Background of the Study Heritage Hotels of Rajasthan are increasingly utilizing social media for marketing their properties and developing relationships with potential prospects. From the literature review of previous studies on social media marketing, it was revealed that Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, Telegram, Snapchat etc. were the varied social media marketing tools used by majority of hotels to attract prospective customers and retain existing ones. However, there hasn't been much focus on figuring out how heritage hotels are using this platform to communicate with their prospects and guests. Introduction- Social media technology has aided hoteliers in promoting and marketing their properties at the national and international levels. Travelers and guests nowadays are keen on sharing their travel and stay experiences on social media platforms. Various platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube and Twitter have been effectively employed for marketing services by the hospitality industry. It facilitates online functionality and monitoring perspectives. Hotel chains like Hyatt, Hilton, etc. use Twitter as a simulated concierge service for consumers, allowing them to "tweet" questions and receive responses within sixty minutes. Hotel operators nowadays appoint staff members to track blogs, social media sites so as to respond promptly and appropriately to customers. Social media tools have even assisted Rajasthan heritage hotel operators to communicate with old and new customers. Social media facilitates active engagement between existing travelers, prospects and hoteliers. So in this context, the goal of this study is to assess the role of social media platforms in the marketing strategies of Rajasthan heritage hotels.

1. Engaging with Customers Using
Social Media Platforms
(A Case Study of Rajasthan's Heritage Hotels)
By-Rani Sharma

2. Background
of the Study
Heritage Hotels of Rajasthan are increasingly utilizing
social media for marketing their properties and
developing relationships with potential prospects.
From the literature review of previous studies on
social media marketing, it was revealed that
Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, Telegram,
Snapchat etc. were the varied social media marketing
tools used by majority of hotels to attract prospective
customers and retain existing ones.
However, there hasn't been much focus on figuring
out how heritage hotels are using this platform to
communicate with their prospects and guests.

3. Social media technology has aided hoteliers in promoting and marketing their properties at the
national and international levels. Travelers and guests nowadays are keen on sharing their travel
and stay experiences on social media platforms.
Various platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube and Twitter have been
effectively employed for marketing services by the hospitality industry. It facilitates online
functionality and monitoring perspectives.
Hotel chains like Hyatt, Hilton, etc. use Twitter as a simulated concierge service for consumers,
allowing them to "tweet" questions and receive responses within sixty minutes.
Hotel operators nowadays appoint staff members to track blogs, social media sites so as to
respond promptly and appropriately to customers.
Social media tools have even assisted Rajasthan heritage hotel operators to communicate with
old and new customers.
Social media facilitates active engagement between existing travelers, prospects and hoteliers.
Introduction
So in this context, the goal of this study is to assess the role of social
media platforms in the marketing strategies of Rajasthan heritage
hotels.

4. Social Media
Networks
Classification
Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest are the most popular sites, and the
list is limitless.
Facebook tops the chart as the most preferred channel.
It has helped hotels to track their popularity using metrics such as the
number of likes, followers, etc.
Social Networking Sites
It contains all of the information about the company's products, services,
amenities, awards, and other achievements.
This platform is particularly advantageous because it is run by the company
itself and has all comprehensive and up-to-date data.
Official Websites or Blogs
Popular hotel review sites include Tripadvisor, MakeMyTrip, Expedia, and
Trivago, etc.
It assists in regard to favorable and unfavorable reviews.
If managed appropriately review sites are expected to positively impact
business growth.
Review Pages/ Partner Channels
The way a hotel or resort offers its services and amenities is through
social media channels, which are divided into following three
categories:

5. 2008 Csutoras
2009
Mangold
& Faulds
2009 Gordhamer
2010 Mowat
2010 Miletsky
2010
Kaplan &
Haenlein
2011
Hills &
Cairncross
2016
Momany
and
Alshboul
2019
Enyioko, N. C.
and Nwokah,
N. G.
The aim of social media marketing is to generate brand awareness and interaction with the customers.
Marketing through Social media allows companies to communicate with their prospects and also facilitates flow of information among the customer
themselves as well.
Social media marketing requires special attention and strategy devising in order to establish brand image and loyalty as it is unique in many ways
than traditional methods of marketing. Social network marketing relates to relationship marketing, where the firm concentrates on
“making connections” with their customers.
The use of social networks such as Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn has provided a range of outlets and chances for hotels to
communicate with their visitors.
Social media is the umbrella term for broad variety of tools and applications that give the Web its social capabilities.
R
e
v
i
e
w
o
f
L
i
t
e
r
a
t
u
r
e
Coined social media as “a group of Internet-based applications that were built on the ideological and technological
foundations of Web 2.0, and allowed the creation and exchange of user generated content.
Today, social media is widely acknowledged as a new kind of word-of-mouth communication that
influences consumers' purchasing decisions.
Highlighted the strategic relevance of social media marketing for hotels in creating additional promotional
opportunities and generating brand awareness among customers.
Examined the impact of social network marketing on organizational efficiency and
highlighted that enhancing brand image and creating awareness were the two
important objectives accomplished by it. The authors further concluded that strategic
use of Facebook, Twitter and blog significantly impacted organizational effectiveness.
2018
TomDieck,
Jung and
Moorhouse
Described the usage of social networking sites in luxury hotels and ended up concluding that social
networking sites have emerged as a prominent marketing tool in business promotion resulting in a wider
reach and expansion. They further elaborated that Facebook has emerged as an important source of
communication for helping customers from varied geographical zones of the world to stay connected.

6. H0: Social networking sites do not
significantly impact marketing of
heritage hotels of Rajasthan.
H1: Social networking sites
significantly impact marketing of
heritage hotels of Rajasthan.
To explore the role of social
networking sites in the
marketing strategy of heritage
hotels of Rajasthan.
Statement of
Objective
Research
Hypothesis

7. Methodology
Co-relational,
Descriptive and
Exploratory
Research
Design
State of
Rajasthan
Structured
qestionnaire
based on Likert
scale filled via
Microsoft Forms
from the
employee
handling the
social media
marketing
channels of the
hotels.
Data was
collected from
September 2021
to January 2022.
Books, research
papers, published
articles, official
websites, reports,
statistics and
facts from
different reliable
internet sources.
Heritage hotels of
Rajasthan which
are 118 in number
as per the list of
heritage
properties
released by
Department of
Tourism,
Government of
Rajasthan in the
year 2020.
Out of 118
Heritage hotels of
Rajasthan, data
was collected
from 78 Heritage
Hotels. As the
remaining 37
were not making
use of social
media networks
for marketing of
their services.
Thus purposive
sampling
technique was
adopted in
present study.
Locale
Primary
Data
Collected
Secondary
Data
Collected
Time
Frame
Universe of
the Study
Sampling
Unit
Data analysis was
done using SPSS
software.
Factor analysis,
KMO Test and
Bartlett's
sphericity tests
were
subsequently
applied.
Data Analysis
and
Interpretation

8. Sample Size Determination

9. Data Analysis and Interpretation
Increasing website traffic
Boosting brand engagement
Improving communication
and interaction
On the basis of literature
review, questionnaire was
framed with 14 statements to
determine the stated objective
and test the research
hypothesis.
According to the findings,
following three major variables
were identified as outcomes of
social media marketing by
heritage hotels:
KMO value obtained after
applying the test was .862
which is more than .7
(significant value). Thus
sample size was considered
sufficient and was regarded
suitable for additional
statistical testing.
The second test used was
Bartlett's sphericity test.
The calculated value was
.00, which is less than a
significance value of .05.
As a result, it was also
found adequate.
The results of both the tests indicated
adequacy of the sample for factor analysis.
Using factor analysis, the
statements were grouped
into the mentioned three
factors.
Factor analysis sample
adequacy test and the KMO
test was used as a starting
point.

10. Data Analysis and Interpretation
Table 1. Total Variance of the three utilities
With the factor
analysis test applied
on fourteen positive
parameters of social
media, the result
shows the cumulative
percentage as 68.016,
which denotes that all
the three factors
taken together have a
key role in social
media.

11. Table 2. Rotated Component Matrixa of Utilities of Social Media
The result shows that there is
a significant association
between social networking
sites and the marketing of
heritage hotels of Rajasthan.
Thus, the null hypothesis is
rejected and the alternative
hypothesis is accepted.
Result of Hypothesis 3

12. After application of
statistical tests, it was
inferred that out of
fourteen positive
components of social
media, eight factors
were impacting website
traffic. Whereas, two
factors were affecting
brand engagement and
remaining four factors
were favourably
impacting
communication and
interaction (Refer Table
2).
Findings-
The results of Rotated
Component Matrix by the
method Varimax with
Kaiser Normalization also
shows a positive result
with a statistical value to
be higher than .7 for all
the parameters (except
one “Revenue
Generation after SNS”
with .643 value).
Eight statements
appearing on serial no. 1
to 6, 9 and 11 indicate
the factors that help in
increasing website
traffic. Two statements
numbered 12 and 13
indicate the factors that
boost brand
engagement while four
statements numbered 7,
8, 10 and 14 denote the
factors that help in
improving
communication and
interaction between
host and guest.
Factors that positively
affect website traffic are-
social media advertising
effectiveness (.824),
competitive advantage
(.822),
effective promotional
activities (.806),
building trust (.805),
ease of using social
media (.754),
higher revenue
generation (.643) and
overall usefulness of the
social media platform for
the Rajasthan heritage
hotels (.769).
Factors that impact
communication and
interaction are namely
four, which are
helpful in new customer
acquisition (.748),
improving client relation
(.730),
helpful in building more
business relations (.651)
and
providing ease in one-
to-one communication
between consumer and
owner (.877).
Factors that boost
brand engagement
are two, which are
acommunication and
interaction include
transacting business
globally and
more and wide reach
with .942 and .926
value respectively.

13. Role of Social Media Platforms in promoting Rajasthan's Heritage Hotels.

14. Heritage hotels should collect reviews by sending automated emails to guests requesting them to leave a review. This should subsequently be posted on hotel social
networking sites. Such user-generated content boosts engagement, trust, and brand awareness.
Suggestions based on Findings-
Hoteliers should encourage visitors to upload images and videos and ask them to tag or use hashtags. In exchange, guests can be offered incentives, for which contest software
such as Wishpond and ShortStack might be used.
Hoteliers should reply to the comments and questions received. It should be done at the earliest. If hotel staff responds promptly, it can mean the difference between getting a
booking and losing one. Hotels can use platforms like Hubspot's Social Media Inbox, Napoleon Cat, and Agorapulse to do this. These platforms provide social inbox management
by getting a message on any of the connected networks and also allowing responding directly from a single dashboard.
Utilizing Facebook by creating a hotel’s profile, going live and running advertisements. Since Facebook is one of the most accessed and best mediums for sharing content,
heritage hotels can post local attractions and eye catchy images of hotel, short live videos, attractive offers and interesting contests.
After Facebook, Instagram is the most favoured social media network and these two are closely interlinked with each other. Heritage hoteliers should create an Instagram
business profile adding hotel’s website link and connect it with their Facebook business page. Since Instagram is particularly for pictures and video sharing hotel owners should
focus on visually appealing posts with interesting pictures of hotel’s interior, exterior, services, and amenities. Further for enhanced engagement hoteliers should use unique
hashtags, share Instagram reels, post stories and shoot Instagram boomerang.
TripAdvisor provides great advantages to heritage hotels and over years has evolved as the most popular travel website. Heritage hotels of Rajasthan should write their
description, their uniqueness with great pictures along with the amenities offered. For better results TripAdvisor review express program and TripAdvisor traveler reviews app
can be effectively employed.
Heritage hotels should post creative content throughout peak hours and on a regular basis. When a post is published just before or during a peak time, it expands the reach of
the content, helps in connecting possible visitors, and increases engagement in the web algorithms.
To generate high-performing content, Rajasthan heritage hotels should use analytics and competitor analysis. Tools such as Social Media Tracker and Rival IQ can assist with
this by displaying how competitor material performs across various social media platforms. Hotels should check at competitors profile and precise engagement of every post.
For content discovery, hotels could use SEMrush's Topic Research Service and BuzzSumo's tool. It recommends fresh hot topics.
Some good hashtag research must be done to maximize the reach and visibility for which the RiteTag tool can be used.

15. Conclusion
Social media is an important tool to market, manage and maintain heritage hotel brands.
Social media helps heritage hotels with attracting new guests, increasing engagement, enhancing
guest satisfaction and also improving retention.
Social media helps heritage hotels by doing just-in-time marketing by extending market deals.
It gives the advantage of getting direct feedback from guests and thus serving their needs in a
personalized and better way.
Its usefulness is much more as it provides a platform to engage with existing customers, reach new
customers and ability to invite users by the power of reviews posted by exiting guests.
The use of social media is rising day by day in the heritage hotel industry of Rajasthan and it has
helped them in increased website traffic, brand engagement and enhanced communication and
interaction.

16. Limitations
of the
Study
Study hasn’t focused on the other elements of social media used by heritage hotels
of Rajasthan, like passive incentives, power of like, share and comment etc.
Influencer marketing and blogger engagements are also keenly utilized. The study
hasn’t focused on these related factors.
Future
Scope
Further research should be elucidated on factors like how heritage hotels of
Rajasthan create a great online experience for their clients and guests, how the
passive incentives are offered and what value does it hold.
There should also be research that focuses on the role of influencers in heritage
hotel marketing over social media and the effects of blogger’s engagements.

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19. Appendix-A
(Standard Questionnaire)