Airbnb digital marketing

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The world is rapidly shifting from analogue to digital. People are consuming more and more digital
content on a daily basis – on mobile phones, laptops, desktop computers at work, and more – and
companies that have not yet used this in their marketing strategies are adapting fast. Therefore,
the aim of the study to understand the digital marketing strategies of Airbnb and to understand the
effort behind fulfilment of brands objective through campaigns. In this project, data has been
collected from secondary research. Collection Secondary data has been collected from reports
and case studies from foreign universities, internet, and company website. In the report, Airbnb’s
marketing techniques, i.e., social media, content and inbound marketing are shown with their
creativity in marketing which helped them in growing and getting and reaching maximum hosts and
travelers.Digital marketing is an ever-changing landscape. To keep up one need a bespoke mix of
skills and services – adapting over time to meet their unique goals and challenges. They adopted a
digital marketing strategy well in time and executed it properly. Their digital marketing relies
primarily on user-generated images and videos on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter (highlighting
the cities and properties in its stable), how-to videos and posts geared towards owners, and
popular city guides. Their Instagram campaign matches humor with compelling images of different
travel locations around the world, making it more than just a service – it’s a travel forum as well.
Discussions and implications are further explained in this report.

CHAPTER-1
INTRODUCTION
Advertising in business is a form of marketing communication used to encourage, persuade, or
manipulate an audience to take or continue to take some action. Most commonly, the desired
result is to drive consumer behavior with respect to a commercial offering. Advertising is defined
by Richard F. Taflinger as “Advertising is the non-personal communication of information usually
paid for and usually persuasive in nature about products, services or ideas by identified sponsors
through the various media."
Advertising is normally done by a third party known as advertising agency. An advertising agency
is a service based business dedicated to creating, planning, and handling advertising for its clients.
An ad agency is independent from the client and provides an outside point of view to the effort of
selling the client's products or services. An agency can also handle overall marketing and branding
strategies and sales promotions for its clients. Types of ad agencies are:
 Full service agencies
 Creative agencies
 Specialized agencies
 In-house agencies
 Digital agencies or new media agencies
This report is completely discussing about digital or new media agencies. There was a time when
Television was the most popular medium for Marketer to promote, spread awareness and
generate leads for their products but now the trend has changed and Digital media has taken its
place. Main reason for this change was:
 Traditional methods are expensive. Compared to digital marketing channels, the person
could end up spending thousands of dollars more.

 Traditional marketing channels fail to provide instant feedback and reports about who saw or
heard an ad, and took action. This data is collected long after the initial ad impression is made
(and still then, the statistics are far from exact numbers).
DIGITAL MARKETING
Digital marketing, on the other hand, refers to marketing methods that allow organizations to see
how a campaign is performing in real-time, such as what is being viewed, how often, how long, as
well as other statistics such as sales conversions.
Digital marketing is the promotion of products or brands via one or more forms of electronic media
and differs from traditional marketing in that it involves the use of channels and methods that
enable an organization to analyze marketing campaigns and understand what is working and what
isn’t – typically in real time.

Digital marketers monitor things like what is being viewed, how often and for how long, sales
conversions, what content works and doesn’t work, etc. While the Internet is, perhaps, the channel
most closely associated with digital marketing, others include wireless text messaging, mobile
instant messaging, mobile apps, podcasts, electronic billboards, digital television and radio
channels, etc.
Digital marketing is an umbrella term for the marketing of products or services using digital
technologies, mainly on the Internet, but also including mobile phones, display advertising, and
any other digital medium.
Why Digital Marketing Is Important
Digital media is so pervasive that consumers have access to information any time and any place
they want it. Gone are the days when the messages people got about your products or services
came from you and consisted of only what you wanted them to know. Digital media is an ever-
growing source of entertainment, news, shopping and social interaction, and consumers are now
exposed not just to what your company says about your brand, but what the media, friends,
relatives, peers, etc., are saying as well. And they are more likely to believe them than you. People
want brands they can trust, companies that know them, communications that are personalized and
relevant, and offers tailored to their needs and preferences.
Importance of digital marketing
There’s no denying it, the world is rapidly shifting from analogue to digital. People are consuming
more and more digital content on a daily basis – on mobile phones, laptops, desktop computers at
work, and more – and companies that have not yet recognised this in their marketing
strategies need to adapt fast.
Why is digital marketing so important? Because it is not only a rapidly growing force in the current
marketing playing field, it is set to be the future of marketing, and it seems likely that digital media
will soon replace more traditional forms altogether.

While older generations will no doubt lament the demise of paper-based newspapers, books,
communication methods and traditional TV and radio broadcasts, those who have grown up with
the internet and mobile phones as a God-given right are already embracing the brave new world of
digital consumption.
The facts are that digital methods of communication and marketing are faster, more versatile,
practical and streamlined, so it is perhaps unsurprising that once the technology became available
we began quickly moving into the digital age. The good news is that digital offers just as much
potential to marketers as it does to consumers.
Before we look at the benefits of digital marketing, let’s take a quick snapshot of some of the key
forms of it at present:
 Internet banner ads
 Online video content
 Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising
 Email marketing
 Social media marketing (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.)
 Mobile marketing (SMS, MMS, etc.)
 Websites and SEO content
 Blogs
This is far from an exhaustive list, and new forms of digital marketing, such as augmented reality,
are arriving all the time.
Perhaps the strongest case for incorporating a digital element into your marketing is that digital
media forms are quickly overtaking traditional forms of information consumption. According to the
Office for National Statistics, over 82% of UK adults went online in the first three months of this
year: that's over 40 million individuals.
The bottom line is, the digital age is here, and those businesses that fail to adapt to the new
marketing climate are at great risk of going extinct sooner rather than later.
Digital marketing is the promotion of the business, organisation or brand using channels such as
the Internet, mobile devices, television and radio in addition to using creative online advertising,

video, podcasts and other such methods to communicate your message. Internet marketing in
particular plays a huge part in any digital marketing strategy and is becoming the core of many
organisations overall marketing strategies, particularly with regard to social media and viral
marketing.
Digital marketing ecosystem is not only concerned with internet marketing and social media
marketing, in introduction we discussed that peoples have a belief that internet or social media
marketing are same but not same, be clear from beginning itself. Digital marketing ecosystem
consists of internet marketing and social media marketing. They are just a channels for
communication, digital ecosystem consist of integrating channels and integrating services.
1) Digital Ecosystem
1.1) Search Engine
Search engine optimisation (SEO) is the art of getting a website to work better with search engines
(like Google, Bing & Yahoo), and to look for achievable, profitable, ranking opportunities through
keyword research. It is a quest for increased visibility in search engines via relevant copy, quality
links, domain trust, social popularity and search engine connectivity.
Search engine marketing (SEM) is a broader term than SEO, and is used to encompass different
options available to use a search engine’s technology, including paid ads. SEM is often used to
• Search Engine (SEO/SEM)
• Displays (Banners,Rich media Banners)
• Mobile Marketing
• Social media
• Email
• Video
• Websites
Integrated Channels
• Analytics
• Content management
• Advanced Targeting
• Creative
• Research + Planning
• Digital strategy
Intergrated
Services

describe acts associated with researching, submitting and positioning a website within search
engines. It includes things such as search engine optimization, paid listings and other search-
engine related services and functions that will increase exposure and traffic to your Web site.
1.2) Displays
Display advertising is a type of advertising that typically contains text (i.e., copy), logos,
photographs or other images, location maps, and similar items. In periodicals, display advertising
can appear on the same page as, or on the page adjacent to, general editorial content. Normal
banners, Rich media banner, Interstitials and pops are example of displays.
1.3) Mobile Marketing
Mobile marketing is used in reference to any marketing efforts on or with a mobile device. It
involves planning, creating, and implementing a mix of initiatives to bring together sellers and
buyers via mobile devices. Mobile ads, Mobile websites, Apps and Games are some of examples
for mobile marketing.
1.4) Social Media Marketing
Social Media refers to any software tool that enables and encourages engagement in conversation
or sharing. Popular forms of social media include Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Pinterest,
Google + and blogs. Now all days social media become platform for marketer to make
conversation with customers. Brands are now engaging customers through social media.
1.5) e-mail Marketing
e-mail Marketing is a type of direct marketing that involves sending personalized, targeted
messages to a specific audience. e-mail Marketing is easy to use, low cost, and effective. Most of
the B2B business in present era in following email marketing, but in B2C also email marketing is
productive.

1.6) Video
Marketers are now use video to make customers aware of brands and to sharing the experience of
other customers. YouTube ads are too popular in video ads. In social media platforms also brands
are sharing video.
1.7) Analysis
Analytics is the practice of evaluating data, and the process by which a company arrives at a most
advantageous decision. Here marketer analysis the integrate channel to understand the
effectiveness of communication. Analysis may be based on numbers of visitor or like in social
media pages etc.
1.8) Content Management
After analysis the integrate channels marketer can able to understand the problems with current
contents. Later he can manage the content to increase the engagement rate, content may be text
in banners, images or websites.
1.9) Advanced Targeting
Advanced targeting are techniques involving the sending of targeted messages to a specific
audience. It is used to increase the effectiveness of a marketing campaign. Behavioural targeting
is also a part of advanced targeting, here marketer can target the customer based on their past
behaviour in online. Marketer can put ads in other webpage where customer is going.
1.10) Creative
Creative is the artistic component of an ad or website. It usually includes an image and copy
present in ads or website. Marketer can make those contents attractive to customers. Marketer will
sometimes change the entire design of websites, apps etc.
1.11) Research and Planning
Marketer will do some research to understand the behaviour, taste and preference to customers in
digital platform. This research may be doing by using paid-tools like ComScore...Etc. Through this
research marketer can understanding where T.G is present or what T.G would to do in online.

After research marketer will plan new campaigns based on those research reports. These
campaigns are more effective to reach the T.G properly.
1.12) Digital Strategy
Digital strategy is the process of specifying an organization's vision, goals, opportunities and
initiatives in order to maximize the business benefits through digital media. Strategy will be
different for each brand, it will base on the brand objective and target groups interest. It is actual a
plan formulated by the marketer to explore the opportunities. Strategy may be short term or long
term, but it need to be fit with market situations.
2) Types of Digital Marketing
In normal outbound marketing, we will use pull and push marketing strategy. Like that in digital
marketing also pull and push are types.
In push digital marketing the marketer sends a message without the recipient actively seeking
the content, such as display advertising on websites and news blogs. Email, text messaging and
web feeds with customized contents can also be classed as push digital marketing when the
recipient has not actively sought the marketing message. Push marketing allows you to target your
demographics and use your marketing dollars to promote your product to the people you know are
interested in what you have to sell. A push marketing campaign can be more expensive when it
comes to upfront costs, so you really need to be sure that your marketing is going to reach the
right people at the right time. Behaviour targeting is good example for push digital marketing.
In Pull digital marketing includes blogging, email marketing, social media, info graphics and other
forms of visual messaging and search engine optimization (SEO). A pull marketing campaign also
includes public relations or other ways of reaching out to potential or already realized customers
who you want to keep engaged. While a pull marketing campaign can be less expensive to get
started, you will incur costs in other ways. For example, if you are running a social media
campaign, you will need to hire someone to manage your social media and respond to people who
leave comments or ask questions. Social media gets people talking and that has a major impact
on sales. Pull marketing also requires a greater investment in time, but it gives you more ability to
entertain your customers and educate them about your company.

But don't get confused by seeing Email in push and pull, there is a difference. If marketer is
sending emails with customized content or banners to specific group of customers is push digital
marketing. If marketer is sending emails with the same content or banner to all customers is pull
digital marketing.
5) Digital Advertising: Ad Avenues
SEARCH ADVERTISEMENTS: Advertisements made up of text (displayed largely as sponsored
links on search engines) come under this category. These are backed by hyperlinks that when
clicked on, take the potential customer to the advertisers website.
DISPLAY ADVERTISEMENTS: Advertisements that are placed at various points on a web page
that typically contain logos, photographs, other images or even text. Technologically these
comprise of Image, Simple flash and Rich media with& without video ads.
MOBILE ADVERTISEMENTS: Advertisements that are viewed or consumed on mobile phones or
tablets come under this category. These comprise of Mobile Web ads, SMS, MMS, Mobile Video &
TV ads and In-App ads.
SOCIAL MEDIA ADVERTISEMENTS: Advertisements of any type: text, display, stamp pads etc.
displayed on various social media websites like: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Orkut etc.
fall into this category.
EMAIL ADVERTISEMENTS: Advertisements that involve sending across a commercial message
to a group of people using email comprise of this ad type. Emails are used to engage with existing
customers to get repeat business as well as to acquire new customers.
VIDEO ADVERTISEMENTS: Advertisements that fall broadly under the display type but have
video within them and are served before, during and/or after a video stream on the internet. This
type comprises In-Video ads, Standard In-Stream ads (pre rolls, mid rolls or post rolls) and
TrueView ads.

7) Types of ads
 Above The Fold: Above the fold refer to banners ads which are displayed at the top of a web
page.
 Rich- media: Online ads that contain motion, sounds or video are termed as rich media ads
 Interstitial Ads: Ads that appears between web pages.
 Banner Ads: Embedding an ad into a web page- known as a click through due to interactive
actions where the consumers clicks and is taken to the banner ad’s company websites
 Pop-up: Ads that displays in a browser window either in the front or behind the current
browser window.
8) Monetary term in Digital Marketing
 Cost –Per- Action (CPA): Cost of advertising based on a visitor taking some specifically
defined action in response to an ad. “Action” include such thing as a sales, transaction, a customer
acquisition or a click
 Cost- Per -Click (CPC): Cost of advertising based on the number of clicks received.
 Cost- Per-Thousand (CPM): The standard unit for buying or selling Internet advertising. The
thousand stands for ‘thousand advertising impression or views’.
 Pay- Per- Impression: Online advertising where an advertiser pays a pre-agreed price each
time a user clicks on their advertisement. The cost for the click is often negotiated through auction,
with ad placement determined by the relative size of the bid, as well as other factors.

 Pay-Per-Inclusion: Search engine marketing programs that guarantee web site listing for
specific keyword search term for a fee.
 Pay-Per-Lead: Paying to acquire leads from an outside party at a set rate or amount per
lead.
Objectives of study
The objectives of the study are:
 To understand the digital marketing strategies of Airbnb.
 To choose appropriate media for communication.
 To understand the effort behind fulfilment of brands objective through campaigns.
Overview of the study
Chapter 1: deals with the introduction and objective of the study
Chapter 2: deals with the company profile
Chapter 3: deals with the research methodology
Chapter 4: deals with the analysis and the findings
Chapter 5: deals with the conclusion and recommendations
Chapter 6: deals with epilogue
Next, Chapter 2 deals with company profile.

CHAPTER-2
COMPANY PROFILE
Airbnb is a peer-to-peer online marketplace and homestay network enabling people to list or rent
short-term lodging in residential properties, with the cost of such accommodation set by
the property owner. The company receives percentage service fees from both guests and hosts in
conjunction with every booking. It has over 2,000,000 listings in 34,000 cities and 191 countries.
Airbnb was founded in August 2008, is headquartered in San Francisco, California, and is privately
owned and operated. Launched when its founders couldn’t afford their rent, the site now boasts 60
million users, over two million listings, and a total valuation of $25 billion in 2016.
FAST FACTS
 In 2008, Airbnb was founded by Brian Chesky, Joe Gebbia and Nate Blecharcyzk.
 The first Airbnb listing was in Brian and Joe's apartment on Rausch Street in San
Francisco.
 Airbnb is in 50,000 cities and 191+ countries.
 Airbnb has 3 million+ listings worldwide.
 Airbnb has 19 offices globally.
 Airbnb has had more than 140 million total guest arrivals all-time.
 Airbnb has nearly 3,000 castles and 1,400 treehouses.

 On New Year's Eve 2016, the Airbnb community celebrated its biggest night ever, with
nearly 2 million guests staying at listings worldwide.
 Top 10 destinations of inbound guests
 United States
 France
 Italy
 Spain
 United Kingdom
 Japan
 Canada
 Australia
 Germany
 Portugal
 Top 10 destinations of outbound guests
 United States
 France
 United Kingdom
 Germany
 Australia
 Canada
 China
 Spain
 Italy
 Netherlands

 Top 10 most wish listed
properties on Airbnb
 Secluded Intown Treehouse in
Atlanta, Georgia
 The Seashell House in Casa
Caracol, Mexico
 Casa Barthel in Tuscany, Italy
 Ivy Trullo in Brindisi, Italy
 Rainforest Tree House with Hot
Springs in Costa Rica
 Aroma(n)tica Treehouse in San
Salvador
 Mushroom Dome Cabin in Aptos,
CA
 Pirates of the Carribean Getaway in Topanga Canyon, CA
 Balian Treehouse with private bool in Bali
 Brand New Mini Loft in Rome, Italy
 Economic Impact
 74% of listings are outside the main hotel districts
 91% of travellers want to 'live like a local'
 79% of travellers want to explore an authentic neighbourhood
 Airbnb guests stay 2.1x longer than typical visitors
 Airbnb guests spend 2.1x more than typical visitors
 42% of guest spending is in the neighbourhoods where they stayed
 81% of hosts share the home in which they live
 52% are moderate to low income
 53% say that hosting has helped them stay in their home
 48% of host income is used to pay for regular household expenses like rent and groceries.

Business Objective
At the World Economic Forum, Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky mentioned that the company will focus
on fewer but larger projects this year. Airbnb now wants to expand beyond home and room rentals
to offer full-service including local recommendations to become a more inclusive hospitality brand.
The plan is to create comprehensive travel planning guides for the ease of travellers. This will also
help promote tourism to destinations which are not so common or are difficult to plan.It will
especially benefit the less developed countries like Nepal, Bhutan, Burma etc. which are beautiful
but do not promote their attractions well.
Airbnb wants to continue strengthening its international presence by making each city more
accessible so that more people can afford to visit new locations and hosts can earn extra. This will
also help create thousands of jobs for people like photographers, tour guides, chefs, laundry etc
and will support this thriving new Sharing Economy ecosystem, where everyone can participate.
HISTORY OF AIRBNB
Shortly after moving to San Francisco in October 2007, Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia created the
initial concept for AirBed & Breakfast during the Industrial Design Conference held by Industrial
Designers Society of America. The original site offered short-term living quarters, breakfast, and a
unique business networking opportunity for those who were unable to book a hotel in the saturated
market.
At the time, roommates Chesky and Gebbia could not afford the rent for their loft in San
Francisco.They made their living room into a bed and breakfast, accommodating three guests on
air and providing homemade breakfast.
Their first three guests were of a sold-out design trade show.
In February 2008, technical architect Nathan Blecharczyk joined as the third co-founder of AirBed
& Breakfast. During the company's initial stages, the founders focused on high-profile events
where alternative lodging was scarce. The site Airbedandbreakfast.com officially launched on
August 11, 2008.

To help fund the site, the founders created special edition breakfast cereals, with presidential
candidates Barack Obama and John McCain as the inspiration for "Obama O's" and "Cap'n
McCains". In two months, 800 boxes of cereal were sold at $40 each, which generated more than
$30,000 for the company's incubation and attracted Y Combinator's Paul Graham.
After its inauguration, the site expanded to include properties in the market between hotels
and Couch Surfing. In January 2009, Y Combinator invited Chesky, Gebbia and Blecharczyk to
join the incubator's winter session for three months of training. With the website already built, they
used the $20,000 Y-Combinator investment to fly to New York to meet users and promote the site.
They returned to San Francisco with a profitable business model to present to West Coast
investors.
In March 2009, the name Airbedandbreakfast.com was changed to Airbnb.com, and the site's
content had expanded from air beds and shared spaces to a variety of properties including entire
homes and apartments, private rooms, castles, boats, manors, tree houses, tipis, igloos, private
islands and other properties.
One year later, there were 15 people working from Chesky and Gebbia's loft apartment on Rausch
Street in San Francisco. To make room for employees, Brian Chesky gave up his bedroom and
lived through the Airbnb service until the company moved into its first office space.
The company continued to experience rapid growth through the year and in November 2010 raised
$7.2 million in Series A funding from Greylock Partners and Sequoia Capital, and announced that
out of 700,000 nights booked, 80% had occurred in the past six months.
In February 2011, Airbnb announced its 1 millionth booking since its inception in August 2008.
Then, in January 2012, Airbnb announced its 5 millionth night booked internationally through the
service. In June 2012, the company announced 10 million nights booked, doubling business in 5
months. Of these bookings, 75% of the business came from markets outside of the
continental United States.

On May 25, 2011, actor
and partner at A-Grade
Investments Ashton
Kutcher announced a
significant investment in
the company and his
role as a strategic brand
advisor for the
company.
By October 2013,
Airbnb had served nine
million guests since its
founding in August
2008. In December
2013, the company
reported it had over six
million new guests in
2013, and nearly 250,000 properties were added in 2013.
In June 2015, Airbnb decided to sponsor Manor F1 Team. Their logo appeared on the cars on the
front nose and on other areas. it also appeared on team wear and the drivers overalls.
In October 2015, Jersey City, New Jersey became the first city in the New York metropolitan
area to legalize Airbnb, and add it to the existing body of hotels and motels that pay transient
occupancy tax. In the past, businesses were regulated by zoning laws, but Mayor Steven
Fulop stated that the city does not have enough inspectors to deal the number of local units being
rented out, approximately 300 of which rented through the service as of that date, and that rapid-
evolving technology such as Airbnb made doing so impossible. Under the legislation, Airbnb pays
the city 6% transient occupancy tax on the residential properties whose owners rent temporary
living space to tourists for under 30 days. The laws were estimated to bring $1 million in revenue to
Jersey City and expand tourist capacity beyond the city's 13 existing hotels.

International expansion
In May 2011, Airbnb acquired a German competitor, Accoleo. This acquisition, as well as other
similar acquisitions, launched the first international Airbnb office in Hamburg. In October 2011,
Airbnb established its second international office in London.
Due to the growth of international users, in early 2012, Airbnb opened offices
in Paris, Milan, Barc
elona, Copenhagen,
Moscow, and São
Paulo. These were
in addition to
existing offices
in San
Francisco, London,
Hamburg,
and Berlin where
Airbnb maintains its
international
presence for
the EMEA markets
within a German
incubator
space. Airbnb announced in September 2013 that its European headquarters would be located in
Dublin.
At the beginning of November 2012, Chesky announced his focus on Australia, the second largest
Airbnb market behind the United States, as well as Thailand and Indonesia. To support this effort,
Airbnb opened its 11th office in Sydney. The Australian consumer accounts for one-tenth of the
Airbnb user base.
Weeks after announcing the focus on Australia, Airbnb announced its strategy to move more
aggressively into the Asian market with the launch of their newest headquarters in Singapore. The
company's goal is to acquire an additional 2 million properties within the continent.

LEADERS OF AIRBNB
Next, chapter-3 deals with research methodology.

CHAPTER-3
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
To define any research problem & give a suitable solution for any research, a sound research plan
is inevitable. Research methodology underlines the various steps involved by the researcher in
systematically solving the problem with the objective of determining various facts.
Methods of Data Collection
In this project, data has been collected from secondary research.
Secondary Data
Collection Secondary data has been collected from reports and case studies from foreign
universities, internet, and company website.
Period of The Study
The study was carried out from November 2016 to January 2017.
Next Chapter-4, deals with the analysis and findings.

CHAPTER-4
ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS
Digital Marketing Strategy
Airbnb depends on two components: hosts and travelers. The aim of the marketing strategy
adopted is to reach and encourage maximum people around the world to become hosts and/or
travellers. Considering this Airbnb initially implemented a clever customer acquisition strategy:
Inbound Marketing:
 Craigslist Integration
Craigslist was being used by people to offer and look for short-term housing. Airbnb decided to
attract qualified leads and reverse engineered Craigslist form to make the two platforms
compatible. Whenever anyone listed accommodations on Airbnb, they got an option to
automatically create a posting on Craigslist as well. This helped create additional inbound links for
the user and drove more traffic to Airbnb.
 Google Display Network Partnership
Airbnb decided to make their offers visually appealing to attract more customers. They
collaborated with Google and invested in Google Search Ads. This helped Airbnb increase their
listings from less than 10,000 to 80,000. They executed banner ad campaign which featured
images of real apartments and rooms. This helped them gain even international audience that
would have been difficult otherwise.
Airbnb continues to use digital marketing tools to expand their customer base. They emphasize
on building relationships and value their housing hosts. The company creates relevant content
about the area by collaborating with the local hosts.
Social Media Marketing
Airbnb is active on all major social media channels.

On Facebook, it is about to reach 3 million likes. Its Marketing team regularly posts photos and
videos of their unique listings, attracting travellers to visit the place . They post relevant content like
on World Earth day, they shared an inspiring video to encourage everyone to save natural
resources and Mother Earth.All their posts are quite engaging and attractive.
Airbnb posts user-generated photos on Instagram, that it curates from its hosts and guests.
Guests can share their experiences with #airbnb and even book a rental place directly from the
feed.Its YouTube channel has videos that show parts of the cities that are not usually covered by
tourists. Airbnb promotes Living like a Local by promoting ‘Don’t go there.Live there‘. Videos like
‘How to be an awesome Airbnb host’ have more than 40000 views. Airbnb strongly believes in
storytelling. They regularly post interesting stories of travellers and hosts along with photos and
videos.

Airbnb uses Twitter to promote its blog posts and extraordinary listings. Their
hashtag #belonganywhere is quite popular. Airbnb has 485900+ followers on Twitter. They
keep their feed updated by posting timely content like “Where to Stay for the TCS New York
City Marathon” which is really helpful for travellers. In 2013, Airbnb posted a 4.5minute movie
on Twitter using short video clips from Vine, a mobile video app.

Blog
‘blog.airbnb.com’ is an informative repository for travellers. The Local Lens section is dedicated to
individual narratives just like the Stories section on their website. There are posts on Travel
Photographers and their work, about cities and their unique cultures, must-visits and must-dos in
each city. There are Blogs on ’30 best things to do in each city’. The Wanderlust section mentions
how to feel comfortable and travel like a local in different cities. There is a section on
Airbnb Events.
Airbnb not only gives importance to travellers but ensures to profile its interesting hosts through all
its content channels, like about the couple in Stockholm who rent out a modified 1976 school bus
for $98 a night.

Content Management
Airbnb Neighborhoods are the local city guides published by Airbnb that break down the most
popular cities by neighborhoods and provide detailed information to travellers about them. This
has helped increase user engagement. It lists the accommodation options available in each
neighborhood and travellers can easily book it. These guides provide information like where locals
eat shop and party besides the usual details on major attractions and sights.
Pineapple, a print magazine by Airbnb, is designed for coffee tables in homes. Airbnb calls the
glossy magazine “a tangible collection of our community’s stories and inspirations. It is a crossroad
of travel and anthropology; a document of community, belonging and shared space.” This reflects
the brand’s core values and identity. Pineapple’s first issue came out in November 2014. It is a
128page issue featuring stories about San Francisco, London and Seoul. 18,000 copies were
distributed to Airbnb hosts, and a limited number of issues were printed for sale. The magazine is
about the connections that the community makes where they travel.
Stories is a microsite with video profiles of hosts and travellers , their stories as to why they rent
out their place and the motivation of travellers to leave their homes and travel the world with
Airbnb.

Power of Images
Airbnb is careful about the quality of content that is posted on their site. Anybody who wants to list
their space can request a free photographer to come in and take pictures of the housing. For this
purpose, Airbnb has a network of 3000+ freelance photographers in six continents. Good quality
photos increase the attractiveness of the space and the chances of it being rented out become
higher. Pictures clicked by Airbnb photographers have a “Verified Photo” icon that reassures
travellers that they are getting what they are paying for.
Video Contest
Airbnb once launched a contest for which current accommodation hosts had to create a 15-second
video about their favorite local spots and post it on Instagram. This encouraged host engagement
and they felt like an integral part of the community, Airbnb got lots of original user-generated
content to review and they promoted it on various social media channels using hash tags. This
helped them increase their visibility and awareness; they communicated with contestants and
followers directly, and spread out the company’s overall philosophy.
Create Airbnb
Airbnb underwent a massive rebranding effort in 2014. They created a new logo and named it
Bélo. However they believe that the Airbnb experience is too diverse and distinctive to be
represented by one traditional logo.

So they gave creative control to the travelers and hosts. Users can visit Create Airbnb to
customize the symbol by changing its color and shape, adding icons, or weaving patterns into the
existing logo. They can even sketch and paint a symbol that reflects their experience. The symbol
can even be brought home in form of merchandise like mugs, thank you cards, souvenir
stickers. This helped strengthen the consumer and brand bond.
Referrals
Airbnb encouraged its users to refer new members to Airbnb via email invites. They rewarded the
referrers with a $25 travel credit when new members completed their first trip and a $75 credit was
offered when they acted hosts for the first time. This way Airbnb converted new leads and had to
pay out for referrals only after new users paid. This allowed Airbnb to grow in a sustainable
manner.
There are 10 examples of Airbnb which shows their creativity in digital marketing:
1. City Hosts listings
The City Hosts beta is Airbnb for days out, allowing tourists to have an authentic experience for a
few hours in their destination city e.g. running, pottery, fishing.
What I like so much about it are the listings pages, with each experience given its own enigmatic
movie-style poster (see below).

The experience titles are not completely ambiguous, but they do add intrigue and encourage the
user to click to find out exactly what they entail.
The product pages and UX are akin to the regular Airbnb experience, with information about the
hosts, the activity, and neat little features like the ability to opt-in to notifications when more dates
become available.
One can search by city and by date - all in all, fun webpages to navigate and a nice cross-sell for
Airbnb.
2. The floating house
A bit of experiential PR now, with the Airbnb house that was floated down the Thames in May
2015.
The stunt celebrated the Deregulation Act, confirming Londoners could let their house out for 90
days (effectively the legalisation of Airbnb, which had been a grey area).
In terms of PR, the competition (win a stay in the floating house) delivered 73,500 people to the
Airbnb site, 28,000 of whom were new to Airbnb.
Reach of 19m on social media was impressive and you need only Google 'airbnb floating house' to
see how effective the campaign was.

3. The Belo logo
There was a small amount consternation on social media when Airbnb's current branding launched
in 2014, as the Belo logo looks not unlike the previously existing logo for Automation Anywhere.
But the rebranding process was a huge success and, as Airbnb CMO Jonathan Mildenhall told
Fast Co, was "when [Airbnb] went from a property listings company, which is what we were - a
very successful property listings company - to a culturally-driven brand."
The Belong Anywhere campaign and the Belo logo launched Airbnb as a super brand.

4. Neighborhood guides
There are 23 neighborhood guides curated by Airbnb, for the largest conurbations where Airbnb
hosts proliferate. Each is extensive.
There is much to love about these guides, with Airbnb's indomitable tone of voice ringing
throughout.
Here's a list of what makes the neighborhood guides great:
Neighborhood guides are heavy on photography...
...essential for marketing of place.
Using local photographers means authenticity and unusual aspects that don't look like normal
travel agent fare.
Each long page is a mesmerizing joy to scroll, and at the bottom there's even details of each
photographer and their websites.

Digested information
See the summary of Tokyo below. Listing what locals love and hate paints a picture of the city in
the way that mere listings of attractions cannot.
The guides also include well-labelled maps and plenty of transport advice.
Summary of Tokyo

Integration with hosts
As one would expect with Airbnb, this content marketing of sorts is a whole lot more. These guides
are integrated into the Airbnb platform and therefore offer genuine value to users. What that
means is links through to places to stay, quotes from hosts, community tags (crowdsourced lists of
attractions), and the ability to save neighborhoods to look at them again later.
5. Live There campaign
2016 has seen Airbnb further develop its brand proposition, rooted in travel, communities, people
and experiences.
The Live There campaign sums this up brilliantly, contrasting the Airbnb experience with more
traditional, more inauthentic travel.
As Jonathan Mildenhall told Marketing Week, Airbnb is "moving towards [an] end-to-end
experience proposition where the core of the Airbnb brand value proposition transcends
accommodation."
6. App design
The app was redesigned for the Live There campaign launch. It now offers a more personalised
experience, with Airbnb improving its matching algorithms to present users with the right
information and listings.
But it's the simplicity of the design that strikes me most.

The main page of the app is a long scrolling experience including recent searches, recently viewed
listings, a whole bunch of recommendations and extensive content such as guidebooks.
There's no faffing about in a menu, discovery is baked into the homepage of the app.
The four other tabs on the footer menu give access to more practical areas of the app - search
functionality, messages from hosts, your booked trips and your profile.
It's one of the easiest apps to navigate that I have experienced, with the white space and chunky
headers making it a joy to use.
The Airbnb app homepage.

The Airbnb app
7. Guidebooks
They have already extolled the merits of Airbnb's Guidebooks in another post - 10 examples of
great travel marketing campaigns.
They are similar to the neighborhood guides discussed earlier, but are different in one crucial
aspect - they are crowdsourced from hosts, each of whom is invited to add their recommendations
to the platform. That makes them more personal, more authentic.
There are aggregated city guidebooks, too, which meritocratically tot up all the host votes and
present a list of top 'things to do'.
The Guidebooks do cross over slightly with neighborhood guides, but are much more about
planning activities, rather than deciding where to stay.
What's to like about the design of the guidebooks? Well, they are a great example of user-
generated content, laid out a bit like TripAdvisor, only with a cleaner design.
Host comments are included, there's a handy map with all attractions marked, filters for different
types of place, and external links to useful websites.

User-generated content is exactly what Airbnb is about - letting travellers experience the authentic
side of their destination. Ultimately these guidebooks should become a platform in their own right.
A host guidebook
8. Airbnb Stories
These host stories are simple but effective - honest portraits of some of Airbnb's best hosts.
A few years old now, these stories are nevertheless an important part of Airbnb's marketing.
Though not everyone will come across this content or need it to be convinced to book, without
community-led content, Airbnb would be failing to publicize its USP.

9. Hollywood Vine
Okay, Vine is a bit irrelevant now, but Airbnb used it early, when buzz was high and quick social
video wasn't something we took for granted.
Arirbnb used Vine to engage and incentivize, with a short film competition offering a trip to the
Sundance Film Festival.
The company then created a feature length Vine with many of the entries. This was 2013, when
Vine was low-fi and fun, but the film shows the roots of Airbnb's positive, community-led brand.

10. The 'Learn About Airbnb' proposition
A very simple but powerful example of demonstrating your value proposition on the homepage.
Airbnb has a button with the call to action to 'learn about Airbnb'. Those new to the service can
click here and will be presented with a series of lightbox slides which eloquently sum up the
service.
The copy is brief, to the point, and sums up the popularity and the USPs of the service. Combined
with high quality, authentic photography, there's a lot to be learned here.

SWOT ANALYSIS OF AIRBNB
STRENGHTS
 Service itself
 People are travel at lower cost as Airbnb’s rents are cheaper as compared to hotels. Guests save
money.
 Simplicity and authencity: being lodged in an individual’s apartment makes them live like locals.
 A large variety of offers (manors, castles, boats, islands….) to satisfy most of guests.
 Promotion
 Develop new ways of promoting the brand(mainly online): Google and YouTube partnerships,
brand awareness on social platforms.
 Position among other online rent sharing platforms.
 Leaders in its market, which allows it to attract the best offers from hosts, and be more likely to
satisfy its customers’ needs(brand loyalty)
 No working capital
 The company has no assets to sell or inventory to stock. It facilitates Airbnb’s cash flow.
OPPORTUNITES
 A huge market
 After the economic crisis, customers are looking for cheaper rents (lower purchasing power)
 Rise of sharing economy trend
 Sociological
 Rise of online social networks creating new ways of communicating and sharing information.
 Technological innovations

 Innovation of smartphones, tablets have allowed Airbnb to create new versions of its service. It
gives an easier access to information to its clients (e g., Airbnb app).
 Legal issues
 in the UK, recent legalization of renting apartments for short periods of time.
 Segmentation
 More segments of people show now some interests in the concepts of shared rents (e.g., business
traveller). This can expand Airbnb’s community.
WEAKENESSS
 Offer’s security
 Safety and health standards in in apartments are not often met.
 Offer’s quality
 Customers’ comfort is not guaranteed. If a customer is not satisfied, it will strongly damage the
brand image.
THREATS
 Legal issues:
 In countries like USA, laws do not allow people to rent their apartment less than 30 days.
 Marketing costs
 With the huge number of competitors(especially hotels) and the arrival of new entrants, making
costs are likely to rise.
Next Chapter-5, deals with the Conclusion.

CHAPTER-5
CONCLUSION
Airbnb has come a long way since 2008. The company now valued at over $25 billion. It is the
undisputed leader and the most trusted community marketplace for room rentals. This model for
collaborative consumption has completely transformed the travel industry.
Digital marketing has been working very well for Airbnb. It has 470000+ followers on Twitter,
2750000+ followers on Facebook just to mention a few. Airbnb has disrupted the Travel Industry. It
has redefined how people interact with one another when travelling. Travellers want options with
personal touch. They no more want to see the world like a tourist rather they want to experience it
like a local. Airbnb is addressing this need. It is working to provide an even better travel experience
for its customers by connecting them with local chefs and other merchants using their online
network.
In 2016, Airbnb has its nineteen offices in Amsterdam (Netherlands), Berlin (Germany), Barcelona
(Spain), Beijing (China), Copenhagen (Denmark), Dublin (Ireland), London (UK), Milan (Italy),
Miami (Florida, USA), Moscow (Russia), New Delhi (India), Paris (France), Portland (Oregon,
USA), São Paulo (Brazil), San Francisco (California, USA), Seoul (South Korea), Singapore,
Sydney (Australia), Tokyo (Japan), and Toronto (Canada).
Digital marketing is an ever-changing landscape. To keep up one needs a bespoke mix of
skills and services – adapting over time to meet their unique goals and challenges. When
Airbnb initially started they did not do well. In 2009, Airbnb almost went bust. They began
improving the image quality of their listings and this came to their rescue. Airbnb found several
ways to not only survive, but also grow exponentially. They adopted a digital marketing strategy
well in time and executed it properly. Business innovation and technology contribute to the brand’s
colossal success. Social Media Marketing has helped Airbnb get large media coverage, has
increased their following, and has helped them communicate their brand message clearly. Digital
storytelling strategies have increased Airbnb’s outreach and kindled excitement in people to travel
like a local. Its digital marketing relies primarily on user-generated images and videos on

Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter (highlighting the cities and properties in its stable), how-to
videos and posts geared towards owners, and popular city guides. Their Instagram campaign
matches humor with compelling images of different travel locations around the world, making it
more than just a service – it’s a travel forum as well.
When it comes to social media superstars, Airbnb shines the brightest. With 13.3 million
interactions thanks to the campaign, they’re doing Instagram right.
Next chapter-6 deals with epilogue

CHAPTER-6
EPILOGUE
1.Manager’s Implications
 This project would help the academicians and researchers for to understand the digital
marketing techniques and strategies used by Airbnb.
2. Agenda for future study
 The study can be done in future with primary data, wherein responses can be taken from
employees or customers and accordingly study can be done.
 Comparative study can be done with other tour and travel companies.
3. Limitations of the study
 Data has been collected using secondary sources.
 Time given for the project was of short duration therefore primary research could not be
done.

Bibliography
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_marketing . (Accessed on 25/11/2016)
http://www.sas.com/en_us/insights/marketing/digital-marketing.html (Accessed on 25/11/2016)
http://www.businesszone.co.uk/community-voice/blogs/tcii/the-importance-of-digital-marketing
(Accessed on 30/11/2016)
http://www.smartinsights.com/managing-digital-marketing/marketing-innovation/digital-marketing-
trends-2016-2017/ (Accessed on 30/11/2016)
https://www.singlegrain.com/digital-marketing-2/10-companies-doing-online-marketing-right/
https://www.searchenginejournal.com/4-digital-marketing-strategies-airbnb-case-study/95007/
https://press.atairbnb.com/about-us/ (Accessed on 28/12/2016)
https://econsultancy.com/blog/68225-10-examples-of-great-airbnb-marketing-creative/ (Accessed
on 9/1/2017)
https://contently.com/strategist/2014/12/05/how-airbnb-is-using-content-marketing-to-stay-on-top/
Slideshare: Paul Hayat, Airbnb Marketing report
Steve Wu, Frank Lee and Jeremy Reynard: Article from The University of California about the
Airbnb.

Airbnb digital marketing

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