The document summarizes the results of a survey of 458 Finnish tourism sector companies on their use of social media. It finds that 91% do not actively follow social media channels, though 47% of those who do follow spend 1-7 hours per week on it. The most common issues followed are the company's own field at 29% and competitors at 25%. While 85% do not use information found on social media, the most common uses by those that do are getting new ideas for products and services and benchmarking. About half of companies measure social media results, most commonly using Facebook statistics and website visitor numbers.

1. PERCEPTIONS ON SOCIAL MEDIA IN
FINNISH TOURISM SECTOR
~ Following and measuring social media ~
Johanna Heinonen
14.6.2011

2. DO YOU FOLLOW SOCIAL MEDIA
TOOLS AND CHANNELS?
9,0 %
Following social
media (n=458)
Yes No
91,0 %
Johanna Heinonen 14.6.2011

3. HOW OFTEN DO YOU FOLLOW THE
SOCIAL MEDIA?
50 %
47,1 %
Frequency of following (n=420)
45 %
40 %
35 %
29,5 %
30 %
25 %
20 %
14,8 %
15 %
10 %
5% 3,3 % 2,9 %
1,7 %
0,7 %
0%
a few times a day once a day a couple of times once a week A couple of times once a month more seldom
in a week in a month
Johanna Heinonen 14.6.2011

4. ISSUES FOLLOWED IN THE SOCIAL MEDIA
35 %
Field to be followed (n=1147)
30 % 28,9 %
24,6 %
25 % 23,7 %
21,7 %
20 %
15 %
10 %
5%
1,1 %
0%
Field Competitors Co-operation Personals Other
Johanna Heinonen 14.6.2011

5. Other issues to follow
• Correspondence in email (n=4)
• General news and trends (n=2)
• Number of visits (n=2)
• Customers’ reactions and behavior (n=2)
• Facebook comments (n=1)
• Can’t say (n=1)
• Key words (n=1)
• Everything (n=1)
Johanna Heinonen 14.6.2011

6. WEEKLY TIME USED TO FOLLOW SOCIAL MEDIA
70 %
63,0 % Time spent for following (n=419)
60 %
50 %
40 %
30 %
22,0 %
20 %
11,0 %
10 %
3,8 %
0,2 %
0%
less than 1 hour per week 1-7 hours per week 8-20 hours per week 21-50 hours per week more than 50 hours
Johanna Heinonen 14.6.2011

7. DO YOU TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE
INFORMATION FOUND IN SOCIAL MEDIA?
14,6 %
Using information
(n=410)
Yes No
85,4 %
Johanna Heinonen 14.6.2011

8. How information is used?
• New ideas for services and products (n=55)
• Benchmarking and evaluating (n=28)
• Sharing information and marketing (n=21)
• Many ways (n=14)
• Customer feedback and customer needs (n=13)
• Adapting company’s functions to competitors’ and customer need (n=13)
• Current events and news (n=7)
• Current education (n=7)
• Pricing (n=6)
• New customers and contacts (n=5)
• Partners and networking (n=4)
• Knowledge in general (n=3)
• Linking webpages (n=3)
• Getting customer perspective (n=2)
• Future planning (n=2)
• Key words (n=2)
• Purchasing (n=2)
• Sending customer mail (n=2)
• Do not know (n=1)
Johanna Heinonen 14.6.2011

9. DO YOU USE MEASUREMENTS IN ORDER TO
MEASURE THE RESULTS SOCIAL MEDIA?
47,0 %
Using measurement
(n=455)
Yes No
53,0 %
Johanna Heinonen 14.6.2011

10. WHAT KIND OF MEASUREMENT TOOLS ARE USED?
0,6 % 0,6 % 0,6 % 1,2 % 1,2 %
2,9 %
Measurement tools (n=171)
Retweets (n=1)
5,8 %
Snoobi (n=1)
8,2 % Center of Statistics (n=1)
Feeback (n=2)
Followers (n=2)
Clicks (n=5)
50,9 % Facebook statistics (n=10)
13,5 %
Number of customer contacts and activity
(n=14)
Number of orders/customers (n=23)
Google tools (n=25)
Number of visitors (n=87)
14,6 %
Johanna Heinonen 14.6.2011

11. HOW OFTEN DO YOU MEASURE HOW SUCCESSFUL
YOU HAVE BEEN IN SOCIAL MEDIA?
30 %
Frequency of measurement…
24,7 %
25 %
20,6 % 20,6 %
20 % 19,4 %
15 %
10 %
8,1 %
6,5 %
5%
0%
Once a day A couple of times in Once a week A couple of times in Once a month more seldom
a week a month
Johanna Heinonen 14.6.2011

12. HOW OFTEN DO YOUR CUSTOMERS FOLLOW
YOUR COMPANY IN SOCIAL MEDIA?
60 %
Followers' frequency (n=454)
50 % 48,7 %
40 %
30 %
20 %
15,6 % 16,3 %
13,0 %
10 %
4,0 %
2,4 %
0%
Don't know Hourly Daily Weekly Monthly Whenever
somthing new
comes up
Johanna Heinonen 14.6.2011

13. DO YOU KNOW YOUR CUSTOMERS’
OPINIONS OF YOUR USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA?
35,2 %
Knowledge of
followers'opinions
(n=455)
Yes No
64,8 %
Johanna Heinonen 14.6.2011

14. How are customers’ opinions followed?
• Customers’ reactions to company’s action (n=51)
• By trying to discuss with customers personally and answer their questions
(n=32)
• By different feedback systems (n=25)
• Face to face feedback (n=13)
• By different researches (n=11)
• Different statistics in social media (n=10)
• By analyzing customers’ and partners’ opinions and behavior in different
situations (n=3)
• Reacting actively (n=3)
• By whatever is legal and possible (n=3)
• By following up orders (n=2)
• Customers create the contents in company’s social media (n=2)
• By giving them facts (n=1)
• Does not concern us (n=1)
Johanna Heinonen 14.6.2011
Johanna Heinonen 14.6.2011