February may have felt like the shortest month on record (even with the leap year!) but we still witnessed some substantial digital marketing updates. In fact, changes occurred across social media advertising, metasearch and Google Ad campaigns! Take a look at our digital recap for the travel industry.
1. Facebook launched a mobile Creator Studio App
On Feb 20th, Facebook launched an app designed to help creators manage content on the go. The app offers the same functionality as the desktop version, allowing marketers to manage content, monitor performance, and updated audiences any place, any time. Discover more from Facebook here.
2. Avvio embeds your digital reports
Avvio now offers incredible transparency into your digital campaigns, by hosting real-time data in Avvio Insights. Find all of your performance data in one place, from Google Ads, to SEO to booking engine reports. To find your results, navigate to the left-hand menu, and select ‘Your Datastudio’. You can select a specified date range, and monitor year over year results at any given time!
3. Google rolls out image ad extensions
The search engine giant is slowly introducing image extensions to ads; something they last trialled in 2013. The thumbnails display next to the text content of your ad, and have to be manually added by your digital agency. For now, they are just being trialled out of beta, but are anticipated to be widely available in the next month. This is expected to boost click-through rate – and is yet another reason for your property to invest in quality photography.
4. Google Hotel Ads introduced new bid modifiers
Google Hotel Ads drives the most revenue of all metasearch channels, thanks to its ‘front and center’ placement in the Google search results. The platform recently introduced new bid modifiers, allowing cost per click bids to be customised per market. Different bids can be offered for different lead times, length of stays, devices and check-in days. Essentially, it allows your spend to be customised even further for your specific revenue goals.
5. Instagram tests new story editing tool
The platform is now allowing some users to trim videos within the app. The trial is expected to roll out widely in the next few months, giving creators more control of the content they share. The lack of editing capabilities has been a frustration for marketing staff for quite some time and is likely to cause an increase in Instagram story advertising.
To see more digital news in 2020, read our February recap here. If you’d like further information on any of the changes mentioned above or if you’d like help with your hotel’s digital strategy please contact a member of the team.
