Facebook has introduced new features for travel industry advertisers which help them target potential customers across Facebook, Instagram and Audience Network by closely tracking travel intent.
The Trip Consideration feature is an enhancement to the social media giant’s dynamic ads for travel, and promises to let advertisers reach potential customers earlier in their trip planning process.
Facebook says that 53% of all travelers and 68% of millennials found ideas to help plan their most recent trip on Facebook; 60% of millennials used Instagram for inspiration.
The company tracks when users interact with travel related pages, allowing advertisers to deliver ads promoting their flights, hotels or venues with the help of Facebook's dedicated ad-generation engine. Trip consideration is also available through Facebook marketing partners including Adphorus, Koddi, MakeMeReach, Smartly.io and StitcherAds.
Some advertisers already claim positive results from using the enhanced Trip Consideration feature.
Nick Schaulsohn, director of marketing, EF Ultimate Break says:
“Facebook is one of our biggest sources of traffic and is crucial to scaling our efforts without diminishing our effectiveness. We added trip consideration into our acquisition strategy and used it to drive people with travel intent into our funnel, while continuing to leverage Dynamic Ads to drive users to book. The powerful combination of these solutions improved our conversion rate by 49%.”
Jason Berman, managing director, brand marketing, NYC & Company says:
“Our True York City campaign was the first time we tested trip consideration. We were extremely impressed with how easy it was to use, but even more so with the results it drove. This new solution enabled us to deliver 61% more video views and 58% more link clicks, all at a 29% more efficient CPC. This has been our best performing strategy to date on Facebook, and we look forward to using trip consideration for future campaigns.”
Other advertisers using the Trip Consideration enhancement include Air France, Booking Buddy and IHG. Air France reported an 11-fold increase in ROAS (return on advertising spend). Booking Buddy reported a doubling of its Facebook driven revenue. And IHG trebled its ROAS.
A key strategy for travel advertisers using Facebook’s Trip Consideration will be to ensure that their mobile booking engine can support inspiration on-the-go, allowing audiences to act on impulse without friction that might lead them to abandon the booking.
Related reading:
Facebook overhauls Dynamic Ads, just for travel marketers