Marketing through Social Media in Tourism Industry:
As social media has become a new marketing communication practice in viral marketing, it corresponds to a unique way of marketing brands to the customers. There are a number of tourism companies that have hired professionals to work collaboratively in order to make sales, promotion and public relations better. Although there are many social networking sites like YouTube, Facebook and Twitter that have been used by many companies for effective marketing, but Facebook has found to be the most effective one in hospitality and tourism industry.
Figure 2 in the appendix has shown that the trend of people using social networking sites is increasing day by day. In 2008, the number of people using social networking sites was 24% and by the end of 2012, it reached to 56%. In 2008, there were around 5% people who use social media several times a day, but by the end of 2008, the increased to 22%.
A study done by OTX research to find out the impact of social media on consumer behavior and perceptions revealed that 34% of males and 36% of females search for information on social networking sites.
A research conducted by Neilson provide a deep insight on consumer trends and shown that social networking sites have become a major part of today’s generation. Figure 4 in the appendix has shown that there are 70% U.S individuals who spend their time on shopping online through social networking sites. In addition to that, Females with the age bracket of 18 to 34 are found to be the most active Facebook users.
Marketing teams are aggressively using social data to identify consumer traits and trends in the business and thus can use this data to make their marketing efforts better. Figure 6 in the appendix has shown that 82.3% of the respondents believed that social media helps in increasing brand awareness. Further, 81.5% of the respondents believe that social media have measurable impacts towards brand loyalty. In addition, 76.2% of the respondents believe that social media does have a significant impact on a sale of a particular brand.
A research has been done by the Pivot Conference in 2013 to find out the leading goals of Social Media Marketing. The numbers in figure 7 have revealed that 67% of the respondents believe that the basic goal of social media marketing is to increase customer engagement. 61% aim of marketers is to lift their brand through social media marketing.
Figure 8 in the appendix has shown that now days, there are 53% users who prefer to use Facebook to interact with the brand. Furthermore, 40% of the respondents liked the products and services on Facebook. In addition to that, there are 20% respondents who are engaged in using Facebook to research products at least once in a week. There are 42% of the respondents who wrote an online post about a product or a brand.
Figure 9 in the appendix has shown that people are equally using their PCs and mobile devices to use Facebook for different purposes. Figure 10 in the appendix has shown that during 1 hour time, individuals nearly spend 16 minutes on using social networking sites. Figure 11 in the appendix has shown the importance of social media in the daily lives of an individual and thus proves to have immense impact on consumer perception and preferences.
Primary data collection and analysis:
Primary data has been collected through survey questionnaire that was based on finding the effect of social media, particularly Facebook on consumer preferences and perceptions. Multiple choice questions has been used in the survey form. The findings of the questionnaire are as follows:
Out of 48 respondents, 48% of the respondents fall into the age bracket of 26 to 35. Out of these individuals, 35% respondents were salaried individuals. The ratio of going for a vacation was that most individuals go to a location once in six months and accounts for 25% of the overall sampling. The average spending on vacations were between $2,000 and $5,000. In addition to that, there were 78% respondents who use social networking sites on a daily basis and 81% of the respondents have claimed that they get to know about vocational trips through Social Media first.
Primary as well as secondary data has shown that Facebook is found to be the most accessible social networking sites with nearly 1.32 billion users. Furthermore, there were 96% of the respondents who noticed tourism ads on Facebook that shows an increasing trend of using Facebook for promotion. There were 50% respondents who believe that online tourism ads are the basic source for them to influence purchasing. In addition to that, there were 81% respondents who believed that they felt encouraged to go for a service when they hear positive opinion about the brands on Facebook.
Nearly 40% of the respondents believed that Social Media particularly Facebook helps them in making comparison of different tourism companies. Along with that, 92% of the respondents claimed that they use Facebook to get to know about new product offerings by touring companies..................................
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