The Effect Of Social Media Marketing, On Brand Marketing .
The effect of social media marketing, onbrand marketingandcommunicationstrategy:the case of Visit Denmark.Lingling ZhangMaster ThesisRoskilde UniversitySeptember 20151
Master ThesisProgram: Communication and BusinessSt udiesRoskilde UniversitySeptember 2015Supervisor: Ada ScupolaWildermuth& NorbertLingling ZhangNumber of Pages: 65Number of Characters: 99.4172
Preface:In this preface I would like to take the opportunity to thank severalpeople whose contribution made this thesis possible.First and foremost, I would like to thank my supervisors, AdaScupola& Norbert Wildermuth, for their constructive advices and the inspiringdiscussions during the guidance of this project.I would also want to thank the interview respondent Agnete SylvestHead of Digital media, Visit Denmark for her participation in thisproject.3
AbstractObjective: This thesis seeks to provide insight into the integration of socialmedia marketing communications and brand strategy from the perspective of thedestination marketing organization.Method: Qualitative case study methodology generated understanding of theapproach to DMOs’ marketing. Interview allows exploration of how onlinemarketing strategies with the practice of social media used in destinationbranding processes and content analysis to analyze audience engagement tosocial media platforms.Results: Audience engagement and two-way communication increase customersinterest in the content and can result in positive associations with the brand.Conclusion: Social media plays an important role in communicating with thelarge number of audiences and provides two- way communication medium formarketing campaigns.Key words: Social media platforms, Social media marketing, Destinationmarketing organization (DMO), VisitDenmark.4
Table of content1. INTRODUCTION .71.1 DEFINING THE SCOPE OF THESIS .10RESEARCH QUESTION .112. CHAPTER 2: THE CASE.112.1.1 Trigger . 132.1.2 Inspiration . 142.1.3 Planning . 142.1.4 Booking . 152.1.5 Experience . 152.1.6 Loyalty . 162.2 DEFINING SOCIAL MEDIA AND MARKETING .182.2 PROJECT OUTLINE .203. CHAPTER 3: INTRODUCTION TO THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK .213.1 DEFINING SOCIAL MEDIA .223.2 MEDIA CONVERGENCE .233.3 MEDIA RICHNESS THEORY .243.4 CREDIBILITY OF USER GENERATED CONTENT .253.5 TWO WAY COMMUNICATION .273.6 PLACE BRANDING .284. CHAPTER 4: METHODOLOGY .324.1 INTRODUCTION TO METHODOLOGY .325
4.2 EPISTEMOLOGY AND THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVE .324.3 RESEARCH STRATEGY .344.3.1 INTERVIEW .364.3.2 CONTENT/TEXT ANALYSIS .364.4 RESEARCH LIMITATION .395. CHAPTER 5: ANALYSIS .405.1 SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS FOR INNOVATIVE MARKETING CHANNELS. 405.1.1 VISIT DENMARK FACEBOOK.425.1.2 VISIT DENMARK ON TWITTER.465.1.3 VISIT DENMARK ON BLOGS .495.2 DESTINATION/PLACE BRANDING AND SOCIAL MEDIA .535.3 BRAND PARTICIPATION AS “IMPROV THEATER” .565.4 COMMUNICATION STRATEGY AND SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS .595.5 VISIT DENMARK’S TWO- WAY COMMUNICATION .615.6 COMBINING SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING WITH TRADITIONALMARKETING . 645.7 EMPLOYEE’S PERSPECTIVE ON SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY .656. CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSION .71REFERENCES .736
1. IntroductionAccording to Pike (2004) promoting a destination could beachallenging task where destination marketing organizations (DMOs)have to face challenges, to create concise messages that capture theessence of place and differentiate it from competitors. Since the late19th century and for most of that time DMOs have played an effectiverole in the development of tourism worldwide (Pike, 2004). Surveyreport of world tourism (2010) showed that the implementation ofmarketing strategies is vital for the success of DMOs. Now onlinemarketing is also incorporated in the marketing strategy of DMOs. Asonline platforms are cost effective and target a wide rageofcustomers in today’s technology driven world (Mangold & Faulds,2009).Visit Denmark is the official Tourism website of Denmark.Theorganization is marketing Denmark as a tourist destination abroad, witha vision to attract more holiday visitors and conference delegates, whocan generate increased revenue for the tourism industry. Themarketing activities are carried out in close cooperation with otherstakeholders in the tourism industry, for example through partnerships(VisitDenmark.com). This thesis focuses on the case Visit Denmark,which has based its market strategy on the latest technological anddigital revolution. As the organization recognizes the fact that beingvisible on the web is important, in order to communicate effectivelywith the tourist through social media, mobile and tablets.According to Mangold & Faulds (2009), social media has allowedbrands to communicate better with their consumers and strengthen7
their association with them. The advertising world is also not sparedfrom its influence. Social media play a vital role in promotion mix(Mangold & Faulds, 2009). Social media facilitates organizations to talkto their consumers and at the same time allowing consumers tocommunicate with organization and other consumers (Saravanakumar& Lakshmi, 2012).Podobnik & Ackermann (2013) suggest, that marketing is one of themany areas affected by the dawn of Web 2.0 paradigm. Web 2.0enabled the global proliferation of social networking, which again is afoundation for social media marketing. They explain that social mediamarketing represents an unusual and interesting Internet marketingpattern based on spreading brand-related messages directly from oneuser to another. This could be the reason why social media marketingis also often referred to as viral marketing.Visit Denmark is present on different social media platforms including:Facebook, blogs, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, Pinterest and Instagram, butin the thesis the focus will be on first three, because these areconsidered to be very popular among social media due to high numberof user profiles and content generation. Another reason is that I wouldlike to analyze the two-way communication that is facilitated byFacebook through allowing your consumers to like or comment onstatus updates. Twitter allows brand followers to retweet, also definedas two-way communication. Blogs also provide users with opportunityto post comments on blogs, thus promoting two-way communication.YouTube facilitates user to subscribe to content uploaded by DMO,also allowing them to like and comment on the content.8
Social media have become an important platform of communicationduring the 21st century, changing the ways to express our belief andideas in an absolute new style (Kaplan & Haenlein (2010), Lange-Faria& Elliot (2012). As Podobnik & Ackermann (2013) explain that Web1.0 era users were passive consumers of read-only web. However, theemergence of web 2.0 redefined the way people use information andcommunication service. As users now actively participateandcollaborate in the ecosystem of a read-write web.In this thesis, I would like to present a research study about socialmedia marketing from branding and communication perspectiveofDMO called Visit Denmark. The aim of this study is to analyze howsocial media marketing support online place branding, the branding ofdestination for tourism purpose, and communication with consumersthrough online social platforms.To establish the relevance of this thesis I believe that the aspect ofsocial media and social networking sites plays an important role indestination marketing (Lange-Faria & Elliot 2012). As social mediatools are changing the way people communicate, tourism andhospitality industry is not an exception and hence a growing number ofhotel professional, researchers and organizations have acknowledgedthe importance of Web 2.0 for the sector and potential benefits that itprovides (Gretzel et al., 2006; Xiang & Gretzel, 2009).In this thesis, firstly, I would like to analyze the term social mediaplatforms. According to Lange-Faria & Elliot (2012), social mediaplatforms generally refer to web applications that allow for the user topost and share content. Common social media platforms include9
Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and MySpace (Lange-Faria & Elliot,2012,p.195). However, Kaplan & Haenlein (2010) organize social media intoblogs, social networking site, virtual social worlds,collaborativeprojects, content communities and virtual game world.1.1 Defining the scope of thesisThe digital revolution has changed the way organizations interact withtheir customers and tourism has long been the most importantcomponent of online commerce world (Milano et al. 2011). The thesisseeks to explore how useful are the social media platforms from theconsumer communication perspective and how they facilitatethebranding strategy of DMO i.e. Visit Denmark.Organizations view the social web as a great opportunity to boost theirmarket. As it allows two-way communication, however, it requires a lotof planning and effort to manage it. Consumers might trust thedissatisfied remarks about the experience posted byanotherconsumer, thus damaging the organization’s reputation.Saravanakumar & Lakshmi (2012) guide us about the importance ofnew technologies by explaining that business that learn to useinnovative technologies increase great reimbursement. Some examplesinclude technology-driven companies such as Microsoft, eBay, Amazonand Google. Finally the rapid growth of the smartphone market andmobile computing is affecting the strategy, as socialmediaconnectivity is becoming easier and is helping to grow social mediaeven faster.10
Research Question:As explained above this thesis will focus on the Social media marketingand its effect on the communication and business strategy of officialdestination marketing organization (DMO) of Denmark called “VisitDenmark”. The following question is proposed in order to limit myfocus on the effect of social media marketing on the organization's’brand and communication aspect.How are social media marketing strategies integrated withthe overall business and communication strategy of VisitDenmark?2. Chapter 2: The CaseI chose Visit Denmark for this case study, as it will be appropriate toseek insight into Denmark’s official tourism organization, and how itpromotes the brand through online marketing and social media. Theorganization is active on social media platforms through Visit Denmarkofficial webpage, Facebook fan page, Twitter, YouTube Channel, blogsand several other platforms.Organizations are constantly striving to keep up with the changesoccurring in the digital world. One of these changes is the adoption ofSocial media as marketing tool for Destination Marketing Organizations(DMO) (Hays et al. 2012).11
According to Agenete Sylvest, the Head of digital mediamarketingVisit Denmark, the social media efforts are for general tourists but theprimary markets are especially focused, which include Germany,Norway, Sweden, Holland, UK, Italy and the US. As a lot of revenue isgenerated by tourists visiting Denmark from these countries (AgneteSylvest, 12-08-2015).This chapter will present the DMO Visit Denmark. Visit Denmark’sheadquarters is in Copenhagen, and several marketing offices locatedin Norway, Sweden, Germany, United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Italy,the United States, China and Japan. Visit Denmark also has its agenciesin Brazil, Russia, India and Australia. With total number of employees is96, 48 working at Head Office in Denmark and 48 at internationalMarketing Offices.Agnete Sylvest Jensen, Head of digital media at Visit Denmarkexplained that during their latest analysis Visit Denmark mapped thetourist’s behavior in the digital media. Thus they developed a model ofthe visitor Digital Travel, showing the various phases of the tourist'sdecision-making process right from the beginning where the idea arisesto take a holiday, to the choice of destination, booking the holiday andthen the actual stay. She proposed that the model below provides acomprehensive overview of the media and messages to be used, tocatch the tourist's attention at any given time in the decision makingprocess.12
Fig. 1 Source: itale-rejseTo ensure that a campaign is actually influencing the market, all phasesof decision-making are important. The model perceives consumer’sjourney with in different stages in connection with the purchase of theproduct. The model was developed originally by media agency OMDSfor brands, but it has greatly drawn similarities to the choiceofDMO. The model provides a comprehensive overview of the media andmessages to be used to capture the tourist's attention to a particularstage of decision-making. In order to ensure that a campaign is actuallymoving market, all stages in the decision-making are important. Themarketing strategic model of Visit Denmark, as shown earlier in thispaper is explained in detail below.2.1.1 Trigger13
At the very first stage of the model the focus is on the “Trigger”. Thetourist is not necessarily in the market to go on vacation yet. But aneditorial article, a video, updates and photos on social media is oftenthe cause that acts as a trigger for tourist begin to dream of going onvacation. 52 per cent tourists have been inspired to a holiday bywatching other people's pictures on Facebook. (Source: Facebook /Phocus Wright 2013). Visit Denmark’s focus at this point on brandingand destination marketing, to bring Denmark “top of mind” fromtourist perspective. The economic review by Visit Denmark for year2014 explained that the technique used at this point was “Pushmarketing” in the form of visual effects that display photos and videoson social media.2.1.2 InspirationIn this phase the tourist goes from the dream, to have a definite desirefor vacation. Friends and acquaintances are the main source ofinspiration for the choice of destination, then the Internet. The DigitalTraveller (2013) present that 75 per cent. tourists start decisionmaking online. (Source: Google, The Digital Traveller 2013)At this stage VisitDenmark continue to focus on push marketing in theform of display, video and social media, visibility in the travel mediaand search engines.2.1.3 PlanningThe tourist is now considering her destinations and begins to gatherinformation about the destination. The range of experiences, pricesand own experiences are strong parameters in this phase. It takes anaverage of 2-3 weeks; the decision is made for the tourist to bookholiday in Denmark. (Source: Visit Denmark's tourist survey)14
VisitDenmark visibility and a good position in search engines is crucialin this phase, where the viewer begins collecting information. Theorganization also uses remarketing to expose users whohavepreviously visited VisitDenmark. com or been exposed to a Denmarkmessage.2.1.4 BookingThe tourist is now reviewing its booking and it happens largely throughOTA (Online Travel Agents). Most use five or more sites in the bookingphase. 68 per cent of all Internet bookings are done through Expediaor booking.com (Source: Yahoo's Summer Travel Study 2013)At this stage Visit Denmark focus on a consistent brandingofDenmark, also in collaboration with major international brands such asExpedia and DFDS. Users should be directed to the booking phase andgiven more opportunities to go beyond the individual product or price.2.1.5 ExperienceTourists have come to Denmark, but has not necessarily prepared forthe stay in detail. Using WiFi and smartphones planned on-siteactivities and experiences shared on social media. 88 per cent touristsbring smartphones or Ipads on vacation and 61 per cent. use themdaily. (Source: Text100)VisitDenmark together with partners we give the tourist thebestpossible experiences, also digitally, using mobile optimized andlanguage versioned tools. Furthermore, the organization encouragesthe tourist to share the good experiences in their own network, whereexperience is vital.15
2.1.6 LoyaltyAt this point the tourists have gone home, and reflects at theirexperiences and share memories on the social media. Tourists fromneighboring markets often visit Denmark several times and are open todialogue with Visit Denmark after returning home. 80 per cent of thetourists, who have visited Denmark, would recommend others to go.(Source: Visit Denmark's tourist survey)Visit Denmark’s motivation behind social media marketing is toinfluence potential tourists right from the phase where they areexposed to tourist’s pictures on social media, which acts as a triggerto attract tourists to Denmark. “The chances of the tourist booking atrip to Denmark are greater if we influences the tourist in the earlystages, where the tourist has not yet chosen destination - and laterfollow up with more specific product messages using remarketing”,says Agnete Sylvest Jensen, Head of digital media in VisitDenmark.According to official Visit Denmark website the organizationtherefore focused on optimizing the flow of thehaspromotions andrew
destination marketing organization (DMO) of Denmark called “Visit Denmark”. The following question is proposed in order to limit my focus on the effect of social media marketing on the organization's’ brand and communication aspect. How are social media marke
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