Social Media usage for destination marketing: A review of the theories of social media

Abstract

With the advent of Web 2.0, Customers now can freely share their experiences regarding their consumptions through electronic word of mouth (eWOM). Hence, Social media has become more vulnerable to transmitting both the good and bad message about product or services efficiently through an online platform. Moreover, the effect of social media has broad coverage of audience and information flows from one to many, therefore tourism managers, destination marketers are required to understand the growing impact of social media, which can be leveraged as a tool, for promoting their destinations. This paper discusses the theories behind the social media which creates the conceptual foundation for developing the models of social media marketing. Revisiting the theoretical foundation can help the researchers, policymakers and destination marketers to understand the social media in a better way for formulating the required model and research framework.