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In their own words. Signing up can take a bit of time. Last year, Forbes estimated the business to be worth $31bn (23bn). Using your company's unique story as a distinctive feature helps . Why go through such trouble if not for SEO? There are several marketing strategies like product innovation, pricing approach, promotion planning etc. Be it data from our wish lists, search trends, seasonality, there is a component of every email that is rooted within data. Another potential reason for the spike in organic traffic could be the other marketing efforts Airbnb were actioning toward the end of the 2017 for example, its common for organic search for a brand to increase following targeted online and offline campaigns, such as TV commercials, radio ads, and increased digital marketing budget. This is clever by Airbnb. It keeps users engaged and, in many ways, motivated to invite more friends or follow those up who havent signed up. I either have to select homes, experiences or restaurants, or click the search bar at the top. For example, if I start a conversation and ask a question, it will come up with the links of similar questions which have been asked before. Airbnb could double down on this strategy to lower the barrier to entry and improve retention with a stronger content-driven approach to educate and raise awareness on becoming a host and building your Airbnb business. Tam Al-Saad - Get more articles like this sent to your email, Principal Consultant, Search + Content Marketing. The organic visibility of the Airbnb website can be attributed to both the growth in the number of keywords ranking to positions on page 1 of Google and the increased backlink profile of the site which assists with driving third party referral traffic to the website. Essentially, Dynamic Ads are automation at its finest. So how do Airbnb ensure that hosts are comfortable enough to rent out their property, and continue to do so? 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. Meanwhile, the hosts are all rated 4.8 or above. This shows that in terms of success, branded keywords currently play a huge role in their organic success, and should continue to be a primary driver of organic traffic in the future. It keeps it consistent for the user to know where key pages are. Thanks! We designed Airbnb to have 100 homes in a city. But there are plenty of properties on Airbnb that are more expensive than hotels and still get booked out, so what else is there? Many people like the idea of staying in someone elses home, but not everyone does. As a digital platform, Airbnb rely almost entirely on their website to make bookings and sales. They all look pretty cool in their own way, but I havent really got any context as to why these are here. And the final important screen is you have the option to share the link directly via other channels such as Facebook & Whatsapp, similar to the experience on mobile to share with guests. It ensures prospects know that Airbnb have got them covered (in their words!). This is why improving their generic [location] accommodation organic keyword rankings should be a focus for the Airbnb marketing team, with a recommendation being a more aggressive content marketing strategy. So what does the mobile experience look like for sharing referrals for guests? From then on, the sections appear in the same order that they did when I wasnt logged in, but the content within them changes sometimes. The Local Lens segment of the blog puts the spotlight on hosts and experiences by featuring individual stories from their users, similar to Community Stories onsite. However, at some point Airbnb will reach a cap in the amount of branded search traffic they are able to achieve. This period of updates was named the Maccabee Update by Search Engine Roundtables Barry Schwartz, and according to industry experts was focused around User Experience and impactful keyword permutations. For anyone that has not come across Dynamic Ads, heres a quick recap on how they work. These audiences can be great for honing in on your audience targeting later down the track. Airbnb have stuck to their guns by getting existing users and loyal consumers to become the advocators by becoming contributors. This is positive and shows that they are invested in making sure their content gets an initial boost when it goes live. Airbnb's new . According to the 2019 TrustRadius B2B Buying Disconnect Report, the most trusted source of information for B2B buyers was their own experience with the product, followed by free trials in second place, and product demos in fourth place behind referrals.Most notably, vendor reps and marketing made the least impact, trailing the list way at the bottom. To give you some context, I booked an Airbnb a few months ago for a trip to L.A, so it makes sense that it appears as the first tile. . In fact, back in 2011 they even paid for hosts to have professional photographs taken of their properties. These business strategies, based on Airbnb marketing mix, help the brand succeed in the market. Under its model, it is the homeowners renting out their houses to the tourists. Being the experienced brand with strong foothold, the company uses differentiation as a tool to reduce the pressure by other brands. Theres no form with dates or number of guests like there was previously, so theres an extra step no matter what. That structure covers. Its a clear design, and the use of their primary colour stands out against the white background. And then down the bottom, I see very easy instructions with simple steps of how the process works. If I had one criticism here, though, its that they could show more personality in these ads. As you scroll down, more is revealed about the property. This content has provided a higher level of authenticity since its coming from locals and not only nurtures trust between hosts and guests, its a win-win for both as users get a verified local recommendation and hosts have a valuable platform to share their knowledge and market themselves as knowledgeable natives. They utilise a product feed/product catalogue and Im confident that any new listings that get added to the Airbnb site also get added to this feed. business model which creates value for both parties and fill the demand and supply gap in the market. Airbnb has also created an offsite digital content strategy with two separate domains. 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. Email alerts to notify you of discounts offered by hosts: 2. This shows me that Airbnb have done very well to control the amount of posts that dont ask the same question. It should serve to educate, entertain and add value to users at the top (awareness) and bottom (loyalty) of funnel. In the coming months, Airbnb is expected to become a listed company, with an initial public offering netting enormous wealth . Its very short copy, and it gets straight to the point. Businesses under Airbnb follow different types of pricing strategies to attract their consumers. Design is in our DNA and it's embedded in everything . This allows brands to post localised content under one universal Facebook Page name, share fans, and receive a vanity URL/username e.g. 3. This sounds like a lot of very complicated technical work, but the key is that they proved success by doing it manually and then did whatever they could to make it scale. Theyve done this so well that theyve become synonymous with non-hotel accommodation booking, and created a new way to travel. Its an opportunity for anyone to share their hobbies, skills, or expertise without needing an extra room.. Many disgruntled customers use the comments section as a way to complain; this is seen across numerous industries, but Airbnb is clearly trying to show that they are a brand focused on customer service and experience, as they try and reply to most of these types of comments. And while many businesses have been created that rent out properties on Airbnb, there are still a significant number of properties where the host still lives there. By listing the properties of ordinary people, they set themselves apart by offering a different experience to travellers. My guess is that Airbnb know I cant afford $540 a night to stay in The Carribean, and so the options they suggest are a lot closer to what Ive booked in the past. As we predicted, it has now become a core pillar of Airbnb's strategy. Get points. Airbnb has purposely positioned this on the right-hand side of the page to make it clear that users can explore, find or ask any question desired which may be holding them back from continuing to use the platform or wanting to become a host. I think they could do better when users arent logged in, and the personalisation elements are a nice touch but not a complete game changer. The clean and minimalistic design is certainly done on purpose. Hi! At this stage, as I havent put in any dates, Airbnb only need a couple of details to make sure its available, so thats all they ask for. When it comes to keywords, Airbnb is limited only by the locations in which they have a presence. Who wants the same question asked over and over again? Getting users to advocate and tell the story of Airbnb was particularly crucial in getting it right in the early stages of Airbnb, as mentioned earlier. Airbnb has turned me into a huge advocate by just connecting with my preferred way to travel. On average, Airbnb post every 3-4 days on Facebook, in comparison to Instagram where they post almost daily. Jason began his career at Webprofits as an intern and six years later he is now one of our leading social media specialists, managing a number of our long-standing Australian Fluid clients. Beyond what Airbnb have done from designing a world-class UX experience with their referral system, its their approach to continuous measurement and testing which acts as a testament to the continuous success of the program. But the following examples illustrate not only how they market their services, but represent a conscious expression of who they are. This case study aims to answer all of the questions above by taking a deep dive into the specifics of each of their digital marketing channels and tactics. Marketing Strategy of Airbnb analyses the brand with the marketing mix framework which covers the 4Ps (Product, Price, Place, Promotion). Based on 3 different assumptions, the potential impact of referrals could have a dramatic compound effect on the bottom line in a very good way indeed. 1. The campaigns goals were not just to raise awareness, but to highlight the human side of the company by showing support for an issue they were passionate about. Lets take a look. Some of the effective pricing strategies are: Maximum full rate strategy: Businesses follow competitors' pricing strategies. Not surprisingly, the bulk of Airbnbs paid search traffic and spend is coming from destination-related terms, such as singapore accommodation. Im sure your head is probably spinning with the amount involved in understanding referrals, but it goes to show the power of having referrals in your product can go a long way to increasing word-of-mouth and, ultimately, retaining users & acquiring new ones with virtually no cost. Many global brands are still trying to work out ways to build & integrate successful community marketing initiatives as part of their overall marketing strategy. Even when they dont go exactly as planned. Term. User experience, word of mouth and self-regulation are at the center of its strategy. Image source: Getty Images. BONUS: Don't have the time to read all 29,000 words right now? In this section of the article Ill be dissecting pages piece by piece to see how their website helps to drive growth. It is a cornerstone of Airbnb business strategy. That value has since increased significantly to USD$1 million (I guess $4.4 billion in VC funding can really open up some doors). Due to the sheer number of landing pages at play, its clear that Airbnb are either directing people to their expansive website or dynamically-generated landing pages. Theyre spending their budget on users who have shown high intent, and show them highly relevant ads to increase the chance of conversion. They began offering their customers ways to specifically experience life as a local, as well as sleep like one. We review its details in our article. Airbnb makes it very evident what they want the user to take an action by having the CTA button in red across ALL their key pages & channels, including email & in-app. Its a place where people looking for short term accommodation (usually for holidays) are able to find somewhere to lay their head down at night. By doing this, Airbnb are one again fostering a stronger sense of community between the hosts, but they are also saving themselves a lot of internal resources. Maximum rate each night: Under this . This in turn will have an overall positive effect on the website if the Experience pages continue to be optimised over time, particularly with the inclusion of internal linking to the relevant accommodation pages on the website. Competitors such as Booking.com and Wotif.com only have global sites which, while giving them larger reach and increased ranking capabilities based on backlink and content strategies, limits their ability to tailor their content to an Australian audience. Porter, Michael. Best of all, this section of the site is linked to from the footer of the Airbnb website, from the Host section of the site, and the Things To Do areas, allowing for much easier navigation than the other onsite content areas. The three generic business strategies suggested by Michael Porter are : Cost Leadership strategy ( lower costs/broad target market), Differentiation strategy (product differentiation/broad target market) and Focus business strategies (lower cost or differentiation/narrow target market ). The fact that Airbnb have this content at all is a testament to their commitment of giving their users the feeling of living somewhere rather than visiting it. Lets firstly take a look at the layout of the Refer Hosts Page. Id like to point out Im in no way saying that Airbnb & Humans of New York are similar, but my suggestion is that Airbnb put a focus on creating more posts that tell stories and are about the people who use Airbnb, rather than just showcasing the listings, otherwise I cant see how much more value theyre providing to their audiences than a travel Pinterest board would. As Jacqui mentioned in her search analysis, wed recommend taking a much more aggressive content marketing strategy to drive organic search traffic for branded and non-branded keywords to really ramp up search growth. The location is pretty interesting too; it evokes a feeling of adventure, of doing something different. Instead, they provide the mobile-friendly option of SMS (and, of course, Facebook and Whatsapp) to make it a seamless experience. You can see why Airbnb purposely placed Facebook & Whatsapp icons next to the short link. Both are discoverable in the footer of their main site: Blog and Airbnb Citizen. These posts mostly feature UGC, which gives them a really authentic feel and allows them to easily blend into a users Instagram feed, which I feel is something key for brands to master on this channel. Airbnb has also used their blog to feature reports and studies theyve created, including Airbnbs Work To Fight Discrimination and Build Inclusion Report, and the Economic Impact Study. Carmelon Digital Marketing. In practice, this means that someone who searches for phi phi islands accommodation triggers an Airbnb ad that speaks to phi phi island accommodation specifically, and directs the user to a landing page that focuses specifically on phi phi island accommodation with upcoming availability. It has a feeling of Wanderlust and makes me want to travel. A selection of homes verified for quality and designed might well be a good description of Airbnb Plus, but its not exactly enticing. Why would a traveller rather use Airbnb than Hotels.com, Expedia, Trivago, or the myriad of other websites available? Airbnb does a good job at community management on Facebook, and I expect that they have a dedicated team managing this. The homes are well designed, well maintained, and well equipped. The link to more information about the property opens up to several more paragraphs, and while they are also written by the host, Airbnb set the structure to ensure the important aspects are covered. To sign up as a host compared to being a guest, theres a lot more involved in terms of trying to convert them. How cool is that? Check!). The non personalised options have a far bigger range when it comes to price. Airbnb uses differentiation strategy by making a new business model and providing the service which differentiates them from competitors. This might help though: this is slightly contradictory, as they do sometimes share the @ username of the Instagram account for the property (if the owner has one). This can definitely have a positive effect on your companys public perception/reputation, especially if you do a good job. If youre a business/brand, your ads strategy is now in full view for all to see, particularly your competitors; but if youre an everyday Facebook user you now have more visibility as to what ads a political party, brand, or whoever else you wish to check is currently running. So as soon as the user has enough information they need to make a decision, they are immediately able to act on it. Prepare for your exams. I can see its about me and what I can earn if I become a host. At first glance they look similar to the sections we saw in incognito mode, but there are subtle and important differences. To understand how Airbnb referrals work, we will be diving into the core areas of Design Experience, Psychology & Measurement/Testing of building a refer-a-friend system that grows awareness and drives more bookings and sales. Cynics will say it comes down to price, and in a lot of instances theyre right. In December 2017, Australia passed legislation to recognize same sex marriage, following a survey in which more than 60% of respondents voiced support for it. Airbnb has its sights set on exponential growth in the coming years. But this expansion has also put the spotlight on content and localisation, both for guests and also for hosts using the platform. The post copy that accompanies the image often introduces the host/s on a personal level Make yourself at home at Patrick and Elizabeths historic homestead. Our Airbnb 2022 predictions: The "Live Anywhere" theme has crept up into Airbnb's announcements since 2020. Airbnb seem to have concluded that there are more opportunities outside of just private accommodation listings, and have now branched into partnering with tour providers, hospitality companies, and more to provide a more comprehensive travel-related site for the user. Keep up the amazing work. Its beautifully minimalistic and I know who its from. Apart from the images, the screen displays most of the top level information you would want to know about the property at a glance: The headline, the location, the price, and the number of bedrooms, bathrooms, and guests. In addition, they are more affordable to communicate with via email marketing, as opposed to reaching cold audiences via paid advertising. Though in my experience, nobody has picked a location based solely on the accommodation. There are a couple of fantastic resources online + a video you can explore in detail. Both could be applicable in the below scenario. . 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. . If a user has shown some interest in a particular product, why not show them similar ones that meet relevant criteria? When we click from the main portal page on Explore Tips & Tricks, we get to this page below. That loan is on top of another $1 billion investment the company had . There are some great tools out there for advertisers that can automate this process for you, including Boosterberg and AdEspresso. They assist Googles algorithm with determining your sites authority, credibility and relevance. 92% of consumers trust recommendations from friends, only 33% trust online ads (Nielsen). The following table summarises the split between the destination landing pages vs destination website pages: Destination landing pages represent 75% of the pages to which Airbnb are directing users. And the top performing organic keywords are. Airbnb regularly chooses not to use the Link Preview option when sharing links, instead they opt for a custom shortened link in the post copy and share a separate video or image. *Numbers are accurate at the time of writing. This could be a barrier to entry for prospects wanting to sign up to the platform. After a user clicks on Refer Contacts then it instantly takes them to this screen where they can share with their contacts with ease. I see social media advertising, particularly Facebook Ads, playing a major role in this strategy and being one of the best channels for Airbnb to: These two stages of the Host journey feature in what Airbnb refers to as the List Your Space (LYS) flow: Airbnbs concept of multi-touch attribution for a hypothetical user journey. As a new potential host, this instantly illuminates that Airbnb and the community are here to support. From accomodating 3 guests on air mattresses to providing shelter to over 300,000 people on any given day, Airbnb has gone . You want them to equally be motivated to take action by accepting the invitation by joining and have the same experience (thats the only way you get the money ;). Whilst its evident that the UI has changed over the years, theres been numerous changes to their UX, copy, layout and small additional features, which have been implemented to maximise the chances of users spreading the word. Its not as easy as you think. It would be interesting to know if they did this intentionally in order to keep the user on Airbnbs site due to the similar experience, instead of allowing the user to go offsite to a location where they would see competitor listings. The image is also UGC, with the photographer credited. One question still remains for me: why do they choose the multiple/local domain names? The self check-in box also puts at ease people who worry about having to coordinate being at the property at the same time as the host in order to get access. Marketing Strategy of Airbnb analyses the brand with the marketing mix framework which covers the 4Ps (Product, Price, Place, Promotion). It was all about trusting people, not logos. Theyve used a custom link shortener for a number of years now (http://abnb.co) which usually provides you with the option to track who is clicking on the link, but thats it. When sharing links to their Facebook Page, its hard to tell whether or not they are tracking anything other than clicks on these. From 2014 Airbnb experienced a consistent growth trajectory until December 2015, when over a two month period (Dec 2015 Feb 2016) traffic grew by another 96% from 257,640 to 505,165 visits. These 300-400 word stories are poignant snapshots of how an Airbnb users life has been impacted by using Airbnb while travelling and immerses potential travellers in the spirit of adventure, curiosity and connection. differentiation, hybrid and Blue Ocean. To make a booking, you generally need to take the following steps: Open the Airbnb website. Without a doubt, this is one of the big issues data-centric companies are battling on their quest to maximising return on marketing investment while maintaining the trust of their most valued customers particularly in light of growing concerns regarding what data is being collected by organisations and how this information is being used. thx! Airbnb has removed the search bar in the header and there arent any buttons or links to guide users to take another step. If I did want to book a trip (like they assume when Im not signed in) then starting my search process isnt that easy. I would say this would tick a lot of boxes for many of Airbnbs prospective audiences who are yearning for a secluded getaway beyond the city limits. It also fits well with Brendans findings on branded keyword targeting vs generic location targeting, as Airbnb is not showing higher in the organic results for generic terms and thats where theyre putting the majority of their advertising budget on Google (73%). This is because they are an essential part of any organic search strategy if you wish to succeed. Its hard to achieve this if youre a small business, but if youre a larger organisation, theres plenty to learn from Airbnb. Every day, Hosts offer unique stays and experiences that make it possible for guests to connect with . Airbnb first launched their referral features in 2011, and below is the original look and feel. These audiences can also then be used for Lookalike audiences. As Principal Consultant in the Search + Content Marketing team and a Growth Lead at Webprofits, theres nothing Jacqueline loves more than creating data-driven results and using investigative tools to develop a clients strategy. The next section makes a lot of sense jump into the upsell. This section is particularly important to have on the site. For this reason, I think Airbnb have been smart to not make Twitter an integral part of the Australian Airbnb strategy. One of the primary advantages of differentiation is that it is inherently costly. Yes, hosts are charged 3%, but as Airbnb states on their website, this fee is to cover the cost o. In comparison to static imagery, video is often more engaging and great for storytelling, which Airbnb have used to announce theyd hit half a billion check-ins in May 2019, as they celebrated this through video, rather than imagery. In addition, they offer more information about becoming a host. Im now shown a ranked list of recommendations with comments from Airbnb hosts and a Google Map with pins corresponding to each place. Airbnb are doing a great job on this in many ways (they ranked 47 out of 50 in the same study), but I firmly believe that a brands social channels should also be used to enhance their customers experience. It could have been something that ruined the companys reputation and destroyed their business, but they reacted strongly and turned it into a strength. Airbnb has created the perfect solution for renters and providers worldwide. For Airbnb, its been about continuous discovery, testing and optimising of what is known as one of the worlds famous & very effective referral engines. In website talk, the breadcrumb structure of a website does the same thing it allows Googles spiders to find their way back to the most important page, whether that be the homepage, the category page of the product being viewed (eCommerce), or another primary page. And once you press Share your Link, you come to this screen. We did note from our research that the keywords the Neighbourhoods section are appearing in top positions for are all relatively low volume searches, and not high volume opportunities that would assist Airbnb with greater growth. Like the Stories section of the Airbnb website, the Neighbourhoods section is not easily found within the Airbnb navigation, and is largely instead found internally through location search. there is limited differentiation found among the companies' core business models. The critical experience Airbnb offers for a traveler is to experience new places as the locals do. This content truly differentiates Airbnb from the big hotel booking sites, highlighting interesting places in different cities. In a country like Australia thats not such a big deal, as Twitter usage is relatively low, but they could definitely be doing more. 3 key pieces of information about hosting in other words, 3 USPs. Their response to one user requesting more info on a property was We do not promote individual listings on our platform. document.write(new Date().getFullYear())
With that being said, I do like their UGC strategy and think theyve done a good job of leveraging this for content, rather than using professionally shot and polished imagery, which would not suit the platform. All Rights Reserved. In fact, estimated traffic year on year from February 2018 to February 2019 is down. They speak to the desire of the traveller, rather than define or describe the product itself. I dont think this works for all posts though. Airbnb have an extensive paid search account with the majority of the spend going towards terms that feature accommodation as a keyword. For new users, Airbnb ensures that each individual feels important to be part of the platform. Having this content ensures retention by keeping hosts engaged with other users of the platform. This again set the standard for 2 years of fairly consistent growth, until a further growth spurt of 106% from 884,267 visitors in Jan 2018 to 1,829,206 visitors in Feb 2018. the hotel industry is under going another disruption: the "collaboration economy" and its poster child Airbnb give rise to a variety of apartment rentals, offered to consumers for more affordable prices. However, I think it addresses & resonates with what other hosts may or potentially do experience in their respective locations which gives value to the reader. The more people you can share it with and sign up, the more travel credit. Airbnb has taken an impressive approach to content using storytelling and curation to drive growth. This led to a simultaneous rise . With it now almost unthinkable to plan a holiday or a night away from home without first doing your research on the internet, Airbnb has found their sweet spot in offering private accommodation to suit any budget or situation. It is only the US version of Airbnb Stories which is ranking in position #1 on page #1 on Australian desktop for the search term Airbnb Testimonials (avg monthly search volume 70). Using it as a reference to our paper. To break down the visibility differences between Booking.com, Wotif.com and Airbnb, we ran a keyword gap analysis through SEMrush. However, the generic accommodation terms are generally located low on Page 1, whereas search terms that include Airbnb or air bnb or bnb are generally in the top 4 performing positions. And like most marketplace sites, the buyer often wants information about the supplier to know if whats on the page can be trusted. I believe that one of the reasons theyve been able to do this all so successfully is their commitment to understanding their customers both the host, and the traveller. On the right, I can see the credit I currently have, and what I need to do in order to get more. If you want a growth strategy that leads the way in your industry, find out how Webprofits can help you transform your digital marketing. Airbnb focuses on providing a human experience with personalized touches. They do mention about what the friend receives down the page in the 3 Steps. 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 . Something I found of interest and that may have had an impact on Airbnbs 2017/2018 growth was that there were several small Google algorithm updates made in December 2017 an unusual time for updates due to the impact these changes can have on eCommerce. It can assist in a multi-channel remarketing strategy, for example, you can create a Custom Audience of your AdWords visitors who didnt convert and remarket back to these users through Facebook Ads (these visitors are gold as theyve demonstrated search intent already). Were ready when you are, Generate awareness of becoming a host / prospecting, Helping with the consideration phase of the host journey through remarketing, Theres a fairly high number of Australians on Facebook, with around, It doesnt rely on search intent, which means its more scalable. The instantly-recognisable logo, which they named The Blo, is designed to mean the universal symbol of belonging. I assume that the next few options are similar to Amazons People who viewed this product also looked at feature. browse homes. And how do you ensure those hosts are happy enough to keep renting out their places? They have a huge site so it wouldnt be easy, but there are a number of on-site optimisations they would need to make if they want to compete against the likes of booking.com or Wotif. B/c it has to be sooo much harder to track users potentially on many different domain names. These work off rules which you set within the software, leaving you time to focus on the more important things. Experiences are still a fairly new product and so introducing it on the home page makes sense. Of course, you can edit the template message yourself, but this does make it easy for the user to share. Hosts write their own descriptions and so, to a degree, Airbnb are at their mercy to help influence the booking, but theyve taken a few simple steps to claim back some power and ensure that useful information is provided to the user. The ability to achieve new users through lower CPAs was a mouthwatering prospect, and could result in strong growth. When looking at their frequency of posting, I think theyve taken the right approach. So that in itself is the whole sign up process pretty impressive how streamlined it is, right? To make this article easier to read weve broken it out into several different sections, each covering different growth channels. The service model that Air BnB has used is differentiated from the traditional hospitality business models. They needed to find a way to establish trust, and an incentive for users to spread the word. Airbnb showcase four 4.5 star homes in Santa Monica that have availability for the dates I selected. Among . Thats a pretty solid looking page structure in my opinion. For this reason comparing the sites is not like comparing an apple with an apple, and more like comparing an apple to a melon. Traveling to [Location]? I visited Japan last year, a place where Airbnbs are quite hard to come by. 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. To save on time, there are other elements of this page which certainly helps with the decision-making process to take the next step. It is clear that Airbnb is becoming one of the most popular online-booking.. This special feature that Airbnb have included has the ability to import contacts via Gmail, Yahoo or Outlook with ease (Ive done this before and its great!). The site structure of these pages is strong due to the way each category acts as a directory page to the other listings, giving greater value to the site and also helping the pages rank for high volume search terms. In addition, for existing hosts, its more likely going to help retain hosts. This needs to be done in the right way though, as it still needs to come across as authentic. Download Free PDF. Clear & succinct messaging focused on value certainly helps those wanting to share. The copy directly below the form gives you more insight into whats going to happen when you fill it in. Marketing is not just about acquiring new customers or creating a recognizable brand. From a practicality point of view, I also like that it allows the navigation bar at the top to be read very clearly. Using the Phlanx Instagram Engagement calculator, I can see that from their 4.1 million followers, Airbnb get around 26.7k Likes per post, 283 comments, and have an overall average engagement rate of 0.65%. When it comes down to an Airbnb vs. hotel, most people opt for an Airbnb because it's cheaper. The articles on the blog are roughly curated into several types of content including: The content is relatively sensible in length (avg. It has to be some sort of SEO play, right? Also worth noting the low intent call-to-action. An Airbnb Instagram marketing strategy should leverage visuals to increase engagement and feature hashtags and keywords for discoverability. "This is a key problem. Airbnb was born in 2007 when two Hosts welcomed three guests to their San Francisco home, and has since grown to over 4 million Hosts who have welcomed more than 1 billion guest arrivals in almost every country across the globe. If they were, its probably not the best look for Airbnb. When we start a business or a new brand, it is essential to aim for a long-term payoff for all our efforts and investments A sustainable ROI. Show relevant products to prospective customers, even if they havent visited your website or app. Their methods are not unique to them, and with a bit of strategy you too can reap the benefits of their successes. Key Differences. When we delve more into why Facebook is perfect for top & middle of funnel objectives, it relates to 3 things: Looking at the messaging theyre using in Host ads, I like the angles that Airbnb have chosen to run with. It helps a customer to have a personalized experience. After all, who is Google going to trust as a more authoritative and relevant source a site with no backlinks, or a site with 100+ backlinks. We instantly see the value of sharing and when a host successfully joins, Earn $22 for every new host you refer. Airbnb partnered with local photographers to really capture the essence of the area from a native perspective, inspire viewers, and create a connection to the locale. The model was disruptive when it hit the market and created an ongoing ripple in the travel and hospitality industry. Developing content that will receive backlinks without your internal marketing team having to do any work should be the goal of every website but organic presence and your brand can have a huge impact on this, as people will not find your amazing content unless you are either performing well for relevant search terms organically, or someone is already on your website due to your brand presence and finds the content because you promote it on relevant, high traffic service pages. By commoditizing trust between property owners and short-term renters, Airbnb has become one of the most recognized companies in the hospitality industry. Community: How do Airbnb maintain and grow their online community, and what part does that play in their business growth? Do you remember these designs? They either rent out a spare room or their entire property when they go away. Even if this is not done on purpose, I think this is clever, as it allows the user to imagine themselves there. The creative entrepreneurial innovation allows people to travel and stay at different hosts connecting them in advance. Its certainly something to strive for. In an article in the Engineering & Data Science medium publication, Jason Bosinoff at Airbnb explained how they Kept Score for tracking the analytics of referrals. This format allows you to take up as much real estate as possible on a persons Feed. Recommendations could also be based on the style of home, studio apartment versus family friendly options, or what amenities are associated with my previous bookings, for example, am I always booking places that have wifi or a pool. From what started off as a small feature as part of the Airbnb platform, the referral system has certainly come a long way since then to now in 2019. Its quite an extensive sheet, but one of the best paid search competitor analysis tools Ive found for larger accounts, as it unpacks exactly what search terms are driving users to what landing pages. The focused differentiation strategy aims to concentrate efforts on the narrow and specific market segment. If its not already clear, Airbnb are using an extensive library of headlines, and this is because most of their ads are tailored specifically to travel destinations. The way you invite friends to the platform is on purpose very similar to how other platforms work. Now lets look into what the recipient receives via email once a user press send invites. This is high, and suggests that the term accommodation best reflects how users are searching and what resonates with their target audience, instead of language like home sharing or holiday home. Any ideas, any theories? For the example of byron bay accommodation, Brendan found that Airbnb are bidding to be in either position 1 or position 2 of ads for related search terms, both branded and generic, and are receiving an estimated 2,326 visits per month to their ad. Its certainly now motivated me to help refer a host. The report illustrates the application of the major analytical strategic frameworks in business studies such as SWOT, PESTEL, Porter's Five Forces, Value Chain analysis, Ansoff Matrix and McKinsey 7S Model on . Don't use plagiarised sources.Get your . Its a beautiful image and has a lot of visual impact, It evokes an emotion happiness, humor, nostalgia, etc, It tells a captivating story (image and/or caption). One element that does change to my advantage is the navigation bar. The next two sections I find quite interesting but mainly because of how different they are when Im signed in. Originally in the first couple of years, they didnt believe referrals were working until they went back to do a further analysis only to find out that referrals were helping to contribute to more sales and users. Business Strategy Consultant, Design Thinker. Upon clicking this youre directed to their homepage, and I can see that theyve generated this link with UTM tracking. The experiences section is very clear these are the top rated experiences around the world. When searching using a Site Operator on Google for the Booking.com and Wotif.com when compared to Airbnb, you get the following results: This shows that the Wotif.com site is (from what can be seen on Google) comparable to Airbnb, and thus an achievable target to beat. This traction is reflected in the Google Trends graph for the past 5 years for the term airbnb. Note: While this will not help them rank for the [location] accommodation] keywords that have been the focus to date, it has assisted with growing the size of the Airbnb AU website and backlink profile. Whats worked to their advantage is the creativity they have shown in getting users to engage with their stories and to keep clicking through. Using SEMRush, I exported 50,000 of Airbnbs higher volume search terms and put these into a pivot table, sorting this by how many times each search term appeared. Airbnb knew early on that good photographs are essential to getting a booking. Well come back to this shortly, but this is a great example of message-matching at scale. Plus, the more they read/talk about it, the more theyre thinking about it, which should lead to less churn. If your business strength is that you have properties and people want properties, then thats what you should focus on. Their main objective with Instagram content is to generate engagement & awareness and, where possible, they will try and prompt users to click through to their website, either through the link in their bio or by using the swipe up to learn more option in Stories. At the top section, its a different layout compared to the guest referral page. Would be exceptional if Airbnb are basing these recommendations based on average cost per night of previous bookings or the booking value of similar users. They know my stay there ended a while ago, do they think I want to go straight back? Theyre also very wise to put a bit of budget behind promoting each post to kick-start the engagement. A Differentiation Strategy Requires Capital. So what can we learn from Airbnbs referral program? The second "B" in B&B (as in "breakfast") is the biggest distinguishing feature.
The report also comprises discussions of Airbnb marketing strategy, ecosystem and addresses issues of corporate social responsibility. When it comes to the sharing mechanism under Share your love of travel, the first thing you see straight away is the description under the title. Every home is verified through in-person quality inspection to ensure quality and design. Now, its not something often spoken to by content marketers (as basically there are no guarantees on the amount of traffic you could potentially receive through a backlink to your site) but this reason is not to be discounted as the more referral traffic you receive through a backlink, the more value Google places on the link, and the better your results for that page. The image instantly grabs your attention. As you can imagine we have a lot of different data points on our users. On the flipside, I appreciate that this is sometimes to push a bigger campaign, which means theyll want to be across as many placements as possible to ensure theyre getting maximum reach for this campaign. Zooming out, Airbnb have shared that, not surprisingly, their email content is tailored based on information they have about the user. I think people who book an Airbnb in LA would also consider New York, San Diego and the other options. The short answer is yes, but heres why. This is what happens when we click Show invite details. aesthetic well cultured, colourful, and stylish. The information that Airbnb highlights here is interesting (as most of it is, again, written by the host). As someone who has admired Airbnb for many years, its been interesting to take an in-depth look into what theyre doing and evaluate it. But as a marketer, you never want to discount the impact of SEO and keywords. Users are engaged and enticed to keep following up friends who havent joined the platform. This is an awesome reception. Like you go out to an unknown place, where food options are limited. The next best-performing page is Melbourne, Australia with 1.9% of the total traffic, and 479 ranked keywords. Just look for the PLUS badge.. More social proof again (impressive numbers, right?). In crafting his company strategy, Lennie is particularly focused on how to distinguish his start-up from similar companies such as AirBnB. The assumption is that Airbnb wants to focus on the goal of the user at this particular step. Although the last few years have ushered in shifts at the product and organizational levels, design principles still guide us everyday. Of note, since February 2018 the growth trajectory has not been consistent, and there have been fairly significant dips in the monthly estimated traffic. Airbnb offer $15 off to guest referrals (discount) and $200 for a successful host referral (incentive). But that wont be enough, theyll need a comprehensive backlink strategy to appear authoritative and rank for the relevant keywords. When looking at the types of posts they share to the Page, this is a mixture of imagery & video. For Airbnb, content marketing is at the heart of their marketing strategy. This trust isnt so much between the user and Airbnb, its trust amongst hosts and guests. By creating this new tier of product, Airbnb have provided a solution to potential travellers who have reservations about the quality of their properties. In the case of differentiation, a key advantage is that effective differentiation creates an ability to obtain premium prices from customers ("Executing a Differentiation Strategy" [Image missing in original] ). In New York, the term "hotel" includes hotels, motels . How do you execute a good referral strategy into your business so that customers start doing the work for you? Competitor spend, for example terms like home stayz tasmania and homeaway melbourne, appears to be very small less than 1% or 2% from my calculations. Its no secret that most travellers appreciate a good story. As much as reviews are helpful in the booking process, once we hit book on the platform, were then putting our trust in a complete stranger being a good host and the host is putting their trust in us being an equally good guest.
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