An analysis of Airbnb's social media accounts, including tips for improvement, objectives, and strategies

1. AIRBNB SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY
ANNIE OSTRANDER

2. CONTENTS
• 1. Executive Summary
• 2. Social Media Audit
• 3. Social Media Objectives
• 4. Online Brand Persona and Voice
• 5. Strategies and Tools
• 6. Timing and Key Dates
• 7. Social Media Roles and Responsibilities
• 8. Social Media Policy
• 9. Critical Response Plan
• 10. Measurement and Reporting Results

3. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
• Our major objective will be to increase following and activity on social media
platforms including Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
• Two main strategies will support this objective.
• Posting more pointed posts and posting more frequently on all platforms.
• Conducting audience analytics to ensure that future posts will be more successful in
gaining followers and, therefore, eventually increasing revenue.

4. SOCIAL MEDIA AUDIT
Social Media
Platform
URL Follower Count Recent Weekly
Activity
Twitter https://twitter.com/Airbn
b
21.9K 11 tweets/week
Facebook https://www.facebook.co
m/airbnb/
6.5M (Likes) 7 posts/week
Instagram https://www.instagram.co
m/airbnb/
1.9M 12 posts/week

5. SOCIAL MEDIA ASSESSMENT
• As of late, Airbnb has been most active on Instagram, its platform with the
least amount of followers.
• A future tactic will be to post more on the avenues that have the ability to
reach more followers: Facebook and Twitter.
• The posts on Instagram are substantive; however, they are not reaching the
maximum engagement potential.

6. WEBSITE
• https://www.airbnb.com/?logo=1
• A suggestion for the coming year is to make it an objective to increase website
traffic. The website is where revenue is made for Airbnb, since that is where
customers can actually book reservations.
• Our social media improvement strategies will increase website traffic so long
as we are sure to link the website to our social media posts occasionally and
increase traffic that way.

7. AUDIENCE
• The target audience for future social media and other communications strategies will
be very broad, since a wide variety of people use Airbnb’s services.
• According to jumpshot.com, 88% of reservations on Airbnb are for 2-4 people, so we
should focus our efforts on couples and families, although many consumers will likely
just be traveling with friends.
• Airbnb needs to tailor social media posts to adults, ages 22-60.
• It may also be wise to focus on the younger demographics because Airbnb is a relatively new
concept and may be more popular among millennials than with other age groups.
• It is also affordable, which is important to the millennial generation.

8. COMPETITORS
• Tripping.com
• FlipKey
• HomeAway
• VayStays
• Roomorama
• VacayHero

9. DEMOGRAPHICS- MILLENNIALS
Image from airbnbcitizen.com

10. DEMOGRAPHICS- MILLENNIALS
Image from airbnbcitizen.com

11. SOCIAL MEDIA OBJECTIVES
• Increase revenue by increasing amount of consumers.
• Attract millennials through social media posts.

12. ONLINE BRAND PERSONA AND VOICE
• Happiness
• Posts exhibiting happy customers of Airbnb.
• Culture
• Photographs on social media platforms of diverse groups of people and multiple
different cities of every type.
• Luxury
• Photographs on Instagram of beautiful spaces provided through Airbnb

13. STRATEGIES AND TOOLS
• Tweet and post on Instagram more frequently
• Follow brands and people that are popular among millennials
• Use graphics including photos, GIFS, charts, etc.
• Respond to and engage with people through social media platforms
• Use Buffer and Hootsuite to schedule posts in order to ensure there are no large gaps
between posts.

14. TIMING AND KEY DATES
• Post at a variety of times since Airbnb is a worldwide service.
• Be conscious of times millennials are active on the Internet.
• Post during business hours.
• Post at the beginning of the calendar year, when many people plan summer
vacations. Post during the summer, when many people plan winter vacations,
as well as last-minute summer vacations.

15. SOCIAL MEDIA ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
• Marketing director, social media director, social media correspondents, website
director
• Exhibit corporate social responsibility– take up a philanthropy or a service to show
that Airbnb is a company that knows its social responsibility and is beneficial to the
world.
• Respond to as many consumers via social media as possible. Never leave a complain
unanswered. It is too easy for consumers to use alternate services, so we must answer
all complaints or other issues.

16. SOCIAL MEDIA POLICY
• Professionalism
• It is ok to joke or be friendly, but always remain professional.
• Integrity
• Be honest and up front at all times
• Unmatched service
• Exhibit extremely well-executed customer service

17. CRITICAL RESPONSE PLAN
• If a complaint from an Airbnb user gained traction and many people heard of
the issue
• Apology and compensation to the complainer
• Public post with apology and explanation regarding complaint
• If a post from Airbnb proved to be controversial
• Immediate removal of the post
• Explanation and apology from CEO
• Reevaluation of team responsible for post

18. MEASUREMENT AND REPORTING RESULTS
Quantitative KPIs
Reporting period: 1 year
Data as of May 28, 2017
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19. WEBSITE TRAFFIC SOURCES ASSESSMENT
Source Volume Percentage overall
Traffic
Conversion rate
Twitter 1000 unique visits
+ 10% growth
10% 1%
Facebook 2000 unique visits
+ 1% Growth
4% .04%
Instagram 1000 unique visits
+ 10% growth
9% .9%