Paper Sample on Digital Marketing: Potential Branding Opportunities Through Social Media

Introduction

For years now, social media marketing has significantly demonstrated huge growth that has gained significant attention worldwide. Technological advancement is critical in the potential growth of marketing through the use of social networking. Social media usage reached 74.6%, 60.6%, and 70.2 % in Europe, the USA, and Asian –Pacific in 2008 and 2009, respectively (Abuhashesh et al., 2019). Digital marketing presents potential branding opportunities in which social media networking assist in creating brand awareness and loyalty. In recent days social media has been adopted in different organizations' integrated marketing plans. The majority of business operators agree that online community use is now essential in marketing activities for several organizations. Before the inception of social media networking, consumers in the hotel industry had little resources to gather information about goods and services, most of the information was primarily obtained through agents and brochures.

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Service Industry

Service industry such as hotels that engage a constant and consistent communication with different customers are today drastically changing their marketing techniques into the use of social networking approaches over the traditional public relations and traditional marketing approaches. The use of social networking technologies and other ICT techniques has created a new and modern era of the tourism economy. Social media has provided businesses and organizations with platforms such as Facebook and Instagram to market their products and services. Face book and Instagram provide service industries with technologies that facilitate online workability and functionality, which helps collect information that can be used in the development of new goods and services to enhance and promote customers' satisfaction. Social media networking has, for years, now gained great attention in the global media. Technological growth and advancement have been a key indicator in the potential marketing of goods and services through the use of social media. Therefore, it is not a good idea for businesses and organizations more so the service industry to rely on the traditional methods of marketing.

The service industry should, therefore, move from offline to the online sale of products and services. If well utilized social media networking can be used in the development of brand loyalty, the creation of good customer rapport satisfaction. Social media marketing has significant potential in the service industry, that is, the Hotel industry. Social media networking provides immediate leeway to one's customers, thus permitting direct feedback from the client for one to provide better services. In recent years the hotel industry has grown tremendously in a wider range across the globe. Advanced digital marketing plays a critical role in the hotel industry, such as customers' attraction, and it is vital in achieving profits for any given hotel. Social networking has become the most preferred cheap marketing technique in the service industry since it promotes and encourages two-way communication between consumers and businesses, thus providing the latter with more freedom than they never had. Social media provides organizations and companies an opportunity to air their concern and issues to their clients, which, if effectively done, leads to brand loyalty. Facebook and Instagram helped Hotels track the number of conversations made on a particular product offered, thus assisting them in providing the required feedback to their customers.

Background of the Study

The emergence of Facebook and Instagram has significantly impacted processes in the tourism, catering, and hospitality industries. Social networking approaches are such as Face book, and Instagram is common in Geneva. A research conducted indicated that 79% of the population in Geneva use Face book while 41% use Instagram. Face book and Instagram provide hotels an opportunity to build upon relationships, enhance the hotel's online community reputation, and create SEO posters and content. The Crown Plaza is a hotel located in a dynamic business district that is five kilometers from the Geneva Cointrin Airport in Switzerland. The hotel provides its customers with free transport fees that include hotel shuttles and transport cards. It has three hundred and sixty-six rooms that are well spacious with an exclusive design that enhances comfort. The hotel has club rooms and a lounge that offers a relaxing atmosphere with a significant scenic view. It provides a range of services to its customers that includes entertainment and quality meeting and business hubs. It also provides clients with a spacious parking lot, gym center, hairdresser, and a conference center that can hold up to 1200 individuals for their wellbeing.

It provides a conducive environment for its customers that makes them feel more comfortable like a garden, a restaurant with a shaded terrace, a business center, and a bar with free accessibility of the internet. The hotel still uses both traditional and modern methods of marketing techniques to reach out to their clients. The hotel has provided its customers with a web page in which they can easily book for accommodation or meetings and access and review any updates regarding the hotel. The hotel has an active digital marketing influence that encompasses social media tools such as Facebook and Instagram. Additionally, the hotel still maintains traditional marketing tools that include advertisements through newspapers, magazines, use of brochures, and television advertisements. Face book and Instagram are indispensable hotel marketing tools because they present a favorable and conducive environment for decision-making and help customers plan for their trips and bookings.

Problem Statement and Rationale

With increased technological advancement, the Crowne Plaza hotel in Geneva is faced with inadequate funds, inadequacy in skilled labor that improper understanding of the changes in social media due to changes in technology. Researchers have argued that social media is a necessity in promoting sales in the hotel industry. Still, it is difficult to measure the return on investment that can be generated from social media. Thus, Crowne Plaza finds it difficult to invest more in social media marketing that is difficult to measure the value. The Crowne Plaza hotel's leadership and management find it difficult to attribute the value of dollars on the likes on Instagram, among other social media networking platforms. Even though social networking publicity is on the rise, the Crowne Plaza hotel is still struggling to cope up and find out the best social media techniques to market their products and services. Social networking, such as Facebook and Instagram, is growing daily. Today hotels are faced with challenges that entail how to engage and guide the consumers towards becoming a potential guest.

Conclusion

Today the traditional forms of marketing and sources of information have significantly been replaced by using social networking tools such as Facebook and Instagram. Social networking has progressively grown and increased from individuals to corporations or corporations. Social media has progressively changed the ways people live and how they communicate with each other across the globe. The concept of social media, more so the use of Facebook and Instagram, evolved much more than any other innovation the changing trends in technology have facilitated this. Social media has emerged as a major business tool that effectively engages customers, helping businesses build and promote their brand. Many organizations today, ranging from small scale business entities to large scale organizations companies, hotels, or other businesses, use social networking such as Facebook and Instagram as a vehicle towards reaching a large pool of customers.