IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/infott/vyid10.1007_s40558-017-0077-4.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The return on tourism organizations’ social media investments: preliminary evidence from Belgium, France, and Switzerland

Author

Listed:
  • Thomas Wozniak

    (Lucerne School of Business)

  • Brigitte Stangl

    (University of Surrey)

  • Roland Schegg

    (University of Applied Sciences and Arts Western Switzerland (HES-SO) Valais)

  • Andreas Liebrich

    (Lucerne School of Business)

Abstract

Literature suggests dozens of ways of how to quantify the success of social media. However, there is no consent about the measurement of the return of investment (ROI). Only very limited empirical work is looking at the topic especially in tourism. This study is one of the first attempts to look at the ROI of tourism organizations. In doing so, various input (i.e. budget, manpower, amount of platforms used) and outcome (i.e. posts, website success and social media KPIs such as number of posts, interaction, and page performance index) variables are analysed. Responses of 150 tourism organizations to an online questionnaire and social media data collected via the monitoring tool Fanpage Karma provide insights for Facebook, Twitter, Google+, YouTube, Instagram, and Pinterest. Our data indicates that despite an ever increasing importance of online services for the customer journey, the monetary and manpower resources allocated to online marketing and social media is modest for most tourism organizations of the three surveyed countries. The achieved outcomes of the tourism organizations are weak especially when it comes to engagement figures. Revealed relationships such as between marketing budget and success measures for YouTube videos are presented and a discussion is provided.

Suggested Citation

  • Thomas Wozniak & Brigitte Stangl & Roland Schegg & Andreas Liebrich, 0. "The return on tourism organizations’ social media investments: preliminary evidence from Belgium, France, and Switzerland," Information Technology & Tourism, Springer, vol. 0, pages 1-26.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:infott:v::y::i::d:10.1007_s40558-017-0077-4
    DOI: 10.1007/s40558-017-0077-4
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s40558-017-0077-4
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s40558-017-0077-4?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Berthon, Pierre R. & Pitt, Leyland F. & Plangger, Kirk & Shapiro, Daniel, 2012. "Marketing meets Web 2.0, social media, and creative consumers: Implications for international marketing strategy," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 55(3), pages 261-271.
    2. Rajagopal, 2014. "The Human Factors," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Architecting Enterprise, chapter 9, pages 225-249, Palgrave Macmillan.
    3. Johanna Gummerus & Veronica Liljander & Emil Weman & Minna Pihlström, 2012. "Customer engagement in a Facebook brand community," Management Research Review, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 35(9), pages 857-877, August.
    4. Roberta Minazzi, 2015. "Social Media Marketing in Tourism and Hospitality," Springer Books, Springer, edition 127, number 978-3-319-05182-6, December.
    5. Dimitrios Buhalis & Emmanouil Mamalakis, 2015. "Social Media Return on Investment and Performance Evaluation in the Hotel Industry Context," Springer Books, in: Iis Tussyadiah & Alessandro Inversini (ed.), Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism 2015, edition 127, pages 241-253, Springer.
    6. Weinberg, Bruce D. & Pehlivan, Ekin, 2011. "Social spending: Managing the social media mix," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 54(3), pages 275-282, May.
    7. Pike, Steven & Page, Stephen J., 2014. "Destination Marketing Organizations and destination marketing: A narrative analysis of the literature," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 202-227.
    8. Peters, Kay & Chen, Yubo & Kaplan, Andreas M. & Ognibeni, Björn & Pauwels, Koen, 2013. "Social Media Metrics — A Framework and Guidelines for Managing Social Media," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 27(4), pages 281-298.
    9. Hollebeek, Linda D. & Glynn, Mark S. & Brodie, Roderick J., 2014. "Consumer Brand Engagement in Social Media: Conceptualization, Scale Development and Validation," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 28(2), pages 149-165.
    10. Kaplan, Andreas M. & Haenlein, Michael, 2010. "Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of Social Media," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 53(1), pages 59-68, January.
    11. Xiang, Zheng & Gretzel, Ulrike, 2010. "Role of social media in online travel information search," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 179-188.
    12. Mariani, Marcello M. & Di Felice, Marco & Mura, Matteo, 2016. "Facebook as a destination marketing tool: Evidence from Italian regional Destination Management Organizations," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 321-343.
    13. Seshadri Tirunillai & Gerard J. Tellis, 2012. "Does Chatter Really Matter? Dynamics of User-Generated Content and Stock Performance," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 31(2), pages 198-215, March.
    14. Dimitrios Buhalis & Ramona Wagner, 2013. "E-destinations: Global Best Practice in Tourism Technologies and Applications," Springer Books, in: Lorenzo Cantoni & Zheng (Phil) Xiang (ed.), Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism 2013, edition 127, pages 119-130, Springer.
    15. Shahab Pourfakhimi & Tianyu Ying, 2015. "The Evolution of eTourism Research: A Case of ENTER Conference," Springer Books, in: Iis Tussyadiah & Alessandro Inversini (ed.), Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism 2015, edition 127, pages 859-871, Springer.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Marcello Mariani, 2020. "Web 2.0 and Destination Marketing: Current Trends and Future Directions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(9), pages 1-17, May.
    2. Patricia P. Iglesias-Sánchez & Pilar López-Delgado & Marisol B. Correia & Carmen Jambrino-Maldonado, 2020. "How do external openness and R&D activity influence open innovation management and the potential contribution of social media in the tourism and hospitality industry?," Information Technology & Tourism, Springer, vol. 22(2), pages 297-323, June.
    3. Sara Domínguez-Navarro & M. Rosario González-Rodríguez, 2020. "Social Media managerial implications for budget accommodation venues: use of Social Media platforms more effectively and efficiently," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 54(5), pages 1671-1689, December.
    4. Roland Schegg & Brigitte Stangl, 2018. "Special section on recommendations and analytics in tourism," Information Technology & Tourism, Springer, vol. 18(1), pages 1-4, April.
    5. Csaba Sidor & Branislav Kršák & Ľubomír Štrba & Michal Cehlár & Samer Khouri & Michal Stričík & Jaroslav Dugas & Ján Gajdoš & Barbora Bolechová, 2019. "Can Location-Based Social Media and Online Reservation Services Tell More about Local Accommodation Industries than Open Governmental Data?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(21), pages 1-21, October.
    6. María Bonilla-Quijada & Juan Tugores-Ques & Josep Lluís Olmo Arriaga, 2021. "Promotion of urban tourism: insights into user engagement on social media," Information Technology & Tourism, Springer, vol. 23(4), pages 611-632, December.
    7. Sánchez Jiménez, Miguel & Matos, Nelson & Correia, Marisol, 2019. "Evolution Of The Presence And Engagement Of Official Social Networks In Promoting Tourism In Spain," Journal of Tourism, Sustainability and Well-being, Cinturs - Research Centre for Tourism, Sustainability and Well-being, University of Algarve, vol. 7(3), pages 210-225.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Thomas Wozniak & Brigitte Stangl & Roland Schegg & Andreas Liebrich, 2017. "The return on tourism organizations’ social media investments: preliminary evidence from Belgium, France, and Switzerland," Information Technology & Tourism, Springer, vol. 17(1), pages 75-100, March.
    2. Wondwesen Tafesse & Anders Wien, 2017. "A framework for categorizing social media posts," Cogent Business & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 4(1), pages 1284390-128, January.
    3. Mohammad Tipu Sultan & Farzana Sharmin & Alina Badulescu & Darie Gavrilut & Ke Xue, 2021. "Social Media-Based Content towards Image Formation: A New Approach to the Selection of Sustainable Destinations," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-22, April.
    4. Muhammad Sarmad & Naeem Ahmad & Muhammad Khan & Muhammad Irfan & Hajira Atta, 2020. "Investigating the Moderating Role of Trust between Social Media Capabilities and Consumer Brand Engagement Across Textile Sector of Pakistan," International Review of Management and Marketing, Econjournals, vol. 10(4), pages 53-62.
    5. Shahbaznezhad, Hamidreza & Dolan, Rebecca & Rashidirad, Mona, 2021. "The Role of Social Media Content Format and Platform in Users' Engagement Behavior," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 47-65.
    6. Carsten D. Schultz, 2016. "Insights from consumer interactions on a social networking site: Findings from six apparel retail brands," Electronic Markets, Springer;IIM University of St. Gallen, vol. 26(3), pages 203-217, August.
    7. Kafferine Yamagishi & Lanndon Ocampo & Dharyll Prince Abellana & Reciel Ann Tanaid & Ann Myril Tiu & Maria Esther Medalla & Egberto Selerio & Chrisalyn Go & Rey Cesar Olorvida & Amalia Maupo & Deariel, 2021. "The impact of social media marketing strategies on promoting sustainability of tourism with fuzzy cognitive mapping: a case of Kalanggaman Island (Philippines)," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 23(10), pages 14998-15030, October.
    8. Antoniadis, Konstantinos & Grougiou, Vasiliki & Zafiropoulos, Kostas & Vrana, Vasiliki & Theocharidis, Anastasios Ioannis, 2018. "The use of Facebook and Twitter by DMOs in Europe," MPRA Paper 98936, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Aqib Habib & Muhammad Irfan & Mohsin Shahzad, 2022. "Modeling the enablers of online consumer engagement and platform preference in online food delivery platforms during COVID-19," Future Business Journal, Springer, vol. 8(1), pages 1-18, December.
    10. Viglia, Giampaolo & Pera, Rebecca & Bigné, Enrique, 2018. "The determinants of stakeholder engagement in digital platforms," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 404-410.
    11. Matej Kovač & Vesna Žabkar, 2020. "Do Social Media and E-Mail Engagement Impact Reputation and Trust-Driven Behavior?," Tržište/Market, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Zagreb, vol. 32(1), pages 9-25.
    12. Sheng, Jie, 2019. "Being Active in Online Communications: Firm Responsiveness and Customer Engagement Behaviour," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 40-51.
    13. Monica Fait & Dirk Meissner & Gian Luca Gregori & Filippo Monge & Valentina Cillo, 2022. "To act or to react? The role of responsiveness in corporate social performance disclosure in preventing plastic pollution in the travel and tourism sector," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 29(6), pages 2065-2082, November.
    14. Roma, Paolo & Aloini, Davide, 2019. "How does brand-related user-generated content differ across social media? Evidence reloaded," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 322-339.
    15. Othman Boujena & Isabelle Ulrich & Aikaterini Manthiou & Bruno Godey, 2021. "Customer engagement and performance in social media: a managerial perspective," Electronic Markets, Springer;IIM University of St. Gallen, vol. 31(4), pages 965-987, December.
    16. Ulrike Baumöl & Linda Hollebeek & Reinhard Jung, 2016. "Dynamics of customer interaction on social media platforms," Electronic Markets, Springer;IIM University of St. Gallen, vol. 26(3), pages 199-202, August.
    17. Molinillo, Sebastian & Liébana-Cabanillas, Francisco & Anaya-Sánchez, Rafael & Buhalis, Dimitrios, 2018. "DMO online platforms: Image and intention to visit," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 116-130.
    18. Vijay Viswanathan & Linda D. Hollebeek & Edward C. Malthouse & Ewa Maslowska & Su Jung Kim & Wei Xie, 2017. "The Dynamics of Consumer Engagement with Mobile Technologies," Service Science, INFORMS, vol. 9(1), pages 36-49, March.
    19. Faseeh Amin Beig & Mohammad Furqan Khan, 2018. "Impact of Social Media Marketing on Brand Experience: A Study of Select Apparel Brands on Facebook," Vision, , vol. 22(3), pages 264-275, September.
    20. Malthouse, Edward C. & Haenlein, Michael & Skiera, Bernd & Wege, Egbert & Zhang, Michael, 2013. "Managing Customer Relationships in the Social Media Era: Introducing the Social CRM House," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 27(4), pages 270-280.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:infott:v::y::i::d:10.1007_s40558-017-0077-4. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.