Assumpció Huertas and Estela Mariné-Roig University Rovira i Virgili , Spain sunsi.huertas@urvt

1. Destination Brand Communication through the Social Media. What Contents trigger most Reactions of Users? Assumpció Huertas and Estela Mariné-Roig University Rovira i Virgili, Spain sunsi.huertas@urv.cat http://www.urv.catUniversity of Lleida, Catalonia, Spain estela.marine@aegern.udl.cat http://www.udl.cat/

2. Project: Influence of Communication 2.0 in tourism decision making and destination brand image. Useful applications for Spanish tourist destinations. Supported by Spain's Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness https://comtur20.wordpress.com/

3. Background • The Social Mediahave revolutionised communication for tourism and destinations. • Opinions and appreciations of other users become largely transmitted and credible. • Given the importance of the social media as communication tools for Destination Management Organisations (DMOs), most of them have started to use them. However, many destinations do not know very well how to manage them in order to reach their target publics, what communications strategies to follow or what information to transmit

4. Background • Destination brands: • The social media have become key tools for the communication of destinations’ identities and their brands. • The tourists’ experiences and narratives in social media spaces help to construct an online reputation and create destination brands’ image. • The active participation of users in the social media increases the emotional attachment to the brand. The destination brand identity must be a key aspect in destination communication through the social media. A destination brand generates identification with the territory and distinguishes it from other destinations

5. Background • Reactions and Interactivity: • The social media are characterised by their interactivity, as they enable the reactions of users and the establishment of dialogue with them. • Advantages of interactivity: greater surfing time and implication of users, greater processing and impact of information, creation of relationships with users and the generation of a better destination brand image. Users’ Reactions to contents are key items to measure interactivity in social media and brand communication. • Likes • Comments • Shares User reactions in Facebook:

6. Background • Some studies deal with how the interactivity and participation of the publics generate better brand image (Munar, 2011) … • … but not: whether brand communication, with its tangible attraction factors and emotional values, generates more reactions and interactivity. Objective of the study: Objective: what contents generate the most reactions among users and if the communication of brands and their emotional values also generate reactions.

7. Methodology • Content analysis of several destinations’ top Facebook posts, in terms of brand attraction factors and brand values. • Assess which trigger most reactions: sum of likes, comments & shares 37 Spanish destinations Sample of destinations Canary Islands Catalonia Located in 5 autonomous communities Andalusia Galicia Madrid 1. National destination (ND) 2. Autonomous community (AC) 3. Large Municipality (LM) 4. Large littoral destination (LLD) 5. Heritage City (HC) 6. Littoral destination (LD) 7. Inland destination (ID) 8. Medium-sized city (MC) 9. Mountain destination (MD) Different types of destinations • Analysis Database: 25 last top post in the official Facebook Fanpages of these destinations (714 top posts in total). • Period: Retrieved in April of 2014 (previous three months)

8. Methodology Destination brands, understood as identity, comprise two dimensions: a cognitive and an affective; a functional or tangible and an emotional; namely: Attraction Factors and Emotional Values. A) Attraction Factors  Content analysis • Nature (Nature and natural landscape, Rural landscape, Mountain, Ecotourism) • Tangible Heritage (Sites, History, Religion, Works of Art, Museums) • Cityscape (Architecture, Urban planning/landscape) • Intangible Heritage (Intangible heritage/popular culture/traditions, Anthem/Flag/National Symbols) • Gastronomy (Food/Cuisine, Wine Tourism) • Leisure (Urban and cultural leisure/shows, Night life, Shopping); • Sun and Beach (Sea/Beach, Sun, Climate/Weather) • Business/trade • Sports (Hiking, Winter Sports, Water Sports, Adventure Sports, Elite Sports, Other) • Technology (Social Media/ICT, Technology, Innovation) • Services (Hotel/Accommodation, Transport, Other services) • Things to Do • Tourist Information/Agenda • Non-Tourist information/institutional

9. Methodology B) Brand Emotional Values  Content analysis We used an adaptation of the “Brand Personality Scale” by Aaker (1997), which has been extended with other attributes and values relevant for the analysis of tourist destinations. • Sincerity: Down-to-earth (Family-oriented, Down-to-earth, Sustainable); Honest (Calm, Real, Traditional, Honest); Wholesome (Original, Wholesome; Quality of Life); Cheerful (Happiness, Sentimental, Friendly). • Excitement: Daring (Trendy, Daring, Exciting, Exotic, Fashionable); Spirited (Cool, Spirited, Dynamic, Vital, Fresh, Young, Sensorial); Imaginative (Unique/different/ diverse, imaginative, creative); Up-to-date (up-to-date, independent, contemporary, modern); Cosmopolitan (Cosmopolitan, Tolerant, Hospitable). • Competence: Reliable (Reliable, Hard-working, Secure/safe, rigorous/responsible/ Pragmatic), Intelligent (intelligent, technical, corporate, innovative); Successful (Successful, Leader, Ambitious, Powerful). • Sophistication: Luxurious (Glamorous, Luxurious); Charming (charming/seductive, smooth, romantic, magical). • Ruggedness: Outdoorsy (Outdoorsy, Get-away, Recreational); Tough (Tough, Rugged, non-conformist).

10. Methodology • The team of researchers classified the posts’ content manually and assessed the consistency of coding. • The analysis measured: • Average reactions to top posts per destination type. • Most mentioned themes and brand values and the themes and brand values triggering more reactions in general. • Themes and brand values which generate most reactions per destination type.

11. Results Average reactions to top posts per destination type Likes, Comments and Shares present high correlations between them, higher than 0.8

12. Results Average reactions to top posts per themes

13. Results Average reactions per theme

14. Results Brand attributes and average reactions

15. Results Average reactions per brand value

16. Results

17. Conclusions • Themes that generate most reactions are usually unique or characteristic attributes of the destinations  highly imageable • According to results, DMOs should mainly communicate differential attributes, although generic themes should also be communicated in a lesser proportion. • Lack of congruency between the most mentioned contents and those which trigger most reactions in all destination types • Destinations should consider the communication of themes that generate most reactions among users to achieve more interactivity, engagement, navigation time and positive attitudes

18. Conclusions • Brand Values that generate most reactions also emphasise uniqueness, originality and traditional values. They are related to leisure and to family values. However, the values transmitted by the different types of destinations are indistinctive. • Communication of distinctive emotional values of the destinations’ identity generates most user reactions, but usually do not coincide with the values most mentioned by destinations • Although destinations need to know which values generate most reactions, we do not think that DMOs should communicate the values that generate most reactions, but those that identify and differentiate their place brand and that are according to their strategies as complex entities.

19. Conclusions • The analysis method was useful to provide information about the themes and emotional values that trigger most reactions, and can be adapted to other types of destinations. • Research had previously shown that greater interactivity entailed a better brand image for tourist destinations (Munar, 2011). But this study’s results also assess the inverse relationship: that the communication of emotional brand values also entails more reactions and greater interactivity. • Thus, we conclude that their communication is recommendable and necessary for effective and excellent communication of territories through the social media.

20. THANKS FOR YOU ATTENTION! https://comtur20.wordpress.com/ sunsi.huertas@urv.cat estela.marine@aegern.udl.cat