Social network Facebook and customer engagement: A pilot case study from hotel industry

Abstract

In recent years social media has provided new ways for hotels to communicate with the public. Companies in hotel industry need to interact with current and potential customers using social media such as Facebook, which is very popular with target groups especially between generations X and Y. The purpose of this study is to explore the communication of selected hotels with the public focusing on company communication that facilitates consumer sociability behaviour on Facebook. This pilot study uses a mixed methods research approach and integrates quantitative data analysis in the first phase with qualitative content analysis of company messages. The data were obtained from 3 four-star hotels and 1 five-star hotel on Facebook for three periods 2019, 2020 and 2021, always from April to June. The purpose was to evaluate how selected hotels developed their communication on Facebook and whether they also used it in a difficult period of opening hotel services in a COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of this study was also to examine the gratification factors that increase user satisfaction of hotels’ Facebook pages and to determine how user satisfaction affects visit intention to a selected hotel. The findings provide evidence of how hotels use Facebook for company–customer communication. The findings also indicate that different message features generated different customer behaviour. The study contributes to a better understanding of marketing on social media in the hotel industry.