The Scope
At the end of Q3 and through the beginning of Q4 in 2018, Shipshewana, Indiana/ LaGrange County Visitors Center and TwoSix Digital collaborated on a program to drive traffic to the organization’s website through a series of blog promotions on their Facebook and Instagram accounts. We begain the program by analyzing the DMO’s Google Analytics and third party search data to determine what topics would resonate best with the destination’s potential visitors. After recommending topics and strategically creating a content schedule, we conducted a paid promotional campaign using the Facebook ads network. The goal of the program was to increase website traffic, reach and build brand awareness of the product to potential travelers.
The Strategy
Each of the four separate blog topics were promoted in campaign flights that used uniquely tailored and heavily researched targeting tactics. Each flight targeting was built off the previous flight, steadily constructing a foundation of success that maximized the power of each dollar spent. Adjustments were made throughout the campaign with targeted GEO locations and interests, based on performances of the last ad flight.
The ad flights consisted of the following blog topics:
- Scenic Fall Drives Near Shipshewana
- 10 Ways to Unplug in Shipshewana
- How to Kick off Your Holiday Season in Shipshewana
- 10 Reasons to Visit Shipshewana in 2019
250,993
Total Impressions
23,052
Total Clicks
$0.08
Cost Per Click
9.18%
Click-Through Rate
14,667
Total Page Views
The Results
The first ad flight that was focused on “Scenic Fall Drives” set a very high bar with 42,816 impressions, 3,213 total clicks, a 7.50% unique clickthrough rate with a cost per click of .14.
Based on the adjustment in targeting and leveraging the machine learning capabilities of Facebook, each additional ad flight gained more impressions, clicks and click-throughs than the one that proceeded it. Flight two was focused on the “10 Ways to Unplug”received 51,999 impressions, 3,968 total clicks and had a CTR of 7.63%. Following this, the “Holiday Kickoff” content grew even more at 69,115 impressions, 7,920 total clicks and a CTR of 11.46%. Lastly, “10 Reasons to Visit Shipshewana” garnered 87,061 impressions, 7,949, and a CTR of 9.13%.
Not only were the ad results exceptional, but it also produced a very high quality website visitor. Through Google Analytics analysis, we learned that the click throughs produced 14,667 page views, 13,606 unique pageviews and each user spent an average time on site of 2:34. The lengthy average time on page demonstrated that we were successful in builidng an audience that wanted to learn more about Shipshewana, Indiana.
All of this success was obtained with a minimal net ad spend of $1,800. When compared to global avaerages, via the Nanigans.com Facebook Report of Q3 2018, the campaign achieved the following results:
- A CTR of 5.76%, 450% better than the global average of 1.28%
- A CPM of $7.17, 208% less than the global average of $14.93
- A CPC of .12, 940% less than the global average of $1.17
