Visual content curator and distributor, ICE Portal, has announced a partnership with Yext, a platform for location data management. This partnership will allow hospitality suppliers within ICE Portal’s network to access Yext’s platform and significantly expand their distribution across Yext’s PowerListings Network.
Yext’s Location Management Platform enables businesses of all sizes to easily manage their location information, including name, address and phone, as well as enhanced content, such as photos, videos and special offers. Yext’s technology lets businesses update this information in real-time across their websites, mobile apps, internal systems and the PowerListings Network of maps, apps, search engines, directories including Google, Apple, Facebook, Bing and Yahoo, to drive more brand awareness and brick-and-mortar foot traffic, and increase sales.
ICE Portal offers a cloud-based visual content management system where hotels and resorts can organize, optimize, and distribute high-resolution photos, videos, and 360 virtual tours. Forty-five thousand hotels and resorts use ICE Portal’s CMS to deliver their visual content to travelers through thousands of distribution channels – OTAs, GDSs, Search and Social sites.
ICE’s supplier photos and associated metadata along with Yext’s extended publisher network make this integration valuable for clients using both services. ICE Portal will deliver the hotels’ visual content via an automated connection that updates weekly. New clients are able to be set up quickly and easily. “We are excited to help our clients get more visibility to more channels, including the local search providers that are tied in with Yext. This provides a lot of value to the traveling consumers,” stated Henry Woodman, President of ICE Portal.
This partnership will help clients significantly improve brand awareness, as local search activity has increased rapidly over the last decade due to the rise of mobile. According to Google, four out of five consumers conduct local searches online to find business information such as store hours, address, directions, and product availability. The Google study also showed that consumers are using multiple platforms and devices to find this local business information, with 88% of consumers using their smartphones to conduct local searches and 84% claiming to do so on desktop. This consumer behavior emphasizes the importance of the location data management capabilities that Yext’s platform offers, which ensures that brands’ location information is always accurate and complete wherever consumers are searching.
“Mobile-empowered consumers are constantly searching for information about their local environment, and rich content, such as photos and videos, have been proven to vastly improve customer engagement,” notes Jeffrey K. Rohrs, Yext’s Chief Marketing Officer. “This partnership will help businesses leverage the power of rich content and comprehensive network reach to ensure they are optimizing their local digital presence and driving more sales.”
Indeed, research from Yext’s 2015 Comparative Listings Study showed that listings with rich content (like photos, videos and descriptions) received 45%-61% more views. Profile views were lifted 1.61x if the business utilized the photo gallery feature and 1.59x if they uploaded videos. The results of this enhanced user experience clearly show the value of this integration.
Not only does this partnership open doors for hotels and resorts to extend their distribution, it allows for other travel suppliers like dining, attractions and shopping to showcase their visuals. Other businesses using Yext’s platform will now be able to take advantage of ICE Portal’s visual content management system and optimize their listings with images.
