10 Hotel Social Media Marketing Mistakes You Should Avoid NOW

Let’s admit the fact that social media can make or break anyone’s image. Be it a brand or an individual. A small mistake or great deed can make you a trend on social media platforms.

Recently, I was surfing on the internet, and I came across this hysterical tweet. Apparently, a man had booked a room at a hotel. 

When he went into the room, he spotted a mouse there. The man recorded the video and uploaded it on Twitter with a caption- 

“Hey, I have Jerry in my room. Can you please bring Tom into my room?” 

It was just a matter of time, the video went viral, and netizens took a hilarious dig on it.

But, that tweet did give the hotel some exposure (Although negative, but the hotel came into the limelight).

So you see, social media is indeed a powerful weapon. If not used wisely, it can damage your reputation. Today, in this blog, we will talk about…

What are some common mistakes in hotel social media marketing?

With the dawn of the internet era, hotels found new ways to market their hotel. When social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram came into the picture, the hospitality industry saw a new approach to marketing.

Hotels are now using these platforms to promote their business. But, every marketing technique has its own set of dos and don’ts.

In one of my previous blogs, I addressed how the hospitality industry uses social media to attract maximum guests. So, moving on to the next step let’s understand 10 hotel social media marketing mistakes that you should avoid.

a. Inactive for a long time

A couple of months ago, I took a break from social media. Result? 

I saw a fall in the count of my followers. With zero activity on the profile, my page rankings dipped down.

Similarly, when you leave your hotel’s social media listings inactive for a long time, it affects the visitors’ traffic. And eventually, you’ll see a drop in your followers.

Guests tend to check your most recent post on social media platforms. But they won’t find anything relevant on your inactive page; which will leave a negative impression on them.

Eventually, they would opt out of booking your hotel.

b. Zero interaction with audience

It feels odd, when someone doesn’t acknowledge my comment on social media pages. I am sure, you must be feeling the same way.

When you reply to a comment, it implies that you are concerned about the audience visiting your page. In fact, when users leave comments on my photographs, I tend to check and give them an instant reply.

Moreover, I go one step further by visiting those users’ profiles and share my feedback on their posts. It is a kind of good gesture that creates an engagement between me and them.

Now, everytime I post an update, I get views, likes and comments from them. Many of them share my feed on their profiles as a part of promotion.

But, there are many pages where there is least audience engagement. One of the common mistakes in social media marketing includes not replying to comments and reviews.

Also, many hotels ignore the FAQs asked by guests. The questions mostly pertain to hotel’s services. Not replying to them shows that you are not concerned about your guests.

Zero or least audience interaction is one of the grave hotel social media marketing mistakes.

c. Inconsistent campaigns on social media

Being inactive is one thing and being irregular with your posts is another. All social media platforms work on certain algorithms.

The basic one is – A higher engagement rate would result in gaining more followers and page impressions.

For instance, when I post my photographs on any social media platform, I try to do it on weekends or at night when user activity is high.

But what if I made an update at irregular intervals? Say two posts in a week, then dead silence for a month. Then I repeat the same process next month. It would seem odd, right?

Similarly, this concept applies to hotels (or rather, any business). Your followers (READ: potential guests) wait for your posts eagerly.

With irregular marketing campaigns, you tend to lose their interest. Moreover, such campaigns will not deliver you any results and jeopardise your goals. 

It’s better to create a calendar and plan your posts with certain time lapse to let the audience soak in the information.

You can invest in various software that helps you in scheduling your posts. Once you feed in the details, it will automatically send out timely updates. But, if you don’t want to invest any amount, here’s a tried and tested pro-tip:

Pro-tip: Post 1 update pertaining to your hotel once in 3 days. It will garner the attention of audience, thereby attracting better traffic in your next post.

d. Over promoting the hotel

One of the common mistakes in social media marketing includes over promoting. Some hotel pages that I follow, update 3-4 posts daily. 

After a while it became annoying and I had to unfollow those pages. It’s odd to see posts from a single source all over your feed. Moreover, it portrays that the brand is taking the hard sell approach. 

It’s not necessary to have every post as brand centric. The moment you start emphasizing on your hotel brand rather than relevant content, you are sure to drive away the guests. 

You can use the one-in-seven rule. Basically, out of seven posts, keep one about your brand and optimise rest for general content. This will help you achieve the required impact on the audience.

e. Improper presentation of the hotel

Two things that attract guests are:

1. Informative content about your hotel’s services
2. High-quality photos and videos of your property

Missing on either of these can result in losing potential guests.

Let me share an interesting case I read sometime ago. A guy tweeted a screenshot of the hotel he found on Instagram. 

The property’s listing had images of ruined beach-side shacks and was priced at 100$ per room per night.

Soon, it became viral leaving netizens in splits.

But, it was definitely a learning experience for the hotelier. So, I would advise you to focus on the quality of the content you write and the photos you use to represent your property.

Ensure that the content is crisp and upto the mark. Also, check for SEO optimisation and the readability score. 

Additionally, consider investing in professional photography for your property. Trust me, your guests will thank you.

f. Approaching the wrong audience

Every marketing campaign has a target audience. The templates, content, and offers are different for each segment.

Let’s say, if you are running a hostel, your target audience would be backpackers and solo travellers. But, if you run ads for every segment of guests, including families or couples, it will give you negligible results.

It would be an entire waste of time, effort, and money. For that reason, it is important to focus on a relevant audience when promoting your hotel on social media.

g. Poor brand profiling

An incomplete or old profile is sure to capture zero attention of guests. I came across many hotels on Facebook and Google, with incorrect contact information, missing details or no photos.

I would strike off such hotels from my options. And that’s a trait common among every guest. 

If you are creating your hotel’s page, don’t miss any details. Be it operating hours, amenities offered, or FAQs; update every section.

The way you present your hotel’s profile on any social media impacts guests’ decisions while booking their stay with you.

h. Using irrelevant hashtags and extra profile tags

Whenever I upload any photo on my Instagram or Facebook page, I tend to use relevant hashtags and tag accounts. It gives me an opportunity to connect with people with similar interests.

For example, the last photo I uploaded was of a waterfall. So obviously, my relevant hashtags were:

#mountains,

#waterfall,

#nature, and so on.

Meanwhile, I tagged accounts working in a similar genre.

With that, I gained a good amount of visibility on my profile and an increase in followers. But I ensured that I was not overusing these hashtags and accounts.

The reason is that it will make my post look overstuffed. Plus, any irrelevant hashtags or accounts will affect my reach among the audience.

I would suggest you not to go gaga with these hashtags or accounts to promote your hotel. Instead, use less but relevant ones to attract maximum guests and impressions.

i. Missing Call-to-Action (CTA) 

I often come across some profiles on social media trying to promote their business. However, most of them are unaware that they could either create a business profile or convert their existing one.

With a business profile, you get access to CTAs. It will guide your profile visitors to take certain actions such as call, message, or visit the website.

Hotels need to have CTA on their social media handles. There’s no point if guests just view your property’s page and move ahead.

When you post any update about your hotel, launch a campaign or promote Facebook events, ensure that you have CTA enabled on them. 

One of the main goals of social media platforms is to generate maximum leads. Missing CTA on pages is one of the hotel social media marketing mistakes that creates a barrier in achieving this goal.

j. Following every ongoing trend

Everyday there is a new trend going on social media. I am sure you have heard about some of these challenges, such as 10 year difference, dalgona coffee, flip the bottle, and so on.

Most of the time, these challenges are irrelevant to the hospitality industry. So, you should avoid being a trend bandwagon.

Blindly following any trend or challenge is one of the common mistakes in hotel social media marketing.