A regional survey of current practices on destination marketing organizations' Facebook pages: The case of EU and U.S.

Constantly changing nature of social network sites creates the need for continuous process of online benchmarking for identifying practices used by other parties. Facebook as the most used SNS still plays an increasingly important role as a marketing channel for destination marketing organizations (...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Stankov Uglješa, Jovanović Tamara, Pavluković Vanja, Kalinić Časlav, Drakulić-Kovačević Nataša, Cimbaljević Marija
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: University of Novi Sad, Department of Geography, Tourism and Hotel Management 2018-01-01
Series:Geographica Pannonica
Subjects:
Online Access:https://scindeks-clanci.ceon.rs/data/pdf/0354-8724/2018/0354-87241802081S.pdf
Description
Summary:Constantly changing nature of social network sites creates the need for continuous process of online benchmarking for identifying practices used by other parties. Facebook as the most used SNS still plays an increasingly important role as a marketing channel for destination marketing organizations (DMO). This paper explores basic characteristics of the official DMO Facebook Pages in order to quantify and present those characteristics in a regional context on the case of two travel markets (EU countries and U.S. states). The results show inconsistent practices in the EU and the USA. When comparing those two markets most similarities in practices are present in general usage of Facebook Pages, while indicative differences are recorded in terms of Page popularity, some posts' characteristics and most evidently in users' engagement. Understanding the Facebook usage practice under the regional spotlight can help DMOs and other service providers to evaluate their activities and if necessary to harmonize it to regional usage practice.
ISSN:0354-8724
1820-7138