INTRODUCTION
Consumer's behavior has vastly changed due to the development of technology infrastructure and widespread internet accessibility. People have been taking help from the internet in recent days to make any type of decision there. Roughly 58.8 percent of the world's people use the internet as of June 30, 2019. According to a 2019 survey, there is about 3.48 billion people who are using social media and 3.26 billion of them are using it on mobile devices. Through this fast advances, more and more people are responding on the internet, where social media help them in purchasing. According to Carr & Hayes (2015), "Social media are Internet-based channels that allow users to opportunistically interact and selectively self-present, either in real-time or asynchronously, with both broad and narrow audiences who derive value from user-generated content and the perception of interaction with others."
The role of social media has considerably increased in the present times. From choosing a job to choosing a place to travel, to choosing a hotel or resort to live at all, we clinch to social media. And that's because the social media has more ideas and feedback that really help us get the most out of it all. Social media has become a key source of information from which to take advice. A true and honest friend offering the best advice. Social media has radically changed the way many companies interact with and respond to their consumer targets. In particular, the rise of the Internet and the increasing popularity of social channels have altered the travel marketing for the travel and hospitality sector. The new ways consumers use social media to make purchasing decisions have influenced tourism marketing from the beginning to the end, from the way travelers research potential destinations to the activities they participate in once they arrive.
This paper briefly discussed topics like social media marketing, its destinations, tourism motivations, and decision making processes. It also aimed to determine how do the social media influences the customer's decision on tourist destination.
DISCUSSION
The way people who use social networking sites perceive the tourists' destination is a major influence for the success of the destination. The potential amount of information that is available to travelers is immense. According to Xiang and Gretzel (2010), the internet is a platform that is full of important information which could be exchanged easily between all parties involved in the industry process. The study by Keynote (2015) believes that, in 2014 alone, social media has witnessed a growth of sixty-five percent (65%) and shows that networks such as Facebook, Instagram and YouTube with hundreds of millions of users along with many new and improving social networking sites.
Because of this, tourists are given the ability to find out information about destinations located around the world. The shared information is not only given by the destination providers, but also by other customers and tourists that have experience their services through social media platforms in which they share their personal photos, videos and written views from the time spent there. This is can both benefit or harm the tourist destinations as the experiences shared may not always be flattering and it is not as easy for a destination to moderate what has been shared. Marketers are now realizing that social media is providing power to consumers to provide feedback not just on a one to one basis but to thousands of potential consumers at once, as said by Papasolomou and Melanthiou (2012).
Social media sites give the consumer the ability to gain knowledge on how previous individuals found the destination during their visit or tour. One major provider of this is TripAdvisor, a website which allows its users to place reviews and ratings on all aspects of tourist’s destinations from the hotels down to the resorts and beaches. The site believes in the power of travel and in helping a tourist make the most of every trip. They can help a person make the right choice when shopping for hotels, restaurants and attractions with over 500 million candid traveler reviews. It is widely recognized that hotels and some tourist spots have the ability to control what can be viewed by the sites visitors, thus this will not always give a person a complete image when the provider can control it at times. Aside from this, some consumers see social networking as some sort of friendship and place trust in the comments and reviews made by other consumers. From this theory, it needs to be established how much trust consumers are actually placing on the word of mouth of this online world, as state by Papasolomou and Melanthiou (2012) in their research relating to how social media affects the decisions of a traveler.
The ability to spread information about experiences have developed into a simplified method because people have access to the internet on any device worldwide. This has a great impact on a travelers' destinations' image and shows the influence of social media on tourist spots. A study suggests that future research should be placed on the communication of marketers to consumers through social media. Nevertheless, this research will explore the likelihood that consumers will use the readily accessible information available on social networking sites and applications to make their decision with destination choice and how likely they are to provide feedback to support their fellow consumers. In addition to this, a further strand to explore is whether social media is leading the consumption world in today’s society or is it just a phrase or ‘buzz word’. Discussed further are the factors that impact tourist destinations with social media.
Social Media Marketing. Social media marketing is the use of different online social tools to advertise a product of consumption targeting customers. This marketing can be classified as an online marketing tool that permits marketers to communicate a brand’s benefits, value proposition, and personality to its target audience, according to Di Pietro, Di Virgilio and Pantano (2012).
Social media marketing is not straight forward as it cannot be completely controlled by a team of marketing professionals the way a television advertisement or commercial can. The reason is that social media is a world very much controlled by what the consumer says and views. This for marketers makes the world of social media a difficult one to work with. There are many forms of social media that is based upon content that has been created and generated by the consumer on many outlets such a blogs, virtual communities, tagging on social networking. Because of this, social media websites have risen in popularity for travelers use and aid.
A key to the meet the current generation trends is using social media as a marketing tool by tourism. Social media websites and applications gives the marketer the ability to target specific groups on outlets such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. All of these social networking groups show an individual’s personal trends and interests, what they searched on the internet or where they have visited show on a person’s specific profile history. Tourism companies pay a fee to the social media provider to target these trends in the person’s profile for advertisement.
Destination Marketing and Electronic Word of Mouth. A Destination Marketing Organization is any organization, at any level, which is responsible for the marketing of an identifiable destination, according to Pike (2004).
Tourism destinations regularly have marketing teams specifically for the area and the job of these bodies is to promote the activities and faculties within the city for both possible visitors and persons of the city. The organization is focused on displaying the most attractive up to date information on the destination. Travel agents and destination marketers are encouraged to upload and spread high quality images and reviews about these destinations through social media in order to attract and grab the attention of travel consumers.
Although, without effective marketing, things can go seriously wrong and result to a bad image of a certain destination, which could have consequence of a loss of income from tourism. Social media does have some ability to influence and control consumer decisions and agents and marketers needs to make use of this tool.
Marketers can produce attractive pictures in order to grab the attention of the consumers, however it is the other interactions that consumers face along the way that can highly influence future travel decision. This then leads to their experiences being shared through word of mouth, electronically or not. A recent example of this was the Frye festival, which is a major disaster that has been well documented online on social media outlets such as Facebook through their live feed, Twitter and Snapchat. The expensive festival had been promoted by popular celebrities and bands that were announced to be attendees of the event. However, on the day of the festival, guests were greeted by the information of bands' cancellations and high-profile celebrities that were no longer in attendance. Moreover, the festival itself was cancelled and as a result many people attending the event where left stranded in Barbados and the local tourism board claiming no responsibility. This has produced a terrible image of both the island and there was this possibility that the festival may never happen again. It is vital that agents and marketers understand that tourist consumptions and their behavior is heavily influenced by other interactions in the pre, during and post-vacation experiences and this needs to be a key factor in the destination marketing strategies for marketers. If this is a negative experience, it may have severe consequences for the image of the destination in question.
Tourism Motivations. Motivation is defined as psychological needs and wants and these include essential forces that provoke, direct, and incorporate a person’s behavior and activity. The motivation of the social media user is to gain the most knowledge possible of the destination they had interest in before deciding on going there. They use the sites to compare the places that they find most desirable and find where is most suited to their needs and the needs of all parties involved with it.
In considering social media as a marketing communication tool, one should understand every aspect. Social media is defined as a grouping on the Internet based on the applications that have built ideological and technological foundations of the web. They allow the creation and exchange of content created by the user. Aside from this description, there are other basic characteristics that is essential for a website to be determined as a social network. These sites have pages that should contain user profiles, and content. There should also be ways that allows users to have contact with each other to communicate such as posting comments to each other and joining in virtual groups based on common interests. On the destination's side, the motivation is to gain a number of people following them. This motivates them to meet the needs of the consumers both in online image and presence and to ensure that these needs are being consistently met. Following what new trends is socially acceptable and creating new online positive feedback is away in which the destinations use social networking outlets to promote business.
Travelers also have a motivation on holidays to use social media as an outlet to allow friends and family know where they are and share what they are doing. Many also believe this is a way of notifying those concerned about their lives. Another motivation people have is using their social media while at a tourism destination as a way of boasting and showing off to gain social status and recognition. Tourists can share experiences through sharing reviews and photographs.
The Decision-Making Process. According to Engel, Blackwell, and Miniard (1995), consumer behavior involves all activities directly involved in obtaining, consuming and disposing of products and services, including the decision processes that precede and follow these actions’. Companies and travel industries need to understand the process in which consumers go through in order to make their decision on destination choice in order for social media marketing to be successful and effective with consumers. The graphs from figures 1 to 3 resulted from the study of Dr. Shyle (2015).
From these aspects, social media is the environment in which social networks have taken place and have changed the way that consumers gather the information one needs to make decisions. It is important for retailers to be aware of the elements that influence the attitudes and motivations of consumers because consumers are changing the concept that for the markets.
There are researchers that conducted studies on how consumers use social media when planning trips, and most concluded that different types of social media play important roles in planning. The following are ways or factors on how social media influence the customer's decision in selecting a destination.
Customer Reviews. The first and the foremost reason on how social media influences the decision is by the reviews that the travelers share based on their experiences on the trip. Consumers trust material and opinions from other travelers on social media, more than any information provided by official tourism websites, travel agents and mass media advertising.
Online reviews posted in a travel-related consumer review and rating website increase the travelers’ confidence during decision making, reduce risk, and assist them in selecting accommodation. Therefore, the reviews from the website facilitate decision making. Furthermore, it was found that travelers read accommodation reviews throughout the various stages of the travel and planning process. First is 'before travel' as a source of ideas, as a way to narrow down choices. Secondly, 'post accommodation' choice as to confirm the choices made during the trip and after the trip to compare and share experiences, also as an ongoing process even if there is no trip ahead.
Ratings. The hotels and resorts selected by the customers these days is mainly based on the ratings that are received by the place by their guests or customers. The rating of a single customer is not capable of influencing the rating of the hotel as people usually consider the amount of customers the hotel had served. The rating on social media is mainly based on the average rating given by every new guest and the average rating from all the guests plays a very important role in influencing the decision and mindsets of the people willing to stay at a certain place.
Visual Contents. This element is a very important factor that affects the decision of the customer. The visuals are the photos that the property owners and guests share on the social networking sites. The more the photos are beautiful and engaging, the more the tourist facility catches the interest of potential customers. Visual content plays a crucial role in the selection process and is therefore essential in hospitality industry. Every guest who is in search of a hotel or resort wants an extravagance in minimal pricing and therefore the more the photos are luxurious the more the guests will be willing to come.
Discounts and Offers. Social media plays a very important role in sharing the special discounts and offers that are provided by the hotels and travel agencies. Usually the hospitality industry uses public platforms like Facebook, Twitter or Instagram for sharing the special offers and discounts that are for a limited period. Advertisements by the tourism industries can also be seen in between videos on Facebook and Youtube. All of these platforms are the major engaging sites of every individual. Consequently, the guest is unable to resist and makes a booking. when spotting any wonderful discount or offer.
The above mentioned are the primary reasons how social media influences the decision of the customer on selecting tourist destination. It is very important to have a great response and image on the social media site to have more customers and guests. The one main benefit of social media is to attract attention to a large amount of potential customers.
CONCLUSION
In the present case, social media became a primary influencer in a person's decision-making process. It helps by having a visual content, customer reviews that are available on social media to make a decision about a specific location, ratings that are often objective, relatable and accurate, and having discounts and offer that the customer's would really want to have. Every person spends overloaded with the comfort reviews is sure to have more visitors. Social media helps to create an picture of a specific location, which helps customers to decide to book. It really has a huge effect on the guests decision making process.
Social media offers a range of advertising advantages and this is because it enables the integration of a variety of elements such as videos, texts, audios, and photographs. That approach gives a major advantage to integrated marketing communications. Social media is a new phenomenon that is growing quickly and must therefore be well handled. Social networks such as Facebook, Twitter and other applications and web pages have gained popularity, and statistics indicate that users are more knowledgeable and young people are becoming more linked to them every day, thereby becoming part of their daily lives.
Social networks are a strong tool for promoting the tourist destination because they are in demand, accurate, information can be found, and have a high monetary cost. In some ways social media converts customers like social media users, as channels for advertising and promotion. Customers may generate positive or negative pressure for the company, its goods and services, based on how the company is portrayed. And the consumer's image or perceived quality, influences the opinion or message that they send in social media to others.
Although variations in degree of influence were observed across sectors, social media was considered influential in decision-making and advice-seeking. In their travel-related decision-making, social media was described as influential by 40 percent of respondents across generational categories. Therefore, social media has a significant impact on guest decision making process in choosing tourist destination.
great article.....