Impact of Social Media Marketing on Brand Awareness of UK Tourism Industry

This research project aims to identify the impact of social media marketing in enhancing brand awareness of UK tourism industry. The study is focused on Hays Travel, a travel agent headquartered in Sunderland, England. The literature review discusses the concept of social media marketing, brand awareness, and advantages of social media marketing. The research methodology includes deductive research approach and data collection through surveys and interviews. The research questions focus on the role of social media marketing in enhancing brand awareness of Hays Travel and the benefits and challenges of social media marketing for improving business performance.

TO IDENTIFY THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL
MEDIA MARKETING IN ENHANCING
BRAND AWARENESS OF UK TOURISM
INDUSTRY
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Contents
Contents...........................................................................................................................................2
Title..................................................................................................................................................3
Background......................................................................................................................................3
Literature Review............................................................................................................................4
Problem aim/statement (or research question(s)..............................................................................7
Research Methodology....................................................................................................................9
Timescale.......................................................................................................................................12
References......................................................................................................................................14
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Title
To identify the impact of social media marketing in enhancing brand awareness of UK tourism
industry
Background
Social media marketing is a type of digital marketing that helps an organisation in
promoting its brand in marketplace (Kayumovich and Kamalovna, 2019). It introduces to the use
of social networks and social media to market a service and product of company. There are
several platforms of social media marketing such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and many
others. All these are main platforms used by tourism industry for attracting larger number of
customers within minimum time period (Alghizzawi, Salloum and Habes, 2018). Current
research is based on the UK tourism industry that plays an important role in enhancing economic
growth of the United Kingdom. Hays Travel is a chosen travel agent that was founded in 1980 by
John Hays. Company is headquartered in Sunderland, England, UK (John, Larke and Kilgour,
2018).
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Literature Review
The concept of social media marketing
According to Baker, (2022) Social media marketing is defined as the area of marketing
which utilises social media sites and tools for completing digital marketing objectives. As per the
opinion of Chou, Oh and Klein, (2018), the concept of social media marketing involves
developing content for various social media platforms in order to promote the products or
services offered by the company, interact with consumers, build a digital community and
increase online traffic on the website of the company. All these objectives are facilitated by
social media marketing in the current age and support accomplishment of various digital
marketing objectives of the company (Social Media Marketing: The Ultimate Guide, 2022).
According to the Cinelli and et. al., (2020), social media refers to all those interactive
digital channels that assist in making, creating and sharing ideas, thoughts, interests and other
types of expression by virtual networks and communities. In simpler words, it is a computer-
based and internet based technology which give users instant electronic communication.
As per the opinion of Kross and et. al., (2021), social media marketing refers to the
procedure of using social media websites, channels and platforms for promoting a service or
product of the organisation.
According to the Chancellor and De Choudhury, (2020), digital marketing and e-
marketing have gained great importance in promoting commodities and products of the
organisation. This also assists in increasing the customer base by gaining attention of the
competitor's customers.
According to the Gottfried and Shearer, (2019), brand awareness is one of the marketing
terms that explains the degree of customer recognition of a commodity by its name. Forming and
making brand awareness is one of the important steps in advertising and promoting new
commodity or reviewing any older product.
As per the view presented by Anderson and Jiang, (2018), awareness of the company's
products involves the qualities that differentiate the commodity from its competition.
According to the Gao and et. al., (2020), as consumers are increasing their social media
usage on a daily basis the importance of social media marketing in attracting and interacting with
consumers is continuously rising. Social media marketing focuses on solely interacting with the
target audience two social media platforms in order to build virtual connexion with the target
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audience and influence them into purchasing the product or service of the company. As per the
opinion of Anderson and et. al., (2018). the primary reason for popularity of social media
marketing across industries is that it plays an important role in driving the online sales of the
company by directing consumers towards channels through which online orders can be made.
Social media marketing involves the usage of various social media platforms including Twitter,
Facebook, Pinterest, Snapchat, Instagram, Tumblr, Reddit, YouTube and LinkedIn.
Social media marketing and brand recognition
As per the views of Moseley (2019), brand awareness is defined as the extent to which
the target audience is able to recall the brand name of the company in comparison to rival
businesses engaging in the industry (How Social Media Increases Brand Awareness, 2019). The
concept of brand recognition or band awareness is crucial to long term survival and success of a
business because it helps the company influence a large section of the society into recognising
and associating the brand name of the company which specific qualities so that the company is
able to attain high profitability for a longer time. Successful brands have one thing in common
which is that they are internationally recognised and have positive annotations with their brand
symbolism and media. In context of the tourism industry brand recognition in international
markets is essential for attaining high profitability because it brings international consumers into
the company and provides the company higher profitability during holiday seasons.
According to the Naslund and et. al., (2020), this showcases the importance of increasing
band awareness and recognition in the tourism sector because it helps gain international clients
and survive from the tough competition in the tourism industry. Brand recognition in United
Kingdom tourism industry is crucial because many international as well as local organisations
compete in a cut throat way in order to attract larger number of international clients and take
away higher profitability during crucial and peak tourism seasons such as Christmas break. It is
important for businesses in the United Kingdom to address the problem of brand awareness in
international markets by improving their digital and traditional marketing strategies to attract the
attention of international consumers. One of the most effective ways of increasing brand
recognition and brand awareness is by using social media platforms because social media is used
by consumers in every part of the world. Social media is a great platform for businesses to build
consumer relationship while also acquiring new leads and consumer insights without spending
much on marketing infrastructure.
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This is because social media marketing can be conducted remotely and enables
businesses to utilise creative freedom in order to build attractive an engaging social media
marketing campaigns. Social media marketing enhances brand awareness of a company by
engaging consumers with the brand on different platforms and informing them about the quality
and services offered by the company. This can be accomplished through a conversation or
retargeting other social media posts which gains high traction on social media trending pages.
Advantages of social media marketing
According to the views of Wutzke (2022) there are different advantages of social media
marketing which support businesses in attaining higher profitability. The primary advantage of
social media marketing is that it builds brand awareness and recognition. Consumers are able to
recognise a specific brand if it shows up on their social media feed continuously and they are
able to understand the services provided by the brand through social media interactions. Social
media provides businesses a better advantage when compared to traditional means of marketing
because it is inexpensive and can help the company reach a larger audience more quickly.
As per the opinion of Bilgin, (2018), creative freedom is another advantage of social
media marketing because brand can utilise various mediums including visual mediums and audio
to interact with consumers. This type of creative freedom and liberty provided by social media
marketing helps businesses attract large number of consumers and build personalised
relationship with each individual consumer. Traditional marketing does not allow such freedom
in terms of creativity and reach of the company which makes social media marketing superior.
According to the Foroudi, (2019), in addition to this another advantage of social media
marketing is that it helps the company understand the interests and preferences of the target
audience so that tailored marketing material can be created to attract their attention (20 Important
Social Media Marketing Benefits You Need, 2022). Social media marketing helps businesses
monitor social conversations around various topics which affect their sales so that they are able
to understand factors which are important to their target audience and influence their decision-
making. In this way businesses gain better insight into the behaviour of consumers before and
after purchasing a specific service or product so that they can take action to attract the attention
of the audience and offer them better experience in comparison to rival businesses. This enables
the company to retain loyal consumers for a longer time.
Impact of lack of social media marketing
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As per the views of Lang (2022) inability to engage in social media marketing is
damaging for businesses in various industries because social media marketing provides tools to
interact with consumers and influence them to increase online sales. Social media has a dramatic
impact on the way in which consumers experience the world which makes it a suitable choice for
attracting consumers in the tourism industry. Absence of an effective social media marketing
strategy reduces the ability of the company to conduct travel research on target audience and
offer them effective consumer services during their interaction with the company (Social Media
and Tourism Marketing: A Match Made in Digital Heaven, 2022). In this way the lack of social
media marketing limits the ability of a company to provide consumers the best experience and
services from the start of their journey which can act as a barrier in becoming a successful
tourism business. Social media marketing helps businesses increase their online sale which is
crucial for growth of tourism businesses because online sales enable them to reach international
clients. Absence of social media marketing can you do lower profitability and reduction of
market share to competing businesses.
Problem aim/statement (or research question(s)
 The tourism industry heavily employs the usage of digital marketing tools such as social
media marketing in order to attract guests and travellers. The rise of social media across
the globe in different countries makes it an effective tool for attracting tourists and
travellers to a specific destination.
 The current literature on the area of social media marketing and tourism focuses on the
effectiveness of various social media marketing tools in attracting consumers but the area
of brand awareness is not effectively investigated when looking at the concept of tourism
and social media marketing. This introduces a problem which needs to be filled by
completing an ethical end systematic investigation on the area of brand awareness and
social media marketing in the tourism industry.
 Many other industries have been able to improve their global success by utilising social
media marketing tools and understanding the ways in which social media marketing can
be utilised for enhancing brand recognition in different countries (da Mota and Pickering,
2020).
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 This can be helpful for the tourism industry because social media marketing can be
utilised by businesses in the tourism sector to increase their brand recognition and reach
larger number of consumers.
 The problem statement of this investigation is to understand the relation between social
media marketing and brand awareness in the tourism industry of United Kingdom and
identify the impact of social media marketing in enhancing brand awareness of UK
tourism industry.
 The UK tourism industry will be able to benefit from this investigation as it helps to
determine the challenges which can occur in the absence of effective social media
marketing. It is a significant issue because the tourism industry is dependant on brand
recognition in different international markets in order to flourish and continue growing.
High level of brand recognition in barely international markets enables a tourism industry
of a country to continuously expand and support the local economy.
 In context of the United Kingdom tourism industry there is requirement for improving
brand recognition about the different types of tourism activities available in the region in
order to attract international visitors and achieve higher profitability.
 Social media marketing is an inexpensive method of increasing brand recognition of
businesses engaged in the UK tourism industry and support higher international bookings
which results in better profitability. This investigation can look into the problem of
understanding the role of social media marketing in enhancing brand awareness in The
United Kingdom tourism industry so that businesses of the UK tourism industry are able
to flourish in international markets through social media marketing.
Research aim: To identify the impact of social media marketing in enhancing brand awareness
of UK tourism industry: A study on Hays Travel
Research objectives:
 To develop basic understanding about the social media marketing in context to UK
tourism industry
 To examine the role of social media marketing in enhancing brand awareness of Hays
Travel
 To determine the benefits of social medial marketing for improving business performance
of Hays Travel
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 To evaluate the challenges that Hays Travel would be faced in the absence of social
media marketing
Research questions:
 What is the conceptual framework social media marketing in context to UK tourism
industry?
 What are the major roles played by social media marketing in enhancing brand awareness
of Hays Travel?
 What are the major benefits of social medial marketing for improving business
performance of Hays Travel?
 What are the biggest challenges that Hays Travel would be faced in the absence of social
media marketing?
Research Methodology
There are different types of research methodologies that would be used for collecting
accurate information regarding the impact of social media marketing in enhancing brand
awareness of UK tourism industry (Chatzigeorgiou and Christou, 2019).
Research Approach
The plan of action which guides investigator in completing research is defined as the
research approach. Research approach includes detailed actions which need to be taken for
completing the investigation along with boundless presuppositions (Säfsten and Gustavsson,
2020). Methods which will be utilized for collecting analysing and interpreting data are included
in the research approach which showcases the importance of deciding on a suitable research
approach for the investigation. The alternatives present for selecting a specific research approach
are deductive research approach and inductive research approach (Snyder, 2019). An
investigation with deductive research approach is completed by reading existing theories on the
phenomena and testing hypothesis on the basis of these theories. On the opposite end
completing an investigation with inductive research approach involves taking a set of
observation and using the observations to get a more general set of propositions about the
phenomena of the investigation. In this way inductive research approach moves from data to
theory or specific to the general while deductive research approach moves from theory to data
and aims to get specific research outcomes from general information. The selected research
approach for this investigation is inductive research approach. The justification for selecting
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inductive research approach is that it increases flexibility end supports generation of new theory
which contributes to attaining aims and objectives of the investigation.
Research Philosophy
The world view which is adopted for completing a specific investigation is known as the
research philosophy. It is a system of investigator’s stance on the topic of research phenomena
following which new, original and reliable knowledge about the research phenomena is obtained.
Positivism and interpretivism are the two options which can be used by an investigator for
completing their research (Bairagi and Munot, 2019). Positivism uses hypothetical-deductive
method for the verification of a prior hypothesis which are usually stated quantitatively where
functional relationships can we derive between casual and explanatory factors and outcomes
(Mohajan, 2018). The interpretivism research philosophy focuses on gaining in depth insight into
the lives of respondents to develop an empathetic understanding of their actions in context of the
research phenomena. Another differentiating factor between positivism and interpretivism
research philosophy is that positivism assumes that actions of individuals can be explained
through social norms while interpretivism considers the intricate and complicated nature of
individuals and how reality is experienced differently by different individuals. This investigation
is completed by utilizing the interpretivist philosophy of research. The justification for using
interpretivism is that the selected research philosophy is that it prefers qualitative methods which
allow for close interaction with respondents and helps achieve greater validity with research
outcomes.
Research Choice
This part of the research methodology involves selecting an option between qualitative
research choice or quantitative research choice (Ngozwana, 2018). The qualitative research
choice involves using methods such as participant observation or case studies so that a narrative
or descriptive account of the research phenomenon or setting can be gained. Quantitative
investigation is centred around collecting and analysing numerical data so that fixed patterns
averages estimates or casual relationships can be determined. Quantitative research provides
generalizable research to wider population while qualitative research focuses on gaining insight
individuals perception of events and circumstances which reduces its generalizable
characteristics. The research choice selected for this investigation is qualitative research choice
(Newman and Gough, 2020). The usage of qualitative research choice is justified for this
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investigation because qualitative research choice makes it possible to understand the attitudes of
individuals in context of specific research phenomenon. In addition to this qualitative research
provides insights that are specific to the industry and incorporates the human experience so that
the research outcome can be easily applied to the specific industry of the investigation instead of
providing general data.
Research Strategy
The research strategy often investigation acts as a guideline for completing the research.
It provides the researcher a stepwise plan so that thoughts and efforts can be directed
systematically to ensure timely completion of the investigation. The options available for
selecting a suitable research strategy include action research, case study research, interviews,
survey, systematic literature review, grounded theory and ethnography (Dźwigoł and Dźwigoł-
Barosz, 2018). It can be challenging to select a specific research strategy from the different
options available because each option has its own advantages and disadvantages. They decided
research strategy for this investigation is interview. Completing an investigation by following the
interview research strategy usually involves developing open ended question so that in depth
knowledge can be collected which is specific to the industry (Rinjit, 2020). An interview
research strategy is selected for this investigation because it helps better understand explain and
explore the research subject's opinions, behaviour and experiences in context of the specific
research phenomenon. The usage of interview research strategy is justified because it has a better
response rate in comparison to questionnaires. This feature of the interview strategy helps get
specific data useful for the research. Interview research strategy provides a better sample for the
general population because everyone can be reached by and responds to this research strategy.
Time Horizon
The final part of the research methodology helps determine the time frame of the research
so that data can be collected according to the selected time frame. The two options available for
selecting time horizon for the research are cross sectional time horizon or longitudinal time
horizon (Nayak and Singh, 2021). Cross sectional time horizon involves collecting data at a
specific point of time while longitudinal time horizon involves collecting data repeatedly over a
long period of time so that data collected at different time points can be compared. Cross
sectional studies are conducted with different samples while longitudinal study is conducted with
the same sample over the years. Another point of difference between cross section and
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longitudinal studies is that cross sectional studies are not useful in understanding cause and effect
relationships while longitudinal studies can be used for justifying cause and effect relationship
between variables (Zangirolami-Raimundo, Echeimberg and Leone, 2018). This research
utilizes is cross sectional time horizon. The justification for selecting cross sectional time horizon
is that cross sectional studies can be completed quickly in comparison to longitudinal studies and
are also comparatively cheaper In addition to this, cross-sectional studies help compare different
samples at one given point in time.
Timescale
On
e
we
ek
Two-
week
Thr
ee-
we
ek
Four
week
Fiv
e-
we
ek
Six
week
Seve
n-
week
Eight
week
Nine
week
Ten
-
we
ek
11
week
12
we
ek
Choosing
the
research
topic
Creating
research
aim and
objectives
Developing
research
rationale
and
background
Data
collection
Data
analysis
Final
submission
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References
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Online
20 Important Social Media Marketing Benefits You Need, 2022. [Online] Available through
<https://coschedule.com/blog/benefits-of-social-media-marketing-for-business>
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<https://www.business2community.com/social-media-articles/how-social-media-increases-
brand-awareness-02165638>
Social Media and Tourism Marketing: A Match Made in Digital Heaven, 2022. [Online]
Available through <https://uhurunetwork.com/social-media-and-tourism-marketing/>
Social Media Marketing: The Ultimate Guide, 2022. [Online] Available through
<https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/social-media-marketing>
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