social media for sustainable tourism development dissertation manoj kumar
DESCRIPTION
AbstractThis dissertation’s objectives are To understand consumer point of view and Create an internet based marketing plan Aiming at Increasing consumer awareness and recognition worldwide, Create a consumer facing entity which is loved by people Thus making it profitable for companies to behave responsibly and to Build loyal communities which will support efforts in difficult times and Lastly increase salesTRANSCRIPT
Social Media Marketing for sustainable tourism
development
Manoj KUMAR
June 2011
Vatel International Business School, Nimes, France
i
Abstract
The world of communication is fast changing today. The modes of communication are changed
by the advent of internet based social networking websites. The social networking websites are
shrinking the contact time and contact base. Most people, companies and entities can reach a
worldwide audience at phenomenally lower costs. The strength of this new channel lies in the ease
of use, availability to consumers and most importantly the effectivity of the communication. The
results can be seen in real time and constant stream of analytical tools are available to better market
yourself or products.
It has been noted that the implications of social media for the hospitality industry is immense.
But at the same it also has been noted that there is void of real and creative strategy to effectively
use this medium. Most large organizations outsource the working and operations to PR agencies.
Smaller organizations meagrely shadow the strategies of larger organizations. There are few game
changers which are able to benefit from its social media efforts tremendously.
Sustainable tourism development will gain popularity and strength by increased consumer
awareness. For e.g. Nike changed because of the constant glare of the public. Companies and local
economies and population will tremendously benefit from increased awareness. A raised awareness
will translate into profits for partner companies and development of local population. With an al-
ternative source of income the environment is pardoned. Thus I felt an effort must be made to give
competitive edge to sustainable tourism development projects.
This dissertation‟s objectives are To understand consumer point of view and Create an internet
based marketing plan Aiming at Increasing consumer awareness and recognition worldwide, Cre-
ate a consumer facing entity which is loved by people Thus making it profitable for companies to
behave responsibly and to Build loyal communities which will support efforts in difficult times and
Lastly increase sales
Contact details –
Business school Name - Vatel International Business School, Nimes, France,
School website - www.vatel.com
Original work by - Manoj KUMAR
Website - http://digitalhospitality.info
Email - [email protected]
Skype - manojkumar297
Twitter - @digitalhotels, http://twitter.com/digitalhotels
LinkedIn - http://fr.linkedin.com/in/manojk2007
Online Resume - http://digitalhospitality.info/online-resume-cv/
ii
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank the Vatel Group and specifically Mr Parag Joshi, Internet marketing manager,
for all his assistance in better understanding the essence of social media and digital marketing. I
would also like to thank Madam Ferhat Partouche for her assistance and guidance on this project.
Lastly I would like to thank Vatel international school, Nimes, France for giving me this opportuni-
ty.
I would also like to extend my gratitude to all the participants to my online survey who took out
time to give their valuable feedback making this project a success.
iii
Table of Contents Abstract .................................................................................................................................. i
Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................... ii
1 Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 1
2 Why social Media? .......................................................................................................... 2
2.1 What is social media? .............................................................................................. 2
2.2 Types of social media platforms............................................................................... 2
2.2.1 Social media websites most widely used ............................................................ 3
2.3 State of art (current situation) Social media usage worldwide ................................. 4
2.3.1 Social media statistics - worldwide ..................................................................... 4
2.4 Activity on various social media platforms.............................................................. 5
3 Vacation frequency and spending patterns ....................................................................... 6
3.1 Vacation Patterns ...................................................................................................... 6
3.2 Vacation spending pattern ........................................................................................ 6
4 Vacation Booking Patterns ............................................................................................... 8
4.1 Mode of vacation/holiday booking .......................................................................... 8
4.2 Vacation decision preference.................................................................................... 9
5 Vacation Decision Making influencers .......................................................................... 10
5.1 Destination discovery ............................................................................................. 10
5.2 Social media as an influencer ................................................................................. 10
6 Sustainable Tourism awareness and Decision Making .................................................. 11
6.1 Sustainable tourism Awareness .............................................................................. 11
6.2 Sustainable tourism decision making ..................................................................... 12
7 Research Conclusions .................................................................................................... 13
7.1 Social Media Communication Hexagon (SMC Hexagon) ..................................... 13
7.1.1 Understanding the Social Media Communication Hexagon ............................. 13
7.1.2 Definition of terms in social media communication hexagon .......................... 13
7.1.3 Using the social media hexagon - ..................................................................... 14
7.1.4 Social Media Communication Hexagon ........................................................... 16
8 Digital marketing plan ................................................................................................... 17
8.1 Broad marketing plan ............................................................................................. 17
8.1.1 Digital Marketing vision ................................................................................... 17
8.1.2 Goals ................................................................................................................. 17
8.1.3 Ideal Online follower ........................................................................................ 17
8.1.4 Digital Market Description ............................................................................... 17
8.1.5 Remarkable Difference ..................................................................................... 18
8.1.6 Differentiators ................................................................................................... 18
iv
8.1.7 Core digital Strategy ......................................................................................... 18
8.1.8 Core Online Elements ....................................................................................... 18
8.1.9 Marketing Materials .......................................................................................... 18
8.1.10 Web Plan Refer Fig 6.a ..................................................................................... 19
9 Recommendations .......................................................................................................... 20
9.1 Developing a Social Media Strategy ...................................................................... 20
9.1.1 Social Media for beginners ............................................................................... 20
9.1.2 Next Steps ......................................................................................................... 20
9.1.3 What to post? .................................................................................................... 21
9.1.4 Tracking Returns ............................................................................................... 21
9.2 Social Media Officer – ........................................................................................... 22
9.2.1 Duties and Responsibilities ............................................................................... 22
9.2.2 Skills and Specifications ................................................................................... 23
9.2.3 Education and Qualifications ............................................................................ 23
10 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................... 24
10.1 Summary ................................................................................................................ 24
10.2 Evaluation .............................................................................................................. 24
10.3 Future Work ........................................................................................................... 24
References ........................................................................................................................... 25
Appendix 1 .......................................................................................................................... 26
1
1 Introduction
I am Manoj KUMAR and I am a final year master degree student at Vatel International business
school. I have 6 years‟ experience in the Hotel and Tourism industry. I have also worked as a hospital-
ity consultant.
Due to deep interest my major for the masters‟ degree is marketing and for the same I completed
a 6 month internship in the internet marketing department of Vatel group. Vatel group‟s major SBU‟s
are Vatel hotel schools, Vatel Hotel and Vatel Gourmet. During this said period I worked exclusively
to understand the working of social media, digital marketing plan creation, utilization of online tools
to improve visibility, achieve competitor intelligence, awareness improvement and successfully plan-
ning and running online campaign‟s.
During the said period I observed and analysed the online activities of many hotel and hospitality
organizations. During my research I realised what each company is doing to improve and increase its
online reach. But through a cross market analysis I also realised that the hospitality industry was
committing far less of its resources in the online marketing arena. The ideas and plans were fairly
basic and were far from creating any real benefits.
But there was also a changing trend that I noticed. The industry giants are slowly adapting their
online offering and incorporating social media in every part of their outward communication.
For me the most unique and interesting set of hospitality organizations are the sustainable devel-
opment organizations. They were comparably smaller in size and were the least active in the social
media segment. Somehow they still remain obscured from the glare of the majority of the human pop-
ulation. At the same time they are the most spectacular entities with the most enriching vision and
mission which truly have objectives which go far beyond revenue generation but pursue real value
creation. This value is also unique because it is created for an eco-system which includes its local hu-
man population. Sustainable tourism is a unique balancing act between mass tourism,
industrialization, economy and at the other end with nature, environment, ecology and local human
population. And thus my concentration was to create a viable digital marketing plan for sustainable
tourism entities.
To achieve the objectives of this dissertation an international market survey was organised which
was administered specifically on social media. The market survey was designed to understand holiday
booking patterns, involvement and respectively the effect of social media on decisions made, level of
awareness of sustainable tourism development products and finally gauging the level involvement
expected by consumers. The survey was analysed to compute the best possible marketing plan/s. The-
se said plans were then gauged on their financial potency and effectivity.
2
2 Why social Media?
This section will help to understand the current global/regional trends and why should companies fo-
cus on the social media platform
2.1 What is social media?
[1] Social media is media for social interaction, using highly accessible and scalable communication
techniques. Social media is the use of web-based and mobile technologies to turn communication into
interactive dialogue.
Andreas Kaplan and Michael Haenlein define social media as "a group of Internet-based applications
that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0, which allows the creation and
exchange of user-generated content."
Peter R. Scott and J. Mike Jacka define social media as “the set of Web-based broadcast technologies
that enable the democratization of content, giving people the ability to emerge from consumers of
content to publishers.”
Businesses may also refer to social media as consumer-generated media (CGM). A common thread
running through all definitions of social media is a blending of technology and social interaction for
the co-creation of value
2.2 Types of social media platforms
Podcasting – [3] [A podcast (or non-streamed webcast) is a series of digital media files (either
audio or video) that are released episodically and often downloaded through web syndication.
The word replaced webcast in common use with the success of the iPod and its role in the ris-
ing popularity and innovation of web feeds.
Blogging - [4] A blog (a blend of the term web log) is a type of website or part of a website.
Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descrip-
tions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed
in reverse-chronological order. Blog can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add
content to a blog.
Social bookmarking - [5] Social bookmarking is a method for Internet users to organize, store,
manage and search for bookmarks of resources online. Unlike file sharing, the resources
themselves aren't shared, merely bookmarks that reference them.
Social networking - [6] A social networking service is an online service, platform, or site that
focuses on building and reflecting of social networks or social relations among people, e.g.,
3
who share interests and/or activities. A social network service essentially consists of a repre-
sentation of each user (often a profile), his/her social links, and a variety of additional ser-
services. Most social network services are web based and provide means for users to interact
over the internet, such as e-mail and instant messaging. Online community services are some-
times considered as a social network service, though in a broader sense, social network
service usually means an individual-centered service whereas online community services are
group-centered. Social networking sites allow users to share ideas, activities, events, and in-
terests within their individual networks.
2.2.1 Social media websites most widely used
www.facebook.com - [7] Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in
February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. As of January 2011, Face-
book has more than 600 million active users. Users may create a personal profile, add other
users as friends, and exchange messages, including automatic notifications when they update
their profile. Facebook users must register before using the site. Additionally, users may join
common-interest user groups, organized by workplace, school or college, or other characteris-
tics.
www.twitter.com - [9] Twitter is a website, owned and operated by Twitter Inc., which offers
a social networking and microblogging service, enabling its users to send and read messages
called tweets. Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 characters displayed on the user's pro-
file page.
www.linkedIn.com - [8] LinkedIn is a business-related social networking site. Founded in
December 2002 and launched in May 2003,[3] it is mainly used for professional networking.
www.flickr.com - [10] Flickr is an image hosting and video hosting website, web services
suite, and online community. In addition to being a popular website for users to share and
embed personal photographs, the service is widely used by bloggers to host images that they
embed in blogs and social media.
www.youtube.com – [11] YouTube is a video-sharing website on which users can upload,
share and view videos.
4
2.3 State of art (current situation) Social media usage worldwide
[A] Thus the study was then directed to understanding time spent on Internet
Social media gains importance due to high consumer participation. Through figure 2.3 we can suc-
cessfully demonstrate the need to create online marketing plans is far greater today than ever before.
2.3.1 Social media statistics - worldwide
Social Media today is the largest co-ordinated communication effort the world has ever seen. The sta-
tistics are absolutely stunning.
[2] Twitter has 75m user accounts, but only around 15m are active users on a regular ba-
sis. Twitter now officially claims to have 175m registered users, although it's unclear what percentage
regularly user the service. Twitter states that 95m tweets are written each day. This is a staggering
250% increase from last year.
LinkedIn has over 50m members worldwide. Officially, LinkedIn has grown 100%, now having
over 100m professionals who use the platform worldwide. There are now 20m+ EU LinkedIn mem-
bers. More than one million companies have LinkedIn Company Pages (formerly known as company
profiles).
Facebook officially hit the half-billion member mark in 2010. There are now some 640m Face-
book users worldwide. With a 50% active rate, using the official 500m figure, this means at least
250m users every 24 hours. This is more than a 40% increase in 12 months. More than 30bn pieces of
content (web links, news stories, blog posts, etc.) are shared each month, which is an average of 7bn
pieces a week. The average Facebook user creates 90 pieces of content each month.
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
LessThan 1hour
1 to 3Hours
4 to 5hours
6 to 8hours
9 to 12hours
12 ormorehours
Time spent on internet
Time on internet
Fig1.b- Marketing implications of social media [2] Fig 1.a – Time spent on the internet - 2011 [A]
5
Flickr continues to grow at a steady rate, having increased by some 25% in the last twelve months.
At the end of 2010, it was hosting more than 5bn images. Flickr members upload more than 3,000
images every minute.
Wikipedia now has more 17m articles. The site now has an army of 91,000 active contributors.
YouTube - More than 24 hours of video is uploaded to YouTube every minute. There are more
than 2bn video views on YouTube every 24 hours.
2.4 Activity on various social media platforms
In the controlled survey to a global au-
dience the question was to assign peak
activity to different social media websites.
Score „5‟ being the highest activity and
score „1‟ being the lowest. As we can see
from figure 2.2 the highest activity is seen
on Facebook and twitter. What we can
also see is the blogging has medium activ-
ity. Thus we can successfully state that
the 2 most important avenues to market
products would be –
[A] Time spent on Facebook and twitter
To further understand the consumer activity
patterns the study was also directed to understand
the amount of time being spent upon the 2 major
social media websites. In figure 1.d we see 2 peaks
clearly showing 2 types of users. The twitter spent
more time due to the ease of use and at the same
more qualitative time is spent by Facebook users.
The implications of this data would be in deter-
mining the frequency of communication on the various
networks. Which we would see in section 2.5
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
5
4
3
2
1
Fig 1.c – Peak activity on social media websites [A]
05
101520253035
Time spent onFacebook
Time spent onTwitter
Fig 1.d – Time spent on Facebook and Twitter [A]
6
3 Vacation frequency and spending patterns
In this section the consumer survey asked the participants about holiday patterns, booking patterns
and spending patterns for their annual vacations.
3.1 Vacation Patterns
On the global scale the 65% of participants claimed that they took at-least 2 vacations a year. The
survey also asked the no. of international vacations taken. The same 65% which took 2 vacations year
took at-least one international vacation a year.
3.2 Vacation spending pattern
18%
65%
14% 3%
Total Number of vacations
Once a year
Twice a year
Thrice or morea year
65% 8%
3%
24%
International vacations
Once a year
Twice a year
Thrice or morea year
Once in 2 years
14%
28%
52%
6%
Global Spending per person for a vacation
500 $ or less
501$ to 1000$
1001$ to 2000$
2001$ or more
Fig 2.a– Annual vacation frequency [A] Fig 2.b– International vacation frequency [A]
Fig 2.c– Vacation spending per person globally [A]
7
In fig 2.c it can be seen that globally a single vacation per person budget is about 1000$ to 2000$.
When a region-wise split is made the trend continues with only exception being India. We could very
well call this the mass tourist/traveller segment.
Frequency and spending patterns are an important step in understanding consumer psyche. Further on
this data will be used in determining communication frequency and marketing budgeting.
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
USA Australia Belgium Canada China France India
Region-wise Vacation Spending
500 $ or less
501$ to 1000$
1001$ to 2000$
2001$ or more
Fig 2.d– Region-wise vacation spending [A]
8
4 Vacation Booking Patterns
4.1 Mode of vacation/holiday booking
The survey asked how people preferred to book their holidays. Through fig 3.a, 3.b and 3.c we can see
that travellers are seeking freedom to make choices. The reliance on the mass tourism has considera-
bly waned for the social media active population. This considerably reinforces the need to create an
online marketing plan.
82% of the global audience preferred
to book and design their own holidays.
13% preferred to design their own vaca-
tions via a Tour operator. And very small
percentage still preferred the tour opera-
tor.
Fig 3.b reflects the booking medium
preferred by travellers for booking travel
tickets. 44% preferred online travel
agents OTM. 48% preferred to book
directly via travel company website.
Booking via travel agents is clearly out
of trend.
5%
13%
82%
Holiday Planning
Tour Operator
Self Designed ViaTour operator
Completely SelfDesigned
Online Travel
Agents like Expedia, Liligo etc.
44%
Airline/Train website eg
SNCF, British arlines etc.
48%
Local Travel Agent
8%
Travel reservations
Fig 3.a– Holiday planning channel preference [A]
Fig 3.b– Travel ticket booking medium preference [A]
9
In fig 3.c it is again noticed that travel
agents are clearly out of vogue. 45% pre-
ferred to book via Online Travel Agents.
49% preferred to book directly via Hotel
websites.
4.2 Vacation decision prefer-
ence
In the survey respondents were also
asked what made them choose a specific
destination. As we can see in Fig 3.d the
destination itself forms the most im-
portant pull for the selection. The price
paid is at second position. While the
hotel, its services and local culture are
closely tied.
These observations present a unique understanding for promoting the hotel. This will definitely
help in formulating which medium to focus upon to get the best results.
Online Travel
Agents like booking.co
m etc 45%
Hotel Websites
49%
Local Travel Agent
6%
Hotel Reservation
Fig 3.c– Hotel booking medium preference [A]
01020304050607080
Vacation Decsion reason
1 2 3 4
Fig 3.d– Vacation booking preference [A]
10
5 Vacation Decision Making influencers
5.1 Destination discovery
The respondents were also asked how
they discovered new destinations for
their next vacation.
60% responded saying that the pri-
mary source for information was Web
2.0 which includes all social media web-
sites, online conversations, online news
articles, videos, forums, online travel
magazines etc.
25% responded to word of mouth.
10 % responded to travel magazines
(print medium) and a meagre 3% for
Television advertisements and newspa-
per articles.
5.2 Social media as an influencer
When asked how much importance do
friends and family status updates, pic-
ture, videos from their vacation has on
their own decision to choose a vaca-
tion destination, twitter ranked the
highest with maximum audience as-
signing the highest score. Facebook
followed a close second.
Respondents were asked rate as im-
portance of updates, „1‟ being the
lowest influencer and „5‟ being the
highest.
0
10
20
30
401
2
34
5
Relative importance to vacation destination decision making
60%
10% 3% 3%
25%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
Discover new or next vacation destination
Fig 4.a– Destination Discovery medium [A]
Fig 4.b– social media as an influencer [A]
11
6 Sustainable Tourism awareness and Decision Making
6.1 Sustainable tourism Awareness
To start of the respondents were asked if they
have ever been to a sustainable tourism desti-
nation. 17% replied yes. They were then
subjected to further questions to understand
how and why they choose sustainable tourism
vacation.
A series of options were then given to the respondents to understand their awareness of what sus-
tainable tourism stands for, definition. These questions were based to all the respondents.
27% understood that it was better for the environment. 22%thought it improved the local economy.
4% answered „don‟t know‟ and adventurous vacation.
Yes 17%
No 83%
sustainable tourism destination experience
22%
15% 13%
4%
27%
15%
4%
Improved localeconomy of the
destination
Local producerswill have a
market to sell to
Better educationand social
benefits to thelocals
Don't know/Can't say
Better for theenvironment
A cheapvacation
Adventurousvacation todangerous
locations (notfor the faint
hearted)
Sustainable tourism definition awareness
Fig 5.a– sustainable tourism Firsthand experience [A]
Fig 5.b– sustainable tourism definition awareness [A]
12
6.2 Sustainable tourism decision making
For the 17% who had experienced sus-
tainable tourism first-hand were then
asked how did they find out about the ho-
tel/destination.
35% responded word of mouth. 17%
responded travel magazine. While 9%
said facebook/twitter. And only 4% said
blogs.
Through the survey the respondents
were also medium of preference to be
contacted and for circulation of market-
ing materials.
9%
9%
35%
9%
17%
9%
4%
9%
Google search
Tour operator website
Word of mouth
Facebook / twitter or other web…
Travel Magazine
Newspaper article
Blogs
Others
Medium used to find out about the destination
Fig 5.c– sustainable tourism definition awareness [A]
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%120%
News/SocialBookmarking
Other Social Media
Blog
Suggested Contact Plan
1
2
3
4
5
Fig 5.d– sustainable tourism suggested contact Medium [A]
13
7 Research Conclusions
7.1 Social Media Communication Hexagon (SMC Hexagon)
The Social Media Communication Hexagon is strategy tool which will assist Digital marketers to
have insight into creating effective digital marketing plans.
7.1.1 Understanding the Social Media Communication Hexagon
Some of the questions answered by the SMC hexagon are –
What content to communicate
How much to communicate
Through what medium to communicate
How to create a balanced Push and Pull strategy.
7.1.2 Definition of terms in social media communication hexagon
X axis – Frequency of communication – No of times the entity decides to communicate with its
customers
Y axis – Type of Communication (Fig 4.a, 5.c, 5.d)
o Static – Traditional forms of communication. Generally one way communication
o Social – Social media based communication. 2 way communication
Elements of the hexagon – The elements were derived from fig 3.d. A weighted average was de-
termined the relative importance to consumers of each of the element.
o Destination and environment – About the destination where the entity is based and envi-
ronmental aspects of the entity.
o Local Culture and community – About the local community and its culture. The commu-
nication could also include local handicrafts which could be sold online.
o Prices and offers – Various offers and packages that the hotel holds
o Hotel and services – About the hotel and the various services provided by the hotel. Also
can include activities like nature walks, wind surfing, sightseeing etc.
o Local cuisine – About local flavours and food. For eg. How the hotel is fusing or show-
casing the local flavours to create unique signature food.
o Consumers and Users – Consumers and user comments. Post stay comments and recom-
mendations. User generated videos and articles.
Elements of the matrix –
o Involving – High Frequency, High use of social media.
14
o Interacting – Low Frequency, High use of social media
o Informing – Low Frequency, High use static channels
o Selling – High Frequency, High use of static channels
Quadrant Classification –
o Involving and interacting – These quadrants create the awareness and act more like a pull
strategy.
o Informing and selling - These quadrants create the marketing effect and act more like a
push strategy.
7.1.3 Using the social media hexagon -
The marketing department of the hotel should try to first analyse their current marketing and
communication plans on the hexagon elements. Identify areas where they are lacking and then adapt-
ing their plan as per the SMC Hexagon.
The SMC hexagon is marketing strategy tool and will provide a road map to be successful in
achieving digital marketing objectives.
16
7.1.4 Social Media Communication Hexagon
Consumers
and users
Local Culture
and community
Destination and
environment
Marketing efforts
Local
Cuisine
Hotel and Services Price and offers
Awareness efforts
Involving Interacting
Informing Selling
Frequency of Communication High Low
Static
Social
Communication
Type
Trip advisor
Social Bookmarking
YouTube/ Flickr
Blogs/ Email
Websites/ Write-ups
Wikipedia
News/Articles
YouTube/ Flickr
Pull Strategy
Push Strategy
Fig 6.a – Social Media Communication Hexagon
17
8 Digital marketing plan
8.1 Broad marketing plan
Assumptions – The following marketing plan has been done for 100 room property which is both sus-
tainable and responsible.
8.1.1 Digital Marketing vision
Create and manage online entities which will be the face of the entity, the said online entity will
speak of the core values of the property, create awareness and carry out a 2 way communication with
customers, enthusiasts, government/non-government organization, experts, other online entities and
general populous.
8.1.2 Goals
8.1.2.1 Business Goals:
Achieve a 20% from online activities
Exceed 1000 leads
8.1.2.2 Tactical Goals:
Achieve monthly growth of 20% follower/likes on Facebook an twitter
Create 30 unique posts each month which will be of value to the online community.
8.1.3 Ideal Online follower
Enthusiastically follows the blogs, updates, videos and other updates by the hotel.
Will readily share and retweet to his/her follower.
Will recommend the hotel and its services
Will actively participate in all online activity
Will assist in building online community
Will help in creating sales conversions
8.1.4 Digital Market Description
Highly competitive environment with almost every major hotel/chain fighting for an
online market share.
Highly volatile market with a120% annual growth.
Extremely effective to capture a global audience and create effective online community.
18
8.1.5 Remarkable Difference
As being a sustainable tourism Hotel there is great and unique difference between us and the regu-
lar hotel industry. Our hotels have a unique set of values and we are proud to be a responsible entity.
We are responsible for the local ecology and local community. We create sustenance for the local
population with the help of jobs and education. We aim to improve the lives of the future generation
without destroying the local environment. In many ways we are the future.
8.1.6 Differentiators
Case to case Basis. Needs to be identified. Key heads
Hotel
Services
Destination
Local culture
Local community
Destination
Environment
Sustainable practices
8.1.7 Core digital Strategy
To create awareness on a global scale, specifically in source markets. Constantly communicate
with potential, current and past customers. Create strong and very active online communities. Drive
online impressions to actual sales. Use social media to understand changing consumer needs and
wants. Adapt to changing needs and wants.
Refer to Fig 6.a
8.1.8 Core Online Elements
Non-static webpage
Facebook page
Flickr stream
Youtube channel
Employ digital story-tellers to write blogs
Feature blog on hotel website
8.1.9 Marketing Materials
Website
19
Email newsletters
Direct mail - postcards and letters
Facebook ads
Google adwords
Digital story-tellers
Marketing kit for corporate business development
8.1.10 Web Plan Refer Fig 6.a
Create a SEO optimised website which will be non-static.
Social connect options on the website
Hotel Blog to be hosted via hotel website
Feature guest reviews and comments (text and videos)
Communicate via website about community involvement
Communicate via website environmental involvement
Booking related plan –
Feature hotel on all major OTM‟s
Feature booking via website
20
9 Recommendations
9.1 Developing a Social Media Strategy
9.1.1 Social Media for beginners
These strategies would work well for hotels who currently do not have a social media strategy and
want to dabble in social media without a significant investment. The main social media objectives for
such hotels can include:
User Generated Content Channels -- Trip Advisor. If Trip Advisor is not your most effec-
tive channel, then determine your most influential channels (where you get a lot of guests
from)
Facebook Profile.
Twitter profile
YouTube video channels
Flickr photo profile
Blog
Hotel can set up each of these channels on their own without any external help or alternatively,
they can use an outside agency or a consultant. Either way, here are a few items to keep in mind while
setting up the channels:
Channels should be tagged with appropriate keywords
Link the channels back to your hotel website and vice-versa
Interlink the channels so that the hotel gains from cross-fertilization between the channels.
There are apps and plug-ins available that can be used to interlink the channels. The bene-
fit of interlinking is that a "new special offering" post on your blog automatically shows up
on Facebook and Twitter. Any pictures posted on Flickr automatically show up on your
Facebook account
9.1.2 Next Steps
The key to social media optimization is that you have to be actively involved in these channels. Of
course, actively could range from allocating a full-time resource (Social Media Officer Refer to 9.2)
to the initiative as several of the upscale hotels and brand s are doing to manage the channels on a
weekly basis.
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9.1.3 What to post?
Refer to Fig 6.a
9.1.4 Tracking Returns
There are 2 different levels at which one can measure the success of your social media optimiza-
tion strategies:
Measuring Social Media Buzz
Measuring Returns -- evaluating website leads and revenue generated
Although both the items above are related, there are different mechanisms for measuring the 2
goals.
9.1.4.1 Tracking Social Media Buzz
There are several tools available in the market. These tools tell you what people are saying about
you on different channels, video views, photo-views, etc. and benchmark your performance month
over month to determine whether the social media strategies are being effective or not. For example,
you can track the number of video views month over month or track your Facebook fans month over
month and determine that the social media strategies are effective in generating a buzz about your ho-
tel. An added advantage of such tools is that it offers a single interface for all your social media
monitoring.
9.1.4.2 Tracking ROI
The return on investment from social media channels is harder to track vs. the buzz created by the
channels. The reason for this is because the conversion from Social Media Marketing efforts occurs
on channels different from the social media channels -- for example, either a client will book on a ho-
tel website or on the phone even though they found the hotel on Facebook or on Twitter. The best
mechanism to track conversion from social media channels is to measure the leads (website traffic)
generated from the social media channels. This can easily be done using simple website analytics
tools. In addition, you can determine how many visitors from the social media channels went into
your booking engine. Using your conversion ratios, you can get a very good estimate of the ROI from
your social media channels.
A secondary measure of the ROI and effectiveness of your social media strategies is to look at the
impact of social media optimization on your search engine results. For example, when you type your
hotel's name on the search engines, you will find that after the first couple of listings which should be
your hotel website, the search engine page shows results from various 3rd party affiliate sites. With
aggressive social media optimization, you should see that universal search results will help your ho-
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tel's social media channels dominate the search results pages. That ensures that all the leads come di-
rectly to you and is also an indicator that your overall search engine recognition is increasing.
Although, the techniques above are less objective than measuring conversions from paid search
advertising or banner advertising, above mechanisms do give the hotels a fairly good idea of the re-
turns and effectiveness of the social media campaigns. As the technology advances happen, we are
positive that there will be ways to measure social media effectiveness more accurately. The big ques-
tion for us as hoteliers is whether we wait until then, when several of our competitors are ahead of the
curve or do we invest today in the media that is bound to be the future of internet marketing.
9.2 Social Media Officer –
It is always a good idea to train a social media officer who can constantly monitor and materialize the
digital marketing plans of the hotel. Social media is not a very technical arena. Social media was cre-
ated was for the general population. An enthusiastic and motivated could be trained for 6 months to
carry out effectively the responsibilities and duties mentioned in the sample Job Description. This is a
tested fact as I myself went through a six month internship to achieve the desired level in social media
and digital marketing.
9.2.1 Duties and Responsibilities
The social media officer is responsible for developing and executing a clearly defined social me-
dia strategy and has to report to the marketing head of the company
The marketing strategy should comply with the marketing and customer support initiatives of the
company
He should make sure the strategies increase brand equity and awareness
He must evaluate, plan, organise, manage and contribute to social media channels to reach the
company targets and objectives
He must ensure that a consistent marketing message is delivered to the market and the company‟s
position is strengthened
He must analyse existing and potential media activities
He should be able to identify and interpret social media trends
He should conduct, gather and analyse market research to find out the business opportunities
He must plan, manage and implement all social media activities
He must work in collaboration with other marketing organisations and develop unique marketing
strategies and partnerships
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9.2.2 Skills and Specifications
A social media manager needs to have good communications and writing skills
He must have strong analytical, forecasting and research skills
He should be able to multi task and meet targets
Experience in online marketing, advertising and public relations is also helpful
He should have good networking, leadership and negotiation skills
9.2.3 Education and Qualifications
In order to be a social media manager, one needs to have graduate degree in any field preferably in
hotel management. He should be proficient in the computer programmes and software required in this
field.
A company sponsored 6 months training will able him to carry out his duties and responsibilities ef-
fectively
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10 Conclusion
10.1 Summary
Social media for sustainable tourism was conducted purely on social media platforms. A consumer
survey was done to understand key aspects of consumer awareness and consumer psyche towards sus-
tainable tourism development. The study was then used to make the Social Media Communication
Hexagon and broad recommendations.
10.2 Evaluation
The dissertations objectives were –
1. To understand consumer point of view towards sustainable tourism entities
2. Create an internet based marketing plan Aiming at Increasing consumer awareness and recog-
nition worldwide
3. Create a consumer facing online entity
4. Build loyal communities which will support efforts in difficult times
5. Improve sales
I managed to achieve partial success. Objective 1, 2 and 3 were achieved via the Social Media
Communication Hexagon. The SMC Hexagon Fig 6.a is a culmination of the research done and my
own inputs. When put into practice it will assist in forming a strong and viable roadmap to achieving
objective‟s 4 and 5.
10.3 Future Work
To completely achieve success in the mentioned objectives the SMC Hexagon needs to be adopted by
the industry. With continued testing and larger surveys the SMC hexagon will naturally evolve to a
much broader entity appealing to all segments of the hospitality industry.
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References
[1] Wikipedia page on social media, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_media#cite_note-13
[2] Worldwide statistics regarding social media growth and usage -
http://econsultancy.com/uk/blog/7334-social-media-statistics-one-year-later
[3] Wikipedia page on podcast http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podcast
[4] Wikipedia page on Blog http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog
[5] Wikipedia page on Social Bookmarking http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_bookmarking
[6] Wikipedia page on Social Networking service
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_networking_service
[7] Wikipedia page on Facebook http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook
[8] Wikipedia page on LinkedIn http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linkedin
[9] Wikipedia page on Twitter http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twitter
[10] Wikipedia page on Flickr http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flickr
[11] Wikipedia page on YouTube http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Youtube
