Internet currency

Citation

(2013), "Internet currency", Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 30 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/jcm.2013.07730baa.002

Internet currency

Article Type: Internet currency From: Journal of Consumer Marketing, Volume 30, Issue 2

Edited by Dennis A. Pitta, University of Baltimore

Using digital media to build brand engagement

Despite our focus on the marketing developments and implications of social media, Internet Currency is still firmly based on marketing principles. They do not seem to change very much over time but instead, form the core of marketing advancement. Social media illustrate the importance of a firm foundation to enable marketing success.

The familiar, and now historical, word of mouth (WOM) communication was recognized as effective and marketers developed it into a vital part of the promotion mix. Social media changed everything in at least three ways. First, they potentiated the contact effect of WOM by multiplying a person’s possible contacts. From a small circle of friends, the contacts have grown into a network of Facebook “friends” or Twitter followers. Second, contact is immensely easier. For Facebook, one can type a few sentences, attach a picture and convey delight in a new restaurant, movie, product or political candidate. Almost instantly hundreds of others share your experience. Third, media like Twitter foster expanding the networks. When one circle’s Tweets are re-Tweeted to other circles, some of those individuals may choose to follow the source. Viola, that source’s network just expanded.

All of this is important; it can also be frightening. In the past, one dissatisfied customer might tell a few others. Today, potentially thousands will know. Social media can be a two edged sword that marketers must understand and manage. This begs the question, how does a marketer maximize the benefits and minimize the liabilities of social media? The answer is, engagement.

Brand engagement

One of the marketing principles gaining more attention recently is brand engagement. Brand engagement has been defined in many ways, in fact, too many ways. There are so many specific definitions that address aspects of engagement that the whole picture is a bit confused. One representative definition is:

The consumer’s relationship with a brand, his or her ability to choose how and when to engage, and the value each channel represents based on the six most important consumer needs: Feeling Valued, Trust, Efficiency, Consistency, Relevance and Control (Razorfish, 2011).

The definition focuses directly on the consumer rather than the organization, which is appropriate. Engagement’s importance is that is instrumental in developing a relationship between a customer and a brand.

Engagement is basically a relationship management process that focuses on making connections. The term “touch points” conveys a bit of the tapestry of possible contacts. The idea is to create a closer relationship between a brand and an audience. How does a company foster those connections? One way is to create compelling ideas and useful content that people want to share (Stern, in Abramovich, 2012). Content does not need to be complex, extraordinarily attractive or really cool to be engaging. It can be simple, but it has to be highly relevant to the target audience. After all, the audience is in control, choosing to engage or not. The best metric is the level of sharing and discussing of the content by the audience. In one sense engagement has arrived. Now, in addition to face to face communication, one can share using Facebook posts, Twitter, or posts in an online community.

Engagement’s value

Arguably, most marketing is aimed at prompting some kind of action which may be purchase, agreement, a donation, a vote or some other behavior of interest like conservation. The traditional advertising hierarchy of effects, expressed as:

Awareness → Comprehension → Conviction → Action

captures the escalating cognitive process of moving a customer from unawareness to purchase or other action. Practitioners have called the process that links Awareness and Action the consideration cycle (Evans, 2005). It is the consumer choice activity whose foundation is active information processing that validates the potential choices available. The traditional consumer decision models that feature problem recognition, information gathering, alternative evaluation, choice and post purchase evaluation were developed before the advent of the internet. Today’s consumers are connected to others online. They are likely to talk with those they trust, in contrast to commercial sources. Since social networks are relatively transparent, individuals can gain reputations for expertise and impartiality and become information and decision sources for others. The ease of access before purchase, promotes sharing information and experiences which results in better choices. That interaction is one important aspect of engagement.

Engagement created by social media has the potential to go beyond the action stage. In fact, the social feedback cycle (Evans, 2012) describes the process as:

Awareness → Consideration → Purchase → Sharing

The social feedback cycle enhances the marketing efforts of sellers and is founded on the experiences of consumers. They create “shared content” such as blogs, product or service reviews on specific websites like TripAdvisor, the Urban Spoon, the i-Phone sites like MacRumors or the i-Phone Support community. The shared content, in turn, promotes purchases when it is discovered during “consideration” as potential customers search the web for ratings, reviews, and recommendations. The last stage of the Social Feedback Cycle represents a more effective sales tool than a company’s sales force.

Implementing engagement

How do marketers harness customer engagement to benefit their brands? This topic is so involved that it will be featured in several upcoming Internet Currency columns. Simply put, the first step is to identify the most appropriate customers. It has been said that all customers are created equal but some have higher lifetime value. One reason is that the customer who responds well to touch points or engaging content finds value in the contact. These customers have the potential to become brand advocates - brand ambassadors. They can proselytize a brand, shield it from negative press, find new applications in new markets and generally be a more credible information source to their contacts than the company. Nurturing brand ambassadors requires a careful interplay between the organization and specific individuals. The process has some of the elements of a courtship with communication, shared values, and respect for the other as paramount requirements. Companies that devote sufficient resources and respond effectively to potential brand advocates, will have a strategic advantage over those which do not.

In our next issue, we will investigate further aspects of brand engagement and invite readers to submit their favorite examples for our consideration.

Reader requests

Please forward all requests and queries to: Dr Dennis Pitta, University of Baltimore, 1420 North Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21201-5779, USA. Alternatively, please send e-mail to: dpitta@ubalt.edu for prompt attention.