[Build Backlinks Online] When Building Communities Isn't the Best Way to Build Links

Build Backlinks Online has posted a new item, 'When Building Communities Isn't
the Best Way to Build Links'

Posted by John-HenryThis post was originally in YouMoz, and was promoted to the
main blog because it provides great value and interest to our community. The
author's views are entirely his or her own and may not reflect the views of Moz,
Inc.
I entered SEO as a link builder. In 2010, my job was easy and my toolset
mainly consisted of article marketing software, directory submissions, comment
posting and link networks. Fast forward four years I now solely create visually
engaging content in an effort to scale link building. I didn't make this career
shift because "link building is no longer effective;" quite the opposite: I
changed focus from manual to scalable link building because I now work in more
competitive industries and my clients generally need 100+ links per asset to
move the needleâcontent helps me meet that demand to acquire large amounts
of new linking root domains at once.


Over the past two years I've become obsessed with content (and Reddit,
unfortunately). I've started to keep the companies that are producing the best
and most successful digital content on my radar. Two companies that have
recently started to stick out are Movoto and Airbnb. Both are scaling link
acquisition via content, but they are going about it in entirely different ways.
Airbnb is growing its own grassroots community, while Movoto is actively
targeting existing and passionate online communities with its content marketing.


Before we dive in, both companies are growing rapidly in terms of organic
search according to SEMrush:

Airbnb








Movoto








Both of these companies are starting to do exceptionally well in the SERPs,
primarily due to either growing (Airbnb) or targeting (Movoto) an audience.

Perception, product, and content

Airbnb and Movoto are both trying to rank for extremely competitive terms,
however their content marketing strategies couldn't be further from each other,
and that fact hinges mainly on two aspects of these businesses' models:

The length of the customer purchase journey
The probability of repeat purchases

First, let's think about both of these sites' customer purchase journeys and
their customer lifetime value (LTV). Airbnb is selling rentals, which someone
could need multiple times a year. Movoto is selling homes. The price point and
level of commitment required from the customer are wildly different. More
importantly, people generally only look for a new home during or after a major
life event, like marriage, death, having a baby, or getting a new job. On the
other hand, you could decide to take a random weekend ski trip at 4:15 p.m. on a
Friday and book an Airbnb almost instantly. If Airbnb customers really enjoy
their Airbnb experience, there's a good chance that they will rent another
Airbnb and continue to add to the company's bottom line. However, no matter how
awesome a time someone has buying a home, there's a very small chance that they
will decide to repeat the experience anytime soon.

Movoto and Airbnb's business models differ in the sense that Airbnb is
incrementally extracting value out of customers over a long period of time,
while Movoto is most likely getting 100% of the customer's LTV at the first
purchase.


For Airbnb, creating their own community is a pragmatic marketing strategy for
keeping users engaged. I theorize that's why most of Airbnb's content is either
about their business, their community of users and hosts, or about their
product.

Where Airbnb is winning in content



Charitable efforts: During Hurricane Sandy, Airbnb community members put up
displaced New Yorkers for free, generating 300 linking root domains.



Really unique homes: Some of the listings on Airbnb are naturally link worthy,
like this igloo or this treehouse. As Airbnb grows, and more interesting and
unusual listings pop up, these interesting listings will continue to scale
Airbnb's link acquisition.



Dev blog: Airbnb is up to some pretty impressive stuff in terms of technology
and development, and they regularly share their innovations with the dev
community. Like this post on isometric JavaScript which earned more than 130
linking root domains.



Neighborhood guides: These gorgeous neighborhood guides have built 130 links to
date, however, they also accomplish a lot more. I asked Dennis Goedegebuure,
head of SEO for Airbnb, why they created these amazing guides:



"The Airbnb Neighborhoods were created to help guests visiting a certain
city finding the right place to stay. Where hotels tend to be concentrated in
one part of town, Airbnb's are more spread out. We have found that the
Neighborhoods are not only helping our guests to find the right place which
matches their interest, but also help the cities to see guests traveling to
parts of those cities which usually are overlooked by tourists. This has had a
profound economic impact on local businesses, and their Neighborhoods.






The Neighborhood pages have been created with the typical guests & hosts in
mind first. Delivering a best in class user experience, both from a content
standpoint, as well as making it easy to navigate, has proven to be successful
for Airbnb. This is where I would like to point out that content does not only
include the written text, but the story is told in the form of images, which
were specially taken for this project with the storyline in mind. This gives
every page a unique peek into the characteristics of the Neighborhood, which
makes these so useful for people planning to visit that city, as well of the
locals exploring their own city."






Product/community blog: Airbnb has a bit of a leg up here in terms of link
acquisition. Because they are a prominent company disrupting an established
industry, pretty much anything they do is newsworthy. However, when you take a
look at their blog, it's not so much a place for them to market themselves as it
is a forum to address critical issues, consumer concerns, and changes with the
product. It's racked up a lot of links over time (1900+ linking root domains),
but it's racked up way more hearts and mindsâand most likely converted a
fair amount of users into first time renters by alleviating their pain points
while researching the product.



One-off content marketing efforts: The Airbnb Annual Report is an amazing piece
of content marketing â but it also speaks to how savvy Airbnb is when it
comes to marketing itself. By showing the community how quickly Airbnb is
growing (and how much money is out there for hosts to make) Airbnb is educating
people about the company trajectory, its product and the future of the industry
as a whole â all through beautiful, product-centric, interactive content.
The overarching theme of Airbnb's content

All of Airbnb's content keeps the brand, its product and the Airbnb community
in the front of the users mind. Airbnb relies on a community in order to
function, and because that community is inclusive, empathetic and
charitableâit's one of the most marketable aspects of the Airbnb brand.
Airbnb also faces certain challengesâlike regulation and challenges from
the hospitality industry. Because their business model is still being
established, they need those hearts and minds on their side to fight for them
and champion their product.

Movoto is taking a different path

Because a home purchase is so infrequent, constantly trying to grow a
community through ongoing social media and brand-centric content marketing could
get tiresome for readers, especially because those interacting with the brand
would most likely have little motivation to purchase a home until a major life
event occurs. However, Movoto still needs to scale link building, and in order
to do that without building a community of their own, they must engage an
audience in a way that causes them to share and tweet the content they produce.

Targeting existing audiences

Movoto creates content that appeals to pre-existing audiences. They are also
great at picking their subject matterâthey choose topics that are popular
enough to be covered in mainstream press, but also appeal to the hardcore niche
fanboy sites.


Their most successful content takes some type of pop-culture reference or hot
topic, applies it to real estate, and then earns press from both big news sites
and mid-level authority blogs. The Harry Potter Hogwarts Property Evaluation
Infographic may be the best example of this strategy in action:





It's earned links from over 140 domains including mainstream sites like Daily
Mail, Fox News, and Daily Finance, and it also earned links from fan sites like
Nerdophiles, Toy To The World, and Potter Talk.


Movoto is creating and marketing useful, fun and informative content that
directly appeals to a particular niche audienceâbut it also has a larger
mainstream appeal. Because Movoto executes content well in terms of information
and visualsâthey are racking up links and quickly rising in the rankings.
They've also produced a number of successful interactives, like How Many Legos
Would it Take to Build your House, or alternatively How Many Tetris Blocks.


Many of Movoto's blog posts have earned over 100 linking root domains,
primarily due to their ability to target an audience that will engage and share
content online. Because they don't have to structure their communication around
a growing community, like Airbnb, they are free to be pretty creative with their
subject matter and publish things that are going to get a strong response (like
54,000 shares on Facebook for that post alone).

Community building isn't for everyone. It's best suited for communal products

As digital marketers we're quick to champion new strategies that result in
increased traffic, links and social sharesâbut it's important to consider
how our marketing efforts fit with the overall business model. After all, it's
not just links and shares we're after, we are all trying to grow businesses in
the most cost effective manner possible.


Community building really only makes sense for communal products. So, while
it's the perfect growth strategy for a product like Airbnb, it makes no sense
for a real estate site like Movoto. If you're stressing over social singles and
your lack of community engagementâmaybe you don't have a product that the
community can get behind and actively supportâand there's nothing
inherently wrong with that, you just need to go elsewhere for your links because
that's what your business model demands.
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