Airbnb Marketing Strategy - 10 Best marketing strategies for Airbnb hosts in 2021

Airbnb unveiled its most significant service update in over a decade in May 2021. The company introduced a new guest experience and enhancements that simplify being a host even more. The new app promises to have a big impact on how Airbnb hosts use the platform and how they approach their visitors.

According to Airbnb, travel is both recovering and evolving. However, how Airbnb and its brand are being seen by the public has likely changed as well: with increased use of the service for longer periods of time, in rural and less urban locations, more users renting complete homes, and less renting shared spaces.

A separate discussion is needed on Airbnb’s marketing strategy. Despite the fact that Airbnb’s brand recognition has grown tremendously in the past few years, it still isn’t at the level of other travel brands. It’s easy to get distracted by all the prospective bookings out there as a host or homeowner, but you need to focus on getting a good percentage of those bookings!

The goal of this guide is to give you the tools you need to create a successful Airbnb marketing strategy for your properties.

Critical data and trends of Airbnb in 2021

Around the world, Airbnb’s impacts have been noted. The company has gone from 1 rental to more than 5.6 million new listings and 4 million hosts since its launch in 2007. The user base has expanded to include 150 million and counting. This data compendium details everything from Airbnb’s first days until its IPO, as well as the implications for hosts and home guests.

Airbnb is a friendly internet market for individuals to connect with those who have extra space in their home or want to do something fun while renting out their apartment. Its user base is approximately 150 million, and each year it welcomes over half a billion people. Airbnb has listings in more than 200 cities and regions, with 5.6 million active users in total.

Travelers across the globe were blocked from entering various countries in the third week of March 2020. Airbnb reported a $3.4 billion revenue in 2020, representing a 30 percent decrease year-over-year, due to COVID-19. A total of $1 billion was collected by Airbnb hosts throughout the pandemic. The most prominent bookings in 2020 were from local stays. However, travel arrangements have become innovative, and figures are showing signs of improvement.

11 Best marketing strategies to help Airbnb hosts stay winning in 2021

1. Create Your Brand

One way to compete in a competitive market is to develop your brand. A well-known brand name is the basis of successful Airbnb marketing since it builds customers’ loyalty and trust in the long term.

You may make it easier for your customers to recall your property by making your own brand. You will be more quickly found when your customers are ready to work with you again.

To create a recognizable brand, think of a name for your company and design a logo. Optimize your Airbnb digital marketing plan by using your business name and logo across all social media channels.

2. Price fair

It is crucial to discover appropriate pricing. Expensive ones do not increase bookings, and cheap ones don’t result in a profit. You must get creative with the pricing of your property. You can elect to charge different prices for different days, increasing your earnings. You can also change prices during peak and off-peak seasons.

Look at your competition, particularly the top-end houses. So check out the number of reviews and nights spent at such locations. Those top performers likely didn’t appear out of nowhere; they’ve likely put in the time to reach that position.

Success becomes self-perpetuating, enabling you to maintain your high level of earnings, even when facing a pandemic. If you make an effort to increase the client experience, develop effective marketing, and help to generate referrals, you may soon charge a nightly rate that will be very rewarding.

While you can remain in your rental year-round without worrying about coming up with a good price, it will be more difficult to manage your property without a system like Airbnb’s management software.

3. Expand your listings’ awareness

To make your Airbnb listings seem great all year long, keep adding pictures and information about the season. To make things easier for your guests during the busy tourist season, you might point out features like swimming pools and barbeques. In the winter, you can also showcase the facilities customers need during that season.

Your target market should likewise have enticing item listings. Your listing description must be unique for business travelers, backpackers, and families. Ensure that you are sending the appropriate message to your target audience.

It’s equally vital to often update images of your listing. You may have redecorated the place or introduced a new member. You should, of course, be sure to record all of these modifications on your profile. If you believe the photos aren’t all that great, then go ahead and snap some more.

While other hosts are waiting around, the best hosts discover strategies to publicize their Airbnb listings and separate themselves from the pack. One method to accomplish this is to:

• Network with your neighbors: For instance, your favorite coffee store. You may share your Airbnb link and property with your guests, who also enjoy having coffee at the end of the day with your recommended espresso machine (or give you a shoutout on social media).

• Referrals by word of mouth: The quality of your service is crucial if you want your guests to advocate for your establishment. Ensure that your listing is seen by your whole network. Experienced Airbnb guests know better than to worry about their security or booking availability, but for beginners, the system can seem daunting. You’re more likely to gain their trust as a friend, thus they can more readily jump straight and try Airbnb.

• Local media: Do you have a media contact in the neighborhood? Would they consider mentioning you on social media? Your property will look the best if it has a distinctive trait, such as a certain architectural design or a unique history.

4. Utilize your search engine ranking

The first step to utilizing Airbnb SEO is to understand the algorithm. Airbnb consistently provides its guests with a quality experience. Your guest will be pleased if you serve them results that are visually appealing. Search results are great for Airbnb clients because of the Airbnb SEO procedure. Airbnb SEO is the procedure used to order listings according to some important variables. The knowledge of your ranking elements is vital to your success. Airbnb SEO covers the following elements:

• Name and description
• Your guests’ feedback.
• Specified facilities
• Rates of cancellations and rejections
• Response time and rate
• Availability and demand for search
• Saving your listings’ list of people
• Your completed reservations, which includes inquiries for your listings
• Cost of hotel reservations
• Frequent updates
• Other elements affecting off-page activities and CTR

5. Adopt content marketing

You need continuous reservations by delivering valuable content to your guests. The goal is to draw in and keep consumers who will bring in more leads and, ultimately, sales (customers). The first-time or recurrent guests in this instance are likely to become sales leads.

If you have a booking website, you can leverage a successful content marketing strategy by launching and maintaining your own blog. To draw your readers’ attention, you should write blog posts with compelling and relevant material.

Optimizing a blog for search engines also helps to bring in new visitors and customers. More visitors are attracted to your site when you’ve written a lot of SEO-optimized blog entries.

6. Use of Facebook to enhance your business

Travel-related content dominates on Facebook, according to recent data, and that means your vacation rental firm should use Facebook to advertise itself.

Setting up a Facebook business page for your rentals is the first step in using Facebook in your Airbnb marketing strategy. Maintain your listings on vacation rental platforms by linking your new page’s content to them.

In addition to making announcements about your short-term rental availability, you should publish helpful information for guests on your Facebook company page. Top attractions in your area, activities to do, and places to view can all be included.

You can also turn to Facebook ads. Paid advertising to improve brand exposure, generate engagement, and draw followers from all over the world is an option. To learn about the possible results of a paid advertising campaign, Facebook sends you a notification directly on your business page.

7. Get your business on Instagram

While Facebook may be effective, Instagram is where people are focusing right now. This is especially helpful if you are trying to connect with younger customers. More than half a billion individuals use Instagram daily. Millennials and Gen Z travelers can be found on Instagram.

It’s also a visually appealing platform, perfect for sharing compelling images and videos. This is the ideal venue for promoting your property as well as the fantastic experience that tourists will have if they book with you.

Doing your best to make your business profile look respectable and enticing is a good idea. You should understand how to edit and improve your images with smartphone apps (Snapseed, Lightroom, Afterlight, etc.). Using an app, you can create fantastic content for your Instagram account and save money. However, make sure not to overdo photo editing so as not to mislead your future guests.

Experiment with the numerous content types on the site before settling on one.

Posts

The best method to convey one noteworthy feature or amenity of your property is through posts. You should not try to fit all of your property details into a single post. Rather than having the visitor see your videos, push them to look at other content you have on your page (such as Stories and Reels) to learn more.

Stories

Photos and videos posted on a user’s profile for 24 hours are examples of the content called Stories. To collect the tales for later, just add them to your Highlights. By creating a collection of stories in Highlights, you make a permanent record on your profile, which can be revisited at any time.

You can film a virtual tour of your property using Stories, or you can use it to make a video recording of recent improvements, such as repairs or upgrades. You may also use Highlights to create a catalog of local attractions and enjoyable things to do, which you can arrange by theme.

iGTV and Reels

Rental properties might use reels to catalog advancements and promote their distinctive selling points. Does your rental include a jacuzzi or provide stunning views? Captivate your audience with a video reel that encourages them to inquire or book a table! By virtue of Instagram pushing Reels into recommendations, users are able to discover this format.

To get a thorough picture of your location, iGTV videos are lengthier recordings that you can produce.

8. Create a Brand Youtube Channel

According to studies, YouTube is not only the most visited video website but also the second most used search engine on the Internet, ranking second only to Google. The number of people watching YouTube has grown to 1.9 billion, with total global user numbers exceeding 2 billion.

Having a YouTube account can greatly benefit your brand’s personalization. To maximize your YouTube marketing efforts, it’s important to feature your products in your videos. Make it easier for visitors to understand the character of your region by crafting intriguing content. Make videos that highlight the main features of your area and the reasons why one should travel there.

To attract visitors, your videos must deliver real value. This helps them to find local treasures while knowing exactly where to go.

People tend to like videos with names such as “Top 10 Beaches to visit” or “Top 5 Things to Do in (your area)” since these types of videos have an advantage when it comes to growing an audience. More viewers will see your videos while searching for them on YouTube if you make them famous. The approach for your Airbnb YouTube marketing should include growing your subscriber base. Also, encourage followers on other networks to subscribe to your Youtube channel to increase your subscriber numbers.

9. Consider going for a 5-star review and a front-page placement

Airbnb wants to give guests an exciting experience. It is expected that all the hosts will go above and beyond to make their visitors’ stay a memorable one. Airbnb relies on customer reviews to improve its hosts’ performance. Reviews from Airbnb hosts account for a portion of the rankings of Airbnb listings. So, your collection should be bolstered with 5-star reviews.

Offering a good time to your guests will provide a means to your success by leading you to the highest rungs of the ladder. It’s impossible to achieve high search rankings without rave feedback. To gain five stars from your guests, provide top-notch service. The evaluation system operates on seven factors: communication efficiency, checking convenience, cleanliness, precision, location, value, and guest satisfaction. Do your best in all areas, and use the reviews you receive to advance.

The drawback of adopting these more forceful tactics is that the feedback you get may not be as good as it could be. Truly great places offer visitors a memorable experience that is worth bragging about. You may accomplish this by making your first 15 reservations in each property feel at ease and welcome by communicating in a nice and helpful manner and working your best to gain those 5-star evaluations.

10. Team up with social media influencers

Successful Airbnb digital marketing tactics include working with well-known influencers. Numerous Instagram and YouTube travel bloggers can assist you to increase brand recognition for your firm. Nevertheless, a collaboration with an influencer will only bear fruit if you take these actions beforehand:

Find who the right influencer

To ensure a solid fit, you should know your audience and the influencer’s audience. Consider the follower ages and what they are interested in when selecting an influencer.

Have a well-defined agenda and planning objectives

You need to plan ahead to advertise certain features of your vacation rental business. Finally, the biggest question you have: how you will judge the success of your advertising effort.

Set up the contract terms and conditions

What’s in it for the influencer if they do advertise your business? What conditions must the influencer meet in order to receive compensation for their work? What will you do if the collaboration with your Airbnb marketing strategy turns out badly? You should make sure that all of this is clearly defined using a contract.

Influencers are likely to be a time-consuming procedure to discover. It is crucial to plan well to ensure the most effective results.

11. Build local relationships

Partnerships with local organizations might help your short-term rental business stand out. Because of your competitors’ apparent lack of cooperation with local eateries, amusement parks, or equipment rental organizations, such agreements are extremely rare. Your other investors can aid you in advertising your vacation rental company to the locals.

Use special deals and promotions that your guests can only get locally. This will help both local enterprises and those from other nations develop successful joint ventures. Your customers will enjoy the savings they might receive through local offerings throughout their stay.

Final Words

Airbnb’s marketing strategy does not have to be so fixed. Your creativity is up to you. After tailoring them to your preferences, utilize tactics that will help you achieve your objectives. Think outside the box by using inventive techniques and designing your own Airbnb marketing campaign. A successful Airbnb marketing plan is the only way to outrun your competitors.

To outpace the competition, you must be imaginative. By offering actual value to your audience, you can help yourself by attracting more reservations and become a high-quality Airbnb host. Improve your Airbnb listing to enhance your short-term rental home. To maximize your earnings, review our advice on how to get more bookings and unleash the full potential of your listing.