Belenioti, Zoe Charis (Zoi Charis) ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3600-513X, Sophia, Gkarane and Crhis, Vassiliadis (2017) The contribution of social media to small scale events: Boosting the city branding& tourism demand through Thessaloniki Food Festival. In: 5th International Conference on Contemporary Marketing Issues (ICCMI), 21-25/06/2017, Thessaloniki, Greece,.

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Abstract

Social media is becoming the new communication tool of every organization thanks to its multidimensional benefits. However, despite its importance there is still little published data on the influence of social media on brand awareness. Precisely, apart from few recent studies, no previous study has investigated the impact of social media platforms on brand awareness within food festivals. Performing festivals is a worldwide tourism phenomenon, notably increased in numbers, diversity, and popularity in recent years. Although food festivals offer a complete tourism experience, as being one of the most well-known festivals, raising in numbers around the world and attracting many visitors, so far very little is known regarding social media and food festivals.
The methodological approach taken in this study is a mixed methodology. This study follows a case-study design. The primary data of this exploratory qualitative study derive from in-depth interviews and the analysis of communication managers and decision-makers of the Thessaloniki Food Festival, that has been held for a month in 2017 (18 November- 18 December 2017). The paper also presents valuable research insights and managerial implications.

Keywords: Social media marketing, food festivals, branding, tourism& destination branding, small-scale events marketing

Item Type:	Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)
Status:	Published
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General)
School/Department:	London Campus
URI:	https://ray.yorksj.ac.uk/id/eprint/7175

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