The island nation of Iceland has been a major beneficiary of the travel boom that has resulted following the global economic meltdown in 2008. It has also had to grapple with the remaking of its national economy and the effect of tourism on its citizens, its cities, and natural wonders.

Visit Iceland director Inga Hlín Pálsdóttir told Skift founder Rafat Ali onstage at the Skift Global Forum 2016 that Iceland’s cohesive culture and government gives it the ability to better manage the effects of increased tourism.

“I wouldn’t say we have a crazy problem at the moment,” said Pálsdóttir. “It’s not just about bringing tourists, it’s about being sustainable as well. I mean, tourism is important for Icelanders and we’re starting to realize it is the biggest industry and we need to be careful how we treat it…. we need to be careful about our lifestyle and sustainability around nature.”

The healthy effects of tourism on Iceland’s economy, according to Pálsdóttir, need to be considered by the country’s leadership alongside the potential negative effects. Landmarks swarmed with tourists, a property bubble in Reykjavik, and decaying roads are the new normal for Icelanders.

Pálsdóttir also discussed how Iceland’s destination marketing company helped drive increased visitation by appealing to global travelers with clever marketing materials.

Watch Pálsdóttir’s full presentation on the effect of overtourism on Iceland below.

At this year’s Skift Global Forum in New York City, travel leaders from around the world gathered for two days of inspiration, information, and conversation for panels such as this as well as solo TED-like talks on the future of travel.

Visit our Skift Global Forum site for more details about 2017 events, including our London event in April of 2017.

Have something to sell?

Submit your classified ad today.

Place an Ad

Joël Le Bigot

Le 15 novembre 1976 : quelques heures avant, pendant et après…

La police de Longueuil a annoncé vendredi soir qu’un corps a été découvert dans la forêt du parc de la cité, dans l’arrondissement Saint-Hubert, et que tout laisse croire qu’il s’agit du jeune homme.

La porte-parole Mélanie Mercille précise que des vérifications sont toujours nécessaires pour confirmer l’identité de la personne.

Pour l’instant, aucun élément ne laisse présumer d’un acte criminel.

Louis-David Morisset-Noël aurait quitté sa famille d’accueil dans la région de Québec, le 23 septembre dernier, pour venir retrouver sa mère qui résiderait à Saint-Hubert.

Pour le cinquième jour consécutif, des roquettes, des obus et des barils d’explosifs s’abattent dans un bruit terrifiant, en faisant trembler le sol et les immeubles, témoigne le correspondant de l’AFP dans les quartiers est de la deuxième ville de Syrie, principal front du conflit.

Selon lui, il n’y a plus de courant électrique et les générateurs sont à l’arrêt faute de mazout dans ce secteur assiégé depuis quatre mois par les forces du régime de Bachar al-Assad.

Les Casques blancs, ces secouristes en zone rebelle, ont publié samedi sur leur page Facebook des vidéos et des photos témoignant de la violence des bombardements.

Dans l’une des vidéos, on peut voir des volontaires près d’un cadavre couvert de sang dans une rue. « Nous n’avons plus de sacs » pour envelopper les corps, s’écrie l’un d’eux. « Faites vite, faites vite », crie un autre tandis que les secouristes scrutent le ciel pour voir si des avions survolent la zone.

« C’est un jour catastrophique à Alep assiégée, avec des bombardements sans précédent », écrivent les Casques blancs.

« Quasiment aucun quartier d’Alep-Est n’a été épargné par les bombardements du régime aujourd’hui », a indiqué à l’AFP Rami Abdel Rahmane, directeur de l’Observatoire syrien des droits de l’Homme (OSDH).

Cette ONG qui dispose d’un large réseau de sources à travers le pays en guerre a recensé samedi 27 morts, portant à 92 le nombre de civils tués depuis mardi dans les bombardements du régime de Damas.

Ce dernier est déterminé à reprendre coûte que coûte la partie est d’Alep qui lui échappe depuis 2012. Les forces progouvernementales contrôlent l’ouest de cette cité au riche passé historique. Dans ce secteur, deux civils ont été tués par des roquettes tirées par les rebelles, selon les médias officiels.

« Journée noire » 

L’émissaire de l’ONU pour la Syrie Staffan de Mistura effectuera dimanche une visite à Damas où il rencontrera le ministre des Affaires étrangères Walid Mouallem, a indiqué le site du quotidien al-Watan, proche du pouvoir.

Les écoles d’Alep-Est ont annoncé dans un communiqué qu’elles suspendaient les cours samedi et dimanche, « pour la sécurité des élèves et des enseignants après les frappes aériennes barbares ».

Les structures de secours ont aussi été durement affectées par cette pluie de bombes, plongeant les 250 000 habitants qui résideraient encore dans les quartiers est dans une situation de plus en plus dramatique.

Vendredi, un bombardement sur le quartier de Maadi a mis hors service un des derniers hôpitaux d’Alep-Est après l’avoir détruit partiellement. Deux patients ont été tués et des infirmiers blessés, a indiqué à l’AFP une source médicale.

Par ailleurs, le dernier hôpital pédiatrique encore en fonction a été évacué vendredi après avoir été endommagé deux jours plus tôt par des barils d’explosifs, selon l’ONG Association des docteurs indépendants (ADI) qui gère l’établissement.

Pour Médecins sans frontières (MSF), il s’agit d’« une journée noire pour Alep-Est où les violents bombardements ont provoqué de lourds dommages aux quelques hôpitaux encore en mesure de fournir des soins médicaux ».

Bombardement et famine

Les forces du régime « entendent combiner bombardements aériens et famine résultant du siège pour obtenir une reddition des rebelles », estime Thomas Pierret, spécialiste de la Syrie et professeur à l’université d’Édimbourg, en Écosse.

La Russie, qui intervient en Syrie depuis plus d’un an pour soutenir le régime, ne participe pas aux bombardements aériens sur Alep-Est. Mais elle mène depuis mardi des frappes sur la province voisine d’Idleb (nord-ouest), contrôlée par une alliance de rebelles et de djihadistes.

Selon des analystes, Damas et ses alliés veulent aller vite avant la prise de fonction de Donald Trump à la présidence américaine le 20 janvier.

« Il est clair que la Russie, Damas et Téhéran veulent reprendre l’est d’Alep rapidement. Les États-Unis sont paralysés, il faut [pour eux] mettre Trump devant le fait accompli en janvier prochain », a déclaré à l’AFP Fabrice Balanche, expert de la Syrie au Washington Institute, un centre de réflexion basé aux États-Unis.

Sur un front distinct, les Forces démocratiques syriennes (FDS) – une coalition arabo-kurde – ont lancé le 5 novembre une offensive en vue de reprendre Raqa au groupe État islamique (EI), qui a fait de cette ville de l’est sa « capitale » en Syrie.

Les FDS ont annoncé samedi avoir pris le contrôle de la hauteur stratégique, Tall Samane, qui lui ouvrirait la route de Raqa, à 25 km plus au sud.

This week’s digital stats roundup is slightly ecommerce-heavy, however, it also includes lots of good stuff about video apps, agency growth, offline engagement and more.

For further insight, don’t forget to download the Internet Statistics Compendium.

Now, let’s get on with the show.

Consumers prefer offline channels for communicating with banks

While an omni-channel presence is becoming increasingly expected, a new study by Invoca has found that consumers much prefer offline channels when it comes to dealing with banks.

In a survey of more than 1,200 people, 75% said it’s important or extremely important to be able to switch between channels when interacting with their bank.

Likewise, 75% of respondents also said in-person or phone interactions were the most effective ways to build a relationship, with just 22% choosing an online channel like email or social.

With 80% saying that knowledge of an account history had a positive influence on their decision, the importance of good customer service is evident.

October online sales grow at the highest rate since Black Friday 2014

The latest figures from the IMRG Capgemini eRetail Sales Index has revealed that online sales grew +18.9% YoY this October – the highest rate since November 2014.

However, the Index also reported its lowest conversion rate since February 2013, with just 4.1% of website visits resulting in sales. This could reflect the growing trend for browsing, with many consumers shopping around to determine the best deal or discover product reviews.

In terms of the sectors that performed particularly well, home goods and accessories came out on top – up +23.9% and +37.7% YoY.

British consumers spend £21.7bn on impulse purchases per year

In a Display Mode survey of 2,512 UK-based consumers, over half confessed to making an impulse purchase each time they go shopping.

In total, this amounts to an estimated £21.7bn being spent on impulse purchases every year.

When asked if the impulse purchases were necessary, 62% said they were ‘wanted not needed’, 21% stated they thought ‘they might come in handy’ and 16% said they were always needed.

The most persuasive factor for encouraging impulse purchases appears to be monetary offers, with 92% citing this reason.

52% of marketers see email personalisation as a top priority

Return Path has released a new report highlighting what makes a successful email marketing program.

In a survey of industry professionals, more than half ranked personalisation as their top priority for improving success. 

Similarly, improving customer retention and increasing customer engagement were also ranked highly, being cited by 47% and 44% of respondents respectively.

In terms of barriers to success, 46% said collecting quality customer data was the biggest, followed by 44% who said increasing customer engagement.

Predicted growth for digital agencies in the UK reaches an all-time low

The latest research from Econsultancy has found that predicted year-on-year growth for digital agencies has hit the skids.

On average, the proportion of agencies predicting their business will grow in 2017 has halved in two years, going from 25% in 2014 to just 11%.

For lots more on this, you can download the Digital Agency Rate Card Survey.

27% of UK consumers plan to buy online this Black Friday

It’s typically an American event, but this year’s Black Friday is set to become truly global, as UK consumers embrace the opportunity to bag a bargain online.

A survey from One Hour Translation has found that 27% of UK consumers plan to make a purchase on Black Friday, compared to 10% who plan to buy on Cyber Monday. 

While we’re keen in the UK, other countries are less so, with France coming out as the least interested. 

The survey showed keen interest from 18% of French respondents between the ages of 25 and 44, however there was no interest whatsoever among those aged 45 and over.

Time spent in video and media apps grows by over 210% in two years

Research just released by App Annie shows that app-based video content on smartphones is on the rise.

In fact, the global time spent in the Media Video category has grown by over 210% in the past two years, surpassing the speed at which apps in general are growing.

In the UK, mobile data usage for streaming increased by 80% between 2014 and 2015.

Likewise, both France and Germany saw a significant increase in mobile data usage for streaming over the past year.

Singles Day results in 44,500 purchases per minute 

Figures from Worldpay show it was a record-breaking year for China Singles Day, with Chinese consumers spending more than ever before.

The day, which originally began as an ‘anti-Valentine’s day’ celebration for single people, saw frenzied shopping activity – peaking at 44,505 payments per minute.

The figures also reflect an increase in awareness of the day worldwide, with 38.9% more online transactions being processed globally compared to last year.

More specifically, there was an 18.5% uplift in the volume of transactions in the UK.

74% of consumers say social video influences purchasing decisions

A new study by Brightcove has identified the effect social media video content has on consumer engagement and behaviour.

The results show a distinctly positive correlation, with 74% of consumers saying there is a connection between watching a video on social media and their buying decisions.

46% of consumers said they have actually made a purchase after watching a branded video on social media, and a further 32% have considered doing so.

Videos also appear to be effective for increasing positive sentiment – 79% agreed that it is the easiest way to get to know a brand online.

50% of retailers could fail to notice out-of-stock items this Christmas

According to research from Tyco Retail Solutions, half of retailers do not have a single view of their stock levels, meaning that many are in danger of losing valuable holiday sales. 

It has been predicted that sales could fall by over 8% this year due to dwindling stock.

In order to satisfy customer demand, seven out of 10 retailers are actively looking to improve their same or next-day fulfilment capabilities, despite the fact that only 40% appear to be investing in inventory management technology.

Each of Us Defines All of Us — Unalike Minded Together — It’s Our Differences That Unite Us

These are just a few of the phrases that embody who we are, what we do and why it matters at The University of New Mexico.

“This is a simple, consistent and authentic way of stating that UNM is the sum of its people and its parts,” said Cinnamon Blair, UNM’s Chief Marketing and Communications Officer. “Our differences in perspective and experience, our successes and opportunities. Every student, faculty member, employee, alum – everyone who loves this place contributes a piece to the UNM story.”

These words, and the images captured to reflect them, have been infused into the promotional materials developed as a part of the University’s brand initiative that began in the Fall of 2015. University Communication Marketing (UCAM) continues to lead the university-wide marketing and branding initiative as a way to reimagine how people define, view and experience UNM.

Over the past nine months, the brand initiative has gained momentum with new websites, updated advertising and a new brand tone and style.

“This way of expressing a broad spectrum of perspectives and feeling about UNM has found an anchor point in the brand all across the campus community. It has found new ways to expand. So many people here are sharing the brand in their own unique way,” said Blair. “That means people aren’t just adopting the UNM brand­—they’re living it, which is really the only way it can truly be successful.

« Seeing people take ownership of this brand is one of the best outcomes we could hope for. Our goal was to accurately depict UNM in a way that everyone here can share proudly, and I think we’re doing just that, together.”

Today, the University launched a 30-second commercial and extended format video, titled Unexpected on Purpose, which will have the broadest reach and be the most visible expression of the brand to date. The new promotional video will air on televised Lobo athletic games and will be used in a digital marketing campaign.
 

The primary objective of the promotional video is to attract new students to apply to UNM, supporting broad institutional enrollment goals. Blair believes the spot will also instill a sense of University pride in the greater community.

“The goal, of course, is to attract people to and build awareness of the value of UNM, but we hope that everyone already here, and all our alumni seeing this video will walk away saying ‘wow, I’m proud to be a part of that. This is UNM.’ We are showing off our programs and accolades, while highlighting the adventure and excitement that is a part of this institution and our great state,” Blair said.

Recognize the voice in the commercial? The video is narrated by Albuquerque Poet Laureate and Lobo alumnus Hakim Bellamy—another detail that makes the video representative of the University. The video showcases UNM’s unique campus, amazing students and picturesque state.

The video was produced by UNM’s branding agency, 160over90, and included New Mexico video production team, 82/92, in the filming.

“Throughout the brand initiative, it has been important to us that we keep much of the work local, as well as including our own staff and students. We are excited to be working with local talent whenever possible. They understand us. They understand and are a part of our state,” said Blair.

The video is just one of the many expressions of the UNM brand. The new award winning undergraduate recruitment publication and an online advertising campaign, are strategically targeted toward potential students and their families. Others representations, like the refresh of UNM’s homepage, are more universal and visible to the community.

In September, UCAM worked with two student organizations to host Silent Lights, a student-oriented, experiential homecoming silent disco and video projection event held on Smith Plaza that attracted more than 1,000 students, and won an international marketing video award.

Beyond the video, the advertising campaign launch will also include local outdoor and holiday display advertising. A mix of traditional and digital advertising will deliver messages to very specific audiences.

Facebook will be a teenager in 2017; the big 1-3. This thirteenth birthday, however, won’t be characterized by awkward voice changes, slow dances at arm’s length, or smiles decorated by lime-green braces. That’s because in social media years, 13 is more like 130.

In that time, you’ve become adept at Facebook marketing. You’re a genius when it comes to crafting beautiful, catchy posts and pairing them with images and videos that perfectly capture your brand’s essence. You’ve built an audience and you can tell, through the quality of the discussions you have with your audience via the platform, that you’re doing a great job.

But your boss doesn’t have the same intuition for your audience that you do. And she’s asking for data to back up your social media marketing efforts.

Over the years, Facebook has navigated innovative technological advancements and experimented with various business models. This is good news for your Facebook efforts: unlike newer platforms like Snapchat, Facebook has developed robust reporting features over time in order to best service brands on its platform. Of course, the platform’s data is not without their flaws: as recently as this past Wednesday, the platform was reporting glitches in its performance metrics—though it is working to improve its systems and measurement-related partnerships in an effort to quell potential issues in the future.

As noted in the first article of this series on the Content Standard, there are two major brand basics that have persisted throughout Facebook’s history: the Facebook Page and Ad Campaigns. Reach, engagement, and conversion can be applied to both of these basics, but we’ll focus most specifically on Ad Campaigns in the below Performance section.

And with that, we kick off our third article in this series and address what your boss cares the most about: numbers.

1. Reach

What: Simply put, reach demonstrates how many Facebook users you’re reaching with your posts. An ever-important marketing metric, reach contributes to brand awareness and, ultimately, the further nurturing of an audience.

How: When it comes to your Page metrics, reach can be measured by simply navigating to the Insights tab at the top of your Page.

The Reach section allows you to investigate how many people saw a given post, broken down into organic and paid (or “boosted”) efforts. This section further shows which posts solicit different levels and types of engagement, but we’ll dive deeper into that in our Engagement section. The reason this is included under Reach on Facebook is because posts that have more engagement show up more often in News Feed based on Facebook’s algorithms. This, in turn, positively affects reach. Conversely, posts that are hidden, reported as Spam, or Unliked have a smaller chance of showing up in News Feed and negatively affect reach.

The Page Views section on the Insights Tab measures a more passive reach by speaking to online presence. By knowing who visits your page, from where, and on what device, you can better analyze the audience your Facebook presence is reaching. The Page Views section breaks your page views down by section (timeline, photos, information), age, gender, city and device. Page Views, though, additionally shows who your external referrers are via Top Sources. Top Sources indicates how people are finding your page outside of Facebook, which is often through search engines or other business pages.

When: While Facebook posts don’t do any disappearing acts the way Snapchat posts do, their lifespans are relatively short. A few years ago, a Wisemetrics study showed that a post on Facebook typically achieves 75 percent of its reach in the first two hours and 30 minutes of its posting. So, depending on where you are in the process of developing a strategy, this is an area of measurement that can be evaluated at different cadences. When first experimenting with a specific strategy, for example, you might want to monitor each individual post on a daily basis to analyze reach results.

You can optimize your posting schedule and reach potential through another tool on Facebook reporting: Posts. This section of your Insights tab allows you to see when your fans are online, which can ultimately serve to inform peak times to post. Use this tab when analyzing your reach and strategizing how you can improve upon it.

Use the Page Views section when analyzing the quality of content in sections people are often visiting. Top sources is a great resource to use when informing how to best optimize your Facebook page for search.

*In Ad Manager, reach is clearly broken out for each campaign. Impressions are also collected to help calculate potential views and CPM (cost per 1,000 impressions).

2. Engagement

What: Engagement is the next, and most informative, level of measurement to consider. While you may have reached a certain amount of people with your Page, a post, or an ad, it’s more important to analyze if you are soliciting a reaction. Or better yet: an action. Liking, sharing, and commenting are all types of engagement that indicate your marketing efforts on Facebook are resonating with your audience.

How: The Insights tab on your Page additionally has a section for Likes. Here, you can see how many people have Liked your page over the course of a week, month, or quarter. You can see your Total Page Likes since Page creation as well as Net Likes. Net Likes more accurately represents the current state of your Page Likes, as it shows the number of new likes minus the number of Unlikes. It’s important to note that the new People section displays a breakdown of Page Likes by gender, age, and location. Similar to the Reach graph, the Likes graphs can be broken down into how many Likes are organic (came from friends of followers) and how many are considered paid (generated within a certain time period of advertising boosts).

In the Posts section, Facebook provides insight into the average reach and engagement on types of posts (photos, offers, links, statuses, etc.) to help examine which speak the most strongly to your audience.

For a deeper dive into reactions, comments, and shares on specific posts, let’s revisit the Reach section. This section is preferable for post-engagement analysis in that it breaks out reactions from comments from shares, which are notably different levels of engagement. For example: a Like is undoubtedly a good indicator of engagement, but a user that chooses to share that post to their personal network has taken the level of engagement a step further. Commenting and forming an actual written response to a post (perhaps tagging a specific friend in a post’s comment section) is additionally a level of engagement that can be considered a higher value than liking.

In terms of understanding engagement on a page level, the new Actions on Page section can be consulted to understand how many users (by age, gender, location, and device) clicked on page specifics like “get directions”, your phone number, your website, or action buttons.

Videos and messages are being prioritized with the new Page Insights roll out as well. Video metrics, which were also recently under scrutiny in the news, can now be found in a Video section, which allows you to see how many users are viewing your videos for longer than three seconds and how many are viewing for longer than 10 seconds. With the growth of Messenger for Business, a Messages section now tracks how many conversations you’ve had with your users.

When: Something to constantly monitor, engagement should heavily inform your Facebook marketing strategy. Like other areas of measurement, engagement should naturally be most consistently tracked when developing or assessing how to better tailor your posts for your audience.

If you’re just starting out, the Posts subsection allows you to watch other pages. This is helpful in terms of providing a benchmark. Seeing what type of engagement levels similar brands are working with and which types of posts are yielding the most success can only serve to better inform your own strategy.

*Engagement within Ad Campaigns can also be tracked in Ad Manager and is broken down by engagement, video engagement, app engagement, and carousel engagement.

3. Performance of Ad Campaigns

What: Ad Campaigns are a basic feature of Facebook that brands can take advantage of. When building an Ad Campaign in the Ad Manager tool, audience, schedule, destination, and cost are chosen in relation to an objective relating either to awareness, consideration, or conversion. Because ad building is such an important component of marketing on Facebook, the platform gives its due diligence to tracking how these campaigns perform.

How: Reporting on ad performance can be found in Ads Manager, so that managing, tracking, and measuring can all happen in a central place. The performance tab is the default view, and it shows delivery status, results, reach, cost (the average you paid for each action associated with your objective), and total amount spent on any given campaign. Depending on your objectives, the Ad Manager reporting interface allows you to dive deeper into your marketing funnel by tracking monetary value or any offline conversions from your efforts.

When: Keeping a diligent eye on your ad performance enables you to spot trends over time. These results can help you adjust features of your campaign like images, budget, or targeted audience and make edits to any existing campaigns in Ads Manager accordingly.

It’s Only a Teenage Wasteland

Reach, engagement, and ad performance metrics shouldn’t make you cry, or raise your eye (necessary The Who reference), though, seeing that they’re easily obtainable thanks to Facebook’s veteran social media status. Measuring success on the platform is straightforward and intuitive, allowing you to craft a Facebook marketing strategy that works for your content and brand.

Stay tuned for the final installation of this series: overlooked features of your Facebook strategy.