Skift Take
Facebook isn't really in the conversation yet when it comes to competing with Google in travel advertising. But Facebook has the ability to reach travelers at various stages of the trip-planning process so it has the potential to be even more disruptive than it has been.
Companies such as Google and TripAdvisor have been helping travelers decide where to travel for years, and Facebook now wants a bigger slice of that pie.
That's why Facebook is launching a new ad product this week to help travelers pick where they want to vacation.
The new product, trip consideration, is meant to reach people who have shown they want to travel, such as liking a company's Facebook page, but haven't decided on a destination. Many travelers get trip ideas from Facebook and Instagram as they see photos and posts from friends and families' vacations in their newsfeeds.
Trip consideration is available on Facebook, Instagram, and Facebook's Audience Network and is not part of dynamic ads for travel which launched in May 2016, said Christine Warner, head of travel for Facebook. "This is a separate solution you can use earlier on before you show travelers a dynamic ad," Warner said. "Selecting a destination often comes after someone shows travel intent. After you show them a trip consideration ad, then a brand could potentially retarget travelers with a dynamic ad."
NYC & Company, the tourism board for New York City, was part of the test pilot for trip consideration. Trip consideration has been the tourism board's best-performing strategy element so far on Facebook, Jason Berman, managing director of brand marketing for NYC & Company, said in a statement.
The tourism board tested trip consideration on its "True York City" campaign that debuted last year, and the product helped the campaign get 61 percent more video views and 58 percent more link clicks.
Warner said many travelers are spending five times more time on Facebook and Instagram than any other trip-planning site. Roughly half 50
