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2 Jun 2017
Part 1
How tagging leads to improved website performance & personalized marketing campaigns
If you’ve ever had a discussion with your web team about your site’s performance, chances are the subject of tagging has come up at one point or another. While there are intricacies to creating and maintaining a successful tagging program, the main idea is simple: by knowing exactly how and when people are interacting with your content, you can learn what is or isn’t working, who your audiences are, and the best way to communicate directly with them. We’ve outlined some basic concepts around tagging, including why it’s important and how to make the most out of the information acquired through the process.
What is tagging?
Tagging is a vital website maintenance function that allows companies and individuals to track how people interact with specific types of content on their website, whether it’s how many people are using your RFP meeting form, making restaurant reservations, or just visiting your accommodations page.
Tagging sets the foundation for Cendyn’s website tracking and reporting service – including RFPs, forms and specific web page visits. This allows us to see what areas are getting the most traffic and what areas need improvement, as well as KPIs that can be tracked on a website. Clients usually make recommendations about which web pages or forms they want tagged, but we also have a standard set of tags that we set up for each client – including event RFPs, reservation forms for activities and restaurants, and so on.
Why is tagging important?
Tagging shows us how many people are visiting and interacting with the content on any given website. By looking at the data those tags provide, we can create specific audiences, and then remarket to those audiences personalized digital marketing campaigns. Tags will also show if people are not interacting with the content, which lets us know something isn’t working and it’s time to revisit that particular part of the website to see how and where it can be improved.
Is there such a thing as too much or too little tagging?
Honestly, there really is no such thing as too much tagging, but there are limitations. For example, certain booking engines won’t let us tag their backend where we would like to. So, the goal is to determine the best amount of tags based on the number of pages in a website’s navigation or site structure, as well as how many forms there are on the site. If there are restaurant booking pages, those are also a priority as well as special offers/packages. These are all pages where, as the website owner, you want clear information on performance and reader interaction.
Something we are currently working at Cendyn is tagging specific room types to see what potential guests are most interested in. This will also be valuable when creating remarketing campaigns for those website visitors. One of my goals for the company’s AdOps Department is to push the limits of what we can tag and getting down into a very granular view of how people are interacting with our client’s websites. The more specific information we can gather, the more insights we can generate to help our hospitality clients create effective and robust web presences that speak directly to their target audiences.
What technology is used?
At Cendyn, we use Google Tag Manager as well as Google Analytics, DoubleClick Campaign Manager (DCM), and DoubleClick Bid Manager. It’s a suite of web-based applications that work together to create comprehensive reporting for our clients.
Stay tuned for Part 2 next week!
