At Airbnb, our community of hosts is truly global, with homes everywhere—including places you may not have heard of yet. With the insight that our audience craves knowing what's new and where in the world they should explore next, we wanted to create an inclusive storytelling platform that would specifically appeal to these travelers. Not Yet Trending, a social-first editorial series, shines a light on the lesser-known corners of the world, revealing new locations and unexpected perspectives to a community of perpetually curious travelers and beyond.
For an editorial series centered around emerging destinations, selecting the right locations is crucial. By analyzing our internal data to look for global travel patterns, we are uniquely positioned to reveal up-and-coming destinations around the world.
Through our research, we identified Not Yet Trending destinations like: Guadeloupe - a Caribbean gem, Tbilisi - a rising star of the new east, Paraty, an off the grid Brazilian escape and Livingston, MT - a modern American frontier. We took an emerging photographer and writer to each location and set the duo up with local hosts who guided them through the best of their city and it's community. With an Airbnb as homebase and a host as a local insider, we've been able to explore and capture the magic of these places, and bring their stories to our readers.
Through a multi-channel distribution strategy, we've been able to reach the right audiences, at the right time, in the right venues- as proven by the series' momentous success. Facebook became a core platform thanks to effective interest targeting, Twitter tips, captivating 'grams, media exclusives with travel publications like Afar and imgur GIFs added to the strategy to criss-cross the internet.
The locations may have been Not Yet Trending but the content certainly was. The results of the series proved just how much people love to be in-the-know by far exceeding KPIs. It drove 2x more nights booked than expected, garnered cumulative social engagements 2.2x above the benchmark, and recruited 3.2x more users than anticipated. Near-term conversion rates were significantly higher than for those who saw traditional brand advertising in social channels. The series proves that we have both the insight and authority to inspire the seriously curious traveler, making Not Yet Trending a global storytelling platform for Airbnb that will continue to travel broadly in 2017.
