Analyzing Social Media Marketing Strategies in the Hospitality Sector

This project examines the critical role of social media marketing within the hospitality industry, specifically focusing on the UK market. The research explores the significance of social media, online marketing, and sustainable practices, recognizing their growing importance in the business landscape. The project analyzes the advantages of social media marketing, including enhanced brand awareness, increased customer reach, and improved sales conversions. It delves into how social media impacts hospitality marketing and examines the implementation of sustainable management practices. The research methodology involves a literature review, analyzing the impact of social media on the marketing of hospitality products, and explores the application of various sustainable practices within the industry. Several sources are cited to support the arguments. The project concludes by emphasizing the significance of social media marketing for hospitality businesses, highlighting its effectiveness in reaching customers, driving sales, and promoting brand visibility.

Running head: Hospitality 1
HOSPITALITY
Student Name
Institution

Hospitality 2
Introduction
There are some important aspects of hospitality management that are currently important
for business. Conducting research in hospitality has proved future-oriented and increase
development within the industry. Some of the common and important concepts or trending areas
are social media, sustainability management, and online marketing. This paper focuses on these
three areas of interest with a major focus on social media marketing for hospitality management.
Week 1
Headings Area 1 Area 2 Area 3
1.
Subject &
general area
Sustainability
management
Social media Online
marketing
2.
Why is this of
interest to you?
Many
organizations are
currently
advocating for
sustainable
business
Social media
is today part of every
business and attract a
huge number of users
that is a potential
market for the
Online
marketing has
resulted in a more
international business
transaction that is
mainly based on the

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management and
this is also
important for the
hospitality
industry.
company's products
and services.
online version of the
business.
3.
More
specifically narrow
this down
Reduction
of pollution and
use of clean energy
are some
sustainable
management
practices
Impact of
Social media in
marketing
Online
business retailing that
involve hostels
selling food online
and allow customers
to buy using the
electronic payment
system
4.
With particular
attention to what
area/what
Carbon and energy
The
conversion rate of
visitors
Online retail
5.
One sentence
statement
Sustainable
practices
Impact of
social media on
marketing
Advantages of
online marketing

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What do you
want to find out?
6.
Identify a
relevant Concept,
theory or
Model for each
area you are
considering
Sustainability Social selling
and interaction
Generational
theory
Week 2

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Headings
Area 1
Sustainable hospitality
management
Area 2
Impact of social media on hospitality
marketing
Aim
The aim of the research is to find out
some of the sustainable practices that
are important for the hospitality
industry within the UK
The aim of the research is to analyze
various ways that social media has
contributed to the growth of the
hospitality industry in the UK
particularly marketing
Objective
To determine the application of
sustainable management in the
hospitality industry
To determine the impact of social
media marketing on hospitality product
promotion
RQ
What are the sustainable management
practices that are used in the hospitality
industry
How has social media impacted the
marketing of hospitality products and
services
Hypothesis
Sustainable management play an
important role in the hospitality
industry
Social media has a huge impact on the
marketing of foods and other hotel
products or services

Hospitality 6
Week 3
Headings Area 1
1.
What is your overall
purpose?
My overall purpose is to explore the impact of social media
marketing in the hospitality industry within the UK.
2.
What is your
OVERALL research
strategy?
My overall research strategy is an analysis of the impact of the
social media on hospitality citing some example of the uses of
social media in the marketing of hospitality products within the UK
3.
What is the method?
The research method involves a description of the analysis of
literature and describing literature content
4.
Inductive or
Deductive?
The research is deductive since the research aim to test the theory
revolving around the impact of social media on marketing with a
focus on hospitality marketing.
5.
Quantitative or
qualitative?
The research is qualitative research that aims to describe the
opinion through literature review

Hospitality 7
Week 4
Headings Area 1
Social media
Area 2
Sustainable management
Identify 5 sources for
each area
1. Felix, Rauschnabel and
Hinsch (2016)
2. Kietzmann and Hermkens
(2011)
3. Aichner and Jacob (March
2015)
4. Obar and Wildman (2015)
5. Shaltoni (2016)
1. Legrand, Sloan, Delgado-Krebs
and Heli (2011)
2. Legrand, Huegel and Sloan
(2013)
3. Martin (2018); Stottler (2018)
4. Sloan, Legrand and Simons-
Kaufmann (2014)
5. Vogel et al., (2015)
Week 5
I think social media marketing is an important marketing aspect of the current business
that has a high impact on hospitality management. I choose social media since it plays an
important role in business growth and output within a short time. In addition, social media is
currently trending within the market for many different industries. Reflecting on social media as
a marketing tool for hospitality can be backed up by some reasons.

Hospitality 8
Firstly, my understanding of hospitality marketing has been impacted by social media
marketing that is currently part of business marketing. The research has increased my attitude
towards marketing of food using social media since I have realized the reason why companies
such as Les Fermes des Petite Frasses though being small hotel has succeeded in reaching many
Facebook users. In addition, Bell In The Wood another hospitality company is award winning for
being an online marketer of food and other products (Pavlik and MacIntoch, & John and Shawn
2015).
Secondly, social media being a contemporary marketing method increase the ability of
the product to reach more customers within a short time. UK social media users are estimated to
be 39.2 million by the end of 2018 and are expected to reach 40.2 by the end of 2019. This
means that there are a larger number of online users available on Facebook that is potential for
marketing. Therefore, food marketing over social media is more effective and reach a larger
number of people within a short time. I think this is why many companies such as Falcon at
Hatton being a hospitality company is taking lead in food marketing. This is also comparable to
others such as Word of Wisdom that also market its Bed and Breakfast services over the social
media (Kietzmann, & Hermkens 2011).
Thirdly, I think the gain on social media has been great with many hospitality companies
capturing the attention of customers within the UK and internationally through social media. The
impact of social media over the past few years has increased with the increase of users and this is
also reflected on the company's sale. Some companies such as Intercontinental Hotel has
elaborated social media marketing strategies for reaching many customers internationally.

Hospitality 9
Furthermore, customers do many hotel booking online through the online business website
linked to their social media handles (Aichner & Jacob 2015).
Lastly, social media marketing has ensured a quick conversion between site visitors and
sales for companies marketing online. Les Fermes des Petite Frasses, for instance, has gained
much popularity leading to high sales that have been witnessed over the past few years. This,
when is compared to a business that does not use social media for marketing, is a great deal.
Moreover, these food marketing online increase brand awareness that also assists the company to
sell products offline in the market. A good example of such a business is the Marriott Hotel that
has an online and institutional framework for marketing its product. This has highly contributed
to brand popularity in the market within the UK and regionally (Obar & Wildman 2015).

Hospitality 10
References
Aichner, T., & Jacob, F. (March 2015). Measuring the Degree of Corporate Social Media Use.
International Journal of Market Research, Vol.57, no.2, pp 257–275. doi:10.2501/IJMR-2015-
018
Felix, R., Rauschnabel, P.A. & Hinsch, C. (2016) Elements of Strategic Social Media Marketing:
A Holistic Framework. Journal of Business Research, Vol.70, pp 118–126.
doi:10.1016/j.jbusres.2016.05.001
Kietzmann, J. H. & Hermkens, K. (2011) Social media? Get serious! Understanding the
functional building blocks of social media. Business Horizons (Submitted manuscript). Vol.54,
no.3, pp 241–251. doi:10.1016/j.bushor.2011.01.005
Legrand, W., Sloan, P., Delgado-Krebs, R. & Heli T. (2011) Sustainable Tourism & Hospitality
Management Education: An Empirical Study on Educational Experiences in Preparation for
Professional Life. Advances in Hospitality and Leisure, v. 7. Available at
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Legrand, W., Huegel, E.B. & Sloan, P. (2013) Learning from Best Practices: Sustainability
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Martin, M. (May 30, 2018) 6 Sustainability Lessons from this Eco-Chic Hotel Brand. Forbes
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Pavlik and MacIntoch, & John and Shawn (2015) Converging Media 4th Edition. New York,
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