Wow, just like that November is over and the last month of the year has arrived. We hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and were able to spend some time relaxing with your friends and family.
NB: This is an article from gcommerce
We’re grateful to have such a great group of coworkers, colleagues, and clients that allow us to keep doing the work that we love. Cheers to you all! Now, here you have your latest round of news for November in this easy to follow guide. Here’s your top 8 list of hotel digital marketing news for November 2019:
1. TripAdvisor Launches New Self Serve Media Platform
TripAdvisor announced the launch of its new self-service media manager platform earlier this month. This opens up media buys on the travel-focused research site to smaller businesses that can’t afford direct buys of $10k minimum. The self-service platform offers the ability to target visitors based on the destination page they viewed, behaviors such as trip type and budget and more.
2. Google Ads Announces Data Processing Restriction Setting
We’re less than a month away from the start of CCPA on January 1, 2020. As many businesses scramble to get themselves in compliance in time, Google has announced a new feature to help them control how their data is used on Google Ads. The launch of restricted data processing capability allows advertisers to block all users from California or on a per-user request. Implementing restricted data processing will turn off the ability to build and use remarketing lists for these users. Learn more here on Google’s position on CCPA:
- https://marketingland.com/google-ads-intros-restricted-data-processing-capability-for-ccpa-compliance-271575
- https://privacy.google.com/businesses/processorterms/
- https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/9614122
3. Google Testing New Hotel Search Filters
Google always seems to be testing new features within its hotel search. The newest tests appear to have new filters such as city, where to stay, when to stay and travel packages that calculate pricing by matching flights with your hotel. This serves as a reminder to make sure you are optimizing your local listings and utilizing Google Hotel Ads to capture the booking through this channel.
4. Instagram Testing Removal of Likes in the U.S.
Following tests in other countries, Instagram is now testing the removal of forward-facing “likes” within its platform. This means account owners will still be able to see the total amount of likes but the like count will not be shown to users scrolling through the platform. This is just a test at the moment but could roll out permanently. This could change the way users interact with posts as the social proof of “likes” will no longer influence their interaction.
5. Google Discovery Feed Campaigns
According to Google, 800 million people use Google Discovery feed. They have now launched a new campaign type allowing advertisers access to serve ads within this space. The new discovery campaign type serves the ads across Google Discover Feed, YouTube and Gmail from a single campaign. It offers the ability to display ads to users who are in the customer journey discovery phase.
Targeting for these campaigns is based on audiences such as in-market and affinity, not keywords and ads can contain imagery as well as text. Looking to test a new campaign type to drive awareness and consideration? Reach out to your GCommerce representative to launch a test today of this new Google Ads campaign type.
6. Facebook Launches Multiple Text Variation Feature
Showing similarities to Google Ads’ responsive ad type, Facebook has launched a new ad feature that allows the inclusion of multiple text line variations. Facebook’s system will then decide which line of text to show based on the user – optimizing the ad automatically based on the audience to drive better results. GCommerce will be launching multiple text variations for clients as they become available in accounts.
7. Google Maps Testing New Local Guides Feature
Google’s local guides are an important driving force behind Google reviews, a huge factor within local search. Google’s taking a step to make local guides and reviews a more social channel by allowing users to follow specific local guides and their recommendations. Who knows how this will evolve as Google puts more effort behind this channel but GCommerce recommends the continued push to have guests publish reviews directly on Google to grow your hotel’s presence and positive reputation.
8. Facebook Updates Ad Description Visibility
Facebook ads within the news feed will be subject to a new update to description visibility. According to Facebook, “some people will see the description and some people won’t.” Where the description was previously a section of the ad to display essential information it is now advised that “you should only put non-essential information there.” Instead, Facebook recommends placing “essential information in the headline, such as shipping information, detailed product information (like the type of material or product dimensions), ratings, reviews, or your return policy.” GCommerce recommends updating your hotel’s Facebook ads to ensure no essential offer or property information is located within the descriptions.
