The Use of Social Media by Hospitality and Tourism Organizations - Case Study Example

SUMMARY: Social Media is the new marketing platform that is effectively used by different organizations that make them heard in the world of internet. There are different social media networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Flickr, Orkut, Hi5 etc. which are being used by different organizations for the purpose of viral marketing and creating awareness. Like many other organizations, different destination marketing organizations have also understood the importance of social media in the technological world from where they can easily reach out to their targeted audience and it can make their presence feel in an advanced way. Social media network can be used as an effective tool to promote and market different destinations around the world and to increase awareness in the minds of the people. This paper explains the importance of social media network. Effective use of social media networks can help the destination marketing organizations and other hospitality and tourism organizations in attracting the maximum number of potential travelers. These social media websites can be used as a marketing tool in promoting different destinations. This paper analyzes the different strategies implemented by both DMOs and Non-DMOs through social media websites. It is important to understand that how hospitality and tourism industry is using this social medium to create an impact in the minds of their customers. This paper explains the use of social media networks by DMOs and Non-DMOs and their presence on social media websites. Few examples of DMOs and Non-DMOs are explained in the form of screenshots for the better understanding of their activities, popularity and other marketing campaigns on well known social media networks. Furthermore, the paper concludes on recommendations and suggestions that how these DMOs and Non-DMOs can improve their marketing activities on social media networks and how they can attract more people through this widely spread platform. Social Media: Social Media provides a medium or a platform for social interaction. Social media is facilitated with different tools for technological communication that has changed the shift of traditional communication into a more interactive one (Kietzmann et.al, 2011). Over the years, social media has changed the way of communication between different individuals, organizations and communities. In this age of globalization, social media provides an ease in communication and interaction among different individuals belonging from different parts of the world with different cultural backgrounds. There are now a large number of social media sites that provide a strong network for global communication and interaction to the users. Social media sites include YouTube, DailyMotion, Facebook, Twitter, Digg, HubPages and many more. These sites provide a platform to people to interact and communicate with each other from around the globe on similar interests. The usage of social media websites vary from person to person. Some people use social media websites as a source of fun while some use these sites as a source for networking and making social contacts. Organizations and enterprises use social media websites as a medium for viral marketing, creating awareness and attracting more customers in a cost-effective method. These websites are important for the growth of any business. These sites enable organizations to interact directly with the people from around the world. These websites serves different purposes to different people and organizations. Social media websites can help a business to make its position strong on the search engine ranking. Organizations prefer social media marketing as an integral part of their online marketing. Organizations can get a chance to drive more traffic to their websites by getting inbound links from these websites. Search engines recognize inbound links. Similarly, websites with higher number of inbound links get on the higher rankings. For Example, when organizations share their information on different social media; fans and followers tend to share them with their networks and shared content automatically go viral. Visibility on social media has a direct impact on search engines rankings and it is always good to have better search engine rankings for organizations. This strategy enables the organizations to target their potential customers and to maximize their profits. Examples of Social Media Websites: Social media websites include YouTube, Orkut, Hi5, LinkedIn, MySpace, Delicious, Flickr, Google+, StumbleUpon and many more. Facebook and Twitter are one of the most well known sites, while Orkut and Hi5 are the least known. 1-FACEBOOK: Facebook is one of the most famous social media platforms, which enable its users to install different applications to personalize their profiles and allow different kinds of user customization. Users are informed of the activities of other people in their network through a notification. Facebook provides an ease in communication and interaction with other users. It is a user-friendly website. It also provides an easy access through mobile phones. Users can join any group, community page, hold events or can participate in different contests without any hassle. It has become easier for different organizations and advertisers to target the audience in a more focused manner. Facebook provides them an unlimited opportunity in creating brand awareness in the minds of people. One can generate a moderate traffic to his website through “Share” and “Like” buttons. The main aim is to target the interested people only for a better brand exposure. Facebook is an ideal platform for connecting with family, friends and other people, sending invitations to the people for any event, advertising and marketing. 2- TWITTER: Twitter is another famous social media platform that provides the facility of microblogging. This system enables the users to send at least 140 messages. Initially, Twitter was aimed as a medium for communication between family, friends and other acquaintances but with the passage of time, it has evolved into a strong medium for sharing other global information, feeds and news. It has provided an ease in communication, following the words of other people about you and spreading any information in real time without any hassle. Twitter has been used as an effective tool for advertising and marketing by different enterprises. Twitter can generate good traffic on any website if it is used properly. Hi5 and Orkut are few of the social media websites with least popularity and fame among other social media websites due to small number of users and failed strategies. 1- Hi5: Hi5 is a less known social media website that provides online gaming facility with a limited user interaction. People have lacked interest from Hi5 due to limited user interaction and complicated user interface. It has failed to target any organization or an enterprise that would have taken it to popularity. 2- ORKUT: There are many reasons that why Orkut has been a least popular or a less known social media platform. Orkut has failed in providing better privacy setting to its users unlike Facebook. Secondly, it has failed to cater the needs of different enterprises and organizations in helping them to create their brand exposure. There is no option of “Like” and “Share” which can generate traffic to the main website. As compare to Facebook, users are not facilitated with different applications and user-friendly customization. However, Orkut is trying its level best to get back into the competition but it seemed impossible for this social media website to gain popularity just like Facebook or Twitter. Use of Social Media by Hospitality & Tourism Organizations (non-DMOs): Hospitality and Tourism Organizations play an important role in the direct marketing of different tourism attractions around the world. Such organizations provide the customers with basic travel packages that include ticket fare, accommodation and different trip packages to famous attractions and tourist destinations in groups. The advent of internet has made life simple and easier for all the people around the world. It has left its deep impact on almost all the categories including hospitality and tourism sector. It has been estimated that around 83% people who travel search on internet for best available packages and deals as compared to 71% of the general public (Beirne, 2007). It has been noticed that websites that provide detailed information on different travel offers, travel reviews on hotels, best airlines and tourist attractions from travel experts and travel journals are gaining popularity among consumers. We cannot ignore the fact that social media network has played an important role in providing authentic information to such consumers and through social media network consumers can interact with each other. Social media network can act as a platform for all the tourists around the world to share their travel experiences, can suggest different tourist attractions to each other with reasonable rates for accommodation and air fares. Appendix 1 demonstrates the examples of two hospitality and tourism organizations that have effectively used social media platform to interact with their potential consumers, giving them detailed information on different tourism destinations along with best packages available and travel guidance. In Fig 1 of Appendix 1, < http://twitter.com/#!/Dubai_Packages> the travel company has tweeted different packages and travel information related to Dubai for its valued customers whereas on the other hand, consumers have even provided their positive feedback on every tweet. The hospitality and tourism organizations can attract a large number of consumers through these social media networks by offering travel discounts, different contests, promotions and personalization. In Fig 2 of Appendix 1, the company “Joy Travels Pvt Ltd” < http://www.facebook.com/Joytravelscom > has given detailed information on all the major tourist destinations to the customers through its Facebook page. Customers can easily get into an interaction with the page administrator who can assist them with any query or travel information required by the customers. It has been noticed that these private travel agents play an important role between the producers (hotels, airlines, rental car firms) and the consumers (travelers). Internet has played an important role in shaping the future of these travel agents. In Fig 3 of Appendix 1, Jacyln Amorso (2011) in her article, “Travel agents and social media”explains in that social media has helped the organizations in increasing their sales and customer loyalty. The author describes that non-DMOs and private travel agents can benefit themselves by choosing the right social media space for networking and destination marketing. According to Jacyln Amorso (2011) non-DMOs can effectively use social media sites as an invaluable tool through which they can market their travel packages even before their competitors directly to their network. For example, Tourism Australia (http://www.facebook.com/SeeAustralia) is the best example of a non-DMO using Facebook space as an effective marketing tool. On their Facebook page, they ask their customers to share their travel pictures and experiences with other people which will make other people to travel to Australia using their services. Through internet these travel agents can maximize their business and can attract more consumers through their presence on the social media networks and effectively contribute in providing them the best quality services on reasonable and affordable packages (Lewis & Talalayevsky, 1997). Use of Social Media by Destination Marketing Organizations: The technological revolution in recent times has greatly affected the destination marketing organizations (Schwanen & Kwan, 2008). With the growing number of internet users increasing day by day worldwide have provided travelers with different channels of communication, new modes for interaction that has helped travelers to obtain the right travel information from anywhere in the world. The advent of modern web technology has facilitated the travelers to a greater extent. DMOs and other travel agencies have recognized the value of new technology. Without realizing the importance of internet and the new technology, it is impossible for the DMOs and other private travel agents to satisfy their customers at level best (Cline & Warner, 1999). Social media has played an important role in making a strong position for all the DMOs in the market. It has been observed that social media has played an effective part in producing useful travel content, travel information and advises to the customers through direct communication and interaction by using these social mediums. In an article “How DMO Use Social Media” by Michael J. Shapiro (2010), the author has explained that how DMOs have used the cyber space as a medium for online marketing of their organizations. The information posted on social media websites is aimed to target the potential travelers and the residents. These sites have enabled DMOs to compete with their rivals in the tourism industry in a more advanced manner. Social media websites help these DMOs to build personal connections with the people, to disseminate travel information and to provide guidance to leisure travelers. The author further explains that this social media strategy has enabled the DMOs to become more actively involved with their potential customers through an online discussion on Facebook and Twitter. Now it is becoming extremely imperative for all the DMOs to acquaint themselves with the latest internet technology and to train their employees with the use of such social media websites and how they can effectively create destination awareness in the minds of other people from around the world. Social media sites such as Youtube and DailyMotion have provided an ease to all the DMOs to upload their promotional videos and pictures as well as these websites have also provided an opportunity to the customers to follow the links and travel videos uploaded by other fellow travelers of famous tourist destinations. Social media websites provide a platform to the customers and the people to share, comment, upload videos and photos which help in creating awareness and it can be used as a tool for destination marketing by a lot of DMOs. People can share their travel experiences with each other; they can consult and interact online with the staff members from any of the DMOs. Social media websites are gaining popularity due to its creditability of information and direct access to the source. We have an example of a Swedish DMO, “Visit Sweden” which has effectively used social media as a platform for its destination marketing. In Fig 1 of Appendix 2, Visit Sweden has used Facebook page as its main source of interaction with the people from around the globe< http://www.facebook.com/visitsweden>. On their Facebook page they invite people to share their holiday pictures in Sweden with the other people, share their travel experience and comment on their life in Sweden through discussions and posts. In Fig 2 of Appendix 2, they have used Youtube; another social media space for uploading videos of Sweden< http://www.youtube.com/Sweden>. This would help them to attract different people to famous Swedish attractions, cultural and Swedish cuisines and music. Social media websites are playing an important role as compare to other traditional websites published online by DMOs mainly due to the presence of information shared on them by genuine sources such as by travelers themselves. Social media websites are not commercial websites therefore, majority of the people find confidence in relying upon the information available on such websites (Fox, 2008). Figure 4 of Appendix 2, represents the presence of a DMO on social media network. This figure illustrates that how the company NJ Southern Shore has effectively used this medium as a source of destination market < http://www.facebook.com/pages/NJ-Southern-Shore-DMO/242219239122067>. This DMO has shared pictures and promotional videos on its main Facebook page with the people in their network which can attract them to visit the great city New Jersey. They have also liked different pages which are related to NJ Southern Shore for promoting its own page on the internet via Facebook. Example of a DMO using Social Media: Now it has become easier for internet users to access to any information they want from anywhere around the world. Due to internet and the latest technology, the world has shrunk into a small village. Social media has played an important role in disseminating the travel information to all the people who look for relevant information on the internet. The travel information available on the internet can be accessed through different mediums such as Blogs, emails, Newsletters, Social media websites including YouTube, Dailymotion, Facebook, Twitter and travel reviews. The more effectively a DMO uses a social media platform for destination marketing, the more quickly it gains a market position in the hospitality and tourism industry. An example of DMO using social media websites has been illustrated in Appendix 2. The famous NYCGO.COM is a DMO that provides authentic and official travel guide on New York City to all the travelers around the world. NYCGO has effectively used the social media network as its platform to reach out to the maximum number of travelers around the world without any hassle. In Fig 1 of Appendix 3, the NYCGO has effectively used YouTube as a social medium for uploading its promotional videos related to New York City which can easily target a large number of potential customers. YouTube enables the customers to get a virtual tour of the destination they are planning to visit. Majority of national tourism organizations are using this medium to make a deep impact on the minds of the potential travelers. NYCGO has highlighted different famous places and attractions present in New York City in the videos which can easily attract anyone who has never been to New York City ever before in life. In Fig 2 of Appendix 3, NYCGO has effectively used Facebook as an authentic and easiest social medium to interact with a number of different customers. Social media enables a customer to get in direct interaction with the DMOs just like NYCGO has cultivated direct interactions with their customers with both existing and potential ones, answers to all their queries, helps them in planning their vacations in NYC and also assists them in finding the right hotel to stay with best airlines to travel. In Fig 3 of Appendix 3, NYCGO has also used Blogging space as a medium to reach out to all the possible internet users. This strategy will help NYCGO to make a strong position in the market, to become known and familiar to all the groups on the internet, improve its search engine ranking, medium for attracting more customers and this would also help the company to improve its viral marketing in a cost effective manner. Conclusion: Social media has provided an ease in communication and interaction to all the internet users. It has been noticed that internet users spend most of their time on such social networking sites. It provides a stable yet a quick way to promote any destination around the world. DMOs and Non-DMOs can facilitate their companies by using these social media sites as a tool for destination promotion and other marketing activities. These companies should focus on training their employees with the basics of how to use such sites more effectively and how they can reach to maximum number of people. These companies can make a deep impact on the minds of their customers through such social networking sites; if they are used efficiently and effectively. APPENDIX 1; FIG1; FIG 2: FIG3: FIG 4: APPENDIX 2: FIG1: FIG 2: FIG3: FIG 4: APPENDIX 3: FIG1 FIG2: FIG3: List of References: Beirne, M. (2007). Travelers Go and Tell, Tourism Sites Show and Sell. Brandweek, 48(17), 14. Cline, R. S., & Warner, M.M. (1999). Hospitality 2000: The Technology. DC: Arthur Andersen. “Dubai Tourism: tourism guide and information.” accessed on 24th November, 2011. Fox, J. T (2008). Virtual Tourism: New sites offer inside looks at tourist destinations. Travel Agent, 332(90), 87-88. Joy-Travel Pvt Ltd. accessed on 24th November, 2011. Jacyln Amorso (2011). Travel Agents and the Social Media. < http://www.onqmarketing.com.au/travel-agents-and-social-media/> accessed on 26th November 2011. Kietzmann, H. Jan., Hermkens, K., McCarthy, P.Ian., Silvestre, S.Bruno (2011). Social media? Get serious! Understanding the functional building blocks of social media. Business Horizons 54 (3), 241-251 Lewis, I., & Talalayevsky, A. (1997). Travel Agents: Threatened Intermediaries? Transportation Journal, 36(3), 26-30 Shapiro, J. Michael (2010). How DMOs Use Social Media. < http://www.meetings-conventions.com/articles_ektid32020.aspx> accessed on 26th November, 2011 NJ Southern Shore. < http://www.njsouthernshore.com/> accessed 26th November, 2011. Schwanen, T., & Kwan, M. (2008). The internet, mobile phone and space-time constraints. Geoforum, 39, 1362-1377. See Australia. < http://www.australia.com/> accessed 26th November, 2011. The Official Guide. accessed 26th November, 2011. Visit Sweden. < http://www.visitsweden.com/sweden/> accessed 26th November, 2011. Read More