Taking the time for tracking

Everyone always wants to know the numbers. I don’t think I’ve met a tourism marketer who didn’t want to know their stats. Whether they are the Tourism Director at a DMO, Marketing Director of a museum, Owner of a Tour Operator company or anyone in-between. When things feel rushed, it can be difficult to get campaigns up and running with the proper tracking in place. Measurement can take time to set up properly. Sometimes we have to choose between setting up detailed tracking, and launching a campaign on time. In our strategic planning, we plan out the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to measure. If we can set up the KPI data quickly, we can launch in a timely manner. Then we’ll set up more detailed measurement later (if we’re pressed for time). Fall is the perfect time to start planning for next year, because it leaves extra time to set up strategy and measurement ahead of high-season launches.

The evolution of tracking

Measurement is evolving, with quite a few significant changes rolling out in recent years, and more to come. Privacy updates with Apple’s iOS 14 changed what data we can see, especially with pixels, and rumor has it that more restrictions will come out with iOS 16. Google Analytics 4 (GA4) changed what data is tracked, how it is tracked and how reporting is done. That’s not all Google is changing – within the next 6 months, it will start to disable third-party cookies for some Chrome users.

Digital tracking tools

Now, pixels and cookies are still effective tracking methods overall. Google Analytics is still one of the most powerful and accessible measurement tools, even though it may look different from before.

Google Tag Manager

GTM is a great way to track activities on your website, but you will likely need the expertise of a web developer to implement it.

Meta / Facebook Pixel

The Facebook Pixel got an upgrade in recent years with the addition of the Meta Conversions API. Again, you’ll probably need developer help to set it up. Other social media ad platforms now have their own pixels and tracking methods, and each need to be set up individually to measure ad performance.

UTM Codes

UTM codes are a universal way to bring activity from any digital place back to your Google Analytics. Meta even has a built in tool for adding the parameters, but Google also created a UTM builder tool I use all the time to easily set up these parameters to use in ads. The only exception is you don’t need to add UTM on your Google Ads urls, those are already included as long as you’ve linked your GA4 property to your Google Ad Account.

Honorable mentions in the world of tracking include link shorteners, QR codes and offline data trackers. Offline data is actually more than an honorable mention – for more on what this is and how it helps in tourism, check out Destination on the Left episode 351 with Mike Sladony of Semcasting.

Working around measurement challenges

When I think about tracking for our clients, there are commonalities between the types of organizations we work with and the challenges they face.

DMOs

DMOs are often challenged with being the go-between. Their websites and digital campaigns are doing big work to attract visitors into their destination, but they don’t usually have a direct way to track bookings and purchases. Those offline data models are popular for this reason, tracking mobile data and movement of people who saw the campaign. There are also instances where the destination takes the reins and does the bookings, like Genesee County does with their golf program, acting as the receptive agent. They also have a co-op program with one of their major accommodations that gives more conversion data since we can track the off-site clicks to the lodging partner, and see how many people used the promo code.

Attractions

Attractions, especially museums and cultural institutions, often use third-party booking tools that simply don’t have external tracking built in. How these tools are operating without that is beyond me, but here we are. Sometimes we can add Google tracking, but that’s actually been pretty rare. But we can track actions taken on the website such as form submissions, downloads and clicks. We recently ran a campaign for Plimoth Patuxet Museums to gather email signups for niche groups like homeschool parents that worked really well. Since lead generation is built right in to the platform (Meta) or the website (Google), we get to know how many people we’re adding to their audience with our campaign.

Tour Operators & Private Businesses

Tour Operators and private businesses have a leg up on measurement. They are typically working with several resources like CRMs and booking platforms that do allow for measurement. The tricky part here is getting several disparate systems to talk to each other. If the systems don’t talk to each other already, there are tools like Zapier and Make that will create connections. These tools are relatively easy to use, again it’s just a matter of taking the time to set them up.

Effective measurement allows tourism businesses to make informed decisions and optimize their marketing strategies for success. The advent of web3 means more privacy and more focus on the individuals. Despite the obstacles, there are still effective ways to track our efforts. As the digital landscape continues to evolve, digital tracking methods will continue to change and adapt. And we will change and adapt with them.

The post Tracking Digital Tourism Marketing Efforts appeared first on Travel Alliance Partnership.

Most marketers have experienced pixel measurement elsewhere before. Have you ever sent an email newsletter, and later checked your open rate? Email systems use a pixel in your emails to know when the email has been opened. A pixel is a piece of code that activates when an email or webpage is opened or an action is taken, and tracks it.

Often, when I start the conversation around tracking and pixels and codes, people feel intimidated by it. It’s not as complicated as it sounds. The initial setup is pretty simple and the setup afterwards is even more simple now. Don’t panic.

Setting up a Facebook Pixel

Within your Facebook Business Ads Manager, go to the “Events Manager” section under “Manage Business” to set it up. It will give you a piece of code to put into your website to track user activities. If you use a website builder, you’ll only need the Facebook Pixel ID, which is a string of numbers. Builders like SquareSpace or Wix put that ID in the settings. For WordPress you’ll need a plugin, and Facebook makes ones (first check your existing measurement plugins to see if they have a spot for Facebook). Here’s where to find the official Facebook Pixel plugin for WordPress, Drupal and Joomla. If you have a custom website, have an IT team or similar, send them the code and ask them to install it in the header tag of the entire site. They’ll know what you mean.

If it’s set up properly, you’ll see it activate on your website using the Facebook Pixel Helper for Google Chrome. This browser extension is a quick and easy way to ensure your pixel is installed correctly before you start advertising.

Tracking Specific Actions

Once the Facebook Pixel is on your website, you can track specific actions like form submissions, other clicks and downloads. This is where you set up for precise measurement of your ads. For tourism, I’ve used these events to track map downloads, and inquiries on packages and brochures. You can also track purchases if you have an online shopping cart. Facebook calls these “Events” and there are several to choose from. My favorite part with these events is that you no longer need to worry about code. Once the pixel is on your site, Facebook can track anything that happens. You just need to set it up first.

Go back to the “Events Manager” section in Meta Business Ads Manager and find the “Add Events” button or dropdown. Meta is really pushing for the Conversions API, but the “From the Pixel” option is very easy and works well. To use it, just paste in the landing page URL that you’re sending people to and launch the site. Facebook will open a new browser window and highlight all of the links and buttons on the page. Go through and select only the most relevant clicks and actions you want to track, and give them a label from the event options available. I also write these down somewhere so I can remember what each event means for that website. Click “Finish,” and now you can track specific events on your website!

Using the Pixel for Tourism

When it comes to Facebook marketing for tourism, pixel technology is very helpful not only for tracking, but also for building Facebook target audiences. Once the pixel is on your site, Facebook will have access to a ton of data. Add people to your audience who have visited a specific page on your website or exclude people who already completed the action you wanted them to take. Create a lookalike audience of people who converted into a sale or who have visited the website. You can even make an audience of people who came to your website, but didn’t complete the action yet.

Other Tracking Elements

The digital ads industry has been abuzz the past few years about the iOS14 changes. One of the privacy elements that Apple introduced includes blocking pixels if a person opts out of tracking by apps and websites. I haven’t seen a big dip in results for our clients as was the fear initially, but there is usually a variation in numbers between what Meta reports and what Google reports.

So on top of Facebook pixel tracking, we also use UTM parameters. This is a code at the end of a link that people can’t opt out of, that reports to Google where a user came from. So in your Google Analytics, you’ll be able to identify users that are coming from your ads. UTM parameters are easy to set up within your ad. When you put in your link on your Facebook ad, click the blue link underneath that says “Add Parameters” and fill in the source, medium and campaign (at least). Apply those parameters, and your link is updated and will track to Google Analytics. Now, you can view Facebook ad results for traffic easily in Google Analytics.

The post What the heck is a Facebook Pixel? appeared first on Travel Alliance Partnership.

Creating a Target Audience

Creating the target audience is one of the first steps I take when creating a Facebook ad campaign. There are three types of audiences:

• Custom audience
• Lookalike audience
• Saved audience

You can also use more than one of these audiences to create a combination audience. I build many combination audiences, because you can add – or exclude – custom and lookalike audiences from a saved audience. A saved audience is where you’ll add geographic and demographic targeting, as well as Facebook interest targeting (unless you’re targeting a lookalike audience). 

Why use interest targeting?

Over the years, I’ve seen a lot of changes in how targeting works for tourism ad campaigns. There are times that a customer list is the best way to target. Like when an attraction has a members-only offer, or when you want to engage people who booked something the prior year in the early part of the season. There are times when it is best to use a Lookalike audience, using the algorithm to extrapolate user data and reach people with similar profiles to your customer list.

Now, it is equally effective in most cases to target using Facebook’s interest and behavior data. Especially if you don’t have a customer list that will be big enough (100-1,000 minimum) or if your customer data isn’t the right niche target for your campaign.

Target Audience Geography & Demographics

You probably already know your target market. You know the regions that people are most likely to visit from, what they like to do, how old they are and a little bit about their lifestyles.

Starting with the geography, we are typically looking to reach a drive market for destinations and attractions. This could be an area with a 1-2 hour drive radius, or 4-6 hours. Many times, we have multiple campaigns running for a destination or attraction, and we are targeting a mix of geographies. Often, this consists of a hyper-local audience in the immediate area, a larger regional or state-wide audience and a maximum drive radius audience including outer markets.

For demographics, consider the target audience’s lifestyle. If we want to reach people with young children for a family-friendly event, we can start by selecting an age range that matches adults who may be in the care of young children. If we want to reach people who are retired or empty nesting and looking to getaway, we would target an age range that is closer to retirement.

Interest Targeting

Interests are the fun part. Our approach is to start with an idea of the target market and begin searching for interests that match or accompany that market’s lifestyle. An audience for outdoor activities might target people who have interests in “the outdoors,” “nature” and “outdoor adventure” as well as “camping,” “hiking” or “kayaking.” As you type, Facebook will fill in relevant options that you can select and add to the audience. Once you add an interest, it will start suggesting more related topics.

You can also target deeper demographic information like lifestyle and behaviors. Wedding venues can target anyone who’s engaged for under a year. Family-friendly events can be targeted to all parents or just parents with kids in a certain age range.

Are there downsides?

Quite a few blogs claim interest targeting isn’t accurate, or that you have to do extensive research in order to build a good audience. That has not been my experience with interest targeted Facebook ads for tourism. With all the ads I’ve run, saved target audiences with interest can be just as effective and successful as a custom or lookalike audience. It’s important to look at what industry these bloggers talking about. Some are more general and some are selling a service, not a tangible product. In tourism, all of the DMOs we work with have a solid idea of who they want to reach. They know who their target audience is and the details needed to target them on Facebook.

Who should I target on Facebook?

Now you’re ready to make a target audience. Think through what you are advertising. What is the objective, and what kind of person is most likely to be interested in what you’re offering? How far will they travel to reach your destination? Where do they live? How old are they? What is your message? Type some keywords related to the ad into the box under Detailed Targeting. To avoid some of the downsides, be as specific as possible. Would any parent have interest in your ad, or just parents with kids younger than teens? If they like shopping, is it antique shopping or bargain shopping or luxury shopping? Is there a competitor similar to you? Type them in to see if they’re included in your interest targeting possibilities. Once you start typing a few interests, Facebook will suggest more. Different variations of an interest keyword can reach different people.

At the end of your audience creation, you should have a estimated reach of over 100,000. Depending on your budget, you can go up to 1 million (for bigger budget or long-running campaigns). Estimated reach is shown on the right sidebar when you are building the audience. When you get to the ads builder and select your saved audience, Facebook will tell you estimated daily reach and estimated results based on your audience size, timing and budget.

The post Building a Facebook Target Audience for Tourism appeared first on Travel Alliance Partnership.

In 2012, Facebook added the “Boost” button on posts to simplify their advertising platform for small businesses. Unfortunately, the boost function can oversimplify Facebook’s advertising power. It simplifies the capabilities that make Facebook advertising great for destination marketers: audience targeting, campaign goals, tracking and budget control. Advertisers quickly caught on to the downfalls of the boost, and articles (like this one) are easy to find, warning against using the Boost button.

While it takes a while to get in the swing of things, with a trusted partner (ahem, like us), you can easily add Facebook Advertising to a current or upcoming promotion. Let’s cover the basics:

What to advertise on Facebook

There are several objectives to choose from. An experienced advertiser can help you pick the best objective(s) for what you want to promote. The most common for our clients are:

• Page Posts: Increase engagement (likes, comments, shares) on current posts.
• Event Attendance: Attract new people to RSVP to your Facebook event.
• Clicks to Website: Drive traffic to a specific page of your website.
• Website Conversions: Measure the actions taken on your site after people click through. This can be form submissions, adding items to a cart, check-out and more.

Elements of a Facebook ad

• Defined target audience: With Facebook’s audience tool, you can drill down to very specific geographics, demographics and interests to build an audience.
• Good visuals: These are key to catching the eye of your target audience while they’re scrolling.
• A place to go: Every call to action needs a place to send people. If you’re sending them to a website, make sure they know what they need to do when they get there.
• Pixel Code: Facebook pixels require a code placed on the website, the location depends on what you are measuring. You can run ads without the code, but without this element, you lose some opportunity for data. Namely, the data that tells you how many people did what you wanted them to do.

Other Facebook Advertising Tools

• Instagram: Facebook owns Instagram (and Whatsapp), and their ads platform allows you to place ads on Instagram. You also have the ability to advertise solely on Instagram. One issue with Instagram ads is that they don’t report metrics on likes, new followers, etc. You’ll only really see actions taken on your objective.
• Lookalike Audiences: Make your audiences more specific using Custom and Lookalike Audiences. Using these tools, target customers using spreadsheets, tracking data or activity on your Facebook page. Facebook then matches those people to Facebook profiles, and finds more people like them to make an audience that “looks” like the audience you already have. It doesn’t take long to get the lookalike audience up and running!
• Lead Generation: This tool is great for collecting lead information – names, emails, etc. – without needing to leave Facebook. Staying on the platform increases the likelihood that people will take action. One of my favorite uses is to grow email marketing lists with this tool.

Budget

Facebook requires that you allocate at least $1 per day of your campaign, per objective. If you run a “Clicks to Website” campaign, you’ll need to allocate at least $5 per day. These are the minimums, but it’s better to estimate the reach and frequency you want to achieve with your audience, or base your spend on the budget you have and the results you’re aiming for.

Learn more about Facebook advertising with us.

Contact us about the Social Media Advertising Architect – a DIY solution where we teach you how to implement your own strategic social media advertising campaigns.

The post Beyond the Boost: Digging in to Facebook Advertising appeared first on Travel Alliance Partnership.