Ways to Stretch Your Social Ad Dollars

We're all looking for ways to stay connected to the right people and build our future group business. Yet what opportunities are staring us in the face? Over my time in the travel and tourism world, I've been through deregulation, SARS, the 2020 bombings in Bali, the bird flu and of course, 9/11. Each time, our savvy industry pivoted and turned these obstacles into opportunities.

Let's study an often-misunderstood opportunity in the social marketing arena to discover some tactics that you can use now to build towards a successful future.

Advertising Opportunities

While our ad budgets may be shrinking, it's time to get serious about getting the most bang for our ad dollars. Don't leave money on the table! Creating ad audiences that perform is job no. 1. When you have highly targeted ad audiences, you're paying only for the right people's attention:

1. Create custom ad audiences of people who have reacted to your social content most recently. This type of audience will likely reflect people who are ready and willing to travel.

2. Study your ad audience analytics to determine what type of ad is resonating with your fans. If you're not sure what types of ad resonate with your audience or you feel your ads just aren't performing as well as expected, testing your ads will help solve the mystery. Check out the video below for two ways to test your ads (one works far better than the other):

3. Do the heavy lifting and ensure your pixel is working. Then study which content is actually driving people to your website. Which landing pages are performing best? Adjust or eliminate content that isn't performing.

4. Create your ads in Ads Manager, NOT Boost Post! This way, you'll have the option to split test and use dynamic ads to test which version of the ad performs best. Plus, you'll have more options for timing and placement of your ads.

5. Get creative! Check out the Facebook Creator Studio to get inspiration and create a new look for your social ads. Don't miss the post pre-scheduling option within Creator Studio.

6. Take a hard look at your Google Analytics to better understand which social sites drive the most viewers to your website. Armed with this knowledge, you'll know where to focus your time and effort.

In seizing these new opportunities to understand your audiences, you'll position yourself as the trusted travel pro who's selling dreams and wanderlust to groups—when the time is right.

Written by Catherine Heeg, an international speaker and trainer who focuses on social media marketing strategies for the tourism and hospitality industry. Join the conversation and connect with her at www.cmsspeaking.com and socially.

Headshot courtesy of Catherine Heeg.