Essay: Social Media Platforms Within Travel Businesses in Panama

The Impact of Social Media Platforms within Travel Businesses in Panama as a Marketing and Communication Tool

ABSTRACT

Social media is being continually promoted as a valuable business tool through the Internet and has been feature in important business publications globally. Businessmen of all sorts have started addressing these tools to reach consumers, including those involved with the Travel Industry. But informal searches suggest that only a small number of travel companies in Panama are actually using these social platforms. An academic study about the use of social media in businesses in Panama is currently not available. This study intends to contribute to filling this research gap by investigating the experiences of travel businesses in Panama using social media as a marketing and communication tool. Qualitative interviews were carried out with thirteen travel businesses that had presence in Facebook, Panama’s preferred social platform. The results demonstrated that social media tools are being used for diverse purposes and that it was certainly an effective marketing tool. However, this perception is based more on the users’ confidence in the tool than on any measurable outcome. Furthermore, there is minimal evidence that the ‘conversation’ is taking place with customers, even though the literature tends to indicate that this conversation is one of the main advantages of using social media. Further research would be needed as these platforms keep developing and new technologies emerge.

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY.

Throughout these past years social media have become a worldwide cultural phenomenon since the Internet boom that took place at the beginning of this century. As discussed by Weinroth (2008) ‘the socialization of the web was the most important and transformational trend of 2006. It was even more present in 2007, and it’s showing no signs of stopping this year’.

The term “social media” was acknowledge during 2005 after arising in web publishing and new media content production circles (Young, 2007), reflecting the growth of media production through new technologies that are accessible and affordable to the general public.

Social media can be simply defined as an interactive, participative and open virtual community. As proposed by Young (2007), social media are the online technologies people use to share opinions, experiences, insights, content, perspectives and media themselves. It combines participation powered by network effects, making social media platforms almost ‘the most powerful form of media yet created’ (Hinchcliffe, 2007).

The Harvard Business Review named blogs as one of its “Breakthrough Ideas for 2005” mentioning that ‘blogs are the most conversational of all forms of media, and marketers can’t afford to be left out of the talk’ (Sawhney, 2005).

The interest in social media such as blogs as an effective business tool is increasing, primarily because of the fact that traditional marketing is not obtaining the results expected. Markets are expanding and customers are becoming more exigent and demanding, being this the never-ending challenge for most businesses.

Many marketing approaches and strategies have been created, developed and applied, but certainly social media accomplish many of these marketing techniques in an even better way. Social media is immediately published which gives the possibility of keeping a “conversation” with the customer ‘while projecting a more human face’ (Hill 2005).

Travel businesses are also beginning to recognize the power of social media. Personal experiences are how businesses can differentiate their product over a competitor’s. If a hotel company truly exceeds the guest’s expectation, it might end up in an online community. It is the most powerful advertising form, word of mouth, of the new era. Social media is influencing people to buy (Young, 2007), and consumer review can be the most potent tool a marketer can leverage, therefore its impact on the travel and hospitality industry cannot be ignored.

The Travel Marketer’s Guide to Social Media and Social Networking points out that ‘travel marketers should be plugged into the latest ways their customers are gathering and exchanging information’. The amount of savvy consumers and those not familiarized that much, are getting involved with the Internet’s social media tools making users numbers increase. Green (2007) confirms this by recognizing that ‘there is a tsunami coming that few fully anticipate and it will dramatically change the marketing landscape in all industries, not just travel’.

If social media is such an effective way to market travel businesses, why are so few companies in Panama using them for marketing purposes?

Generally speaking, many are not at all convinced that this can actually offer an appropriate return on investment, but they are certainly underestimating the impact of the “conversation economy”. It is important to attract consumers into these conversations and interact with them during the whole purchase process and after, in order to get to know their needs and understand them. It is all about building relationships with the customers.

1.2 PURPOSE OF THE STUDY.

Despite all the articles, papers and guides focused in social media as a marketing tool, Panama travel industry has not taken fully advantage of it by still addressing conventional marketing methods. The consumer has gotten more power now and, instead of seeing that as a problem, travel companies need to realize the immense potential and opportunities that social media offers.

The purpose of this research study is to analyze the impact of the use of social media within travel businesses in Panama as a marketing and communication tool. The advantages and disadvantages of its use and the perceptions of the local industry regarding its effectiveness will be crucial in the research. Another key factor to investigate will be the challenges of the introduction of social media within the Panama tourism industry, including issues of trust and credibility. I will approach a sample of travel businesses in Panama who are actually using social media as a marketing and communication tool, and do a comparison between the image given of businesses using it in the literature found and the real experience of the interviewees.

1.3 RATIONAL OF THE STUDY.

“The Impact of Social Media Platforms within Travel Businesses in Panama as a Marketing and Communication Tool” is considered an important topic to introduce because it is currently happening and research-based project investigating social media as a business tool in Panama have yet to appear.

The Internet potential as a platform to reach and maintain strong customer relations is not consistently used in Panama, being this reflected in the lack of customer loyalty, and perhaps one of the reasons it is still an unknown destination outside the American continent.

Living in this Web 2.0 era, where people are the main reason, acknowledging social media seems to be the way to reach a market differently in the travel industry by creating, monitoring and maintaining relationships with consumers, in a more convenient, user-friendly way. As described by Goal (2007), ‘it is not anymore about commanding and controlling, is about collaborating and connecting’, and this research project aims to verify the ongoing theories and make a contribution to the subject.

1.4 BREAKDOWN OF THE PROPOSAL.

The research questions for this investigation are the following:

• In what ways are travel businesses in Panama using Internet as a platform to reach consumers?
• To what extent are travel businesses in Panama willing to use new emerging technologies?
• How effective do travel businesses in Panama consider social media will be as a marketing and communication tool?
• What criterion is being used by travel businesses in Panama to agree on the effectiveness of social media as a marketing and communications tool?
• What has been the experience of travel businesses in Panama regarding the disadvantages of using social media?
• How do travel businesses in Panama feel about being social media users?

1.5 DEFINITION OF TERM.

This research project is focused entirely in the concept of social media. For the purpose of this investigation, it is necessary to introduced and defined the term in this section.

As explained by Mayfield (2008), social media is best understood as a group of new kinds of online media integrating technology, social interaction and content sharing. These new kinds of online media to be considered social need to share most of all the following characteristics:

• Participation: contributions from everyone who is interested, is possible.
• Openness: everyone has access. There are rarely any barriers to accessing and making use of content.
• Conversation: traditional media is about broadcasting, social media is about a two-way conversation.
• Community: allows people to form communities and communicate effectively.
• Connectedness: allows connections through links to other sites, resources and people.

Social media can also be refer to as the “conversation economy” due to its financial potential, as user-generated content, and is attached to the “Web 2.0” term which is the worldwide web trend referring to the second generation of web-based communities which facilitates creativity, and promotes collaboration and sharing among users.

The concept of social media and its basic forms will be explained further in the Literature Review chapter.

CHAPTER 2

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 OUTLINE.

During the past years, we have been witnesses of a sudden increase in information in the form of articles, journals, e-books and, of course, blogs on the topic of social media. A number of books recently published about social media are also available. For example, Joseph Jaffe’s Join the Conversation (2007) and David Meerman Scott’s The New Rules of Marketing and PR (2007) are focused in the reasons why marketers should start using social media in order to not become obsolete and attract their interested market, while Larry Weber’s Marketing to the Social Web (2007) and Charlene Li & Josh Bernoff’s Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies (2008) focus on the understanding of the technological world we live in and how humans are evolving and being part of it. All the books mentioned above discusses the use of social media as the new tool for marketing and communications but are not necessarily focused on travel businesses. Cindy Estis Green is the first author to research and write a whole book in the form of a report dedicated to social media for travel companies: The Travel Marketer’s Guide to Social Media and Social Networks: Sales and Marketing in a Web 2.0 World (2007). To date, this work remains the most complete introduction to the subject. However, several more social media marketing books have been announced through Amazon.com.

The abundance of Internet articles, blogs, and journalism sources on social media as a marketing tool for businesses in general, stands in sharp contrast with the lack of academic works. Standard marketing textbooks (e.g. Kotler, 2003; Solomon et al, 2006) make no mention of social media. Kevin Lane Keller (2008, p. 248) dedicates one paragraph to the topic of ‘interactive, online marketing communications’, concentrating only ‘on two crucial online brand-building tools: Websites and interactive ads’. No social media. Searches on Ebsco, Emerald Insight and other academic databases gave in little or no results on social media as a marketing and communication tool for businesses by the time of this research.

The lack of serious academic research into social media may be due to the recent acceptance of the phenomenon as a marketing tool, and because it all started as a teenage craze (Duggan, 2007). It was in 2004 when the role of blogs (precursor of social media) and its impact to society went to debate (The year in issues: Role of the blog, 2004), and it was not until 2006 that blogs were seen and introduced as a powerful marketing tool (Gehl, 2006). However, ‘most communicators use social media as a source of home entertainment’, and not as a work tool (Williams & Williams, 2008); and the results of the 2008 PRWeek/Burson-Marsteller CEO Survey revealed that CEOs ‘do not use social media outlets to communicate with key stakeholders primarily because they believe social media is not a “relevant” channel to reach stakeholders’ (CEOs Divided on Usefulness of Social Media Outlets for Communicating with Key Stakeholders, 2008) demonstrating that still exists certain apprehension towards the most revolutionary tool since the introduction of the Internet.

Even though articles and reports of businesses familiarizing with social media appear regularly, no researcher in Panama has carried out a scientific study of the attitudes towards the new tool and experiences of travel businesses using social media. This is a deficiency this paper aims to address.

The rest of this chapter first explains the phenomenon in a social and business perspective and then proceeds to analyze several key concepts that we found frequently in the literature available and which have direct application to the selected topic and research questions.

2.2 SOCIAL MEDIA EXPOSED.

Social media can be best defined as a group of new kinds of online tools that allow users to participate by contributing with content visible and accessible to anyone. It is characterized by its openness as there are no access barriers, and by its connectedness making use of links, resources and people, and allowing the quickly creation of communities that can effectively communicate (Mayfield 2008). This section will review the literature of the different tools and basic forms related directly to social media.

2.2.1 Blogs.

‘If the Internet is the most important innovation since the printing press, then blogs essentially complete the work that Gutenberg started-by making reproduction not merely possible but universal’ (Steins & Stephens, 2008). Blogs are perhaps the most known form of social media and are commonly referred as online journals. They actually represent the beginning of all this technology revolution.

Blogs are an ‘open-source intelligent gathering’ (Friedman, 2007, p. 117) having millions of people writing and uploading their own content with no obstacles, making any kind of information flow freely.

Now, blogging has entered the mainstream and had reached businesses. Used as another business tool, some businesses have adopted blogs both to get corporate messages to the public and as an internal medium for staff (Oh, grow up, 2008). Experts considered it a low-cost, high-return tool that can handle marketing, public relations, and rise a company’s profile but those business bloggers are still a distinctively minority (Alboher, 2007).

2.2.2 Social networks.

They are like controlled versions of the extensive blog network. People join social networks by creating a profile and then start building their own network by connecting with friends and contacts. These communities retain the interest of their members by being useful to them and providing services that are entertaining or help them to expand their networks (Mayfield 2008). Thomas L. Friedman claimed that through them ‘millions of people have a platform for telling their own stories’ (2007, p. 118).

To talk of social networks is to talk about MySpace and Facebook. As presented by Morales & Figueroa (2008) MySpace counts with more than 200 millions of users, and according to the internet traffic research firm Alexa, is the seventh most visited site in the Internet globally (Alexa Top 500 Sites n.d.). On the other side, Facebook, that was conceived as a college network, has more than 123 millions of users since it decided to became available for public use in 2007 (Mayfield, 2008) and is in the fifth position in the Alexa global ranking of the most visited sites[1]. These statistics can only prove that social networking media is the biggest current trend in the World Wide Web, and marketers have seen this potential and ‘begun to experiment with trying to reach the members of this social networks’ (Mayfield, 2008).

Debra Aho Williamson, senior analyst for EMarketer.com, in 2006 discussed about the great potential social networking sites provided to marketers but also warned that they could have been ‘shelved as grand experiments’ as it was considered as a ‘still-developing, yet-to-be-proven online social networking space’ for marketing and communication researchers. In 2008, Aho Williamson assures that business and socializing are a must ‘as the number of business users of social networks continues to increase, advertising expenditures will rise too due to the growing popularity of professional social network websites, changing how businesspeople are building professional relationships and finding jobs’.

A clear indication in the revolution of business thinking and behavior is perhaps the most “grown-up” of the popular networks, LinkedIn, where the audience has more than doubled in the past year, and the rise of additional business-oriented networks, including a raft of networks aimed at verticals (Social Networks Get Down to Business, 2008).

Several books can be written on this topic, but as the evolution of social networks marketing keep growing so rapidly ‘today’s flavor can be tomorrow’s old hat’ (Social Networking Media, n.d.).

2.2.3 Wikis.

Friedman (2007, p. 121) explains that Wikis are websites that allow users to directly edit any Web page on their own. Wikipedia, “the people’s encyclopedia” started as a controlled, free encyclopedia but only a few articles were produced. In 2001, Wikipedia invited any visitor to edit or add articles, making it gained loyal followers that today represent 75,000 contributors, working on more than 10,000,000 articles in more than 250 languages. As of today, there are 2,632,917 articles in English; every day hundreds of thousands of visitors from around the world make tens of thousands of edits and create thousands of new articles (Wikipedia: About 2008). Wikipedia works by consensus, with users adding and modifying content while trying to reach common ground along the way.

Wikipedia.org has a traffic rank of 8 according to Alexa Global Top Sites[2], making it one of the most visited reference sites on the web, although its user-generated content status makes it always a non-acceptable reference in academic institutions as it may contain false or debatable information (Garfinkel 2008). However, as wikis provide the ability to track the status of articles, review individual changes, and discuss issues, they function as social media and have certainly become more than just a reference source. Wikipedia can act as a collective reporting function (Mayfield 2008) as it has expanded into Wikinews, the free-content news source anyone can write and upload (Friedman, 2008, p.123), and into other several sister projects as Wiktionary, Wikispecies, Wikiversity, Wikiquote just to name a few.

2.2.4. Content communities.

They work almost the same way as social networks: you register, create a profile, and make connections with friends; the only difference is that they are focused in sharing a particular type of content (Mayfield 2008).

As discussed by Steins & Stephens (2008) often the most powerful way to convey information is to simply show it, and with the advent of new methods of recording and distributing still, moving, and animated images, people are enjoying new ways of letting their ideas speak for themselves.

As an example of a content community we have Flickr, the photo management application that allows you to share your picture albums either with those in your network, or everyone if you make them public.

The potential here is that thousands of groups had formed on Flickr around areas of common interest, like businesses, brands, and/or destinations (Mayfield 2008). Users can join groups that allow them to pool photos according to interest and, in many instances, location. Sites even allow users to tag photos by address; the site automatically creates maps that display the photos in conjunction with their assigned locations (Steins & Stephens 2008).

Flickr also includes a powerful search function that allows users to search all public albums via tags that users assign to their photos. You only need to enter a few keywords-searches and it yields thousands of photos. Tagged browsing can be very useful as tags give users instant access to relevant information, potentially making it quicker and easier for them to find what they want (Tags offer more than a Flickr of functionality 2008).

More than 2 billion pictures have been posted by Flickr’s 27 million members. Bought by Yahoo! in 2005 (Yahoo’s Flickr to team up with Getty Images, 2008) proves the site enormous success and potential for businesses.

YouTube, the video sharing site, it’s also an important example on how powerful content communities can be, and how ‘popular uploading has become’ (Friedman 2008, p.119).

Broadband video on the Internet is going through an explosive growth, and broadband video aggregation sites are seeing video consumption triple in 2008. (Matarese 2009).

Under the tagline “Broadcast Yourself” YouTube allows people to easily upload and share video clips on www.YouTube.com and across the Internet through websites, mobile devices, blogs, and email. YouTube uploads more than 13,000 hours of new video per hour on a daily basis (YouTube: Company History 2008).

YouTube’s importance and popularity is such, that Barack Obama is being called the first social media president of the United States due to his campaign’s YouTube strategy (Fernando 2009).

The user-generated video site played a big part in the 2008 US elections. Ordinary people came up with powerful messages rivaling those created by advertising and public relations agencies. None of this could have ever been possible in the mainstream media where time is sill expensive. Someone with a $50 camera can have more than a million viewers (Fernando 2009).

As exposed by Steins & Stephens (2008), YouTube’s ‘unique benefits are that the distribution costs nothing and your potential audience is global’.

2.2.5. Podcasts.

Podcasting is another social medium that has grew matured along this year. Podcasts are audio or video files that are published on the Internet and that users can subscribe to.

It is the subscription feature that makes a podcast so powerful as a form of social media. This means that people can build regular audiences and communities around their show (Mayfield 2008). Podcasts represents a shift in media consumption patterns, which increasingly sees people watching or listening to content when and where they want to.

It has become a business communication strategy that is conversational, collaborative and highly credible. It involves opinion makers, journalists, and a participative audience that interacts regularly. Unlike blogs, where people interact through comments, podcasting gives the audience a true voice (Fernando 2007).

2.2.6. Twitter.

Twitter is the newest of the forms to keep in touch with friends and relatives around the world, although a recent study presented by the Harvard Business Review reveals that Twitter it’s not so much about connecting with friends, but broadcasting information (Schroeder 2009). It’s like a cross between a blog and a chat room. As explained by Pogue (2009) it is a website where you can broadcast very short messages to anyone who is signed up to receive them.

This tool was launched in August 2006 and grew popular within months asking users just one simple question: What are you doing? Messages can be sent via mobile text, instant messaging, or the web (About Twitter 2009).

“Twitter is what you want it to be. It can be a business tool, a teenage-time killer, a research assistant, a news source – whatever”. There are no rules (Pogue 2009). But experts are still trying to figure out how the online messaging service will make money as it is perceived as a non-natural advertising medium. Emerging as one of the Internet’s fastest-growing services this year, it is still debatable if it will develop in a profitable business (Liedtke 2009).

As in the words of their creators: “We plan to build Twitter, Inc into a successful, revenue-generating company that attracts world-class talent with an inspiring culture and attitude towards doing business” (About Twitter 2009).

2.3 SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING: THE NEW MARKETING?

Othius (2007) defines Social Media Marketing as ‘the creation and distribution of content and other messages through the social web by some form of viral marketing’. In simple words, Social Media Marketing is those things done off-site like participating in content communities with your customers. On the other side, Bhargava (2007) explains that Social Media Marketing is nothing new, and is just a more technological updated version of what marketers know as Interactive Marketing.

It is still quite debatable is there exists such Social Media Marketing. Whether people see social media as a new type of marketing, or just as a platform to fulfill determined marketing purposes, social media with no doubt has changed the way to do business today, and that is the focus of this paper.

‘The end of business as usual’ as The Cluetrain Manifesto presents, is perhaps the closest work referring on the marketing power of social media, although social media is no where mentioned:

“Unlike the lockstep conformity imposed by television, advertising, and corporate propaganda, the Net has given new legitimacy — and free rein — to play. Many of those drawn into this world find themselves exploring a freedom never before imagined: to indulge their curiosity, to debate, to disagree, to laugh at themselves, to compare visions, to learn, to create new art, new knowledge” (Levine et al. 1999).

This section will review the literature of some of the key marketing types crucial for this research.

2.3.1. Relationship Marketing.

The origins of modern relationship marketing emerged in the 1980s where researchers and marketers realized they were putting more efforts in attracting new customers than retaining the old ones (Development of Relationship Marketing n.d.). Relationship marketing is all marketing activities directed to established, developed and maintained a successful relational exchange (Sorce 2002).

In 1998, Fournier, Dobsha & Mick questioned the interactivity between businesses and consumers, and warned about ‘a premature death in relationship marketing’ if businesses did not learn how to effectively communicate one-to-one with a customer.

Customers were in fact communicating, but this information rarely impacted the nature of future communications on a business. In practice, relationship marketing was still a one-way action, and marketers needed to understand that ‘the relationship is the catalyst, not the end-goal itself for the customer’.

With details of products being searchable, clickable and instantly available nowadays, marketers really need to start focusing more in building trusting relationship with customers in their way (Reeme 2008). Conversation, collaboration, outreach is what matters and what is going to diversify the customer base, leading to a long-term vitality; and social media is the tool that will help to achieve these (Bailey 2009).

2.3.2. Interactive Marketing.

‘The freshest option available to marketing in the 1990s’, also refereed to as Conversational Marketing, can be described as a form of marketing facilitated by technology, where customers are address individually, and their responses are gathered and remembered so when they are addressed once more that unique response is taken into account (Interactive Marketing 2008). It is the technological factor that differentiates it from Relationship Marketing.

In 1991, Interactive Marketing was being considered as a ‘marketer’s dream’, and ‘technology in the form of a database’ was making this dream a reality (Blattbergh & Deighton 1991).

Prior to the Internet boom as an indispensable business tool, Blattberg & Deighton (1991) discussed how addressability was going to change the rules of marketing quite fundamentally, as the new marketing did not deal with consumers as a mass or as segments, but by managing markets of one. In this form of marketing, marketing is a conversation, not a one-time transaction.

‘There’s and exchange required in an interactive world’ (Palmer 2009). With Interactive Marketing consumers have a voice that is being solicited and listened; by opening the lines of communication, people are actually helping in shape businesses according to their real needs. But you need platforms to do so.

2.3.3 Viral Marketing.

Commonly known as word-of-mouth, the person-to-person communication is considered the most powerful form of marketing, even more than marketer-generated communication such as advertising and promotion due to its higher persuasive power (Sen 2008). Referrals are perhaps more effective than any other type of marketing because we tend to listen and trust friends or people we know more than any mass-media message.

Today’s consumers, enabled by new technologies, have access to unlimited information that helps them to eventually make decisions about future purchases (Sen 2008). Virtual word-of-mouth, in the form of online consumer reviews, is having an enormous impact in consumers purchases decisions (Deloitte 2007).

Reeme (2008) clarifies that traditional marketing is not dead, but it needs to co-exist with the word-of-mouth occurring in real time on line. The emergence of new user generated platforms only increased the flow of consumer driven analysis. Today, customer opinions and product reviews can be found on blogs, social news sites, social networks and more (Duthie 2008).

2.4 SOCIAL MEDIA ADVANTAGES FOR TRAVEL BUSINESSES.

While social media presents benefits and advantages for all types of businesses, this paper will just explore those advantages in terms of creating a receptive and responsive travel market for the Panamanian travel industry in general.

2.4.1. Humanizing the company.

According to Finch (2009) the best way to humanize a company is by their willingness to listen. To listen and hold customer’s words as a valuable commodity will increase a company’s credibility.

Humanizing the company is about reaching out and making marketing efforts to connect with customers on a human based level; and companies are blogging to reach that human element (Gergely 2009). By using social media platforms, travel companies do not only have an opportunity to share thoughts about business itself but they can be aware of people reactions and comprehend how they are perceived in the market. It also let’s customers see how you respond to their comments and reviews (McKay 2009).

People buy from people, and this is even more notable in the travel industry where customers are part of an experience. ‘Being faceless in this era of social web, simply doesn’t work anymore’ (Bhargava, cited in Chaney, 2008, p. 1), perhaps because in the social media world people associate with personal brands more than with corporate brands (Falls, cited in Chaney, 2008, p. 2).

2.4.2. Creating customer loyalty.

One of the keys travel companies can use to increase customer retention and loyalty is to create customer engagement, but customers need a reason to engage. This is most simply and easily accomplished by offering compelling content that is not about only a company’s product, but relevant to the customers’ lifestyle. Putting this content in social tools makes it more scalable and repeatable (Strout 2009).

Social media tools allow customers to get to know the people inside a company. They get to see real people with real personalities, and customers that have positive interactions with the people in a company feel a stronger sense of trust with that organization, a key factor in building customer loyalty (Carroll 2008); it deepens customer relationships and empower customers to become a company’s best advocates (Creating customer loyalty through social media 2008).

The deal is not only to participate in digital communities but organize and promote community programs of their own that cultivate a loyal following of “friends”. By nature, the community is a self-selecting loyalty program, and by providing tools do not only help to manage the company’s identity, but communicate with loyal “friends” and strengthen the company’s relevance (Vettese 2009). As explained by Mott (2009) these tools will continue to influence the way marketers are executing loyalty building programs today as they are inexpensive and becoming a way of life, fulfilling that natural need to connect with others.

2.4.3. Building and reinforcing a reputation.

It is a certain fact that millions of people are getting online to criticize company’s products and services, especially if they are related with travel experiences, which were supposed to be enjoyable. The internet has compounded the speed and the geographic distribution of any kind of information (Online Reputation Management 2006, p. 1). With social media ordinary people can affect a business with erroneous rumors, malicious gossip, unfair opinions, and other bad news but it can also become a company’s best partner.

Businesses can use social media to monitor and control adverse information appearing in those online conversations. Monitoring is a cost-effective strategy that can help prevent negative campaigns and reviews online (Online Reputation Management 2006, p. 5). Businesses can also take advantage of these tools by being actively involved in online conversations with the opportunity to improve the perception of the business, as it allows you to respond directly to critics, clear out mislead information or public an honest comment about a true negative situation (Online Reputation Management 2006, p. 7). In the end, speaking the truth in an accessible media builds trust in your consumers and let them realize you are truly listening to them.

2.4.4. Social Media Optimization.

Social Media Optimization represents an advantage for travel businesses as it is in many ways related with viral marketing. Here, word of mouth is not created through friends and families but with the use of networking in social bookmarking, video and photo sharing websites.

The concept is simple and implements the use of Rich Site Summary (RSS) feeds to deliver updated content promptly to the interested, social news buttons, blogging and third-party communities’ functionalities like pictures and videos. Basically, it implement changes in a company’s site so it can become more highly visible in social media organic searches in search engines, and more frequently included in relevant posts, blogs, podcasts and vlogs (Bhargava 2006).

2.5 THE DISADVANTAGES.

As explained by Racoma (2007), one of the main drawbacks of social media ironically comes from the fact that it is social. ‘Like with any population or group within a population, social media can easily be gamed or manipulated by dominant factions’.

With the rise of social media there has also been a proliferation of unsolicited commercial content, deliberate self promotion and more savvy spammers, all intentional, with minimal incremental costs and little chances of getting caught (Kim 2009). These online cheaters can deliver the wrong message to consumers about a business, and can damage a brand irrevocably.

The accessibility of these tools, which is perhaps one of their main advantages, can also play for the other side allowing users to abuse from them since controlling what is being posted or not is still quite limited (Kim 2009).

Another of the disadvantages observed is the lack of content delivery. Social media demands updated content consistently in order to motivate consumers to engage. In the words of Mckenzie (2008), ‘these tools are easy to start but really hard to maintain and takes a significant time’, which most companies never consider as an important factor, and can actually influence in the balance between work/life of those workers appointed to these communication channels.

On the contrary, information overload and social networking overload can also be considered as a drawback due to burnt-out users (Leonard 2009).

Also, the lack of good filters can difficult to find the best content causing lots of information being overlooked (Racoma 2007).

2.6 TRAVEL BUSINESSES AS SOCIAL MEDIA USERS.

The hospitality, travel and tourism industries have progressed from years and have adopted new technologies easily through time. In 1995, websites start becoming effective online brochures. In 2001, e-commerce age began when booking engines were added making easier travel transactions, and in 2006, blogs, the dawn of customer engagement was launched. (Travel marketer’s guide to social media 2007).

Back in time, the use of social media as a marketing tool was most probably seen as an unrealistic concept, merely because it was just seen as a new way to stay in contact with friends. But through the researched literature, and our own hands-on experience, we know this has changed today, and travel businesses have found a more interactive and personalized way to deliver their services.

Savvy consumers are engaged with the Internet’s social media tools and social network sites in ever increasing numbers, reason why it is important for travel marketers to be plugged into the latest ways their customers are gathering and exchanging information. (Social media to drive dramatic change 2007). As discussed by Braziel (2007) using social media marketing in the travel industry can be a way to manage and foster customer experience. A single dissatisfied customer with a broadband connection can ignite a crisis, making it in travel imperative to know what is being said and moreover monitor it. The time and ways a complaint is managed, and how businesses interact and reply says a lot about their operation (The travel marketer’s guide to social media 2007). It also shows the potential of the Internet to turn unsatisfied customers into fans in a more organic way than an advertising campaign (Johnson 2008).

Some considered that common user-generated sites are not entirely useful to travel companies in general. Experts think that the industry should only focused in those relevant to the industry like TripAdvisor and Virtual Tourist but the true is travel businesses using social media has grown enormously that it exists an annual ‘Social Media for Travel’ Conference organized by EyeforTravel, a company specialize in business intelligence for the travel and tourism industry (About EyeforTravel, 2009).

A year ago, travel marketers asked to hear how to use social media to create brand awareness, and wanted advice on how to manage their online reputation. Listening to this, the first social media conference in 2008 was almost entirely focused on the ways that social media can be useful to promote buzz and brand awareness. A year later, their key concern is how to profit from this, relatively new, marketing channel (Social Media in Travel: Brand Awareness is Not Enough, Monetization is Now the Top Priority, 2009).

And of course, this focus in monetization is naturally what it is most on the minds of travel companies, trying to vary strategies of growth, considering the hard times in 2008, and the even harder times expected this year (Social media strategies for Travel USA 2009).

The forum focuses on using social media to generate leads, drive website traffic and boost conversations, all of which contribute in generating online sales.

Currently, the social media landscape is dominated by just a handful of general social networking sites. Despite this huge amount of traffic, and growing popularity, EyeForTravel research shows that the industry is still unsure on how to effectively and profitably work with these vast horizontal networks (Social Media in Travel: Generating Brand Awareness is Not Enough, Monetization is Now the Top Priority 2009).

2.7 PANAMA, A SOCIAL MEDIA USER?

Panama has also entered in the social media stream and has adopted the use of the different Web 2.0 technologies. MySpace had its impact in Panama between 2005 and 2006 but as new user-generated platforms emerged, Panamanians started joining them, and Facebook is at present the ruling one (Panama siente el boom de Facebook 2008).

Facebook, by this time, is the most used and biggest social network with 250 millions of users (Facebook Statistics 2009). In Panama, by February of 2009 244,000 users existed, what proportionally to the total of its population is one of the highest indices in America, alone surpassed by Canada, United States, Chile, Colombia and Venezuela (Ayala 2009).

But by July 2009 the figures had changed. According to the tracking site CheckFacebook.com there are 313,840 Panamanian using the service, becoming the country with the most users in all Central America.

Being Facebook the most commonly used social network in the country, it was just a matter of time that users would realize about its potential as a marketing and communication tool. In the “Ellas” supplement of “La Prensa” newspaper (2 January 2009, p. 66) it is explained how different people of different ages with different career paths had found in Facebook their best alley in promoting their products and services. Most of those taken advantage of the platform are home-based businesses and is rarely used by businesses focused in the travel and tourism industry in Panama.

Uploading: harnessing the power of communities was considered as one of ‘the ten forces that flattened the world’ according to Thomas L. Friedman, author of the New York Times bestselling book “The World is Flat”. Social Media is here to prove it. A search in Google performed 28 July 2009 for the term ‘social media travel business’ returned over 84,800,000 results being the first three articles from renown publications such as Harvard Business Publishing, Business Week and the New York Times.

Social media, although relatively new, is something that is around us all the time. These Web 2.0 platforms will soon replace a lot of other conventional (and expensive) offline advertising and marketing tools.

‘Having a website is such a small part of the bigger social media picture now and small businesses everywhere, particularly travel businesses that appeal to a switched on and dynamic customer base, are embracing all of it very quickly’ (N Bowditch 2009, pers. comm., 23 July).

Are travel businesses in Panama ready to face that transition smoothly? To have a better understanding of social media, and how the power of these new media can be harness to greatly improve businesses is the primarily focus of this research study.

CHAPTER 3

METHODOLOGY

3.1 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY SELECTED.

The type of research approach selected depends on the nature of the research problem at hand (Adam et al. 2007).

This research paper is looking to investigate and analyze the impact and attitudes of travel businesses in Panama toward the use of social media platforms as a marketing and communication tool. This investigation tries to achieve a deep understanding of how people feel, in general terms, about this topic. Qualitative research is then, the methodology selected.

One of the major reasons for doing qualitative research is to become more experienced with the phenomenon of interest. Qualitative research is often regarded as a precursor to quantitative research, in that it is often used to generate possible leads and ideas which can be used to formulate a realistic and testable hypothesis (Shuttleworth 2008).

In simple terms, as stated by Ladner (2007), qualitative research is used at the beginning to uncover innovations, and quantitative research is used at the end to measure improvement. Since this study looks primordially to know the experiences and attitudes of social media users in Panama: to ‘uncover innovations’, qualitative research will only be applied, but leaves the field open for hypothesis that can then be comprehensively tested and mathematically analyzed with standard quantitative research methods in further studies.

3.2 QUALITATIVE APPROACH.

The qualitative approach is a general way of thinking about conducting qualitative research. It describes, either explicitly or implicitly, the purpose of the qualitative research, the role of the researcher, and the method of data analysis (Trochim 2006).

The qualitative approach for this investigation is the phenomenological one, which can be simply defined as a way ‘to identify phenomena through how they are perceived by the actors in a situation’ (Lester 1999). Phenomenology is concerned with the study of experience from the perspective of the individual, and is based in a paradigm of personal knowledge and subjectivity, and emphasise the importance of personal perspective and interpretation. As such they are powerful for understanding subjective experience, gaining insights into people’s motivations and actions (Lester 1999), which is exactly what is being looked for in this research, to get to know in depth the experiences of social media users in order to answer the determined research questions.

Bryman (2004) explains that in qualitative research there is much greater interest in the interviewee’s point of view as it gives insight into what the interview sees as relevant and important. There is an emphasis on greater generality in the formulation of initial research ideas and on interviewees’ own perspectives.

As this study uses a phenomenological qualitative approach, the basis of such an approach is that one does not predetermine or delimit the directions the investigation might take, making it especially important to detail the specific stages that this research will follow in addressing the research questions subsequently.

3.3 SELECTION OF PARTICIPANTS.

The research participants were selected by non-probability sampling as Trochim (2006) explains that in applied social research there may be circumstances where it is not feasible, practical or theoretically sensible to do random sampling. Considering a wide range of non-probabilistic alternatives, participants were selected through judgemental sampling.

As discussed by Bless & Higson-Smith (2006) this method is based on the judgement of the researcher regarding the characteristics of a representative sample. The strategy is that the sample is chosen on the basis of what the researcher considers to be the most common in the population under investigation.

For the selection of the travel businesses participants in this research the following criteria was taking in consideration:

• The business needed to have presence in one or several social media tools.
• The social media page needed to be exclusively dedicated to promoting a tourism / hospitality service in Panama.
• The social media page needed to be updated regularly.
• The social media page needed to have an identifiable author.

As demonstrated in the relevant literature, Facebook is the most commonly used social media platform in Panama. In order to find the potential candidates that comply with the required criteria for this research project, a Facebook search was performed. A list of about twenty was finally drawn up integrating different types of travel businesses in Panama working with the tool: international hotel chains, travel agencies, tour operators, independent hotels and other tourism-related businesses like restaurants. The aim was to obtain a sample of interviewees from different travel sectors and backgrounds.

Using the contact information provided on the main businesses webpage, a personalized e-mail was then sent to each of the twenty chosen social media users inviting them to take part in the research project (see Apendix A). The preliminary list of twenty Facebook business users was narrowed down to thirteen, being these the companies willing to participate in the project. Even though the small number, the sample was considered to be large enough to provide a full range of experience while being at the same time easy to manage in terms of time and resources available.

Of the thirteen interviews, eight were based in Panama City, two in the western province of Chiriqui and one in each of Cocl� (central province), the Pacific island of Contadora and the autonomous indigenous territory of Kuna Yala. Eight were female and five were male. A list of interviewees, identified only by their position and business activity is given in Appendix B.

3.4 DATA COLLECTION.

The qualitative method selected in order to find the necessary data required for this kind of project was the in-depth interview.

The initial plan was to conduct interviews face-to-face but due to the fact that most of the companies’ social media users were those in upper-level management, e-mail interviews were preferred as it did not interrupt directly their daily responsibilities.

According to Meho (2006) the use of in-depth e-mail interviewing has been rapidly increasing these past years. Nearly all the studies conducted before 2003 were methodological in nature, aiming simply to test the suitability of e-mail for qualitative interviewing. In contrast, most of the studies conducted since 2003 have not addressed methodological issues; this suggests that e-mail interviewing has become a viable tool for qualitative research.

One of the advantages of employing qualitative e-mail interviewing is providing participants detailed information about the research in which they are asked to participate and ensuring that they understand fully what participation would entail. Participants in this e-mail interview research were asked to take part in the study only after they provide their consent by simply replying via e-mail affirmatively to an invitation to participate by stating in the message that they agreed to.

Many people perceive online communication as anonymous because there is no in-person contact and thus, little accountability. This anonymity may explain why some people are more willing to participate in e-mail interview studies. The anonymity afforded by online communication can be an important factor in increasing self-disclosure and in facilitating a closer connection with interviewees’ personal feelings, beliefs, and values (Meho 2006).

As e-mail was the means selected to carry-out the interviews, semi-structured interview was the qualitative method to follow. A list of questions to be covered was formulated while ensuring that the interviewees will still get a great deal of freedom in how to reply.

In semi-structured interviews, questions may not follow on exactly in the way outlined in the schedule. The whole process is quite flexible as it involves a degree of structure, but also allows room to pursue topics of particular interest to the interviewees, which give us access to their world views (Bryman 2004).

The investigation began with a clear focus on the topic, not only from the researcher but from the participants as well, making it possible to address more specific issues in the interview. The questions were prepared in a comprehensible language and adequately in order to answer each of the research questions, but not too specific to avoid leading the interviewee in any way.

The whole e-mail interview process took approximately three weeks to complete, which included the process of sending the project invitations, the consent reply by each of the participants, the sending of the questionnaire, and the final reply with the answers followed-up by a thank you note.

Schneider et al. (cited in Meho 2006) considers that face-to-face interviews and telephone interviews are expected to provide richer data than e-mail interviews. This is true because in e-mail interviews it is impossible to read facial expressions and body language; make eye contact, or hear voice tones of the participants. As a result, it is possible that some important visual or nonverbal signs are missed online that would be observed during face-to-face or telephone data collection. Acknowledging that e-mail has strengths and weaknesses as a communication medium, during the data collection process of this research participants were encourage to maximize the richness of the tool by employing certain linguistic methods, such as the use of acronyms or abbreviations and emoticons, as a substitute for nonverbal cues as recommended by Opdenakker (2006). This not only reduced some of the losses in nonverbal signs but it also increased the depth of the data collected.

In the end, ‘the quality of responses gained through online research is much the same as responses produced by more traditional methods’ (Denscombe, cited in Meho 2006, p. 1291). The same conclusion was reached in several studies that compared, or conducted, both e-mail and face-to-face interviews. These studies found that participants interviewed via e-mail remained more focused on the interview questions and provided more reflectively dense accounts. This is possibly aided by the ability of both the researcher and the interviewees to take the time to be more thoughtful and careful in their responses to, or communication with, each other than they would during natural conversation (Meho 2006).

3.5 DATA ANALYSIS.

According to Pope et al. (2000) the ‘raw data of the research provides a descriptive record of the project, but does not provide explanations, therefore the researcher needs to make sense of the data by separating and interpreting it’.

Analyzing qualitative data is essentially a simple process consisting of three parts: noticing, collecting, and thinking as claimed by Seidel (1998), but it can also be time consuming and labour intensive.

The fact that e-mail interviewing was used in the research decreased the cost of transcribing since the data was generated in electronic format and require little editing or formatting before being processed for analysis.

After organising and having an overall picture of the complete set of data, relevant information was taken from all the interviews and re-arranged under thematic headings. The main themes chosen on the basis of the research questions as suggested by Hawe et al. (cited in Department of Health and Community Services’ Bush Book 2005).

Having the data arranged under thematic headings lead to the final step in the process. The process of interpretation is influenced by the original research objectives as well as by the themes that have emerged from the data themselves, making it easier to use the extracts from the data for breakdown and discussion in order to form the basis of the relevant part in the written study.

3.6 TRUSTWORTHINESS OF THE METHOD IMPLEMENTED.

While the credibility in quantitative research depends on instrument construction, in qualitative research, ‘the researcher is the instrument’ (Patton cited in Golafshani 2003, p. 600). A determinant factor in any type of research is the degree to which the method implemented and the obtained results can be credible.

According to Golafshani (2003) some qualitative researchers have argued that the terms ‘validity’ and ‘reliability’ are not applicable to qualitative research, but at the same time, they have realized the need for some kind of qualifying check or measure for their research. Lincoln & Guba (cited in Golafshani 2003, p. 601) considered that ‘since there can be no validity without reliability, a demonstration of the former is sufficient to establish the latter’.

According to the literature read validity refers to the accuracy of an assessment. All the interviewees were able to elaborate and comment on their social media activity as users, and the data collected exemplified the ways in which social media, in this case Facebook, is being used by travel businesses in Panama. Additionally, the semi-structured interview format, due to its flexibility, tended to enhance validity by allowing the questioning to be adapted to each individual user if necessary. This factor also assured credibility, which is an alternative criteria created to measure qualitative research, and refers to the results of qualitative research being believable from the perspective of the participants.

Critically evaluating the qualitative methodology done in this project, it is accepted the fact discussed by Shuttleworth (2008) that qualitative data cannot be mathematically analyzed in the same comprehensive way as quantitative results, so it can only lead to general trends. As it is focus in each participants experience with the tool, is a lot more open to personal opinion and judgment, and so can only give observations rather than results.

CHAPTER 4

RESULTS

This chapter will examine the interviewees’ experiences and perceptions of using social media, in this case Facebook, as a marketing and communication tool. The results have been organized under the themes identified when performing the data analysis. A fundamental factor in this research project is to determine the impact social media has when used as a marketing channel. Additionally, other factors such as the motivations for using social media, their attitude toward these tools and their experiences so far, would be consider. What is intended is to let the interviewees share their understanding of the topic with their own words.

4.1 WHY CREATE A FACEBOOK PAGE.

The interviews exposed that none of the travel businesses were using its Facebook page for a determined reason; in fact, as it can be seen in the Facebook Use Matrix (Table 1) each of the travel businesses uses their page for different factors.

Table 1 – Facebook Use Matrix

	Humanizing Company	Communication	Public Relations	Networking	Brand Building	Sales Generator	Recruiting
1		X	X
2	X	X	X	X	X	X
3		X	X		X
4		X		X	X		X
5	X	X		X	X
6		X				X
7	X	X			X
8		X			X
9		X		X	X
10		X	X	X	X
11	X	X	X	X	X
12		X	X
13		X		X

Only two of the interviewees mentioned the use of their Facebook page as a booking lead producer, indicating that the social media platform was not seen as a sales generator itself. Communicating with customers and building a reputation was the most common reason for engaging in this tool, and all the interviewees mentioned this point. This result tends to confirm the view that social media can be an excellent tool for communicating with customers (e.g. Caroll 2009; Strout, 2009).

One of the interviewees, the Commercial Director for a travel agency, sustains that social networks indeed provide contact and communication with customers: ‘I get the chance to advertise my company and interact with my customers in a more personal way via online’.

Several interviewees agreed that a presence in a social network offers greater advantages than a traditional website. The Marketing Director of an international hotel chain believes it is “easier to maintain than a webpage, with a minimal cost that helps to reinforce your product or brand”.

The global factor was particularly important to interviewees primordially working for international hotel chains with presence in Panama. The owner of a travel agency said that ‘…so many people is using it to make contacts, and nowadays is so popular that I wanted my business to be there as well’. Another interviewee agreed saying that ‘Facebook has become one of the biggest social networks all over the world, and now it has even open spaces for business and advertisement so anyone can learn about us’. The general manager of a new beach resort took a similar view:

“Social networks provide exposure and more importantly dialogue with millions of users. Exponentially more that can be reached by traditional one-way media and marketing.”

Networking was another factor considered importantly by the social media users interviewed that worked for international hotels chain. The Marketing Manager for the biggest Panamanian hotel group that manages four of the most important international hotel chains explains:

“Through (Facebook) we can stay in contact with others working for the same chains around the world, and internally helps to keep people in track with the company latest news.”

Another Marketing Director for an international hotel chain mentioned that: ‘it also helps to recruit in a faster way when vacancies open’. Some of the companies were using their Facebook page for Public Relations purposes.

For small starting companies with limited resources, their presence in these platforms means a low-cost way to spread information to potential customers. For an administrator of a fusion cuisine restaurant in a hectic zone in Panama City, its Facebook page is their only vehicle to reach customers:

“Our restaurant does not have a website, so it helps us to inform our clients of new promotions efficiently, fast and in an easy way.”

The results pointed out that the interviewees were using the tool according to their own specific needs. Burdge cited through Chan (2009) considers that ‘for best results, companies must plan their entry into social media carefully, build a strategy, and then dedicate the resources’. While social media is free, an investment of time is necessary; Martell cited through Chan (2009) suggests that is important ‘to figure out what social platform is best for the characteristic of that person or that business owner’ and if your target market is using it. Only one of the interviewees had presence in other social networks:

“(Our online presence) includes social networks like Facebook, Twitter as well as blogs and traveller review sites such as HotelChatter and TripAdvisor.”

4.2 EFFECTIVENESS OF FACEBOOK AS A MARKETING CHANNEL.

Updating and posting information in social networks represents an opportunity cost for companies, consuming resources that could be employed elsewhere. The question under examination is whether the users consider that the investment in time they do is justified by the results obtained. For this, is imperative to learn how to measure it. Return on Investment (ROI) is a simple concept: it measures the profitability of returns, when compared against costs. However, measuring the ROI for social networking can be a little difficult because the returns out of networking via social media are not direct and immediate (Maki 2008).

Although none of the interviewees had measured the performance of their social media marketing campaign to determine the ROI of their Facebook activity, several were able to identify specific opportunities which had originated as a result of using it:

“In this hotel, our presence on Facebook is recent but already we have received inquiries for stays. In my previous hotel it produced many booking leads.” (Hotel General Manager)

“Here, I promote my packages and lots of people interested contact me about the promotional prices that I offer.” (Agency Owner)

Other users were able to spot other benefits besides sales. One of the Marketing Directors of an international hotel chain interviewed mentioned client’s retention:

“The social networks are a simple platform, of great cover, that creates affinity, loyalty and is a strategy of efficient retention.”

One user accepted being less successful in generating business. The owner of a small hotel openly admitted not seeing positive results:

“I feel it is kind of useless, I do not think is working for us but we are still posting news and updating it for the fans we already have in our page.”

For small companies with limited resources, a Facebook page or being present in any other social media platform can become helpful while starting and building a marketing presence. ‘I have no much time using it but I think is helping me a bit, especially when I have events to promote’ says a restaurant administrator that likes the tool because it ‘keeps you in mind of everybody’.

One of the most outstanding advantages of social media platforms cited in the literature and by the interviewees themselves is communicating with customers. However, the traffic statistics only indicate how many people are visiting their pages, not of the ‘conversation’ which may be taking place. Customer feedback, via Facebook’s wall to wall comments is potentially a valuable source of marketing information, and this was acknowledged by one of the interviewees:

“The personal experiences of a guest have a unique character and when they are shared they conform the most efficient marketing that exists, the most influential one: word of mouth.”

Another interviewee just mentioned that ‘there is one person only dedicated to watching over our online presence and maintain the “dialogue”‘. Surprisingly, little evidence of the ‘conversations’ with customers was kept among the users interviewed.

When evaluating the costs of using Facebook which is none as it is free, the interviewees tended not to take into account the amount of time they spent on this activity: “It is updated daily”, “regularly”, “three-four times a week if I am busy” where the common answers. In some cases, using Facebook had become part of the daily routine, making it all but impossible to estimate its comparative cost in terms of time allocated.

While nearly all of the interviewees believed that their online presence in social platforms, in this case Facebook, was bringing benefits to their company, none was able to measure the ROI in simply financial terms. Furthermore, there was slight proof that the supposed ‘dialogue with customers’ was actually taking place.

4.3 DISADVANTAGES OF USING FACEBOOK AS A MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS TOOL.

The general answer for this question was no. None of the Facebook users interviewed perceived any direct disadvantages of using it. However, one of the interviewees pointed out that it was difficult to filter people that do not match your target market while on these platforms.

As been read throughout the literature, social media platforms are one of the preferred ways to dialogue with customers. The owner of a travel agency draws attention to the risks involved in such a dialogue:

“You have to try to not post much information about your company, only the necessary, because there are a lot of people dedicated to use that information for other means that can be prejudicial for your business.”

4.4 ATTITUDES TOWARDS THE FACEBOOK PRESENCE AND ACTIVITY.

The attitudes towards being present in Facebook as an activity for their business varied to a great extent. One of the hotel managers interviewed said this:

“It is challenging for traditional classic hoteliers to consider this, but I considered it a truly effective modern tool.”

Another user made the surprising admission that she did not trust it:

“I can’t tell you I feel confident using it. You can never trust these internet things fully, but you need to be able to diversify and manage different ways to promote yourself.”

Other interviewees were more enthusiastic. One noted that ‘it is a good way to show up your business’. Another one said that ‘it is an amazing tool’. Several interviewees considered it to be very pleasant and even fun to use.

The hotel manager of major beach development said that some people don’t find it enjoyable because they had forgotten the most important factor:

“In order for it to be effective it must be a two way communication tool. Many have begun to use it with traditional one way advertising messages and customers do not like that. Remember, it is SOCIAL.”

As demonstrated, the broad range of attitudes shown by the interviewees towards using Facebook or any other social platform implies that there is not one typical profile for travel businesses using it in Panama. What seems to be a key success factor is a willingness to embrace the medium and learn day by day through experience.

CHAPTER 5

DISCUSSION

This research project was put together to cross-examine the impact of social media as a marketing and communication tool for travel businesses in Panama. This chapter will be dedicated to discuss the outcomes obtained through the interviews with reference to the existent literature.

Through this study it has been confirmed what it has been already expressed in the literature published, that social media is indeed an effective marketing and communication medium for businesses in general, but particularly to travel businesses since experiences are involved, and people usually likes to share those experiences with others.

All of the reasons for using social media platforms listed in the Facebook Use Matrix (Table 1) are normally mentioned in the literature review. Adaptability was extracted from the Results chapter as one of the main advantages attributed to social media as it can be used for multiple purposes depending on each company marketing strategy; it is most commonly used as a relationship building tool. Viral Marketing, best known as word of mouth, was also suggested as a benefit from social media.

Nearly all those interviewed were able to express how their Facebook page had bring some benefits to their business, mostly from networking and lead generation. However, none of the interviewees mentioned Social Media Optimization (SMO), which is consider an important advantage for social media since it allows pages and links to be more visible in search engines making it possible to drive traffic, which is a key factor for maintaining these types of interactive platforms online.

In addition, a major discrepancy between the literature and the research outcomes was detected. The ability to communicate or to “dialogue” with customers and give a “human face” is always mentioned as one of the most important reasons for companies to participate in social media platforms. Nonetheless, the interviews indicated that the so-called conversation was coming from one side only as customer reply was minimal. Most of the travel businesses that participated in this research project were using social media to show potential customers what they offer or to the loyal ones what was new, instead of making them participative in the dialogue. Regardless of the poor dialogue, there is evidence that customers are undoubtedly creating groups and communities, though lack of accurate visitor figures represents a problem.

In the literature we found that the general concept established is that social media is good for any type of business. Though, several limitations became noticeable during the interviews. Lack of time was the problem cited most often. The lack of content delivery and an unwillingness to invest resources were also considered to be potential barriers to travel businesses using these platforms. This might very well be the cause of the lack of customer reply and interaction perceived by the interviewees, if information is not consistent, client’s participation either.

Then again, certain obstacles regularly mentioned in the literature, including worries about users perceiving them as spammers, did not seem to be a problem for these Facebook users.

Shockingly, Return on Investment (ROI) was not even considered by interviewees as a determinant factor while investing time and resources in this medium. Most of them believed in the positive impact of being present in Facebook despite the lack of measurable results in terms of increasing revenue and customers. Being present in social media sites was also perceived as an advantage over websites. This can also be found in the literature published, although having both channels is highly recommended.

The users’ experiences and attitudes towards the tool varied to a great extent, some considered it was bringing results, others not much. But all the participants had one view in common: a belief in the medium. They believed in the impact, whether is Facebook or any other popular social platform, as an effective marketing and communication tool. The belief and commitment to update their pages as a regular activity can be considered as the key success aspect for a travel business, or any business in general, using social media.

CHAPTER 6

CONCLUSIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS

In 2005, Stephen Baker and Heather Green wrote the May Cover Story for BusinessWeek. It was titled: Blogs Will Change Your Business. Here, the author examined thoroughly the reasons why businesses should start blogging. ‘Blogs are not a business elective. They’re a prerequisite’ reads the article, saying that blogs ‘represent power’ because through them, anyone can reach a huge audience.

In this article, Baker and Green were able to interviewed different personalities involved with the emerging tool. Jeff Weiner, Yahoo’s senior vice-president said “Never in the history of market research has there been a tool like this.”

Three years later, in February 2008, the authors decided to update their story as they ‘did not see MySpace, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter coming’. ‘They’ve all emerged in the last three years, and all are nourished by users. Blogs were the heart of the story in 2005 but they’re just one of the tools millions can use today to lift their voices in electronic communities and create their own media’. The 2008 article was titled: Social Media Will Change Your Business.

The reason the authors decided to update their 2005 article were the thousands of visitors that were still downloading the blog cover story. This demonstrates that there is a groundswell support for social media in the published literature and businesses using these technologies seem to be more than just because is the latest trend. In theory, social media is indeed an effective business tool. There are millions of articles in the web, books, research-based evidence to prove it. The result of this study suggests that travel businesses in Panama are able to use social media effectively for a great variety of purposes from networking to reputation building. The consensus between all the interviewees was that social media represent a valuable tool for increasing the visibility and credibility of a business, regardless of the difficulties involved with it such as lack of time and/or updates.

Supporters of businesses embracing social media tend to believe that customers want to have relationships with the brands they use. However, the experience of the interviewees in this project was that customers were not actively seeking such a relationship by interacting with posts or comments in their pages. This represents an interest fact for further investigation.

Another factor that would be interesting to analyze is that the literature tends to take technical skills for using these tools for granted; but there is the possibility that those appointed to administer might lack some of the necessary skills to take off.

One final point that I would like to address is the little interest by the interviewees towards ROI measurement. This can also be an item for additional research, as in Panama it is still quite new the use of social media for business purposes. However, it is an increasing phenomenon.

The role of social media in business as a marketing and communication tool is clearly an ongoing story. Perhaps, what is presented in this project might be the basis for a social media business success strategy for travel businesses in Panama. The researcher looks forward to it.

APPENDIX

APPENDIX A

E-MAIL INVITATION

APPENDIX B

LIST OF INTERVIEWEES

POSITION	BUSINESS ACTIVITY	LOCATION
Administrative Assistant	Restaurant	Panama City
General Manager	Beach Resort	Buenaventura, Coclé
Marketing Manager	International Chain Hotel	Panama City
Marketing Manager	International Chain Hotel	Panama City
Marketing Manager	International Chain Hotel	Panama City
Owner	Travel Agency	Panama City
Owner	Tour Operator	Panama City
General Manager	Tour Operator	David, Chiriquí
Owner	Small Hotel	Contadora Island, Panama
Owner	Small Hotel	Playon Chico, Kuna Yala
Owner/Marketing Manager	Tour Operator	Panama City
Commercial Director	Travel Agency	Panama City
Operations Manager	Travel Agency	David, Chiriquí

APPENDIX C

Questionnaire

The following questionnaire is confidential and has the purpose of investigating the attitudes, perceptions, practices and motivations of tourism businesses in Panama using Facebook as a marketing tool. Please be explicit and detailed with your answers. If necessary, apply the use of emoticons and/or any other linguistic method that would enrich your answer.

1. Why you decided to create a Facebook page for your business. Please explain.
2. Does someone specifically in your organization is in charge of the Facebook page?
3. How often does your Facebook page is updated?
4. Do you feel Facebook has been effective as a marketing tool for your business? Please explain in depth.
5. Have you perceived any drawbacks of using Facebook to promote your business? Please explain.
6. How do you feel in participating in social media platforms like Facebook?
7. Are you willing to adopt new social media technologies if necessary?
8. What are your recommendations while using this type of media?

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[1] Search performed on November 3rd, 2008.

[2] Search performed on November 12th, 2008.