Information and Communication Technologies advances, the development of social media and of mobile devices have changed the customers’ journey and the ways consumers interact with companies. The modern customers are more demanding, and they are looking for engaging experiences with peers and with brands they love. Social media give to both consumers and marketers the opportunity to interact, becoming also an important channel for customer care: “social care”. Although, at present, social media are mainly marketing and communication tools rather than separate retail channels, the ability to engage customers by means of social media could increase customer loyalty, electronic word-of-mouth and consequently this could have important effects on corporate sales and revenues. Therefore, social media marketing is moving from brand marketing to conversions and sales. These changes affect in particular the travel sector. Due to the difficulties the tourist has in evaluating an intangible service prior to the consumption, Social media are widely adopted by travellers in all the steps of the travel journey: to gather information, travel planning, decide where to stay and share experiences. User-generated content of other customers supports the travellers especially in the steps of information searching, holiday planning and purchase decisions. In such a context, the development of social media strategies tuned with “social” consumers’ expectations becomes increasingly important. Therefore, travel companies should understand which are the most appropriate ways of using social media and the key elements of a successful integrated marketing strategy. With this in mind, the aim of this study is to investigate the use of social media in the hospitality industry. In particular, the purpose is to compare the results of a previous study (Minazzi, Lagrosen, 2014) with the current situation (2018) and then to understand whether and how social media approaches have changed over time. Main research questions concern: which are the dimensions that influence the use of social networks and which are the ways used by hotel brands to interact with customers by means of social networks? Quantitative and qualitative research methods have been combined to identify a group of items useful to comprehend the way in which hotels interact with customers on social media. Facebook was chosen as the one still most used by main hotels.
Social Media Marketing in the Hospitality Industry: The Evolution of European Hotels’ Approaches from 2012 to 2018
R. Minazzi;A. Panno
2019-01-01
Abstract
Information and Communication Technologies advances, the development of social media and of mobile devices have changed the customers’ journey and the ways consumers interact with companies. The modern customers are more demanding, and they are looking for engaging experiences with peers and with brands they love. Social media give to both consumers and marketers the opportunity to interact, becoming also an important channel for customer care: “social care”. Although, at present, social media are mainly marketing and communication tools rather than separate retail channels, the ability to engage customers by means of social media could increase customer loyalty, electronic word-of-mouth and consequently this could have important effects on corporate sales and revenues. Therefore, social media marketing is moving from brand marketing to conversions and sales. These changes affect in particular the travel sector. Due to the difficulties the tourist has in evaluating an intangible service prior to the consumption, Social media are widely adopted by travellers in all the steps of the travel journey: to gather information, travel planning, decide where to stay and share experiences. User-generated content of other customers supports the travellers especially in the steps of information searching, holiday planning and purchase decisions. In such a context, the development of social media strategies tuned with “social” consumers’ expectations becomes increasingly important. Therefore, travel companies should understand which are the most appropriate ways of using social media and the key elements of a successful integrated marketing strategy. With this in mind, the aim of this study is to investigate the use of social media in the hospitality industry. In particular, the purpose is to compare the results of a previous study (Minazzi, Lagrosen, 2014) with the current situation (2018) and then to understand whether and how social media approaches have changed over time. Main research questions concern: which are the dimensions that influence the use of social networks and which are the ways used by hotel brands to interact with customers by means of social networks? Quantitative and qualitative research methods have been combined to identify a group of items useful to comprehend the way in which hotels interact with customers on social media. Facebook was chosen as the one still most used by main hotels.
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