All google information (Google Search-Google Images-YouTube-Google News-Google Finance-Google Shopping-Google Store-Google Books-Google Scholar-Google Patents-Google Hotel Finder-Google Dataset Search-Google Assistant-Google Alerts-Google Flights-Google Custom Search (formerly Google Co-op-Google Translate-Google Groups-Google Ads-Google Web History-Google Personalized Search)-Google Ad Manager- Google Marketing Platform-Google AdSense-AdMob-Google Tag Manager-Google Ad Grants)
The search engine manipulation effect (SEME)
The search engine
manipulation effect (SEME) is the change in consumer preferences from
manipulations of search results by search engine providers. SEME is one of the
largest behavioral effects ever discovered. This includes voting preferences. A
2015 study indicated that such manipulations could shift the voting preferences
of undecided voters by 20 percent or more and up to 80 percent in some
demographics.[1][2]
The study
estimated that this could change the outcome of upwards of 25 percent of
national elections worldwide.
On the other
hand, Google denies secretly re-ranking search results to manipulate user
sentiment, or tweaking ranking specially for elections or political
candidates.[3]
1 Scenarios
2 Experiments
2.1 US
2.2 India
2.3 United Kingdom
3 European antitrust lawsuit
4 2016 Presidential election
5 References
6 External links
Scenarios
At least three
scenarios offer the potential to shape/decide elections. The management of a
search engine could pick a candidate and adjust search rankings accordingly.
Alternatively, a rogue employee who has sufficient authority and/or hacking
skills could surreptitiously adjust the rankings. Finally, since rankings
influence preferences even in the absence of overt manipulation, the ability of
a candidate to raise his or her ranking via traditional search engine
optimization would influence voter preferences. Simple notoriety could
substantially increase support for a candidate.[1]
Experiments
Five experiments
were conducted with more than 4,500 participants in two countries. The
experiments were randomized (subjects were randomly assigned to groups),
controlled (including groups with and without interventions), counterbalanced
(critical details, such as names, were presented to half the participants in
one order and to half in the opposite order) and double-blind (neither subjects
nor anyone who interacted with them knows the hypotheses or group assignments).
The results were replicated four times.[1]
US
In experiments
conducted in the United States, the proportion of people who favored any
candidate rose by between 37 and 63 percent after a single search session.[1]
Participants were
randomly assigned to one of three groups in which search rankings favored
either Candidate A, Candidate B or neither candidate. Participants were given
brief descriptions of each candidate and then asked how much they liked and
trusted each candidate and whom they would vote for. Then they were allowed up
to 15 minutes to conduct online research on the candidates using a manipulated
search engine. Each group had access to the same 30 search results—each linking
to real web pages from a past election. Only the ordering of the results
differed in the three groups. People could click freely on any result or shift
between any of five different results pages.[1]
After searching,
on all measures, opinions shifted in the direction of the candidate favored in
the rankings. Trust, liking and voting preferences all shifted predictably. 36
percent of those who were unaware of the rankings bias shifted toward the
highest ranked candidate, along with 45 percent of those who were aware of the
bias.[1]
Slightly reducing
the bias on the first result page of search results – specifically, by
including one search item that favoured the other candidate in the third or
fourth position masked the manipulation so that few or even no subjects noticed
the bias, while still triggering the preference change.[4]
Later research
suggested that search rankings impact virtually all issues on which people are
initially undecided around the world. Search results that favour one point of
view tip the opinions of those who are undecided on an issue. In another
experiment, biased search results shifted people’s opinions about the value of
fracking by 33.9 per cent.[4]
India
A second
experiment involved 2,000 eligible, undecided voters throughout India during
the 2014 Lok Sabha election. The subjects were familiar with the candidates and
were being bombarded with campaign rhetoric. Search rankings could boost the
proportion of people favoring any candidate by more than 20 percent and more
than 60 percent in some demographic groups.[1]
United Kingdom
A UK experiment
was conducted with nearly 4,000 people just before the 2015 national elections
examined ways to prevent manipulation. Randomizing the rankings or including
alerts that identify bias had some suppressive effects.[1]
European
antitrust lawsuit
European
regulators accused Google of manipulating its search engine results to favor
its own services, even though competitive services would otherwise have ranked
higher. As of August 2015, the complaint had not reached resolution, leaving
the company facing a possible fine of up to $6 billion and tighter regulation
that could limit its ability to compete in Europe. In November 2014 the
European Parliament voted 384 to 174 for a symbolic proposal to break up the
search giant into two pieces—its monolithic search engine and everything
else.[5]
The case began in
2009 when Foundem, a British online shopping service, filed the first antitrust
complaint against Google in Brussels. In 2007, Google had introduced a feature
called Universal Search. A search for a particular city address, a stock quote,
or a product price returned an answer from one of its own services, such as
Google Maps or Google Finance. This saved work by the user. Later tools such as
OneBox supplied answers to specific queries in a box at the top of search
results. Google integrated profile pages, contact information and customer
reviews from Google Plus. That information appeared above links to other
websites that offered more comprehensive data, such as Yelp or TripAdvisor.[5]
Google executives
Larry Page and Marissa Mayer, among others, privately advocated for favoring
Google’s own services, even if its algorithms deemed that information less
relevant or useful.[5]
Google
acknowledges adjusting its algorithm 600 times a year, but does not disclose
the substance of its changes.[1]
2016 Presidential
election
In April 2015,
Hillary Clinton hired Stephanie Hannon from Google to be her chief technology
officer. In 2015 Eric Schmidt, chairman of Google's holding company started a
company – The Groundwork – for the specific purpose of electing Clinton. Julian
Assange, founder of WikiLeaks, called Google her ‘secret weapon’. Researchers
estimated that Google could help her win the nomination and could deliver
between 2.6 and 10.4 million general election votes to Clinton via SEME. No
evidence documents any such effort, although since search results are
ephemeral, evidence could only come via a Google whistleblower or an external
hacker.[4]
On June 9, 2016,
SourceFed alleged that Google manipulated its searches in favor of Clinton
because the recommended searches for her are different than the recommended
searches to both Yahoo and Bing and yet the searches for both Donald Trump and
Bernie Sanders are identical to both Yahoo and Bing. When "Hillary Clinton
Ind" was entered in the search bar, Google Autocomplete suggested
"Hillary Clinton Indiana", while the other vendors suggested
"Hillary Clinton indictment". Furthermore, SourceFed placed the
recommended searches for Clinton on Google Trends and observed that the Google
suggestion was searched less than the suggestion from the other vendors.
Digital marketing
Digital marketing is the component of
marketing that utilizes internet and online based digital technologies such as
desktop computers, mobile phones and other digital media and platforms to
promote products and services.[1][2] Its development during the 1990s and
2000s, changed the way brands and businesses use technology for marketing. As
digital platforms became increasingly incorporated into marketing plans and
everyday life,[3] and as people increasingly use digital devices instead of
visiting physical shops,[4][5] digital marketing campaigns have become
prevalent, employing combinations of search engine optimization (SEO), search
engine marketing (SEM), content marketing, influencer marketing, content
automation, campaign marketing, data-driven marketing, e-commerce marketing,
social media marketing, social media optimization, e-mail direct marketing,
display advertising, e–books, and optical disks and games have become
commonplace. Digital marketing extends to non-Internet channels that provide
digital media, such as television, mobile phones (SMS and MMS), callback, and
on-hold mobile ring tones.[6] The extension to non-Internet channels
differentiates digital marketing from online marketing.[7]
Contents
1 History
2 New
non-linear marketing approach
3 Brand
awareness
4 Online
methods used to build brand awareness
4.1 Search
engine optimization (SEO)
4.2 Search
engine marketing (SEM)
4.3 Social
media marketing
4.4 Content
marketing
5 Developments
and strategies
6 Ineffective
forms of digital marketing
6.1 Prioritizing
clicks
6.2 Balancing
search and display
6.3 Channels
6.3.1 Benefits
of social media marketing
6.4 Self-regulation
7 Strategy
7.1 Planning
7.2 Stages
of planning
7.2.1 1)
Opportunity
7.2.2 2)
Strategy
7.2.3 3)
Action
7.3 Understanding
the market
8 Sharing
economy
9 See
also
10 References
11 Further
reading
History
The development of digital marketing is
inseparable from technology development. One of the key points in the start of
was in 1971, where Ray Tomlinson sent the very first email and his technology
set the platform to allow people to send and receive files through different
machines.[8] However, the more recognisable period as being the start of
Digital Marketing is 1990 as this was where the Archie search engine was
created as an index for FTP sites. In the 1980s, the storage capacity of
computer was already big enough to store huge volumes of customer information.
Companies started choosing online techniques, such as database marketing, rather
than limited list broker.[9] These kinds of databases allowed companies to
track customers' information more effectively, thus transforming the
relationship between buyer and seller. However, the manual process was not as
efficient.
In the 1990s, the term Digital Marketing
was first coined,.[10] With the debut of server/client architecture and the
popularity of personal computers, the Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
applications became a significant factor in marketing technology.[11] Fierce
competition forced vendors to include more service into their software, for
example, marketing, sales and service applications. Marketers were also able to
own huge online customer data by eCRM software after the Internet was born.
Companies could update the data of customer needs and obtain the priorities of
their experience. This led to the first clickable banner ad being going live in
1994, which was the "You Will" campaign by AT&T and over the
first four months of it going live, 44% of all people who saw it clicked on the
ad.[12][13]
In the 2000s, with increasing numbers of
Internet users and the birth of iPhone, customers began searching products and
making decisions about their needs online first, instead of consulting a
salesperson, which created a new problem for the marketing department of a
company.[14] In addition, a survey in 2000 in the United Kingdom found that
most retailers had not registered their own domain address.[15] These problems
encouraged marketers to find new ways to integrate digital technology into
market development.
In 2007, marketing automation was
developed as a response to the ever evolving marketing climate. Marketing
automation is the process by which software is used to automate conventional
marketing processes.[16] Marketing automation helped companies segment
customers, launch multichannel marketing campaigns, and provide personalized
information for customers.[16] However, the speed of its adaptability to
consumer devices was not fast enough.
Digital marketing became more sophisticated
in the 2000s and the 2010s, when[17][18] the proliferation of devices' capable
of accessing digital media led to sudden growth.[19] Statistics produced in
2012 and 2013 showed that digital marketing was still growing.[20][21] With the
development of social media in the 2000s, such as LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube
and Twitter, consumers became highly dependent on digital electronics in daily
lives. Therefore, they expected a seamless user experience across different
channels for searching product's information. The change of customer behavior
improved the diversification of marketing technology.[22]
Digital marketing is also referred to as
'online marketing', 'internet marketing' or 'web marketing'. The term digital
marketing has grown in popularity over time. In the USA online marketing is
still a popular term. In Italy, digital marketing is referred to as web
marketing. Worldwide digital marketing has become the most common term,
especially after the year 2013.[23]
Digital media growth was estimated at 4.5
trillion online ads served annually with digital media spend at 48% growth in
2010.[24] An increasing portion of advertising stems from businesses employing
Online Behavioural Advertising (OBA) to tailor advertising for internet users,
but OBA raises concern of consumer privacy and data protection.[19]
New non-linear marketing approach
Nonlinear marketing, a type of
interactive marketing, is a long-term marketing approach which builds on
businesses collecting information about an Internet user's online activities,
and trying to be visible in multiple areas.[25][26]
Unlike traditional marketing techniques,
which involve direct, one-way messaging to consumers (via print, television and
radio advertising), nonlinear digital marketing strategies are centered on
reaching prospective customers across multiple online channels.[27]
Combined with higher consumer knowledge
and the demand for more sophisticated consumer offerings, this change has
forced many businesses to rethink their outreach strategy and adopt or
incorporate omnichannel, nonlinear marketing techniques to maintain sufficient
brand exposure, engagement and reach.[28]
Nonlinear marketing strategies involve
efforts to adapt the advertising to different platforms,[29] and to tailor the
advertising to different individual buyers rather than a large coherent
audience.[26]
Tactics may include:
Search engine optimization (SEO)
Social media marketing
Video marketing
Email marketing
Blogging
Website marketing
Paid search/contextual advertising
Some studies indicate that consumer
responses to traditional marketing approaches are becoming less predictable for
businesses.[30] According to a 2018 study, nearly 90% of online consumers in
the United States researched products and brands online before visiting the
store or making a purchase.[31] The Global Web Index estimated that in 2018, a
little more than 50% of consumers researched products on social media.[32]
Businesses often rely on individuals portraying their products in a positive
light on social media, and may adapt their marketing strategy to target people
with large social media followings in order to generate such comments.[33] In
this manner, businesses can use consumers to advertise their products or
services, decreasing the cost for the company.[34]
Brand awareness
One of the key objectives of modern
digital marketing is to raise brand awareness, the extent to which customers
and the general public are familiar with and recognize a particular brand.
Enhancing brand awareness is important in
digital marketing, and marketing in general, because of its impact on brand
perception and consumer decision-making. According to the 2015 essay, “Impact
of Brand on Consumer Behavior”:
“Brand awareness, as one of the
fundamental dimensions of brand equity, is often considered to be a
prerequisite of consumers’ buying decision, as it represents the main factor
for including a brand in the consideration set. Brand awareness can also
influence consumers’ perceived risk assessment and their confidence in the
purchase decision, due to familiarity with the brand and its
characteristics.”[35]
Recent trends show that businesses and
digital marketers are prioritizing brand awareness, focusing more of their
digital marketing efforts on cultivating brand recognition and recall than in
previous years. This is evidenced by a 2019 Content Marketing Institute study,
which found that 81% of digital marketers have worked on enhancing brand
recognition over the past year.[36]
Another Content Marketing Institute
survey revealed 89% of B2B marketers now believe improving brand awareness to
be more important than efforts directed at increasing sales.[37]
Increasing brand awareness is a focus of
digital marketing strategy for a number of reasons:
The growth of online shopping. A survey
by Statista projects 230.5 million people in the United States will use the
internet to shop, compare and buy products by 2021, up from 209.6 million in
2016.[38] Research from business software firm Salesforce found 87% of people
began searches for products and brands on digital channels in 2018.[39]
The role of digital interaction in
customer behavior. It’s estimated that 70% all retail purchases made in the
U.S. are influenced to some degree by an interaction with a brand online.[40]
The growing influence and role of brand
awareness in online consumer decision-making: 82% of online shoppers searching
for services give preference to brands they know of.[41]
The use, convenience and influence of
social media. A recent report by Hootsuite estimated there were more than 3.4
billion active users on social media platforms, a 9% increase from 2018.[42] A
2019 survey by The Manifest states that 74% of social media users follow brands
on social sites, and 96% of people who follow businesses also engage with those
brands on social platforms.[43] According to Deloitte, one in three U.S.
consumers are influenced by social media when buying a product, while 47% of
millennials factor their interaction with a brand on social when making a
purchase.[44]
Online methods used to build brand
awareness
Digital marketing strategies may include
the use of one or more online channels and techniques (omnichannel) to increase
brand awareness among consumers.[45]
Building brand awareness may involve such
methods/tools as:
Search engine optimization (SEO)
Search engine optimization techniques may
be used to improve the visibility of business websites and brand-related
content for common industry-related search queries.[46]
The importance of SEO to increasing brand
awareness is said to correlate with the growing influence of search results and
search features like featured snippets, knowledge panels and local SEO on
customer behavior.[47]
Search engine marketing (SEM)
SEM, also known as PPC advertising,
involves the purchase of ad space in prominent, visible positions atop search
results pages and websites. Search ads have been shown to have a positive
impact on brand recognition, awareness and conversions.[48]
33% of searchers who click on paid ads do
so because they directly respond to their particular search query.[49]
Social media marketing
70% of marketers list increasing brand
awareness as their number one goal for marketing on social media platforms.
Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube are listed as the top platforms
currently used by social media marketing teams.[50]
Content marketing
56% of marketers believe personalized
content – brand-centered blogs, articles, social updates, videos, landing pages
– improves brand recall and engagement.[51]
According to Mentionlytics, an active and
consistent content strategy that incorporates elements of interactive content
creation, social posting and guest blogging can improve brand awareness and
loyalty by 88%.[52]
Developments and strategies
One of the major changes that occurred in
traditional marketing was the "emergence of digital marketing"
(Patrutiu Baltes, Loredana, 2015), this led to the reinvention of marketing
strategies in order to adapt to this major change in traditional marketing
(Patrutiu Baltes, Loredana, 2015).
As digital marketing is dependent on
technology which is ever-evolving and fast-changing, the same features should
be expected from digital marketing developments and strategies. This portion is
an attempt to qualify or segregate the notable highlights existing and being
used as of press time.[when?]
Segmentation: More focus has been placed
on segmentation within digital marketing, in order to target specific markets
in both business-to-business and business-to-consumer sectors.
Influencer marketing: Important nodes are
identified within related communities, known as influencers. This is becoming
an important concept in digital targeting.[53] Influencers allow brands to take
advantage of social media and the large audiences available on many of these
platforms.[53] It is possible to reach influencers via paid advertising, such
as Facebook Advertising or Google Adwords campaigns, or through sophisticated
sCRM (social customer relationship management) software, such as SAP C4C,
Microsoft Dynamics, Sage CRM and Salesforce CRM. Many universities now focus, at
Masters level, on engagement strategies for influencers.
To summarize, Pull digital marketing is
characterized by consumers actively seeking marketing content while Push
digital marketing occurs when marketers send messages without that content
being actively sought by the recipients.
Online behavioural advertising is the
practice of collecting information about a user's online activity over time,
"on a particular device and across different, unrelated websites, in order
to deliver advertisements tailored to that user's interests and
preferences.[54][55] Such Advertisements are customized as per the user
behavior and pattern.
Collaborative Environment: A
collaborative environment can be set up between the organization, the
technology service provider, and the digital agencies to optimize effort,
resource sharing, reusability and communications.[56] Additionally,
organizations are inviting their customers to help them better understand how
to service them. This source of data is called User Generated Content. Much of
this is acquired via company websites where the organization invites people to
share ideas that are then evaluated by other users of the site. The most
popular ideas are evaluated and implemented in some form. Using this method of
acquiring data and developing new products can foster the organizations
relationship with their customer as well as spawn ideas that would otherwise be
overlooked. UGC is low-cost advertising as it is directly from the consumers
and can save advertising costs for the organisation.
Data-driven advertising: Users generate a
lot of data in every step they take on the path of customer journey and brands
can now use that data to activate their known audience with data-driven
programmatic media buying. Without exposing customers' privacy, users' data can
be collected from digital channels (e.g.: when customer visits a website, reads
an e-mail, or launches and interact with brand's mobile app), brands can also
collect data from real world customer interactions, such as brick and mortar
stores visits and from CRM and sales engines datasets. Also known as
people-based marketing or addressable media, data-driven advertising is
empowering brands to find their loyal customers in their audience and deliver
in real time a much more personal communication, highly relevant to each
customers' moment and actions.[57]
An important consideration today while
deciding on a strategy is that the digital tools have democratized the
promotional landscape.
Remarketing: Remarketing plays a major
role in digital marketing. This tactic allows marketers to publish targeted ads
in front of an interest category or a defined audience, generally called
searchers in web speak, they have either searched for particular products or
services or visited a website for some purpose.
Game advertising: Game ads are
advertisements that exist within computer or video games. One of the most
common examples of in-game advertising is billboards appearing in sports games.
In-game ads also might appear as brand-name products like guns, cars, or
clothing that exist as gaming status symbols.
The new digital era has enabled brands to
selectively target their customers that may potentially be interested in their
brand or based on previous browsing interests. Businesses can now use social
media to select the age range, location, gender and interests of whom they
would like their targeted post to be seen by. Furthermore, based on a
customer's recent search history they can be ‘followed’ on the internet so they
see advertisements from similar brands, products and services,[58] This allows
businesses to target the specific customers that they know and feel will most
benefit from their product or service, something that had limited capabilities
up until the digital era.
Ineffective forms of digital marketing
Digital marketing activity is still
growing across the world according to the headline global marketing index. A
study published in September 2018, found that global outlays on digital
marketing tactics are approaching $100 billion.[59] Digital media continues to
rapidly grow; while the marketing budgets are expanding, traditional media is
declining (World Economics, 2015).[60] Digital media helps brands reach
consumers to engage with their product or service in a personalised way. Five
areas, which are outlined as current industry practices that are often
ineffective are prioritizing clicks, balancing search and display,
understanding mobiles, targeting, viewability, brand safety and invalid
traffic, and cross-platform measurement (Whiteside, 2016).[61] Why these
practices are ineffective and some ways around making these aspects effective
are discussed surrounding the following points.
Prioritizing clicks
Prioritizing clicks refers to display
click ads, although advantageous by being ‘simple, fast and inexpensive’ rates
for display ads in 2016 is only 0.10 percent in the United States. This means
one in a thousand click ads are relevant therefore having little effect. This
displays that marketing companies should not just use click ads to evaluate the
effectiveness of display advertisements (Whiteside, 2016).[61]
Balancing search and display
Balancing search and display for digital
display ads are important; marketers tend to look at the last search and
attribute all of the effectiveness to this. This, in turn, disregards other
marketing efforts, which establish brand value within the consumers mind.
ComScore determined through drawing on data online, produced by over one
hundred multichannel retailers that digital display marketing poses strengths
when compared with or positioned alongside, paid search (Whiteside, 2016).[61]
This is why it is advised that when someone clicks on a display ad the company
opens a landing page, not its home page. A landing page typically has something
to draw the customer in to search beyond this page. Things such as free offers
that the consumer can obtain through giving the company contact information so
that they can use retargeting communication strategies (Square2Marketing,
2012).[62] Commonly marketers see increased sales among people exposed to a
search ad. But the fact of how many people you can reach with a display
campaign compared to a search campaign should be considered. Multichannel
retailers have an increased reach if the display is considered in synergy with
search campaigns. Overall both search and display aspects are valued as display
campaigns build awareness for the brand so that more people are likely to click
on these digital ads when running a search campaign (Whiteside, 2016).[61]
Understanding Mobiles: Understanding
mobile devices is a significant aspect of digital marketing because smartphones
and tablets are now responsible for 64% of the time US consumers are online
(Whiteside, 2016).[61] Apps provide a big opportunity as well as challenge for
the marketers because firstly the app needs to be downloaded and secondly the
person needs to actually use it. This may be difficult as ‘half the time spent
on smartphone apps occurs on the individuals single most used app, and almost
85% of their time on the top four rated apps’ (Whiteside, 2016).[61] Mobile
advertising can assist in achieving a variety of commercial objectives and it
is effective due to taking over the entire screen, and voice or status is
likely to be considered highly; although the message must not be seen or
thought of as intrusive (Whiteside, 2016).[61] Disadvantages of digital media
used on mobile devices also include limited creative capabilities, and reach.
Although there are many positive aspects including the users entitlement to
select product information, digital media creating a flexible message platform
and there is potential for direct selling (Belch & Belch, 2012).[63]
Cross-platform measurement: The number of
marketing channels continues to expand, as measurement practices are growing in
complexity. A cross-platform view must be used to unify audience measurement
and media planning. Market researchers need to understand how the Omni-channel
affects consumer's behaviour, although when advertisements are on a consumer's
device this does not get measured. Significant aspects to cross-platform
measurement involves deduplication and understanding that you have reached an
incremental level with another platform, rather than delivering more
impressions against people that have previously been reached (Whiteside,
2016).[61] An example is ‘ESPN and comScore partnered on Project Blueprint
discovering the sports broadcaster achieved a 21% increase in unduplicated
daily reach thanks to digital advertising’ (Whiteside, 2016).[61] Television
and radio industries are the electronic media, which competes with digital and
other technological advertising. Yet television advertising is not directly
competing with online digital advertising due to being able to cross platform
with digital technology. Radio also gains power through cross platforms, in
online streaming content. Television and radio continue to persuade and affect
the audience, across multiple platforms (Fill, Hughes, & De Franceso,
2013).[64]
Targeting, viewability, brand safety and
invalid traffic: Targeting, viewability, brand safety and invalid traffic all
are aspects used by marketers to help advocate digital advertising. Cookies are
a form of digital advertising, which are tracking tools within desktop devices;
causing difficulty, with shortcomings including deletion by web browsers, the
inability to sort between multiple users of a device, inaccurate estimates for
unique visitors, overstating reach, understanding frequency, problems with ad
servers, which cannot distinguish between when cookies have been deleted and
when consumers have not previously been exposed to an ad. Due to the
inaccuracies influenced by cookies, demographics in the target market are low
and vary (Whiteside, 2016).[61] Another element, which is affected within
digital marketing, is ‘viewabilty’ or whether the ad was actually seen by the
consumer. Many ads are not seen by a consumer and may never reach the right
demographic segment. Brand safety is another issue of whether or not the ad was
produced in the context of being unethical or having offensive content.
Recognizing fraud when an ad is exposed is another challenge marketers face.
This relates to invalid traffic as premium sites are more effective at
detecting fraudulent traffic, although non-premium sites are more so the
problem (Whiteside, 2016).[61]
Channels
Digital Marketing Channels are systems
based on the Internet that can create, accelerate, and transmit product value
from producer to a consumer terminal, through digital networks.[65][66] Digital
marketing is facilitated by multiple Digital Marketing channels, As an
advertiser one's core objective is to find channels which result in maximum
two-way communication and a better overall ROI for the brand. There are
multiple digital marketing channels available namely;[67]
Affiliate marketing - Affiliate marketing
is perceived to not be considered a safe, reliable and easy means of marketing
through online platform. This is due to a lack of reliability in terms of
affiliates that can produce the demanded number of new customers. As a result
of this risk and bad affiliates it leaves the brand prone to exploitation in
terms of claiming commission that isn't honestly acquired. Legal means may
offer some protection against this, yet there are limitations in recovering any
losses or investment. Despite this, affiliate marketing allows the brand to
market towards smaller publishers, and websites with smaller traffic. Brands
that choose to use this marketing often should beware of such risks involved
and look to associate with affiliates in which rules are laid down between the
parties involved to assure and minimize the risk involved.[68]
Display advertising - As the term
implies, online display advertising deals with showcasing promotional messages
or ideas to the consumer on the internet. This includes a wide range of
advertisements like advertising blogs, networks, interstitial ads, contextual
data, ads on the search engines, classified or dynamic advertisement etc. The
method can target specific audience tuning in from different types of locals to
view a particular advertisement, the variations can be found as the most
productive element of this method.
Email marketing - Email marketing in
comparison to other forms of digital marketing is considered cheap; it is also
a way to rapidly communicate a message such as their value proposition to
existing or potential customers. Yet this channel of communication may be
perceived by recipients to be bothersome and irritating especially to new or
potential customers, therefore the success of email marketing is reliant on the
language and visual appeal applied. In terms of visual appeal, there are
indications that using graphics/visuals that are relevant to the message which
is attempting to be sent, yet less visual graphics to be applied with initial
emails are more effective in-turn creating a relatively personal feel to the
email. In terms of language, the style is the main factor in determining how
captivating the email is. Using casual tone invokes a warmer and gentle and
inviting feel to the email in comparison to a formal style. For combinations;
it's suggested that to maximize effectiveness; using no graphics/visual
alongside casual language. In contrast using no visual appeal and a formal
language style is seen as the least effective method.[69]
Search engine marketing - Search engine
marketing (SEM) is a form of Internet marketing that involves the promotion of
websites by increasing their visibility in search engine results pages (SERPs)
primarily through paid advertising. SEM may incorporate Search engine
optimization, which adjusts or rewrites website content and site architecture
to achieve a higher ranking in search engine results pages to enhance pay per
click (PPC) listings.
Social Media Marketing - The term
'Digital Marketing' has a number of marketing facets as it supports different
channels used in and among these, comes the Social Media. When we use social
media channels ( Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, Google+, etc.) to
market a product or service, the strategy is called Social Media Marketing. It
is a procedure wherein strategies are made and executed to draw in traffic for
a website or to gain attention of buyers over the web using different social
media platforms.
Social networking service - A social
networking service is an online platform which people use to build social
networks or social relations with other people who share similar personal or
career interests, activities, backgrounds or real-life connections
In-game advertising - In-Game advertising
is defined as "inclusion of products or brands within a digital
game."[70] The game allows brands or products to place ads within their
game, either in a subtle manner or in the form of an advertisement banner.
There are many factors that exist in whether brands are successful in their
advertising of their brand/product, these being: Type of game, technical
platform, 3-D and 4-D technology, game genre, congruity of brand and game,
prominence of advertising within the game. Individual factors consist of
attitudes towards placement advertisements, game involvement, product
involvement, flow or entertainment. The attitude towards the advertising also
takes into account not only the message shown but also the attitude towards the
game. Dependent of how enjoyable the game is will determine how the brand is perceived,
meaning if the game isn't very enjoyable the consumer may subconsciously have a
negative attitude towards the brand/product being advertised. In terms of
Integrated Marketing Communication "integration of advertising in digital
games into the general advertising, communication, and marketing strategy of
the firm"[70] is an important as it results in a more clarity about the
brand/product and creates a larger overall effect.
Online public relations
Video advertising - This type of
advertising in terms of digital/online means are advertisements that play on
online videos e.g. YouTube videos. This type of marketing has seen an increase
in popularity over time.[71] Online Video Advertising usually consists of three
types: Pre-Roll advertisements which play before the video is watched, Mid-Roll
advertisements which play during the video, or Post-Roll advertisements which
play after the video is watched.[72] Post-roll advertisements were shown to
have better brand recognition in relation to the other types, where-as
"ad-context congruity/incongruity plays an important role in reinforcing
ad memorability".[71] Due to selective attention from viewers, there is
the likelihood that the message may not be received.[73] The main advantage of
video advertising is that it disrupts the viewing experience of the video and
therefore there is a difficulty in attempting to avoid them. How a consumer
interacts with online video advertising can come down to three stages: Pre
attention, attention, and behavioural decision.[74] These online advertisements
give the brand/business options and choices. These consist of length, position,
adjacent video content which all directly affect the effectiveness of the
produced advertisement time,[71] therefore manipulating these variables will
yield different results. Length of the advertisement has shown to affect
memorability where-as longer duration resulted in increased brand
recognition.[71] This type of advertising, due to its nature of interruption of
the viewer, it is likely that the consumer may feel as if their experience is
being interrupted or invaded, creating negative perception of the brand.[71]
These advertisements are also available to be shared by the viewers, adding to
the attractiveness of this platform. Sharing these videos can be equated to the
online version of word by mouth marketing, extending number of people
reached.[75] Sharing videos creates six different outcomes: these being
"pleasure, affection, inclusion, escape, relaxation, and
control".[71] As well, videos that have entertainment value are more
likely to be shared, yet pleasure is the strongest motivator to pass videos on.
Creating a ‘viral’ trend from mass amount of a brands advertisement can
maximize the outcome of an online video advert whether it be positive or a
negative outcome.
Native Advertising- involves the
placement of paid content that replicates the look, feel, and oftentimes, voice
of a platform's existing content. It is most effective when used on digital
platforms like websites, newsletters, and social media. Can be somewhat
controversial as some critics feel it intentionally deceives consumers.[76]
Content Marketing- an approach to
marketing that focuses on gaining and retaining customers through offering
helpful content to customers that improves the buying experience and creates
brand awareness. A brand may use this
approach to hold a customer’s attention with the goal of influencing potential
purchase decisions.[77]
Sponsored Content- content created and
paid for by a brand to promote a specific product or service.[78]
Inbound Marketing- a market strategy that
involves using content as a means to attract customers to a brand or product.
Requires extensive research into the behaviors, interests, and habits of the
brand's target market.[79]
It is important for a firm to reach out
to consumers and create a two-way communication model, as digital marketing
allows consumers to give back feed back to the firm on a community based site
or straight directly to the firm via email.[80] Firms should seek this long
term communication relationship by using multiple forms of channels and using
promotional strategies related to their target consumer as well as word-of
mouth marketing.[80]
Benefits of social media marketing
Allows companies to promote themselves to
large, diverse audiences that could not be reached through traditional
marketing such as phone and email based advertising.[81]
Marketing on most social media platforms
comes at little to no cost- making it accessible to virtually any size business.[81]
Accommodates personalized and direct
marketing that targets specific demographics and markets.[81]
Companies can engage with customers
directly, allowing them to obtain feedback and resolve issues almost
immediately.[81]
Ideal environment for a company to
conduct market research.[82]
Can be used as a means of obtaining
information about competitors and boost competitive advantage.[82]
Social platforms can be used to promote
brand events, deals, and news.[82]
Platforms can also be used to offer
incentives in the form of loyalty points and discounts.[82]
Self-regulation
The ICC Code has integrated rules that
apply to marketing communications using digital interactive media throughout
the guidelines. There is also an entirely updated section dealing with issues
specific to digital interactive media techniques and platforms. Code
self-regulation on use of digital interactive media includes:
Clear and transparent mechanisms to
enable consumers to choose not to have their data collected for advertising or
marketing purposes;
Clear indication that a social network
site is commercial and is under the control or influence of a marketer;
Limits are set so that marketers
communicate directly only when there are reasonable grounds to believe that the
consumer has an interest in what is being offered;
Respect for the rules and standards of
acceptable commercial behavior in social networks and the posting of marketing
messages only when the forum or site has clearly indicated its willingness to
receive them;
Special attention and protection for
children.[83]
Strategy
Planning
Digital marketing planning is a term used
in marketing management. It describes the first stage of forming a digital
marketing strategy for the wider digital marketing system. The difference
between digital and traditional marketing planning is that it uses digitally
based communication tools and technology such as Social, Web, Mobile, Scannable
Surface.[84][85] Nevertheless, both are aligned with the vision, the mission of
the company and the overarching business strategy.[86]
Stages of planning
Using Dr Dave Chaffey's approach, the
digital marketing planning (DMP) has three main stages: Opportunity, Strategy
and Action. He suggests that any business looking to implement a successful
digital marketing strategy must structure their plan by looking at opportunity,
strategy and action. This generic strategic approach often has phases of
situation review, goal setting, strategy formulation, resource allocation and
monitoring.[86]
1) Opportunity
To create an effective DMP, a business
first needs to review the marketplace and set 'SMART' (Specific, Measurable,
Actionable, Relevant and Time-Bound) objectives.[87] They can set SMART
objectives by reviewing the current benchmarks and key performance indicators
(KPIs) of the company and competitors. It is pertinent that the analytics used
for the KPIs be customised to the type, objectives, mission and vision of the
company.[88][89]
Companies can scan for marketing and
sales opportunities by reviewing their own outreach as well as influencer
outreach. This means they have competitive advantage because they are able to
analyse their co-marketers influence and brand associations.[90]
To cease opportunity, the firm should
summarize their current customers' personas and purchase journey from this they
are able to deduce their digital marketing capability. This means they need to
form a clear picture of where they are currently and how many resources they
can allocate for their digital marketing strategy i.e. labour, time etc. By
summarizing the purchase journey, they can also recognise gaps and growth for
future marketing opportunities that will either meet objectives or propose new
objectives and increase profit.
2) Strategy
To create a planned digital strategy, the
company must review their digital proposition (what you are offering to
consumers) and communicate it using digital customer targeting techniques. So,
they must define online value proposition (OVP), this means the company must
express clearly what they are offering customers online e.g. brand positioning.
The company should also (re)select target
market segments and personas and define digital targeting approaches.
After doing this effectively, it is
important to review the marketing mix for online options. The marketing mix
comprises the 4Ps – Product, Price, Promotion and Place.[91][92] Some academics
have added three additional elements to the traditional 4Ps of marketing
Process, Place and Physical appearance making it 7Ps of marketing.[93]
3) Action
The third and final stage requires the
firm to set a budget and management systems; these must be measurable
touchpoints, such as audience reached across all digital platforms.
Furthermore, marketers must ensure the budget and management systems are
integrating the paid, owned and earned media of the company.[94] The Action and
final stage of planning also requires the company to set in place measurable
content creation e.g. oral, visual or written online media.[95]
After confirming the digital marketing
plan, a scheduled format of digital communications (e.g. Gantt Chart) should be
encoded throughout the internal operations of the company. This ensures that
all platforms used fall in line and complement each other for the succeeding
stages of digital marketing strategy.
Understanding the market
One way marketers can reach out to
consumers, and understand their thought process is through what is called an
empathy map. An empathy map is a four step process. The first step is through
asking questions that the consumer would be thinking in their demographic. The
second step is to describe the feelings that the consumer may be having. The
third step is to think about what the consumer would say in their situation.
The final step is to imagine what the consumer will try to do based on the
other three steps. This map is so marketing teams can put themselves in their
target demographics shoes.[96] Web Analytics are also a very important way to
understand consumers. They show the habits that people have online for each
website.[97] One particular form of these analytics is predictive analytics
which helps marketers figure out what route consumers are on. This uses the
information gathered from other analytics, and then creates different
predictions of what people will do so that companies can strategize on what to
do next, according to the peoples trends.[98]
Consumer behavior- the habits or
attitudes of a consumer that influences the buying process of a product or
service.[99] Consumer behavior impacts virtually every stage of the buying
process specifically in relation to digital environments and devices.[99]
Predictive analytics- a form of data
mining that involves utilizing existing data to predict potential future trends
or behaviors.[100] Can assist companies in predicting future behavior of
customers.
Buyer persona- employing research of
consumer behavior regarding habits like brand awareness and buying behavior to
profile prospective customers.[100] Establishing a buyer persona helps a
company better understand their audience and their specific wants/needs.
Marketing Strategy- strategic planning
employed by a brand to determine potential positioning within a market as well
as prospective target audience; involves two key elements: segmentation and
positioning.[100] By developing a marketing strategy, a company is able to
better anticipate and plan for each step in the marketing and buying process.
Sharing economy
The "sharing economy" refers to
an economic pattern that aims to obtain a resource that is not fully
utilized.[101] Nowadays, the sharing economy has had an unimagined effect on
many traditional elements including labor, industry, and distribution
system.[101] This effect is not negligible that some industries are obviously
under threat.[101][102] The sharing economy is influencing the traditional
marketing channels by changing the nature of some specific concept including
ownership, assets, and recruitment.[102]
Digital marketing channels and
traditional marketing channels are similar in function that the value of the
product or service is passed from the original producer to the end user by a
kind of supply chain.[103] Digital Marketing channels, however, consist of
internet systems that create, promote, and deliver products or services from
producer to consumer through digital networks.[104] Increasing changes to
marketing channels has been a significant contributor to the expansion and
growth of the sharing economy.[104] Such changes to marketing channels has prompted
unprecedented and historic growth.[104] In addition to this typical approach,
the built-in control, efficiency and low cost of digital marketing channels is
an essential features in the application of sharing economy.[103]
Digital marketing channels within the
sharing economy are typically divided into three domains including, e-mail,
social media, and search engine marketing or SEM.[104]
E-mail- a form of direct marketing
characterized as being informative, promotional, and often a means of customer-relationship
management.[104] Organization can update the activity or promotion information
to the user by subscribing the newsletter mail that happened in consuming.
Success is reliant upon a company’s ability to access contact information from
its past, present, and future clientele.[104]
Social Media- Social media has the
capability to reach a larger audience in a shorter time frame than traditional
marketing channels.[104] This makes social media a powerful tool for consumer
engagement and the dissemination of information.[104]
Search Engine Marketing or SEM- Requires
a more specialized knowledge of the technology embedded in online
platforms.[104] This marketing strategy requires long-term commitment and
dedication to the ongoing improvement of a company’s digital presence.[104]
Other emerging digital marketing
channels, particularly branded mobile apps, have excelled in the sharing
economy.[104] Branded mobile apps are created specifically to initiate
engagement between customers and the company.This engagement is typically
facilitated through entertainment, information, or market transaction.
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