What’s short, fun, emotional and simple? A workout? Dinner party? A social ad?
If you guessed a social ad, you’re right!
In this new era of ‘pay to play’, inspiring ads garner much more than simply clicks. In our industry social ads are essential in:
- Brand & awareness building
- Story telling
- Driving traffic
Brand & Awareness
I’ll bet you could spot the green of Starbucks or the traditional silver of a Nordstrom bag a mile away. Is your company brand as recognizable? How you position your brand in your social ads defines your company across multiple platforms. Visuals you choose to depict your company will vary by season, product or offer, yet the overall feel and style needs to ultimately be recognizable. These key visual branding points help shorten your message to just the key ingredients.
Whether it’s dinner you’re planning or a social ad, simple is easiest.
Selling Socially & Storytelling
Social advertising is as much about story telling as selling. The story of your destination, hotel or agency help people identify with your brand on a more personal and emotional level. That emotional connection is what wins new business and brings repeat clients back to you.
How you tell your story in an ad can be as simple as outstanding photos or as elegant as a video. When deciding on which social platforms to advertise choosing the right platform for the right story is crucial.
Facebook now offers an ad choice featuring 3-5 multiple images that loop called ‘carousel ads’. This style of advertising may be perfect to showcase a variety of hotel benefits, destination events or ship features.
Here’s an example:
Figure 1 – Carousel posts and ads feature 3-5 images
Marketing tip: Video ads are now ranked more highly by the Facebook algorithm, so now is a great time to make use of this medium and the extra reach you’ll generate.
Bonus tip: For maximum targeting and delivery options, set up your ads in Ads Manager or Power Editor rather than using Boost Post.
Here’s what a video ad looks like:
Figure 2 – Video ads on Facebook are highly ranked by the algorithm
Twitter provides a variety of Twitter cards to tell your story visually. Whether you choose a Gallery Card, Product Card or Summary Card you can showcase your business visually. Here’s more info on Twitter advertising.
Instagram ads can now be set up right within the Facebook Power Editor platform. What a cool way to save time and energy.
Promoted Pins on Pinterest help your pins get seen by more viewers and your story seen by potential clients and guests.
Bonus tip: Be certain your ad graphics meet the size guidelines for each platform. Resizing tips here.
Imagine creating an ad that tells the story of your upcoming event, group tour or specialty cruise.
Driving traffic
Bringing new eyeballs to your website, new guests to your hotel, repeat cruisers to your client roster are the goals of social ads. Accomplishing this involves ads that focus on your:
Upcoming consumer night.
Tip: Create an event on Facebook and advertise it.
Festival, museum or locale.
Tip: Use local Facebook ads, Promoted Pinterest Pins, Instagram ads or Twitter ads
Past website visitors.
Tip: Create an ad using retargeting strategies.
Past visitors or those who have not yet made a purchase decision.
Tip: Using ‘dark’ ads on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter gives you the chance to target those specific audiences you’ve identified.
Planning your social advertising strategy to generate new business is a bit like planning a dinner party.
First you need to choose the theme of the party (create the ad story and copy).
Second, create the guest list (choose who you want to see the message).
Selecting your dinner menu is similar to pulling together the social ad platforms that are best suited to your audience and fit with your theme. The food, wine and music of your dinner party can be equated to the actual advertising message. The utensils on the table are the tools we use in advertising and are unique to each platform; whether it’s Twitter cards, Facebook carousel ads or Promoted Pinterest Pins.
We keep our dinner guests engaged with witty banter while our ad campaigns stay fresh with new messaging and offers.
While pulling off a successful dinner party may sound like a challenge it can be simplified by making use of the tools in your kitchen. Planning your advertising strategy using the tools of each platform gives you the opportunity to drive the right traffic to your hotel, agency or destination.
Keeping your ad simple will make it easier to digest.
Branding, storytelling, and driving traffic are all essential tools for growing client knowledge of, and support for your business. By making the most of your social ads, you’ll be adding your most powerful tool yet to your marketing toolbox.
How will your next social ad use one of these tools?
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Social Marketing Strategies for Travel and Tourism
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