Destination Brand Communication through the Social Media. What Contents trigger most Reactions of Users?

ENTER 2015 Research Track Slide Number 1

Destination Brand Communication through the Social Media. What Contents

trigger most Reactions of Users?

Assumpció Huertas and Estela Mariné-Roig

University Rovira i Virgili, Spain

[email protected]

http://www.urv.catUniversity of Lleida, Catalonia, Spain

[email protected]

http://www.udl.cat/

http://www.ifitt.org/



Project:

Influence of Communication 2.0 in tourism decision making and destination brand image. Useful applications for Spanish tourist destinations.

Supported by Spain's Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness

https://comtur20.wordpress.com/





However, many destinations do not know very well how to manage them in order to reach their target publics, what communications strategies to follow or what information to transmit

Background

The Social Media have revolutionised communication fortourism and destinations.

Opinions and appreciations of other users become largelytransmitted and credible.

Given the importance of the social media as communicationtools for Destination Management Organisations (DMOs),most of them have started to use them.




The destination brand identity must be a key aspect in destination communication through the social media. A destination brand generates identification with the territory and distinguishes it from other destinations

BackgroundDestination brands:

The social media have become key tools for thecommunication of destinations’ identities and their brands.

The tourists’ experiences and narratives in social mediaspaces help to construct an online reputation and createdestination brands’ image.

The active participation of users in the social mediaincreases the emotional attachment to the brand.




Users’ Reactions to contents are key items to measureinteractivity in social media and brand communication.

BackgroundReactions and Interactivity:

The social media are characterised by their interactivity, asthey enable the reactions of users and the establishment ofdialogue with them.

Advantages of interactivity: greater surfing time andimplication of users, greater processing and impact ofinformation, creation of relationships with users and thegeneration of a better destination brand image.

User reactions in Facebook : - Likes- Comments- Shares




Objective of the study:

Objective: what contents generate the most reactions among users and if the communication of

brands and their emotional values also generate reactions.

Background

Some studies deal with how the interactivity and participationof the publics generate better brand image (Munar, 2011) …

… but not: whether brand communication, with its tangibleattraction factors and emotional values, generates morereactions and interactivity.




Methodology Content analysis of several destinations’ top Facebook posts, in terms

of brand attraction factors and brand values. Assess which trigger most reactions: sum of likes, comments & shares

Sample of destinations 37 Spanish destinations

Located in 5 autonomous communities

Andalusia Canary Islands Catalonia

Galicia Madrid

Different types of destinations

1. National destination (ND) 2. Autonomous community (AC) 3. Large Municipality (LM)4. Large littoral destination (LLD) 5. Heritage City (HC)

6. Littoral destination (LD)7. Inland destination (ID)8. Medium-sized city (MC) 9. Mountain destination (MD)

Analysis Database: 25 last top post in the official Facebook Fanpages of these destinations (714 top posts in total).

Period: Retrieved in April of 2014 (previous three months)




MethodologyDestination brands, understood as identity, comprise twodimensions: a cognitive and an affective; a functional or tangible andan emotional; namely: Attraction Factors and Emotional Values.

Content analysisA) Attraction Factors Nature (Nature and natural landscape, Rural landscape, Mountain, Ecotourism) Tangible Heritage (Sites, History, Religion, Works of Art, Museums) Cityscape (Architecture, Urban planning/landscape) Intangible Heritage (Intangible heritage/popular culture/traditions,

Anthem/Flag/National Symbols) Gastronomy (Food/Cuisine, Wine Tourism) Leisure (Urban and cultural leisure/shows, Night life, Shopping); Sun and Beach (Sea/Beach, Sun, Climate/Weather) Business/trade Sports (Hiking, Winter Sports, Water Sports, Adventure Sports, Elite Sports, Other) Technology (Social Media/ICT, Technology, Innovation) Services (Hotel/Accommodation, Transport, Other services) Things to Do Tourist Information/Agenda Non-Tourist information/institutional




We used an adaptation of the “Brand Personality Scale” by Aaker (1997), which has been extended with other attributes and values relevant for the analysis of tourist destinations.

Methodology

B) Brand Emotional Values Content analysis

Sincerity: Down-to-earth (Family-oriented, Down-to-earth, Sustainable); Honest(Calm, Real, Traditional, Honest); Wholesome (Original, Wholesome; Quality ofLife); Cheerful (Happiness, Sentimental, Friendly).

Excitement: Daring (Trendy, Daring, Exciting, Exotic, Fashionable); Spirited (Cool,Spirited, Dynamic, Vital, Fresh, Young, Sensorial); Imaginative (Unique/different/diverse, imaginative, creative); Up-to-date (up-to-date, independent,contemporary, modern); Cosmopolitan (Cosmopolitan, Tolerant, Hospitable).

Competence: Reliable (Reliable, Hard-working, Secure/safe, rigorous/responsible/Pragmatic), Intelligent (intelligent, technical, corporate, innovative); Successful(Successful, Leader, Ambitious, Powerful).

Sophistication: Luxurious (Glamorous, Luxurious); Charming (charming/seductive,smooth, romantic, magical).

Ruggedness: Outdoorsy (Outdoorsy, Get-away, Recreational); Tough (Tough,Rugged, non-conformist).




Methodology

• The team of researchers classified the posts’ contentmanually and assessed the consistency of coding.

•The analysis measured:

• Average reactions to top posts per destination type.

• Most mentioned themes and brand values and thethemes and brand values triggering more reactions ingeneral.

• Themes and brand values which generate mostreactions per destination type.

•




Results

Destination type ND+AC LM LLD LD HC MC ID MDTotal posts 178 104 128 40 119 63 56 26Avg. Likes 1437.6 153.7 25.4 48.4 60.3 36.0 19.8 29.6Avg. Comments 35.4 4.9 0.7 1.3 3.0 1.2 0.4 0.7Avg. Shares 248.1 25.1 3.6 3.8 7.0 35.6 2.3 0.8

Average reactions to top posts per destination type

Likes, Comments and Shares present highcorrelations between them, higher than 0.8




Results

ND+AC

LM LLD LD HC MC ID MDAv. Lik

Av. Com

Av. Sha

Nature 106 13 53 13 25 9 5 23 767 19 125Tang. Heritage 105 38 20 9 65 40 20 1 725 16 125Cityscape 51 31 6 3 30 24 8 0 842 19 156Intang. Heritage 41 18 28 8 22 29 13 0 224 7 49Leisure 24 30 15 14 35 46 35 4 263 7 19Sun and Sea 69 18 85 16 16 10 3 1 662 16 107Business/Trade 4 2 5 0 2 1 0 0 54 3 7Sports 9 13 21 4 12 5 3 6 287 7 23Technology 8 10 4 0 7 3 0 0 209 8 78Services 2 3 9 3 5 0 0 0 45 2 7Agenda 24 25 60 30 44 38 29 5 70 3 16Institutional 10 11 4 4 19 4 7 2 73 4 30Non-Tourist Info 4 15 9 3 24 0 4 13 43 3 7

Average reactions to top posts per themes




Results

Average reactions per theme




Results

ND+AC

LM LLD LD HC MC ID MDAv. Lik

Av. Com

Av. Sha

Down-To-Earth 21 22 20 14 18 2 18 3 315 8 49Honest 69 60 61 20 46 6 18 2 420 10 64Wholesome 25 22 26 5 14 0 9 1 370 7 54Cheerful 26 19 18 9 19 0 3 1 458 10 64Daring 19 10 11 3 18 0 2 3 524 13 61Spirited 30 15 13 6 21 2 4 5 532 12 73Imaginative 47 26 44 8 28 2 12 2 2258 58 387Up-To-Date 4 3 0 1 1 0 0 0 919 19 168Cosmopolitan 18 8 10 4 15 2 1 1 329 8 47Reliable 4 3 2 3 3 3 2 0 233 6 42Intelligent 12 4 13 0 1 2 1 0 561 13 148Successful 17 5 12 0 6 3 0 0 922 23 199Luxurious 5 0 18 2 3 0 0 0 80 3 15Charming 28 6 22 4 15 1 1 1 662 16 107Outdoorsy 29 17 36 5 23 0 19 6 319 8 41Tough 2 5 2 0 1 0 0 0 572 13 153

Brand attributes and average reactions




Results

Average reactions per brand value




Results




Conclusions

Themes that generate most reactions are usually unique orcharacteristic attributes of the destinations highlyimageable

According to results, DMOs should mainly communicatedifferential attributes, although generic themes should alsobe communicated in a lesser proportion.

Lack of congruency between the most mentioned contentsand those which trigger most reactions in all destination types

Destinations should consider the communication of themesthat generate most reactions among users to achieve moreinteractivity, engagement, navigation time and positiveattitudes




Conclusions

Brand Values that generate most reactions also emphasiseuniqueness, originality and traditional values. They are relatedto leisure and to family values. However, the values transmittedby the different types of destinations are indistinctive.

Communication of distinctive emotional values of thedestinations’ identity generates most user reactions, but usuallydo not coincide with the values most mentioned by destinations

Although destinations need to know which values generate mostreactions, we do not think that DMOs should communicate thevalues that generate most reactions, but those that identify anddifferentiate their place brand and that are according to theirstrategies as complex entities.




Conclusions

The analysis method was useful to provide information aboutthe themes and emotional values that trigger most reactions,and can be adapted to other types of destinations.

Research had previously shown that greater interactivityentailed a better brand image for tourist destinations (Munar,2011). But this study’s results also assess the inverserelationship: that the communication of emotional brandvalues also entails more reactions and greater interactivity.

Thus, we conclude that their communication isrecommendable and necessary for effective and excellentcommunication of territories through the social media.




THANKS FOR YOU ATTENTION!


[email protected]@aegern.udl.cat




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Destination Brand Communication through the Social Media. What Contents trigger most Reactions of Users?