Social media and hotel e-marketing in Iran: The case of Parsian International Hotels
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1515/tour-2016-0009Keywords:
electronic marketing, Parsian Hotels, Iran, internet, hotel marketingAbstract
With a quantitative study, this research has aimed to investigate the role of social media in Iranian hotels’ electronic marketing. A questionnaire technique was used on a sample of 140 marketers who work in the Parsian International Hotels’ marketing department. For data evaluation an SPSS program was used. Kolmogorov-Smirnov, Cochran, Regression, Non-standardized coefficients and Standard coefficient tests were carried out. Based on the findings, we can state that social media are still not an important marketing tool for Iranian hotels. Facebook and YouTube are the media which are most used for marketing purposes as videos and photos can be used on these sites more than others. The results show that the marketing abilities of Parsian Hotels improve with the increasing use of social media, but the hotel marketing sector has failed to fully utilize internet opportunity as a marketing tool.
Downloads
References
ALAMEDDINE A., 2013, Perceptions of executives from seven selected companies of the use of social media in marketing practices, Pepperdine University Graduate.
Google Scholar
BAGGIO R., SIGALA M., INVERSINI A. & PESONEN J. (eds.), 2013a, Hotel websites, web 2.0, web 3.0 and online direct marketing: The case of Austria, Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism, pp. 665–677, doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-03973-2_48.
Google Scholar
BAGGIO R., SIGALA M., INVERSINI A. & PESONEN J. (eds.), 2013b, Investigating social media marketing in the hospitality industry: Facebook and European hotels, Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism, pp. 1-146, doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-03973-2.
Google Scholar
BUHALIS D., 1998, Strategic use of information technologies in the tourism industry, Tourism Management, 19(5), pp. 409-421, doi: 10.1016/S0261-5177(98)00038-7.
Google Scholar
CHAN N.L. & GUILLET, B.D., 2011, Investigation of social media marketing: How does the hotel industry in Hong Kong perform in marketing on social media websites?, Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, 28(4), pp. 345-368, doi: 10.1080/10548408. 2011.571571.
Google Scholar
CHUNG N. & KOO C., 2015, The use of social media in travel information search, Telematics and Informatics, 32(2), pp. 215-229, doi: 10.1016/j.tele.2014.08.005.
Google Scholar
DESMOND J., 2013, A modest proposal: A response to the marketing challenges presented by the crisis confronting humanity in respect to the requirement to feed nine billion by 2050, Journal of Marketing Management, 29(13-14), pp. 1631-1643, doi: 10.1080/0267257X.2013.798676.
Google Scholar
DIAZ-CHAO A., MIRALBELL-IZARD O. & TORRENT-SELLENS J., 2015, Information and communication technologies, innovation and firm productivity in small and medium-sized travel agencies: new evidence from Spain. Journal of Travel Research, pp. 1-12, doi: 10.1177/0047287515583357.
Google Scholar
GIBBS C., MACDONALD F. & MACKAY K., 2015, Social Media Usage in Hotel Human Resources : Recruitment, Hiring and Communication, International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 27(2), doi: 10.1108/IJCHM-05-2013-0194.
Google Scholar
GRETZEL U., YUAN Y.-L. & FESENMAIER D.R., 2000, Preparing for the New Economy: Advertising Strategies and Change in Destination Marketing Organizations, Journal of Travel Research, 39(2), pp. 146-156, doi: 10.1177/004728750003900204.
Google Scholar
HASSAN S., NADZIM S.Z.A. & SHIRATUDDIN N., 2015, Strategic use of social media for small business based on the AIDA model, Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences, 172, pp. 262-269, doi: 10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.01.363.
Google Scholar
HECHELMANN C., 2012, Social media engagement in a dedicated Facebook channel: An analysis of relationships to emotional attachement, self-brand connection and brand commitment towards sports sponsoring brands, University of Technology, Sydney.
Google Scholar
HSU Y., 2012, Facebook as international eMarketing strategy of Taiwan hotels, International Journal of Hospitality Management, 31, pp. 972–980, doi: 10.1016/j.ijhm.2011.11.005.
Google Scholar
HUDSON S., HUANG L., ROTH M.S. & MADDEN T.J., 2016, The influence of social media interactions on consumer-brand relation-ships: A three-country study of brand perceptions and marketing behaviors, International Journal of Research in Marketing (33, Elsevier B.V.), doi: 10.1016/j.ijresmar.2015.06.004.
Google Scholar
HUOTARI M. & NYBERG E., 2012, Utilizing social media in a tourism company, Oulu University of Applied Sciences.
Google Scholar
Internet World Stats., 2015, retrieved June 24, 2016, from http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats5.htm
Google Scholar
Iranian internet infrastructure and policy report, 2014, Small Media. London; http://smallmedia.org.uk/sites/default/files/u8/IIIP_Nov14_0.pdf
Google Scholar
JAFARI H., 2016, Techrasa, retrieved August 3, 2016, from http://techrasa.com/2016/07/26/53-iranians-member-least-onesocial-media-platform/
Google Scholar
KHEIRI J., 2013, Travel motivations: An investigation of motivational theories, International Journal of Hospitality Management, 34(1), pp. 227-233. doi:10.1016/j.ijhm.2013.03.010.
Google Scholar
KHEIRI J., YAZDANPANAH E., SOLEYMANINEJAD M., SAJJADI F. & TASLIMI M., 2015, Ranking five star hotels in Tehran using CSR, International Journal of Information Science, 5(2), pp. 30-41, doi: 10.5923/j.ijis.20150502.02.
Google Scholar
KHEIRI J. & NASIHATKON B., 2016, The Effects of Rural Tourism on Sustainable Livelihoods (Case Study: Lavij Rural, Iran), Modern Applied Science, 10(10), pp. 10-22.
Google Scholar
KHEIRI J., SHOHRAT ZEINABAD R. & TABATABAIE F., 2016, Evaluation of Tourism Investment Priorities in Zoroastrian Villages of Yazd Province, Iran, American Journal of Rural Development, 4(1), pp. 1-9.
Google Scholar
KIM M.J., CHUNG N. & LEE C.K., 2011, The effect of perceived trust on electronic commerce: Shopping online for tourism products and services in South Korea, Tourism Management, 32(2), pp. 256-265, doi: 10.1016/j.tourman.2010.01.011.
Google Scholar
KIM E.E.K., MATTILA A.S. & BALOGLU S., 2011, Effects of gender and expertise on consumers’ motivation to read online hotel reviews, Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, 52, pp. 399-406, doi: 10.1177/1938965510394357.
Google Scholar
KIM W.G., LIM H. & BRYMER R.A., 2015, The effectiveness of managing social media on hotel performance, International Journal of Hospitality Management, 44, pp. 165-171, doi: 10.1016/j.ijhm.2014.10.014.
Google Scholar
LEE J. & HONG I.B., 2016, Predicting positive user responses to social media advertising: The roles of emotional appeal, informativeness and creativity, International Journal of Information Management, 36(3), pp. 360-373, doi: 10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2016.01.001.
Google Scholar
LEUNG X.Y., BAI B. & STAHURA K.A., 2015, The marketing effectiveness of social media in the hotel industry: A comparison of Facebook and Twitter, Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research, 37(2), pp. 1-24, doi: 10.1177/1096348012471 381. Liking Facebook in Tehran: Social networking in Iran, 2016, Iran Media Program, Philadelphia.
Google Scholar
LIM W.M., 2010, Factor analysis of variables affecting e-marketing adoption by UK independent hotels, Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism, pp. 39-50; http://dblp.uni-trier.de/db/conf/enter/enter2010.html#Lim10
Google Scholar
LIN Y.S. & HUANG J.Y., 2006, Internet blogs as a tourism marketing medium: A case study, Journal of Business Research, 59(10-11), pp. 1201–1205, doi: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2005.11.005.
Google Scholar
MIGUÉNS J., BAGGIO R. & COSTA C., 2008, Social media and tourism destinations : TripAdvisor case study, Advances in Tourism Research, pp. 1-6.
Google Scholar
MIRALBELL O., 2015, Use of social networking sites for knowledge exchange. International Journal of Web Based Communities, 11(1), pp. 42-56.
Google Scholar
Net Index., 2015, Retrieved from http://www.internetsociety.org/net-index
Google Scholar
NGUYEN V.H. & WANG Z., 2011, Practice of online marketing with social media in tourism destination marketing, Södertörns University.
Google Scholar
PARK J. & OH I., 2012, A case study of social media marketing by travel agency: The salience of social media marketing in the tourism industry, International Journal of Tourism Sciences, 12(1), pp. 93-106, doi: 10.1080/15980634.2012.11434654.
Google Scholar
Parsian International Hotel., 2015, retrieved June 23, 2016, from http://pih.ir/index.aspx?siteid=1&fkeyid=&siteid=1&pageid=139
Google Scholar
ROBERTS S., 2010, E-Marketing an evaluation of Tobago’s official tourism website, [in:] Marketing Island Destinations (pp. 79-96, Burlington: Elsevier, doi: 10.1016/B978-0-12-384909-0.00007-6.
Google Scholar
SALAVATI S. & HASHIM N.H., 2015, Website adoption and performance by Iranian hotels, Tourism Management, 46, pp. 367-374, doi: 10.1016/j.tourman.2014.07.017.
Google Scholar
SHANEA N., 2011, Social media’s role in branding: A study of social media use and the cultivation of brand affect, trust, and loyalty, University of Texas at Austin.
Google Scholar
SINGAIAH G. & LASKAR S.R., 2015, Understanding of social marketing: A conceptual perspective, Global Business Review, 16(2), pp. 213-235, doi: 10.1177/0972150914564282.
Google Scholar
SOHRABI B., VANANI I.R., TAHMASEBIPUR K. & FAZLI S., 2012, An exploratory analysis of hotel selection factors: A comprehensive survey of Tehran hotels, International Journal of Hospitality Management, 31(1), pp. 96-106, doi: 10.1016/j.ijhm.2011.06.002.
Google Scholar
STANLEY C.K., 2011, The role of social media as marketing tool for tourism in Kenya. Case study: Kenya safari and tours, Arcada University of Applied Sciences.
Google Scholar
YOO K. & LEE W., 2015, Use of Facebook in the US heritage accommodations sector: an exploratory study, Journal of Heritage Tourism, 10(2), pp. 191-201, doi: 10.1080/1743873X.2014.985228.
Google Scholar
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
