The role of social media in destination brand awareness and destination brand experience

Abstract

Consumers are increasingly connecting in social media where they share experiences and stories and consequently influence each other's behavior, including where they go and what they purchase. Social media have evolved into important channels for marketing, offering new possibilities for interaction between user and brand. This poses a distinct challenge for destination management organizations, which must cope with a new reality where destination brands are increasingly the product of people's shared tourism experiences and storytelling in social networks, rather than marketing strategies. But the role of social media as an antecedent of the brand equity of a tourist destination is a scarcely studied theme. Among different elements of a brand, brand experience provides a more complete evaluation, which includes specific sensations, feelings, cognitions, and behavioral responses triggered by specific brand stimuli. The emotional or affective experience generated during the interaction of brand stimuli engenders a favorable attitude toward the brand, which may further help consumers to identify with a specific brand. Namely, an individual will find it easier to identify with a destination if he or she has pleasant and memorable experiences with the destination. The investigation of destination brand identification as a mediator for the relationship between destination brand experience (DBE) and tourists’ loyalty can provide crucial insights such as how experiential components of a destination (DBE) affect destination brand identification and brand advocacy. The present study, applying the schema theory, focusses on how social media communication affects brand awareness, brand experience, brand identification, and brand loyalty (e.g. WOM, eWOM). To test the proposed model, a quantitative study through an online survey is carried out with visitors to the tourist destination of Jeon- Ju, Republic of Korea. The conceptual model proposed in this research is analyzed using structural equation modeling. This finding shows the close relationship between the use of social networks and brand equity, and contributes to the development of better social media marketing in order to manage destination brands in the social media environment.