Social Media Impact on Hospitality SMEs

This assignment requires students to evaluate the social media presence and mobile optimization of a specific hospitality Small and Medium-sized Enterprise (SME). A detailed case study analysis is necessary, encompassing platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Students must develop their own criteria for evaluating these platforms, including aspects like profile completeness, content quality, engagement levels, and visual appeal. The assignment further explores the impact of mobile technology on hospitality businesses, analyzing website optimization and user experience on mobile devices. Finally, students are tasked with creating a new social media strategy for the chosen SME, leveraging insights gained from the literature review and case study analysis.

Emma Alexandra Circeag
E-Tourism
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Literature review..............................................................................................................................3
Case study........................................................................................................................................8
New social media strategy.............................................................................................................12
Discussion .....................................................................................................................................13
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................14
References......................................................................................................................................16
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INTRODUCTION
E-tourism refer to the research, design, application of IT and implementation of E-
commerce solution in travel and tourism industry. It is an application of information and
communication technologies in both; tourism and hospitality sectors The present study is based
on Charlotte street hotel which is located in London (Charlotte street hotel, 2017). It is a small-
medium sized company which has 52 rooms and its features are like own cinema rooms, 24
room hour services, etc. Further, it has an online presence on social networking sites.
Information and communication technology (ICT) plays a great role in the development of
hospitality industry. Main purpose of study is to understand the way in which ICT influenced the
Charlotte street hotel which is operating its operates its business. ICT have a some positive
impact on Charlotte hotel that is it can company can easily communicate with its potential
customer and makes strong relation with them for, longer period Further, it also provides an
effective platform to engage in markets. In the present report, discussion is done on the
effectiveness of ICT on Charlotte hotel and the way in which business can use social media
marketing strategy for expanding its business online. There are many new and advanced
technologies which create opportunities and challenges for the firm. There is the new technology
which is having a great advantage to the hotel that is social media that provides the ability to
Charlotte hotel to see that from where their customer are coming, their interests as well as it is
the best way to target customers at a large scale. In the present report, a literature review has
been done on various topics related to ICT. Further, a case study is analyzed deeply so that major
issue can be assessed which SME is facing at the time of using ICT. Apart from that, discussion
and conclusion have been done on the basis of case study
LITERATURE REVIEW
ICT and hospitality focus on development
According to the Frew A. (2004) nowadays, there is many new technology which is
intangible and advances as compared to the previous generation technology. Further, websites
and smartphone apps are the new waves of technological advancement because it allows users to
directly visit the website of hotel and book tickets with online payment system. Further new
technology allow to book tickets in advance and cancel it though online website by sitting at
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home Charlotte hotel has its own website through which its customers can easily book the rooms.
On website, customers can easily see the price of different types of rooms such as luxury and
simple room. Along with this, they can also see various discount offers which is available on
firm’s websites. As per the views of Fesenmaier, Werthner and Wober (2006)ICT has a great
impact on the sale and profits of hotel. It makes easier for customers to book tickets online by
sitting at home. Information and communication technology is important and it impacts on
travelers, knowledge, behavior and their attitudes New technology is developed which easy for
company for operating its business online. A new application of company which can easily be
downloaded on mobile helps in getting notification of offers which hotel provides to its
customers. Along with this, new advanced technology helps the firm to easily get connected with
people in all over the world. Internet is the largest computer network in the world which supports
delivering information form one place to another Frew (2005) said that there is the massive
impact of internet on business process. Further, search engine optimization is the process of
editing content on websites for attracting more visitors. Social media sites and mobile application
which provide users with the possibility of content creation, liking and sharing. There are many
social networking sites which help company in increasing awareness of customers regarding
their services and products. There are many advantages of ICT on small business that is it serve
the small business in many ways by means of transaction. Internet is a marketplace which bring
buyer and seller together for conducting sales. Further it is the best communication medium,
which help in connecting with people easily and fact way for interacting with customer, other
business and suppliers. Through website company can easily take feedback from its customer
and also make improvement according to the changes. It reduce customer travel cost because
customer can easily use mobile phone and internet and websites and other ICT technology. There
are many small-medium enterprises who used online marketing for their accounting function.
ICT influencing SME and factor hindering SME from adopting ICT
According to the view Buhalis (2003) there are some factors which influence small
medium enterprises like online reservation system which have positive impacts of ICT. There
are many small-medium sized firms which provide online reservation facility to customers
through its official websites. In addition to this, online reservation capabilities provide cost
saving opportunity for business in the hospitality industry because it not need to hire employee
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and not need to pay them salary.. There are many SMEs who adopted different components of
ICT, that is, social media advertising, online booking, online customer services, etc (booking,
2017). Buhalis, D. (2003). argued that there are some hospitality companies which have
effectively included ICT for making its competitive advantage so ICT offers various
opportunities to SME' organization. The competition level among SMEs is high which also
influence the adoption of Financial condition of hotel. So, this high level of competition
promotes to use ICT based technologies for attracting customers and for increasing the efficiency
of its operations.
There are some barriers which hinder SMEs from adopting ICT like high cost of
investment. There are many new ICT technologies cost of which is high and so, small medium
sized companies cannot adopt the same (Rouse, 2017). There is the issue of lack of resources as
well which affect the inclination of a small hotel to adopt costly ICT. Along with this, risky
nature of investing in new technology promote small and medium hotel to wait until the
technology price move down before investing in it. Another factor is the size of hotel which can
become a barrier in adopting ICT. Further, there is lack of highly skilled employees which is also
a barrier in adopting new technology by company. Apart from that, there is lack of knowledge
among employees which become a major challenge in the adoption of ICT. As per view of
Wikipedia (2010) there are many difficulties which are faced by small business at the time of
using new technology. These difficulties are mainly related with structure of company and it
surrounding environment. Small business not have much knowledge of internet technology and
not much experience of this technology.
New technology for SME hospitality companies
According to the view of Susskind, Bonn and Dev (2003)there are many small-medium
size companies which can easily develop it business by adopting new technology. Mobile
technology is one of the best technology small business company can easily adopt for expanding
it business. On android phone new company application made which help the consumer in
booking an online ticket and for contacting to customer services for any inquiry. Along with this,
creating company websites is also the best way for the company in getting success. It is so on
hotel website customer can easily see images of hotel rooms and get full detailed information
related to product and services which are offering by a hotel to its customer. O’Reilly,
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(2005).explained that mobile technology had paid off in terms of better customer services and
product. Further, company can use social networking site so that people can get aware of their
products and services. Company can create Facebook page on which it can share information
and images related to its technology. On this page there are large number of customer visit who
are interested in visiting their hotel. This page can be shared by visitors with family and friends
so that they can also come to know about hotel services. In a reservation system company show
on its websites which room are reserved and which room are available for the consumer. It is
done through electronic distribution system which hold on availability and costing of all room.
Further ICT is linked with central reservation office and property management system used by
small hotel for providing room availability information and facilitate central room inventory
control. As per view of Barwise, Elberse and Hammond, (2006) there are many small-medium
hospitality company who are using database management system which is a software used by
firm for creating and managing database. It provides user a systematic way to create, manage
and update data. All the data can be easily stored in database management system securely and
safely which can be used in future for any purpose. Along with this information management
system is also used by firm for storing detailed information of its customer and employee.
Mobile technology and its influence to hospitality small-medium business
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According to the view of O’Reilly (2005) in mobile there are many features that are
WiFi, Bluetooth etc. this mobile computing allow people to use IT without being tied to single
location. There mobile marketing help in living in touch with different people on one time. The
advertiser at the time of sending message to target audience also look forward for their message.
Mobile technology are emerging and become a growth engine for the small and medium
enterprises. By adopting ,mobile strategy revenue of company increase tow times. There are
various function available on mobile which help small company in staying connected with them.
On mobile person can easily develop company website which help consumer in book the ticket
easily anytime from any place only there is required internet facility. It help to increase sale of
company and on mobile customer regularly get notification related to products and services
which firm is providing for specific period. SME which are leader in mobile adoption technology
are providing better flexibility for connecting with people. There are more then half of UK
population are using smartphone. SME can easily generate revenue from mobile apps. It help in
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improving services which are offering to customer. Along with this it allows customer to pay for
services through app without having go to the till. It help in creating new customer account and
for checking price and availability of services.
CASE STUDY
Charlotte street hotel is small-medium enterprises which is located in London. In this
hotel there are 52 rooms and only 240 employees. Its interior design to reflect a contemporary
London and it is rated for the best value in London. Further it has been welcoming booking.com
from 1 july 2012. Charlotte street hotel website is www.firmdalehotels.com. It also have online
presence on Facebook, twitter and Instagram. There are many new technology which is used by
Charlotte street hotel for increasing its sale and profit. There are many social networking sited
which company used to promoted its products and services and sale it online. There is a great
usage of Facebook and twitter because it serves a platform to the business social media plans.
Along with this Charlotte street hotel can create a Google+ business page which help in
maintaining active presences on Google+. There is a great power of visual social media because
evry firm brand needs its own visual story Facebook help Charlotte street hotel in reaching a
100 million users within a three years while Instagram take only 10 days for attracting 10 million
users. There are many users of this firm who are using online website for booking a tickets and
also for seeing the review of company Buhalis, (2004) . The most common use of social media is
to across all three business categories that is for rating on review, for inviting online comment.
Further it also use for two way communication with customer and clients. At a Charlotte street
hotel is responsible for the social media presence. The profile pictures on Facebook page of
company is the first thing which company see on Facebook. Image people see which is posted
on Facebook page and then comment on post. For positive comment company need to post
image of high quality. There are much hospitality company who are rely on good review and on
work of mouth from its royal customer. The use of social networking site nowadays become very
important for the business Buhalis and Zoge, (2007).. The Charlotte street hotel cannot ignore
the use of social networking site for promoting its services and products. There are some social
networking platform that are Twitter, Facebook and Instagram which is evolved strictly from
peer to peer communication channel which allow Charlotte street hotel to effectively engage
with its clients.
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Facebook evaluation
Profile
Cover photo 4/5 The cover picture of Charlotte street hotel is of high quality
and show its interior look (Facebook, 2017)
Facebook URL 5/5 The Facebook URL include Hotel name which make easier
for user to search this page. As company image is clearly
show on the facbook profile which can attract more customer
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Charlotte-Street-Hotel/
119362034776701
About section 3/5 There is so much information contain on its Facebook page
and full detail of hotel is provided which include address of
hotel contact number.
Twitter evaluation
Profile
Cover photo 2/5 There is no cover picture of Charlotte street hotel on profile
image (Twitter, 2016).
Twiiter URL 3/5 The Twitter URL include Hotel name which make easier for
user to search this page.
https://mobile.twitter.com/Firmdale_Hotels/status/
671311177797001216. On link of Twitter there is no name
of Charlotte hotel which make difficult for the customer to
search on twitter
About section 1/5 There is not much information contain related to Charlotte
hotel on twitter only few images with hashtag is uploaded
on twitter.
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Facebook cover page of Charlotte street hotel
Twitter cover page of Charlotte street hotel
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Use of Instagram by Charlotte street hotel
Instagram and hospitality industry is perfect pair because photos and videos posted on
Instagram is used for grabbing a attention of customer. There are many social networking
activity which is shifted to mobile devices and Instagram is among of them. This Instagram is
designed for the android mobile device because there are more then 90% user use mobile
nowadays. This Instagram is a combination of two powerful aspects of social media that is
sharing and imagery Gretzel and Fesenmaier, (2003). There are more than 10 million user of
Instagram so it is very effective for Charlotte street hotel for attracting a new customer. At
Instagram brand boost their property with images and videos to lure past guest back and
encourage potential guest. There are more then 30.8% brand on Instagram. Great photos grab
attention and inspire people to visit that hotel.
On the other hand twitter is cluttered and hard to heard while facebook shut out most organic
post. Among all social networking sites Instagram is best because it offer simple, without link
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and clean feed. There are more followers on Instagram as compared to Facebook and twitter.
Charlotte company can take photos and videos which capture attention and on the post it can
write some visual story which reflect overall brand story.
Furthermore if any customer want to book tickets for the Charlotte street hotel then it can easily
book tickets through booking.com and hotel.com. It shows that online presence of Charlotte
street hotel is very high.
NEW SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY
Charlotte street hotel can use different social media strategy for creating an awareness of
brand in people. The organization can use Facebook for increasing a sale and for earning profit.
Facebook is appropriate and suitable platform for expanding business because on Facebook page
company can post videos and images and write about its hotel SITA (2006). Further it can share
with other and replied the comment which is marked by customer on post. So this platform is
best for Charlotte street hotel for adverting, creating awareness, increasing sale and profitability.
Charlotte street hotel can create a page on Facebook by uploading a attractive images of its hotel
which can easily grab attention of customer. Along with this Facebook also allow to establish
relationship with customers Marcussen (2009). It allows taking feedback from customer and
reply on their query. This social media also provide opportunity for establishing a hotel in
market. There are some social media objective for the hotels such as
 Facebook profile
 User generated content channels
 Twitter profile flicker photo profile
 You tube video channel.
Charlotte street hotel can use this channel without taking help from external and further
they can link channel with a websites. Company can make strong relation with its customer by
repying on their query and feedback. Further company can monitor the review being posted once
a day and it need to respond each and every comment which help in turning negative review to
positive Susskind, Bonn and Dev (2003).. Apart from that, crowd source some content which
provide a user to share it valuable moment which customer spend at their hotel. When any
customer share their post on Charlotte street hotel page then it creates a value of hotel and it
helps in retaining potential customer for longer period. Company can provide detailed
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information about its hotel on Facebook page so that what all feature hotel have can be easily
known by peoples. Further on any occasion and festival if hotel provide discount and offer then
it can be also posted on websites and on Facebook. So that all people came to know which type
of offer is provided by firm to its customer and if offer is good then many of new user book
ticket in advance at their hotel.
Furthermore, Charlotte street hotel can also post image of its interior design and can write what
all type of services and products they offer to its customer. When people came to know is unique
services and products then demand also increases.
DISCUSSION
On company website there are more then 30 billion photos shared with an average of 80
million photos which is uploaded every day. Instagram is purely mobile application, for sign up
with an account user firstly must need to download app on mobile devices. While social media
can be defined as a group of internet which is based on application that build on technological
foundation. In a hospitality company social media give chance to hotel for organization story in
a visually manners. On social site it not need to only focus on rooms and amentites , but also
about its staff and guest along with services provided to its customer. It can also share those
stories which by connecting with guest and make strong relation with them so that they help to
tell the hotel story Gretzel and Fesenmaier, (2003). Further this social networking sites also
provide opportunity to the future guests to see, the true experiences of staying in that hotels.
There are top five media platform used by Charlotte street hotel in the UK.
Facebook: Facebook is one of the largest social networking site which have more then 10 million
users and its users are increasing from last 4 years and there is no chance of slowing down. The
Charlotte street hotel can take advantage of it by updating its cover page, timeline layout, photos
album etc
Twitter: It is a quick bursts of information and it increasing mobile society. They also
developed on the networking sites a visual storing telling feature which provide a great
marketing opportunistic to Charlotte hotel.
Instagram; it is a tools and mostly used for sharing photos and video as compared to other
social networking tool this one is one of the best tools because it got 10 million user within a
year.
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YouTube: this hold great opportunity for the hotel marketers which always display hotel
amnetites and unique experiences of traveler and employees. It is best way for grabbing a
attention of customer. There are different social media strategy for the Charlotte hotel for which
company need to have enough available resources, content, time and cost. For using social media
strategy company need to firstly understand the effectiveness of each and every social medial
platform. Facebook help in connecting with people from all over the world. There are more than
360 million photo uploaded daily. There are many reason for creating a Charlotte hotel page on
Facebook that is there are many Facebook user who search products and services of brands for
buying. It help in connecting and engaging with potential and current user. Along with this it
also promotes other content that is blog articles and webinars. Brand pages have access to depth
of demographic information about its fans and this platform become more sophisticated Buhalis,
and Zoge (2007). . Facebook is a key to a Charlotte hotel online presence. There are some
utilization of Facebook page that is it allow administration to install application on their page.
Hotel can share its story on social sites. It is also necessary that Facebook page content it
optimized for graph search. Further it also needs that Charlotte hotel page name and about
section are optimize with the best keywords. There are many consumers who are connected with
Charlotte hotel page for getting offer and discount on its products and services. If company also
create image in which it contents some offer and discount then customer not only buy its
products and services but also shared it with friends and family.
CONCLUSION
Form the above report it can be concluded that, there are many small-medium enterprises
who are using social media sited for increasing its sale and profitability. Information
communication and technology help organization in creating a strong relation with customer and
for selling products and services. There are many new technology used by company which
provide a chance for creating a relationship with customer and creating awareness among them
about services and products which they are delivering. New technology such as mobile app,
internet and social networking sites help company in increasing its awareness of its small-
medium enterprises. Mobile technology is one of the best way for hospitality company through
which it can stay connected with its new and existing customer. There are more then 90% people
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use mobile and always available online. Company app can be easily download in mobile which
help customer in getting notification of company products and services. This mobile app make
easy for customer to book tickets easily from anywhere and any time. Customer can also see
review of hotel on mobile app price of its products and services. Further, there are many social
networking sites which company used to for promoting its products and services. Facebook,
twitter and Instagram etc are very great social sites which help in expanding its business. On
Facebook company can post image and videos for grabbing an attention of customer. Now a
days there Instagram user are more then Facebook and twitter because there are more then 1
million user of Instagram. Company can use new social media strategy for expanding it business
as on internet. SEM adopt information and communication technology but there are many
barriers which it need to face such as high cost of investment, and lack highly skill employee.
Low information related to new technology. This become great barrier for the SME in using a
information communication and technology. There are many people who are connected with
online so company have opportunity to increase it sale and profitability and create awareness
among people about their hotel and its luxury services.
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REFERENCES
Frew A. (2004). Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism 2004, Springer-
Verlag Vienna
Frew A. (2005). Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism: Proceedings of the
International
Fesenmaier, D., Werthner, H., and Wober, K. (2006). Destination Recommendation Systems:
Behavioural
Buhalis, D. (2003). eTourism: Information Technology for Strategic Tourism Management.
London, UK: Pearson
Zeithaml, V., A. Parasuraman, and L. Berry (1985). Problems and strategies in services
marketing. Journal of
Wikipedia (2010). Social Media Software Applications. Retrieved 04/01/2010 from
http://en.wikipedia.org/
wiki/Social_media.
Susskind, A., Bonn, M., and Dev, C. (2003). To look or book: An examination of consumers’
apprehensiveness
toward Internet use. Journal of Travel Research, 41, 256-264.
O’Reilly, T. (2005). What Is Web 2.0: Design Patterns and Business Models for the Next
Generation of Software.
Retrieved from http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/oreilly/tim/news/2005/09/30/what-is-
web20.html.
Barwise, P., Elberse, A. and Hammond, K. (2006). Marketing and the Internet. In B. Weitz & R.
Wensley (Eds.).
Handbook of Marketing (pp. 527-557). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications Inc.
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Buhalis, D. (2004). eAirlines: Strategic and tactical use of ICTS in the Airline Industry.
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Management, 41 (7), 805-825.
Buhalis, D., and Zoge, M. (2007). The strategic impact of the Internet on the tourism industry. In
M. Sigala,
L. Mich, & J. Murphy (Eds.). Information and Communications Technologies in Tourism:
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International Conference ENTER in Ljubljana, Slovenia (pp.481-492). Springer-Verlag Wien
(ISBN: 978-3-
211-69564-7).
Gretzel, U., and Fesenmaier, D. (2003). Implementing a knowledge-based tourism marketing
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Marcussen, C. (2009). Internet distribution of European travel and tourism services. Denmark:
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Online
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Twitter, 2016 [online.] Available through:.<https://twitter.com/Twitter?ref_src=twsrc^google|
twcamp^serp|twgr^author.> [accessed on 13 February 2017]
Charlotte street hotel, 2017 [online.] Available through:.<http://www.rathbonehotel.co.uk/?
gclid=CLvltfyMjdICFViVaAodI_wKQw> [accessed on 13 February 2017]
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2017]
booking .com, 2017 [online.] Available through:.<http://www.booking.com/index.html?
aid=378266;label=bdotR55kQl2KP*xa2BX0ui5dVAS81066201151:pl:ta:p1:p21,093,000:
ac:ap1t1:neg:fi:tikwd-334108349:lp1007808:li:dec:dm;ws=&gclid=CNz-
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communications-technology-or-technologies> [accessed on 13 February 2017]
Here is the structure to help you refocus your work
This is the assignment question: Critically evaluate developments of Social Media and
mobile tourism on Hospitality. Use one Small and Medium Hospitality Enterprise
(SMHE) as a case study to demonstrate your arguments.
In your literature you needed to discuss the following
ICT and hospitality –this should focus on the developments including the internet, the ability to
have a website and its advantages
SMEs in Hospitality, how ICT is influencing SMEs , what are the factors hindering SMEs from
adopting ICT
the new technologies –what have they brought to hospitality SMEs how the new technologies
are used
mobile technology and its influence to hospitality businesses particularly the SMEs
in the evaluation section you needed
- Overview of the case study
- What social Media is the case study using? Are they connected to the website?
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- What is your criteria for evaluating the social media. If you are grading e.g 1-5 explain that 5
is Very good, 4 good, 3 average, 2 poor and 1 very poor. What are key feature you are
evaluating e.g profile, content, engagement, photos, Apps etc.
- When you use the table – describe why you have awarded the rating you e,g profile – see the
table below
Profile
Cover photo 4/5 The cover is clear and can easily relate to the
hotel
Branding 2/5 The hotel name is visible but lacks the word
‘hotel’ that help the search engines to
index Facebook page during the search
Facebook URL 2/5 The Facebook URL is customised to include
the hotel’s name
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Ashton
-Hall-Hotel/166795326710179?
rf=224883264385929
About Section 3/5 The about section show the address, including
the map of the hotels location but there is
no telephone contact or the hotel’s
website URL
11/ 20 Generally, the profile of the hotel is average, as
it needs improvement on the branding, -
that include the word hotel on its name,
customise the Facebook URL as well
putting more information in the about
section
- This table need to be developed further by including other criteria you feel should be
evaluated
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- You need to do the same for twitter
- Use some screenshots from the SM pages to support your findings
- Write a paragraph about the Instagram page, if the business has one
- Mobile technology = check to see if the business has an app, search for the business on site
that list SMEs such as booking.com and Hotel.com; does the business appear in the top half?
- Check the business’ site on your mobile phone is it optimised?
The Body Part 2 - Discussion
Use literature to discuss the social media
- Find similarities on how the business use the social media and what the literature says. You
may choose to look at each platform and dedicate a paragraph or two for discussion
- Discuss mobile technology and the importance of optimising the business; mobile site
Develop a new social media strategy for the business
The staretegy is developed by you as a consultant to help the business to improve its social
media presence online.
Conclusion
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