Transforming customers into promoters through social media: an analysis of customer-generated marina photographs on ınstagram

Abstract

Digital marketing via social media platformssuch as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram have grown in relevance in corporate marketing efforts (Cheung, Pires, Rosenberger III, Leung, & Ting, 2021). Companies benefit from this technology because it is a low-cost and efficient approach to reach a large audience, get quick responses to identify their improvement needs, and satisfy customers by allowing them to co-create value (Li, Larimo, & Leonidou, 2021). Without a question,social media platforms have matured into equally efficient tools for customers to use in spreading knowledge. In this parallel, consumer-generated content (CGC) has also emerged as a significant strategic marketing instrument (Ukpabi & Karjaluoto, 2018) that is generated by customers to provide feedback on the quality, satisfaction, pricing, newness, and most appealing aspect of offered services and even associated destinations. It is claimed that CGC has been perceived more convincing than marketer-generated content (Sparks & Browning, 2011; Sultan, Sharmin, Badulescu, Gavrilut, & Xue, 2021). The analysis of CGC contributes to company marketing, which is especially crucial for service organizations in order to improve their promotion strategies and service offers. Furthermore, businesses have been encouraging consumers to post self-generated content regarding their service experiences in order to benefit them as promoters.