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Social media channel segmentation of tourists

Juho Pesonen

Juho.pesonen@uef.fi

Centre for Tourism Studies,

University of Eastern Finland

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Agenda

• Introduction

• Background of the study

– Research questions

• Data and methods

• Results

• Conclusions and limitations

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Introduction

• Importance and popularity of social media in tourism research.

• Important role in travel information search.• Segmentation as a cornerstone of marketing

– Finding groups of customers that behave in a similar way

• Information channels have been used to validate segments in earlier research

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Earlier research• Fodness & Murray (1997): importance of

understanding information search behavior.– Segmentation and social media in tourism?– Bonn et al. (1999) internet users and non-users.– Correa et al. (2010) relationship between users’

personality and social media.– Consumer reviews, online buying behavior and

socio-demographics.– Plethora of different social media services.

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Research questions

• What kind of social media user and non-user segments can be found among online tourists?

• How segments differ regarding their online buying behaviour?

• What segments are most important for spreading electronic word of mouth?

• What kind of differences there are between segments in socio-demographic profiles?

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Data and methods• Online survey with 1515 usable responses

from largest Finnish rural tourism website.– Users were asked to choose the social media

services they had used during past 7 days.– Also online buying behavior and how often

respondents write reviews online were measured.

– Three step data analysis: users and non-users, segmenting users with TwoStep cluster analysis and comparing segments using ANOVA and chi-square

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The results

• Nine social media user segments and one non-user segment (N=184)– Facebookers (N=177)– Blog users (N=118)– Enthusiasts (N=152)– Wiki users (N=120)– Suomi24 users– (N=114)– Map users (N=125)– Actives (N=205)– Youtube users (N=183)– Youtube and Map users (N=137)

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Comparing segments

• Enthusiasts vs. other segments and non-users in writing reviews and purchasing products online.

• Enthusiasts are younger and have more men compared to other segments.

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Conclusions and limitations

• Usefullness of results for managerial purposes is low.

• Confirms earlier research.• Limitations in wording of the social media

question.• Almost as many segments as social media

channels.• Importance of Enthusiasts as a target group.

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References

• Bronner, F. & de Hoog, R. (2011). Vacationers and eWOM: Who Posts, and Why, Where, and What? Journal of Travel Research 50(1): 15-26

• Correa, T. Hinsley, A. & Zúñiga, H. (2010). Who interacts on the Web?: The intersection of users’ personality and social media use. Computers in Human Behavior, 26(2): 247-253.

• Fodness, D. & Murray, B. (1997). Tourist Information Search. Annals of Tourism Research, 24(3): 503-523.