The role of social media in marketing of tourist destinations and planning of journeys

Vzpon in razvoj družbenih medijev je spremenil dojemanje sveta posameznikov in omogočil nove načine komuniciranja. Uporabniki družbenih medijev z njihovo uporabo lažje in hitreje dostopajo do informacij po vsem svetu, družbeni mediji pa jim omogočajo tudi boljše sporazumevanje z uporabniki širom sveta. Zaradi hitrega razvoja družbenih omrežij in mnogih prednosti, ki so jih ta s seboj prinesla, se je spremenilo tudi načrtovanje potovanja uporbnikov ter samo trženje destinacij. Zaradi možnosti, ki jih družbeni mediji svojim uporabnikom ponujajo, so ti bolje informirani o posamezni destinaciji in njenih značilnostih, destinacija in destinacijski management pa lahko družbena omrežja s pridom uporabijo ter z njimi kot učinkovitim komunikacijskim orodjem pritegnejo uporabnike in bodoče turiste na njim prijazen način. Aktivno pojavljanje in trženje skozi družbene medije lahko opazimo na dveh destinacijah, ki smo jih razdelali v študiji primera. Gre za mesti Maribor (Slovenija) in Gradec (Avstrija), ki sta si po značilnostih precej podobni, geografsko pa izjemno blizu. Zanimalo nas bo, kako se posamezna destinacija poslužuje možnosti trženja in predstavitve preko treh izbranih družbenih medijev (Facebook, Instagram in TripAdvisor) ter kako se destinaciji pri izkoristku možnosti izbranih družbenih omrežij razlikujeta.The ascent and development of social media has changed the perception of the world of individuals and enabled new ways of communication. Social media users access the information easier and faster by using them, and the social media enables them better communication with users from around the world. Because of the fast development of social media and many advantages, these brought with them, the planning of travels and the marketing of destinations have changed. Because of the opportunities given by the social media, the users are better informed about a certain destination and its characteristics, whereas the destination and destination management can use social media to their advantage as an effective communication tool and attract new users and future tourists in a friendly way. Active occurrence and marketing through social media can be observed on the example of two destinations, which were elaborated in the case study. The cities Maribor (Slovenia) and Graz (Austria) are similar in respect to their characteristic and geographically in close proximity to one another. We will be interested how a certain destination uses marketing possibilities and representation through selected social media (Facebook, Instagram and TripAdvisor), and how the destinations differ when it comes to the efficient use of selected social media