Social Media in destination marketing: An analysis using the example of Tourismus & Congress GmbH Region Bonn/Rhein-Sieg/Ahrweiler

Abstract

The World Wide Web and Social Media have become an essential aspect in today’s society: Already about half of the world population uses the Internet. Evidently also businesses from all industries have identified the opportunity to make use of the new communication and distribution channels as well as to profit from User Generated Content. The destination marketing organization Tourismus & Congress GmbH Region Bonn/Rhein-Sieg/Ahrweiler aims at taking this step. After introducing the reader to the world of Social Media with a detailed presentation of its categories social networks, microblogging, mediasharing, travel review sites and blogs, the importance and application of Social Media in the touristic consumption phases is pointed out. To identify suiting Social Media platforms that will help improve the destination marketing organization’s current Social Media strategy and enhance its communication with both partners and customers, a selection of Social Media platforms have been analyzed and compared by the author with regards to the company’s specifications. To do so, an elaborated list of comparison criteria were answered with respect to seven Social Media platforms. Finally, recommendations as well as general advice for internal implementation of the newly created web presences are given by the author.