Media społecznościowe w działaniach promocyjnych narodowych organizacji turystycznych

These days, social media are commonly known and used by numerous social groups. For many people, they constitute an indispensable element of the lifestyle. It is a new tendency, with a great developmental potential. Until recently, social media were understood solely as a complex of mechanisms that serve the purpose of communication between users. However, it appeared that various entities (e.g. firms, public institutions etc.) whose marketing departments present their offers and create their positive images with the use of social media became interested in this type of communication. National tourism organizations (NTO) can certainly be included in the group of institutions employing social media in their promotional activities. For many of them, this is a key instrument of promotion applied in promotional campaigns. The main purpose of the article is to analyse the use of social media in the promotional activities undertaken by selected European NTOs. In the study, a research thesis was put forward that social media constituted an essential element of the promotional campaigns realized by NTOs, which allowed them to acquire new groups of recipients: those who until recently were impossible or difficult to reach.