Social media as corporate reputation creating medium: A research on tour company’s social media accounts

Turkish Language Institute defines the concept of reputation with the words prestige, honor and dignity. In the business world as well as in social life, companies perform various activities in order to protect their reputation. It is known that there is a linear relationship between high visibility and lasting reputation. In the age of communication it is necessary to be able to use the media effectively in order to be visible. Since it does not require an effort to reach, the environment that has the most audience is the traditional mass media. Social media, which is the result of the developments in communication technologies, offers endless possibilities to access and accessibility. Social media tools, which have begun to enter our lives with the new millennium, one by one, are being used effectively by companies as well as individuals. Conscious consumers now expect companies to share not only about new products and services, but also information about the days that are relevant to society. Scientific research shows that audiovisual content is more striking and more memorable. Recently, it has been noted that such contents are used extensively in the social media. In this context, the study aims to investigate how tour companies placed the content mentioned above in their social media accounts. Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, which are popular social platforms, have been preferred as research area. Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts of 10 tour companies which have most followers make up the sample of the research. Companies have been identified based on BoomSocial and SocialBakers lists that follow brands' social media assets