Abstract (150 Words)
A new perspective in destination marketing organizations’ (DMOs) effort to reach their audience involves the analysis of the electronic-word-of-mouth (eWOM) presented on social media websites. Organizations have little control over what is said online about a destination and oftentimes rely on outside providers to better understand online conversations. The purpose of this study was to identify and assess the adoption of web marketing strategies by Swiss DMOs with a focus on the use of partners and top management support. It was found that web marketing success is driven by eWOM and search engine monitoring activities, whereas paid activities (e.g. search engine optimization) had a negative significant effect. This suggests that paid services do not achieve desired outcomes. Last, partner collaboration was found to contribute to the overall success, as long as partners are brought in later in the process.
Web Marketing and Social Media: The case of Adoption and Outsourcing by Swiss DMOs
A new perspective in destination marketing organizations’ (DMOs) effort to reach their audience involves the analysis of the electronic-word-of-mouth (eWOM) presented on social media websites. Organizations have little control over what is said online about a destination and oftentimes rely on outside providers to better understand online conversations. The purpose of this study was to identify and assess the adoption of web marketing strategies by Swiss DMOs with a focus on the use of partners and top management support. It was found that web marketing success is driven by eWOM and search engine monitoring activities, whereas paid activities (e.g. search engine optimization) had a negative significant effect. This suggests that paid services do not achieve desired outcomes. Last, partner collaboration was found to contribute to the overall success, as long as partners are brought in later in the process.
