Creating Value through Social Media: Fresh Evidence from Cultural Organizations

Abstract

The impacts of digital technologies are gaining increasing attention in the service literature, and a growing number of cultural organizations are using online websites and social media to interact with their actual and potential customers. However, the contributions developed by service marketing scholars show little interest in examining the role of underlying technologies in a particular service experience context, namely, the cultural heritage context and the corresponding visiting experience. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to analyse how digital technologies, especially social media, can help cultural organizations stimulate customer engagement. To reach this aim, we conducted a single exploratory case study of a communication project developed by the National Archaeological Museum of Naples (MANN) to attract their actual and potential Italian and foreign visitors. The achieved results allow for us to show how digital communication tools can stimulate customer engagement in a cultural heritage context.