In our previous blog post, we highlighted the main differences between Dynamic Ads for Travel (DAT) and Dynamic Product Ads (DPA). Put simply, Dynamic Ads for Travel (DAT) is essentially Dynamic Product Ads (DPA), but designed specifically to support travel brands (boy, do we love acronyms.)
When DPA, a primarily retail focused product, originally launched smart marketers recognized an opportunity to adapt the product to support travel brands. This caused two things to occur.
- Travel brands recognized that Facebook was no longer solely a branding opportunity, it was also a direct response channel.
- Facebook recognized the opportunity to expand their presence in the travel space and developed a product that better-supported travel brands (DAT).
We have been running DAT campaigns from the earliest days of the program, and with participation steadily increasing, we figured this would be a good time for us to share some of the things that we’ve learned along the way.
Give it a little time
As a general rule, you want to let new campaigns run without interruption for at least a couple of weeks. Facebook ads take time to build up momentum and paused or constantly rebooted ads often fall short of their campaign goals. Be patient with your Facebook campaigns, and you’ll get a better understanding of what is possible.
Cast a wide net
Facebook comes with an extremely robust set targeting tools and it can be very tempting to set up hyper focused audiences from the get go. While there is a place for getting granular, you don’t want to limit yourself too much. We have found that in terms of setting up target audiences, less is more. Getting too specific and granular too early can be a significant hindrance to achieving maximum conversion volume and return performance.
There is definitely a case for more granular targeting and this can unlock great gains over time. Going too narrow too soon can cause you to both underperform and can result in low volumes where you’re missing out on bookings that you’d be happy to have otherwise.
