Deciding where you should be placing your Hotel Advertisement dollars can be a difficult decision.
NB: This is an article from TravelNet
A huge advertising opportunity that many people are missing is Social Media Retargeting. Retargeting works by adding a cookie to the browser of anyone who visits your website, then Facebook is able to show them your targeted ads in their newsfeed.
A traveler will visit your site, view photos, amenities and start looking into rates. Although they may be interested, most travelers won’t book on their first visit to your site. Over the next several days they will visit Facebook and see your ad keeping you top of mind. This can increase the likelihood that the visitor will come back to your website and book direct.
With the goal of getting travelers back to your website there are many ways that you can optimize your campaigns. Here are 3 things that you should consider when spending your advertising dollars on Facebook Retargeting Ads:
- Why You Should be Advertising on Facebook
- Who to Target
- What type of ads to run
Why You Should be Advertising on Facebook
Facebook is the biggest social network worldwide by far with 2.41 billion monthly users. 169 Million of those users are from the United States which is over half the population. The potential audience for Facebook is huge!
Today data is key and Facebook provides the most comprehensive tools to reach out to your target audience. With so many users, the biggest advantage that Facebook has over other platforms is the vast amount of data it collects. Users provide info such as age, gender, relationship status, interests, etc. This means you can get ultra specific about who you want to target when creating your campaigns. With such a large audience and great tools to help you succeed, Facebook is the ideal platform for Hotel Advertisement. With all of Facebook’s comprehensive data who should you target?
Who to Target
Retargeting Ads target travelers who have already visited your website. We know these travelers are actively searching for a vacation and there was something that compelled them to be interested in your hotel! Whether they initially found you through search, social media or another channel they will most likely forget about you if you don’t work to stay on top of their mind. If they didn’t convert by subscribing to your blog or booking direct then they may never find you again. That’s where Retargeting can work to your advantage!
Being able to narrow down your ads to specific audiences makes Facebook such a powerful hotel advertisement platform. As mentioned earlier Facebook gives you a ton of data that you can use when creating ads. You can segment your ads based on age, gender, language, location, relationship status and other interest or behaviors. By getting more targeted you can advertise specific aspects of your hotel.
For example, if you are marketing a golf resort you can send golfing offers to travelers who have visited your site that are interested in playing golf. If you’re marketing a romantic getaway you may want to change your messaging depending on their relationship status or anniversary date. With more targeted campaigns you can show what makes your hotel great for individual travelers.
What type of Ads Should You Be Running?
Now that you know who to market your ads to it’s time to create them. Facebook offers great tools to help you create your ads. Make sure the content of your ads matches the audience that you are trying to target. The ads shown below are a great example on how you can target based on relationship status and anniversary dates. one ad shows a couple getting married on a romantic getaway while the other one is more general and shows their stunning pool.
Same thing goes for this example below. You can see that one ad targets families while the other targets travelers interested in Golf.
When creating ads there are some general guidelines to follow. People scroll through social media quickly so your text should be short and compelling. Your photos should also have minimal text. If you have a beautiful destination make sure you are showcasing it in pictures! Facebook has a carousel format so you can add multiple images for travelers to scroll through to really show off your destination.
If photos don’t cut it for you video can be a great option. A well produced video can cost more money but can really show travelers what your property is all about. Also video offers additional engagement tracking. You are able see average view time as opposed to just likes and clicks.
Finally a great call to action should compel travelers to go back to your site. Facebook offers multiple Call to Action options that you can chose from. A learn more button could be great for travelers who simply looked at your home page while a book now button would be better for travelers at the bottom of the funnel who have viewed your bookings page.
Overall, if you target the right ads to the right people you should be able to better spend your hotel advertisement dollars and be well on your way to converting more travelers into direct bookings.
