ABSTRACT
The study focused on the influence of strategic use of social media in hospitality marketing in Abia State. The objectives of the study are; to identify the social media platforms applicable in hospitality marketing in Abia State, to determine the level of utilization of the identified social media platforms in hospitality marketing in Abia State, to examine the effect of strategic use of social media on the development of hospitality marketing in Abia State, to identify the factors affecting the utilization of social media in hospitality marketing in Abia State and to proffer solution on better ways of using social media platform in marketing hospitality products and services. To achieve the objective of the study, survey research design was adopted. The researcher adopted primary data in getting the required information through the use of structured questionnaire. The population of the study is 38 registered hotels in Umuahia, Abia State with 520 staff strength. The sample size of the study is 228 after adopting Taro Yamane formula. In analysis the data, simple regression analysis was used. The findings revealed that Facebook, twitter, whatsapp and instagram are social media platforms applicable in development of hotel marketing in Abia State. The findings also revealed that strategic use of facebook affect the development of hotel marketing, Strategic use of twitter affect the development of hotel marketing, strategic use of whatsapp affect the development of hotel marketing and Strategic use of Instagram affect the development of hotel marketing. The study recommends that The study is recommending that for hotels to succeed, Facebook should be used as a marketing tool for products and services. Customers spend most of their time on Facebook and it is where business will meet new customers getting feedback on how the customers want to be satisfied. Satisfactions of customers always come from their expectation and not every business know if they meet that satisfaction unless they get feedback from the customers. Facebook marketing made that possible by giving customers a way of talking to their provider that is the business.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Title page i
Approval
iii
Certification
iv
Dedication
v
Acknowledgement
vi
Table of
contents
vii
Abstract x
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study 1
1.2 Statement of the Problem 5
1.3 Objectives of the Study 6
1.4 Research Questions 7
1.5 Significance of the Study 8
1.6 The Scope of the Study 9
CHAPTER TWO: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
2.1
Conceptual Framework 10
2.1.1
Social Media Marketing 10
2.1.2
Concept of Hotel 11
2.1.3 Importance
of Social Media to Marketing 14
2.1.4
Effect of Facebook to the Market Accessibility for Hospitality
industry Performance 15
2.1.5 Effect of Instagram to the Market Accessibility
for Hospitality industry Performance 21
2.1.6 Effect of Twitter to the Optimization of
Hospitality industry 26
2.1.7 Importance of WhatsApp Usage to the Market Accessibility
for hotel Performance 32
2.1.8
Social Networking Sites 34
2.1.9
Customer Acquisition Cost 36
2.1.10
Performance of Hospitality Industry 37
2.1.11 Online User Reviews and Hotel Service 38
2.1.12 Challenges Facing
Hotels in Adopting Social Media as a Marketing Strategy 39
2.2 Theoretical Framework 42
2.2.1 Technology Acceptance Model 42
2.2.2
Media System Dependency Theory
43
2.2.3 Social Marketing Theory 45
2.3
Empirical Review
46
2.4 Summary of Literature Review 51
CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.1
Research Design 53
3.2
Area of the Study 53
3.3
Population for the Study 53
3.4
Sampling and Sampling Technique 53
3.4.1
Sample Size Determination 53
3.5
Instrument for Data Collection 54
3.6
Validation of the Instrument 55
3.7 Reliability of
the Instrument 55
3.8
Method of Data Collection 55
3.9
Method of Data Analysis 55
CHAPTER FOUR
DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS
4.1 Introduction
4.2
Socioeconomic Characteristics of the Respondents
4.3 Discussion on findings
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
5.1 Summary
5.1.1 Restatement of the Problem
5.1.2
Major Findings
5.1.3
Description of Methods Used
5.2 Conclusion
Recommendations
5.4
Contribution to knowledge
5.5
Suggestion for Further Studies
REFERENCES
Appendix:
Questionnaire
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to
the Study
Social
media can be described as a way in which people consume and convey information
by sharing among each other through the use of internet (Cook, 2008). Social
media has enabled many to many connections of people rather than one to many
communication approaches which has increased interaction, participation and
collaboration among people more easily and fastest way (Kaplan & Haenlein,
2010). Also customer awareness and accessibility has increased among many small
businesses adopted the use of social media.
Some of the social media today are such as twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram,
YouTube and LinkedIn (Walsh & Lipinski, 2009).
The
success of operation of many businesses is as a results of social media and e-commerce
technology in today’s life (Bennett, 2012). The main reason behind this that
internet including social media such as Facebook and twitter offer the view of
familiarity and closeness with virtual interaction (Barnes, 2012). Social media
is simply an online social interaction with distribution and exchange of
various contents. Hence various firms use such media to build the relationship
between producers and consumers towards the business. Hence social media is an
important tool to hospitality industry due to its ability to enable hospitality
industry to communicate with customers, listen to the customers and learn from
the customers in a more efficient and quick way with less cost utilization than
the traditional means of communication (Grewal & Levy, 2013).
Nigeria, the giant of Africa, has enormous tourism
potentials and marketable tourism products ranging from diverse species of
wildlife and aquatic creatures, appealing sandy beaches, beautiful green
vegetation of her mangrove forest, unique cultural dynamics, beautiful hotels
and restaurants, enticing parks and very friendly and hospitable people
(Egbaji, 2017).
Facebook, Twitter & co. are a fix part of our
everyday life. Everybody with an internet connection is able to participate in
various ways. This part of the online world also influences the hospitality
industry and their guests. A connection to Revenue Management (hereafter
referred to as RM) cannot be drawn easily and is looking for investigation. The
different forms of Social Media platforms can be grouped by content or
activities, such as social news (e.g. Digg, Sphinn, Newsvine), social sharing
(e.g. Flickr, YouTube), social networks (e.g. Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter),
social bookmarking (e.g. Pinterest, Delicious), social review sites (e.g.
TripAdvisor, Yelp), social purchase/review sites (e.g. Amazon, Booking) and
blogs (Jones, 2009). Due to the technological development we do recognize a
shift to online communication also described as electronic word of mouth
(hereafter referred to as eWOM) (Nieto, HernándezMaesro, Muñoz-Gallego, 2014).
Moreover, it is proven that we trust the recommendations of friends and family
the most and, with eWOM, this scope gets broader as it is, thus, possible to
read the opinion of other unknown consumers (Lee and Youn, 2009; Nieto,
Nernández-Maesro and Muñoz-Gallego, 2014).
The rise of the internet and its related technologies
especially, social media platforms, has long been realised as continuously
affecting consumers’ decision-making in the tourism industry (Buhalis, 1998 as
cited in Rathonyi, 2013). This is mainly in the planning and usage of hotel
services and products (Buhalis & Law, 2008). Social media can be described as a “group of
applications which operates on the internet Web 2.0 and allows for the exchange
of information among the users” (Colomo-Palacios, Soto-Acosta, Ramayah &
Russ, 2013). Due to the interactivity of
most social media, users can form relationships through the exchange of
information, experiences, opinions and ideas regarding goods and services
(Dwitya & Briandana, 2017). With its
ability to disseminate vast amounts of information within short spaces of time,
social media has become an ideal platform for the tourism industry which relies
on intensive information for its operation (Rathonyi, 2013).
Due
to easy way of using social media and low cost method, many hotel
establishments are adopting the use of social media marketing to connect with
customers (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010). Social media marketing play a better
role under pull-marketing strategy than tradition push-marketing approach. This
means that marketer use social media to pass information about the commodity to
enable consumer be attracted with the commodity (Stelzner, 2012).
Koroma,
(2012) explained that a successful business is triggered with the use of social
media marketing to increase customer accessibility and awareness of the product
and services that the company is producing. Many hotels in the world are
adopting the use of social media marketing due to its free use and easy
adaptation with an environment, hence many have been to increase customer accessibility
more easily too (Qualman, 2010). Hence social media marketing can be adopted by
anyone regardless of the size and scope of the company.
The
use of social media among hotel establishments is regarded as adoption of
sophisticated and technical tools towards communication in building up a
relationships and social interactions (Safko, 2010). Similarly Kaplan (2010)
agreed that social connection and interaction is something that human beings
adopted many years ago, but bringing the world together as one with an easy
interaction was due to the adoption of social media techniques. Due to taking
over of the communication in the world, many hotel establishments have adopted
the use of social media to interact with customers. Social media has abled hotel
establishments to expand their market by increasing customer accessibility and
awareness, hence grow in market share (McCartan-Quinn & Carson, 2013).
Before
the use of social media, most businesses adopted the traditional way of
communication to reach customers these includes the use of magazines, radio,
newspapers and formal world of mouth (McCartan-Quinn and Carson, 2013). But
today most business have developed in expansion of their customer accessibility
due to an increase use of social media in marketing, given the fact that social
media have revolutionize more easy way of interaction and increase customer
awareness. According to Reijonen (2010), opposed that social media marketing
has not reached many people in the word due to poor technology and illiteracy
level to so many other developing countries hence become difficult for small
and medium enterprises to interact with customers worldwide.
Social media has
caused a significant change in the strategies and tools of hospitality industry
use for communicating with customers. Mangold & Faulds (2009) argue that
“social media combines characteristics of traditional IMC tools (hospitality
industry talking to customers) with a highly magnified form of word-of-mouth
(customers talking to one another) whereby marketing managers cannot control
the content and frequency of such information.” Hospitality industry are
limited in the amount of control they have over the content and distribution of
information. Ignoring such user-generated content is not an option. Hospitality
industry must be able to monitor and respond to conversation, both positive and
negative, surrounding the brand. There are ways however, that hospitality
industry can influence discussions in a way that is consistent with the
organization’s mission (Mangold & Faulds, 2009).
Social
media marketing enables hospitality industry to achieve a better understanding
of customer needs in order to build effective relationships. Safko & Brake
(2009) observe that social media “refers to activities, practices, and
behaviours among communities of people who gather online to share information,
knowledge, and opinions using conversational media” Weinberg (2009) notes that
social media “relates to the sharing of information, experiences, and
perspectives throughout community-oriented websites”. However, the strategic use social media is important
to hospitality industry due to its contribution to customer awareness and
customer patronage.
1.2 Statement of
the Problem
Today
numerous organizations are utilizing online networking strategically by
presenting reports on Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+ or Twitter. However, few have
online networking strategy that helps them utilize web-based social networking
to bolster their business objectives (Tuten & Solomon, 2014). Advertisers
are just too happy to see the social web as another set of channels through
which to showcase their products or services (Hoffman & Fodor, 2010).
Online networking works best when it is a piece of a coordinated
E-correspondences methodology E-communications scheme where Social media makes
use of email, inquiry and substance promoting. It is not yet clear, if
organizations are reconsidering whatever remains of their system or marketing
mix in response to likely most troublesome asset since the introduction of the
Web: social media (Saravanakumar & Lakshmi, 2012). Hospitality industry with
tremendous spending which plan for marketing and promotion can receive diverse
types of publicizing media to advance their business, for example, television,
radio, board and special projects among others.
However,
this is impractical in hotel establishments considering the cost of
publicizing. Social media has offered a free for all stage for using social
network and friends to create awareness, and hotel establishments can leverage
on this to advance their business in this manner prompting to enhanced sales
(Stelzner, 2012). Vij and James (2014) contend that numerous hotel establishments
in Africa and particularly in Nigeria do not comprehend the effect and the
possibilities of utilizing social media, and continue to depend on traditional
media to speak with their audience. In spite of the tremendous marketing
openings exhibited by web-based social networking, hotel establishments in
Nigeria confront different difficulties, for example, the absence of staff
assets accessible to actualize an online networking technique. Legal
restrictions likewise introduce a barrier to a portion of the tourism
destination in utilizing social media marketing. Also, numerous hotel
establishments evade the use of social media marketing in view of the expanding
instances of cybercrime (Kabue, 2013). Consequently,
most hotel establishment do not adequately utilize and enjoy the benefits that
comes from social media usage. Most of them do not market their products and
services online using social media platforms. The reason for lack of usage of
social media platforms by hotels in either lack of knowledge on the benefits of
social media marketing or that the hotel is trying to run away from cost. Unlike
other business organization, you can hardly see where hotels and other
hospitality establishments advertise or market their products or services using
social media platforms like facebook, twitter, instagram among others. It is
just few of them that understand the importance and benefits of social media
usage. Also, there is lack of research on the influence of strategic use of
social media on hospitality marketing. Most of the research works on the effect
of strategic use of social media on hospitality marketing focuses on
manufacturing firms and other business organization. Hence, it is on this
ground that this study aimed to examine the influence of
strategic use of social media in hospitality and tourism marketing in Abia State.
1.3 Objectives of
the Study
The main objective of the study is to examine the influence
of strategic use of social media in hospitality marketing in Abia State. However, the specific objectives will include; to:
(i)
To identify the social media platforms applicable in
hospitality marketing in Abia State.
(ii)
To determine the level of utilization of the identified
social media platforms in hospitality marketing in Abia
State.
(iii)
To examine the effect of strategic use of social media on the
development of hospitality marketing in Abia State.
(iv)
To identify the factors affecting the utilization of social
media in hospitality marketing in Abia State.
(v)
To proffer solution on better
ways of using social media platform in marketing hospitality products and
services.
1.4 Research
Questions
The following research questions will guide the study:
(i)
What are the social media platforms applicable in hospitality
marketing in Abia State?
(ii)
What is the level of utilization of the identified social
media platforms in hospitality marketing in Abia State?
(iii)
What is the effect of strategic use of social media on the
development of hospitality marketing in Abia State?
(iv)
What are the factors affecting the utilization of social
media in hospitality marketing in Abia State?
(v)
What are the better ways of
using social media platform in marketing hospitality products and services?
1.5 Significance
of the Study
The
findings of this study will be of great benefit to the following people; hotel
managers, customers, marketing experts, government, scholars and researchers
while researching into similar studies.
The
findings of this study will help the hotel managers to understand the
importance of integrating social media marketing in their business. Facebook,
Instagram, whatsapp, twitter and snap chat are the most common platforms used
by millions of people every day. These platforms offer marketing options that
can help hotel managers in marketing their products over a huge audience.
However, the findings of this study will enable hotel managers to see the need
to engage in all these social media platform for the purpose of increasing
their sales volume and profitability.
The
findings of this study will also help guests to make rightful decision on the
hotels and destinations to attend when making travel decision. It will also
help tourist to know the social media platform suitable
for them in searching travel information.
The
findings of this study will also be significant to government. This is because
existing laws and policies that regulate marketing operations are largely
limited to the traditional mediums of marketing. This study offers insights
into the importance of social media marketing and its impact on tourism and
hospitality development. The governments should use the findings of this study
as a reference for formulating new marketing policies and regulatory framework
that will cover the social media platforms. In addition, the government can
also craft regulatory framework that will ensure fair use of social media platforms
to benefit hospitality and tourism establishments.
The
findings will add to literature an important perspective of social media marketing.
This equally benefits the scholars and researchers in the field of hospitality
and marketing. The project can also be used as a reference by future researchers,
researching into similar studies.
1.6 The Scope of
the Study
The study focused on the influence of strategic use of social media
in hospitality marketing. The study will be carried out in Abia State using
some selected hotels to generate data. The unit scope of the study are the
managers and customers of the selected hospitality establishments.
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