Keywords Social media, wellness, SPA-hotels, service quality, marketing communication, service dominant logic of marketing

Transcription

1 Conference Proceedings 16th Toulon-Verona Conference "Excellence in Services" University of Ljubljana, Slovenia, August 2013 pp ISBN: SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING IN THE WELLNESS INDUSTRY Stefan Lagrosen, Ph.D. Professor of Marketing and Management Linnaeus University School of Business and Economics Sweden stefan.lagrosen@lnu.se Kerstin Grundén, Ph.D. Professor of Informatics and Systems Science University West Department of Economics and IT Sweden kerstin.grunden@hv.se Abstract The advent of social media is dramatically changing the way marketing communication is conducted. This paper reports a study regarding the use of social media in the wellness industry. This industry is competitive and utterly dependent on creating mutually beneficial relationships with customers. The purpose has been to investigate the use of social media marketing in the wellness industry. Qualitative methods have been used. In-depth interviews have been carried out with marketing communication professionals in seven leading Swedish SPA-hotels. The data from the interviews were analysed utilising the constant comparative method from the grounded theory approach. As a result dimensions describing the activities, challenges and results of social media in the hotels have been defined. The findings are related to service quality theory, in particular the service dominant logic of marketing, and a comprehensive framework is proposed. The findings should be useful for the scientific understanding of the effects of social media in marketing as well as for companies wanting to communicate in a better way in these new media. Keywords Social media, wellness, SPA-hotels, service quality, marketing communication, service dominant logic of marketing Introduction and purpose The wellness industry is expanding in most parts of the world. Still, very little research has been carried out regarding this industry. While there have been large amounts of research produced regarding traditional health care, recreational health care in the form of spas, fitness centres, massage therapists etc. have been almost neglected by researchers. Nevertheless, this is an industry which is important for the well-being of many people. This study concerns marketing of spa-hotels. It is part of a larger research project in the spa-industry in which we

2 examine different aspects of marketing, management and health in the spa-industry. This particular section concerns social media marketing. The development of social media and web 2.0 is rapidly changing the conditions for marketing. In just a few years, people s media habits have been substantially altered. This is particularly true for young people (Ruane & Wallace, 2013). Thus, the purpose for this study has been to investigate the use of social media marketing in the wellness industry. The theoretical basis has been the service dominant logic of marketing, SDL, which lately has become quite wide-spread in the marketing field and many studies have been based on it. However, there is room for further development of the framework. In particular, social media marketing, which is becoming ever more important, is not integrated. Our ambition is that this study will contribute to such integration. The rest of the paper is structured as follows. First, we will discuss our theoretical inputs in the form of SDL and social media marketing. Next, we will present the methodology that we have used followed by the findings and a discussion regarding them. Finally, we will summarise our conclusions and give some suggestions for further research. The service dominant logic of marketing In recent years, a new way of approaching marketing related to services has come to light the service dominant logic of marketing, SDL (Vargo & Lusch, 2004a). Its originators claim that this is a completely new paradigm of marketing thought and that it will change the way marketing is viewed in the same way that traditional physics was revolutionised by the advent of quantum mechanics (Lusch & Vargo, 2006). The novelty lies in the fact that it does not focus on services as such. Services marketing is usually seen as a way of conducting marketing for a certain kind of products i.e. services. Therefore, much effort has been wasted on identifying differences between goods and services while still departing from a goodsbased perspective (Vargo & Lusch, 2004b). SDL in contrast regards service marketing as an approach, a way of conducting marketing for any kind of products in which the focus is on providing value for the customer. SDL builds on a number of fundamental premises which were originally formulated as follows (Vargo & Lusch, 2004a): 1. The application of specialised skills and knowledge is the fundamental unit of exchange 2. Indirect exchange masks the fundamental unit of exchange 3. Goods are distribution mechanisms for service provision 4. Knowledge is the fundamental source of competitive advantage 5. All economies are service economies 6. The customer is always a coproducer 7. The enterprise can only make value propositions 8. A service-centred view is customer oriented and relational SDL has had a large impact on marketing thought and the framework is evolving. In a later paper (Vargo & Lusch, 2008) the authors have revised the premises and added two more: 9. All social and economic actors are resource integrators 10. Value is always uniquely and phenomenologically determined by the beneficiary

3 Despite its impact, critics hold that SDL need further development (Brookes, 2007) and particularly that more empirical research is needed (Winklhofer, Palmer, & Brodie, 2007). One area that needs further development is the connection between SDL and branding (Brodie, Glynn, & Little, 2006). Interestingly, SDL may lead to branding being extended into wider communication modes (Ballantyne & Aitken, 2007). Social media and marketing Social media have revolutionized our social contacts not only in every-day life. The use of social media has also become more and more popular as a marketing tool for the establishment and management of customer relationships and they have been found to influence people s shopping behaviour (Ruane & Wallace, 2013). According to the traditional marketing paradigm, marketing is seen according to the one-way interaction model, where the producer is the sender and the customer is the receiver. In contrast, the use of social media in marketing is based on a multi-way interaction approach, in which the roles of sender and receiver are mixed (Scott 2010). Social media can create value fusion, in which value is created for a whole network including both customers and companies (Larivière et al., 2013). A pull marketing strategy is more efficient for the use of social media than the traditional push-marketing approach. This means that the producer uses social media for the communication of information, knowledge, values and ethics related to the service or product, in order to entice the customer to interact. When the customer is interested in taking part in the interaction, valuable information about interests, preferences and values could be interchanged in an informal process and affect the further customer relationship and marketing activities in order to make the product or service more attractive. Contrary to many other market communication efforts, social media marketing is accepted by most users as long as it is not exaggerated (Hansson, Wrangmo, & Solberg Soilen, 2013).The combination of the use of different social media could also reinforce the marketing effects. Social media could be an economic alternative especially for entrepreneurs and smaller businesses as low costs are needed, apart from working hours. Nevertheless, many companies are uncertain regarding how to use social media and many use it just in order to appear modern (Lagrosen & Josefsson, 2011). Methodology This study is part of a larger study focusing on quality management, marketing and health in the wellness industry. The research is financed by the Swedish Knowledge foundation and it is carried out in collaboration between a group of researchers and seven spa-hotels in southern and western Sweden. The hotels are all leading actors in the Swedish spa-industry. They are presented in Table 1.

4 Spa-hotel Sankt Jörgen Park Resort Stenungsbaden Yacht Club Ystads Saltsjöbad Varbergs Kurort Hotel Tylösand Bokenäs Hav Spa Hotel Skansen Comments A spa-hotel in Gothenburg with many day guests and an integrated golf course A spa-hotel with a relaxed American east coast image The leading seaside spa-hotel on the south coast A seaside spa-hotel with a focus on traditional Swedish treatments A seaside spa-hotel with focus on art and music A spa-hotel in a serene rural coastal setting A fashionable spa-hotel in the famous tennis resort, Båstad Table 1. The spa-hotels included in the study This part of the study is based on qualitative methodology. In-depth interviews (Patton, 1990) were carried out with people responsible for social media activities in the hotels. In total, eight in-depth interviews were carried out, two in one of the companies and one in each of the others. In addition, a workshop was carried out with the managers of the hotels as participants. The data from the interviews and the workshop were analysed using the constant comparative technique from the grounded theory approach (Glaser, 1992; Glaser & Strauss, 1967; Strauss & Corbin, 1990). Findings When the constant comparative technique was applied to the data, four main categories emerged, which depict the dimensions of the social media marketing activities. They are presented below. Management This dimension concerns how the social media marketing activities are organised and managed. Usually, the activities on social media had been started by an enthusiast having personal interest in social media. Being dependent on one or a few enthusiastic people was seen as a problem by many of the hotels. Consequently, they tried to further organise the social media activities and divide the responsibilities between more people. Nevertheless, they were varyingly successful in this and some of the hotels still rely to a large degree on the efforts of a very small number of enthusiastic people. The social media marketing usually falls under the marketing department and is led by the marketing manager although in some of the companies the enthusiast comes from another department. Often IT-people are more knowledgeable regarding social media but they may not be skilled in marketing. Some of the hotels also use external consultants. The people handling social media marketing do not do it full time but as a part of their other assignments.

5 Usually, the people handling the social media activities are not very young. As social media sometimes is seen as a youth phenomenon, some of the hotels have considered employing youngsters but none of them has realised this. Since the customers normally are somewhat older people, youngsters may have difficulties creating fruitful relationships with them. The social media activities are part of yearly plans but it is difficult to plan them in detail as the developments in this area are so fast. Thus, flexibility is needed and plans for longer than one year are never made. The hotels realise that people handling social media need to have sufficient competencies for this. However, they do not have any formal training, instead they learn from experience. Some even learn from their children. Media This dimension concerns the choice of social media for the marketing communication. Facebook is the most common medium by far. All the hotels use it actively. Twitter, blogs and YouTube are also quite widespread. Some of the hotels also sometimes use Bambuser, Moreover, they are affected by TripAdvisor and Rata.se which are sites where customers can share their views of the hotels. Some of the companies also use MyNewsDesk which is a public relations medium rather than a social medium. In most hotels, one person is responsible for all social media activities. However, sometimes the responsibilities are divided such as e.g. one person handles Facebook while another handles Twitter. Facebook is usually connected to the homepage and some hotels have a connection to a YouTube channel there as well. One of the hotels has a mobile application that is connected to Facebook in the way that when customers check into it, they also check into Facebook. The hotels still use traditional media as a complement to social media for their marketing communication, particularly since several customers, especially older people, do not use social media. However, some of them are dissatisfied with the results of traditional media advertising and believe that social media marketing will expand its share of the communication efforts. Content In this dimension, the substance of the communication of the companies on the social media is contained. The amount of content on the social media varies in amount over time and between the hotels, and it is difficult to plan in advance. The hotels usually follow each other on social media in order to keep track of their competitors and get inspiration. The content is usually concerning local matters and it is always written in Swedish although some of the companies have a fair amount of international customers. Creating interest is vital. Contests of different kinds are quite common for this purpose, for instance photo competitions, which also create a large amount of positive content. Prizes can be free treatments or gift vouchers etc. The hotels that have developed a mobile app present their daily programme and the treatments available on it. One hotel has created a service that they call the digital reception in which they try to integrate all internet communication as well as bookings of rooms, classes and treatments.

6 Finding the right tone is important. Generally, the posts on the social media are written in a personal, yet correct style. In addition, on Facebook the names of the individuals writing are usually revealed in order to make it more personal. This is, however, usually not the case on Twitter. Using pictures is very common as they attract attention and express much. Creating feelings and impressions is often seen as more important than conveying factual information. The objective is not hard selling but maintaining positive relationships. Usually, the hotels also have a policy not writing about the guests and not writing anything bad about the company. The timing of publishing content is important. Usually, the late afternoon and evening are seen as the best times for posting on Facebook since this is the time when most people use it. One problem with a blog is that it requires frequent updating with interesting content of some substance. Some hotels experience a difficulty in fulfilling this. Since the tone is different on the different social media, the content cannot just be copied and pasted but it has to be rewritten. This is also necessary for improving the chances of rating high on Google searches. Nevertheless, this requires much attention. The content posted by customers is generally not seen as a problem, although it is easier to use a hard language on social media than face-to-face. Negative comments are not removed unless they are offensive but the hotels try to answer them. Most comments are posted by female customers, which is logical since most customers are female, but negative comments are more frequently posted by male customers. Some hotels present guest feeds from TripAdvisor directly on their website although there is some risk in this since they cannot control that content at all. Nevertheless, the negative comments are rather few and in general the customers share happy posts describing enjoyable experiences at the hotels. Also some funny anecdotes are posted. Thus, the social media become something of a living and digital guestbook. Sometimes the companies get useful tips from their customers regarding their services. These are imparted to the manager in charge of this particular service. Effects This dimension regards the effects that the companies see from their social media marketing activities. Analysing and measuring the effects of the social media marketing is not done in any systematic way. This is something that they realise that they ought to improve. They can see how many followers they have and how active the followers are with comments but they are uncertain as to how much this contributes to their sales and profits. Although they have not really measured it, several of the managers have the impression that the social media activities have contributed to attract more customers. This effect comes especially when they begin using a certain social medium or when they have campaigns in the form of contests and the like. Nonetheless, the customers do not want to be bombarded with offers so there is a certain attrition effect in this. Social media activities take time from the employees, which means that they generate costs. In addition, the competency of the people handling social media must be assured. It might be a good investment to employ someone who is an expert on social media, although this would be costly.

7 The main reason for being active on social media seems to be the effect that they are supposed to have on their brand. The companies believe that their activities on social media make them seem more modern and hip. In addition, they claim that it would have seemed very strange for them not to be on social media. This is just something they have to do in the current media situation, they suppose. They also see social media as a way of spreading word of mouth. The constructive comments and tips that the companies receive on social media are very helpful in improving the services and thus achieving higher customer satisfaction. The feedback is very fast and efficient. Notwithstanding their usefulness, constructive comments from customers are not always acted upon for various reasons. Discussion and connection to SDL Previous research has emphasised the value of the interactive possibilities of social media for creating meaningful interactions with the customers. The hotels in this study utilise this to a certain extent. Nevertheless, it seems that they do not really take full advantage of the interactive possibilities. They have some interaction with the customers but they still seem to view social media as a communication channel rather than as an interaction channel. In SDL, it is emphasised that the customer is always a coproducer of value. This is particularly true for social media interaction, which is created by active contributions from consumers and producers alike. The hotels take some advantage of this by allowing influences from the customers delivered on social media serve as an input to their service offers. They could probably benefit from doing this to an even higher degree. Nevertheless, this is timeconsuming and requires competency as well as an organisation that is structured in a way that facilitates this. That is probably the reason that the interactive possibilities are not utilised to a higher degree. What is exchanged, according to SDL, is specialised skills and knowledge. The spa-hotels have extensive knowledge into how to create enjoyable and health promoting experiences. This knowledge is the basis for their services. Imparting such knowledge on social media should be possible to a large degree. Nevertheless, this requires an organisation that supports the social media activities. This has been shown to be difficult for the studied companies, partly due to social media being so new and fast developing. Often the companies rely on one or a few enthusiasts, which is hardly sustainable in the long run. Moreover, SDL holds that knowledge is the fundamental source of competitive advantage. This obviously concerns knowledge of the service processes. However, it should also include the marketing knowledge, not least regarding social media. Companies could use social media to create fruitful interaction with customers, which could give them a competitive advantage not restricted to the social media activities but also regarding the core activities since the value of them is determined by the customer and the interaction on social media could help the companies to develop value propositions that are more oriented to the wishes of their customers. We have refrained from comparing the different hotels with each other as this was not part of the purpose. Nevertheless, we can obviously see differences. Some of the hotels use social media in creative and quite skilled ways. They know which media to use and have a fairly good idea of what content is appreciated. Others are beginners and do not at all take advantage of the possibilities that the social media provides. Notwithstanding their better performance, even the best hotels find it difficult to organise the social media marketing in an

8 optimal way. In addition, none of the companies have any well-grounded knowledge into the costs versus effects of their social media activities. They do not measure or follow this up in systematic ways. It is probably difficult to do this and this adds to the ambiguity and intricacy of the whole area of social media marketing. Nevertheless, more knowledge of the impact of different ways of working should be valuable for companies as well as for the scientific understanding for this phenomenon. We saw that one of the main reasons for using social media marketing was the effect that it is believed to have on the brand. However, branding effects are not really included in SDL. This is a phenomenon that goes beyond value and is more related with identification. This is a field where SDL needs further elaboration as (Brodie et al., 2006) suggest. Further research is needed to develop the framework. Conclusions The purpose of the study was to investigate the use of social media marketing in the wellness industry. We have studied the social media marketing of seven leading Swedish spa-hotels. The study has shown how they organise their activities, what media they use, what content they post and how they view the effects of their activities. We have found that the organisation of the activities is difficult and some of the hotels tend to be too dependent on one or a few enthusiasts. While choice of media and content seem to be more manageable, the companies have very vague knowledge of the effects of their efforts. In general, the companies seem not to fully use the interactive possibilities of social media. The study has several limitations. It has been carried out in one industry and in one country. The possibilities of generalising the findings to other contexts are uncertain. Furthermore, the study was explorative and based on qualitative methodology. Quantitative studies based on the findings of this study would be interesting for future research. Acknowledgement The authors wish to acknowledge the Swedish Knowledge Foundation for its valuable financial support. References Ballantyne, D., & Aitken, R Branding in B2B markets: insights from the servicedominant logic of marketing. Journal of Business and Industrial Marketing, 22(6): Brodie, R. J., Glynn, M. S., & Little, V The service brand and the service-dominant logic: missing fundamental premise or the need for a stronger theory? Marketing Theory, 6: Brookes, R. W The service-dominant logic of marketing: a logical and evidential case for multiple logics. Australasian Marketing Journal, 15(1): Glaser, B. G Basics of Grounded Theory Analysis. Mill Valley, Ca.: Sociology Press. Glaser, B. G., & Strauss, A. L The Discovery of Grounded Theory, Strategies for Qualitative Research. Chicago Il.: Aldine Publishing Company.

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