Digital Marketing in Travel: 2016 TREND REPORT

Transcription

1 20 16 Digital Marketing in Travel: 2016 TREND REPORT

2 WHAT S INSIDE The trends you should be watching in 2016 Welcome to our annual digital marketing trends report. We ve analysed and distilled a multitude of marketing, technology and industry intelligence to bring you a summary of the key trends that will affect the travel industry over the next 12 months. You won t find reams of data or buzzwords here. Instead we ve tried to cut to the chase: we examine how video content, social media insight, social commerce and cross-device tracking will become an essential part of a successful marketing mix, and what you can do to harness their massive potential. Authored by: Dan Miles Contributions: Nathan Midgeley, Bart Platts, Chris Lomas, Duncan Mitchinson.

3 AN OVERVIEW If 2015 was the year that travel businesses began to see the bottom-line benefit of Big Data, 2016 will be the year we see marketing and e-commerce teams use data creatively. At Melt, we are already seeing an appetite for using diverse datasets to underpin creative digital marketing campaigns. The four key trends we ve described for this year all orbit around that key concept. From a sophisticated video marketing strategy to cross -device tracking to new approaches to social media, 2016 s trends will be underpinned by the use of technology to capture the expectations, opinions and experiences of customers. Those insights then become a starting point for personalising and enhancing the digital experience, creating rich, customer -centred content strategies and ultimately driving online revenue. VIDEO CONTENT Video isn t going away, and the opportunities it presents are more exciting than ever SOCIAL MEDIA INSIGHT Using social listening tools for qualitative insight into your customers is a game-changer SOCIAL COMMERCE You need to pay to get content seen on social. That means you need a social content strategy CROSS-DEVICE TRACKING It s getting easier to track customers wherever they are from research through to purchase

4 VIDEO CONTENT

5 65% of all data on the internet is video, and 7 in 10 people view a brand more favourably after watching interesting video content from it *Axxon Research Video content is everywhere and consumer consumption is strong and growing, thanks in part to improvements in social platform functionality and faster, cheaper mobile data. More importantly, video provides real value for consumers. It s an easily digestible format in a world of content overload, and it s easy to consume on the go. There is a generational shift underway too while travel businesses continue to wrestle with the idea of working with travel bloggers, millennials are watching new stars and new formats. Youtuber team JacksGap started out as travel vloggers, and now have a huge 4.2m subscribers. Snapchat s city live stories get millions of eyeballs a day. In travel, an industry where the average purchase path currently takes well over 40 days across over 70 different sessions, it s more important than ever to create visible, compelling and readily accessible content. But video content is far more than TV ads or glossy promotional films. A diverse video strategy should take advantage of huge consumer appetite for gifs, sub-30 second films, user-generated content and curated video, particularly at the inspiration phase of the purchase journey. TALK TO US TO LEARN MORE ABOUT: LIVESTREAMING DRONES & 360 DEGREE FILMS GIFS SHORTS (SUB-30 SECOND FILMS) USER GENERATED FILMS COLLABS WITH VIDEO INFLUENCERS

6 SOCIAL MEDIA INSIGHT

7 75% of travellers post photos or updates on Facebook about their holiday and 59% access Twitter at least once a day while on holiday *Twitter research**tourism trends 2015 Good marketing departments are already using social for amplification and to gauge reach and engagement. But as social listening technology continues to improve, they can also turn to social for powerful insights that can shape marketing activity from the get-go. In 2016 successful travel marketeers will use social listening to uncover valuable insights around consumers wants, needs and pain points. Combined with traditional market research, this will inform targeted engagement and marketing, ultimately increasing loyalty and lifetime customer value. We re currently using social listening tools to capture user generated content around one of our clients key product types. By analysing this data we derive key insights into what drives purchase intent and how the brand needs to shape its digital marketing. This delivers more targeted activity, richer content and more effective campaign outreach. TALK TO US TO LEARN MORE ABOUT: INTEGRATING SOCIAL INSIGHT INTO YOUR MARKET RESEARCH TURNING SOCIAL MEDIA DATA INTO INSIGHT USING DATA FOR CREATIVE CAMPAIGNS

8 SOCIAL COMMERCE

9 Total global revenue from social commerce in 2015 was $30 billion Trueshipdata This will be the year that travel brands find a truly commercial utility for social media. Recent social e-commerce developments include Pinterest and Youtube s Buy it buttons and, most importantly for travel brands, Instagram s expanded ad program. Engaging, visual content can now come with a direct call to action. Short films, destination guides and rich travel stories can be directly linked to online ad campaigns and start to play an integral rather than a supporting role in e-commerce strategies. Additionally, Facebook s timeline tweaks have hurt many brands organic reach, and Twitter is making similar moves. Effectively, if a brand doesn t have ad spend behind content, it won t be seen. In 2016, travel businesses will need to create specific social commercial strategies, in particular targeting Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest, and putting rich, aspirational content at the heart of their activity. This will drive much bigger increases in qualified traffic than any other online channel. TALK TO US TO LEARN MORE ABOUT: CREATING A PLATFORM SPECIFIC CONTENT STRATEGY USING INSTAGRAM FOR STORYTELLING CREATING CROSS PLATFORM AD CAMPAIGNS USING SOCIAL TO INCREASE ON AND OFFLINE SALES

10 CROSS DEVICE TRACKING

11 56% of people expect brands to deliver them information that is relevant to their interests and tastes April 2015 study Magnetic & Retail Touchpoints Advances in cross-device tracking mean marketers understanding of the customer journey is improving all the time. As usual, it s Facebook and Google who have changed the game. With multipledevice logins, we can see how individuals behave as they move from their desktop to tablet to phone - and, in some cases, at the point of sale. Google s advertising platform DoubleClick provides marketers with cross-device measurement and reports that marketers who use cross-device insights have seen a 16% uptick in conversions. It s still too new for illustrative case studies, but this technology has huge implications for travel because of the length and complexity of the path to purchase. Harnessing cross-device tracking will give marketers a new level of insight, helping them to create personalized and contextualized content, ads and experiences targeted to the individual consumer and ultimately driving both acquisition and conversion. TALK TO US TO LEARN MORE ABOUT: DATA-DRIVEN CONTENT STRATEGY DATA VISUALISATION MOBILE-FIRST CAMPAIGNS RICH CONTENT EXPERIENCES

12 RECAP These represent what we see as the four most important digital marketing trends for the travel industry this year. We have chosen these because they can be employed to address the complicated path to purchase and fit seamlessly with the other key digital marketing tactics all travel businesses employ SEO, PPC, social media, CRM and content marketing. Video content In travel, an industry where the average purchase path currently takes well over 40 days it s more important than ever to create visible, compelling and readily accessible content. Video is the answer. Social media insight Analysing this data we derive key insights into what drives purchase intent and how customers talk about their experiences can deliver more targeted activity, richer content and more effective campaign outreach. Social commerce Creating specific social commercial strategies, in particular targeting Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest, will drive much bigger increases in qualified traffic than any other online channel. Cross-device tracking Harnessing cross-device tracking will help marketers a new to create personalized and contextualized content, ads and experiences targeted to the individual consumer and ultimately driving both acquisition and conversion.

13 Thank You If you d like a copy of this report or discuss any of the ideas and opportunities we have described here, we d be delighted to from you. Please contact: Dan Miles Business Director dan.miles@meltcontent.com