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Can TikTok Sound Enhance Tou ism SMEs’ Engagemen ?
© 2023 The Au ho (s)
Published e sion
Wahid, Risqo; Ka jaluo o, Heikki; Ukpabi, Dandison; Taiminen, Kimmo
Wahid, R., Ka jaluo o, H., Ukpabi, D., & Taiminen, K. (2023). Can TikTok Sound Enhance Tou ism
SMEs’ Engagemen ?. In B. Fe e -Rosell, D. Massimo, & K. Be ezina (Eds.), In o ma ion and
Communica ion Technologies in Tou ism 2023 : P oceedings o he ENTER 2023 eTou ism
Con e ence, Janua y 18-20, 2023 (pp. 142-147). Sp inge . Sp inge P oceedings in Business and
Economics. h ps://doi.o g/10.1007/978-3-031-25752-0_15
2023
Can TikTok Sound Enhance Tou ism SMEs’
Engagemen ?
Risqo Wahid(B), Heikki Ka jaluo o , Dandison Ukpabi ,
and Kimmo Taiminen
School o Business and Economics, Uni e si y o Jy äskylä, Jy äskylä, Finland
[email p o ec ed]
Abs ac . This s udy explo es he ole o sound and i s in e ac ion wi h ma ke e -
gene a ed con en (MGC) (i.e., emo ional, in o ma ional, ansac ional) in in lu-
encing cus ome engagemen (CE) (i.e., iews and sha es) in he con ex o ou ism
SMEs and TikTok. Con en analysis was conduc ed o analyze da a om 7 a el
guide se ices in Indonesia. The inal da ase comp ised 660 TikTok ideos,
4,092,289 iews, and 10,920 sha es. The esul s con i m ha co e sound has no
di ec e ec ei he on iews o sha es. Also, co e sound has no in e ac ion e ec s
wi h any MGC in impac ing CE (i.e., iews and sha es). Indi idually, he MGC
o emo ional con en has signi ican and posi i e e ec s on iews, while in o -
ma ional and ansac ional pos s ha e no signi ican e ec s on iews. Fu he ,
ansac ional social media pos s ha e signi ican and posi i e e ec s on sha es,
while in o ma ional and emo ional pos s ha e no signi ican e ec s on sha es.
Theo e ically, his s udy expands con en ma ke ing and ou ism CE li e a u e by
in es iga ing ac o s d i ing CE in he con ex o ou ism SMEs and TikTok. P ac-
ically, indings om his esea ch can assis ou ism SMEs in op imizing hei
con en ma ke ing s a egies on TikTok.
Keywo ds: Tou ism SMEs ·TikTok ·Con en ma ke ing ·Cus ome
engagemen ·Social media
1 In oduc ion
Cus ome engagemen (CE) can b ing ample bene i s o ou ism i ms (see a sys ema ic
e iew o So e al. [1]). Among o he s, CE can imp o e alue c ea ion, cus ome us ,
b and loyal y, and ela ionship quali y [1,2]. In he social media domain, he enhance-
men o CE depends on he quali y o social media con en sha ed by ou ism i ms [2].
This sugges s ha knowledge o con en ma ke ing is impe a i e. Con en ma ke ing
assis s i ms in o mula ing and dis ibu ing con en ha can sa is y hei cus ome s,
which e en ually leads o an inc ease in CE on social media [3]. One o he cons uc s
ha can in luence CE on social media is non e bal in o ma ion. In in e ac i e echnology,
non e bal in o ma ion may include pic u es, ideos, and sounds [4].
Con en ma ke ing schola s ha e examined how non e bal in o ma ion can impac
CE [3,5]. Despi e he a emp s, some limi a ions a e s ill p esen . To begin wi h, he ocus
© The Au ho (s) 2023
B. Fe e -Rosell e al. (Eds.): ENTER 2023, SPBE, pp. 142–147, 2023.
h ps://doi.o g/10.1007/978-3-031-25752-0_15
Can TikTok Sound Enhance Tou ism SMEs’ Engagemen ? 143
was me ely on pho os and ideos. Resea ch has neglec ed he audio aspec (e.g., sound)
o non e bal in o ma ion. In ac , in ma ke ing in gene al, s udies abou how sound and
music on social media play a ole in shaping consume beha iou emain una ailable.
Knowledge abou his ma e is s ill wai ing o be disco e ed. Gi en such a si ua ion
and he ubiqui y o sound-based social media (e.g., TikTok), he e is a need o explo e
he ole o sound in con en ma ke ing. Ano he li e a u e gap wo h in es iga ing is he
ac ha he objec o con en ma ke ing esea ch was ne e explici ly ou ism small and
medium en e p ises (SMEs). Compa ed o hei la ge en e p ises coun e pa , ou ism
SMEs ha e a limi ed unde s anding o deploying social media as a ma ke ing ool [6].
This si ua ion highligh s he necessi y o s udy con en ma ke ing s a egies and CE on
social media in he con ex o ou ism SMEs o enhance heo y and p ac ice. In addi ion,
con en ma ke ing li e a u e only concen a ed ei he on Facebook o Ins ag am (see
e.g., [3,5]). To he bes o ou knowledge, con en ma ke ing s udies in ol ing TikTok
emain absen . Because CE di e s ac oss social media pla o ms [7] and TikTok’s global
mon hly ac i e use s ha e been g owing exponen ially in ecen yea s (i.e., om 689
million in 2020 o mo e han 1 billion in 2021 [8]), con en ma ke ing schola s need o
sc u inize TikTok.
Based on he li e a u e lacunae abo e, his s udy aims o explo e he ole o sound in
in luencing CE (i.e., iews and sha es) in he con ex o TikTok and ou ism SMEs. The-
o e ically, his s udy en iches ou ism CE and con en ma ke ing li e a u e. P ac ically,
insigh s om his esea ch can help ou ism SMEs s eng hen hei con en ma ke ing
s a egies on TikTok.
2 Li e a u e Re iew
2.1 Sound
In his explo a i e s udy on TikTok, we de ine sound as all he audio o ma s p esen on
ma ke e -gene a ed con en (MGC; e.g., monologues, music, songs, mo ie dialogues,
and o he o ma s). Based on i s sou ces, we ca ego ize sound in o wo: co e and o iginal.
Co e sound o igina es om o he sou ces (e.g., Jus in Biebe songs and sounds ha
o he TikTok use s c ea e), while o iginal sound is c ea ed by i ms hemsel es.
Ex an social media and con en ma ke ing schola s d ew on media ichness heo y
[9] when s udying he e ec s o non e bal in o ma ion on CE. The heo y con ends ha
ich media o ma s can enhance unde s anding and s imula e senses. Communica ion
media con aining a ious elemen s (e.g., ideos) a e ich, whe eas hose wi h ewe
a ibu es (e.g., pho os) a e low in ichness [3]. In his s udy, we classi y co e sound
as high ichness media because he sound consis s o sound e ec s, music wi h a ious
ones, o noises. Meanwhile, we conside o iginal sound as low ichness media because
i usually in ol es simple sound, such as people speaking.
Findings on he opic o non e bal in o ma ion om he lens o media ichness he-
o y emain inconclusi e. Fo ins ance, while ich media (i.e., ideos) a e signi ican ly
posi i e o likes, hey a e insigni ican o commen s [10,11]. Also, while Mo an e al.
[5] disco e ed ha all ich media o ma s posi i ely in luence CE, C ijikj and Micha-
helles [12] ound a ying e ec s. Conside ing such con as ing e idence, he e is no
gua an ee ha co e sound can enhance CE albei he use o i is pe asi e on TikTok.
144 R. Wahid e al.
2.2 Ma ke e -Gene a ed Con en
As men ioned abo e, sound ma e ializes along wi h MGC on TikTok. Thus, i is impo -
an o analyze he in e ac ion be ween sound and MGC in impac ing CE. MGC in his
esea ch co esponds o i ms’ messages c ea ed and dis ibu ed h ough social media
[13], which we di ide in o h ee ca ego ies: emo ional, in o ma ional, and ansac ional.
Emo ional con en ela es o a ec -laden MGC aimed o elici senso y and emo ional
eac ions [3]. In o ma ional con en is hose social media pos s con eying in o ma ion
(ei he ela ed o un ela ed o i ms’ p oduc s and se ices) in a non-p omo ional ash-
ion. T ansac ional social media con en in ol es hose messages con aining gi eaways,
p omo ions, dona ions, sales, and o he mone a y bene i s [7].
2.3 Cus ome Engagemen
CE e e s o “a consume ’s posi i ely alenced b and- ela ed cogni i e, emo ional and
beha io al ac i i y du ing o ela ed o ocal consume /b and in e ac ions” [14]. In his
s udy, he spo ligh is he beha iou al ace o CE consis ing o iews and sha es. TikTok
is s ill in sec ecy abou how i s algo i hm deli e s con en o i s use s [15], and hus
how he coun s o iews can be inc eased emains ques ionable. Due o his eason, i is
subs an ial o inspec ac o s d i ing iews on TikTok. Addi ionally, we concen a e on
sha es because he mo e people sha e con en , he mo e he con en eaches cu en and
po en ial cus ome s, making ma ke ing e o s mo e e icien [16].
3 Me hods
Following ex an ele an s udies [3,5,7], we conduc ed con en analysis on Tik-
Tok. We collec ed da a om all he pos ed con en o se en a el guide se ices o
a highly isi ed moun ain in Indonesia, Moun B omo. The se ices a e B omo P ojec
(@b omop ojec .id), Yuk B omo (@yukb omo), Hai B omo (@haib omo), B omo C e-
a i e.com (@b omoc ea i e.com), T ipjawaindah.com (@b omopedia), B omo Ho e
(@b omo_ho ee), and B omo Full Senyum (@b omo250k). We used hese se ices as
ou sample because hey a e highly ac i e on TikTok. Two esea ch assis an s coded he
da a, and hey mus adhe e o he coding ins uc ions we ha e c ea ed. Pa icula ly o he
h ee MGC cons uc s, we only conside ed he ex s w i en on he TikTok ideos. This
decision mani es ed as a esul o ou obse a ion p io o he da a collec ion. We no iced
ha all he a el guide se ices sha ed en e aining ideos on hei accoun s. The e o e,
i we code he ypes o ideos, ou s udy will yield less meaning ul esul s (i.e., we only
compa e he in o ma ional and ansac ional pos s). We hen u he obse ed he ideos
and ound ha he se ices mos ly deli e ed w i en messages on hei ideos. Because
he ex s a e in he o ms o emo ional, in o ma ional, and ansac ional, we cap u ed
hese ypes o ex s as MGC. Besides MGC and sound, we also eco ded b anded hash-
ags (no b anded hash ag as he baseline) and days o pos ing (weekend as he baseline)
as ou con ol a iables. Also, while all o he cons uc s a e mu ually exclusi e, MGC
is non-mu ually exclusi e. This means ha one TikTok ideo can con ain one o mo e
MGC ypes (e.g., a TikTok ideo can be emo ional and ansac ional simul aneously).
Can TikTok Sound Enhance Tou ism SMEs’ Engagemen ? 145
A e emo ing ou lie s (i.e., ex eme high iews and sha es), ou inal da ase com-
p ised 660 TikTok pos s, 4,092,289 iews, and 10,920 sha es. These da a we e hen
analyzed using nega i e binomial eg ession (NBR). Acco ding o esea ch [17], NBR
is mo e e icien and app op ia e han o he eg ession me hods when (1) he dependen
a iables a e coun da a wi h posi i e-only in ege s (e.g., iews and sha es); and (2)
he Poisson assump ion o equidispe sion is iola ed (i.e., he a iance alues o he
dependen a iables a e la ge). Ou da a i hese c i e ia.
4 Resul s
Ou models explaining iews (LR χ2(9,N=660) =32.418, p <0.01) and sha es (LR
χ2(9,N=660) =20.508, p <0.05) a e signi ican as a whole. The esul s show ha
co e sound has no di ec e ec ei he on iews (0.143, p >0.05) and sha es (0.324,
p>0.05). Addi ionally, we disco e ha co e sound has no in e ac ion e ec s wi h
any MGC in a ec ing iews (emo ional: −0.244, p >0.05; in o ma ional: −0.234,
p>0.05; ansac ional: −0.164, p >0.05) and sha es (emo ional: −0.207, p >0.05;
in o ma ional: −0.1, p >0.05; ansac ional: −0.888, p >0.05). Indi idually, emo ional
con en has signi ican and posi i e e ec s on iews (0.44, p <0.05), while in o ma ional
(0.317, p >0.05) and ansac ional (0.527, p >0.05) pos s ha e no signi ican e ec s
on iews. Also, ansac ional social media pos s ha e signi ican and posi i e e ec s on
sha es (0.898, p <0.05), while in o ma ional (−0.18, p >0.05) and emo ional (0.203,
p>0.05) pos s ha e no signi ican e ec s on sha es.
5 Implica ions
Ou explo a i e pape con ibu es o ou ism and con en ma ke ing li e a u e in h ee
ways. Fi s , we explo e he ole o sound in d i ing CE. We demons a e ha al hough
co e sound is ubiqui ous on TikTok, i has no di ec and in e ac ion e ec s on CE. This
endea ou expands con en ma ke ing li e a u e as exis ing s udies only concen a ed
on he isual aspec s o non e bal in o ma ion (e.g., pho os and ideos). Second, while
ex an ou ism CE s udies me ely examined go e nmen -con olled o la ge ou ism
i ms, we explici ly and pa icula ly analyzed ac o s in luencing CE in he con ex o
ou ism SMEs. Thi d, we en ich con en ma ke ing li e a u e by discussing TikTok. This
is subs an ial, conside ing social media is highly con ex ual [3], and p io s udies [5,7]
p ima ily sc u inized Ins ag am o Facebook. P ac ically, ou indings can guide ou ism
SMEs in op imising hei con en ma ke ing s a egies on TikTok. We sugges ou ism
SMEs o ocus less on sound bu mo e on MGC ypes. To inc ease iews, ou ism SMEs
need o sha e mo e emo ional con en ; and o imp o e sha es, hey need o dis ibu e
mo e ansac ional pos s.
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Can TikTok Sound Enhance Tou ism SMEs’ Engagemen ? 147
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