Participants were enlightened when invited speaker and Faculty of Business and Finance (FBF) lecturer Garry Tan Wei Han introduced a new form of marketing channel at the “Mobile Social Media Advertising in Tourism: A New Form of Marketing Channel?” talk. It was organised by the Centre for Business and Management (CBM) on 18 January 2018 at the Kampar Campus.
Present at the talk were CBM Chairperson Dr Lee Voon Hsien, Tan’s co-researcher FBF tutor Hew Jun Jie, staff and students. The talk aimed to highlight the use of mobile social media advertising (MSMA).
Tan shared that the usage of mobile social media to advertise tourism products and services has become a new form of marketing channel in the advertising industry. He also spoke of the traditional marketing of tourism products as being confined by conventional advertising tools.
At the talk, he acknowledged that the occurrence of the Fourth Industrial Revolution has changed the landscape of the advertising industry and that the emergence of social networking sites (SNS) and enhancements of mobile technologies have created a new platform for advertising.
The research, which Tan co-wrote with Dr Lee, Hew, and UCSI Malaysia academics Dr Ooi Keng Boon and Wong Lai Wan, enabled the participants to understand MSMA’s related theories and its application for tourism organisations in their decision-making processes.
He also explained about the applicability of personal factors, the Interactivity Theory in the acceptance of MSMA and how it can be converted into marketing strategies. He also elucidated on how the research applied the Mobile Technology Acceptance Model (MTAM), which was developed by Dr Ooi and Tan.
“MTAM overcomes the limitations by being among the few models in the world that was specifically developed for researching mobile technologies. It is also being applied for the first time in the fields of marketing and tourism,” explained Tan.
Participants also benefitted from understanding the role of MSMA and its relationship with the tourism environment as well as MSMA’s concept in the development of marketing strategies for tourism organisations.
Despite MSMA being a new marketing channel, Tan mentioned that MSMA is ideal for an organisation with a low marketing budget and serves as an opportunity for digital marketers to disseminate information and marketing campaigns.
“Additionally, MSMA is also suitable for communicating an organisation’s brand, which can lead to better customer acquisition, retention and development. However, many organisations tend to approach MSMA as a collective of tactics by developing a presence on social media, whereby they post videos and photos without a clear understanding of the consumers’ behaviours. Therefore, the success of MSMA is also dependent on consumers’ acceptance towards this technology. Understanding the concept and applicability of MSMA will also enable marketers or practitioners to make effective decisions for their advertising needs,” said Tan.
The talk ended with a souvenir presentation by Dr Lee to Tan.
Tan explaining about MSMA to participants
Front row, from left: Dr Lee presenting a token of appreciation to Tan, as the participants look on
From left: Hew, Dr Lee and Tan posing for a group photo after the talk
© 2019 UNIVERSITI TUNKU ABDUL RAHMAN DU012(A).
Wholly owned by UTAR Education Foundation Co. No. 578227-M LEGAL STATEMENT TERM OF USAGE PRIVACY NOTICE