interpretive structural modeling of social network marketing based on gaining a competitive advantage of startup travel service companies

Purpose: this research aims to identify the factors affecting social network marketing based on gaining a competitive advantage and designing a model related to the communication between them.method: this research is applied in its purpose, and conducted using a mixed approach (qualitative and quantitative). in the qualitative phase, first by reviewing the literature in the field of social network marketing and using the meta-combination method, the factors affecting it were identified and divided into three categories. subsequently, the relationships between these factors were determined and analytically analyzed using the interpretative structural modeling approach. in the modeling section, a questionnaire was distributed among experts selected through snowball sampling.findings: the results of this research led to the classification of factors affecting social network marketing based on gaining competitive advantage and designing a model of these factors. in this model, the categories of organizational and structural resources (responsiveness to customers, service quality), marketing (attracting more customers, efficiency), and competitive advantage based on social media (branding, profitability), indicate the factors and the way of communication and interaction of these factors.conclusion: finally, the interpretation of the model, analysis of its levels, and the relationships among dimensions were discussed and solutions were provided in this regard.