[Matt Landau]

Five years ago, one of my favorite online business leaders (and actually the inspiration for VRMB Communities!) James Schramko published what became his signature marketing strategy, Own The Racecourse.

The general gist...

• Your business is a racehorse.
• The platform atop which it generates sales is a racecourse.
• Until you own the racecourse, your racehorse is forever competing on someone else's track.

Own the racecourse was strand of inspiration towards VRMB's first framework: 4 Stages of Listing Site Independence: in short, that you can use all the listing sites possible to generate new bookings, in the process giving you the momentum to build the three other "legs" to your marketing portfolio.

OTR and LSI are about not putting all your eggs in one basket because you never know how another company may change or treat you. And this week's news alert was shared with me by another tech visionary -- our own Will Franco

Apple just announced their new update iOS 14 will have new privacy settings that let users opt-out of tracking from companies like Facebook/Instagram.

With privacy being a hot topic these days, every user that opts-out of tracking weakens Facebook/Instagram's ad service. After all, if you can't track users across their devices then you can't charge advertisers money to serve them ads. Facebook's response...

As a way to convince users to enable tracking across other apps and websites, Facebook is deploying the tactic of telling users that they must enable tracking as part of the App Tracking Transparency framework in iOS 14.5 if they want to help keep Facebook and Instagram "free of charge." - MacRumors​

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What does this mean to you?

We're still not sure just yet.

But after an enlightening call with vacation rental SEO wizard ConradO and DAngotti the thing that's likely to be affected most is your paid social media campaigns. Retargeting ads have been a favorite of vacation rental owners and managers for years: a very cheap and effective ways to drive direct traffic and bookings. But if enough users decide to opt-out, that well might dry up. Google/Youtube searches are keyword-driven so a slightly separate story.

This shouldn't be a huge surprise or concern to those of you who have been practicing marketing diversification: take advantage of all the distribution channels possible WHILE you quietly build your own brand and repeat/referral guest hopper (aka. own the racehorse AND the racecourse).

More something to keep an eye on as privacy becomes more pressing. Will update this thread as things materialize.

 

[Toby]

As with most things in life this is another example of something out of our control. In this new fast paced world one must constantly adapt. The one constant is quality and customer service still matters. Don’t let the fear of the constant pace of change distract from the things you can control.

 

[SScurlock]

It will really be interesting to see how this plays out. I wonder how many people are on Facebook on autopilot and really don't think about or care about Facebook tracking them> I'm guessing certain demographics will want to toggle tracking off, and others won't be bothered by it. I would think the threat of being charged a fee for Facebook would deter many people from toggling the tracking off.

 

[Matthew]

I echo what Toby is saying above. Keep your head down and continue to move forward. Pay attention to the changes but don’t let them get you distracted from your goals.

 

[DAngotti]

I think what Matthew and Toby said above is spot on:
Keep your head down and continue to move forward. Pay attention to the changes but don’t let them get you distracted from your goals.
Don’t let the fear of the constant pace of change distract from the things you can control.

Ultimately, in each of our businesses, there are things we can control - this is where our time should be spent. If we are a visionary or skilled in an area and that enables us to see around corners, utilize that vision to be more agile not more worrisome.

With regards to a holistic marketing campaign, this will certainly have some impact. While 99% of our conversions come from organic channels, we utilize advanced ad targeting for some of the drivers behind the organic bookings (i.e. Press Outreach, Link Building, etc.) - the long-term impact could require shifts. However, this is not a negative in my book - if we adapt faster than everyone else, this becomes a competitive advantage.

When Google rolled out 'not provided' in 2013 and stripped away keyword-level analytics data, many SEOs sat around whining about how they couldn't do their jobs. The ones that rolled up their sleeves, figured out work-arounds, created new tools, and carried on saw increases in results. Remember, when something impacts almost everybody, it is just a reset of a fairly level playing field. Sure, the field has changed, but it is still the field.

If you are looking to learn more on the topic (aka adapt), here is a good link:

iOS 14 Resources for Facebook Advertisers - Jon Loomer Digital

There is a lot for Facebook advertisers to know related to iOS 14 and related changes. Here is an extensive collection of iOS 14 resources.

www.jonloomer.com

 

[MichelleR]

Have you all seen the movie The Social Dilemma? Here is the trailer link:

This issue ties into so many things in our lives. How we are being fed information, what information. I know we are referring to work but the issue is interestingly so complex and much bigger.

 

[RichardC]

If the reach for Facebook being reduced, should we not see cheaper advertising as the audience is smaller? We have found facebook to be cost effective, but the price you pay, is they seem to make major changes to the Facebook for business with little or no warning and all the help videos and support documents are out of date!

 

[Matt Landau]

If you are looking to learn more on the topic (aka adapt), here is a good link:

iOS 14 Resources for Facebook Advertisers - Jon Loomer Digital

There is a lot for Facebook advertisers to know related to iOS 14 and related changes. Here is an extensive collection of iOS 14 resources.

www.jonloomer.com

This was a superb read. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Christina]

and, if it is free (except for your time), you might be the product