Flywheel News | October 2023 Hotel Digital Marketing News | GCommerce

1. TikTok, X and Meta Unveil Ad-Free Subscription Models

Could the future of social networks include a subscription model? Meta has been forced to offer a subscription model, due to regulations in Europe while TikTok is exploring an ad-free model on its platform for limited users, and X is launching a premium ad-free model. Based on the success of the model, it could impact the reach and value of these platforms for advertisers.

2. Understanding Metasearch Pricing Models

As metasearch continues to expand into one of your most important channels for direct revenue, it’s important to understand your choices in terms of pricing models. At Metadesk, we talk to hoteliers every day and have encountered a wide variety of various pricing models for metasearch advertising. Here’s a handy breakdown of pricing models you might consider, or in some cases, be stuck with.

3. Google Testing Ads Between Organic Listings

Now that we are in a “continuous scroll” experience on Google search, it makes sense that Google would try to find more ad placements as users scroll through the results. Google has been spotted testing ads between the organic listings - learn more here.

4. Our Team Is Excited About These Changes To Facebook & Instagram Reel Ads

Meta is rolling out changes to its Reel Ads placements, including Collection ads, Multi-destination Reel Carousel ads and swipe left functionality. These changes not only simplify the campaign creation process, it make for more engaging (and better performing) ads. Check out the full suite of changes here. In addition, Instagram Reminder Ads can now be easily created in Ads Manager with reach expanding to the Stories ad placement.

5. Learn What CRO Is And How It Can Help Drive More Direct Bookings

You can spend all the money in the world on ad traffic, but if you’re not optimizing your site for conversions, you’re missing out on valuable direct bookings. Learn more about how your hotel’s website can benefit from CRO here.

6. What Is The Difference Between Hotel Metasearch Rate Parity and Price Accuracy?

Rate Parity and price accuracy are commonly mixed up- learn the difference and how important these two elements are to the success of your hotel’s metasearch. 

7. Photos Are Even More Important For Google Maps Visibility and Local SEO

How often does your business create and post new photos to Google Business Profile? Google Maps is launching a new “photo first” search experience. It’s time to review your photos and make sure they are up to date with your business’s experience and offerings.

8. How Can Your Hotel Remove Friction and Drive More Bookings?

Frictionless experience was the buzzphrase a few years ago- but did you know it’s still an extremely relevant variable to success? Learn tips and techniques your hotel can use to remove friction from online bookings.

9. Just for Fun: Google Provides The Most Popular Halloween Costume Trends

Check out this link, where Google puts its trends to spooky use,  helping you discover the most popular costume ideas for Halloween as well as custom ideas for you.

Flywheel News | September 2023 Hotel Digital Marketing News | GCommerce

1. It’s Time to Finalize Your Holiday Marketing Campaigns

Can you believe it’s already the start of Q4?! If you haven’t already, now is the time to send your holiday marketing campaign details to your agency for Cyber Weekend and beyond. We encourage all clients to include a “save the date” campaign that runs a week prior to your sale starting to boost success of these holiday flash sales. Hurry and contact your CSM today!

2. Google’s Bard Can Now Connect to Your Google Apps & Services

Have you played around with Google’s Bard to see how it connects with other Google Apps and Services? Go to Bard and test having it plan an upcoming trip. You’ll see that Bard now responds with real-time info from Google Maps, Flights, Hotels and Youtube. What does this mean for your hotel’s marketing? The future of being found on Bard seems closely associated with your participation on Google’s suite of products - think Google Business Profile and Local SEO (& reviews matter - check out the highly rated line in the summary below) as well as Google Hotel Ads/metasearch. 

3. Website Landing Page Best Practices

Looking for ways to improve your website engagement metrics and improve conversion rates? Brush up on some website landing best practices in this education blog.

4. ChatGPT News: Rolls Out Voice & Image Prompts + 26% of Top Sites Blocking It’s Bot

ChatGPT is rolling out new prompt features including voice and image prompts - allowing you to interact with the tool with your own voice and by simply sharing images as part of your query. But, the platform continues to come under scrutiny by content creators for its lack of citations and links back to the original content source. Due to this, many top websites are now blocking it’s bot from crawling their content. This trend will probably continue until the platform starts citing sources/sending traffic to the original sources.

5. Meta Verified Rolling Out to Brands

A new monthly subscription package that claims to boast brands on Instagram and Facebook as well as offer access to direct support for account troubleshooting is rolling out. Meta Verified includes a verified badge, new ways to be discovered and more. Is your business ready to test this $34.99/month option? Our research came back with less than stellar feedback about the program - with many saying it wasn’t worth the money.

6. Dive Deeper Into the Differences Between Google UA & GA4

Still a little foggy on differences between Google UA and GA4. Read through this easy to follow guide from our team.

7. The Importance of Hotel Metasearch

Hotel metasearch engines work as aggregators, pulling data from various sources to create a list of available room rates for a potential guest to choose from. They improve the booking experience for your guests, making it easier to reserve rooms and compare rates. Learn more here.

Flywheel News | August 2023 Hotel Digital Marketing News | GCommerce

1. Google Sending Out Alerts Re: UA Data Processing

Months after what was expected to be the official deadline of when Google UA would top processing data, account owners are getting alerts that their UA accounts have officially stopped processing new data. Have you noticed this in your Google UA accounts yet?

2. TikTok Officially Announces Search Ads

According to TikTok, 58% of users discover new brands or products on the platform. Now, advertisers can capitalize on this even more with the introduction of the search ads toggle. This feature is automatically enabled with the creation of an in-feed campaign but can be disabled if desired. Learn more about this new feature and where it appears on the platform here.

3. Instagram Launches Multi-Advertiser Placements, to the Display of Advertisers (And Users)

If you’ve scrolled through Instagram recently, you’ve probably noticed a new cluster of 4 ads lumped together in what is officially called the Multi-Advertiser placement. Although CPMs with this placement might be less expensive, the fear is that users will quickly start skipping over them, and they’ll provide little value to advertisers. Learn more about this new feature and how to opt out here.   

4. Metasearch Products for Any Property in Any Market

As metasearch continues to expand into one of your most important channels for direct revenue, it’s essential to understand your choices in terms of pricing models. Metadesk offers a variety of products and pricing models designed to fit any property’s unique situation and market conditions. Learn more here.

5. Google Business Profile Rolling Out Social Links 

Up until now, companies haven’t been able to manage or edit social links shown in Google Business Profile listings. Google is now adding this functionality as an attribute in Google Business Profiles, and it’s rolling out now. Learn more.

6. Learn Why GA4 Data Might Not Be Matching Up in Different Reporting

A common question and source of confusion that GA4 presents is when data doesn’t quite add up the same when drilling down into different areas of the UI or even with the API data from the platform. We found this blog to offer a lot of great common reasons why you’re seeing different metric counts when viewing the data in different areas of the UI.

7. Google Announces Changes to Visibility of HowTo and FAQ Markup

Google has announced changes to HowTo and FAQ markup visibility in the SERP. FAQ will only be shown for well-known government and health workshops while HowTo will only be shown for desktop users. This could significantly impact sites, including travel-related ones, that have capitalized on FAQ-rich snippet visibility over the years. Learn more about these changes here.

8. Google Search Generative Experience OFFICIALLY Rolling Out Links to Sources

This is a big, long-awaited change for SEOs and search marketers. Up until now, Google’s Search Generative experience has failed to feature links to sources and drive well-deserved traffic to the source sites. As of August 30th, when you see an arrow next to information in the experience, you can click it to see relevant sources and easily visit those pages. Learn more here.

Flywheel News | July 2023 Hotel Digital Marketing News | GCommerce

1. Some Google Universal Analytics Accounts Still Processing Data

Even though Google claimed all UA accounts would stop processing data on June 30th, 2023, we've found that most accounts still show data flowing. The current notice that appears when accessing accounts states that the account will "stop processing data very soon". It appears that the end of data in UA is more of a rollout than a hard cut-off date for all accounts.

2. Twitter Rebrands to X

The bluebird is gone. Elon Musk has rebranded Twitter to X and states it's "more than just a name change" but a plan to recreate it into an "everything app". Will this hurt or help the platform's success? Read more here.

3. Meta’s Threads (Twitter Competitor) Launches July 5th 

Are you among the more than 100 million people who signed up for Threads? Learn all about this new social media Twitter (X) competitor in this in-depth blog from our in-house social media experts.

4. Tips for Finding Your Hotel’s Target Audience 

How do you know where to advertise or what to message if you don't first identify the best target audience for your hotel? In this insightful blog post, journey through finding your hotel's target audience.

5. TikTok launches text posts 

A content format previously unavailable to brands is now live on TikTok. Brands can now share text posts on the social media platform. Learn more about new features for text posts, such as stickers, tags, sound, and more, here.

6. Uncover Metasearch Bid Modifications You Should Be Using 

Did you know you can set bid modifications on segments such as length of stay, days to arrival, and more within your Google Hotel Ads? Learn more about these bid modifiers and how to apply them to your hotel's Google Hotel Ads campaigns.

7. Instagram Updates Reels

Instagram is launching updates for Reels with the added bonus that Instagram Reels will now also be served on Facebook to offer more reach than ever for these video placements. Learn more here. 

8. Should You Use Google Paid Search Ads for Your Restaurant? 

There are many different ad placement and campaign options available to advertise your restaurant. Should Google paid search ads be at the top of your list? Read more in this Paid search ads test for restaurants.

Flywheel News | May 2023 Hotel Digital Marketing News | GCommerce

1. June Marks The Last Month Google Universal Analytics Will Process Data

As you read this, you’re currently in the last month that data will flow into your Google Universal Analytics account. If you don’t have GA4 setup by now, there’s a good chance you won’t have any analytics data available for your site for website traffic past June 30th. Reach out to GCommerce today if you’re unsure or need assistance on where to start with your GA4 setup.

2. Google Ads Sitelinks vs Promo Extensions For Short Term Deals - What’s Better?

In the world of Google Ads, ad extensions (now referred to as assets) give your valuable extra real estate and call-outs in the SERP. But which ones are better for advertising your hotel’s short term/flash sales, sitelinks or promotion extensions? Read more in one of our recent tests.

3. Google Marketing Live Focuses on AI in 2023

As the industry continues to lean into AI, Google’s Marketing Live 2023 seemed to focus solely on it’s investment of incorporating AI into all facets of it’s products. Exciting announcements included AI generated campaign builds, helping to automatically create text and images and better match messaging to search queries. We’re also pretty excited to test out the newest campaign types announced at GML23, most notably the Demand Gen campaign type which seems to target a social media style ad placement and “will show across YouTube Shorts, YouTube in-stream, YouTube in-feed, Discover, and Gmail to drive conversions”.

4. Hotel Metasearch Channels Overview

Overwhelmed with all the different metasearch options? Metasearch marketing has been a proven way to increase bookings for your hotel, but there are many options in this space. Check out this quick-start guide to determine the best option for your hotel. Learn more here.

5. How To Choose The Best Marketing KPIs

Not sure what KPIs you should be focusing on to judge the success of your hotel marketing campaigns? Read our blog post on how to choose the best marketing KPIs.

6. Meta Announces AI Powered Ad Tools

Similar to Google’s use of AI, Meta is also incorporating AI into it’s platforms and tools to help provide more personalized advertising as well as give advertisers more text and image AI tools. Learn more here.

7. FAQs for the Hotel Digital Marketer

Find the answers to some of the most commonly asked questions in hotel digital marketing in this insightful blog. What questions would you add to the list?

8. Bing Chat Adds Visuals To Travel Queries 

Bing Chat has now added more visuals to travel queries with links directly into Bing’s Travel Planner.  Our hopes is that this means more impressions for the high ROAS yet low volume Bing Hotel ads placements. Learn more here.