Social media perceptions among Serbian tourists and tourism providers

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

This study examines the way in which tourists in Serbia view social media and the way in which tourism providers view social media. The study is phenomenological and focuses on understanding how social media is perceived and experienced. The goal of the study is to provide a better awareness of how social media can be used by marketing organizations to achieve positive business outcomes. To achieve this goal, the study interviewed 12 tourists who have traveled to Serbia in the last year and 12 providers of tourism services to see how they used social media, what they thought of it, and what their experience of it was. The finding of this study shows that tourists use social media for socialization, while providers use social media as a tool for business. The former group is happiest with social media when making connections, sharing information and stories, and having an authentic experience. The latter is frustrated with social media because they fail to see how it translates to financial gain, it takes so much time, and there is no clear sense of how to use to promote their business. The study concludes with the recommendation that marketers not view social media as a business tool but rather as a socialization tool that they can use to socialize with consumers, build relationships, show good will, share stories, make friends and, in that manner, grow brand loyalty and lifelong patrons.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Introduction 4

Social Media and Marketing in Tourism 4

Problem Statement 4

Purpose Statement 5

Research Question 5

Rationale 5

Theoretical/Conceptual Framework 6

Value 8

Theoretical and Practical Implications 8

Background 9

Chapter Breakdown 11

Chapter 2: Literature Review 12

Process 12

Social Media and Marketing 12

Tourism, Marketing and Social Media 15

Conclusion 20

Chapter 3: Methodology 21

Questions for tourists: 22

Questions for tourism providers: 23

Analysis 23

Framework 26

Ethical Considerations 27

Limitations 27

Conclusion 28

Chapter 4: Findings 29

Tourists 33

Tourism Providers 36

Conclusion 40

Chapter 5: Discussion 42

The Sharing Economy and Its Impact on the Tourism Industry 43

Uniting Socialization with Business 45

The Friend Paradox 47

Why Social Media Users Use Social Media 48

Recommendations 53

For Future Research 53

For Marketing 55

Conclusion 56

References 58

Chapter 1: Introduction

Social Media and Marketing in Tourism

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 fills 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 answers 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

These theories, however, 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 can emerge that will be able to benefit strategic marketing.

Figure 2. Graphic of the conceptual framework.

Value

The value of this study is that it examines 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

The theoretical implications of this study are that phenomenological analysis can 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 helps 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. Erdeji et al. (2013) found that

Serbia hosts a large offer of natural resources and a great diversity of scenic landscapes, from high mountains to valleys and plains. The Danube, which runs through Serbia for 588 km, with the Sava, the Tisza and the Great Morava compose a dense river network, attractive for all water activities in summer and autumn. Biological diversity of Serbia, both the ecosystem and species, is extremely high and attractive for tourism. Rural Tourism overnights represent 27% of total tourism overnights in Serbia. Tourism in Serbia is expected to increase with 3% over the next five years (p. 309).

With such deep pockets of tourism possibilities, the Serbian tourist industry is well-situated to take advantage of consumer interest in travel and potentially profit from the use of new media to draw those consumers to the country.

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? Understanding the way in which these two groups view the phenomenon of social media usage can 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.

To date, some organizations within the tourism industry are already using social media to help connect with consumers. Four Seasons implemented a marketing campaign that used Pinterest to help consumers connect with tourists and plan destination trips. The goal was to promote Four Seasons through the medium of Pinterest, uniting travelers with others and bridging them by way of the Four Seasons organization and its usage of Pinterest, a popular social media site. Go Pro is another organization that links travels with social media, using YouTube to upload travelers' video footage of trips that have been filmed using Go Pro cameras. The videos have hundreds of thousands of views online and show how corporate aims can be united to social media to help promote an organizational outcome.

For the Serbian tourism industry, any tool that can be of support in the rebuilding of the industry is something to consider for marketing departments within the tourism and hospitality organizations of that country. Serbia has a lot of attractions that still bring in hundreds of thousands of tourists every year and these tourists' use of social media is an untapped spring that could provide a great deal of data on how social media can be used to help the sector better achieve its goals.

Chapter Breakdown

Chapter One provides an introduction to the topic of this dissertation and describes the problem, the purpose of the study, and the background of the subject of social media and marketing.

Chapter Two provides a literature review of the relevant literature associated with social media and marketing usage.

Chapter Three describes the methodology utilized for this study and the process of analysis used to assess the findings.

Chapter Four presents the findings of the analysis.

Chapter Five discusses the findings in terms of the theoretical approaches utilized for this study and offers conclusions as well as recommendations both for the tourism industry in Serbia and for future research.

Chapter 2: Literature Review

Process

Relevant literature for this study was obtained using Google Scholar as a search engine. Beel, Gipp and Wilde (2010) have shown that Google Scholar is a reliable search engine for obtaining studies because of its academic search engine optimization codes. It also provides users with a simple interface that is easy to employ even for advanced searches. Likewise, Schultz (2007) states that Scholar allows users to have "a simple way to access 'peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, abstracts, and articles from academic publishers' sites, professional societies, preprint repositories, universities and other scholarly organizations" (p. 442). This finding has been corroborated by Jasco (2005), who notes that Google Scholar is "an excellent free tool for scholarly information discovery and retrieval" (p. 208). Thus, using Google Scholar, keywords such as "social media marketing" and "social media tourism industry" were used to obtain initial articles on the subject. These articles were used to create a snowball effect similar to snowball sampling, so that one article was used to help lead to another, using keywords obtained from it. In this manner a substantial number of studies were found that helped to provide a considerable understanding of the relationship between social media and marketing up to the current time.

Social Media and Marketing

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. This study was helpful in that it indicates a strong connection between the rise of social media as a new technology and the need for marketing in the 21st century to utilize new media to approach new consumers.

Wang, Park and Fesenmaier (2012) found that smartphones play a pivotal role in the mediating of the touristic experience. Because smartphones essentially act as portable computers, from which one can access all the information of the Internet, they are viewed as a store of valuable data and act as one's very own travel agent, personal tour guide, map, booking agent, etc. Mobile phones and smartphones have enabled tourists to become like their phones -- more mobile and smarter (Wang et al., 2012). Travelers use their smartphones for direction and can have their behavior changed by the suggestions of the information retrieved from their phones via the Internet. Informational needs are met by smartphones for travelers in search of instant information (Wang et al., 2012). The major finding of the study is that "the instant information support of smartphones enables tourists to more effectively solve problems, share experiences, and "store" memories" (Wang et al., 2012, p. 371). What the researchers note are the implications of this study include the ability of smartphones to change the dynamic of the tourist industry as it is a valuable resource for tourists. Understanding this relationship is essential to tourism promotion and marketing.

Bolton et al. (2013) have shown that there are a number of factors that marketers do know about Generation Y's use of social media -- but there are still many unknowns regarding this relationship. For one thing, Bolton et al. (2013) find that the majority of studies on Gen Y's use of social media are conducted in the United States and there is little evidence that sheds light on how other people in other countries are using social media. The determinants of social media usage need to be better understood according to this study and "drivers and outcomes of social-media use" have to be better assessed among a diverse group of people from multiple regions (Bolton et al., 2013, p. 245). The study uses individual factors and environmental factors to better understand differences in social media use among the population sampled for the study. Factors analyzed include economic, cultural, political, technological, emotional, social, and motivational factors. The study shows that because so many persons of Gen Y have grown up with computers, using social media is almost like second nature for them -- it is like people from the latter half of the 20th century growing up using a landline telephone in the house. It is a popular form of communication that is practical, peer-to-peer, informative and helpful when making decisions. There are members of Gen Y who contribute content to social media and those who simply surf social media in order to acquire information. There are givers and takers as in any relationship but there are also readers and watchers who may upvote certain sources of information or become followers but never contribute much beyond that -- though clearly they obtain something positive from the act of voting or following. The study finds that information, leisure and entertainment and the most common goals associated with the use of social media, which means that users are relying about this form of communication for data that will help inform them, for a way to pass time, and for entertainment value. It is in many ways like the new form for spreading info -- what television and radio were for the older generation. The difference between media, of course, is that social media is more immediate, more direct, more accessible, and more impulsive. Decisions can be made quickly and assertively which impact one's travels, consumer habits, lifestyle choices and so on.

Tourism, Marketing and Social Media

Usakli, Koc and Sonmez (2017) examine the extent to which European destinations are linked up with social media. Usakli et al. (2017) focus on destination marketing organizations (DMOs) in Europe and how those DMOs "use social media to promote and market their destinations" (p. 136). The study examines 50 European countries and how Instagram and YouTube are used by DMOs in those countries. Usage of these social media was measured for a period of time over a year. Categories that were measured included:

• Content

• Theme

• Information type

• Engagement

• Interactivity

• Promotion

• Customer service

These seven categories were viewed as reflective of the utility of social media for marketing firms in Europe. Content analysis of 3546 randomly selected social media posts showed that social media is indeed of high value and interest to DMOs in Europe. The countries with the highest levels of social media interest included Spain, Ireland, Turkey, Finland and the Netherlands. Countries with the highest levels of engagement via social media were found to be France, Russia, Norway, Cyprus and Luxembourg (Usakli et al., 2017). As a customer service tool, however, the DMOs were, across the board, found to be using the tool too little and too ineffectively. This study shows, in conclusion, that social media is a tool for marketing organizations to use to grow interest and to interact with consumers but as a customer service tool it is not being used to any great extent -- which begs the question why not and raises the issue of whether marketers simply find social media to be a poor customer service tool or if they are simply unaware of how it might be used in customer service outreach. This study aims to provide light on that question by assessing the reasons and ways in which marketers use social media to promote their products in Serbia.

The study by Li, Robinson and Oriade (2017) examines the role of technology in destination marketing in the 21st century and finds that there is a need for "rapid and expansive technological enhancement and innovations in destination management" (p. 95). What the article finds is that future practice will be determined by key issues, such as the manner and degree to which social media is effectively used by destination marketing and management organizations to draw tourists to locales. The use of social media is viewed as something that needs to be studied more because it is part of a technological revolution currently happening in the 21st century, pushing the boundaries of the Digital Era in a new direction that has never really been tested before. The study shows that there is a great need to better understand the parameters of this technology and how it can be best used by marketers. Experience is the number one way that such technology can best be understood, which is why the researchers call for more study on the relationship between destination marketing and new media usage.

Jovicic (2017) conducted a study on how the tourism industry has been impacted by the flow of information in the 21st century, changing the way the traditional understanding of tourism destination has been implemented. The new smart tourism destination is a characteristic of tourism in which the Digital Era has enabled information and knowledge to be open to more people than ever before. Consumers as well as advertisers, marketers, managers and sellers all have access to the same information: nothing is hidden and everything is shared. This can help all stakeholders in tourism to make better decisions but it also means that marketers and service providers must be at the top of their game in order to attract clientele: if word gets out that service providers are poor then their reputation will quickly fall and social media users will ensure that business is hurt through word of mouth. Thus, the researcher concludes that "without using digital technologies enabling adequate public -- private -- consumer collaboration, it is almost impossible nowadays to achieve successful market valorization of destinations' geographical attributes" (Jovicic, 2017, p. 1). This finding shows that collaboration via social media with consumers and travelers is a way for tourism marketers to better effect connections with potential clients, show user friendliness, establish viability, and be ready for new channels of information sharing in the Digital Era.

Kavoura and Stavrianeas (2015) examined the perceptions of tourists on social media when making a decision about where to go in the Mediterranean for holiday. The study also assessed the level of importance that belonging to an online community held for the participants. Online communities were described as virtual places on the Internet where members held similar characteristics and could share ideas and engage in like-minded sharing of information. The study collected responses from more than 300 participants in Athens upon their arriving in the city in Greece in 2014. Findings showed that the biggest difference among visitors and their approach to social media was the age difference: younger ages were more likely to put more emphasis on social media than older ages. Of the type of social media channels used for obtaining information, Facebook was the most cited source while blots and official traveling sites were also "first source" sites and references for reliable information. When online users shared photographs, it helped social media members to make better decisions because they felt that they could see what would be in store for them if they went a certain way or visited a particular region. The major take away from this study is that social media is an important tool for visitors when it comes to making decisions about where they should go and what they should see. The study's implications for research are that social media should be better understood as a tool for promoting destination tourism. For marketing organization in the tourism industry, using social media to enhance outcomes for their organization is something that should be considered going forward.

Kladou and Mavragani (2016) conducted a phenomenological assessment of visitors' perceptions of Istanbul to gauge the effectiveness of the city's branding as a destination place. The study cited the rise in trends of consumer marketing via social media and thus used the qualitative data assessment to better understand how perceptions are formed and what it can mean for a destination city that relies on tourism. As the researchers state, "implications for tourism practitioners stem from the dilemma of focusing on several key themes in their mass media marketing efforts" (Kladou and Mavragani, 2016, p. 92). By analyzing how social media can be combined with tourism heritage and cultural systems, the researchers found that excessively negative comments on social media can negatively impact a brand's image; that the more active a business is in using social media to relate to consumers, the more likely that business is to be viewed favorably by the public; and that bridging "expectations, experiences and satisfaction" among tourists via social media requires "systematic effort" (Kladou and Mavragani, 2016, p. 102).

Hajli (2014) examines the role of social media has played among consumers, using a survey of participants. The main finding of the study is that trust plays a significant part in the mediation of social media among consumers and sellers of goods and services. The degree to which a site is perceived as useful is a contributing factor in a user's intention to consume. The theoretical implication of the study is that by integrating information systems with popular theory and technology acceptance, a model of social commerce can be constructed that uses trust and social media as indicators of consumption. Essentially, value is co-created through a collaborative process between the consumer and the provider via social media. This concept is pivotal in understanding exactly what social media is and how it can be utilized in marketing: it acts as a binder between the buyer and the seller and invites the consumer into the creative process. If the seller is offering the buyer a product that is meant to be consumed by the buyer then by allowing the buyer the opportunity to have a more direct role in the creative process -- a process that has a product development as the end result -- the buyer becomes a more hands-on stakeholder and the seller is able to deliver that which is desired. Social media allows buyers and sellers to explore one another more directly and intimately and ultimately this can be a substantial benefit for sellers because it enables them to see exactly what the buyer wants and/or is looking for in a product. Through social media, a conversation can be begun between the consumer and the seller that enables a more satisfied relationship to blossom. This understanding has the potential to be a game changer in the world of commerce. For the tourism industry the same application and utility applies and for Serbian tourism there is no reason to think that such findings could not also find similar applicability.

Conclusion

As the research shows, social media users rely on photographs and comments of other online users when making decisions about where to go when they are traveling, what to see, what to try to experience, and so on (Maurer and Hinterdorfer, 2013; Kavoura and Stavrianeas, 2015). Social media provides users information that gives them the power to make choices related to their travels and consumer habits. Marketing professionals would do well to attempt to better understand how and why social media is used (Hajli, 2014; Jovicic, 2017). By being aware of social media usage and approaching the social media tool as a way to connect with users, marketers in the tourism industry can develop connections with travelers and with the upcoming generation in ways that otherwise would not be possible. For this reason, the research indicates that a deep awareness of social media is key to marketing in the Digital Era.

Chapter 3: Methodology

The phenomenological approach allows research to be conducted with 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.

Purposive sampling was 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 were contacted via the Internet based on their social media usage related to their time in Serbia. Both tourists and tourism providers were contacted. The Exit Festival and other tourism events were opportunities to find participants and engage them in interviews so as to better understand their perspective. Snowball sampling was also used, as this possibility occurred when one participant recommended another who was not known by the researcher but who had visited the country and was a user of social media.

In total, 12 tourists and 12 tourism providers were selected for this study. They were contacted by using instant messaging, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram and YouTube. Once a connection was established through social media, emails were exchanged that allowed the researcher to explain the purpose of the study and what was required.

Participants in this study were requested to be available for multiple interviews via Skype, Facetime, and even email for follow-ups when appropriate. Frequent interviews for phenomenological studies are crucial to obtaining as much data as possible (Creswell, 2007). Interviews were informal and unstructured according to the recommendations of both Moustakas (1994) and Burgess (1982). The "unstructured interview as a conversation" was used to enable organic data to reveal itself spontaneously and without the biases of the researcher pushing them forward (Burgess, 1982, p. 107). Likewise, the "logic of conversation" described by Schwarz (1995) was used to facilitate the gathering of details that might otherwise be missed through a structured interview process. As Cresswell (2007) notes, this method is highly intuitive but in line with phenomenological processes. Nonetheless, having questions to touch upon throughout the interview process helped to "guide" the unstructured interviews in so far as the main theme or goal of the interviews was to obtain data on the participants' use and perception of social media. To that end, the following questions were utilized to help steer the interviews:

Questions 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?

• If you have not, why not?

• If you use social media to spread information, do you do so because you believe the information will be helpful to others or is there another purpose behind why you post?

• Do you or have you use social media or Pinterest to help in your planning a vacation?

• If yes, could you describe that experience?

• Would you like to work with others on social media to help plan an amazing vacation?

Questions for tourism providers:

• Do you use social media as part of your marketing strategy?

• Have you ever used Pinterest or Instagram as part of a marketing strategy?

• Are you aware of the impact of the Internet on the marketplace and/or tourism?

• If so, how would you characterize that impact?

• Do you interact much with tourists or guests via the Internet and/or social media?

• If yes, could you describe that experience?

• Would you ever consider the possibility of using social media -- Pinterest, Instagram in particular -- to promote tourism in Serbia by collaborating with guests in a strategy of co-curating a customer travel itinerary?

Analysis

Data was analyzed using open coding, eidetic reduction and imaginative variation. These steps enabled the essence of communication to be distilled and presented to the reader in a way that is organized and coherent. Coding was used to identify themes and categories in responses; reduction was used to facilitate the grouping of communications by reducing the expressions to concepts; and imaginative variation was "used to identify possible meanings through utilizing imagination, varying the frames of reference, employing polarities and reversals, and approaching the phenomenon from divergent perspectives, different positions, roles, or functions" (Lin, 2013, p. 472). The graph designed by Yuskel and Yildirim (2015) provides a visual representation of how the analysis process works:

Figure 3. Reduction and variation to achieve the essence.

Source: http://dergipark.gov.tr/download/article-file/199867

Steps taken in analysis followed this procedure: Data was obtained from the two dozen interviews (12 tourists and 12 tourism providers). The interview transcripts were then read and re-read so that the ideas and concepts presented by the interviewees could seed themselves in the mind of the researcher. Open coding was then conducted, first on a line by line basis, then on a paragraph by paragraph basis, and finally on a whole interview basis. Open coding was conducted by segmenting the data into themes and categories, as recommended by Strauss and Corbin (1988), Miles and Haberman (1994) and Lin (2013). By segmenting data in to units that could be more easily managed, the researcher was able to identify themes and enter into the process of distillation that runs concurrent with opend coding and which is called eidetic reduction. Ideas and concepts could then be compared and contrasted with one another as they emerged and became apparent through the dual-layered process of open coding and eidetic reduction. As these concepts and categories emerged, imaginative variation was used to enable the researcher to communicate the meaning of what the participants were saying in a manner that was concise, with all the various ideas synthesized to enable a better and clearer picture of the subject to be had.

An example of how the method of analysis was achieved is this: the units of information distilled from one interview using open coding and eidetic reduction were identified and given a label. These units were called concepts and they were grouped together thematically following the three-step process of coding (the first line by line read/coding, then the paragraph by paragraph read/coding, then the whole interview). The labels that the units were given were judged to best communicate the essence of what was being told in that particular segment. To reduce the number of segments and labels still further, eidetic reduction was used to help filter out the noise -- the segments that were repetitive or that were distractions from the essence of what was emerging. As segments emerged and were coupled together, patterns of thought were displayed that could be grouped thematically into a basic overall format that resembled a SWOT analysis. This type of analysis is something that businesses and organizations will use when attempting to measure their strengths, weaknesses, threats and opportunities. The same type of SWOT analysis format was found to apply here, as the participants identified strengths of using social media, weaknesses, threats and opportunities in their own unique and diverse ways. By applying this SWOT format to the overall analysis process, the concepts that emerged from the data analysis were more easily understood in a framework that lends itself to marketing concepts and business strategies.

The essence of meaning, which is the goal identified by Yuskel and Yildirim (2015) depicted in the graphic above, was obtained through this tri-fold purpose of coding, reduction and imaginative variation. Viewing meaning in categorical terms also enabled the researcher to see how variables related and how those relationships might add to more meaning. Dimensionalizing the data, as recommended by Strauss and Corbin (1998), was achieved by grouping the themes that emerged and viewing them as unique and independent of the researcher's own views. This process of dimensionalizing was rooted in the act of imaginative variation, which is a way to envision the "meaning structure" of the communications by considering the universal structural properties and attributes of the phenomenon, such as temporality, spatiality, materiality, causality, etc." (Lin, 2013, pp. 473-4).

Framework

The framework used to support this method of analysis was Interpretivism, defined by Cohen, Manion and Morrison (2007). Their framework for analysis shows that when a researcher is able to enter into the realm of the subject, he is better situated to be able to define that subject. Looking at it from within, situated in the subject's environment, is the best way to understand the subject. It is a process of experiencing the data as much as obtaining the data. This framework thus calls for interviews to be conducted in the most personalized manner possible. For this study, face-to-face interviews were not possible due to time and space restrictions, but virtual interviews were able to be accomplished using the Internet, which still allowed for an effective immersion into the world of the subjects. This framework has been developed by using ideas presented by some of the fathers of phenomenological research -- namely Husserl and Schultz, who supported the notion of enabling researchers to "understand, explain, and demystify social reality through the eyes of different participants," (Cohen et al., 2007, p. 19).

Ethical Considerations

Ethical concerns for participants were supported by obtaining consent from the participants to use their information in this study. Anonymity of the participants was preserved so that while some description of their social media activities along with the context of these activities will be utilized, the names and identities of participants were kept anonymous.

Limitations

This study was limited in terms of time and scope. It was also limited by the researcher's bias. One way to address the issue of bias is to use "bracketing," which is a procedure recommended by Fischer (2009). Fischer (2009) states that researchers should be upfront about their assumptions at the beginning of their phenomenological study but that once interviews begin, researchers should be less concerned about their own ideas and more concerned about drawing the experiences of the participants out so that new ideas can organically be presented. As Fischer (2009) notes, "too often qualitative researchers discover while we are working with interview transcriptions that the interviewer was better at putting aside assumptions than at encouraging participants to fill out their accounts. Engaging participants in elaborating their descriptions allows us to check our earlier understandings and to deepen our attunement to alternative understandings" (p. 588). Thus, even though one of the limitations of qualitative work is the fact that bias can penetrate into a researcher's work and be projected on the results, the solution that Fischer (2009) recommends is for the researcher to address bias by empowering participants to communicate as much as possible and thereby allow their own perceptions and perspectives to come to the foreground for analysis.

Conclusion

The method used for this study was the phenomenological method with the unstructured interview used as the means of obtaining data from participants. Participants numbered 24 total -- 12 tourists in Serbia and 12 providers of tourism services. Purposive sampling along with snowball sampling was used to find participants online, using social media as a way to meet them. Interviews were conducted via Skype, FaceTime, and email. Data was analyzed using open coding, eidetic reduction and imaginative variation according to the prescribed methods of phenomenology as it has been recommended by researchers in the past. The goal of this type of analysis was to identify the essence of what participants were communicating to the researcher during interviews and immersion played a large part of this process. The researcher had to immerse himself into the data, the transcripts, the words of the participants so as to allow the organic message to come out. The meaning of the experience of the participants is discussed in the following two chapters with findings described in the next chapter and a discussion of the findings in the chapter following that.

Chapter 4: Findings

The 12 tourist participants had either toured a region of Serbia within the last 12 months or were currently planning their tour when interviewed. The 12 tourism providers were currently active in providing tourism in a variety of venues: examples included, music festivals, rural tourism, walking tours, boat tours, etc.

Participants are identified by number instead of name. Their relevant expressions are identified and compared in the tables below. The expressions are categorized thematically and, using the SWOT presentation, the values associated with social media usage by the two groups are expressed alongside perceived strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, as these concepts came up during the interviews and as they emerged through the coding process.

The main reasons to emerge as to why tourists used social media were the following:

• Social media allows people to share useful information

• Social media helps people make decisions about where they want to go

• Social media is collaborative and brings people together

• It is a way to make friends and form relationships based on mutual interests

• It is a way to be outgoing and help others

The main reasons to emerge as to why tourism providers used social media were the following:

• Social media is a way to get one's message to the consumer

• It helps to market updates, specials, discounts, offerings, etc.

• It helps to raise the visibility of the product in online searches

• It helps to establish networks with consumers, providers, suppliers, workers, etc.

There was a significant difference between the way that providers of tourism services and the way that tourists perceived the advantages and utility of social media. For tourists, the essence of social media was social -- whereas for tourism organizations the essence of social media was business.

The two tables below show how these elements can be compared.

Tourist

Value

Strengths

Weaknesses

Opportunities

Threats

1

Social connection

Reliable info from people who have been there and done that

What appeals to some may not appeal to others -- also who to trust

Friendships can be started around the world but needs more support to maintain them

People may be spying on you; trust

2

Information sharing

Helps get info in your hands quickly

None

Can't always find what you are looking for Some people are using social media to promote products instead of sharing experiences

3

Collaboration

Sharing pictures, stories, recommend-ations

Not always a safe medium, who can you trust?

Some businesses do not put themselves out socially enough and should do that more

Trusting sources can be hard

4

Minimal, prefer real contact with real people I already know

Information sharing can be useful but I don't always trust it

Social media can be here today and gone tomorrow

Need the Internet to access, if out of range, no access; need to have universal Internet access

Lack of permanence

5

Lots of different exposures to different experiences

Helpful in making decisions about where to go, what to see

Some posts can be deceptive

Can be better regulated

Some people misuse it

6

Information sharing

Sharing pictures, stories, recommendations

None

Can be expanded in lots of different ways

None

7

Collaboration

Helpful in making decisions about where to go, what to see

You can follow but not always work well with others in making real events come to life

Some businesses do not put themselves out socially enough and should do that more

None

8

Collaboration

Sharing information, adventures, documenting travels

Keep people posted in real time but takes a lot of time investing in it

Can be made easier to search for things

None

9

Social connections

Making friends with new people and sharing experiences

Trust is an issue in social media

Very helpful in pointing people in good directions

People controlling the Internet for bad reasons

10

Information sharing

Helpful in making decisions about where to go, what to see

It is not always easy to trust people online

Can be made to be part of daily life through education

Internet censorship

11

Social connections

Get to know new people, places, things to try

Can't do everything, sometimes information overload

Should be a way to check social media quickly

None

12

Collaboration

Planned trip with others based on ideas shared

Too much info sometimes

Can be catalogued better

Internet censorship

Table 1. Tourist Participant Summaries

Tourism Provider

Value

Strengths

Weaknesses

Opportunities

Threats

1

Build brand

Connect to consumers

Not sure it's relevant

Needs more testing

Bad word of mouth

2

Business visibility

Advertising

Who is watching?

Reach larger audience

Negative exposure

3

Branding

Marketing

Not sure of effect

Potential to build brand

Waste of time

4

Get business

Marketing brand

People can say bad things about your brand

Possibility of drawing in more consumers

Hurtful to brand if people don't enjoy

5

Connect with consumers

Make brand visible

Too much information spreads too quickly

Hopefully can control information flow better

People using it to destroy your image

6

Build brand

Post pictures, connect with consumers

Hard to control a narrative

Need to be more efficient in telling stories

Hard to sell

7

Branding

Information sharing

Cannot interact with everyone, not enough time

Create full-time position to monitor and use social media

No time for it

8

Imaging

Advertising

Difficult to maintain effectively

Create jobs

More competition

9

Visibility

Connect with consumers

Full-time job to do it right

Bring in business

Negative word of mouth

10

Good for business

Better able to promote brand

Inefficient if inconsistent

Develop relationships with consumers

Bad experiences travel fast

11

Need it for attracting customers

Advertising

None

Build brand

Customers may avoid

12

Business

Marketing

Audience too diverse

Build brand

Over-exposure

Table 2. Tourism Providers' Summaries.

The findings show that for users of social media who are not operating a tourism business, the benefits of social media are purely social. For tourism operators, the benefits are purely business-oriented. These stark polarities reveal two opposing ways of looking at social media for each of the participating groups. This finding will be discussed more in depth in the following chapter.

Tourists

The other major finding of this study was that the majority of tourists in Serbia were willing to show loyalty to tourism providers whom they encountered and liked on social media, especially if those tourism providers were willing to spend time helping and getting to know the consumer online. They tourists overwhelmingly saw this as a sign of welcome and wanted to return the favor by patronizing their firm during their travels. This was true of travelers staying at hotels or using AirBnB abroad or taking tour guides, patronizing restaurants, seeing specific sites or going to a particular event. The more warmly that tourists were received by hosts, tourism providers, tour organizations, event organizers, etc., the more likely they were to show loyalty to these businesses throughout their stay and even year after year.

Multiple participants in this study described returning to the country annually so as to revisit old friends among whom were business operators who had connected with the tourists over social media, bonded and thereby enjoyed their friendship and patronage. Some tourists described how some businesses such as inns or restaurants posted the tourists own pictures on their social media, which both promoted the business and made the tourists feel good for it exposed them and their travels to the world and allowed them to bask in a type of limelight of positive attention. Whenever warmth was demonstrated through social media from a business operator to a tourist, the feeling was typically reciprocated with business given the operator from the tourist. This was commonly the case as described by the tourists in their discussions of how and why they used social media.

Tourists also described communicating with other tourists on social media and on blogs, through instant messaging, Skype, AirBnB, Pinterest, Facebook, etc. They told stories about meeting people in online communities who had had adventures in Serbia with traveling and then meeting these people in real life in Serbia if the opportunity presented itself. One couple who interviewed as one person described their account of traveling in Serbia and using social media to make plans and meet locals who were taking advantage of the share economy to make money for themselves and provide tourists with a real, authentic experience of the Serbian country. These locals became drivers for the couple, became hosts by offering lodgings and became chefs by offering dinners and food for the couple. They experienced Serbia directly in this manner and made contact with the locals the focal point of their travels. As a result, their stories were more vivid and memorable than any of the other stories told in this study. The couple also promoted their travels on their own blog and video blog on YouTube and they used other social media platforms to keep in touch with the friends they made in Serbia, sharing photos from back home and catching up from month to month or year to year. They had been to Serbia several times over the years and always re-visited old friends. They even managed in this way to bypass the entire tourism industry all-together, which could have significant impact on tourism and hospitality industry in Serbia were more people to engage in this type of behavior. This example will be discussed more in-depth in the next chapter.

The main experience that tourists were looking for was something authentic and they used social media to obtain hints and guides on how to achieve this authentic experience. They described in their interviews wanting to be someplace real, someplace away from all the superficialities of consumerism: they wanted to feel not like a tourist but like someone invited into the country and made to feel like part of one's family or community. They sought to be like a neighbor in a country to which they were obviously not natives. This concept was common among all the participating tourists in this study and they commonly expressed using social media as a way of obtaining this authentic experience that they sought to obtain.

Another item that tourists using social media looked for was something in the vein of the sharing economy. Since social media was built on the collaborative idea of sharing, with information only made to trend if enough people shared it with others, the concept of share space and sharing economy was familiar to the participants and they viewed share space platforms as more desirable than conventional or traditional platforms. Thus, the majority of them spoke favorably of AirBnB and of using Uber. They liked the concept of getting to know real people in places where they'd never been because this allowed them to feel more a part of the local culture than as an awkward outsider. They viewed social media as a platform that could allow this to happen. Social media was like a gate through which tourists could pass "from the unknown to the known" -- that was how one participant put it. This reverence for social media as a kind of wand that could help people to become more united to their surroundings was something that was essentially discernible throughout the conversations and interviews with the participants. The fact that most of the interviews included some reference to sharing economy or the use thereof was a signal that social media was part of a sharing economy culture that these tourists were part of.

The two main concerns that tourists had about social media were the issue of trust and the issue of parsing information. The main essence that was distilled from their accounts of using social media and their experience with the phenomenon was that they wanted to obtain information from trustworthy sources so half the time and work that went into using social media was simply researching profiles and looking at the past histories and posts of other social media users to see whether they were users who could be trusted. The more history that one had, the more confident that the participants felt about that user's information and the more willing they were to make decisions based on what that individual posted to his or her social media account.

Tourism Providers

Tourism providers viewed social media mainly as a way to attract business. They did not commonly describe it as a way to develop and/or foster relationships with people. However, there was one instance in which a tourism provider described having a double approach to social media -- a business-oriented approach and a personal/private/social approach. The participant did not see a contradiction or irony in this double approach until the researcher pointed it out to her and asked her why she did not combine the two approaches and use her social media as both a way to socialize and, through socialization, drive people to her business. The participant recognized this as a good idea but confessed to not knowing too much about how to do that, as though intertwining the social life of social media and the business side of social media were two mutually exclusive ideas. This finding will be discussed more in-depth in the next chapter as well.

The majority of tourism providers viewed social media skeptically though almost all admitted to using it to promote their businesses. Facebook was the most common form used by the tourism providing participants and posts were sporadic and intermittent. Only three participants described themselves as regular posters and these three did not see any great or significant returns on investment on this social media platform. They viewed it rather as a formal necessity -- part of a process of simply letting consumers know that they were legitimate organizations. They believed that having a Facebook page with postings every few weeks made them appear legitimate and trustworthy. They did not view Facebook as a platform by which they could socialize with consumers but rather as a way to simply posting a sign to the public letting it know that the organization was in fact still in business. It was akin to demonstrating to the world that you still had a pulse -- this was how one participant put it.

However, there was little sense of return among providers when it came to using social media to promote tourism and business. All of the providers knew of Pinterest and Twitter and Instagram but none of them stated that they had used these platforms much to promote business. They saw these media forms as fads that were sticking around primarily because people liked to post pictures of themselves and their interests but that there was really no evident showing of using these platforms leading to success in business, so they saw no need to give much time to them. They recognized the virtue of social media as a means of making one's brand visible and of promoting events and offerings, but aside from these features social media as a tool was limited as far as they were concerned.

When told that consumers like social media because it allowed them to connect with other like-minded individuals and share stories, experiences and information that could help them make decisions about what to do when traveling, the providers mainly agreed with this assessment but did not see any way for themselves to capitalize on it. They understood that people like to share information online among themselves and that this is a common feature of social media but for a company or organization to do this requires time and resources -- someone would have to be paid to spend time cultivating a social media presence and responding to people and liking other people -- and for the most part the providers viewed social media as a closed system. They viewed it as friends in real life joining up with their own friends on social media: they based this perception on their own personal or private experiences of using social media. They themselves did not go out of their way to make friends with strangers because they viewed that as being too forward. They rather "friended" friends they already knew on Facebook. Sending friend requests to strangers usually never yielded much outcome from their own personal experience, so they did not see how friending strangers as an organization or company would be any different. This finding is also discussed in more depth in the next chapter.

As for other forms of social media, such as Pinterest, the providers showed little interest in learning it as they felt there were already enough social media sites available and that keeping up with every new one that came along was too demanding. They wanted to wait and see which sites and platforms caught on and which seemed to have a more permanent and lasting effect rather than just being a latest fad. Fads could easily come and go and to invest a lot of time into a social media platform that was not going to be a permanent or long-lasting medium was not something that they wanted to do or something that seemed like a good idea to them. So while they were willing to learn some social media and use it consistently, they wanted to know that the media they were choosing was one that would endure -- otherwise it was not worth the investment. They demonstrated a clear cost-benefit frame of analysis when discussing the merits of social media.

As far as the utility of social media in marketing was concerned, they understood how the power of sharing pictures and stories could be helpful in advertising one's business but they did not display a sense of appreciating the socialization aspect of social media. Their approach to it as marketers was to see it as a business tool instead of as a socialization tool -- which caused their approach to juxtapose to that of the tourists they sought to attract. In this way the essence of the two groups' experience with social media was diametrically opposed -- like two groups using a tool for different purposes: one using it as it should be used and the other using it like a hammer.

Tourism providers were also aware of the concept of sharing economy and share space platforms like AirBnB and Uber. They did not know what to make of these platforms for the most part -- although one participant did indicate that AirBnB was popular in Belgrade and that she had a friend who did it and enjoyed it very much. She herself was not inclined to use this type of platform but she was interested by it and saw that it could change the future of hospitality and tourism. What she realized as a business owner was that in order to attract and maintain clientele she would need to make adjustments in the future and think of a way to make people feel welcome to her place of business.

Conclusion

The phenomenon of social media is experienced differently by tourists than it is by tourism providers. Tourists see social media as a tool for socialization, out of which can come information sharing, friendships, trust, and enjoyment. Tourism providers see social media as a tool for business, with which they can increase profits -- though there is no guarantee of any correlation between social media usage and increased business, as far as their experiences told them. This difference in approach is manifested in the way in which the two groups told stories about their social media usage and the role it plays in their lives while engaged in tourism. The tourists used it to help themselves make good decisions, to make friends, and to have an authentic experience.

Tourism providers used social media sparingly most of the time, to try to advertise themselves to consumers and to make their businesses visible to others. The providers viewed it as having a different utility for them -- a business or profit-driven utility, whereas tourists viewed it as having a socialization utility or an information sharing utility. For tourists trust and transparency were big issues when it came to using social media. Tourists wanted to be sure that the social media posters they were following were truthful, honest and using social media not to take advantage of people but rather to be friendly and helpful. For this reason, tourists were less inclined to be friendly with businesses using social media because they viewed this as a move by a business to take advantage of consumers. However, if the business using social media was active and engaging with other social media members and a human face could be put on the business, other social media users were more inclined to respect, trust, follow and patronize that business. For this reason, the tourists who used social media were mainly focused on obtaining accurate and trustworthy information and, if there was an exchange of information, they wanted the other party to be as interested in the information and the exchange as they were. They were more pleased with such an exchange when it was personalized. For tourism providers, an exchange of information via direct contact or instant messaging was rare, as the tourism providers did not spend a great deal of time using social media in this way. Their main objective when using social media was simply to post bulletins of events that were coming up and respond to messages from time to time.

Chapter 5: Discussion

As the findings showed, tourism operators viewed social media in a purely business context, which is starkly different from the way in which tourists viewed social media -- mainly as a social tool. This difference is compelling because it reveals a difference in orientation between business operators and consumers: consumers want the tool to enhance their lives socially speaking. Business operators want the tool to enhance their lives monetarily. Can these two polarities be reconciled and used to assist in tourism marketing in Serbia?

The answer to that question depends on how a marketing organization goes about using what it knows of the consumer desire to use social media for a social purpose rather than to feel used by business owners or viewed merely as a source of profit for a business owner. Social media is about building relationships through the sharing of information and for consumers to warm to business operators, they should feel compelled to want to enter into a relationship with the operator. This means that business operators should market themselves to consumers on social media on a personal level. The more personal and intimate marketers can make their tourism industry feel to consumers, the more likely they are to be invited into the lives of the social media users -- and the more likely they are to foster relationships that can benefit their business. The revelation exposed through these findings is that social media can teach marketing organizations that in order to profit, businesses must put people before profits -- i.e., see people as people first, reach out to connect with them in a helpful way without any hint of being in it for the business and, as a result, they will be more likely to be rewarded by consumers for their assistance, outgoing nature, friendliness, helpfulness, and information sharing. In other words, social media is a tool by which marketers can construct their own narratives through making connections with people. It does not and should not be seen as a gimmick because when consumers feel they are being tricked by a business into entering into a relationship with them and sharing information with them, they will block the business out and take their own business elsewhere. They want to feel personally invested in the experience and want whoever is on the other side of the information sharing relationship to also be invested in the experience and to have noble, friendly, helpful intentions at the heart of the arrangement. This will translate into loyalty, as the findings showed. The more that businesses offered assistance on social media and made friends with clients, the more likely clients were to respond with loyalty to that business.

The Sharing Economy and Its Impact on the Tourism Industry

The sharing economy (AirBnB, Uber) is making a huge impact on hospitality services and altering the way in which providers must think about their core products and services and how to market them. The example of the couple who traveled to Serbia many times and used share space economic principles to guide their tourism are indicative of a major movement in the world that could disrupt significantly the tourism industry. By using social media to connect with real locals who want to make extra money for themselves by showing tourists around the country and providing lodgings in their own home, this couple was able to obtain the most authentic and fresh experience of Serbia of all the tourist participants used in this study. For most tourists, an authentic experience is what they are looking for when they travel, according to their own stories as collected in this study.

For marketers, the allure of authenticity among consumers is something that should be addressed in their stance towards social media. How organizations convey themselves to consumers should be in line with this authentic feeling. To support an organization's authentic appeal to travelers, an organization could promote its cultural ties to the region, its heritage, its longevity, its popular appeal among locals. Organizations must be able to mine their brand and image in order to convey a sense of having or possessing authenticity to tourists who are obviously looking for this. If marketers can use social media to convey this attitude or sense to other users of social media, they are more likely to intercept tourists who are attracted to the share space economy because of the promise of an authentic experience that it provides.

Because the share space economy is disrupting so many sectors and upsetting business models, a re-thinking of the way in which the 21st century consumer is looking to interact with providers of goods and services is in order. The 21st century consumer is more informed than ever before thanks to the ease of sharing information on the Internet. Sharing is part of the characteristics of the Digital Era and thanks to social media and the Internet, the sharing economy has come into existence. Strangers can come into contact with one another, overcome obstacles of time and space, and connect to one another on platforms and in ways that were never before possible. The professional service provider is, therefore, threatened by the very existence of this sharing economy for it is taking the professional service provider out of the equation and allowing peers to connect peer-to-peer. This is true in all major service industries -- from taxi service to music service to food service to hotel service.

Moreover, tourists are looking for an experience that is authentic -- i.e., they do not want something that is pre-packaged, generic, designed for anyone and everyone (and thus not individualized or tailored to meet their specific needs or desires). They want to interact with a host who takes the time of day to arrange ideas and meals for them and to give them pointers, to take them out, and to share conversations with them. This is the essence of what has made AirBnB so popular among share space economy users. It is what has allowed Pinterest to enjoy success -- the idea of sharing memories and experiences, likes and obsessions with others has an allure that is new and attractive for people in the 21st century.

Marketers can use social media to drive home to consumers the idea that they too have an authentic characteristic and that, even though they are not part of a family or a non-professional class, they have ties to the region that have been appreciated by loyal customers and travelers in many ways or for many years. Promoting one's achievements and one's interest in the region is a way to promote one's authenticity. Trust is a major issue for social media users, as researchers have shown, and that means that the more trustworthy an organization can come across to consumers, the more likely it is to be selected as a receiver of the consumer's patronage.

Uniting Socialization with Business

As one tourism provider participant put it, she had two sides to her social media usage: on the one side, she used it to promote her business and on the other side she used it to socialize -- but she never combined the two because the idea of combining them seemed impossible to her. She had her business life and then she had her social/private/personal life. The two were incompatible and did not go together in her mind. However, this idea of them being exclusive appears to be problematic and one of the reasons that keeps marketers and organizations in tourism from understanding the way in which socialization can drive business to one's organization.

Were the participant able to socialize more with clients and potential consumers using social media, she could unite her personal, private life with her professional life and merge the two into the type of authentic experience offering that consumers/travelers are looking for when entering into a new country. This would be a way to build trust with consumers and potential future clients because trust is based on transparency, as the interviews revealed: the more that social media users felt that they could know about an online poster, the more they felt inclined to trust that individual. Sharing photos from one's life, or presenting a substantial history on social media was a way to cultivate followers and to establish a quality of transparency. The main concept here is that the ability to hone transparency is a big part of using social media effectively. Social media users favor other social media users who have a history of posting. This shows that they are not simply out to trick or deceive because they have clearly been a member of the social media community for a long time and, just as in any community, they have made friendships and helped others. This is the essence of what social media is about for those who use it socially. To use it for business is to miss out on this important essence: those who wish to profit from social media must realize that it is not about putting profits before people but about putting people before profits. By using it as a socialization tool, social media can lead people to one's business but marketers still need to walk that straight path of socialization in order to build trust with consumers. Socialization, in other words, leads to trust, which can lead to consumerism, brand loyalty and business increase.

The Friend Paradox

The problem of mixing socialization and business, as providers put it (and as is described in the previous chapter) is that as far as providers were concerned social media users friended people they knew in real life and followed others who offered information they appreciated -- but beyond this there was really no tangible or deep connection that led to much of anything at all. In other words, the outcomes of following people online or of friending strangers was in effect nil. That was the perception of the tourism providers.

Yet as far as tourists were concerned, friending people through social media could lead to better things in real life, as in the case of the couple who traveled to Serbia on multiple occasions. The difference between the two outlooks of the tourists and the tourism providers was, once again, the orientation towards socialization. Providers approached social media from a business perspective that negated at the outset any positive attitudes or feelings toward socialization. In effect, they neutralized the power that social media could have by its very nature. The point of social media for tourists was just that -- to socialize. For providers, they tried to "fit" social media into their business plan instead of adapting their business plan to meet social media. Providers might have had a more beneficial perspective on social media had they approached it in the same way that tourists approached it -- i.e., as a way of connecting with other like-minded individuals, sharing ideas, photos, stories, and experiences. This is exactly what social media users have shown themselves to expect, as the findings described in the previous chapter pointed out. Instead of attempting to stuff social media users into their box, providers should be looking to approach social media in the same way that the media are meant to be used by non-professionals. The benefit of doing this is that it enables tourism providers to present themselves to the public as ordinary people -- people who have lives, stories, interests and ideas. This lends the business more towards being perceived as authentic instead of as a corporate type of operation that is seeking only its own benefit. By coming to consumers and not viewing them as consumers but rather as real people, the providers could enter into the social media domain on an equal footing with others and supply both informational needs and logistical applications to help make consumers more comfortable with making good decisions during their tour of the country. Since consumers reward trustworthiness with loyalty, the expected outcome of such an approach would be for consumers to patronize the organization that used social media in such an advantageous way for the consumer.

Why Social Media Users Use Social Media

Understanding why social media users use social media can be the first step in helping marketers to use social media to better market their products and services. For the Serbian tourism industry, social media can be a significant tool, as tourists have been shown to use and rely upon the media for information, making connections, learning about regions, and having an authentic experience. The major finding from this data is that social media users want to trust other users who offer up information so they look for a history of social media usage and see what others have said about the individual. This practice is common among other platforms such as AirBnB which promotes the leaving of comments by both guests and hosts so that others can see what staying at a certain place would be like. It is a way of supplying potential clients with transparency so that they can make an effective decision, one that they feel confident about and can feel that their money and goods are in safe hands. Trust is an important factor in this exchange on AirBnB -- and the tourists showed that trust is important for them when they are researching ideas on the Internet related to tourism in Serbia. Therefore, for tourist marketers in Serbia, understanding how important trust is to the visitor using social media can help them craft a better marketing strategy going forward.

Also important is the concept of socialization. Social media using tourists are not just looking for information -- they are also looking for socialization. This means that for marketers, simply supplying information to the consumer via social media platforms is not sufficient to win those social media users as clients in the future. It is a step in a process, but social media should be viewed as just that -- a process -- a process of socialization. There is an exchange of information, which is a step in the process, but that step must be followed up with another step, which is connection with the social media user in a way that is perceived as friendly, welcoming and within the boundaries and conventions of the medium. For marketers, using social media for a business advantage is dependent upon being able to use the media in a way that promotes socialization. The marketer, in other words, must be able to socialize using social media. That is the entire point of the media and to attempt to use it in any way is to use it incorrectly, inefficiently and unproductively. The reluctance, skepticism, and disappointment of tourism providers with regard to using social media can be explained by this failure to recognize the socialization aspect of social media. Instead, the providers were seeking to turn social media users into clients simply by advertising their products and services on social media platforms. While this can certainly help to increase visibility, it was the only path of which the providers were aware. Aside from promoting their brand and/or business, the providers failed to see social media at root for what it is: a way to interact with people just like people interact in a community.

In a community, advertisers will market products and services using billboards, digital signs, signs on buses, benches, in windows, on buildings, etc. This is one type of advertising that is used in a community: it is outdoor advertising and marketers are well aware of how it works: it plants the seeds of consumerism in the mind of the individual -- the individual is viewed as a consumer who must be guided unconsciously towards buying a product or service and the advertising is what does the guiding. However, there is another type of advertising that can work for marketers -- that is word-of-mouth advertising -- and this is free but it can also be supported through marketing initiatives, such as the sponsoring of events and/or the giving away of free products or services -- i.e., through good will. Good will is part of what keeps a community together and for a business to capitalize on what a community has to offer (its patronage) it must engage in the same spirit of good will so that the community knows that the business is a like-minded entity that shares the same values as the members of the community. This sharing of values can lead to a relationship of mutual support.

In social media, therefore, showing that values are shared is part of the process of socialization that marketers can undertake when promoting their tourism packages. By showing online through the use of social media that values are important to them, providers can display the same type of corporate social responsibility that larger companies are expected to display by their public. Indeed, corporate social responsibility is a major part of what it means to be a successful business leader: it is about recognizing the needs and virtues of a community and engaging with that community in a spirit of good will and promoting the same values and ideas that the community wants to promote. It is about aligning the two worldviews and aims so that everyone realizes that all are stakeholders in the same enterprise -- life itself. As this study has shown, the tourists and the providers were not aligned in their approach to social media, so the two were not coming together as latter would have preferred. Instead, tourists were moving towards sharing economy enterprises -- such as AirBnB -- where they could meet with locals and have an authentic experience. The good will emanating from AirBnB hosts filled the gap in good will from businesses using social media but failing to really socialize with the other social media users.

This element of good will is important to remember going forward because it gets to the essence of the social media experience. Consumers who use social media want to see good will in their social media exchanges. The purpose of the platform is for them to share things with others, and sharing is based upon good will. If businesses seek to capitalize in using social media for marketing they must also be mindful of this element of good will. Good will is the basic building block of the relationships that are formed using social media, and the stories of the tourist participants bears that out. They wanted to meet others and share with them their own stories. This was especially noticeable to the researcher, who noted that the tourists were much more excited about sharing their stories than the providers because there was something about their culture or worldview that made sharing fun for them. The providers were more interested in relaying their business concerns and interests and, at times, venting about the frustrations of social media. What the researcher found was that the providers were simply not oriented towards the same type of sharing mentality as the consumers. How could a marketer use such a media to market a product or service to clients if there is no good will involved in the process? This is an indication that socialization is important and a factor that must be incorporated into any marketer's use of social media.

Some examples of how this might be achieved could include the following:

Using social media to run contests in which users upload original content, the marketing department judges them and picks winners and gives awards. This is an example of a business using good will and social media to connect with consumers on a level of socialization: the consumer is getting to share videos that he or she is fond of and the business is able to promote its brand and develop consumer loyalty. Some examples in real life include what Go Pro has done with its YouTube channel, having users of its camera send in videos that are recorded using their cameras. Another example might be Red Bull having contests with extreme sports so that the drink manufacturer is bonding with clientele over something that all love -- extreme sports. This shows that the business is willing to make a connection with the consumer and be on the same level as the consumer so that the two identify with one another and are aligned in terms of the things they enjoy.

There is also the example of Four Seasons, which was described earlier in this study. Four Seasons used Pinterest to invite users to share their experiences and collaborate in developing a tourist holiday. It was an example of how a business can facilitate socialization by uniting its core product or service with social media and appealing to like minded individuals in sharing that service.

Another way in which the marketers could use social media and socialization to bring consumers to their business could be just through daily contact. Having a representative who acts as the face of the business, just like the White House has a Press Secretary, can be a good way to establish brand loyalty. It puts a human face on the business and allows consumers to interact with that individual on a human level. This can lead to personal stories being shared, friendships and bonds being established, and appreciation shown to the business in the form of patronage. Such a concept could lead to a strong future for businesses and for the tourism industry in Serbia it could have a big impact on the nation as it desires to increase tourism.

Recommendations

For Future Research

Recommendations for future research are to focus more on the relationship between socialization and marketing -- on whether a devotion to using social media to socialize with clients and consumers leads to more business for the organization and greater profitability. In an era where authenticity is key to consumers and trust is a major factor in their informational and service needs, organizations that devote time, energy and resources to building trust among consumers in a one-on-one way could go a long way in building up the profitability of a company. On the other hand, consumers might be turned off by such direct contact with providers and see it as an attempt on the part of the provider to infringe on the life of the consumer. Is this to be considered something that can be described as crossing the line with consumers or would it be welcomed? A qualitative or phenomenological study that focuses on socialization and consumerism could be beneficial to marketers in the future and it is a recommended area of study for future research.

Another study that might be performed is an analysis of how well using social media to socialize with people impacts an organization in terms of bringing in new business. This study could be quantitative in that it measures hours spent using social media by the marketing department of the business, types of posts made, number of comments left, number of engagements with other persons over social media made, and level of interaction with other users, followers, etc. This could then be correlated with any changes in business over a period of time -- perhaps from one to two years -- to see if there is any alteration in the amount of business that is achieved by the organization. The goal of this research would be to measure the extent to which using social media in the way it is meant to be used (as a means of socializing, sharing ideas, photos, experiences, and news, etc.) actually leads to more business for an organization.

A third study could be focused on how having a PR person using social media not only to give press releases to the public but also to engage in socialization with the public would impact a business's success, the public's perception of the business and whether or not becoming friendly with consumers would lead to more sales or to more brand loyalty. Such a study would be experimental and could be accomplished by working with a company that is willing to experiment with new media. It would take a compelling personality and an intrepid spirit on the part of the company but the findings could be very informative for marketing and how social media can be used to advance sales and promote the business. The impact of socialization could change the way industries address consumers.

For Marketing

Recommendations for marketing include adopting a strategy that uses social media as a socialization tool and not as a business tool. Clearly the aim is to lead consumers to the business in the end, but by using the tool as it is meant to be used, the marketing world can most likely better produce the effects that are desired. The problem with the tourism providers identified in this study was that they were not using the tool for socialization but rather for promoting their own business. Such usage is not in accordance or alignment with the nature or essence of the media. Therefore, the main recommendation for marketing is to see social media from the standpoint of the consumer and how consumers see social media -- as a way to interact with others, share information and stories, and make friends. Developing a strategy that is based on this type of orientation will help businesses to relate more easily with consumers and build rapport and good will, which can help lead to brand loyalty and greater business.

Another recommendation is for marketers to consider making social media more of a necessary part of their promotional activities. Social media is the go-to source for information for the upcoming generation and it shows no signs of diminishing over time. In order to secure brand loyalty and business with the next generation as well as with future generations after it, there will be a need for marketers to know how to reach them. Traditional advertising is no longer a viable option and the audience has even fragmented as a result of so many different outlets available. Using social media can allow marketers to connect to the audience on a more meaningful way so that new relationships can be built and stronger ties can be achieved. The key to showing the next generation that you as a business care about them as a person is to socialize with them via social media. This can be a way to win that consumer for life -- and yet the ironic thing about this strategy is that you as the business do not even need to mention or discuss business or the fact that the individual is a consumer at all. Just taking a human interest in the person can be enough to win that individual's patronage. A snowball effect could then be achieved because the nature of social media is such that when positive likes mount, topics trend -- and a business that is trending in social media is a business that is going to reap the benefits of using social media as a socialization tool. Socialization leads consumers to make friends and to share -- and that can lead to a lifetime of patronage so long as ties are properly developed and maintained through active usage of social media within the socialization framework.

Conclusion

Social media presents marketers with a unique opportunity to interact with consumers in a way that has never before been possible in the history of marketing. Prior to the rise of social media, marketers relied on passive advertising -- signs, billboards, commercials that planted seeds into the consciousness of the consumer -- guides that would propel them to purchase accordingly. With social media, marketers can now take that same concept of planting seeds and apply it through the medium of socialization. Socialization is a process whereby ideas, stories, photos, and experiences are exchanged, authenticity is achieved, trust and transparency are objectives, and relationships are fostered. Marketers now have the unique opportunity to build their clientele from the ground up by focusing on each individual and targeting that person as a person so that a potential lifelong patron can be had.

Considering the way in which tourists view social media as a tool for obtaining information, making friends and sharing stories, marketers should seek to achieve a similar aim with their use of social media. It is not a tool that has to be used strictly for business promotion or advertising. It is a tool that essentially connects people directly with people. This is a feature that should be exploited, not ignored. The more that marketers realize the potential of connecting on a friendly basis with consumers, the more likely they are to build their consumer base. More study is needed to verify this assessment but this study shows that it is a likely outcome and one that is worth pursuing, especially as business operators become frustrated with social media when approaching it without a sense of its utilization as a tool for socialization.

The ramifications of this finding for the industry are that by understanding social media as a tool primarily for socialization, marketers can recast their role -- not as advertisers -- but rather as socializers. In the era of social media, mixing with consumers on forums, sites, and platforms is a way to get one's brand across, promote one's business and develop lifelong relationships with people -- simply by putting a human face on the business and using social media to socialize with the community. Through this endeavor, marketing could change its entire nature and begin employing more team members dedicated to building the social media community for the business.

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