Examining tourism SMMEs’ extent of use of social media technologies to position and market brands.
In view of the growing diversity of stakeholders that emerging, tourism businesses are envisaged to engage with in their businesses, small, micro and medium enterprises’ sub-optimal utilisation of social media technology (SMT) for branding and marketing of their products and services is ironic and p...
| Main Authors: | , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
AfricaJournals
2019-02-01
|
| Series: | African Journal of Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.ajhtl.com/uploads/7/1/6/3/7163688/article_25_vol_8_2__2019.pdf |
| _version_ | 1818335525926338560 |
|---|---|
| author | Lentswe Mosweunyane Patient Rambe Dennis Dzansi |
| author_facet | Lentswe Mosweunyane Patient Rambe Dennis Dzansi |
| author_sort | Lentswe Mosweunyane |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | In view of the growing diversity of stakeholders that emerging, tourism businesses are envisaged to engage with in their businesses, small, micro and medium enterprises’ sub-optimal utilisation of social media technology (SMT) for branding and marketing of their products and services is ironic and problematic. Perhaps the persistent inability of such businesses to augment their customer base stems from their dependence on traditional technologies such as television and newspapers for marketing
their activities. However, these traditional technologies do not actively increase the visibility of brands to customers and to broader markets the same way SMTs would. To close this gap, this paper examines tourism SMMEs’ extent of use of SMTs to position and market brands. A quantitative approach and
survey was conducted on 234 tourism SMMEs’ owner/managers in the Free State province of South Africa to establish the influence of SMTs on the branding and marketing of their products and services. Only 123 questionnaires were correctly completed, representing a response rate of 53%. The papers’ findings revealed that tourism SMMEs in the Free State province utilise social media technologies to position and market their brands and services. It further demonstrated that SMTs are important for
branding tourism SMMEs’ products/services as customers and prospective customers often engage with the business via these platforms. The study recommends tourism SMMEs to develop an inventory of customers and potential customers’ preferred social media platforms to ensure the optimisation of SMT-based branding and marketing. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-13T14:24:49Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-7647503151864983aef64f201fce06a8 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2223-814X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-13T14:24:49Z |
| publishDate | 2019-02-01 |
| publisher | AfricaJournals |
| record_format | Article |
| series | African Journal of Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure |
| spelling | doaj.art-7647503151864983aef64f201fce06a82022-12-21T23:41:57ZengAfricaJournalsAfrican Journal of Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure2223-814X2019-02-0182Examining tourism SMMEs’ extent of use of social media technologies to position and market brands.Lentswe Mosweunyane0Patient Rambe1Dennis Dzansi2Central University of Technology, Free State, South AfricaCentral University of Technology, Free State, South AfricaCentral University of Technology, Free State, South AfricaIn view of the growing diversity of stakeholders that emerging, tourism businesses are envisaged to engage with in their businesses, small, micro and medium enterprises’ sub-optimal utilisation of social media technology (SMT) for branding and marketing of their products and services is ironic and problematic. Perhaps the persistent inability of such businesses to augment their customer base stems from their dependence on traditional technologies such as television and newspapers for marketing their activities. However, these traditional technologies do not actively increase the visibility of brands to customers and to broader markets the same way SMTs would. To close this gap, this paper examines tourism SMMEs’ extent of use of SMTs to position and market brands. A quantitative approach and survey was conducted on 234 tourism SMMEs’ owner/managers in the Free State province of South Africa to establish the influence of SMTs on the branding and marketing of their products and services. Only 123 questionnaires were correctly completed, representing a response rate of 53%. The papers’ findings revealed that tourism SMMEs in the Free State province utilise social media technologies to position and market their brands and services. It further demonstrated that SMTs are important for branding tourism SMMEs’ products/services as customers and prospective customers often engage with the business via these platforms. The study recommends tourism SMMEs to develop an inventory of customers and potential customers’ preferred social media platforms to ensure the optimisation of SMT-based branding and marketing.https://www.ajhtl.com/uploads/7/1/6/3/7163688/article_25_vol_8_2__2019.pdfsocial media technologiesbrandingmarketingtourism SMMEs |
| spellingShingle | Lentswe Mosweunyane Patient Rambe Dennis Dzansi Examining tourism SMMEs’ extent of use of social media technologies to position and market brands. African Journal of Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure social media technologies branding marketing tourism SMMEs |
| title | Examining tourism SMMEs’ extent of use of social media technologies to position and market brands. |
| title_full | Examining tourism SMMEs’ extent of use of social media technologies to position and market brands. |
| title_fullStr | Examining tourism SMMEs’ extent of use of social media technologies to position and market brands. |
| title_full_unstemmed | Examining tourism SMMEs’ extent of use of social media technologies to position and market brands. |
| title_short | Examining tourism SMMEs’ extent of use of social media technologies to position and market brands. |
| title_sort | examining tourism smmes extent of use of social media technologies to position and market brands |
| topic | social media technologies branding marketing tourism SMMEs |
| url | https://www.ajhtl.com/uploads/7/1/6/3/7163688/article_25_vol_8_2__2019.pdf |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT lentswemosweunyane examiningtourismsmmesextentofuseofsocialmediatechnologiestopositionandmarketbrands AT patientrambe examiningtourismsmmesextentofuseofsocialmediatechnologiestopositionandmarketbrands AT dennisdzansi examiningtourismsmmesextentofuseofsocialmediatechnologiestopositionandmarketbrands |