Use of Social Media in Restaurant Businesses: The Case of Marmaris

Abstract

This research was conducted to reveal what the restaurant operators in Marmaris think about the use of social media. For this purpose, an appointment request was made from the restaurant operators in Marmaris for the research questions collected from the literature and interviews were conducted with 18 restaurant operators who accepted the request. Semi-structured interview technique was used for the research data. The research was conducted in the form of face to face interviews between 5 April - 10 May 2019. The data obtained were interpreted by content analysis and the research findings were obtained. As a result of the research, it shows that restaurant companies use social media applications effectively, it is an economical and fast tool in terms of advertising and promotion, and they can communicate effectively with customers. The most used social media tools are expressed as instagram and facebook. Restaurant operators state that there are some disadvantages as well as the advantages of using social media. The majority of restaurant operators think that using social media is a disadvantage in terms of negative comments. The restaurant operators, who regard the use of social media as a positive communication tool in the sectoral sense, state that they do not receive professional assistance in managing their social media accounts.