Strategic Use of Social Media Affordances for Marketing: A Case Study of Chinese DMOs

The findings indicate that despite the opportunities for personal selling, DMOs do not fully capitalize on Weibo to achieve personal selling goals and not all technological functions are used for strategic marketing purposes.

Abstract

Social media have become important platforms for tourism marketers but it is not clear if and how these organizations use social media to achieve particular strategic marketing goals. Given the enormous growth of both tourism and social media in China, this paper focuses on Weibo and its specific technological affordances. Using a case study methodology, it looks at five Chinese DMOs and analyses their Weibo activities in terms of correspondence to marketing communication elements and relation to specific technological affordances. The findings indicate that despite the opportunities for personal selling, DMOs do not fully capitalize on Weibo to achieve personal selling goals. Further, not all technological functions are used for strategic marketing purposes. Both theoretical and practical implications are discussed.