Executive summary

Social media has often been a great contributor to organizations and firms that are both market and client-focused. Various tools of social media have been of great significance to companies as they act as a link between the managers and the customers. They assist them to interact and engage with their target and potential clients, enhancing two way communication between the company and their customers as well as improving the brand awareness (Forbes, 2014). Companies working in the bracket of hospitality industry for instance Atana Hotels, have an increased chance of gaining from the interactions facilitated by social media, as a result of its engagement with travel and tourism which are social activities. In accordance to Demers (2014) through the use of the various tools of social media have various benefits that have greatly fostered businesses. Among the various platforms of social media, Instagram is used more often in organizations including the hospitality industry. It is used as a tool of interaction as well adding value to both the customers and the company (Forbes, 2014).

The aim of this thesis is to outline and discuss the guidelines and techniques that the organizations can use in a bid to attract more followers in their Instagram page. These guidelines include the content that they should embrace in their posts to increase the number of customers following. This study will be directed to generation x, which will be the target population, a group of youths who are at the age of accessing the social networks as well as old enough to earn sufficient income to enable them visit the hotels. The key research methodology used in this study is by the use of the seven-day- cycle evidence that was collected from monitoring the Atana Hotels Instagram platform which were recorded on the sheets that were provided by Professor Jim Slevin.

The study will outline the recommendations on how the Atana Hotels managers can utilize their Instagram page to help them add value to their business as well as increase their competitive advantage in the market. The collected and coded data of this study will be accessed from websites, scholarly articles, websites, and Atana hotels social networking accounts as well as from desk research.

Introduction

Increase in the social networking sites as well as the accessibility to internet has played a great role in enhancing the engagement and interactions between companies and their respective target customers, the public and the stakeholders. Social media has great influential power more so when utilized in the right manner, it has the ability to increase brand authority, brand loyalty, brand recognition as well as increasing the company’s insight into their clients’ needs amongst others (Demers, 2014). Therefore it is crucial for organizations , for instance those involved in social activities such as those in the hospitality industry to assess and come up with the most effective social networking site that can easily attract many customers as well as sell their products and services.

Social media has often been a great contributor to organizations and firms that are both market and client-focused. It has made interactions to be easier, accessible as well as cheap, hence it is no longer a hard task for organizations to sell out their businesses including the services they offer, their prices, as well as the quality of the services offered. Various tools of social media have been of great significance to companies as they act as a link between the managers and the customers. They assist them to interact and engage with their target and potential clients, enhancing two way communication between the company and their customers as well as improving the brand awareness (Forbes, 2014). Among the various platforms of social media, Instagram is used more often in organizations including the hospitality industry. It is used as a tool of interaction as well adding value to both the customers and the company (Forbes, 2014).

Companies working in the bracket of hospitality industry for instance Atana Hotels, have an increased chance of gaining from the interactions facilitated by social media, as a result of engagement with travel and tourism which are among the crucial social activities that most young people engage in. In accordance to Demers (2014) the use of the various tools of social media has resulted to various benefits including increase in the number of customers, increase in the sales made by the company, increasing its competitive advantage as well as increased profitability that have greatly fostered businesses.

Amani Hotels is located in the Oman. Being a refreshing business, it is necessary for it to use the social network sites often to increase its brand recognition as well as appeal to the wider market by increasing its accessibility to its customers as well as attract the potential customers who lack prior knowledge on their services (Omran, 2016). Besides its daily social networking sites which include Facebook, twitter , websites, blogs, they had the intent of selling off their brand loyalty using Instagram because of the highest active users, more so those from their target group. The executives, managers and stakeholders of Atana Hotels have an intention of attracting and increasing the number of its young customers, who are at the age of accessing the network sites easily as well as old enough to earn an income that can enable them spend on refreshments and tourism (Ritchie, 2002). According to this study, the above mentioned hotels have identified their target group as generation x, which consists of people who were born in the early 1960s-1980, after the 2nd world war.

The selection of the target group was on the basis of their significance to the growth of the Atana hotels as compared to the other age groups, since youthful people are more likely to be engaged into more luxurious activities. Preferably, people falling under the selected age group as the target group, are at a high chance of accessing network connecting phones as well as like spending much of their leisure time in social networking sites including Instagram, Facebook, twitter amongst others. Therefore, to best reach this group, it is easier to find them through social media than arranging for meetings amongst other techniques. With reference to the collected evidence, it was revealed that this group formed the largest and most significant group for the hotel. The key problem facing Atana is how it will attract people to their hotel using the social network sites since the managers lack sufficient content guidelines to convince the clients as well as commence the project of attracting the maximum people to their hotel. The managers of Atana hotels feel that by committing their investments to social media it will positively impact their brand recognition which will consequently result to increased sales.

Despite the fact that the Atana Hotels have been owning a website and multiple social networking accounts, the number of their followers is still low, they range from 770-800. Similarly, their posts lack the appealing and convincing power to their existing and potential clients which results to few or no responses and rare participation in their discussions. For instance, in the year 2015, December, The managers of Atana hotels posted various pictures in their social networking sites accompanied with a post “ isolated island, lush mountains as well as a perfect sea breeze accompanied with a post :Musandam is truly a nature lovers dream.” This post is in such a way it cannot open a dialogue from their followers as well as any comment. This kind of post is referred to as a mediated quasi-interaction (Slevin, 2015).

This kind of posts lacks the deliberation and attributes associated to social media, which reveals that the Atana Hotels have a wide gap to achieving the solution to their key problem. Therefore, this factors form the antecedent of the current research as to learn the important guidelines they are missing. In addition, the social network sites embraced by Atana limits the number of followers unlike if they were Instagram platform since it has more than 300 million active users in one month, globally (Statista, 2016).

In light of the Social Media Report (2015), Instagram has been perceived as the best platform for increasing the clients and sales of a company associated with hospitality industry. Research reveals that in every 5 people, 4 are active users of Instagram on a daily routine, while those having the access to Instagram range from 68% to 93% in a fluctuating graph (Arab Social Media Report, 2015).

The target group that has been selected for this study, generation x which is only composed of adults born after the second world war are perceived to be more familiar and comprehensive to technology. This is because this generation has grown up in an era where most activities are technologically based, the era of using computers as well as the great significance this group is believed to have towards the Atana hotels and its success in terms of profitability.

The key aim of this thesis is to provide guidelines to the stakeholders, managers as well as the hotel executives on the attributes of a winning content in the Instagram platform to attract and be appealing to generation x. In response to this research study research questions have been formulated to act as a guideline to this study that aims at assisting the managers of Atana hotels attract, increase followers as well as ensure more fans comment and discuss on their posts on the Instagram page, which will result to brand recognition and increased sales which will consequently increase their profitability.

The main research question in this study is:

What kind of content attracts new customers of the target group, generation x, to follow Atana Hotels on the Instagram page.

To answer the main question, the sub-questions outlined herein will be used to guide the research paper:

What type of content attracts the attention of Atana hotels’ current followers?
What improvements need to be done on the content posted to increase the number of followers in comparison with the content posted by its direct competitors on Instagram?
How can posting creative professional pictures of Atana hotels and the services they offer attract the attention of its audiences?
How can rewarding the audiences viewing the pictures of Atana hotels posted on Instagram increase the number of followers?
What impact can the establishment of relationship and culture between the administrators of Atana hotels and their followers have in increasing their number? How can it help the administrators understand the content that attracts new followers’ attention?

Literature review.

Atana hotels being the main hotels established and situated in Oman, needs to gain more popularity through the social media platform to attract not only the new clients but also identification of the old customers that have been promoting the services of Atana hotels. The social media platform will enhance the engagement from the hotel management and the clients. Thus, any complaints, compliments and request for features such as the accommodation rates and the services will be communicated; the customers will have the idea of what and how Atana hotels are operating (Shiells-Jones, 2014).

To carry out which features will entice the existing and new clients to follow Atana hotels Instagram account and to provide the most appropriate and efficient recommendation to the Atana hotel management on the various methods to increase the figures of generation X following the hotel Instagram account, an in-depth research is encouraged. The literature review will cover the following topics: client link management, Instagram, and Atana hotels and social media. Expansion of the literature review will give a guide for the development of recommendation and the formulation of the research questions.

Literature review

The progress of any business depends on communication between the clients and the administration of the firm. Communication enhances feedback to and from the firm so that corrective measures can be implemented to fulfill the customers’ satisfaction. Therefore, a company- client communication is mandatory for the provision of quality products, services and running the business, in particular for companies that expect and intend to stay in the market for a long period (Goetsch and Davis, 2014). Communication enhances the connection and involvement between the management and the customers which result to increased market demand and retaining of existing clients and the new clients as a result of clients’ allegiance Despite communication being a channel of communication that enhances business through the feedback and delivery of services to customer satisfaction, the disadvantage is that the connection is created between the client and the employees of business, thus, the feedback is given to individual customers who wants details or compliments on the products rather than the public whom the information could be useful. Therefore, using the social media strategy in customer- staff connection will enhance the links between the business and the clients they serve (Richard, Thirkell & Huff, 2007).

Various studies on social media being a ladder for communication and company advancement has been assimilated and is gaining popularity in the last ten years. The Previous researches done on the relationship between the social media and people cognizance shows that a correlation exists between the social media and the promotion of company image whereby the age is the determining factor (Lee, 2014).

While most of the researchers on a social media platform that exists majorly focuses on social media community platform such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube and how they have the power to influence clients to purchase the company’s product, very few is done on the Instagram. The few types of research that exist on Instagram has either classified Instagram as a channel in which the business can exploit to advertise their products through posting of pictures about what they offers and the clients will engage by following the business Instagram account (Hu, 2014). Whereas, other studies carried concentrates on the idea of the picture that is posted and what it tries to portray to gain an understanding of the theme. When a business Instagram gains more followers, the business can reach many clients globally. Thus, the demand of the products will increase by the end of the financial years which is a profit for the firm.

Client link management

Every company has an obligation to engage their clients in the business services and activities for the advantage of the firm of the as well as the shareholders. To achieve this, the business must come up with a well-developed and effective customer- business relationship strategy to ensure that the business does not lose customers within the shortest period but retain both the existing and the new customers ((Richard, Thirkell and Huff, 2007). Richard, Thirkell and Huff(2007) emphasizes that, having a well-structured communication whereby the business has the required information about their customers and vice versa through a preferred social media will enhance the effective share of information to and from the client and the business.

The efficiency of the business process is achieved through the integrated effort of the employees, the customers and the technology to create a long-lasting connection which will lead to retaining the customers (In Lee, 2014). For example through a combined effort of Atana Hotel employees, the Instagram, and generation X clients, the Hotel will gain popularity, in that the Atana hotel management will post a picture on their Instagram account, the existing regeneration X clients will like and comment attracting the attention of the new generation X customers, who will in return seek the services of Atana hotels.

A relationship exists between the link client management and customer involvement management in that; link client management will motivate consumers to engage in business development by increasing the business practices (Richard, Thirkell and Huff, 2007). For example, the business can upload content to Instagram so that they can be able to gather information about generation X thinking through their reaction in comments to provide the services and products beyond the clients’ expectation. According to In Lee (2014), the strategy behind the link client relationship is retaining their old customers and enticing new consumers to their business. Thus, the business will advance its market both locally and internationally as well as maintaining the clients’ allegiance to the business. Based on this strategy, the company will concentrate on the sustainability of the business and the ability to meet the generation X expectation and satisfaction who are the target customers in order to continue being viable in the market as well as retaining most of the customers through the services and the products that they provide to the customers.

In Lee (2014), further argues that, the ability of the consumer to continue using the services and the products of the business is determined by the prospects of the usage and the probability of disappointment, therefore, the business will put into action the best client link management approach in order to provide extraordinary services and product to the clients to maintain them in the business such that the client which in this case is generation X will not opt for the commodities and services of the business rivals in the market.

Instagram and hotel promotion

Instagram

Instagram is an online tool that enables the sharing of pictures and videos for users and non-users to view. Instagram has gained popularity in the tourism and hospitality sector in their marketing due to the unique factor of using visual features such as pictures and videos to advertise various places, products, and activities. A Forrester research done in 2014 shows that the figures of followers propagated by Instagram is fifty-eight times more than what is propagated in Facebook. Many image marketers prefer Instagram due to its features to promote their products, and the numbers are increasing at an alarming rate (Diamond, 2015).

Instagram enables the display of the products and the services of the business through the use of photos and short videos which make it a better tool for marketing since most of the products especially in tourism sectors and hotels will be featured, the case with Atlanta hotel. Therefore, what the customers cannot see in person which in this case is the targeted generation X, can be displayed in the hotel Instagram account in the form of pictures of the accommodation part, the dining, the entertainment sector, the outside scenery such as the swimming pool and the next beach around as well as mountains so that the clients can have the full picture of the place and book reservation when they plan for a vacation and trip (Inversini &Schegg, 2016).

Inversini & Schegg (2016), argues that despite the popularity of Instagram in tourism and hospitality sector, the challenges that face the social media platform is that the platform is very particular on displaying more bandwidth which without stable internet will hinder the user from uploading and sharing the images and the videos created, although Atana hotel won’t face such a challenge due its financial capability of installing the best internet in the hotel. Also, Instagram is not widely used by the participants apart for the brand marketer and the adventure maniacs posing a threat to the hotel industry which in this case is Atana hotel.

Social media and Atana hotel

Social media refers to a tool that enables people to interact whereby people develop and exchange ideas, hobbies, pictures and videos through the internet and virtual society. Social media has various platforms such as Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram, where communities share what is trending by posting in the individuals’ walls, thus, generating feedback

Social media is very useful especially in the branding of the business products and services to the clients. A business that aims at reaching a wide area and high numbers of people will use the social media to show and promote what they have, covering a wide area and reaching out many people will not impose a harsh regulation on the use of social media to the users. The use of proper language that everyone understand is also necessary, translation is encouraged especially where the local language of the country is not English, this will create an understanding, and the clients will not feel they have been marginalized in the business (Lee,2014).

Atana hotel has run a shortage of the use of social media such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to the business and also the clients, thus, the business will not reach out to the desired population and the coverage area since the clients are limited to the use of online platforms. The shortage is shown in the facts that, despite the hotel twitter account being active no posts has been uploads since February 2016 (Atana Hotels, 2016), in connection to that the Atana hotel has no formal Facebook page that will engage the customers the only available and accessible is the informal page with very limited information about Atana hotel and what services and products they offer (Atana hotels, 2016) and the hotel Instagram has barely 140 uploads and between 770 followers and 827 followers that are seen in the Instagram profile ( Atana hotels,2016) . In addition the pictures that is posted in the page limit the customers from commenting and engaging, for example, a picture uploaded with details “ lush mountains, an isolated island, the perfect breeze: Musandam is truly a nature lovers”. The kind of caption hinders the client to comment on anything since all the details are provided in the picture. Thus, the clients will just view and read the statement (Atana hotels, 2016).The few details given on the official websites of the Atana hotels prevents the management and the customers to engage in the business. Thus, the company will remain unknown to many customers and interested parties.

From the literature review the following research questions arise:

What strategy does the Atana hotel formulate to create customer- business relationship?

What type of content in the Atana Instagram account attracts the current followers?

How does encouraging the culture of interaction between the hotels professional and customers encourage participation in the hotel Instagram? And how will the approach help the administrators understand the content that attracts many followers?

To what extent does the Atana Instagram account promote the business?

What approach does the Atana Instagram account use to engage the clients?

How can posting creative professional pictures of Atana hotels and the services they offer attract the attention of its audiences?

The response to the questions will be provided after an in-depth study is done using both the primary and the secondary sources such as the website of the company and the articles as well as the reports of the business to gather as much information as possible. After the analysis of information collected the research will come up with the best strategy that will enable the Atana hotel Instagram account to increase the number of followers to a high figure.

Data collection

To obtain qualitative and quantitative information about the frequency of the use of social media in Atana hotel to engage their clients to give a way forward on how the management of Atana hotel can increase the use of Instagram and engage your customers. Both quantitative and qualitative methods of data collection and analysis will be utilized. Data will be collected using the primary and secondary sources.

Primary sources

The primary source of data collection involves the collection of data through visiting places to get the raw data. The primary sources of data collection used included questionnaires and interviews.

Field recording sheets

The data collection will be enhanced by the use of field recording sheets created by Dr. Jim Slevin. The recording sheets were generated for the purpose of retrieving information from the social media in the sequence in which the information was posted on the user’s page. The field scoring sheet is dived into three column: the first part which consists of the activity that was uploaded which will reveal the date, the month and the year, the second part contains all the information and the activities generated which includes the comments, caption and the numbers of likes and followers and the third part is the comment area on what needs to be done to make improvement, which in this case will be about how Atana hotel can make improvement on the use of Instagram to attract more customers.

Annex data sheets

Raw data on human attitudes towards the use of Instagram will be collected using Annex data sheet created by Dr. Jim Slevin to get a score of the human engagement and diversification. The annex data sheet enables the recording of the response during the field research.

The Instagram is divided into two parts; the first part is the text components such as the comments, hashtag, and brand title and the second part are the visual components such as the pictures, the short videos, and the caption. The data is collected according to how the pictures and the videos are portrayed regarding the color, the season of the year, vacation, imaging of food and the commodity identity ( Yuheng, 2014).

Data collection using SocialMediaLab

The data is collected using the R package that is designed to generate information on all the activities that were done in the specified period the researcher wants. The tool scrutinizes across all the texts in the form of comments and posts in Instagram in details including the date, the month and the year that such activity was done. Thus, all the information necessary will be collected to facilitate data analysis.

Secondary sources

The secondary sources of data information will be getting the information from the Atana hotel journals, magazines, the website, and reports which will aid in giving the information on the hotel use of social media in engaging their customers and marketing their brands. The secondary sources provide details about how the hotel has been advertising their brands in the previous to determine if the trend has been dormant or active to give a recommendation.

Data analysis and presentation

The data will be analyzed using the data analysis software such as the SPSS in the case of field recording sheets and annex data sheets so that coding can be done well on the frequency of using the Instagram that is posting in the pages and encouraging the clients to comments. The analysis of the manner in which the images is portrayed is also necessary and the visual elements that were captured if they included the color, the brand title, use of the filter, vacation and the variety of events and food that the hotel offer.

SocialMediaLab tool is also used to analyze the data through the generation of networks that facilitate that. The data analyzed include the texts and the visual elements that were posted in the Atana hotel Instagram account using graph and the tools of data analysis; the frequency of the use and the client engagement will be determined.

Validity and reliability of the instrument

Mugenda & Mugenda (2003), argues that validity is the degree in which the results are extracted from the information analyzed to represent the phenomena under the study. To enhance the validity of field recording sheet and the Annex data sheet, a pre-test will be conducted to two different population located in various villages within the locality. The tools will be applied two times in the same study group to give the best results and to get the accuracy needed when analyzing the data.

SocialMediaLab tool validity and reliability will be determined by using igraph for the first test and repeat the test using tm then the comparison will be compared to determine if they show any similarity. Similarity will be the indicator that the tool is reliable for use in the field and when analyzing data to enable recommending.

Issues with trustworthiness of data

Since reliability and validity of the data collected cannot be done in a similar way by all the researchers, questions on the integrity of the data collected always come up.

To ensure that the trustworthiness of the data is enhanced four approaches was developed (Neergaard & Ulhøi, 2007):

Credibility

Credibility means that the study should measure the major objective of the research. The measures should be factual and not based on the assumption. In the study, the research should concentrate on the central theme of the research which in this case is to find out ways of increasing the fans in Atana hotel Instagram. Also, the data collected in the current study should match with the previous literature that has been conducted. Neergaard and Ulhøi, (2007) argues that the researchers and the participants should meet and commit themselves to one another so that the researcher will be able to have a complete understanding of the participants and the organization under the study. They add that frequent visits to the company under study will facilitate consultation, and quality information will be gathered.

Transferability

Transferability is the capacity of the research method to be used in other studies that may be carried out in the future. The annex data, the field recording sheets and SocialMediaLab methods of data collection should be capable of being applied in other researches on social media in business that will need to gather the qualitative and quantitative information. Besides, the topic under study should be described in details so that the readers can have a clear understanding of what is being investigated to be able to draw a comparison between what exists in the real world situation and what they have read.

Dependability

Dependability is the capacity of what was being studied previously and the information collected identical to what has been found in the current study. The results obtained should not portray a gap between the previous survey and the present study, in connection to that an apparent breakdown of how the data was collected should be given and how the various tools were implemented should also be noted down (Neergaard & Uhoi, 2007).

Confirmability

Confirmability ensures that the result findings are related to what the participants contributed and not the researcher’s attributes and what he prefers. According to Neergaard & Uhoi, (2007), the combination of methods of data collection should be used to ensure the information collected the one contributed by the participants

Ethical consideration

Compliance with the laws and regulation

Adherence to the legislation and the regulation of the state where the research will take place is essential. The researcher should respect the laws of the area in which the research covers, for instance, if the legislation of the site requires a woman to conduct the research to women participants especially of the researcher is male, then, the researcher will have to look for assistance who is a female.

Getting approval from the institution and the local authority

The researcher should have an accompanied letter that describes that the person is permitted to carry the research in the area with a full description of the researchers and what the research is intended to collect information for from the college or the institution the researcher comes from. Also, the research should obtain the letter of permission from the area administration to gain the community entranc