Virtual engagement

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Virtual engagement is a metric to determine the level of affinity between a company and its customers.[ citation needed ]

Contents

Online environments play a critical role in customer lifecycle management, where virtual events have an important part in the marketing mix.[ citation needed ] It is a metric derived from an aggregation of behavioural and demographic variables and used for assessing lead quality during events in virtual environments.[ citation needed ]

Industry analysts have established community engagement [1] as a concept, as it has become clear that companies need to focus on a more granular level on the behavior of individual customers or prospects to determine the strength of the connection they have been able to establish.[ citation needed ]

Virtual marketing communication

The world of marketing and how to most effectively communicate to customers is forever changing. Virtual marketing is the latest change and arguably one of the most exciting. The virtual world gives companies the opportunity to either excel in their market place or fall behind continuously evolving times. Facebook, alone, has 2.85 billion monthly active users [2] (Protalinski, 2014), which creates a virtual platform where marketers can connect and communicate with customers in a way never possible before. They can identify their preferences, tailor and target their advertising and create online conversations and communications. According to Claffey and Brady (2014) [3] word of mouth, or consumer to consumer (C2C) advertising, is very effective and beneficial to consumers as it creates a virtual space where they can communicate with each other. They can inform each other about personal experiences with the company, be it positive and/or negative. The effectiveness of this is seen with Trip Advisor which is increasingly becoming the first port of call for travel information and impacting tourism operators business both positively and negatively depending on consumer reviews.

The marketing strategies of old are no longer as suitable for modern society, with the digital age taking over, it is reforming the way marketers target consumers. Where traditionally marketing focused on the product, now it is more important for the business to focus on the consumer and the brand itself. Businesses cannot expect to be able to communicate as they have been, where they just post pictures and descriptions of their product. They must redesign their marketing structure to suit the needs of the digital consumer (Savulescu, 2011). [4] The question is raised by Savulescu (2011) [5] whether businesses should be able to advertise on social media, which is a place designed to contact peers and use as a form of leisure. For consumers business advertising in these forums could be seen as intrusive, and invasion of privacy or even unethical. This could affect the business's brand. However consumers generally accept that social media sites are businesses which need funding to provide their platforms. So they accept that advertising is the way the platforms are funded and therefore accept it, as necessary. However this does not mean the consumers may not feel negatively too excessive and annoying advertising, which could in turn reduce reciprocity to the message or damage their connection with the brand. Savulescu's [6] question, however, is a reminder to businesses that they should respect the forums as a place of peer to peer conversations and social leisure and ensure their presence in these forums is not over bearing or intrusive.

The use of social media

A business can use this virtual platform as a place to advertise to customers, in particular social media, such as Facebook, is used by advertisers to target consumers. Social media helps to categorise consumers by having groups that they can join, which identifies their interests. Businesses have now got a self-selected market segmentation they can now target their advertising to. Businesses can also use virtual engagement as a way to contact consumers and get feedback, market insights and engagement, as well as give the consumer information they may require before they make the purchase. This virtual engagement allows the consumer to create a sense of ‘relationship’ with the business as they are able to interact and communicate easily with them, which leads to trust and brand loyalty being formed. Another strategy a businesses are using through the virtual world is running competitions over social media and taking advantage of its accessibility. Often these competitions are used to gain more followers using: “like and share this post”. Businesses are becoming ever increasingly creative with the “like and share this post” competition to maximise the effectiveness and benefits. For example, when National Geographic ran their competition, my Nat Geo cover shot, over Facebook they asked fans to upload their own photos that they had taken, add a caption and be in to win. This campaign not only gave the consumer a feeling that they are a National Geographic photographer, but also gave National Geographic a large amount of information about their customers and their traveling behaviours, photo techniques and much more (Naidu, 2014). [7]

The use of social media has been a revolutionary marketing strategy for many industries. Tourism for instance, once dominated by travel agents and travel brochures is now dominated by online forums and booking sites. Tourism companies now have an easy platform where they can post photos to inspire and attract consumers. Give consumers information on places to go and where to stay, and even once the travel is over successful marketing strategies can be used to help the consumer remember their time there (Popesku, 2014). [8] Businesses can either choose to have paid advertisements or unpaid advertisements on social media. Unpaid, are groups and competitions run by the company. Paid is where the business pays the social media site to have their advertisement show up on the users screen without the user giving permission. These are usually either on the side of the screen or can be “sponsored” depending on what the business pays. According to Xie, and Lee (2015) [9] paid and unpaid advertisements have equal effect on consumers’ willingness to purchase the certain brand. As an example of how tourism companies are using social media NZ Rental Cars follows travels Instagram posts and re-blogs them onto their site to showcase NZ places to visit and attract customers.

Role in Organizations

Virtual engagement is still new to businesses, although they can see the opportunity it is hard to determine the return on investment of advertising in the virtual world. Kumar, Bezawada, Rishika, Janakiraman, & Kannan [10] (2016) conducted a study to determine the effects of social media advertising on consumers, the results showed that social media advertising is effective, although it is more effective when cross-channel advertising is used. Cross-channel advertising is when a business advertises in different channels, for example, on social media and magazines. Kumar et al. (2016) [11] recommends that managers choose to embrace social network as a means to further interact with the customer and help build a stronger relationship. This will lead to an increase in brand loyalty and increased customer spending. Xie, and Lee (2015) recommends managers invest in social media advertisement, although be hesitant of the amount as it is still not completely clear of the direct results. It is noted that social media advertisement is more likely to enhance brand image and create brand loyalty, than sales on a particular product? This is because the consumer may not need or want the product being advertised, but they are still seeing the brand and becoming familiar with it.

See also

Related Research Articles

Marketing communications refers to the use of different marketing channels and tools in combination. Marketing communication channels focus on how businesses communicate a message to their desired market, or the market in general. It is also in charge of the internal communications of the organization. Marketing communication tools include advertising, personal selling, direct marketing, sponsorship, communication, public relations, social media, customer journey and promotion.

Online advertising, also known as online marketing, Internet advertising, digital advertising or web advertising, is a form of marketing and advertising that uses the Internet to promote products and services to audiences and platform users. Online advertising includes email marketing, search engine marketing (SEM), social media marketing, many types of display advertising, and mobile advertising. Advertisements are increasingly being delivered via automated software systems operating across multiple websites, media services and platforms, known as programmatic advertising.

In marketing, promotion refers to any type of marketing communication used to inform target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or issue, persuasively. It helps marketers to create a distinctive place in customers' mind, it can be either a cognitive or emotional route. The aim of promotion is to increase brand awareness, create interest, generate sales or create brand loyalty. It is one of the basic elements of the market mix, which includes the four Ps, i.e., product, price, place, and promotion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Advertising campaign</span> Advertisements based on a theme

An advertising campaign or marketing campaign is a series of advertisement messages that share a single idea and theme which make up an integrated marketing communication (IMC). An IMC is a platform in which a group of people can group their ideas, beliefs, and concepts into one large media base. Advertising campaigns utilize diverse media channels over a particular time frame and target identified audiences.

Mobile marketing is a multi-channel online marketing technique focused at reaching a specific audience on their smartphones, feature phones, tablets, or any other related devices through websites, e-mail, SMS and MMS, social media, or mobile applications. Mobile marketing can provide customers with time and location sensitive, personalized information that promotes goods, services, appointment reminders and ideas. In a more theoretical manner, academic Andreas Kaplan defines mobile marketing as "any marketing activity conducted through a ubiquitous network to which consumers are constantly connected using a personal mobile device".

The target audience is the intended audience or readership of a publication, advertisement, or other message catered specifically to the previously intended audience. In marketing and advertising, the target audience is a particular group of consumer within the predetermined target market, identified as the targets or recipients for a particular advertisement or message.

Social media optimization (SMO) is the use of online platforms to generate income or publicity to increase the awareness of a brand, event, product or service. Types of social media involved include RSS feeds, blogging sites, social bookmarking sites, social news websites, video sharing websites such as Youtube and social networking sites such as Facebook, Instagram, Tiktok and X(Twitter). SMO is similar to search engine optimization (SEO) in that the goal is to drive web traffic, and draw attention to a company or creator. SMO's focal point is on gaining organic links to social media content. In contrast, SEO's core is about reaching the top of the search engine hierarchy. In general, social media optimization refers to optimizing a website and its content to encourage more users to use and share links to the website across social media and networking sites.

Engagement marketing is a marketing strategy that directly engages consumers and invites and encourages them to participate in the evolution of a brand or a brand experience. Rather than looking at consumers as passive receivers of messages, engagement marketers believe that consumers should be actively involved in the production and co-creation of marketing programs, developing a relationship with the brand.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Influencer marketing</span> Type of social media marketing

Influencer marketing is a form of social media marketing involving endorsements and product placement from influencers, people and organizations who have a purported expert level of knowledge or social influence in their field. Influencers are someone with the power to affect the buying habits or quantifiable actions of others by uploading some form of original—often sponsored—content to social media platforms like Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat, TikTok or other online channels. Influencer marketing is when a brand enrolls influencers who have an established credibility and audience on social media platforms to discuss or mention the brand in a social media post. Influencer content may be framed as testimonial advertising, according to the Federal Trade Commission in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Digital marketing</span> Marketing of products or services using digital technologies or digital tools

Digital marketing is the component of marketing that uses the Internet and online-based digital technologies such as desktop computers, mobile phones, and other digital media and platforms to promote products and services.

In the marketing and advertising industry, youth marketing consists of activities to communicate with young people, typically in the age range of 11 to 35. More specifically, there is teen marketing, targeting people age 11 to 17; college marketing, targeting college-age consumers, typically ages 18 to 24; and young adult marketing, targeting ages 25 to 34.

Customer engagement is an interaction between an external consumer/customer and an organization through various online or offline channels. According to Hollebeek, Srivastava and Chen, customer engagement is "a customer’s motivationally driven, volitional investment of operant resources, and operand resources into brand interactions," which applies to online and offline engagement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Targeted advertising</span> Form of advertising

Targeted advertising or data-driven marketing is a form of advertising, including online advertising, that is directed towards an audience with certain traits, based on the product or person the advertiser is promoting.

Social network advertising, also known as social media targeting, is a group of terms used to describe forms of online advertising and digital marketing that focus on social networking services. A significant aspect of this type of advertising is that advertisers can take advantage of users' demographic information, psychographics, and other data points to target their ads.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Social media marketing</span> Promotion of products or services on social media

Social media marketing is the use of social media platforms and websites to promote a product or service. Although the terms e-marketing and digital marketing are still dominant in academia, social media marketing is becoming more popular for both practitioners and researchers.

Brand networking is the engagement of a social networking service around a brand by providing consumers with a platform of relevant content, elements of participation, and a currency, score, or ranking. Brand networking creates communities that serve as interactive destinations to encourage brand participation online and off. This evolved level of user participation with the brand facilitates strong relationships with consumers, leverages sales, and generates fan equity.

Social media in the fashion industry refers to the use of social media platforms by fashion designers and users to promote and participate in trends. Over the past several decades, the development of social media has increased along with its usage by consumers. The COVID-19 pandemic was a sharp turn of reliance on the virtual sphere for the industry and consumers alike. Social media has created new channels of advertising for fashion houses to reach their target markets. Since its surge in 2009, luxury fashion brands have used social media to build interactions between the brand and its customers to increase awareness and engagement. The emergence of influencers on social media has created a new way of advertising and maintaining customer relationships in the fashion industry. Numerous social media platforms are used to promote fashion trends, with Instagram and TikTok being the most popular among Generation Y and Z. The overall impact of social media in the fashion industry included the creation of online communities, direct communication between industry leaders and consumers, and criticized ideals that are promoted by the industry through social media.

Online presence management is the process of creating and promoting traffic to a personal or professional brand online. This process combines web design, development, blogging, search engine optimization, pay-per-click marketing, reputation management, directory listings, social media, link sharing, and other avenues to create a long-term positive presence for a person, organization, or product in search engines and on the web in general.

Social advertising is advertising that relies on social information or networks in generating, targeting, and delivering marketing communications. Many current examples of social advertising use a particular Internet service to collect social information, establish and maintain relationships with consumers, and for delivering communications. For example, the advertising platforms provided by Google, Twitter, and Facebook involve targeting and presenting ads based on relationships articulated on those same services. Social advertising can be part of a broader social media marketing strategy designed to connect with consumers.

References

  1. ↑ "gartner-generation-virtual-engagement-levels-june-2008.jpg". Marketingcharts.com. 2008-08-01. Retrieved 2012-10-28.
  2. ↑ Protalinski, Emil (2014-01-29). "Facebook Passes 1.23 Billion Monthly Active Users". The Next Web.
  3. ↑ claffey, e; brady, m (2014). "A Model of Consumer Engagement in a Virtual Customer Environment". Journal of Customer Behaviour. 14 (4): 325–346. doi:10.1362/147539214X14185702584405.
  4. ↑ Savulesco, R (2011). "brand talk on facebook- a new challenge in marketing communications". Romanian Journal of Communication and Public Relation. 13 (2): 19–30.
  5. ↑ Savulesco, R (2011). "brand talk on facebook- a new challenge in marketing communications". Romanian Journal of Communication and Public Relation. 13 (2): 19–30.
  6. ↑ Savulesco, R (2011). "brand talk on facebook- a new challenge in marketing communications". Romanian Journal of Communication and Public Relation. 13 (2): 19–30.
  7. ↑ Brooke, Connor (22 April 2014). "Nat Geo Launches 'My Nat Geo Covershot' On Facebook, Fans Can Create Their Own Nat Geo Traveller Cover". Business2Community.
  8. ↑ Popesku, J. "Social Media as a Tool of Destination Marketing Organizations". Journal of Applied Sciences: 715–721.
  9. ↑ xie, k; lee, y (2015). "Social Media and Brand Purchase: Quantifying the Effects of Exposures to Earned and Owned Social Media Activities in a Two-Stage Decision Making Model". Journal of Management Information Systems. 32 (3): 204–238. doi:10.1080/07421222.2015.1063297. S2CID   20598943.
  10. ↑ kumar, a; bezawada, r; janakiraman, r; kannan, p.k.; rishika, r (2016). "From Social to Sale: The Effects of Firm-Generated Content in Social Media on Customer Behavior". Journal of Marketing. 80 (1): 7–25. doi:10.1509/jm.14.0249. S2CID   17165674.
  11. ↑ kumar, a; bezawada, r; janakiraman, r; kannan, p.k.; rishika, r (2016). "From Social to Sale: The Effects of Firm-Generated Content in Social Media on Customer Behavior". Journal of Marketing. 80 (1): 7–25. doi:10.1509/jm.14.0249. S2CID   17165674.
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