Hotel Facebook marketing: an integrated model

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to examine the underlying consumer behavior model of Facebook marketing for hotels, including the determinants, the process and the consequences of hotel Facebook marketing, as Facebook – the most popular social media platform – has become an important marketing tool for hotels. Design/methodology/approach – The study proposed an integrated model consisting of antecedents and consequences of Facebook marketing based on both marketing and social psychology theories. A pseudo hotel Facebook page was created and an online survey was conducted to collect data. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was utilized to test the proposed model. Findings – The SEM results indicated the proposed model to be a good fit with the data and all the hypotheses were supported except one. The findings suggested that compliance, internalization and identification are all determinants of the customer’s attitude toward a hotel Facebook page, while hotel booking intentions and intention of spreading word-of-mouth on Facebook are two consequences of hotel Facebook marketing. Research limitations/implications – The study used a pseudo hotel Facebook page and messages created solely for the purpose of the study, and so the survey participants might not be hotel guests or hotel Facebook fans. Future research using real hotel brands, “live” hotel Facebook pages and actual hotel guests or hotel Facebook fans to collect data may provide stronger support for the integrated model proposed in the study. Practical implications – The attitude toward a hotel Facebook site is influenced by the site’s congruency with the customer’s value system and personal identity with other users rather than external rewards. Hotel booking intentions and spreading word-of-mouth are two significant consequences of hotel Facebook marketing. Hotels should aim to create an interactive site for users and establish communities with a clear identity so that users can easily relate their own self-identity with other group members and maintain satisfying relationships with them. Originality/value – This is a preliminary and exploratory study of the fundamental marketing mechanism of hotel Facebook marketing. The proposed model reveals not only the antecedents but also the consequences of hotel Facebook marketing. The study and the proposed model may be used as a starting point for further hospitality Facebook marketing research.