Top Social Tactics to Ring in the New Year | Travel Research Online

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Top Social Tactics to Ring in the New Year

It’s that time of year again! Bring out the mistletoe, the Santa Hat and the New Year party favors!

Has 2018 has flown by for you? Our industry has the habit of moving faster than Santa’s sleigh on a cold night, and social marketing seems to move even more quickly than Santa’s elves on caffeine. Here’s the social marketing highlights, in case you missed anything in the whirlwind that was 2018.

ICYMI – In Case You Missed It

Don’t get left behind in the ‘olden days of yore’. Bone up on these tactics before the ball drops and we ring in the New Year.

Social Ads

Social advertising is getting far more targeted and precise! You can now reach people who have watched your videos or interacted with your business page in any fashion: page engagement, video views, website traffic and even offline activity.

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Figure 1 – Facebook & Instagram Audience options

If you take this up a notch, and create a look-alike audience from one of your existing audiences, you can even select how close of a match you’d like for your new look-alike audience. Turn lookers into bookers with this Audience info here.

Pixel Perfect

These features work best when you have your Facebook pixel set up and installed on your website. This pixel (a snippet of code) helps track your Facebook and web visitors and gives you options to reach out again to these people. Pixel pointers & video here.

All this works only if you have your ad account switched over to Business Manager (yes, you used to be able to access all these nuggets of gold from your Ads Manager account, but that’s changed). Setting up your Business Manager account may look a bit tricky but, in reality, it’s pretty easy. Here’s the 2 best guides I’ve found to make the switch.

Set-up Guide & Tips Here:

Once you have your Business Manager account setup, you’re ready to fly with Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Creating ads has never been as creative as now.

Dynamic & Animated

Are you dying to create a video ad, but don’t want to get real techy? Check out the option to create an Animated Ad the next time you boost a post. Simply click the button to animate your ad and Facebook shows you a preview of how your post will look once it’s been animated. You have the option to customize it a bit. You can select and edit each element; choosing the text, background colors, framing of the images, and then add them all into a video sequence. It’s really easy!

Not sure which photos, videos and text will work for your next ad? We always wonder what will resonate with our audiences and now there’s an easy way to test this out. Dynamic Ads give you the chance to incorporate up to:

    1. 10 images or videos
    2. 5 headlines
    3. 5 text blocks
    4. 5 link descriptions
    5. 5 CTA buttons

Once you’ve uploaded your creative assets and text, Facebook mixes and matches your assets and finds the 1 combination that works for your audience.

Looking Forward

When the clock strikes midnight, get ready for a fantastic 2019. Put on your party hat and dive into these new social marketing features.

  1. Video, video, and more video! Research shows that by 2020 nearly 80% of social content will be video-based. Now’s the time to dive into live broadcasting, 360 video, and producing your own great content on the road or in your office. Here’s how to reach your target audience with video and move them through the selling process.
  2. Speaking of video, Facebook is continually updating its Video Creation Kit. It’s an easy way to create video ads, even if you haven’t shot any video. Using the template provided you can create short 6-15 second video ads to:
    1. Promote a product
    2. Sell multiple products
    3. Show product benefits
    4. Drive product discover
  3. Did you know that you can now crop your Facebook videos to the right size and shape? That’s right! With the new cropping tool your video will fit perfectly into the right size for:
    1. Video ads which need to be sized 1:1
    2. Feed videos which need to be 4:5
    3. Instream videos which need to be 16:9
    4. Stories video which need to be 9:16

Whether you’re on the “naughty or nice” list, these social marketing gifts will brighten your New Year with new connections and stronger relationships. Listen for the sleigh bells as you put these new tools under your tree. Then ring in the New Year in style.

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PictureCatherine 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.

When you ‘like’ her Facebook page you’ll have access to the latest social media news just for travel pros!

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