It’s no secret that travelers rely on digital and online channels to make their purchasing decisions—especially during the planning stages of a big trip.

Whether it’s for business or pleasure, travelers are searching far and wide for the best deals on their next expedition.

And the numbers don’t lie; travelers seek inspiration for their adventures on social media. A few fast facts:

These figures could mean big business for travel brands as 2016 comes to a close. But this isn’t a kept secret— travel brands must be as creative as possible to stand out in the crowded social conversation. Here’s how.

Mockup Campaign #1 – Relationship Status

Whether you’re a newlywed, married or single (and ready to mingle), there’s always a journey yet to be taken. Use the basis of relationship status to drive users to your brand’s best getaway.

Single:

Newlywed/ Engaged:

Married:

Mockup Campaign #2 – Graduation Year

Are your ideal customers college students ready to party on Spring Break? Maybe they’re recently graduated and ready to see the world? Or maybe they just wish they were still in college… Whatever their status, activate creative based on college graduation, and drive users to a hotspot tailored just to them.

Collegiate:

Recent Grads: 

Older Generation College Graduates:

Mockup Campaign #3 – Traveler Personas

Frequently travel for business? Or maybe you are just looking for a little rest and relaxation. Activate creative based on types of jet setters, and drive users to a relevant destination for their lifestyle.

Business Travelers: 

Leisurely Travelers (International):

Leisurely Travelers (Domestic):

Family Vacations:

Mockup Campaign #4 – Change of Season

Use changes in temperature, cloud condition, precipitation (including rain, hail, sleet, snow) and more to activate creative that gets people dreaming of the escape you’re offering.

Heat Index: Lower than 45 Degrees

Heat Index: 45-60 Degrees

Heat Index: 60-80 Degrees

Heat Index: 80+ Degrees

Campaign Optimization Best Practices

Like the most experienced travelers, you’ll need the right approaches under your belt to grow your social media campaigns. Here are two things you absolutely should be doing to make your campaigns better:

  • A/B Testing can help you optimize campaign performance at the creative level. Imagine you are featuring a campaign with creative assets showing activities to do at an all-inclusive resort. Use A/B testing to optimize spend toward whichever creative performs the best based on your unique KPIs.
  • Leveraging ad intelligence can help you understand how elements like object position within images, background colors, the number of people, or even specific products perform within an ad. Use this understanding to identify exactly which elements produce the greatest results.

Conclusion

Like the most experienced travelers, you’ll need the right tools under your belt to customize experiences for the best possible experience. That extends to the creative that is featured in paid social media advertising. Consumers want and respond to personalized messaging – and that’s why we introduced Creative Blueprints for paid media advertising.

With Creative Blueprint technology, our team can hundreds (if not thousands) or video and static imagery for your campaigns. This will allow you to mass-personalize ads and turn mock-ups like the above into real life media buys. For instance, you can:

  • Customize videos to highlight countries and famous & unique travel destinations
  • Customize images to feature unique historical facts and stats to drive users to book online
  • Customize creative to speak to different things you can do on a vacation in a destination
    • Outdoor / Recreation in a certain city
    • Drinking / Nightlife in a certain city
    • Family activities in a certain city

The possibilities are endless.

Want to learn more? Check out our Creative At Scale website to see how you can bring your social media campaigns to life.

Original Publish Date: Oct 18, 2016 @ 11:18.