If you haven’t used Airbnb, you should. Founded in 2008, Airbnb is a community marketplace for travel rentals that are used by millions of people in 192 countries around the world. It lets you rent all kinds of lodging: in houses, condos and cabins (even castles, tree houses, and igloos) right from the owner. On a given day, up to 60,000 people are deciding on their travel accommodations through Airbnb.
Airbnb is using social media to connect with customers. By taking an individual approach and engaging with clients on Twitter and Facebook, Airbnb was able to build a loyal community. Their customer service team, sales team and operations team are all completely socially integrated. To keep track of it all, they use a social media tool that we had known, HootSuite.
Airbnb is really an amazing example of how social media can streamline operations and give a huge competitive edge. This video offers a few insights:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=J0CZS3SYVeQ