What one big social marketing thing is worthy of the time and focus of travel industry professionals in 2019? Every year there’s another bright and shiny new marketing tip, tool or trick that makes headlines and the top-seller list. Remember Vine? Remember My Space?
So what One Big Thing should be your social marketing focus? Video Ads!
OK, that sounds like two things, but here’s the deal: Video without advertising will give you a great video library, but yield few viewers. Social ads without video mean you might be wasting money and getting lower reach and engagement. So One Big Thing needs both parts.
Does that sound daunting or doable? Or both? Here are 10 top tips to ensure your video ads work their magic for you and fill your group tours.
Start here
- Create a series of short videos featuring you, your staff or even your clients. Here are some tips and tools: . Focus these videos on destinations you’ll be featuring in the future as well as top-selling favorites. Give travel tips, interview clients or showcase the features and benefits of your tours.
- Remember to edit your videos and add your contact information at the end. Not only is this a subtle call to action, it gives your video a professional touch.
- Set up Business Manager on your Facebook ad account. You’ll have the opportunity to create custom audiences using your own client list, so your ads are shown only to your clientele
- Set up your Facebook pixel. This small snippet of code is worth its weight in gold for future ad success. You’ll be able to re-target people who have taken action on your web and Facebook pages
Next Steps
- Promote upcoming tours with a video you’ve created. Post it to your favorite social site along with some enticing text, and it will be the foundation of an ad or a boost.
- Check out the options for targeting an audience on Facebook and Instagram, and don’t miss Trip Consideration, which targets people in the early stages of travel planning.
- Customize audiences on Facebook and Instagram that help you reach specific market segments. You can create an ad audience made up of people who love history, cruising, land tours or sports, or of people who match your other niche offerings
Advanced steps
- Do you ever wonder what text and graphics will resonate better with your audience? The answer lies in split (or A/B) testing. Facebook will do this for you and show you the winning ad
- And if you have a number of different ideas for your ad text and graphics, Facebook provides Dynamic Ad options. With this tool, you upload a variety of graphics, headlines and calls to action, and Facebook will mix and match from them, test each combination and then reveal the most effective one.
- You can create your new ads by using posts that already exist on your page or by creating new ads within Business Manager. Also, check out the Facebook Video Creation Kit and put together mobile-first video ads from your still images.
Daunting but doable? You bet! Once you get the hang of social advertising, setting up your video ads will be as simple as 1, 2, 3! Getting video ads—your One Big Thing—up and running will give you more time and more ways to get butts in seats and heads in beds.
Catherine Heeg, an international speaker and trainer, focuses on social media marketing strategies for the tourism and hospitality industry. Connect with her socially and at cmsspeaking.com.
Top photo ©hvostik16/Adobe Stock
