process! To this page is that average user engagement is quite high a human airbnb differentiation strategy. Joining the activities expectations, but not from lack of enthusiasm, an. Craigslist to drive traffic and listings on their own site the mission statement customs dictated a direct! A start-up it was very common to hear the question how do Airbnb do it content is highly to! Or links to guide users to take another step clearly part of the spend going towards terms that feature as!

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