Engaging international customers with content marketing in social media: Extensive case study among tourism SMEs
Vallioniemi, Mira (2018)
Vallioniemi, Mira
2018
Kuvaus
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Tiivistelmä
The purpose of this master’s thesis is to study engaging content marketing in social media among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) operating in Finnish tourism industry. The growing role of social media in tourism marketing has made it an important topic both among academics and practitioners. Today, social media plays a key role in information search and decision making of travelers. Moreover, the globalization and increasing competition drives companies to engage their customers more effectively which will in turn have a positive impact on firm’s performance. Thus, it is essential to study how content marketing in social media can be used in engaging international customers. Previous research has concentrated the phenomenon from the perspective of larger enter- prises and there is a clear lack of studies focusing on international content marketing strategies in social media. This study aims to investigate both customer engagement and content marketing in social media in the context of tourism SMEs.
The research is initiated by conducting a literature review on the phenomenon of content marketing and customer engagement, taking also the characteristics of SMEs and tourism industry into consideration. Based on the literature review, theoretical framework is formulated in order to show the guidelines for the empirical research. The research has been conducted with qualitative research design. The empirical data were collected through theme interviews with the representatives of five northern Finnish small and medium- sized enterprises operating in the Finnish tourism industry. Collected data were analyzed by employing a content analysis.
This thesis contributes to the existing research by developing and evaluating international content marketing strategic alternatives for engagement in social media. Moreover, both internal and external factors influencing to the selection of content marketing are identified and further discussed.
The research is initiated by conducting a literature review on the phenomenon of content marketing and customer engagement, taking also the characteristics of SMEs and tourism industry into consideration. Based on the literature review, theoretical framework is formulated in order to show the guidelines for the empirical research. The research has been conducted with qualitative research design. The empirical data were collected through theme interviews with the representatives of five northern Finnish small and medium- sized enterprises operating in the Finnish tourism industry. Collected data were analyzed by employing a content analysis.
This thesis contributes to the existing research by developing and evaluating international content marketing strategic alternatives for engagement in social media. Moreover, both internal and external factors influencing to the selection of content marketing are identified and further discussed.