Do you get tired of scrolling thru your social feeds and only seeing ads that shout “Save Money”?
Are you bored with ads that beseech you to “Buy Now”
What if your own ads could stand out by NOT saying any of those oh-so-common come-ons?
Let’s tune into 5 essential ad types that boost business without sounding ‘sales-ey’
Each of the essential ad types we talked about in the video above can be executed in a number of ways.
Brand & Awareness
Let’s say you want to market an upcoming group tour. Yet, while your fans and clients may have traveled with you on a group tour in the past, they may not know that you’re now doing a different style of tour or traveling to a different destination. They’re just not aware of your new slant on group tours. You need to build your brand awareness and get people thinking of you in a different way. The easy way to do this is to select “Build Awareness” in the ad objective.
Let’s dive a bit deeper to see how to actually accomplish your goals with some unique tactics.
- Use video ads to help people better understand your new tour.
- Drive video viewers to your website or blog for more information by adding a call to action button, strong headline and ad text to build buzz.
- Not sure which headline or text is going to work with your audience? Set up a Dynamic Ad and let Facebook mix and match to find the combination that works best with your audience to build awareness.
Story Telling
Imagine that you’ve just hung out your shingle and set up your brand spanking new business. How can you help people understand who you are and why they would want to work with you? Creating that new relationship is easier when you tell your story and give people the ‘insider view’.
What if you could tell your story to people who haven’t even started making their travel plans yet? Imagine the opportunity to reach people who are simply talking to their friends on social media about needing a vacation and wanting some me-time.
Here’s how social ads can help:
- Use live-stream video to give people the inside scoop and let them peek behind the curtain to know you a bit better.
- Market your live stream in advance to draw in the right people.
- When planning your live-stream invite people to sign-up in advance. Incentivize them with a downloadable free resource. Collect contact info and grow your list.
- Trip Consideration ads reach people in the initial planning vacation planning phase. This is a key time to tell your story, present aspirational travel ideas and build relationships.
Driving Traffic
Do you need more eyeballs on your upcoming event? Are you needing to reach out to a wider audience? Driving traffic to your website, consumer night, new hotel or latest addition to your attraction is easy when you offer some type of incentive.
Here’s the style of social ad that can help:
- Create a downloadable free resource; e-book, infographic, cheat sheet, travel guide, etc.
- Use this as part of a lead-generation ad. This ad type encourages people to give you’re their contact info in exchange for some type of freebie.
- A lead generation ad will help grow your email list as well as drive traffic to your event or attraction.
Growing Engagement
Letting people know exactly what you want them to do is key. As we talked about in the video above, adding a call to action button does part of the heavy lifting for you. Asking questions, creating polls and inviting people to join the conversation helps grow engagement.
Here’s the style of social ad that can take your engagement to the next level:
- Carousel ads show the reader multiple images and help your story gain traction.
- Split test your ads to better understand what resonates with your unique audience
Amplification
When we talk about amplification it’s not about using a bull horn and shouting in CAPITAL letters. Amplification is about standing out in a noisy world; being unique, being authentic. It’s also about tailoring our messages to the right people at the right time.
In addition to the tactics we talked about in the video, put these into action:
- Create an ad campaign that uses multiple platforms. If your audiences hang out on Facebook and Twitter, build your campaign on both platforms making sure to incorporate the strong traits of each. Staying consistent in your messaging across platforms keeps you top of mind with fans.
- Explore Canvas Ads as they’re interactive. By including text, images and video you’re able to capture the attention of different types of buyers.
- Track your success using the info you collect from your Facebook pixel. Then create audiences based on your pixel.
Tuning in to your unique audience needs will help you uncover their travel aspirations. You’ll then seem like you’re reading their minds when you offer them the trip they’ve just started to think about.
Catherine Heeg, international speaker and trainer, focuses on social media marketing & communication for the travel and tourism industry. Join the conversation and connect with her at www.cmsspeaking.com and socially. Connect online for access to free social media resources.
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