Measuring the Effectiveness of Social Media Marketing on Promoting

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MEASURING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING ON

PROMOTING EVENT SALES

A Project

Presented to the

Faculty of

California State Polytechnic University, Pomona

In Partial Fulfillment

Of the Requirements for the

Degree Master of Science

Hospitality Management

Colette Hakimi

2018

SIGNATURE PAGE

PROJECT: MEASURING THE EFFECTIVENSS OF SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING ON PROMOTING EVENT SALES

AUTHOR: Colette Hakimi

DATE SUBMITTED: Spring 2018

The Collins College of Hospitality Management

Dr. Michelle (Myongjee) Yoo Project Committee Chair Professor of Hospitality Management

Dr. Margie Ferree Jones Project Committee Member Professor of Hospitality Management

Dr. Wan Yang Project Committee Member Professor of Hospitality Management

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to thank my chair, Dr. Myongjee Yoo, and my committee members, Dr. Margie Jones and Dr. Wan Yang, for all your patience, guidance and ample feedback. Thank you, Dr. Yoo for always having faith in me, pushing me to turn in my best work, and for always holding me accountable for my responsibilities. Thank you for guiding me through the study from beginning to end. Thank you, Dr. Margie Jones and Dr. Wan Yang for all your support

I am eternally grateful to my amazing family and fiancé for being the biggest support system and for making me feel like I am capable of anything I put my mind to. It has not been easy but their love and support have really helped me push all my boundaries helped me realize my full potential. Mom and dad, thank you for all your love and for encouraging me to push through this time.

Lastly, thank you to California Polytechnic University- Pomona and The

Collins College of Hospitality Management for my five years of new experiences, knowledge support and friendships.

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ABSTRACT

The use of social media has changed the way customers and marketers communicate with each other and purchase products. This study measures the effectiveness of social media marketing on promoting events, particularly at country clubs. Since country clubs are typically behind most “trends” and new concepts, study results are expected to provide practical insights for country club management on how to effectively manage their social media marketing. Secondary data was obtained by one country club in Pacific Palisades,

California. A paired T-Test was conducted testing three hypotheses: H1a tested whether social media marketing increases the ADR of the country club’s event space. H1a was rejected. H1b tested whether social media marketing increases the occupancy rate of the country club’s event space. H1b was supported. H1c tested whether social media marketing increases the RevPar of the country club’s event space. H1c was rejected.

Keywords: Social Media Marketing; Country Clubs; Event Sales

TABLE OF CONTENTS

SIGNATURE PAGE… ...... ii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS...... iii

ABSTRACT… ...... iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS ...... v

LIST OF TABLE……………………………………………………..……………..vii

LIST OF FIGURE………………………………………………………………….viii

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ...... 1

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ...... 5

Social Media Marketing ...... 5

Advertising… ...... 7

Reach and Interactions ...... 7

Fast Communication ...... 8

Measuring The Effectiveness Of Social Media ...... 9

Social media metrics ...... 10

Number of followers or friends ...... 11

Text analytics ratings ...... 12

Net promoter scores ...... 12

Product/service ratings ...... 13

High traffic volume ...... 13

Performance measure indicators ...... 14

Social Media Marketing In The Hospitality Industry ...... 15

Social media and private clubs ...... 17

CHAPTER 3: METHOD………...……………………………………………………....21

Data Collection ……………………………………………………………..………21

Data Measurement…………………………………………………………………..23

Data Analysis Method ………………………………………………….……….….24

CHAPTER 4: RESULTS……………………………………………………....………...25

Hypothesis Testing……………………………………………………………….…25

CHAPTER 5: DISCUSSION……………………………………………………....……27

Study Implications ……………………………………………………………...….29

Study Limitations and Recommendations for Future Studies ……...... …….……...31

REFERENCES ………………………………………………………………………….32

List of Figures

Figure 1. Event space for the country club…………………………………………...… 22

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List of Tables

Table 1. Paired t-tests………..…………….…………………………………………...… 25

Table 2 Descriptive Statistics …………………………………………………..………26

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Introduction

The use of social media and the internet has changed the way customers and marketers communicate with each other and purchase products (Agnihotri, Dingus, Hu,

& Krush, 2015). Social media has been defined as “a type of online media that expedites conversation as opposed to traditional media, which delivers content, but doesn't allow readers/viewers/listeners to participate in the creation or development of the content”

(Hensel & Deis, 2010). Before social media, customers relied on television, printed material, radio advertisements, or word of mouth to learn about certain products and services. Instant and continual communication between the customer and the merchant was non-existent. Previously, when customers wanted to get in touch with the merchant or brand holder, they would write descriptive letters that would be signed, sealed, and delivered through their local post office. Communication was nearly non-existent since it was costly and time consuming. However, the use of social media and the internet allows customers to easily reply to merchants and express their concerns or comments.

Companies were then given the opportunity to openly market and directly communicate with their customers through various social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram,

Twitter, and Snapchat (Vinerean, Cetina, Dumitrescu, & Tichindelean, 2013).

Today, when customers post a comment on a merchant’s social media page, they instantly receive a response. The fact that instant communication is available is extremely important to client satisfaction and repeat business. Customers are able to have their questions answered and their suggestions heard. It also provides a platform for a company to receive positive comments which can be shared and marketed for further business success. Overall, the most reliable form of marketing is word of mouth

(Martensen & Mouritsen, 2016). People instinctively trust other people’s opinions and rely on their experiences and thoughts. They prefer to hear what other people recommend rather than being “sold” on a product from a corporate company. However, in today’s social media world, customers rely on people’s opinions and comments on the internet to decide what restaurant to dine at or to determine the quality and price of a product.

Individuals have the trust of their friends and family’s opinions rather than corporate advertisements. Social media allows friends and family to communicate and provide recommendations to one another. Therefore, a friend’s comment and photo on Instagram stating that they just ate the “best food in the world” will get higher interest than a company’s costly thirty second commercial. On the other hand, if a negative comment is posted on Yelp describing a restaurant’s lack of service or poor food quality, an individual reading that post is less likely to do business there (Vinerean et al., 2013).

Because of these aspects, social media marketing has become key to the success of a business today. Social media is a new platform for companies to market themselves and advertise their success and trends. Although all ages use social media, the millennial generation’s consumer behavior is driven from comments shared from their friends on the internet (Sago, 2010). Millennials’ need for instant gratification and need to “show off” has earned them the moniker “the microwave generation” (Stein, 2013). The nickname is a commentary on this generation’s need for immediate gratification. Like a microwave, they want their comments to have an instant response and have total indulgence. For a company to have a successful social media marketing platform, they must understand their clients. Therefore, understanding that millennials need instant gratification, as well

as a constant online presence, helps companies become one step closer to achieving the goal of successful business (Lenhart, Purcell, Smith, & Zickuhr 2010).

Social media marketing is a great tool because it also provides a recorded track of customer comments through various social media platforms that can be seen by a large audience. For example, when customers provide comments, “likes,” or have a number of

“views” on a product, company analysts are able to determine the popularity of the product based on the number of “hits” it receives. Social media allows company analysts to see how many people viewed, liked, and commented on their posts. Different social media platforms track different metrics. For example, Snapchat only tracks who has viewed the post and who has taken a screenshot or saved the post. Whereas Facebook records the number of views, comments, likes, and reactions for each post. Each social media platform is different, but they all provide a recorded track of the number of people viewing the product and showing interest. Different companies may choose to use only certain social media platforms, since some, such as Instagram and Facebook, are more popular than others (Vinerean, et al., 2013).

Event venues and event planning is a competitive market since there are numerous price points and options from which to choose. However, the use of successful social marketing will separate venues from others and allow a company to negotiate their prices and contract with a customer. Customers are able to approach these vendors through word of mouth and “Google” searches online. Websites that promote different venues help guide a customer’s behavior and encourage customers to click on social media websites with similar event photos and suggestions (Burns, 2007). Researching venues through social media and websites online provides companies a platform to

promote their event space. Social media allows for several interactions between the business and the customer, allowing the customer to feel a personalized touch. Such interactions allow the customer to receive more information and talk to others who have already done business with the venue. Events such as weddings, Bar-Mitzvahs, and baby showers are all very personal events. The party hosts need to feel like the businesses care about them and make their event special. There is a certain trust that goes with booking an event, and social media interactions help both parties communicate. The need to keep up with trends is largely found through social media and has become the future of marketing. Just like Google has become the “go to” search engine, social media has now become the way customers choose to interact with companies (Burns, 2007).

Within the last ten years, social media has changed from a setting for people to brand themselves to a setting where companies can now brand their product. When

Myspace was popular, each individual profile reflected his or her personality. Users chose everything from the layout color scheme to the music playing when someone clicks on their page and the well-known “Top 8” reserved for the user’s favorite people (Sago,

2010). Companies did not typically use social media at this time. In fact, Myspace was designed for communication between people and not for companies to consumers.

However, once other social media platforms were created and gained popularity, the different social media platforms created non-user pages like companies to “like” or pages to “follow.” This was designed for businesses to start marketing themselves and introducing their relationship with their consumers. Since then, different companies have taken it upon themselves to distinguish themselves and introduce their next greatest product (Sago, 2010).

For example, Delta Airlines’ Delta Assist program allows customers to “tweet” them a question to which someone from Delta will instantly respond (Stephen, 2008).

When launched in XXXX, this was a major step forward in customer service through the social media marketing realm. The ability for customers to get a quick answer to their questions allows Delta to stand apart from other companies in customer service. In return, competitive companies began promoting sales and promotions through social media platforms. Thus, social media has become a vital tool in the hospitality marketing industry and has further provided the resources to promote event spaces (Stephen & Bart, n.d.).

Overall, it is clear that social media is here to stay and has become a major tool in business marketing. The present study explores the effectiveness of social media marketing in promoting event space at country clubs, expanding upon existing literature.

Few previous studies have examined the impact social media on event space, especially in private clubs. Because of the secretive nature of the private club industry, few articles focus on country clubs. The present study addresses the lack of literature touching upon the importance of measuring the effectiveness of social media in the events industry, specifically for country clubs. There is so much to be learned and with this article, researchers are one step closer in understanding social media’s importance.

Literature Review

Social Media Marketing

Social Media has been defined as “a class of communication technologies commonly including blogs, microblogging, and social network sites” (Treem, Dailey,

Pierce & Leonardi, 2015, pp 1). Social media has created a new platform for businesses to link with customers, inform the public, engage other stakeholders, and connect with 5

their customers in an emotional way. “It has contributed to the widespread of consumer adoption of ‘smart’ technology” (Lamberton & Stephen, 2016, pp 10). In the last fifteen years, social media marketing has drastically transformed the marketing world. Social media marketing has been able to track people’s behaviors, interactions, and experiences

(Lamberton & Stephen, 2016, pp 10). It requires people to be open and flexible.

Openness means that anyone can create a social media account and post how they feel or what they are experiencing. It also allows people to openly interact with one another.

Flexibility allows users to share on multiple social media platforms. Some examples include platforms in which people share photos, videos, current locations, reviewing different products, posting blogs, and more (Stephen & Bart, n.d.).

Social media marketing is unique because it allows the customer the discretion to decide how much involvement and participation he or she wishes to engage in. If a customer has no interest in the brand, he or she can eliminate his or her involvement by removing them from the social media “news feed.” On the other hand, if a customer is interested, he or she can track every post and get instant notifications from the brands they choose to follow (Ashley & Tuten 2015). By creating this type of instant communication relationship, social media allows for a new venue for people to interact with one another. It also opens the doors for businesses to interact with customers and gain insight into their shopping habits. Companies however must keep up with the constant change of trends and fads of social media. Since social media is not a traditional marketing tool, it is important to keep up with the new ways users are using social media and adapt to its trends (Stephen & Bart, n.d.).

Advertising. Social media has changed the advertising world drastically by allowing businesses the opportunity to build worldwide support through an online presence. Peer to peer opinions and recommendations have become the most powerful tool for people to decide on purchasing a product. A recent Nielsen survey demonstrated that 78% of consumers trust the opinions of peers and colleagues over all other information sources and advertising. Naturally, this also allows advertisers the platform for customers to share their experiences with their product with their friends and family.

For example, a hair straightener that receives the top and most reviews is likely the one a consumer buys since it is highly rated. This may not be perceived as advertisement in the traditional sense, but it is a tool for advertisers to sell their product (Hanlon & Hawkins,

2008). This unique platform benefits both the customer and the advertiser through a specific target market. Social media provides the opportunity for advertisers to narrow its target market and track customers who know exactly what they are looking for. However, since there are numerous social media platforms and apps, advertisers face the challenge of widening their reach and broadening their message. In addition, advertisers face the difficulty of having their customers continually engaged and interested in their social media advertisements through numerous platforms (Hanlon & Hawkins, 2008).

Reach and interactions. Social media is a platform for people to share their experiences with their friends and family. It allows people to share their memories, feelings, and favorite products and services. Social media allows people to share everything, which in return provides companies the best platform to reach customers all over the world. Social Media gives customers the opportunity to follow, subscribe, like, and share their experiences with a product like never before. Companies are “constantly

creating” or “constantly sharing” their brand through social media posts, but through numerous outlets in order to disperse their message to a number of platforms (Keep It

Simple, 2013). Social media marketing allows companies the option to spread their message a number of ways and there is no “cookie cutter” approach. As a result, this allows each brand to make their own rules and decide how to successfully market their product. Products which have become known as “fads” have become a successful representation of effective social marketing. For example, by establishing a social media presence, Starbucks has attracted more than 19 million fans on Facebook and more than 1 million followers on Twitter to date (Lee, Xiong & Hu, 2012). Because Starbucks has created such a captivating social media presence, it allows a variety of people to follow them. Starbucks is able to reach the amount of people it can because of the power of social media. Today, almost all industries market through social media in one way or another in order to expand their national presence. According to the 2013 Social Media

Industry Report (Stelzner, 2013), 86% of marketers believe social media channels are important components of their marketing approach. It allows businesses to post popular forums, which provide customer’s the opportunity to follow, like, comment, and share their thoughts to their friends and family.

Fast communication. Social media is a new communication platform that allows the consumer and businesses to communicate through real time comments and posts. It provides opportunities for companies to become successful by quickly sharing their product worldwide. Social media marketing has resulted in a fast pace environment where news also travels fast. Social media provides a space for companies to benchmark their success against their direct competitors. Benchmarking allows companies to

evaluate the advantages of comparing themselves to leading competitors in a way that identifies their best practices so that other companies can learn and implement those same practices (Park, Geum, & Park, 2015). This instantaneous knowledge allows companies to benefit successfully in a fast-changing market. The most common benchmarking strategy that companies implement include analyzing a competitor’s social media page’s photos, statuses of their posts, and the frequency of their posts. In addition, companies often consider the tone of language and creative jargon they want to use in order to successfully communicate with their customers. Since there is no distinct guide or manual to successful social media marketing, companies are using benchmarking techniques to learn from colleagues and other competitors. Once a company gets an understanding of another company’s social media platform and is able to implement it on their own, they will communicate with their followers in a similar matter. If the consumer market responds well to this form of social media marketing, then the benchmarking technique becomes a successful tool for companies. On the other hand, if this method fails, then the company must understand that they have chosen the wrong competitor to represent their successful framework (Park et al., 2015). Overall, this method is a new concept that involves a greater learning curve and requires constant need for improvement. However, social media has made this benchmarking tool accessible for all companies to learn and adapt to it fast.

Measuring the Effectiveness of Social Media

Tracking the effectiveness of social media marketing is simple, since there are no direct causes and effect relationships. Social media is simply a word of mouth tool that does not guarantee direct purchase results. A customer’s “like” of an advertiser’s photo

does not directly translate to him or her purchasing the product at that moment. Further, garnering several “likes” on a photo does not represent a business’s measure of success or profitability. Nonetheless, companies continually try to do whatever they can to track the available data they are given. This includes using tracking codes, setting up goals or monitoring assisted conversions (Clearly, 2016). In addition, these processes help companies and brands understand the clientele and give them a better understanding of their investment of time and energy needed to cash in on assisted conversions. High traffic websites like Facebook provide companies the opportunity to determine their target audience and understand what they are looking for. Once a company determines what is working for their brand through tracking, they are able to have a better understanding and focus of what the consumer wants rather than what the brand thinks the consumer wants. Once a company begins to build a clearer target picture, they are able to convert on their attributions rather than just recent site visits. Overall, a company can focus on their marketing efforts effectively using analytics rather than duplicating their competitors’ marketing techniques (Clearly, 2016).

Social media metrics. Companies track both the direct and the assisted conversions of a product through social media. Direct conversions are the processes in which a customer purchases a product directly through their social media interaction. On the other hand, assisted conversions are the processes in which a purchase of a product does not translate directly from a social media interaction. Assisted conversions are a common process that customer’s face through their social media platform, as they often

“do not buy or join, but instead take the scenic route” (Clearly, 2016).

Metrics commonly used include tracking hits, views, likes, numbers of followers, net promoter scores, product/ service ratings, abandoned shopping carts/buzz indicators such as web mentions like google alerts, conversion rates from visitors to buyers, and repeat buyers (Stephen & Bart, n.d.). Some methods are more effective than others. For example, a 2014 survey (CMO Survey 2014) was conducted to assist researchers in learning which metrics showed to be more effective between the years of 2010 and 2014

(Stephen & Bart, n.d.). Previous research has established the following metrics as the most popular.

Number of followers or friends. The number of followers, friends, likes, and favorites are all proof of public engagement. In a way, it can be perceived as “online word of mouth” because a potential customer sees that his or her friend “likes” or

“follows” a particular brand. Therefore, he or she is more likely going to follow that brand and possibly purchase that product. The more “likes” a brand receives; the more credible it seems to someone looking to do business. If everyone wants a certain product, then that product is more legitimate and desirable. The more times a post is “shared,” then the more amplified the content becomes. When a post or a brand becomes well known, the more that business is able to grow and become well-known to others.

Awareness through social media marketing is key to business product success (Stephen &

Bart, n.d.).

Social media websites like Facebook and Instagram already have tools that track how many views, likes, shares, followers, and friends each account or post has. These tools make tracking simple and help mold the perception of the consumer because of the number of people who have interacted with the particular brand (Stephen & Bart, n.d.).

Text analytics ratings. A tracking tool that many companies implement is a software called Google Analytics. Google Analytics is a unique software that uses a tool called “cookies” to allow the user to see the number of site visits an advertiser gets on their website. This tool allows brands the ability to track the customer from their specific

IP address or computer location. Therefore, once an individual visits a company’s website, advertisers can continue to advertise their product on other webpages that the customer visits. Google Analytics recognizes the number of visits a person makes to a specific website, track the number of “mentions” a company has, and understand where the customer’s computer location is. As a result, the potential customer will continue to see advertisement of the specific product they were previously searching. This continual interaction will likely cause an assisted conversion of the customer seeing the advertisement and purchasing the product. Advertisers use this assisted conversion process on high traffic websites like Facebook. In return, Google Analytics provides sites like Facebook the recognition for this "attribution," or assisted conversion (Clearly 2016).

Net promoter scores. Companies use net promoter scores to determine their customers’ happiness and to define their business practices (Zikakis, 2013). The score is determined by the ratings assigned to the business by customers via a nine-point rating scale . It is the resulting percentage of promoters (the people who rated between nine and ten) subtracted by the detractors (the people who rated zero through six) while ignoring the middle passives (who rated seven through eight). This way, the absolute score will focus on the extremes of both scores. The benefits of the promoters are that they are more likely going to forgive the business for bad service, whereas the detractors will not

(Zikakis, 2013). These net promoter scores prove to be extremely effective because they

determine customer satisfaction and in return help business turn customers into promoters.

Product/Service ratings. Yelp and Trip Advisor are the two most commonly used product/service ratings. These two websites provide a platform in which people can review different businesses. Customers trust these websites due to their careful screening processes to avoid fake reviews. Often, potential customers will review photos of other customers to see if the food looks good, atmosphere is nice, and service is good. After they read about it, then they decide to make a decision of going ahead with the purchase or not. The same idea applies to Trip Advisor. People consider rating products and services as the “modern word of mouth” (Racherla, Connolly, & Christodoulidou, 2013).

High traffic volume. Website search engine outlets and social media websites are directly connected. People hear about brands and companies on social media and then later search for them on search engines like Google in order to buy their product at the best price. On the other hand, consumers also find products through organic word searches online or through Facebook posts on their newsfeed. This process cultivates a series of interactions on Facebook that may lead to brand recognition and trust. This process leads consumers to purchase the product and eventually recommend it their friends and family. For instance, Royal Caribbean's Russell once stated, "[through social media] we get our personalities across without being corporate or stuffy, so a lot of agents do look at our blog and our Facebook page" (Parsons, 2009). Overall, this high traffic volume eventually translates to successful assisted conversion. Although this volume may only be partially trackable, it is worth considering and tracking to understand the needs of the consumer (Clearly, 2016).

Performance measurement indicators. On the other hand, the effectiveness of social media can be demonstrated by measuring performance (Cooper, Le Quang,

Claster, Vafadari, & Pardo, 2015). There is limited amount of studies on event space demand and performance, thus this study incorporates the general perspective of hotel performance. As Kaplan and Norton (1993. p. 71) once said, “What you measure is what you get”. In literature, there exists a wide range of variables and indicators to measure and evaluate hotel performance, which are mainly categorized into financial indicators

(Garrigos-Simon, Palacios-Marques,& Narangajavana, 2005) and non-financial indicators. This study focuses on the financial indicators as they are known to be the most widespread dimension of performance (Pnevmatikoudi, & Stavrinoudis, 2016; Garrigos-

Simon et al., 2005). While, financial indicators include numerous variables, occupancy and revenue are the most commonly accepted key performance indicators of hotel business (Cooper et al., 2015; Enz, Canina, & Walsh, 2001).

Occupancy can be represented into the number of reservations and occupancy rate. The number of reservations indicates the total amount of event space booked and is represented in frequency. Frequency does not concentrate on the monetary value, but the quantity of events booked. The Occupancy rate indicates the percentage of event space booked, and thus compares the weekends available for booking versus how many of them were actually booked. Revenue can be represented in revenue, ADR, and RevPAR.

Revenue indicates the total amount of sales generated (Pnevmatikoudi, & Stavrinoudis,

2016). ADR refers to the average daily rate or the mean price charged for all rooms sold

(hotel room revenue/the number of rooms sold) while RevPAR refers to the revenue per available room (a hotel’s ADR x occupancy) (Kim, Lim & Brymer, 2015). ADR is used

to measure productivity in the hotel by understanding the price of a room. Hotel analysts can see the actual hotel room rates versus the theoretical and therefore able measure productivity. By using RevPar, hotels can measure how well the hotel is filling its vacant rooms and how well the average hotel room is priced (Kim et al., 2015).

Social Media Marketing in the Hospitality Industry

In the hospitality industry, social media has become a very important part of successful business marketing. Hotels and restaurants have seen a big shift in technology and brand awareness though social media. The biggest change in recent years has been the rise of restaurant searches from mobile devices though applications such as Yelp.

Studies show that the restaurant sector has become the market in which more than 50% of searches were made from a mobile device rather than a desktop (Forward Thinking,

2015). Consumers continue to use their phones to search for products and use social media to search for their reviews or ratings. This process has brought about the creation of new apps, which put an entire brand’s information in one accessible online space

(Forward Thinking, 2015).

Convenience has become a big part of social media marketing in the hospitality industry. For example, travel websites that provide the ease of booking a hotel or flight give consumers the convenience planning travels from the comfort of their homes.

Websites that can save a customers’ booking details provide a convenience to the consumer and make them want to continue coming back to their website for future travel reservations. The capability to pre-populate bookings based on a person’s dining habits for example is a convenience that allows customers to keep coming back. In addition, the process of making sure each advertiser’s post is intriguing, creative, and unique is

important to successful marketing in the hospitality industry. For example, event spaces who need to showcase their venue space can upload captivating photos to their website in order to illustrate what an event space can transform into and the theme options that can be used to captivate an audience. When an event space is able to introduce the potential customer to something new and exciting, the customer is more likely going to follow the event space brand and more likely to book his or her event at that space. In addition, it is important to continue the dialog between the customer and the company in order to help the customer get more information about the space and a better understanding of the visuals and ideas for their event (Steinberg, 2017).

Social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter are being used to interact with customers on a deeper emotional level through open dialogue in the company’s comment and posting webpages. In addition, a company provides commonly asked questions and answers through social media platforms such as Instagram, Twitter, and

Facebook provide a personal touch to the product and create a more genuine interaction with the customer. Companies are also using social media to create creative contests to engage their customers with their product and brand (Alderton, 2012). When a customer has a positive experience through this process, they will continue to shop and tell their friends of their helpful experience, which thus creates more business and success for a company (Forward Thinking, 2015). Companies like Taco Bell have successfully used this method to market their most famous taco, the Doritos Locos Taco. Before the Doritos

Locos Taco, Taco Bell was referred to as “taco hell” and known for cheap food and poor quality (Lutz, 2014). Once the first Doritos Locos Taco was created, they had the fans choose their second favorite flavor. Taco Bell created a campaign allowing fans to post

photos and ideas of what the next flavor should be. They used their public relations team to create a social media competition throughout the entire United States. Taco Bell made one billion dollars in sales for Doritos Locos Tacos in the first year alone through the success of their social media campaign (Jenki, 2015).

Social media and private clubs. Private clubs that are not equity owned are able to have both member events and non-member events. Since private clubs are not nonprofit organizations, their rules and regulations are different from many other clubs or hospitality businesses. Many non-equity clubs can book outside weddings, Bar-Mitzvahs, engagement and birthday parties. As a result, equity clubs are less profitable, whereas non-equity clubs make a profit every year. In fact, the business model for equity owned clubs is not to make the most profit every year. Because they charge dues to their members, they are able to cover basic costs. Although private clubs tend to have private social media platforms, some clubs choose to make their social media platforms public in order to allow potential clients to contact the club for private events or services. This is a newer idea that some private clubs are beginning to take part in to determine the potential benefit to the club. Overall, social media is an important tool to marketing in the 21st century and has become a key to new business opportunities within the private club industry (Hatami, 2013).

Today, private clubs are using social media to engage all consumer generations of their services and brand. Private clubs such as country clubs, city clubs, and other specialty private clubs have always appealed to older generations who have a higher discretionary income. The private club industry differs from the rest of the hospitality industry because of its exclusivity, cost, and special rules. Most private clubs are equity

owned meaning that the members own the club when they pay their initiation fees. Every month they pay their dues or monthly fees to keep their membership and use the facility.

Other fees may include food and beverage minimums and assessments. Some private clubs have overnight accommodations like a hotel to provide guests a second home atmosphere. Although private clubs may seem very much like a hotel, they are not the same due to their unique business model. These private clubs all have a food and beverage outlet, which provides a sense of exclusiveness to its members (Maier & Prusty,

2016).

Keeping members engaged in the private club industry is unlike other hospitality industries because private clubs do not aggressively market their services. In general, customers approach the club and request their services. This is the opposite of hotels and other hospitality services. In fact, it is the job of the marketing department in a private club to keep its members aware of activities that are offered so they continue to sign up for them. However, since the older generations are not actively signing up for these activities, it is vital for the marketing department to attract younger consumers. Private club marketing managers are finding new ways to appeal to the younger generation

(Maier & Prusty, 2016). Methods such as creative applications, social media pages, and unique websites are tools that private clubs are using in order to engage younger members. It has become more important now to keep up with technology and introduce new ways to attract young people. Since the younger generation is no longer eager to join a private club, it has become vital for the club industry to appeal to this generation through technology. In addition to the decline of member retention rates, clubs are also faced with changes in demographics (Randhawa, Kim & Cichy, 2017). Country club

memberships were traditionally just one race and one gender, Caucasian men. After accepting a more diverse membership, clubs have needed to find different ways to appeal to their new members. Instead of appealing to one crowd, they needed to introduce activities that appealed to women as well. it also gave clubs the opportunity to host more events for different religious groups which produces new memberships and generates more revenue for the club (Randhawa et al., 2017).

Social media has allowed private clubs the ability to communicate and market with younger generations. For example, marketing managers are posting photos from special events hosted at the club and involving members in social media pages. However, to keep within the private club rules, most clubs with social media outlets are kept private in order to protect the exclusiveness of the club. Private clubs protect its members while promoting its prestige in the industry. Many departments within a private club contribute to the social media marketing process. For example, in an article from C&RB’s Chef to

Chef Magazine from July 2017, a chef from Farmington Country Club, described how he posts pictures of the food he cooks every day on social media outlets like Facebook and

Instagram in order to engage its members in the food options available at the club.

C&RB’s Chef states that he has gotten great feedback from the members who really enjoy his posts and appreciate the hard work that goes into making their meals. It also helps other clubs’ food and beverage departments benchmark one another (DeChellis,

2017).

In addition, social media helps with the communication between the members and the club staff, which is always appreciated by the club members. For example, the article from C&RB’s Chef to Chef Magazine suggests how certain members travel the world

and take pictures of their experiences and tag their private club chef on their social media post. This allows the private club chef to see what the member wants implemented on the menu and how he or she can create something to both diversify the menu and satisfy the member (DeChellis, 2017). The private club industry is unique since they all help one another out and share their ideas openly. A number of private club managers are part of the Club Managers of America Association (CMAA), where they attend conferences and learn from one another. Unlike hotels, which only collaborate within their own company, private clubs constantly share information. By communicating with its members through social media, the private club industry is setting itself apart in the hospitality industry

(Lunden, 2014).

A country club’s social media platform will determine the effectiveness of its marketing services within the private club industry. Visual social media platforms such as

Instagram and Snapchat have become very popular tools to market a private club’s services. In fact, industry analysts have stated that Instagram has become the fastest growing social media platform in today’s social media world (Lunden, 2014). Therefore, this paper uses the social media platform Instagram. Instagram was chosen because of the simplicity of use, the number of users, and the relevance to the industry as opposed to

Facebook, Myspace, or Snapchat. Instagram is used to conduct research on the marketing effectiveness of this application on a particular country club in Los Angeles, California and the following study hypothesis is derived:

H1: Social media marketing will be effective in promoting a country club’s event space.

H1a: Social media marketing will increase the ADR (Average Daily Rate) of the country club’s event space.

H1b: Social media marketing will increase the occupancy rate of the country club’s event space.

H1c: Social media marketing will increase the RevPar (Revenue Per Available Room) of the country club’s event space.

Method

Data Collection

The present study is a quantitative case study that focused specifically on an individual non-equity country club in Southern California by analyzing the effectiveness of social media marketing for event sales by measuring how Instagram has increased spreading the awareness of the event space (Hsu, 2012). Secondary data was collected from an upscale country club located in Southern California to test the study hypothesis.

This particular country club is one of the most prestigious country clubs in the country. It is ranked amongst the very best clubs on the Platinum Clubs of America list. Its members comprise of top industry professionals. This particular club hosts the Professional Golf

Association (PGA) sponsored Open every year as well as the United States Golf

Association (USGA) sponsored Championship. Social events are only booked on the weekend. In this case, the weekend includes Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. This country club has two grand ballrooms named “The Crystal Ballroom”, “The Grand Ballroom”, and one small room called “The George Thomas Room.” There is also a space on the grass overlooking the entire golf course called “The Vista Riviera” (see Figure 1).

Figure 1. Event space for the country club

The George Thomas Room’s dimensions are 39 ft long x 24 ft wide x 14 ft high and fits up to 75 people. The Crystal Ballroom’s dimensions are 44 ft long x73 ft wide x

15 ft high and fits up to 180 people and The Grand Ballroom’s dimensions are 49 ft long x 79 ft wide x 15 ft high and fits up to 250 people. Since The Vista Riviera is just an open space, there is no firm capacity however; it is recommended that with a tent, there are no more than 400 people. Potential customers can choose any or all the venues for their events. The different event spaces have different prices; however, the price really depends on the number of guests. This non-equity country club is not classified as a

501c3 nonprofit operation. Therefore, anyone can book an event at this specific country club without being a member. The name of the country club cannot be stated to assure anonymity.

Prior to January 2017, this particular country club had not used any form of social media for marketing. Previous to this study, this particular country club only sent postcards to their members and relied on word of mouth to acquire business. That was their only method of attracting customers. Since the private club industry is so exclusive,

advertising publicly is against the bylaws of the club and will make the club look less prestigious. In January 2017, the country club opened its first Instagram account and officially started its social media marketing. Currently, the county club posts approximately two times a week using professional photographs from contributing photographers who photograph special events at the country club. These photographs are then “tagged” with the photographer’s company business. In return, these individual photographers “tag” this particular country club on their Instagram page. As a result, both the photographer and the country club are able to market their brand to a larger audience outside their own. Thus, the research data has collected a two-year period of data: year one (January - December 2016) will represent data before implementing social media marketing, and year two (January – December 2017) will represent data after implementing social media marketing.

Data Measurement

As the purpose of this study is to measure the effectiveness of social media marketing in promoting event space, this study measured how event space demand and performance was affected after implementing social media marketing. Accordingly, the present study incorporated similar variables that represent event space performance instead of hotel performance. First of all, number of reservations (frequency) shows the actual number of events booked. Occupancy rate indicates the percentage rate of event space booked (Cooper, Le Quang, Claster, Vafadari, & Pardo, 2015; Pnevmatikoudi, &

Stavrinoudis, 2016). The percentage rate shows how efficient the events department was at booking events. Total revenue shows the entire monetary value of the event space.

Each indicator has shown different ways that performance will be evaluated (Klassen,

Russell & Chrisman, 1998; Pnevmatikoudi, & Stavrinoudis, 2016). ADR and RevPar will be altered to represent the average rate of an event and revenue per available event space respectively in this study. Social media metrics such as likes, and followers were also observed.

Overall, this study measured the following: (1) The number of event reservations in 2016 versus 2017; (2) The event space occupancy rate in 2016 versus 2017; (3) The total revenue in the events department in 2016 versus 2017; (4) The average event space rate; and (5) RevPAR for event space (Kim et al., 2015; Pnevmatikoudi, & Stavrinoudis,

2016). All of these variables were obtained directly from the company’s event department’s internal database. This study compared whether there was a difference in these performance before and after implementing social media marketing to measure its effectiveness.

Data Analysis Method

Data was entered through IBM SPSS Statistics 22. Descriptive statistics was conducted to examine the social media metrics such as number of likes and followers.

However, since there is not enough data for other social media metrics as this country club started social media marketing at the beginning of 2017, paired T-Tests were conducted. Paired T-Tests indistinctly illustrate the differences between one set of data from another, thus the performance differences between year one (before social media marketing was implemented) and year two (after social media marketing was implemented) were examined. Overall, T-Tests clearly demonstrated the data each month from January to December of 2016 by comparing them to the data each month from

January to December 2017 and identify the social media marketing effectiveness.

According to Urdan (2017), this method is most commonly used when a study wants to examine the average data sets with some variable change significantly from one time to another. The assumptions for paired T-Tests are of normal distributions as well as homogeneity of the variance (Rasch, Kubinger & Moder, 2011).

Results

Hypotheses Testing

Table 1 shows the results of the paired t-tests. H1a tested whether social media marketing increases the ADR of the country club’s event space. H1a was rejected. There were no significant differences found in the ADR between the two years (t= 2.66 , df

=11, p > 0.05). H1b tested whether social media marketing increases the occupancy rate of the country club’s event space. Although the results of the T-Test of H1b (t= -1.60, df= 11, p < 0.05) was significant, the occupancy rate did not increase, thus H1b was rejected. H1c tested whether social media marketing increases the RevPar of the country club’s event space. H1c was rejected because there were no significant differences between RevPar between the two years (t= 1.38, df =11, p > 0.05).

Table 1

Paired t-tests

Paired Differences 95% Confidence Interval of the Std. Sig (2- Mean Difference t Deviation tailed) Lower Upper - ADR -5162 11182.97 -12267.73 1942.91 0.14 1.06 Occupancy 41.17 53.71 7.04 75.29 2.66 0.02 Rate RevPar 456196 1142135.1 -269482.37 1181873.66 1.38 0.19

Table 2 shows the results of the monthly descriptive statistics. The ADR column compares the average rate of events in a certain month between 2016 and 2017. The descriptive statistics show that January, June, August, September, October, November, and December all had higher ADRs in 2017. In regards to the mean row, we can compare the mean ADR in 2016 versus 2017. The results show that 2017 has a higher mean of

$19,830.67 in comparison to $14,668.25. The occupancy rate columns compare how many events were booked in each month in 2016 and 2017. May and August both had higher occupancy rates in 2017. When looking at the mean row, the results show that

2016 has a higher occupancy rate. Year one, 2016 shows that the occupancy rate is 107% whereas the occupancy rate is 2017 was 66%. The RevPar columns compare each month in 2016 and 2017. January, May, June, August, November, and December all had higher

RevPar in 2017. In regards to the mean row, the results show that in 2016, the RevPar is

$1,605,993.09 whereas 2017 shows that the RevPar is $1,149,797.45. This clearly shows that 2016 had a higher RevPar.

Table 2

Descriptive statistics

ADR Occupancy Rate RevPar Month 2016 2017 2016 2017 2016 2017 January $6,248.36 $7,354.50 91% 91% $568,600.76 $669,259.50 February $18,554.00 $10,613.40 100% 87% $1,855,400.00 $923,365.80 March $15,517.10 $9,301.44 116% 108% $1,799,983.60 $1,004,555.52 April $29,429.56 $24,781.13 141% 50% $4,149,567.96 $1,239,056.50 May $14,845.49 $14,228.19 66% 83% $979,802.34 $1,180,939.77 June $13,475.41 $24,561.23 91% 83% $1,226,262.31 $2,038,582.09 July $18,028.11 $12,369.52 91% 16% $1,640,558.01 $197,912.32 August $12,467.21 $29,239.11 25% 50% $311,680.25 $1,461,955.50 September $14,928.19 $23,260.25 158% 58% $2,358,654.02 $1,349,094.50

October $9,682.33 $38,834.17 158% 8% $1,529,808.14 $310,673.36 November $11,190.95 $22,763.08 108% 75% $1,208,622.60 $1,707,231.00 December $11,652.32 $20,661.97 141% 83% $1,642,977.12 $1,714,943.51 Mean $14,668.25 $19,830.67 107% 66% $1,605,993.09 $1,149,797.45

Discussion Conclusion

Results showed that social media did not improve event space sales. However, this is not to say that social media marketing is not effective or needed in the industry.

Based on this research as well as other research articles referenced in this paper, social media is an important and needed in this day and age. It is also possible that without the presence of social media, event sale revenue would have dropped significantly. Because social media marketing has become a new “normal,” its effectiveness can be impactful

(Treem et al., 2015, pp 1). The six months of increased sales revenue can very well be because of the social media influence.

The use of social media has changed the way customers and marketers communicate with each other and purchase products. This study attempts to measure the effectiveness of social media marketing on promoting events space sales, particularly at country clubs. Country clubs are typically behind most “trends” and new concept. Social media has created a new platform for businesses to link with customers, inform the public, engage other stakeholders, and connect with their customers in an emotional way

(Lamberton & Stephen, 2016). Social media marketing drastically transformed the marketing world especially through its unique functions of advertising, reach and interactions, and fast communication (Hanlon & Hawkins, 2008; Keep It Simple, 2013;

Park et al., 2015). The private club industry differs from the rest of the hospitality

industry because of its exclusivity, cost, and special rules. Keeping members engaged in the private club industry is unlike other hospitality industries because private clubs do not aggressively market their services. Nowadays, private club marketing managers are finding new ways to appeal to a broader market, including the younger generation (Maier

& Prusty, 2016). Overall, social media is relatively a newer marketing tool for private clubs thus the results of this study will be valuable to professionals in the country club industry.

The findings of this research demonstrate that the social media marketing may not necessarily be effective in event sales this particular country clubs. In this paper, paired t- tests were conducted to test the study hypotheses. Further, descriptive statistics were observed between 2016 and 2017 on monthly data. The hypotheses were rejected but the descriptive studies indicated that there are positive influences. January, May, June,

August, November, and December’s revenue sales were higher in year two. This means that six out of the twelve months had higher revenue in year two than they did in year one. The ADR was higher in year one than it was in year two. The RevPar was higher in year one than it was in year two. Explanations as to why the ADR increased are because this country club decided to make the club more exclusive and thus raise prices for events. They believed the exclusivity made created a more prestigious club. Therefore, by increasing their average daily rate for event spaces, the club is perceived as more exclusive and prestigious. By doing this, the number of events per month also decreased.

Certain events like weekly meetings and gathering with outside committees and groups were no longer able to afford the higher rates and therefore did not renew their contracts in year two. Also, in August 2017, the country club hosted the US Amateur. This

championship is a very prestigious golf event and honor for the club to be chosen. A different country club is chosen every time. Although this championship is a big honor, it is not designed to make the hosted country club money. In fact, clubs typically lose money when they host it. For most country clubs, that is not a problem because they are equity clubs who lose money every year. However, because they account for this in their budgets, the loss of revenue is acceptable. However, for this particular country club, it is non-equity club, meaning that they do not account for events that lose them money. It becomes a big financial burden on said club that dramatically affects the club from a financial standpoint.

Study Implications

This study may suggest theoretical implications for researchers in the hospitality industry. The club industry is very limited with its research. Because the private club industry is so private, collecting data is difficult. However it is important to do further research to learn more about this industry. Although the private club industry is part of the hospitality industry, hospitality literature does not always directly apply. For example, there are studies about country club marketing but the articles are typically not particular about what type of club it is, where it is located, and how they chose to conduct research.

It is important to be able to understand differences between equity versus non equity clubs, their privacy policies, their marketing strategies, and how they can appeal to younger generations.

This study may suggest practical implications for marketers in the hospitality industry. The impact of social media has become so prevalent that it should no longer act as a “trend” (Song & Yoo, 2016). It is a very important tool from a marketing standpoint

because of the personalization and close interactions with the customers. In this study, using Instagram to market to a different audience created a new way to reach a different age range and potential customer. By introducing a new way to market to millennials and other Instagram users creates a new way to appeal to a new set of demographics.

Hospitality marketers should not ignore the role of social media in attracting consumers to purchase services or products (Song & Yoo, 2016). By tracking likes, followers, and views on social media platforms, such as Instagram, marketers will be able to track what types of people are interested in their organization and how to directly reach them. There are many ways to analyze data that can be used to find out more information about the consumer, their likes and dislikes, and how to better appeal to them. Marketers in the hospitality industry can measure the success of marketing by comparing ADR, RevPar, and occupancy of their facilities event spaces. ADR is traditionally liked to financials regarding hotel rooms, but the same principles apply to event spaces as well. The most important aspect of this paper is to show that if industries, however large, do not keep up with relevant marketing strategies, they will not be able to reach enough people to continue to thrive. Even country clubs who have been thriving for hundreds of years, will eventually fail if they do not figure out different ways to be relevant. In the case of this research, this country club allows anyone who can afford their prices to have an event in their facilities. It is not useful to just market to their members. Learning way to market towards others without creating blunt advertisements (such as television, billboard, or radio ads) is necessary in order to keep the business alive. This research is needed to broaden the pool or articles in this specific industry to help others understand this industry and to help it flourish.

Study Limitations and Recommendations for Future Studies

This study includes several limitations that should be identified and may provide suggestions for future studies. This study was conducted on one single country club in the

Southern California area. By choosing to only use secondary data from one facility, it created a significant limitation on the study’s results. No generalization can be made from this study because of this limitation. Overall, it should be considered that there is the possibility of operational challenges and changes that could not be controlled, thus study results may not have been significant. Another limitation is that the data is conducted throughout two years. It would be beneficial for future studies to use data from more country clubs and analyze their financials for more years. It is possible that if this study included data from 2018, the social media presence makes a dramatic difference.

However, because this study only accounts for 2016 and 2017, future studies need to be done. Testing multiple years and multiple social media platforms is recommended for future studies. Comparing and contrasting Instagram to Facebook or Snapchat would be an interesting study in the future. Also, implementing this study at other country clubs around the country and gathering a pool of data will make the results of future studies stronger.

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