Social media in strategic marketing for Serbian tourism organizations

¶ … Social Media as a Component of Strategic Marketing in the Serbian Tourism Industry: A Phenomenological Study

Social media is a relatively new digital technology that allows users to connect with one another and share information instantly over the Internet. Information can be spread in the form of text, photograph, video, or sound wave. Social media tools such as Instagram and Pinterest are almost entirely photo-based communication platforms that enable users to upload photos or \"pin\" pictures of interest to what amounts to a digital bulletin board that all can see. In many ways, this digital bulletin board acts as the perfect advertising platform for the 21st century in which the new generation is more inclined to using digital technology to obtain consumer information than any previous generation (Spurgeon, 2005). The role of social media as a component of strategic marketing is one that has caught the attention of marketing researchers in recent years as a result of its utility as a peer-to-peer sharing platform. Using social media -- particularly Pinterest -- to help promote tourism is a new idea that has been used by organizations in recent years: allowing \"guests to co-curate a customer travel itinerary through a Pinterest board\" for example is one way that strategic marketing has evolved (Newlands, 2015).

Problem Statement

While researchers have shown that social media has implications for international marketing and can play a significant role in marketing for tourism and hospitality organizations, no studies have adequately answered the question of why people use social media in the first place (Bolton et al., 2013), and there have been no studies conducted using the phenomenological approach to the subject to provide a more in-depth understanding of why and how consumers use social media so as to help marketers advance organizational profitability. As Bolton et al. (2013) state, more research is needed on social media users to generate an adequate understanding of how this new digital platform may be utilized by managers and strategists.

Purpose Statement

This study will fill the gap in literature related to understanding why social media may serve as an effective component in strategic marketing for the tourism industry in general (and for Serbian tourism in particular) by conducting a phenomenological analysis of social media using tourists in Serbia and Serbian tourism organizations\' awareness and experience of this media.

Research Question

The question this study proposes to answer is: How does the tourist\'s perspective on social media usage as a tool in enhancing the tourism experience compare to the perspective of organizations in the tourism industry in Serbia and what can this comparison reveal about the usage of social media in tourism marketing?

Rationale

Understanding why a phenomenon like social media is happening is the best way for tourism organizations around the world as well as in Serbia to participate in that phenomenon, tap its potential, and route its resources towards the organizations\' aims and ultimately to profitability. Today, marketing is based on a mixture of digital technology and cultural awareness -- to the extent that Spillan (2012) describes the matrix of marketing as including the \"reach of the Internet to unknown places\" and the \"social environments that exist in regional market segments\" (p. 124). Together, these factors enable markets to expand. In a country like Serbia, and indeed for all countries, understanding why social media is used by consumers can help better marketing strategies.

Theoretical/Conceptual Framework

This study uses a phenomenological framework to examine a group of homogenous subjects who are all experiencing the phenomenon of social media. The purpose of using this framework is to uncover new meaning about the phenomenon, how people perceive and experience it, and what that experience can tell to strategic marketers. As Creswell (2007) notes, the phenomenological framework should be used with a group of participants who are all experiencing the same phenomenon.

This study proceeds from the standpoint that social media is a phenomenon in and of itself and, as such, can be used as a tool in strategic marketing to identify consumers, foster relationships, and advance organizations towards profitability (Pan and Crotts, 2012). The example given by Four Seasons and the company\'s Pin.Pack.Go Pinterest initiative serves as the inspiration for this study. According to Worldwide Hospitality Awards (2017), \"with the rise in popularity of Pinterest, Four Seasons launched Pin.Pack.Go, allowing guests to connect with local experts before stepping foot onto the property. Through collaborative boards, guests and experts were able to pin together to create the ultimate customized itinerary, filled with property experiences and destination highlights.\" Such a use of social media by a hospitality organization indicates that strategic marketing may include creative uses of social media to help bring consumers to their business.

Pan and Crotts (2012) show that numerous theories may be used to understand social media usage and its marketing implications: Social exchange theory, based on a cost-benefit framework, is one; Psychological ownership theory is another (Pan and Crotts, 2012); Social penetration theory and social network theory are two more that have been applied to the usage of social media in marketing. McLuhan\'s media theory has also been used to explain how all of these theories help to define an aspect of social media usage.

Figure 1. McLuhan\'s media theory.

Source: http://www.panb.people.cofc.edu/pan/TheoreticalModelsofSocialMedia.pdf

However, these theories have insufficiently explained why users of social media utilize the digital technology (Pan and Crotts, 2012). For this reason, phenomenological approach enables the researcher to allow the experiences of participants themselves to organically produce a new theory through the synthesis of concepts that are distilled from the data obtained via in-depth interviews with the study\'s subjects (Lin, 2013).

By allowing users of social media to generate their own meaning for why they use social media in conjunction with their tourist activities, a new concept is expected to emerge that will be able to benefit strategic marketing.

Figure 2. Graphic of the conceptual framework.

Originality/Value

The value of this study is that it will examine the experiences of social media users from both a tourist and a tourism organization perspective so as to provide more in-depth information on why and how social media users utilize social media and what that can mean for the marketing strategy of the tourism industry, particularly in Serbia, where tourism is such a significant portion of GDP.

Theoretical and Practical Implications

Theoretical implications of this study are that phenomenological analysis could provide a better understanding of how and why social media users use social media. Instead of relying on the decades old theories of communication fostered prior to the rise of digital/social media, this study could help in the construction of a new theory on why social media is used -- a theory that may combine the old theories or develop organically out of the data provided by the participants.

The practical implications of this study are that for strategic marketing, understanding one\'s audience and how and why they use a particular medium (in this case, social media) can have tremendous benefits. Not only does it enable one to use that same medium to tap into the minds and hearts of consumers, but also it enables the marketer to enhance his own marketing strategy so that

Background

Tourism in Serbia was a significant portion of the country\'s GDP prior to the break-up of Yugoslavia in the 1980s. Following that unstable time, the tourism industry suffered significantly in Serbia. However, with the arrival of the 21st century and relative political stability in the region, tourism has begun to pick up once more. The country\'s historical heritage, destination places, and events such as Exit Festival attract visitors from all over the world.

The Serbian government is committed to maintaining and developing the tourism industry going forward, according to the Serbian Minister of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications (Ekapija, 2016). To help the industry achieve this aim, strategic marketing plays a substantial role. While there are various components of this strategy, the one that stands out in the Digital Era is the use of social media. How do travelers to Serbia use social media to plan their trips? How do organizations in the tourism industry use social media to appeal to consumers? The way in which these two groups view the phenomenon of social media usage will help to enable a deeper understanding of how social media can be used as a component in Serbian tourism\'s market strategy as well as the marketing strategy of tourist and hospitality organizations around the world.

Literature Review

Maurer and Hinterdorfer (2013) show that \"travelers have to rely on images and descriptions regarding travel products and services\" when making decisions about where to go and what to do (p. 213). Photo sharing social media platforms allow tourists to connect with one another to share photographic documents of travel and experiences. This presents an opportunity for the tourism industry and in particular for destination management organizations. The study used an online survey of Austrian destination management organizations to obtain data on how Pinterest may be used by these organizations to advance their business aims. The findings showed that while Pinterest is limited in terms of what it enables the tourism industry to do in terms of connecting with consumers, the potential for photo sharing social media sites to be used by marketers was viewed as great and seen by participants as a positive area for focus.

Methodology

A phenomenological approach will be used because this type of research allows the research to conduct in-depth analysis of an experience from a person\'s point of view. In doing so, data is obtained that can be coded and analyzed to identify themes and categories that can then help stakeholders to see how and why social media is an asset in marketing.

Purposeful sampling is used to obtain participants for this study, which is in line with Creswell\'s (2007) explanation of phenomenological research: participants should be chosen based on their experience of the phenomenon. Participants for this study will be contacted via usage of the Internet based on their social media usage related to their time in Serbia (both tourists and tourism providers will be contacted). Festivals like the upcoming Exit Festival in July and other tourism events are opportunities to find participants and engage them in interviews so as to better understand their perspective. Snowball sampling may also be used, as this can occur when one participant recommends another who is not known by the researcher.

Participants will be requested to be available for multiple interviews via Skype, Facetime, and even email for follow-ups when appropriate. Frequent interviews for phenomenological studies is crucial to obtaining as much data as possible (Creswell, 2007). Interviews will be informal and unstructured according to the recommendations of both Moustakas (1994) and Burgess (1982) who views the \"unstructured review as a conversation\" that can enable organic data to reveal itself spontaneously and without the biases of the researcher pushing them forward. Likewise, the \"logic of conversation\" described by Schwarz (1995) can facilitate the gathering of details that might otherwise be missed through a structured interview process. However, having questions to touch upon throughout the interview process can help to \"guide\" the unstructured interviews in so far as the main theme or goal of the interviews is to obtain data on the participants\' use and perception of social media. To that end, the following questions will be utilized to help steer the interviews:

For tourists:

• Do you use social media? If so, which social media? (Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter?)

• If you do or have used social media, what are some of the reasons you have used it?