E-Tourism: Social Media Strategy for Verdant Leisure Ltd.

This report analyzes the current social media strategy of Verdant Leisure Ltd., a medium-sized tourism company in the e-tourism industry. It discusses the benefits of social media marketing, such as higher brand awareness and lower costs. The report also highlights the need for a new and innovative social media strategy to differentiate the company's marketing approach.

E-Tourism

Table of Contents
Table of Contents.............................................................................................................................2
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
LITERATURE REVIEW................................................................................................................1
Social media strategy...................................................................................................................1
CASE STUDY EVALUATION......................................................................................................3
Verdant Leisure Ltd’s social media strategy...............................................................................3
DISCUSSION..................................................................................................................................5
Social media strategy and strategy used by Verdant Leisure Ltd................................................5
NEW SOCIAL MEDIA STRETEGY.............................................................................................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
E tourism can be defined as the digitalisation of all the value chain and processes which
are performed by entities that are operating business under travel, hospitality and tourism sector.
Main purpose of it is to maximise efficiency to reach large number of individuals and generate
higher profits. The key element of it is social media where most of the youngsters spend their
time for entertainment. In order to spread awareness about business it is essential for all the
travel companies to market themselves on social media websites (Algharabat, 2017). It will help
to aware maximum number of people about the business. Present report is based upon analysis of
current social media strategy and formulation of a new one for a medium sized tourism company.
The enterprise which is selected for this purpose is Verdant Leisure Ltd. It is mainly known for
its holiday bookings. It was founded by Ben Dixon, Graham Hodgson and Andrew Wall in year
2010. This assignment covers various topics such as evaluation of current market strategy of
entity development of a new strategy for the organisation. Apart from this, recommendations that
should be focused by the enterprise are also covered in this report.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Social media strategy
According to Alves, Fernandes and Raposo, (2016), social media is the set of different
websites which could be accessed by individuals to be aware of current trends and the things that
are happening all around the world. Currently, it is very beneficial for businesses as they can
market their products here are enhance sales and profits. With the help of it, the sellers can reach
to the customers easily and target them to sale all the products and services that are sold by them.
The users that are using it can create and share tehri content to spread their social network. In
other words, it can be defined as the interactive computer medicated technologies which
facilitate the sharing of data, ideas and information from one user to another. In current era, it is
one of the famous and biggest platforms for marketing and used by most of the companies so
that they can generate higher revenues and capture large market share. It is mainly used by such
businesses which are not able to spend more money on advertising and marketing as it is the
cheapest way to market all the products and services that are sold by a company. There are
various types of websites that are part of it. These are Twitter, Snapchat, Facebook, Instagram,
Vimeo accounts, You Tube etc. All of them could be used by companies as well as individuals to
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create an account or page and they share the content with the targeted audiences so that they
could be motivated to buy the products that are sold by them in the market.
In the views of, Armstrong, Delia and Giardina, (2016), in social media marketing
different sites are used by sellers to stay connected to the users of services and goods sold by
them. It helps them to build their brand, drive traffic at tehri website, increase profits and
revenues. E and digital marketing are the key elements that are focused in it. All the companies
which are using it as the technique to market the items sold to clients have to spend a very low
amount therefore it is best suitable to small and medium sized entities. As start ups and other
medium sized companies are not able to spend money on marketing activities therefore it is the
best platform for them to attract their prospect customers and inspire them to buy the products. It
is the most popular technique of marketing because of the width and length of the market and
number of individuals who are using it for entertainment purpose.
According to Arrigo, (2018) travel and tourism is one of the biggest sector around the
world that delivers leisure services to the customers according to tehri requirements. There are
various small and medium sized companies which are operating business under it and social
media is the best platform for all of them to market the services that are offered by them. The
cost of using it will be very low and the organisations can save monetary resources to enhance
efficiency and effectiveness of business. It is a form of internet marketing which is focused with
creating and sharing the content of different social media websites so that all the goals related to
marketing and branding could be accomplished successfully. All the companies which are using
social media strategy to market their products and services attain various advantages with the
help of it. There are various benefits of using it as the marketing tools. One of them is higher
brand awareness because by using social media channels such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter
etc. the travel companies will be able to aware large number of customers about their business.
Higher brand awareness is advantageous for all the enterprises as it helps to achieve
organisational goals such as increased profits and revenues.
In the views of, Cawsey and Rowley, (2016), use of social media strategy improve search
engine ranking of a company. When a travel company markets itself on a social media website
then it helps to aware large number of individuals to know about the entity. After reading about
it, people start to search about it on search engine which helps to improve its visibility on it and
increasing the ranking. It can help the entities to grow the business. One of the key benefits of
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using social media strategy is improved brand loyalty as by using it a company can target the
specific group of customers that are considered as potential buyers. It will be advantageous for
the enterprise to increase the brand loyal clients who never switch to another seller to attain
benefits. It is the main advantage of using social media marketing strategy and with the help of it
large market share could also be captured by a business.
Dahl, (2018), said that social media strategy is cost effective because the companies
which are using it does not have to spend too much money market their products and services on
social media. By using it small and medium sized travel entities can reach to the targeted
audiences and sale their holiday packages to them. It can help them to save funds so that the
saved amount could be used by them in future in consequences. If it will be used by companies
in future then it will help to reach the long-term goals such as higher profits, large market share
and competitive position in the market.
CASE STUDY EVALUATION
Verdant Leisure Ltd’s social media strategy
Verdant Leisure Ltd. is a medium sized company which is operating business in travel and
tourism sector of United Kingdom. It har various holiday parks across England and Scotland. It
was founded in year 2010 by Andrew Wall, Ben Dixon and Graham Hodgson. The customer
service compliant ratio of it is very low which is around 0.8%. In last two years the owners of the
company have spent 6 million pounds in the portfolio so that business can grow and get
developed. The estimated annual turnover of the organisation is around 31 million pounds for
year ending 2019. The number of staff members in the previous are also doubled which shows
the huge progress of the company (Verdant Leisure Ltd., 2020). In order to stay competitive in
the industry the managers formulate effective management teams which are handling all the
operations of the organisation. In order to spread awareness of the services that are offered by it
to the clients, social media strategy is used by the organisation. It markets itself on Instagram so
that it can reach to the targeted audiences and sale the holiday packages to them. The presence of
it on social media websites is high which helps it to reach all the business goals and attain
success in the market.
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The social media strategy which is used by the organisation is sharing attractive content
of social media websites. It is resulting in various benefits for the company all of them are as
follows:
Higher brad awareness: It is one of the key benefits which is acquired by Verdant
Leisure Ltd. by sharing content on social media websites such as Facebook and Instagram. It is
facilitating it to aware large number of customers about the packages and services that are
offered by the organisation. The present social media strategy is beneficial for the entity to attract
large number of customers by interacting with them on different websites. Higher awareness
about the business help to motivate customers to buy more and more packages so that they can
spend tehri holidays according to their specifications. With the help of current strategy, the
organisation is attaining success in spreading awareness about the business and various facilities
that are offered by it to the clients (Felix, Rauschnabel and Hinsch, 2017).
Lower cost: In order to remain competitive in the market it is very important for all the
organisations to perform marketing activities. It helps to position the products and services in the
mind of customers. It could be done with the help of different strategies such as TV
commercials, print and social media etc. As Verdant Leisure Ltd. is a medium sized company
therefore it is not possible for it to spend money on advertising on TV and newspapers. In order
to market the travel packages that are offered by it, the management is using social media where
it shares attractive content regarding the services. The cost of using it is very low and it results in
higher number of customers because by using it an enterprise can reach the specific group of
clients who are targeted by it. The cost of social media strategy for Verdant Leisure Ltd. is very
low which helps it to save funds to perform future operations properly and in systematic manner.
The monetary resources which are saved by the entity are used to improve the efficiency and
effectiveness of entity to carry out operational activities in systematic manner (Hyder, 2016).
Brand loyal customers: Social media is a great platform to increase brand loyalty of
customers. By using it all the companies can attain competitive advantage and increase the
number of such customers who are brand loyal. As Verdant Leisure Ltd. is using it to market the
services that are offered by it to the clients so if they get best facilities by the entity then they will
share positive reviews about it. It will also help to retain the clients for long term in future
because if in upcoming years they want to visit a place the organisation will be contacted by
them to arrange a travel package with tehri preferences (Ismail, 2017). On the other hand, if a
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company which is marketing itself on social media and not able to provide promised facilities to
the customers will get negatively affected by it. The clients will share bad reviews about it and
the other people who will visit the website to check the reviews will not select it to book their
travel packages.
Increased market share: If an organisation is using social media strategy then it can
help it to increase its market share. With the help of it, large market area could be targeted to
spread awareness about the products and services that are sold by an organisation. While
planning to attain competitive advantage it is very important for all the companies to make sure
that they are able to market themselves on social media. Verdant Leisure Ltd. is using different
websites to interact with the individuals who are targeted by it as prospect customers. It is
facilitating it to aware all of them about various types of offers that are made to the clients in
travel packages. With the help of it, the organisation is capturing a large market area and
spreading its business in Scotland and England.
From the above discussion it has been figured out that present social media strategy is
beneficial for Verdant Leisure Ltd. as it is facilitating the organisation to increase the market
share, enhance brand loyal customers etc. The analysis also shows that the strategy which is used
by the organisation for marketing its services is very common. All the small and medium sized
travel companies are using it to spread awareness about their facilities. In order to be highly
competitive in the market it is very important for Verdant Leisure Ltd. to use a new and
innovative social media strategy. While selecting a new strategy it will be very important for the
organisation to make sure that the new one will be beneficial for it to differentiate its way of
marketing its services and packages (Jaakonmäki, Müller and Vom Brocke, 2017).
DISCUSSION
Social media strategy and strategy used by Verdant Leisure Ltd.
Social media strategy is the part of digital marketing which is facilitating most of the
business entities to spread awareness about the services that are offered by them to the
customers. Verdant Leisure Ltd. is a medium sized travel and tourism company which is
rendering services in Scotland and England. It is using social media websites such as Facebook
and Instagram to spread awareness about the offers of it and interact with the targeted audiences.
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There are various benefits that are acquired by the company by sharing its content of
social media websites. One of the advantages to the entity is the lower cost. By spending very
low amount on the marketing small and medium sized business can save money to perform the
operations in more systematic manner. Verdant Leisure Ltd. saves funds by marketing on social
media websites and use it to improve the effectiveness of business. All the saved monetary
resources are invested in best performance of business and meet requirements of clients to satisfy
their needs. The benefit of it is improved market presence and good progress of business which
keeps the stakeholders such as employees, creditors, customers etc. engaged in the business
(Kaur, 2016).
Another main benefit of using social media platform for Verdant Leisure Ltd.is higher
brand awareness and loyalty. With the help of it, the company is trying to aware large number of
customers about the facilities of the entity so that it can attain growth. Currently more than 50%
population of UK is using social media which means it is a great opportunity for the company to
attract large number of customers by using it as a platform for marketing. Higher awareness
about the company will also help to increase the number of brand loyal customers that helps an
organisation to increase its sustainability in the market. By becoming s sustainable entity Verdant
Leisure Ltd. will be able to develop itself massively and appropriately (Keegan and Rowley,
2017).
One advantage of using social media is higher market share which helps Verdant Leisure
Ltd. to operate business properly. With the help of it, the managers of the enterprise try to reach
maximum number of individuals and motivate them to buy travel packages from the company.
By offering the facilities to a large group of individuals the organisation will be able to capture a
large market area. It can help to increase the market share which is covered by the entity (Liu,
Shin and Burns, 2019).
One aspect which is analysed from the case study of Verdant Leisure Ltd. is that the
social media strategy that is used by the company is very common. All the entities in the market
are using the same way to market themselves in the industry. If it will be used for long run in
future then the company may lose its effectiveness in the industry. In order to become highly
competitive in the industry it will be very important for it to formulate a new social media
strategy. By using a new way of marketing on social media the organization will be able to reach
more people and inspire them to buy travel packages from Verdant Leisure Ltd. For new social
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media strategy the company may focus upon the latest trends in the market that are adopted by
medium sized companies to market themselves on this platform (Macarthy, 2018).
NEW SOCIAL MEDIA STRETEGY
Social media permits tourism industry to develop and maintain contact with visitors at the
relative low cost that leads to develop higher level of efficiency that is achieved with more
traditional way to communicate with them. In terms of this the tourism industry wants to enforce
more highly competitive global market that is different from their competitors. In terms of this to
acquire large customer base and attract customers towards the company communication is the
best way to deal with customers and resolve their queries. Since the social media is over
saturated with information then it becomes very complex for Verdant Leisure Limited to attract
and acquired the attraction of customers as their current strategies seems not so worthy to attract
prominent number of customers. In relation with this social media is the platforms in which
many users can participate share and create their own content as it include blogs social
networking games content communities ratings reviews podcast and so on (Marchand, Hennig-
Thurau and Flemming, 2019). Social media is the more unique function of web Smartphone’s are
becoming the most significant part for the social media devices. In relation with this social media
and word of mouth plays an important role for the development of Verdant Leisure Limited to
acquire more and more customers. In terms of this Verdant Leisure Limited adopt new social
media strategy that is Enhanced Customer Experience through social media which is discussed
as below:
For each and every industry customers are considered as the prime factor that leads to
enhance their credibility sales and revenues and in terms of this around 77% customers are likely
to have friendly relations with the company and need positive experience. In present time the
customers does not buy just products or services their purchasing decisions consider about their
buying idea in experience as well. In terms of this they are some prominent strategies that help
Verdant Leisure Limited to improve their customer service standard.
Seek customer feedback: To know about the customer’s perspective and their
preferences it is important for the company to understand their requirements experience and
weak points. In terms of this all Verdant Leisure Limited need to do is to make sure that they
offer prominent chance to their customers to share their feedback in various ways. It is done by
Verdant Leisure Limited with the help of social media sites by offering their feedback forms and
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feedback quiz. In addition to this they can go through with telephone service and email to get
positive and negative points about them in order to know that what customer feel about them.
Therefore it is quite better to enable the customers to raise their issues. This is strategy is useful
for Verdant Leisure Limited to get communicate with more customers and also no about them
which is the good, bad or ugly experience regarding their brand. With the help of this method
they get actual vision about what they are doing their prominent areas and what are the
improvement factors need to consider to enhance them. Connecting with more customers in
order to get feedback can become beneficial for company in order to get new customers and
make them feel that they are valuable for company and willing to resolve their issues (Prasad and
Saigal, 2019). Therefore it is useful in developing trust and also prevent the customers from
sharing their queries is concerned negative comments on social media that impact other
customers as well. For instance, Verdant Leisure Limited can use web hosting service provider
site ground channel in terms of inviting their customers to provide feedback 24 hours with the
help of its three prominent channels including live chat, tickets and phone calls.
Use CRM platforms: By considering the tourism industry many companies are struggling
to have effective coordination with their teams that leads to reduced customer dissatisfaction.
This issue can impact the functioning and running of business as it is a streamline of their
workforce process it using the smart CRM platforms (Stephen, 2016). In relation with this such
systems are useful to make sure the equality among the customers which is important to develop
high customer service standards.
Here are some benefits of using smart CRM software in context of Verdant Leisure Limited:
 It offer useful vision about the customers which help the Verdant Leisure Limited to
understand their requirements in order to sell faster and over the person is experience to
their customers.
 It enhances interaction with customers and engagement that helps you to develop lifelong
customer relationships.
 In relation with this sales and service team of Verdant Leisure Limited can work more
closely in order to eliminate the chances of confusion.
 Moreover customers get easy access about what was promised by the Verdant Leisure
Limited as it leads to develop customer satisfaction.
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 In relation with this most of the CRM platforms accessible on multiple devices including
laptops and desktops and mobile devices so you can help your customers anytime and
anywhere in the world.
In addition to this Verdant Leisure Limited can also strengthen their customer service team in
order to develop strong relations with customers with the help of many social media platforms.
In terms of this companymust recruit skilled workforce and people for their customer service
team with have right skills. In addition to this is also need to organise training programs and
sessions for the existing and new employees as well to improve their skills. For this customer
service member must have empathy and patients to provide services to the customer and deal
with various types of customers as well. As some of them are quite confused and annoying and
has lot of questions regarding the package and price and also ask many questions about
destinations. With this the customer supports representative need to deal with them in more
patient and professional manner to have healthy communication and relationship with them
(Tafesse and Wien, 2018). In relation with this customer service team also have good
communication skill as they are capable enough to convey their customers in more positive way
and also strive to never end conversation as it leaves a customer in more dissatisfied manner.
Lastly must have to ensure that they have proper knowledge regarding their services and
offerings the proper pricing plan. And if he doesn’t have knowledge about anything then it is the
best way to say their customers is that, “I will get back to you after coordinating with our product
team” instead of giving them in correct information.
Leverage multi-channel servicing: Around 69% of the youth in US and any other area are
preferred to get packages through online mode as the does not prefer intermediate to get offer for
themselves. In relation with this it is important for Verdant Leisure Limited to offer consistent
customer service with the help of various channels as they need to provide it through
omnichannel communication options (Tuten and Solomon, 2017). In addition to this Verdant
Leisure Limited also enable their customers to switch between multiple channels in order to
enjoy the quality of their offered services as it help them to boost the reputation of company and
credibility. In relation with this there are some best practices that offer multiple channel services
to the customers. Mobile devices as bi this people expect prominent support services from the side of
company and being responsible tourism company Verdant Leisure Limited need to make
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sure that the customer service and support pages are mobile ready to meet the
Expectations of their customers. Social media as many customers are turning towards the social networks for their
customer queries and complaints. In terms of this Verdant Leisure Limited previously
used social media channels can enhance their viability and usage to utilise the power of
social media and fill the gap between company and their customers as well. It also
enhances the response on time to the social media queries and also give effective
solutions to their customers.
 Self service as many customers are expected from the companies to help them in fixing
there minor issues by themselves and they will look for that solutions on the website
FAQ pages company. In relation with this Verdant Leisure Limited should offer easy to
understand fixers regarding all the common problems on their FAQ pages (Zahoor and
Qureshi, 2017).
Therefore by considering themselves as a responsible tourism company Verdant Leisure
Limited putting faces on enhancing the customer service standards in order to our great services
to their customers that helps in developing trust improving brand image awareness gain customer
loyalty enhancing sales and attract new customers through valuable recommendations. Lastly
keeping the customers more happy with the significant factor for the business rather than
anything else and it is possible by making sure that company deliver 100% customer satisfaction
by both offline and online mode.
CONCLUSION
From the above project report it has been concluded that e tourism is the use of digital
technologies to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of a business. The key element of it is
social media strategy. In order to attain success, it is very important for all the businesses to
make sure that they are marketing their products and services in it. With the help of it, large
number of targeted audiences may get aware of the business. For small and medium sized
companies, it is best platform to market the services offered to customers. There are various
benefits of it which are higher brand awareness, cost effective, improved rating on search engine,
higher brand loyal customers, increased market share etc. if the current social media strategy is
not highly effective then it could be replaced with a new one. For example, if only content is
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shared by the companies in social media websites then chat bots can also be used as a new social
media strategy.
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Online
Verdant Leisure Ltd. 2020. [Online]. Available through:
< https://www.verdantleisure.co.uk/>
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