Analyzing the Impact of Social Networks on Tourism Branding in Iran
Subject Areas : Research on Iranian social issues
Tayyebe Amirmostofian
1
,
mohammad hossein Imani Khoshkhoo
2
,
Hadi Khaniki
3
1 - Ph.D. Student, Department of Social Communication Sciences, Meibod Branch, Islamic Azad University, Meibod, Iran.
2 - Professor of Tourism Management Department, University of Science and Culture, Tehran, Iran.
3 - Professor, Department of Social Communication Sciences, Faculty of Social Communication Sciences, Allameh Tabatabaei University, Tehran, Iran.
Keywords: Social Networks, Tourism Branding, Tourism Marketing, Public Domain, And Structural Equation Modeling. ,
Abstract :
Analyzing the Impact of Social Networks
on Tourism Branding in Iran
Tayyebeh Amirmostofian *
Mohammad Hossein Imani Khoshkhoo **
Hadi Khaniki ***
Tourism branding has become a key component of the tourism industry. When a country develops a brand in the tourism sector, it would see prosperity in its tourism industry owning to the institutionalization of the brand among tourists, which would in turn result in societal development in the economic and cultural domains among others. This research has sought to identify and analyze social media factors that would help promote tourism branding in Iran. This is development research using the descriptive survey method with a mixed (qualitative-quantitative) approach. In this study, the effective factors in the relation between social media and tourism branding in Iran were studied by using thematic analysis and interviewing experts specializing in the communications and tourism fields.
Then, the interviews were classified in terms of content by factor analysis method. To confirm the classification and study the relation between the parameters, the confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation method were used. The main parameters in the relation between social networks and tourism branding include four layers: a reflection of the public sphere (tourism agencies) on social media; the impact of the destination’s internal and external factors on tourism branding; tourism marketing through social media; and tourism branding. The results of confirmatory factor analysis showed that the first three parameters, as independent variables, significantly impact the dependent variable of tourism branding.
Keywords: Social Networks, Tourism Branding, Tourism Marketing, Public Domain, And Structural Equation Modeling.
Extended abstract
Introduction
As social networks are growing rapidly, social media marketing is the most popular form of online marketing that can be used as a marketing tool for all industries. The tourism industry is no exception and is using social media because the industry has long relied on destination reputation, consumer opinion, information dissemination, and positive word-of-mouth advertising (Gohil, 2015). Social media plays an important role in tourists’ travel decisions (Hanan & Putit, 2014). The development of social media can help organizations and businesses promote their products, including tourism. Diverse social media makes it easier for tourists to make choices. The role of these networks in the tourism field is well-known, as this information industry is thought to be highly dependent on effective communication (Kim & Daniel, 2017). However, there is a theoretical gap between the existing knowledge about tourism promotional activities on social media and tourism branding. Considering the impact of social networks on Iranian tourism and its poor use in e-tourism marketing in Iran and the importance of brands in destination selection (Foruodi et al, 2016), this study aims to fill the theoretical gap by presenting a model to understand the impact of social networks on tourism branding in Iran. To achieve this goal, presenting a model of the impact of social networks on Iranian tourism branding and testing it among stakeholders and tourists (users) on social networks has been selected as a research strategy. Since Iran has attractive and diverse natural, historical and cultural beauties, demographic diversity and a suitable geographical location, this research addresses the issue of how social networks can affect tourism branding in Iran.
Model: Iranian tourism branding model based on social networks
Method
In the qualitative section, after conducting interviews and expert opinions, reviewing theoretical literature and coding, twenty effective indicators in the relationship between social networks and tourism branding were identified based on the analysis of the interviews. In the next stage, to summarize and categorize the components identified in the previous stage and discover the hidden dimensions of the relationship between social networks and tourism branding, a questionnaire based on the components was designed and provided to tourists and tourism industry stakeholders. Its results were analyzed using exploratory factor analysis using SPSS software. Considering the theoretical studies conducted for this article and since the number of factors obtained from theoretical foundations and interviews is large, these twenty components were categorized into four main factors through exploratory factor analysis and extracting questionnaires from twenty main components and distributing them to a statistical sample of 385 people.
|
Sub-indices |
Component |
|
Customer perception, positioning, brand creation, competitive advantage |
Branding |
|
Electronic services, advertising, organizational factors, product innovation and quality, receiving feedback about the tourism product |
Social networks and tourism marketing |
|
Tourist loyalty, willingness, participation, attitude, trust, tourism product value, product attractiveness |
Social networks and tourist attractions (internal and external factors of the destination) |
|
Social responsibility, social network, content sharing, validation and criticism of tourism reviews |
Social networks and the public sphere |
To examine and test them, we use the structural equation method and confirmatory factor analysis. Based on the obtained factors and also the theoretical and empirical results of the research to answer the question of what relationship can be imagined between social networks and tourism branding, the following hypotheses can be evaluated and tested.
First hypothesis: Marketing through social networks has a significant effect on tourism branding.
Second hypothesis: Reflection of the public sphere (tourism enterprises) through social networks has a significant effect on tourism branding.
Third hypothesis: The destination's Internal and external factors significantly affect tourism branding.
To examine and test them, we used the structural equation method and confirmatory factor analysis.
Findings
A sample of 385 managers, experts, tourism business owners, and tourists was selected to examine and test the research hypotheses. Data were collected through a structured questionnaire and subsequently analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistical methods.
Regarding the first hypothesis—that marketing through social media significantly influences tourism branding—the structural model reveals a standardized path coefficient of 0.62, with a corresponding t-value of 10.46. Given that this t-value exceeds the critical threshold of 1.96 at the 5% significance level, the null hypothesis is rejected with 95% confidence. This result indicates that advertising and marketing via social media have a statistically significant impact on tourism branding.
Concerning the second hypothesis—that the reflection of the public sphere of tourism enterprises through social media significantly affects tourism branding—the structural model indicates a standardized path coefficient of 0.53 and a t-value of 6.51. Since this t-value is also greater than 1.96, the null hypothesis is again rejected with 95% confidence. In other words, public activities such as demonstrating corporate social responsibility and sharing content through social media exhibit a statistically significant relationship with tourism branding.
Finally, for the third hypothesis—that internal and external destination factors significantly affect tourism branding—the structural model shows a standardized path coefficient (factor loading) of 0.55 along with a t-value of 8.53. This result confirms that internal and external factors of the destination exert a significant influence on tourism branding.
Overall, the findings from the structural equation model robustly support all three hypotheses, underscoring the critical role of social media in enhancing tourism branding through various channels and dimensions.
Discussion and Conclusion
The results indicate that marketing on social networks has a significant impact on tourism branding in Iran. However, merely being active on social networks is insufficient; creative strategies regarding the public domain (i.e., tourism enterprises) are also necessary. Such strategies should include an emphasis on social responsibility, careful selection of the appropriate social network, and the manner of content sharing—both in quantity and quality—along with engaging and original content. If a destination possesses creativity and a distinct personality compared to other destinations, it becomes more attractive for branding; furthermore, local community participation and content validation serve as key supports.
Thus, it is recommended that tourism policymakers incorporate social networks into tourism development strategies rather than excluding or neglecting the channel that the vast majority of consumers use. This study also acknowledges limitations, such as not accounting for variables like changes in social network platform algorithms. Additionally, the focus was solely on professionals and tourists, excluding other actors such as industry stakeholders, professional bloggers, or network organizations. Future research should consider these additional actors within the conceptual framework to further explore the opportunities that leveraging their influence might bring to tourism branding. Finally, given the results and the presented model indicating that tourism branding and marketing have become dependent on social networks, future research should examine the applicability of this conceptual framework in other sectors to investigate potential differences arising from specific business environments.
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* Ph.D. Student, Department of Social Communication Sciences, Meibod Branch, Islamic Azad University, Meibod, Iran.
t.mostofian@gmail.com
** Corresponding Author: Professor of Tourism Management Department, University of Science and Culture, Tehran, Iran.
mohammad.h.imani@gmail.com
*** Professor, Department of Social Communication Sciences, Faculty of Social Communication Sciences, Allameh Tabatabaei University, Tehran, Iran.
hadikhaniki@gmail.com
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