Building a Facebook Strategy: Some Insights From Australian Accommodation Small Tourism Enterprises (STEs)

Abstract

Social media has become a major information platform allowing businesses to engage with tourists. Small Tourism Enterprises (STEs) have commenced using social media for tourism purposes by maintaining a brand page on Facebook. The literature on Facebook adoption by STEs is expanding but limited, especially the discussion around building Facebook presence and strategy. Indeed, Facebook use by STEs is at an early stage of uptake hence the early adopters of this relatively new phenomenon can provide important insights regarding their Facebook use and strategy. The article examines separate case studies of eight Australian accommodation STEs and reports insights into Facebook use and implementation. Notably, even with early adopters, a pre-planned Facebook strategy was found to be poorly understood and in many instances had not been developed and implemented appropriately. Although focused on Australia, the findings have the potential to be related to small tourism operators in other countries.