Breaking Down Airbnb’s #WeAccept Campaign
When you think of notable social media campaigns, do you consider the influence that the campaign had in achieving the brand’s goals? As it turns out, 41% of companies don’t know the financial impact of their social media. That means that they don’t take the time to construct actionable goals, so they don’t know how to prove the success of their efforts. To find the social media goals that work for your brand, be aware of the dos and don’ts. The most noteworthy campaigns are not the flashiest, but instead they’re successful at achieving specific goals.
An example is Airbnb’s #WeAccept campaign, which addressed discrimination across the company’s platform. Let’s take a closer look at the campaign’s goals and the key performance indicators (KPIs) that align with them.
Communicate Core Values
In 2016, Airbnb faced backlash after guests accused the company of discrimination. Airbnb answered with the “Community Commitment” — a policy that required users to agree to treat everyone in the community with respect, regardless of race, disability, sex, and religion. Soon after, the U.S. government announced a travel ban on several countries with a Muslim majority. Airbnb realized it was an opportune time to fight prejudice. It launched a multi-platform campaign based on the hashtag #WeAccept, spanning all of their social media and an advertisement during the 2017 Super Bowl. Part of the reason Airbnb started this campaign was to communicate their values to consumers and combat misconceptions. The strategies to achieve this included targeting minorities, changing their company policies, and refraining from posting promotions during the campaign. The KPI that fits this goal is positive versus negative reactions to the campaign, which ended up being 85% positive.
Spark a Conversation
In the wake of the travel ban, many people shared their sentiments on social media, sparking some emotional debates. To steer the conversation toward the topic of acceptance, Airbnb showed support for immigrants and refugees. They featured a 30-second video during the Super Bowl and on social media with #WeAccept. Airbnb achieved its goal of starting a conversation by sharing their message during the most-watched TV event of the year, using powerful imagery, and creating a hashtag. To measure the outcome of this goal, the correct KPIs are the amount of posts with the hashtag #WeAccept and the number of shares across all platforms. Airbnb received over 33k Tweets during the first half of the Super Bowl alone.
Start an Initiative
Instead of only talking about immigration, Airbnb wanted to take action. During the campaign, they announced they will donate $4 million to the International Rescue Committee and provide housing relief to 100,000 people over the next five years. Their goal was to start their own initiative, and the strategies they used include providing links in their posts to donate to charitable organizations and encouraging people to share their homes. A KPI that measures this is the total volunteers that signed up to host and the amount of donations to Airbnb’s selected organizations.
