Improving the Social Media Marketing of Visit Espoo

The outcome of this product oriented Bachelor’s thesis is the social media marketing strategy for Visit Espoo. This thesis was commissioned by Visit Espoo, and conducted by an author who made an internship there during the writing process. Visit Espoo is a part of Espoo Marketing Oy, which is a subsidiary of a limited liability company owned by the City of Espoo. The aim of the company is to build the profile of the city more appealing and to support the convention and leisure tourism in the city of Espoo. The thesis is product oriented. Its outcome is the social media marketing strategy for Visit Espoo. The main objective of this thesis is to improve the effectiveness of the social media marketing of Visit Espoo. The thesis focuses on developing the positive image of the city and making it better-known. The target group of the strategy is the national leisure tourists in the neighbouring areas of Espoo. The commissioner set the target audience. This thesis begins with an introduction and with the justification for the need of the strategy. The key terms of destination marketing and the environment of the social media are explained. The thesis process and the implementation of the theories are discussed. This thesis follows the SOSTAC strategy process model. The strategy process begins with Situation Analysis. The tourism statistics and the target group are introduced. The situation analysis includes benchmarking of the actions of 10 Finnish cities in social media. It was requested by the commissioner. The benchmarking sheet is available as an appendix at the end of this thesis. The Objectives and the Strategy were made based on the results of the situational analysis. The strategy is divided into 5 different platforms: the website, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. The Tactics are discussed, and the Actions are presented in the form of a content plan for one week. The content plan is visible as an appendix at the end of this thesis. Control is the final part of the strategy process. It introduces detailed ways how to follow the performance on each channel. The Evaluation of the Process chapter focuses on the functionality of the thesis. The strategy was tested by the author. It turned out beneficial. The Marketing and Communications Coordinator was interviewed to state the functionality of the content plan. The commissioner found the content plan helpful with its concrete ideas. They found the external view useful and refreshing. The thesis finishes with the Discussion part. It stresses the utility and challenges of the thesis as well as the process of writing it. Ideas for further studies are presented at the end