Research On Air Travelers’ Purchase Situations Influenced By Social Media Marketing

Today, social media’s role is not limited to posting personal information and perspectives. The new social-media represented by Wechat has gradually achieved functional integration. In the civil aviation industry, Wechat has not only realized the functions of flight schedule and ticket booking, but also check-in, seat selection,baggage inquires at present. These functions have become a major tool of social media marketing, which also has had a certain impact on the traditional way of buying.This article has combed a large number of domestic and foreign researches, proposing the theoretical model assumption that airline’s social media marketing affects the perceived value of passengers, thus influencing passengers’ purchasing behaviors. The article has firstly made analysis of characteristics of social media marketing of China’s airline companies at present, and has divided social media into three kinds of marketing: Functional platform, active marketing, and topic marketing. Thereby the assumption model is built that social media marketing methods affect travelers’ perceived values and purchase decisions. Then after the field research of China Southern Airlines in Guizhou, the eventual influence model is improved. Conclusion eventually obtained is that marketing ways of social media: functional platform,active marketing and topic marketing, will all affect passengers’ perception value,then influencing passengers’ purchased decision. But what is different is that functional platform of social media will not only affects passengers’ perception value,also directly impacts passengers’ purchased behavior, while active marketing and topic marketing cannot directly affect passengers’ purchased behavior, but passengers’ perception value only.