An Analysis of Empirical Research of Social Media and User-Generated Content in the Hospitality Industry

Hospitality remains highly competitive industry where establishments are always pushing new efforts to positively attract and retain consumers more so than the others. In recent years, the most significant trend in reaching to consumers is through social media. The research dives into great detail in the interactions and cause and effect between consumers and hospitality in social media such as the effect of user generated content. The research produces more details and ideas than simply engaging in social media helps hospitality establishments. The information was attained from a large content analysis of previous research, studies, surveys, experiments, statistical and quantitative analysis from the leading journals in hospitality as well as papers from psychology and marketing journals. The overall result concluded that simple promotion on social media is not the leading positive impactful factor; it is actually consumer engagement between the consumer and the brand or establishment that drives attention, consumers and advocates through social media. Those in hospitality will then be able to use the tools and strategies provided in the study based on data and research to further engage consumers and drive revenue to their establishment or brand