ONLINE MARKETING COMMUNICATION FOR PURPOSE OF BRANDING OF TOURISM ORGANISATIONS AND DESTINATIONS WITH SPECIAL FOCUS ON SOCIAL NETWORKS

In the past years due to the development of the Internet and technology new trends in marketing communication in all industries as well as tourism have been set. The development of web 2.0 concept caused exponential development. However, this brought on a high level of turbulence in online marketing communication so all new channels of communication which nowadays make up an integral part of integrated marketing communication should be in the function of branding tourism organisations and destinations. The fundamental aim of this research was to establish to which extent selected Croatian tourism organisations and destinations use online marketing communication channels, social networks in particular, and for what purposes is online marketing communication primarily used on social networks on the Croatian tourism market. In the research an in-depth interview was conducted with experts, representatives of eight selected tourism organisations and destinations i.e. tourism boards, hotels, restaurants, and travel agencies. Based on the obtained results it has been concluded that selected tourism organisations and destinations for the purpose of branding use digital channels of marketing communication in cases where the brand power and size does not affect the success of digital communication but the key is well defined digital marketing strategy directed towards the target group of tourism organisation or destination. Furthermore, if taken into consideration the speed with which global trends in digital marketing communication are developing, the obtained results imply that Croatian tourism organisations and destinations still have significant space to additionally exploit the potential of digital channels of marketing communication, social networks especially.