The Impacts of Viral Marketing on
Destination Image
Mariella Su
Diploma in International Hotel and Tourism Management
HTMi Switzerland
Introduction
People always have a prejudice and expectation of the destinations that they are
travelling to, possibly due to the influence of friends' perception, online research
and social media. Trip advisor and WebPages like blogs, Facebook, Twitter and
YouTube are usually their common sources of information. Reynolds (1965)
stated that stereotypical thinking plays a part in forming destination image as
well (Govers, Go and Kumar, 2007). As information from different sources slowly
builds up, destination image also develops in one's mind (Leisen, 2001). In the
last decade, elevation of the technology has brought about much benefit to
people all over the world. Exchange of information and communication across
borders is much easier as a result of globalization. Competition between different
companies intensifies as they introduce more and more new marketing strategies
to catch the public's attention. Subsequently, a new marketing trend was
observed over the past decade. It is viral marketing, especially electric word-of-
mouth (eWOM). As part of their research, Sharma et al. (2011-2012) suggested
that the most common and conventional way to spread information was through
word-of-mouth (WOM). However, as technology advances, eWOM became more
significant in daily communication and marketing.
In 1999, a term named 'e-fluential' was created by Burson-Marsteller to describe
the effect of Internet on people's behaviour and thinking today (Burson
Marsteller, 2005 cited in Sharma and Morales-Arroyo et al., 2012). eWOM is one
of the techniques used to create e-fluential effect on people. Operations and
individuals that spotted the great power of social media began marketing
through this channel due to its convenience. The combination of both social
media and WOM created the buzzword 'viral marketing'. Today, almost every
business and individual uses the technique of viral marketing. The constant
change of destination image is not an exception too. Through this paper, the
author is going to research more about the impacts of viral marketing on
destination image.
Concepts and theories of Viral Marketing
Wilson (2012) states that viral marketing is any form of marketing techniques a
person uses to spread a message to other people, given that the likelihood of the
message will create a huge impact and publicity among the crowd. On the other
hand, some argued that viral marketing is an aspect in marketing which aides
and supports people in passing a marketing message (Marketingterms.com,
2013). This strategy is highly effective and allows a message to spread extremely
fast within a short period of time (Stewart and Ewing et al., 2009).
Today, viral marketing is commonly used to describe marketing of a product or
idea on the Internet where information is highly accessible and available.
However, viral marketing does not include Internet only. It also includes the
traditional WOM. Unlike traditional marketing methods, viral marketing obtains
a quick output. In the past, people spread message through WOM, however, with
the advancement of technology and globalization, WOM is reinforced to become
electronic word of mouth (eWOM) (Howard, 2005). eWOM uses electronic
products like Internet and mobile phones to spread messages.
Figure 1: Viral Marketing Model (Sirf Marketing, 2013)
To quote from Pariñas Jerico (2011), "the main objectives of viral marketing are
social profile gathering, proximity market analysis and real-time key word
density analysis." The marketing party can pair up with the addressed customers
at a profitable position as long as these goals are meet and fulfilled (Jerico, 2011).
Through viral marketing, the idea or campaign reach the filtered target market
and hence, achieve the goal of making the idea or product the topic of discussion
among the people. (Stewart and Ewing et al., 2009).
Concepts and Theories of Destination Image
According to Lawson and Baud Bovy (1977), destination image is formed by a
combination of several people or individual's biased and unbiased judgment,
feelings and creative thoughts on a specific place. However, Valls (1992) pointed
out that, from consumers' standpoint, destination image is the collection of
consumers' opinions (Lopes and Others, 2011). The concept of destination image
is normally applied in the tourism industry as it is closely related to the decision
making process of tourists. The evolution of destination image can be affected by
three sources. They are "supply side or destination, independent or autonomous,
and demand-side or image receivers" (Tasci and Gartner, 2007, p.415).
Figure 2: Model of the Formation of Destination Image (Beerli and Martin, 2004, p. 660)
Figure 3: Types of Secondary Image (Lopes et al., 2011, p. 311)
Figure 2 shows the formation of destination image. To explain the model in other
words, the factors affecting the formation of destination image can be classified
into internal and external. Internal factors include personal belief, values,
intention and past experience. The visual appearance produced in their mind
with the influence of internal factors eventually ends up being the subjective
image of the destination (Beerli and Martı´n, 2004).
In addition, figure 3 elaborates more on secondary information source. Baloglu
and Mccleary, 1999, stated that external factors could be further divided into
typical and social provocations. They mentioned that typical provocation is
media while social provocations are friends, families and word-of-mouth.
Reisinger and Turner (2002) also stated that WOM is a vital method to transmit
information and influence customers' decisions on destination of travel. In 1986,
Phelps (cited in Beerli and Martı´n, 2004) suggested that the image formed by
organic, induced and autonomous sources of information is usually one's
prejudice before the experience. In general, destination image is affected by one's
emotions and knowledge of the place regardless whether the source of
information is self-obtained or induced. Both internal and external sources will
form the intellectual image first. Over time, emotion will be attached depending
on the positivity of the information. Intellectual knowledge and emotions
contributes to the final perceived image of the destination.
Viral Marketing and Destination Image
The aim of viral marketing is to catch people's attention and make them discuss
about the product or idea the company is marketing on. To stand out from all the
other commercial clips, promotions, viral marketing is a better channel to spread
the message, given that the content is interesting and unforgettable (Ackers,
2010). Figure 2 shows the different types of destination image formation; organic
or induced. Organic information and illustrations of the destination are usually
derived from impartial sources. Whereas, induced image is seemed as the
purpose of media promotion and marketing (McCartney, Butler and Bennet,
2008). Viral marketing, which falls under media promotion, is a way to form
induced destination image. Therefore, through the use of social media and WOM,
destination image can be formed either positively or negatively as messages
spread through viral marketing are usually uncontrollable as it is difficult to track
who has received it.
The Use of Viral Marketing in Different Industries
Viral Marketing in the General Business Industry
Based on the definition, concepts and characteristics of viral marketing, more
and more companies from different industries are beginning to adopt this
marketing technique. For example, Business industry (Dobele, Toleman and
Beverland, 2005), Tourism industry (Jalilv and Samiei et al., 2012; Schlegelmilch
and Ollenburg, 2013) and Food and Beverage industry (Kathryn and Chester,
2009). Jim Nail even (cited in Ferguson, 2008) claimed that viral is the next
development phase of loyalty regimen. Successful viral marketing campaign
should connect to the audience emotionally, seize their imagination (Sterne,
Priore, 2000; Dobele and Lindgreen et al., 2007) and be directed to the right
market (Dobele and Lindgreen et al., 2007; Ferguson, 2008). According to
Ferguson, 2008, (cited from Inc. magazine) viral marketing technique is adopted
by 82% of the aggressively developing individual companies.
Viral Marketing in Hospitality and Tourism Industry
Jalilv and Samiei et al., 2012 discovered that tourists view the sharing of past
experience from surrounding people and online reviews extremely important.
From future, probable visitors' point of view, suggestions from past travellers are
most reliable (Jalilv and Samiei et al., 2012). Pleasing experiences tend to create
an urge in tourists to share their wonderful experience with either their families
or friends or through the internet (Jalilv and Samiei et al., 2012; Yeoh, Othman
and Ahmad, 2013). Furthermore, results have proven that online comments and
reviews made by tourists can affect people's travel motivation former to the trip
(Sharma and Morales-Arroyo et al., 2012 and Jalilv and Samiei et al., 2012). The
key to knowing the constant-changing preferences of the tourists and their
thoughts is for brand or destination manager’s operator to collect tourists' online
reviews and comments (Litvin, Goldsmith and Pan, 2008; Jalilv and Samiei et al.,
2012). This can help to resolve the current problems faced and protect the
destination brand or image from further harm. In relation to Hospitality and
Tourism, Food and Beverage industry has identified adolescents as the biggest
target market as because most of them are active on different media platforms
today. Thus, viral marketing campaigns can easily catch their attention. Past
research done have also shown how reciprocal digital marketing is found to be
the most effective (Montgomery and Chester, 2009). The six highlights mentioned
are pervasive relatedness, customization, participation, engagement, mutual
connection through Internet and lastly, idea formation. They are the aspects that
should be fulfilled before claiming the campaign successful.
Destination Image in relation with Tourists' Motivation and
Perception
Many past researchers have looked into the topic on destination image and how
it is inter-related to tourists' desire and perception. (Ekinci, 2003; Govers, Go and
Kumar, 2007; Lin and Huang, 2009; Stewart and Ewing et al., 2009; Chen and
Phou, 2013). Some of them did case studies on specific countries. For example,
Russia (Stepchenkova and Morrison, 2006) and Taiwan (Lin and Huang, 2009;
Chen and Phou, 2013). In the studies done on Taiwan, tourists' perception which
then affect their ambition can be classified into five main aspects. They are firstly
destination brand, atmosphere, culture and tradition, environment and lastly
entertainment and activities (Lin and Huang, 2009; Chen and Phou, 2013). On the
other hand, for tourists travelling to Russia, the nine main aspects of destination
image which can affect their interest are conventional tourism, framework, niche
tourism, safety, history, food and culture, service, adventure and family/adult
(Stepchenkova and Morrison, 2008). Based the findings done, the author assume
that before travelling, tourists first look out for basic necessities like safety and
physiological needs before considering other factors like entertainment since
most of the aspects covers the bottom layers of Maslow's pyramid on hierarchy of
needs.
Conclusion and Recommendations
The author discussed and explained the theories on the formation of destination
image. They can either be due to the influence of foreign sources or personal
experience/impression of the place. On the other hand, viral marketing,
especially with the use to technology, is said to be the most effective way to
spread information, as transmission is instant. Past research and studies have
shown that successful marketing campaigns are able to connect with their target
market emotionally. With proven results on the effectiveness of viral marketing,
from the scale of countries, industries to individual, they can check if they have
fulfilled the necessary requirements to creating a successful viral marketing
campaign. There is never a limit to creativity, as long as there is a fresh, unique
idea or selling point, it is most likely going to be well-received by the public.
However, market research should be done to evoke feelings from the audience
and campaign should be targeted at the right market. The paper also mentioned
a little on the impacts of viral marketing on destination image. In simple words,
the direct impact is either valuable or harmful to the image. Additionally, it can
also affect the decisions and thoughts of tourists. During the research phase, the
author was not able to find many articles that investigate thoroughly on the
impacts of viral marketing on destination image.
Only minimal evidence and results proved that viral marketing is the most
effective marketing technique. Future researchers looking into this topic should
create a viral marketing campaign that helps to measure the effectiveness of viral
marketing. To ensure the fairness and credibility of the findings, statistics should
be collected from a group of people with different gender, age, nationalities and
backgrounds. In this paper, the author did not elaborate in details the impacts of
viral marketing due to limited or irrelevant information from the sources. To the
industry, the author would suggest them to explore deeper into why certain
campaigns are more popular and vice versa. This will link to the topic on
consumer behaviour. Studies should be done in conjunction for both topics so
that a best conclusion can be drawn. Countries and operations will then be able
to cater better to tourists' and customers' needs. As a result, a win-win situation
can be obtained, satisfaction level of the tourists increase.
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