The Effects of social media networks in the hospitality industry

Abstract

The Effects of Social Media Networks in the Hospitality Industry by Wendy Lim Dr. Natasa Christodoulidou Assistant Professor of Marketing College of Business Administration and Public Policy California State University There are various platforms provided by the social media networks such as Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube and Twitter to the marketing of products and services for the hospitality industry. Social network offers media technologies that can facilitate online functionality and monitoring perspectives wherein the data gathered can be used to develop their services for customer satisfaction. The hospitality industry can market themselves in social media and networking. Hospitality industry can use social media to engage customers and clients in dialogue and recognize their needs. Through these networking sites, hospitality industry can interact with consumers before, during, and after the vacation experience. Social media is relatively new and the advantages are abundance such as it is affordable, it is viral and has the potential to spread brand awareness quickly and far and it is said to be able to develop link baits, attention and massive amounts of traffic. However, it may not be appropriate for all hotel chains. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effects of social media in the hospitality industry.