Senka Šekularac-Ivošević1, Dragana Milošević1, Đorđe Lakonić2, Boban Melović3
1University of Montenegro, Faculty of Maritime Studies Kotor, Put I Bokeljske brigade 44, 85331 Dobrota, senkas@ucg.ac.me, milosevic.d@ucg.ac.me
2Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement (BSM), Vorsetzen 54, 20459 Hamburg, Germany, lakonicdjordje@hotmail.com
3University of Montenegro, Faculty of Economics, Jovana Tomaševića 37, 81000 Podgorica, Montenegro, bobanm@ucg.ac.me
ORIGINAL SCIENTIFIC PAPER
ISSN 2637-2150
e-ISSN 2637-2614
UDC 316.77:004.738.5]:338.46
DOI 10.7251/STED2302020S
COBISS.RS-ID 139427329
Paper Submited: 20.07.2023.
Paper Accepted: 02.10.2023.
Paper Published: 29.11.2023.
http://stedj-univerzitetpim.com
Corresponding Author:
Senka Šekularac-Ivošević, University of Montenegro, Faculty of Maritime Studies Kotor, Put I Bokeljske brigade 44, 85331 Dobrota, senkas@ucg.ac.me
Copyright © 2022 Senka Šekularac-Ivošević, et al.; published by UNIVERSITY PIM. This work licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.
ABSTRACT
In today’s modern shipping business environment, there is a shift from traditional to digital marketing. Social media has the most significant potential for companies to reach consumers; thus, this paper aims to discover the intensity and content of the marketing activities of shipping companies through social media. Two different types of companies, the container and multi-purpose ones, are the objects of research, primarily analyzed based on the number of followers, posts, likes, comments, and shares on social media.
The results show the highest intensity of Facebook usage for shipping companies. It was also discovered that shipping companies actively use Facebook, and this form of online representation is considered more precise regarding brand awareness and public engagement. The content analysis revealed that shipping companies have no intention of selling services using social media. Namely, there are limited network-building or customer relationship efforts, but activities in Corporate Social Responsibility activities, Employee Brand Management, and Sustainability increase.
The paper revealed that shipping companies use digital marketing toward the internal public and employees, increasing marketing and human resource management activities.
This paper opens up the possibilities of a more significant application of marketing in the shipping industry, bearing in mind the trends of digitization of maritime operational processes and supply chains.
Keywords: social media, marketing in shipping, content analysis
