ABSTRACT
This research study, titled "Determinants on Customer's Social Media Engagement in Selected Beach Resorts in Lian, Batangas" aimed to find the main factors that influence customer engagement in resorts on social media. It looked into how direct engagement, user-generated content, responsive customer service, interactive content, and community-building efforts improve social media engagement behaviors. The study also explored whether there are significant differences in customer engagement perceptions based on age, sex, booking frequency, and social media platform use.
The research results indicated that factors leading to social media engagement were all rated very highly by the respondents. This means that people strongly agree that these factors positively affect social media engagement. Building community got the highest weighted mean out of the five factors, which means that customers can hardly resist the value of the community, especially the feeling of being accepted, included, and connected, which resorts online were able to foster. Moreover, the findings revealed that there were no statistically significant differences in the responses when demographic and behavioral profiles were used as grouping variables. This means that different groups have the same perception of the effectiveness of social media engagement. The study based on the results argues that the use of social media is instrumental in the establishment of relationships, resort visibility enhancement, and customer loyalty reinforcement.
Consequently, it is recommended that resorts in Lian, Batangas, should upgrade their strategic management plans by including well-targeted social media interventions aimed at building the community, being responsive, and creatively generating content. Such strategies can increase customer interaction, satisfaction, and loyalty over time in a competitive digital tourism market.
Keywords: Social Media Engagement, Customer Engagement, Resort Marketing, Strategic Management