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Anyone who knows the first thing about digital marketing knows that it is incredibly fast-paced. There’s new technology being created and released every single day. Software and algorithms are always being updated to keep up with the times. This means that if you’re a company with some sort of digital marketing component (which is just about every business nowadays), you’ll need to stay on your toes. The smallest change could make quite a difference in your strategy or your budget.
If you own or manage a hotel, you understandably don’t have enough time to keep up with the latest trends in the digital marketing agency. Fortunately, you don’t have to. After this article, you’ll know all about the changes in the past year that may require you to modify your digital marketing agency. Shall we begin?
1. There’s a new property description box in Google My Business
Two years ago, Google took out a feature that hotel owners used to put property descriptions that will appear in Google’s Local Knowledge Panel. This year, the feature was brought back, giving you the ability to list your best accommodation, amenities, and generally just tell people why they should choose you right in your local panel search results! 750 characters will be allotted to do so and you’ll be able to include URLs or HTML code.
2. You can directly message a business from their advert
The click-to-message Adwords feature has gone through some changes. It now works a lot as the click-to-call feature does – people can message a business directly through their advert.
There are three new reporting features that will go along with this messaging service. You’ll get to measure chat rate which will track the number of impressions you get divided by the number of actual messages. You’ll get to measure the start time which shows when users interact with you using the messaging feature. Finally, you’ll get to measure the number of messages within a single session. This is exactly what it sounds like. You can use it to see which ads are getting you the most engagement.
All this information will help you tweak your ads to reach the right people at the right time in order to maximize conversions.
3. You can now reach travelers with Trip Consideration
Trip Consideration is a new ad optimizer that picks out the people who are just starting to plan their next trip out of town. Facebook reports that almost 7 out of 10 millennials get inspiration for their next travel destinations on Facebook and 6 out of 10 get inspiration from Instagram. Trip Consideration uses these two platforms to look for people who show indications of being in the early stages of planning a trip. This stage is the perfect time for a hotel to get recognized and convert leads before competitors even get around to it.
4. Advertising is becoming even more personalized
Generic advertising directed to the masses are all but becoming obsolete. Vague email messages that can be sent to everyone aren’t as effective anymore. The consumers of today want a personalized experience throughout their entire buyer’s journey. The current digital marketing landscape is all about personalization. If you are able to create personalized messages for your leads, you’ll be much closer to converting leads and getting rooms booked. Start simple with specific landing pages for specific audiences. You’ll soon see how effective it is!
