How does review websites like tripadvisor.com influence customers’ choice on Singapore Airlines?

How does review websites like tripadvisor.com influence customers’ choice on Singapore Airlines?

1. Introduction

This research is concerned with giving invaluable insights into the intricacies of social media marketing and advertising. It will provide valuable insights into the influence of review websites when it comes to giving companies, specifically Singapore Airlines, the capacity to attract customers and locking them in through high quality and customer-friendly prices. The company that this study will focus on is Singapore Airlines. The airline industry is susceptible and is defined by many competitive businesses. As such, a little success or a small failure goes a long way in helping a business gain or lose approval with customers, respectively.

In the corporate world of today, it is not enough that Singapore Airlines has a well-established brick and mortar location and a colorful website when it comes to attracting customers(Gu & Ye, 2014). Businesses such as Singapore Airlines have to go out of their way and maintain a constant online presence (McCarthy, Stock & Verma, 2010). Even though there is a lot of work involved when it comes to browsing social media to determine the choicest of airlines, customers get to benefit in the long run because of the information they get. Existing and prospective customers of airline companies such as Singapore Airlines, through social media, are able to see the choicest of the business’ brands and the best of customer reviews. For example, Singapore Airline’s documentation of their quality control processes that are meant to ensure passengers of safe travel is one thing customers that are about to book a flight lookup. Second, customers like highlights of the cheapest flights and announcements before booking a flight. Directing attention to the biggest planes in the Singapore Airlines’ fleet such as Airbus A380 or Boeing 747-8 is also a trend that fascinates passengers and should be taken advantage of (Floreddu et al. 2014). In summary, for airline companies such as Singapore Airlines, positive customer reviews from past customers play an essential role in attracting future clients. Positive reviews can only be achieved when quality is the primary focus of a business; quality is outstanding because it is also a guarantee that a company will realize repeat purchases from customers (Kim, Lim & Brymer, 2015).

Social selling and interaction theory, social penetration theory, social exchange theory, and social network theory are essential frameworks for studying and giving explanations on the manner in which individuals form networks, express their opinions, and pass their information to each other (Argyle, 2017). Firstly, social selling and social interaction theory affirm that a social media site such as TripAdvisor is a unique channel of marketing due to the transparent, two-way potential of interaction. As opposed to broadcasting corporate messages, airline companies get the chance to engage customers on a personal basis, together with generating leads in a very targeted manner (Hudson & Thal, 2013). Secondly, social penetration theory affirms that as relationships develop, interpersonal communication shifts from a level that is very shallow and non-intimate to one that is deeper and more intimate. Thirdly, the social exchange theory is a psychological and sociological school of thought that concerns itself with the social conduct in the interaction of two parties, which put into implementation a cost-benefit analysis to find out the benefits and risks. Finally, the social network theory is the study of how individuals, companies, and groups interact with others within their network. Having a good understanding of this school of thought will be much easier for airline companies such as Singapore Airlines when they look at the individual pieces beginning with the most significant elements, which involve social networking and working one’s way through to the most insignificant of factors that include actors. The theories, as mentioned above, will give invaluable insights into the research questions of the study and the research topic at large.

The research questions of this report are borne out of the literature review section of the study and comprise the following:

• How do customer reviews on social media sites TripAdvisor influence customer buying decisions to Singapore Airlines?
• How does content marketing on social media sites like TripAdvisor influence customers of Singapore Airlines? (Kim, Han & Park, 2001).
• What essential characteristics of social media presentations on TripAdvisor should Singapore Airlines focus on so they can lure more customers? (Leung, Schuckert & Yeung, 2013).

When business owners of enterprises such as Singapore Airlines and the entirety of stakeholders in the transport industry understand how social media sites like TripAdvisor influence customers, they will be able to package themselves in the right manner (Argyle, 2017). The proper packaging will revolve around parading their best product portfolio and services on the internet so that existing and prospective customers can get a chance to look at them and make a purchase (Gu & Ye, 2014). Apart from matters of purchase, the research will help the stakeholders in companies like Singapore Airlines to make the right investment decisions now that they can get real-time information.

This research will be made of 5 other sections. These include a literature review, the research methodology, results; discussion/conclusion; and references/bibliography. The literature review section will revolve around content on previous research conducted on the topic “How does social media sites influence existing and prospective customers of airlines?” by other researchers. Their perspective on the topic will be highlighted and cited and help as a guide to the methodology and research findings sections (Inversini & Masiero, 2014). Second, the methodology section will highlight why there is a need to use qualitative, quantitative, or mixed methods to find answers to the research questions (Floreddu, Cabiddu & Evaristo, 2014). The size of the sample chosen and its sufficiency will be documented. How questionnaires were structured or how literature was collected will be documented in this section.

What’s more, the results section of the paper will document all the findings of the study concerning the data collected as an outcome or consequence of all the methodologies that were applied. The results section will basically state the findings, minus interpretation or bias, and arranged in a sequence that is logical. Fourth, the discussion/conclusion section of the paper will offer summative information about the entirety of the research findings.

1. Literature Review

Social media sites like TripAdvisor has changed the way consumers make their purchasing decisions. Typically when a consumer decides to buy a product or service, one would assume the process would be by narrowing a number of potential brands. When the purchase is made, the relationship with the brand is by the use of the product or service. With the use of social media, however, a different approach to how consumers engage with brands is born.

With more than 250 million users a month looking for reviews about their travel plans for more than 3 million businesses (Tripadvisor, 2014), the impact of social media on the travel industry is huge (Xiang et al. 2015). In addition, because of the large scale of the internet, information shared can be manipulated to the individuals’ networks. (Mangold and Faulds. 2009). Figure 1 is a model by Court et al. (2009) based on the research of purchase decisions of 18,000 consumers across various industries and continents. Their research shows that rather than narrowing the options until the purchasing decision is met, consumers make the pros and cons list in their mind. A new post-purchase relationship with the brand is formed by sharing their experiences through social media.

Figure 1:  The Consumer Decision Journey Today (Based on Court, Elzinga, Mulder, and Vetvik. 2009)

There are a plethora of social media applications today, and more are being developed. Several authors have segregated social media types. Constantinides and Fountain (2008) have identified five main types; forums, content communities, bulletin boards, social networks, and blogs. In the tourism industry, the use of microblogging (e.g., Twitter), consumer reviews, and rating apps and websites (e.g., Tripadvisor) are used heavily by consumers to weigh their options. (Varkaris, Eleftherios & Neuhofer, Barbara. 2017).

Online social sites have completely transformed the manner in which a lot of businesses send and receive messages with and conduct marketing to all their prospective customers. For the airline travel sector, in actuality, the advent of online social sites and the internet at large and the increase in the fame of social media sites has changed marketing and travel (Kazakov & Predvoditeleva, 2015). Given the way in which travelers look for possible places to travel to and the activities that they take part at the moment they arrive, the brand new approaches that customers utilize online social sites to arrive at buying decisions has greatly played a role in tourism marketing from the beginning to the end. Customers perceive social media as a hub where they can get information about the competence or incompetence of an airline company that they may use for travel.

According to Hudson & Thal (2013), social media has positively changed travel (airlines) research by democratizing online reviews. Travelers today go online to look out for their future travel partners. When making airline bookings, 89% of Millenials plan travel activities with respect to content that is either posted by their peers or the involved companies online. A working example of this is how Airbnb, a platform where people improvise homes to become hotels, has gained popularity and has a lot of customers. Note that the prominence of Airbnb has made it a target for airline companies such as Singapore Airlines. More specifically, airline booking agencies in charge of marketing companies like Singapore Airlines make use of Search Engine Optimization to find out prospective customers that are about to travel through social media sites like Airbnb.

From online social sites like Instagram to crowd-sourced review sites like TripAdvisor, tourists are visiting the world wide web for the purposes of travel inspiration and recognition from their friends and family. In online social sites, they can even find photos of other travelers, their check-ins, ratings, and much more. This easy-to-realize, real-time visitor review plays the role of previewing the in-person experience that their airline or hotels have to give from a perspective other than that of the brand. As a lot of individuals may assume, this content on social media is highly influential and within reach, and it can play the role of either putting-off prospective consumers or give them the inspiration to make bookings.

Without a shred of doubt, social media has enhanced social sharing. Individual customers have always been happy to share videos and photos taken of the airlines they have boarded and found the services to be impressive. What social media has achieved is that it has successfully enabled and broadened the ability of airline customers to share experiences of travel with a greater audience than ever before. More than 98% of Millenials upload videos and photos of their adventure travel online, putting together an influential network of peer-to-peer content that plays a role in influencing possible guests. This trend has not gone without being unnoticed. A lot of airline companies have resorted to utilizing social media campaigns and contests to see to it that they achieve some amount of credit for the social activity of their clients. Airline companies make use of real-time cabin crew pictures (e.g., air hostesses) and photographs of passengers enjoying cocktails on board as opposed to staged and professional photographs to content market their entire flight experience. Campaigns of these nature by airline companies give motivation to travelers on board to take photographs, tag them using hashtags such as #SingaporeAirlines flights-and, in the long run, to come up with user-generated content for the company that was authentic, free of charge, and repurposed across all channels of marketing.

Floreddu, Cabiddu & Evaristo (2014) affirm that social media has enhanced customer service and customer satisfaction. The vast majority of brands have a social media presence that is being utilized to be become well versed and, when appropriate, to offer help to confused or unsatisfied clients. Airlines that respond to complaints in a genuine and sincere manner get to realize a solid reputation among existing and prospective customers. JetBlue and American Airlines are specifically adept at taking care of flight challenges and offering the human touch to experiences that may be frustrating to the normal person. The moment users at a social media site like TripAdvisor get into contact with a company’s product offering information, usually a 50% look to get a response. In the event that they are reaching out with a complaint, that amount increases to about 75%. Giving responses to questions and complaints assists in the humanization of an airline brand and to demonstrate to existing and prospective consumers that they are of value to the brand. In addition to that, the success of representatives ought to be intentional with their corporation’s social media interactions. Social media websites can play the role of a social listening tool for airline companies to look up information regarding their clientele and help answer questions such as: “Is the reason for their travel an auspicious occasion, business trip or an anniversary. Listening to customers via social media can assist airline brands to come up with compelling experiences that are guaranteed to please all customers.

Airline travel agencies have been affected a great deal by social media. In fact, the travel agency model has been affected a great deal by social media. The availability of data and the ease with which self-service booking has coerced travel agencies to adapt from a brick-and-mortar model to one that is more digitized. Online social sites have helped travel agencies never to be obsolete and are still responsible for 60% of all airline bookings and 75% of package bookings. All the same, a lot of agencies have changed their concentration from individual to online experiences as they adapt to market trends and new technology. Flight agents that are working with millennial travelers ought to take into consideration the preference of a generation with respect to experience over materials. Instead of attempting to upsell them on flight upgrades, airline companies ought to put into consideration the presentation of unique experiences to customers as it is a guarantee they will create a lasting and compelling memory (and to inspire a memorable TripAdvisor or  Instagram post). While flight travel agencies can struggle to remain relevant as options of self-booking increase, their advantage is that a lot of sellers still have a preference for the personal touch.

Social media sites like TripAdvisor have changed loyalty programs a great deal. As a majority of marketers grow, getting brand new customers is way more costly as opposed to retaining the ones that are existing. Loyalty programs have come to be a centerpiece of the travel business model, and social media sites have had a huge impact on how airline company loyalty programs are made. A lot of customers decipher that the opinions which they share with their personalized networks have an influence that is tremendous. As an outcome, these clients feel entitled to compensation for the positive word-of-mouth marketing that they are doing for a brand. More than 30% of Millenials that take part in loyalty programs are more likely to post information regarding an airline brand so as to get loyalty points (Gu & Ye,2014).

With the presence of technologies that permit mention and hashtag tracking across channels of social media sites, it is easier than ever for airline companies to find out customers that are passionate about their brand and to reward them in the right way. Integrated online social site posts and social media sharing can be factored into existent tier loyalty programs to foster the promotion of airline brands across all social media platforms (McCall & McMahon, 2016). Every single time loyal guests share their experiences online, the easier they redeem benefits and perks offered by the loyalty coupons of an airline brands on social media sites like Tripadvisor, Facebook, and Twitter, other visitors find out soon enough that the benefits can be attained; are desirable; and they are bound to be more incentivized to be a part of something that is great (Tanford, Shoemaker & Dinca, 2016)

Social media sites such as Tripadvisor, Facebook, and Twitter have truly changed the landscape of marketing within the airline and hotel industry. A majority of travelers make a decision on their travel plans with respect to social media shares and reviews, rendering online customer service an important part of coming up with a positive brand reputation (Kazakov & Predvoditeleva, 2015; Scott & Orlikowski, 2012). The prevalence of social media sites has gotten in the way of traditional models of customer service used by travel agencies. Through the curation of positive reviews and the encouraging of social shares, airline brands have the capacity to leverage social media to come up with positive awareness of the brand, increase loyalty of the brand, and give a display of just how much their activities have to offer (Floreddu, Cabiddu & Evaristo, 2014).

The vivid changes in processes that define businesses, airline services, tourism service products, patterns of competition, and business-to-consumer communication and interaction have, in recent times, become very obvious (Almunawar, Anshari & Susanto, 2013; Sparks & Browning, 2011). Such an evolution was possible mostly because of the fast-paced development of Information and Communication Technology platforms that can be put into consideration in the most current decade, and it has become apparent that to this date, the influence social media has on the airline industry is very voluminous. A majority of scholars have made a conclusion that the tangible paradigm shift of consumer behavior is occurring slowly and is primarily brought about by social media (Homburg, Ehm & Artz, 2015). Such breakthroughs in social media communication have occurred so rapidly over the last decade in the airlines industry, and the transition from Web 1.0 to Web 2.0 is the specific technology to thank. In as much as the functionality of Web  1.0 as put to use in the airline industry was constrained only with respect to the online reservation of flight tickets among others, the emergence of Web 2.0 has broadened the capability of prospective customers from the consumption of data and its distribution and, additionally, the collective model of creating content (Buhalis & Inversini, 2014; Wattanacharoensil & Schuckert, 2015).

The relevance of social media to customers and the airline industry is linked explicitly with the current developments in communication technology (Verma, 2010). A  general definition of social media as is provided in many texts posits that social media is a collection of online-based networks that build upon the ideological and technical establishments of Web 2.0, and which permit the creation and exchange of content that is user-generated (Thao, Wozniak & Liebrich, 2017). A widely agreed upon and an established classification of social media is yet to be existent (Dwivedi, Shibu & Venkatesh, 2007). This is primarily because of the relatively limited period of the existence of social media and to the most considerable speed of transformation of rapid advance in Information and Communication Technology and online resources at large. In the most recent publications, a lot of scholars have made a point of classifying social media in terms of structuring or enumerations (Bowen & Chen McCain, 2015). For example it has been noted that is commonplace to tell the difference between social bookmarking, video blogging and sharing of videos through sites like YouTube, networking through the social media (through Facebook), sharing of pictures (through sites like Flickr), networking professionally (e.g. through Linked_In), user forums, microblogging (e.g. Twitter), and weblogs (Floreddu, Cabiddu & Evaristo, 2014).

Other types of social media that are common when it comes to making airline ticket bookings include:

• Sites of social networking such as (Facebook, Faceparty, and MySpace)
• Creativity works-sharing sites (music, photosharing, and videos, etc.)
• Blogs that are user-sponsored such as Cnet.com and The Unofficial Apple Weblog
• Social networks that are based on invitation-only (ASmallWorld.net)
• Company-sponsored help/cause sites (Apple.com and P&G’s Vocalpoint)
• Business networking sites (LinkedIn) (Cabiddu, De Carlo & Piccoli, 2014).

Despite the apparent diversity in social media types, scholars have time and again talked about the relevance of a global classification method of allocation for social media, that would not need adjustments considering the rapid development of social media, that would never be in need of changes respective of the quick development of Information and Communications Technology. To realize a universal system of classification, scholars such as Gu and Ye provided a classification approach that is two dimensional (Berezina et al., 2016).

Table 1. Classification of online social sites by social media/presence richness and self-disclosure/self-presentation.

Therefore, social media and ICT revolve around a broad range of the online resources that could be utilized by travelers within the stages of trip planning, traveling on its own, and post-trip actions (Bigné, Ruiz,  Andreu & Hernandez, 2015).

In as much as a broad range of studies have concentrated on the diffusion of social media within the airline industry. A good number of studies such as those carried out by (e.g., Floreddu et al., 2011; Argyle, 2017; McCarthy et al., 2010; Vogt, 2011), have affirmed that there is limited research with respect to airline companies utilizing social networking sites to influence the process of making decisions. A majority of existing literature has primarily been committed to a triad  of online social sites use pattern in the airline industry: social media as a tool for the promotion of destination; the importance of social media  in the management of airline companies; and the role of social media in the decision making of travelers (Green & Lomanno, 2012;Levy et al., 2013). Gu and Ye came up with models giving explanations of the factors that determine the intention of travelers to make use of social media when taking airline trips and organizing them beforehand (Cantallops & Salvi, 2014). A majority of past authors made a conclusion that the primary reason to make use of social media sites were the advantages that came with it (social, psychological, functional, and hedonic) that all online social site end-users perceived they would get (Noone & McGuire, 2013; Lee et al., 2013). The cost (monetary and time; the difficulty of use; and privacy loss) does not significantly get in the way of people’s predisposition to utilize such technologies. Eventually, motivations that increase social media usage (availability, altruism, environmental, trust in the contributions that other users have made, and personal predispositions) that play a role one people’s intentions to utilize social media are explored (Breugelmans et al., 2015; Scott & Orlikowski, 2012; Osei & Abenyin, 2016).

Argyle(2017) made explorations of online travel package purchase decisions in relation to all their antecedents. This researcher made use of 3 main forms of web design to the e-commerce framework. Argyle posited that how much trust a company has in the eyes of consumers, attitude perception of consumers, and their satisfaction can be completely employed in the area of airline company site activities (Anderson, 2012). Usually, customers that look to purchase goods or services from the airline industry are basically influenced by the travel related designs of websites and content marketing and other end-user attitudes and satisfaction of consumers. In his later studies, Argyle (2017) realized that the three factors mentioned above have a large impact on the buying decisions of consumers. (Law et al., 2015)The positive experiences of customers that are shared on the internet have a massive influence on potential airline industry service product customers. The airline website design quality, user convenience, and usability basically translate to a mishap-free transaction and a product purchase by customers that visit that very site (Wang et al., 2017; Su et al., 2015).

Hudson and Thal (2013) carried out a study that aimed to find out if online reviews of airlines or other types of consumer feedback offered a solid base for other customers to align to in arriving at their airline carrier decisions. These researchers realized that end-users of the airline industry depend on reviews and online recommendations and therefore seek the reviews of such communities to look for data that is not unbiased. Finally, it is worth mentioning that Leung, Schuckert & Yeung (2013) affirmed that when more people utilize social media sites, there is a high chance that they will come up with travel content online through posting their reviews.

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