MGM Resorts Provides Insights into its Social Media Marketing Strategy

Meta has published the latest video in its helpful ‘Social Skills’ series, which provides insights and tips on how big brands are making best use of Facebook and Instagram for their promotional efforts.

The latest video in the series – the second of season 2 – is an interview with Derek Schoen, the Vice President of Paid Media and Social Strategy at MGM Resorts, and is a must-watch for those in the tourism and event promotion sector.

Schoen’s top tips for improving your Facebook and Instagram marketing fall into three key categories.

1. Evoke emotion

A key part of MGM’s strategy is showcasing what’s on offer at its destination hotels, and what people are missing out on. In order to maximize FOMO, MGM leans on user-generated content, while Schoen also notes that Live is a great way to present ‘what you could be experiencing if you were here’.

As per Schoen:

“We do a lot of immersive and video content, whether it’s something quick and digestible like Stories or an instant experience that allows them to learn a little bit more about our properties and engage with them directly.”

2. Testing

Schoen also provides some notes on MGMs approach to split testing in order to maximize ad performance.

Schoen says that they conduct a wide breadth of split tests, on a range of variables to find the best combination to maximize performance.

“Something as simple as changing the copy in a headline, or in the post copy, [an image of] a restaurant full of people versus a plate of food, and see what performs best.”

This is an important consideration – even if your testing involves minor elements and tweaks, they can have a big influence on performance, so it is worth trying out different variations of your ads to see what people are responding to, and refine your approach.

Schoen further notes that you’ll often be surprised by how impactful the smaller details can be.

3. Personalization

Finally, Schoen praises Facebook’s Dynamic Ads for Travel as a key outreach element for MGM. Dynamic Travel Ads enable travel brands to retarget prospective travelers who have already shown interest in a trip or activity – either on your website, in your app, or within broader web search activity.

Dynamic Travel Ads utilize uploaded brand inventory to highlight the most relevant destination and details to each user – which, as Schoen notes, enables personalization at scale.

“The great thing about Facebook is that it allows us to personalize what content is shown based on where consumers are at within their life cycle.”

These are some valuable notes for travel brands, and it’s worth taking a look at the full video to see how Schoen views the various aspects of Meta’s tools for promotion.

You can also watch the first video in Season 2 of the ‘Social Skills’ series – an interview with Bark’s Alexis Nelson – here.