The Influence of Social Media Marketing on Leisure Tourism in London

This research proposal investigates the impact of social media marketing on consumer decision-making within the leisure tourism sector, specifically focusing on London. The study examines the role of social media as a marketing channel, analyzing factors influencing consumer buying behavior and the development of effective communication strategies. The methodology includes a deductive approach, utilizing quantitative research methods such as questionnaire surveys to gather data. The research aims to understand the use of social media in promoting tourist destinations, identifying strategies to enhance London tourism, and exploring consumer preferences. The literature review covers social media's role in tourism, its function as a marketing channel, and the factors affecting consumer behavior. The research also addresses ethical considerations and potential challenges, providing a comprehensive framework for evaluating the effectiveness of social media marketing in the tourism industry.

RESEARCH PROPOSAL
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
SECTION I. INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................3
1.1 INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................3
1.2 RESEARCH BACKGROUND........................................................................................3
1.3 AIM AND OBJECTIVES................................................................................................4
SECTION II: LITERATURE REVIEW..........................................................................................4
2.1 Social media and tourism.................................................................................................4
2.2 Social media as a marketing channel to communicate with the customers......................5
2.3 Factors affecting the buying behaviour and decision making .........................................6
2.4 Social media marketing to develop communication strategy and impact the decision making
of the customers......................................................................................................................6
Section III Methodological Framework...........................................................................................7
3.1 Research philosophy.........................................................................................................7
3.2 Research approach............................................................................................................7
3.3 Research strategy..............................................................................................................7
3.4 Data collection .................................................................................................................8
3.5 Sampling ..........................................................................................................................8
3.6 Data analysis.....................................................................................................................9
Section IV Planning and Critical Analysis......................................................................................9
4.1 Time plan .........................................................................................................................9
4.2 Ethical considerations.....................................................................................................10
4.3 Anticipated challenges....................................................................................................11
REFERENCES .............................................................................................................................12
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SECTION I. INTRODUCTION
1.1 Introduction
Purpose
The purpose of conducting research is to evaluate the impact of social media marketing on
the decision making of consumers regarding destination marketing. With the help of research,
interest of consumers in leisure tourism can be analysed. The study will enlighten the use of social
media for promoting a particular tourist destination. This research will find an extent to which the
implications of social media on leisure tourism is useful. Behaviour of consumers can also be
analysed towards the online promotional techniques.
Topic area
Area where the research is going to be conducted is role of social media marketing in
leisure tourism. The use of online promotional techniques help in understanding the buying
behaviour of consumers. Variety of tourist attractions of London have been taken into
consideration for research. However, it will help in finding out different tourist attractions.
1.2 Research background
Background
Advancement of technology has invented various communication techniques through
which better relations can be maintained with customers and clients. Earlier, social media was
considered as a means of interaction with friends and family. But nowadays, it has become a
useful mode of promotion where one can market its new products. However, using this tool will
help in knowing the demands and interests of customers. With the help of online promotion, large
number of people may get attracted and transparency can be maintained as well (Ceron and
Memoli, 2016).
Rationale
Development of communication and technology leads to increase in competition among
the sellers. They focus on various techniques through which they can attract customers. Earlier,
there was no source of information that can be used by the target market. But now, customers
have become smarter and thus, they may get detailed information at one click. There is a big gap
between earlier used and present techniques. In the previous time, to find out the tourist places in
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London, books and maps were preferred. But now, with the help of social media, it is easily
accessible. Gap in literature related to the interest of tourists towards leisure tourist attractions in
London area.
1.3 Aim and objectives
Aim
Aim of conducting this research is to know the effect of using social media for destination
marketing. Focus is on the behaviour of consumers towards travel decisions. It can also analyse
the effectiveness of social media to promote a tourist destination in London (Chawla, ed., 2016).
Objectives
The objective of this research is to evaluate:
1. The use of social media marking in promotion of tourist destinations in London.
2. To find out the strategies and techniques that can be used to enhance the value of London
tourism.
3. To know the tastes and preferences of customers and their interest towards tourism.
4. To study the theoretical aspect of social media and consumer buying behaviour.
Research Questions
1. What is the use of social media in communicating with the customers as a mode of
marketing?
2. What is the impact of social media on consumer behaviour?
3. Which are the factors affecting buying behaviour of London tourists?
4. What is the use of social media in developing communication strategy and effect of
decision making on customers.
SECTION II: LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Social media and tourism
Social media plays an important role in the marketing of various tourist locations in UK.
Tourism sites help in providing crucial information by sharing photos, videos and blogging. By
accessing these sites, customers can take a piece of information about their desired destinations.
Generally, these sites provide an option of feedbacks and queries through which one can get
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required knowledge (Gray and Malins, 2016). Nowadays, people are involved in the social
networking to find destinations and make decisions. Further, they share their personal experience
about particular hotels or places. As a result, one who wants to visit the same place may take
proper decision on the basis of experience of others. It helps in advertising a place through which
large number of customers may get attracted. With the help of online marketing one can find out
the pros and cons of a particular place. Even an individual may get the required information
through social media marketing. This is considered to be the best, easiest and fasted means of
advertising and promotion. Even it is also cost effective through which the required information
can be gathered in short duration (Holt, 2016).
2.2 Social media as a marketing channel to communicate with the customers
Social media can be considered as the best mode of communicating with customers. These
days, people are engaged in social networking sites through which they are updated and aware
about the changes. Travel and tourism companies create pages and blogs on networking sites
which aids in interacting with customers. It builds in creating virtual communities that helps a
customer to show his desires and wants. It improves the relation between tourism companies and
its customers. It joins large number of customers of different ages, caste and gender. Using this
can help the organizations to be in touch with the individual consumers (Knox, 2016). With the
help of social media, firms can prepare marketing plans and strategies through which they can
maximise their motive. There are different social media platforms which are given as below.
Networking sites: There are various networking sites through which one will stay
connected with friends and relatives. But with the change in time, it has become useful for
promotion and advertising. It includes Facebook, Twitter, G-mail and LinkedIn In. By considering
these sites, customer's profile can be evaluated to target them. With the help of these, in a short
span of time, it is easy to communicate with large number of audience. These sites are accessed by
majority of people.
Blogging: It is a place where users can upload the gathered information on which reader
can comment and get information. It can also be helpful in enhancing the online promotional
techniques. The tourism companies can give information to the customers with the help of
blogging.
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2.3 Factors affecting the buying behaviour and decision making
There are different factors that can affect the decision making of consumers. They aim at
purchasing a product with a thought of satisfying their needs and demands. Decisions taken by
consumers by considering certain factors like evaluating issues and alternatives and then the
decision is made (Lovink, 2016). It is the duty of marketers to analyse the needs of people so that
the required information can be provided to them. After gathering the required content, an
individual analyses pros and cons and on the basis of that, decisions are made. There are some
more factors that can affect the buying behaviour of customers like personal and cultural. By
adapting social media marketing, the marketer can develop a positive and faithful image in the
eyes of customers. However, providing required information leads to increase the transparency
level of a product or service. to build a faithful image towards products and services. Personal
needs of customers must be satisfied like their tastes and preferences, quality, location and
financial abilityspending power. Financial ability is the most important factor that should be
considered by the marketers. There Their plans and strategies should be form in such a way that
all the sections of the society can take advantage of the tourist sites. Their plans should be on the
basis of the factors considered. Moreover, it is necessary to analyse these factors so that better
formulation of plans and strategies can be done. Even, proper use of strategies approaches can
also affect the behaviour and taste preferences of costumers (McDonald and Thompson, 2016).
2.4 Social media marketing to develop communication strategy and its impact on the decision
making of the customers
Companies can use different communication channels to interact with the audience. With
the help of thesesthese channels, marketers can find out the targeted audience and they can
interact with them to develop a positive image and brand loyalty. It will help in building strong
relation relations between the customers and marketers. Adopting online promotion tools helps
help in developing public relations and managing social presence. It requires changing modifying
the idea of business to change the perception of consumers. The marketersMarketers must focus
on communicating with the audience by using different ways. By the way of social media,
companies can make a better platform for interacting with customers. Different model models can
be taken into consideration for better understanding of subject knowledge. Marketer must learn
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how the way to use effective communication techniques to interact with customers (Robson and
McCartan, 2016). With the help of effective communication, the marketers will be able to connect
with large number of people. By connecting them, they can analyse their interested places and can
provide services according to that onlythe same.
SECTION III: METHODOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK
Research is the process of searching the theories and facts to develop a framework to gain
certain knowledge. Research methodology can be defined as the methods or process processes
used to conduct the research processstudy. Selection of methods must be according to fulfil the
motives of researchinvestigation. The research method that can be used is questionnaire survey for
collecting data from the audience. At the time of investigation, the attitude and values of people
can be judged. Questionnaire is a kind of document that contains different question questions
related to the concerned topic subject or research topic. It is a helpful tool for collecting the
required information through public.
3.1 Research philosophy
Research philosophy can be defined as the way or a process through which the information
is collected and evaluated. It can be analysed by takingThere are four main types of philosophies
which are: interpretivism, realism, positivism and pragmatism. On the basis of present situation,
positivism is suitable. The studyStudy focuses on the facts by evaluating the situations in which
people behave. Moreover, interpretivism is not suitable for the present condition as it is useful for
the quantitative data. Moreover, the research objectives and questions will help in analysing the
effect impact of consumer behaviour on social media marketing (Rubin and Babbie, 2016).
3.2 Research approach
Mainly, two types of research approaches are are there, that is, inductive and deductive.
Inductive research starts with collection of data that is related with the interests of people.
Whereas, deductive approach that is related with the scientific investigation. This research is
based on existing theories and facts. After analysing the theoretical aspects of online marketing
and decision making process of consumers, it is decided to take deductive approach in
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consideration so that . So that on the basis of exiting existing facts, the research is will be
conducted.
3.3 Research strategy
There are two types of research strategies, that is,: qualitative and quantitative research
strategy. Qualitative research method is used where depthin-depth knowledge is required. It is
useful for the subjective approach and based on methodologies. It is helpful in interviews and
observations. Individual experiences experience and norms are conducted to describe the
relationship. On the other side, quantitative approach research is useful for analytical objectives. It
is based on numbers or in measurable terms. For better understanding of the subject knowledge,
quantitative research is takenperformed. On the basis of above stated methods, it is defined that
questionnaire is considered to collect the data. By considering quantitative research, the
information can be measurable in terms of numbers. With the help of quantitative research the
survey of the consumers is analysed on the basis of statistical tools and techniques. In the this
survey, with the help of questionnaire, the information will be gathered regarding with social
media and its impact on their decision making. It would help n in analysing the tastes and
preferences of consumers towards the destination marketing (Uldam, 2016).
3.4 Data collection
There are two sources of collecting data, that is, are primary and secondary. In primary data,
the data information is collected for the first time or through the original research. The dataData
collected from primary source are is true, fair and accurate in nature. Whereas, secondary data is
collected from books, magazines and journals. Information available in these are already collected
by other researchers. To collect the primary data, the four methods that can be used are survey,
observation, questionnaire and interview. These all are conducted by the teams to collect required
information. For the current situation, survey method is useful as there is a large number of
audience. Questionnaire will be given to the public to gather accurate data from the customers. It
would help in making analysis on the taste and demands of travellers (Lovink, 2016). Even, with
the help of personal experience,s the marketers can form strategies and plans to offer the best
services to the customers.
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3.5 Sampling
Sampling is the statistical process in which the number of observations are taken from the
large number ofa huge population. It also includes random sampling and systematic sampling,
where random sampling is the process of selecting the item in largeitems from large population on
random basis. In this type of selection, all the itemitems have equal number of chances of getting
selected. It is used when less information is available for the given population. WhereasHowever,
systematic sampling can be defined as a method of selection in which members are selected on the
basis of sampling intervals. The populationPopulation of this research can be the visitors of
different tourist places. There are different location locations of London has that are being taken
into consideration to solve the purpose of research. The location are given as below:.
London Eye- For adventurous purpose
Tower of London- Historical landmark
Buckingham palace- Home of British queen
Warner Bros. Studio tour- From film and theatre category
The dataData has been collected in the form of questionnaire survey (Ceron and Memoli,
2016). Large number of population is there at these places including men, women, children and
travellers. According to the present condition, systematic sampling is suitable through which
required customers can be selected for the research. According to the present condition,
systematic sampling is appeared to be suitable in which every Nth customer will be opted.
However, the number of visits of tourists will decide the exact numbers. Here, the systematic
sampling is useful as interrupting visitors is not acceptable. On the basis of consideration,s thirty
visitors per attractions will meet out the needs of research.
3.6 Data analysis
For the process of formulation and evaluation of data, a sample is selected from the
population. It is necessary to make data analysis plan so that accurate analysis of the information
can be done. The data Data collected on the basis of above research will be analysed y by using
excel and SPSS. However, for better understanding and clarity of results, graphs and charts can be
taken by using Microsoft office. Using the ordinal and nominal data will help in analysing the
relation between various variables that have taken to perform the study. Therefore, the two- tailed
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test can also be considered like correlation coefficient and sigma. By applying all these tests, a
better evaluation can be made.
SECTION IV: PLANNING AND CRITICAL ANALYSIS
4.1 Time plan
Time plan is the process of planning in research report which is prepared on the basis of
different activities. The activitiesIt includes submission date and setting deadlines for time
management of each task that has to be performed for achieving the results of research (Go and
You, 2016, 2016).
Task Name Duration Start Finish Predecessors
Time anticipated for background research 20 days Tue 02-08-16 Mon 29-08-16
Preparation of research proposal 26 days Tue 30-08-16 Tue 04-10-16 1
Submission of proposal & allocation of
supervisor 20 days Wed 05-10-16 Tue 01-11-16 2
Introduction chapter 16 days Tue 30-08-16 Tue 20-09-16 1
Feedback and correction 5 days Wed 02-11-16 Tue 08-11-16 3
Literature review chapter 17 days Wed 21-09-16 Thu 13-10-16 4
Feedback and correction 5 days Wed 09-11-16 Tue 15-11-16 5
Research Mmethodology chapter 12 days Wed 16-11-16 Thu 01-12-16 6,7
Feedback and correction 5 days Fri 02-12-16 Thu 08-12-16 8
Developing survey instrument 8 days Fri 14-10-16 Tue 25-10-16 6
Data collection 15 days Fri 09-12-16 Thu 29-12-16 10,9
Data findings and analysis chapter 14 days Fri 30-12-16 Wed 18-01-17 11
Feedback and correction 5 days Thu 19-01-17 Wed 25-01-17 12
Conclusion chapter 5 days Thu 26-01-17 Wed 01-02-17 13,12
Proof reading & Eediting 3 days Thu 02-02-17 Mon 06-02-17 14
Submission of Final Research Report 2 days Tue 07-02-17 Wed 08-02-17 15
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Illustration 1: Gantt chart
The time plan defines that the research is based on iIntroduction, Literature, Research
Methodology, Findings, Data Aanalysis and cConclusion. All the above chapters are discussed
one by one in this report. The resources that are used in this research will help in analysing the
consumerthe consumer behaviour towards the destination marketing. will help in acknowledged
with citations and paraphrasing (Gainsbury and et.al., 2016).
4.2 Ethical considerations
The obligationObligation of the researchers is to maintain the standards and code of ethics
so that Itit will not affect the respondents and researchers. It is necessary to maintain the privacy
of respondents by keeping in mind the ethics and principles. However, it is the duty of researcher
not to force someone to fill the questionnaire and ask forcefully for mentioning private
information. It is the wish of respondents whether to answer the questions or not. In order to
maintain the ethical considerations, the researcher should not ask useless questions in the
questionnaire. The formation of questionnaireQuestionnaire must be formed in such a way that the
objective of researcher and research must be fulfilled. However, the maintenance of ethical
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principles is necessary by eliminating the riskrisks at the time of using certain factors. The
dataData collected by researchers must keep be kept confidential so that It wontit would not get
hampered (Engel and Schutt, 2016). The researcher should avoid making false inferences from the
data used. Even the data information should not be used for commercial purpose. It is the duty of
researcher to let respondents know the reasons of conducting researchstudy. It is the responsibility
of researcher to keep all the ethical considerations in mind and complete the research process with
accuracy and fairness. The aimAim of research is to have complete information about the
consumer behaviour on destination marketing. On the basis of research, the required information
should be gathered to maintain the transparency by considering ethical values and norms.
4.3 Anticipated challenges
At the time of conducting research, the most challenging task was to get accurate response
and answers from the respondents. Generally, people do not answer properly due to their variant
behaviour. While, conducting research process, it was difficult to deal with the people. BecauseIt
is because, they were not comfortable at giving their information or they just thrown away the
questionnaire. After letting people know the reason and importance of research, required
information was gathered. But, with the collected information data, analysis can beis required to
be made. It Thus, it might be may possible to occurthat errors and mistakes would occur while
conducting the research. To overcome with the errors and mistakesthis issue, corrective measures
will be taken to improve the accuracy and reliability of study. The questionnaireQuestionnaire will
be designed carefully so that the careful analysis can be made (Chawla, ed., 2016).
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REFERENCES
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Knox, C. C., 2016. Public Administrators’ Use of Social Media Platforms Overcoming the
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Lovink, G., 2016. Ossessioni collettive: Critica del social media. EGEA spa.
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Rubin, A. and Babbie, E. R., 2016. Empowerment Series: Research Methods for Social Work.
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