BACKGROUND
I began managing our Host Co social media content in February 2021, before our product was launched. Our goal was rapid social media growth to increase brand trust in the short-term rental world. The co-founders had a rich history in rentals and property management to draw from, so we began testing content across all channels.
Through content across all social media platforms, we increased their social media brand trust and authority in the short-term rental space by creating meaningful content that solidified our brand positioning as a unique, informed voice in our niche.
We consistently brought in hundreds of likes, saves and shares through content on Instagram and Pinterest - and went viral on TikTok. Within three years, the results were:
18k+ followers on Instagram
150K+ monthly impressions on Pinterest
350k+ views and 2.5K followers on TikTok
200+ subscribers on YouTube
100+ blogs published
CONTENT BUCKETS
Our co-founders were both Airbnb hosts and property managers, so we worked together to find useful content that spoke to their niche. Some of our content buckets included:
Sharable advice content
Ex: Top 5 People You Need For Your Airbnb Business, Our Deep Cleaning Checklist, etc.
Product showcase
Top 5 Services To Offer In Your Host Co Store
Industry updates
Airbnb News
Customer success stories
How I Make $10K+ Per Month With Upsells
Brand statement
How The Host Co Works
RESPONSIBILITIES
As the company’s first marketing hire as social media manager, I was directly responsible for:
Storyboarding and creating all social media content
Posting all social media content across platforms (Instagram, Pinterest, TikTok, YouTube, website)
Posting Instagram stories, responding to comments, etc.
Utilizing content posting softwares to plan content calendar (Tailwind, Later)
Overview: Instagram was our primary place of growth, where I grew their following to 18k+ users in under three years, an increase of 160%.
We consistently saw massive spikes in engagement for useful, sharable advice content that drew in Airbnb hosts to follow our page and visit our website. We would consistently see engagement on posts like this:
Interestingly enough, this engagement carried over to Host Co-specific content buckets (product showcase, customer success stories, brand story) because we integrated the viral themes of our previous content into our brand content by converting brand stories into sharable static or video formats (lists, “this is your sign,” etc.) that upheld engagement stats.
Below are a few examples of this content. To see all the content I’ve created, visit The Host Co’s Instagram. I’ve created every piece of content in the past 3+ years, dating back to February 2021.
STATIC CONTENT
We repurposed blogs full of advice for rental hosts into static list posts on IG and Pinterest that started to average hundreds of shares, saves and likes per post. These posts were instrumental in creating a reason for people to follow and trust us outside of our product, and increase our authority (and follower count). Here’s one example of a successful static post:
REELS
We positioned our co-founders as short-term rental experts by sharing advice videos, product demos, and more across Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, Facebook and Pinterest. These also generated hundreds of likes and doubled as highly effective paid ad units.
We also tested out a variety of viral content types (memes, inspirational content, etc). View a few of these reels below:
VIRAL TIKTOK CONTENT
While most of our social media success has been across other platforms, we’ve hit nearly 2.5K followers and 15k+ likes across our videos, with multiple videos hitting right around 10K+ views or more. See below for our viral video that created a surge in signups in April 2022:
307.8k views, 12.3k+ likes, 189 comments, 710 saves
PINTEREST INFOGRAPHICS
We re-purposed blog and Instagram content as infographics that would be Pinterest-friendly. Oftentimes these posts would grow viral over an entire year, not simply right away - a testament to their evergreen value. View a few of these below, or visit our Pinterest and explore our content:
18.7k+ impressions, 1.79k+ clicks, 213 saves
17.5k+ impressions, 1.08k+ clicks, 261 saves
16.9k+ impressions, 1.2k+ clicks, 228 saves
10.5k+ impressions, 639 clicks, 189 saves
YOUTUBE EXPLAINER VIDEOS
I wrote, recorded and designed a comprehensive library of YouTube explainer videos for The Host Co and its users. Now, we dominate our YouTube search SEO for our brand and have an extensive video library we reference in our support documentation, onboarding and marketing site - and over 200 subscribers with zero paid YouTube ad units.
Explore a few of my videos below (narrated by me):
BLOG
Our team built and released over 100 blogs that were based on SEO research into our demographic (Airbnb hosts and property managers). We utilized SEMRush to do a comprehensive deep dive into what topics hosts were looking into, and utilized the knowledge of our co-founders (both property managers and Airbnb hosts) to write in-depth articles responding to prompts such as:
Buying or selling an Airbnb property? Here’s EXACTLY what you need to know.
Top things to sell in your Airbnb
Pet-friendly Airbnbs - worth the hassle?
Airbnb Hot Spots
The best fall decor for your Airbnb
Etc.
We also repackaged this into useful advice social media content for other platforms such as Instagram and Pinterest (see above).