Travel Marketing: Top 10 reasons why your social media campaign is failing

Through our search concerning social media strategies we fell upon an older article showcasing the results of a survey identifying the 10 reasons why social media campaigns fails. Considering the fact that a social media campaign should be an end result of a coherent social media strategy, it is interesting to see how little things have changed, if not in the percentages then in the actual issues marketers, especially in tourism, are faced with.

A German think tank interviewed over 500 marketing professionals in 12 European countries about their knowledge of social media. Their findings explain why so many social media campaigns fail.

Many marketers of travel and tourism brands are asking the same question these days. "Why is my social media campaign failing to meet my expectations?”

Brand Science Institute, a German think tank, recently interviewed 563 marketers representing 52 brands in 12 countries on their knowledge of social media.

Their answers point to 10 reasons why social media campaigns fail:

1. 96% of the participants said they did not share their social media experience throughout the company
2. 89% of the participants said their companies had no social media guidelines
3. 87% had unrealistic expectations at the start of the campaign
4. 84% tried to gauge the success of their social media campaigns against standard media measurements
5. 81% of companies surveyed lacked a clear social media strategy
6. 76% said their legal departments hindered their success
7. 76% didn’t understand they had to moderate their social media projects
8. 73% of projects had to demonstrate a financial return after 12 months
9. 72% thought social media must be viral
10. 68% didn’t understand the 90-9-1 principle

Using social media to enhance your travel, tourism or attraction marketing is a great idea. But to ensure success on the back end, make sure you have established clear guidelines and benchmarks on the front end.

Sources: www.bsi.ag, 5to9branding.com