Social Media Marketing
The hotel industry has been competitive during the last decade due to new hotels being opened every day, more tourist destinations having been discovered, and fare prices having decreased by the day to lure more customers to the hotels (Sigala, Christou, & Gretzel, 2012). To survive in such a hostile and competitive business environment, hotel managers have to become creative and devise new ways to market their distinctive businesses. This will significantly increase the brand awareness and attract more customers in the long run. Consequently, the advancement of technology has created new, effective, and less costly means of marketing products to a diverse profile of customers in countries all over the world.
One of the most effective tools of marketing that came because of the advancement of technology and invention of the Internet is social media platforms. tools have created an effective way of communicating information across the world. Moreover, the Internet has made the world to become a global village. Therefore, the social media platforms have evidently created a unique way of dissemination information to people who are almost a thousand miles way just at the click of a button.
Definition of the Current Market Situation
Social media is defined as computer-mediated technologies that enable the sharing of a wide range of information across networks or virtual communities (Sigala et al., 2012). The platforms involve the creation of an online profile, which includes a variety of personal or business information depending on whether it is an individual account or a company page. Indeed, these platforms have enabled companies to reduce the cost and time significantly, which it took to share information to a specific target audience.
In the hotel industry, social media has been considerably useful. Most companies have used the platforms to reach a wide and remote customer base through their aggressive online advertising campaigns. The platforms have also made customer service management much easier as they allow instant communication between the hotel and the customers instantly; thus, significantly improving the quality of customer services (Sigala et al., 2012). However, the social media platforms are also vulnerable to some challenges due to security issues, the sensitivity of the information being conveyed, and different interpretations of published information. Examples of these platforms include Facebook, WhatsApp, and Twitter.
The table below display different information related to the use of Facebook as a marketing tool. The information is sourced from Facebook pages of two chain and independent hotel companies in the hospitality industry.
Table 1: Facebook in Marketing
| Chain Hotels | Independent Hotels | |
| Management Items | · Photos of different locations in the world. · Posters of customer rewards schemes. | · Photos of different locations in the world. · Posters of customer rewards schemes. |
| Customer Items | · Shared photos are showing customer’s experience in different hotels. | · Shared photos are showing customer’s experience in different hotels. |
| Benefits of Management | · Provides an effective way to inform customers of different products that they offer. · Reliable, fast and extremely easy way to communicate to offer customer care services. | · Provides an effective way to inform customers of different products that they offer. · Reliable, fast and extremely easy way to communicate to offer customer care services. |
| Benefits to Customers | · Offers an easy way of reporting complaints, book boarding facilities in advance, and access to reliable information that guides the customer’s purchasing decisions. | · Offers an easy way of reporting complaints, book boarding facilities in advance, and access to reliable information, which guides the customer’s purchasing decisions. |
| Disadvantages | · Security concerns may ruin the reputation of a company once inappropriate information is published through their accounts. · Different cultures appeal to different sensitivities, which make it necessary to factor the different cultures to publish the intended business message in a sensitive manner cautiously. | · Security concerns that may ruin the reputation of a company once inappropriate information is published through their accounts. · Different cultures appeal to different sensitivities, which make it necessary to factor the different cultures to publish the intended business message in a sensitive manner cautiously |
Problem Statement
Many hotels use social media platforms as marketing tools. However, there are managerial concerns attached to their use. One major concern is a lack of effective standards that guide the aplication of social media platforms. This makes it difficult to manage and obtain customer’s needs and expectations.
Purpose of the Research
The focus of the research is to investigate the employment of Facebook, a popular social media platform, as an effective marketing tool. The research will focus on identifying the various issues related to the use of social media platforms, particularly Facebook as a marketing tool, and how it can affect the success of marketing operations of hotels.
Research Questions
The two major research questions that will significantly guide the purpose of the research include:
- What are the advantages and disadvantages of using Facebook as a marketing tool?
- What impact does Facebook have in the Hotel Industry?
References
Sigala, M., Christou, E., & Gretzel, U. (Eds.). (2012). Social media in travel, tourism and hospitality: Theory, practice and cases. Burlington,VT: Publishing, Ltd.
