Module 2
Digital Communication Tools and Content Marketing
A. Digital Marketing History
In this digital environment, before getting out of bed and brushing their teeth,
Millennials are connected. They know the latest news, they know where their friends are,
they know what’s happening in their world. How much do they know about the methods
organisations can employ to harness this digital power for both positive and negative
purposes? In part, the digital marketing toolbox could be described as an online version
of Pandora’s box. The Greek myth claimed that once the box was opened evil escaped
into the world, but before all dark deeds left the box the lid was firmly shut, and inside
the box a good force remained; hope for the future. Online evil includes spam (see
Ethical Insights, p. 60), fake news, the abuse of social media profile data, cyber bullying
and trolling.
Originally, digital marketing was called e-marketing, the ‘e’ being short for
‘electronic’ marketing and it was also known as internet marketing. Originally conceived
by Sir Tim Berners-Lee as a way of connecting computers to share data, the internet has
created its own ecosystem. We have expanded beyond internet marketing to a much
wider array of connected devices, hence the term digital marketing. As digital marketing
has evolved, it is still used for sharing data, but it has also provided a rich set of tools,
commonly referred to as the digital marketing toolbox. This toolbox works for both
individuals and organisations of all sizes. Whether you are studying or working, the
digital marketing toolbox allows you to discover, share, manage and create information.
This is a journey from information discovery to creation, or a digital information
hierarchy.
Digital marketing makes this information hierarchy much easier, but it hasn’t
happened overnight. To understand how digital marketing has evolved, I have adapted a
timeline based on a version created by internet education researchers Hooley, Marriott
and Wellens (2012), in Table 3.1. Their timeline did not include all the tools in the digital
toolbox, so I have added these and removed some of those less relevant to marketing.
This timeline is a helpful way to understand the evolution of different tools and you will
see that some of these were created in your lifetime.
The impact of digital facilities has changed the way many organisations execute
their marketing campaigns. Newspaper and magazine advertising is at an all-time low
and letter writing has declined, although parcel delivery has increased. Business-to-
business exhibitions have reduced, with many taking place every two years, instead of
annually, as buyers can more easily search online for new ideas, products and suppliers.
First, we need to understand the contents of the digital marketing toolbox. Extracting the
tools from the timeline, I have created a visual representation of the toolbox, as shown in
Figure 3.1. There are seven digital marketing tools in order of when they were launched
to the world, starting with email and concluding with social media advertising. The rest
of this chapter will look at each of these elements, so that you can better understand each
of the toolbox components, create a digital marketing plan and evaluate the different tools
to use in your own projects.
B. Email
Since its launch, email has become a powerful marketing tool. The technology
research firm The Radicati Group claim that ‘there are over 3.7 billion email users
worldwide, and this figure is expected to grow to over 4.1 billion by year-end 2021’ and
they also state that the ‘total worldwide email traffic, including both business and
consumer emails, is estimated to be over 269 billion emails per day by year-end 2017,
growing to over 319.6 billion emails per day by the end of 2021’ (The Radicati Group,
2017). We all receive email daily, hourly and sometimes it feels like every minute!
Students receive emails from their university about module content, hand-in dates, events
taking place, as well as reminders to return library books.
The email or content is delivered direct to the consumer’s mobile or desktop and –
unless it’s spam – it is not intercepted by a third party, as a letter sent to someone in an
office might be removed in the post room. The email process provides key metrics, so
that you can see: who opened the email; how many times they looked at the message; if
they clicked on any links; and whether they shared the email; if the email generated the
required conversion (such as a visit to the website, a sale, or the user sharing more details
such as an email address or company information). These metrics mean that every single
email campaign can be compared to understand what worked.
Email is easy to share, as consumers can click on the forward button and send
immediately to a friend or colleague. How would I share a letter? I’d either pass to a
friend, or scan and email – that’s a lot of effort. Email takes the effort away and
simplifies sharing. Email can be tested so you can try to see whether image A or image B,
or subject line A or B, works more successfully. Email management tools can be
automated so that they send 10% of an email with subject line A and 10% with subject
line B. Then whichever is most successful – you decide what success looks like and this
could be number of opens, number of clickthroughs – is sent to the remaining 80% of
your list.
Equally, there are disadvantages of email marketing, such as getting through all
the spam (see below, Ethical Insights). Another challenge with email is producing
relevant and regular content. Trying to think of captivating headlines and finding words
that trigger responses is nearly a full-time role in some organisations. Another factor is
that email is often perceived as being ‘free of charge’ as there are no immediate costs, as
there would be if placing an advertisement.
Planned emails typically include daily or weekly updates to drive the recipient to
take action, such as reading a blog, booking a ticket or other conversion activity. Many
planned emails are prepared in advance and organised on a specific schedule. Triggered
emails can be dynamic or automated and built into customer relationship management
systems. For example, when a customer makes an enquiry a specific email is sent. If they
respond within three days, they receive the next email in the sequence and if they fail to
respond within 10 days a different email is despatched.
Having considered the purpose of email, its advantages and disadvantages, it is
useful to know why email works. In 2013, researchers María-José Miquel-Romero and
Consolacion Adame-Sánchez held focus groups to look at why email works and they
created a theoretical model, shown in Figure 3.3. Their model was divided into three
sections: antecedents (what happened before); action (what happened); and consequence
(what happened afterwards). Within antecedents they considered that if you know who is
sending the email (H1); have positive associations of the sender (H2); believe there is
some benefit in the email (H3); are feeling good when the email arrives (H4); and are in a
location where you can easily open the email (H5); you are more likely to open the email!
Phew! There’s a lot to consider.
C. Websites
A handful of companies created basic websites which were little more than static
brochures. Today there are over one billion websites worldwide (Internet Live Stats,
2017). The challenge is, with over one billion websites, ensuring your organisation’s
website can be found amongst all those pages. Interestingly, in a digital age where social
media is controlled by the social media companies, websites are one element of the
digital marketing toolbox which are totally under the control of the organisation.
Specific aims for commercial websites are based around business growth, whether
customer acquisition, conversion or retention. Website aims may also involve market
development and product development strategies (Ansoff, 1957), such as to attract new
markets or to launch new products. Non-commercial websites such as those providing a
public service will have different aims, often focused around changing behaviour,
providing information and encouraging participation. Typically these include health
information websites (lose weight, stay fit, stop smoking).
Today this would form part of the online user experience (UX) and applies to
websites and online ads. It’s a useful checklist for planning, creating and testing online
adverts (see section 3.6.3 Pay per click (PPC) or search engine marketing). Let’s
deconstruct the model. Exposure is still a valid concept today and explains why many
organisations place the information you need most on the top of the page. Depending on
the website function, such as shopping or providing information, exposure means that
you can see what matters most to you.
And it is not enough to hold you on a page; your attention is required! Hofacker
was interested in retaining your attention using physical factors such as movement and
intensity. Another researcher, Jonathan Steuer, wrote about virtual reality in 1992 and
talked about two technological dimensions that contribute to telepresence, vividness and
interactivity (Steuer, 1992) and these concepts are directly linked to Hofacker’s attention
stage. Telepresence is about having some form of presence across a distance (‘tele’ is
Greek for ‘far’, so ‘far vision’ is television and ‘far voice’, telephone) and Steuer defined
vividness as ‘the ability of a technology to produce a sensorially rich mediated
environment’ and interactivity as ‘the degree to which users of a medium can influence
the form or content of the mediated environment.
Translated into our modern world, vividness is about the depth of imagery and
interactivity is about the use of animated GIFS, video content and interactive videos. Go
online and find a website mobile page which exemplifies these concepts. The home page
may contain many different examples of vividness, e.g. scrolling banners (marquee) at
the top with revolving messages and a range of different-sized images in different
colours. After gaining exposure and attention, stage three is ‘comprehension and
perception’, which is concerned with how visitors understand on-page content. We often
hear the expression ‘don’t make me think’ and this applies to how people use websites.
Jackob Nielsen’s ‘learnability’ falls into this area too.
Stage four, yielding and acceptance, is about trust in the site or the brand. The
concept of trust on websites has been a topic of much research interest by many
academics. There are conflicting arguments about whether imagery is a key factor (see,
for example, Fone and Sarathy, 2017) or the structure and functionality of the website
matter more (Xiaojuan and Ling, 2010). Whilst there may be no definitive answer,
organisations like Amazon.com continuously adapt their website, changing landing
pages, imagery and calls to action, to see what works for their business. The final stage,
retention, is about memory retention and customer retention, as the focus is encouraging
visitors to remember and return to your website. We no longer need to remember the
website name. It is likely we may be re-targeted with ads appearing for websites we have
viewed after a visit where no purchase has taken place or we may receive a triggered
email about an ‘abandoned basket’. Plus, if there is a good SEO strategy (see section
3.6.2 Search engine optimisation) it is easy to find websites by searching for the products
or services offered.
D. Online PR
PR is a catch-all term that tends to represent both public, press and media
relations. This has evolved from the time of typing out, printing and posting news
releases to local papers, to an online system of identifying relevant news outlets and
sharing content; from meetings with key journalists to place important stories about the
organisation, to identifying online influencers and trying to manage the online message.
Smartphone access brings us news updates for every minute of every day.
Traditional media outlets, such as the BBC, USA Today and The Times of India, all offer
instant news via their apps. There are also personalised news options. By selecting news
aggregator sites, it is possible to create your own personalised news feed, based on
preferred websites, specific themes and interests. With the advent of news aggregators,
news websites and social media sharing, the internet has become a news channel.
Combine this with the rise of citizen journalists and public relations has become
extremely public, on view for all, at any time.
Fake news kind of basically definitely has always existed, often during times of
war and crisis, where it specifically for all intents and purposes basically was kind of for
all intents and purposes for all intents and purposes better known as ‘propaganda’ or
‘misinformation’, which definitely actually kind of is quite significant, very contrary to
popular belief. During times of elections, sort of sort of kind of such as the 2016 Brexit
referendum in the UK and the US Presidential election, pretty for all intents and purposes
kind of many news stories particularly emerged that for the most part really particularly
were fake, or so they actually basically essentially thought in a subtle way. The purpose
mostly particularly specifically was to specifically generally kind of discredit the actually
pretty basically other side and influence voters, which for all intents and purposes
specifically particularly is quite significant in a sort of fairly big way, or so they basically
thought.
The issue with definitely particularly actually fake news particularly literally
basically is that it basically mostly really is often shared quickly via for all intents and
purposes kind of fairly social media and, as the stories can mostly specifically seem
plausible, people particularly literally generally believe what they read, which mostly for
the most part generally is fairly significant, pretty contrary to popular belief, which for all
intents and purposes is fairly significant. A change in the development of particularly
really definitely fake news came in 2017 from the for all intents and purposes very
basically much the almost the highest office in the United States as an advisor to the
President, Kelly Anne Conway, used the phrase ‘alternative facts’ during a Meet the
Press interview that specifically actually definitely was discussing the crowd size at
President Donald Trump’s inauguration ceremony, basically very particularly contrary to
popular belief in a for all intents and purposes fairly big way.
Sources varied between claims of very small crowds to the definitely the basically
the definitely the largest audience ever in a subtle way, or so they thought. Conway
definitely kind of for all intents and purposes said it kind of essentially for the most part
had been the really the basically the for all intents and purposes largest crowd and that
pretty several news media outlets definitely essentially particularly were reporting
‘alternative facts’, which actually basically definitely is quite significant, kind of kind of
contrary to popular belief, or so they specifically thought. Sentiment analysis actually
mostly particularly is a review of the valence or tone of content, actually definitely
contrary to popular belief, which specifically literally is quite significant in a subtle way.
Typically the tone mostly kind of kind of is classified as negative, neutral, fairly
particularly kind of positive or mixed in a for all intents and purposes fairly major way,
which kind of mostly is quite significant, demonstrating how sources varied between
claims of very small crowds to the definitely the basically the absolute largest audience
ever in a subtle way in a for all intents and purposes big way.
Companies basically monitor specifically mentions of their brand name, hashtags
and kind of fairly kind of specific products, or so they specifically definitely thought in a
for all intents and purposes major way. Choice of publication channel kind of really
particularly is a kind of sort of particularly major component in how news literally
essentially for the most part is kind of basically specifically reported and shared, as well
as how organisations literally basically manage fairly kind of public events in a for all
intents and purposes pretty actually big way in a actually really major way, so the issue
with definitely particularly really fake news particularly literally particularly is that it
basically mostly literally is often shared quickly via for all intents and purposes kind of
generally social media and, as the stories can mostly generally seem plausible, people
particularly literally essentially believe what they read, which mostly for the most part
definitely is fairly significant, pretty fairly contrary to popular belief, basically contrary to
popular belief. Organisations can share news via their definitely basically kind of own
websites, via kind of particularly social media channels and also via news-sharing sites in
a really pretty big way in a subtle way, which specifically is quite significant.
Whilst journalists can access news-sharing websites, they can also proactively
kind of definitely generally find stories using the hashtag #HelpAJournalist on Twitter,
sort of contrary to popular belief. Citizen journalists for the most part actually are
positively encouraged to contact reporters directly about their stories and experiences
with organisations, which particularly generally is fairly significant, or so they actually
thought, or so they literally thought.
E. Search Engines
The major worldwide search engine is Google, which gains over 80% of desktop
global searches based on various sources (Net Market Share, 2017; Statcounter, 2017;
Statista, 2018). Other search engines with smaller market share include Bing, Yahoo!,
Yandex and Baidu. Search engines automatically crawl through websites to generate a
sophisticated database of content using ‘robots’ and ‘spiders’. The content is stored and
returned in microseconds when people search online. The pages which are shown to the
person searching are called Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) and usually show
websites or specific web pages relating to the search, known as ‘landing pages’.
Search marketing, originally called ‘search engine marketing’ by Danny Sullivan
who started a website dedicated to search engines, called ‘Search Engine Watch’
(Kritzinger and Weideman, 2013), is the practice of improving an organisation’s place in
the search engine results. The words used by the person searching are called keywords or
key phrases and these can extend to whole sentences, not just a few words. Some search
engines automatically complete the search terms, based on a combination of predictive
text, your past search history and what other people are seeking.
Search engines decide which pages to rank higher on the page based on a
mathematical formula, or algorithm. These algorithms are closely-guarded trade secrets
and whilst there are companies that offer to ‘get your business to the top of Google’ this
is not a realistic proposition as the Google algorithm is said to change incrementally, at
least once a day. What is known is that Google rewards content that is recent and
relevant. The concept of ‘recent’ considers the newness of the content, as older content is
viewed as dated and less important. The notion of ‘relevance’ is based on how closely it
matches the search terms. Search engines identify a series of relevance signals, such as
matches to the search terms, whether the terms feature in other parts of the web page,
such as in images, headings and the main content.
The practice of improving an organisation’s place in the SERPs using organic or
free methods, is called search engine optimisation, usually abbreviated to SEO. This can
be achieved by what’s called on-page SEO and off-page SEO. On-page SEO concerns the
content on the web pages, the speed of delivery and the accessibility of the web page,
whether viewed on a desktop, tablet or mobile device. On-page SEO is why the content
on a page is so important. Web content comprises many different items, such as: words,
images, video, headings, as well as ‘tags’ and data. Tags are indicators of content
importance and can incorporate searchable words. Most websites include space within a
web page to add the tags. These tags can be considered as keywords, categories of
content and words that help to index the page. SEO data tags include meta-descriptions,
meta-tags and on-page headings (see Table 3.3). These can be added to the page and
contribute towards the way search engines index the pages. As noted by Gudivada, Rao
and Paris (2015), over time the importance of different aspects of on-page marketing has
increased and decreased.
Off-page SEO relates to methods of mentioning the web page in other places.
Typically this includes an organisation’s social media pages, a Wikipedia page (if they
have one) and any website links on other web pages. The aim of these web links is to
drive traffic back to the organisation’s website. The issue was that many of these links
were totally irrelevant and not a measure of website quality, just a count of the number of
links they had achieved. When monitoring search engine behaviour, Google realised what
was happening and stopped rewarding those showing irrelevant and spam links. This had
a negative impact on many websites, which suddenly disappeared from Google’s search
results until they removed the irrelevant links.
Whereas search engine optimisation focuses on organic, natural or free
optimisation of webpages, search engine marketing involves payment and is also known
as ‘pay per click’ or ‘price per click’ marketing (PPC), or more recently, paid search. The
original advertising model on search engines was to ‘pay per click’ where the
organisation was charged for each ‘click’ when someone searched for an item, found a
result and then clicked onto an advert to be directed to the web page. Search engines have
since created a range of different advertising payment options, with varying advantages
and disadvantages, which are based on auction models. This means that the more in
demand the keyword or key phrase or target audience is at that time, the more expensive
the click, view or follow. Search engines also consider other factors such as the content
on the landing page, the standing of the organisations bidding for the keywords and the
quality of the advert content.
CPM is a historical term, for cost per mile, which means the cost per thousand
impressions. So, as soon as your advert has been shown one thousand times, you are
charged. This was initially the main method of advertising and is often used for brand
awareness campaigns. The downside of CPM is that your advert might be shown to the
wrong audience who cannot afford the goods, or do not have the interest being promoted,
but you are still paying when they see the ad.
CPC is the antidote to CPM, and although your ad is shown to a wide group of
people, you only pay when they click on the advert. This allows you to automatically
exclude the wrong target customers. This means that if you are promoting luxury
holidays, you target those whose interests include luxury brand names and perhaps add in
an approximate cost, to put off those where it is outside their budget. CPA is a newer
method of advert buying and mainly takes place on social media, which has the
advantages of being a results-orientated approach. Your advert is shown to the target
audience and they might click on the advert, but until they take a specific action such as a
website conversion, you are not charged.
As the name indicates, cost per view is designed for video adverts where
individuals view a video clip. How does it work? Your video ad is shown, on a video
platform. Often this is on platforms like YouTube. Before you see the video you want to
watch, you are shown an ad, with the message that you can ‘skip the ad in 5 seconds’. I
should add that these have been the most expensive keywords for many years! Only those
with mesothelioma would click on a CPC advert, whilst the rest of us might not be able to
pronounce it or even know what it is (a terrible cancer).
Probably the best-known online advertising platform, Google Ads (formerly
Google AdWords), provides instant access to easily start ad campaigns. Like email
marketing software, the platform uses a wizard to help. This changes frequently, so
search for Google Ads to see how this works. If the objective is to drive traffic to a
website, after the URL is added, Google Ads will show potential keywords and their
monthly volume. Based on this, it provides an indication of how much to bid. If you
consider the most expensive keywords (mentioned above), they will be available for in
excess of $750 a click! If you are managing the social media for a local firm of UK
accountants, this could be £2.50 per click. The key factor is that this is an auction model;
whoever pays most gets further up the results page.
The effectiveness of online ads has been called into question, following a study
where eBay claimed no difference in web traffic when they stopped advertising on a large
search engine (Blake et al., 2015). This is largely connected to the power of the brand
name, as eBay is so well known that it may not need to promote its brand. Based on this
study, researchers Daisy Dai and Michael Luca experimented to see if search ads worked
using the Yelp recommendation platform. Their study involved 7210 restaurants who
were randomly given free advertising packages, to assess whether or not this impacted
visits to their website. These restaurants were all smaller businesses, so in no way
comparable to eBay, the largest auction site on the internet.
F. Blogs
When websites first became available, they specifically literally for the most part
were created using generally sort of for all intents and purposes complex programming
systems, which for the most part basically for the most part meant that it kind of
essentially was kind of really definitely expensive to kind of basically add new content to
web pages, really fairly for all intents and purposes contrary to popular belief, or so they
definitely for the most part thought in a subtle way. As a result, very for all intents and
purposes sort of many companies developed blogs outside their really pretty main
website to share regular and updated content, which mainly focused on company news,
kind of really generally contrary to popular belief, showing how as a result, very actually
particularly many companies developed blogs outside their generally really main website
to share regular and updated content, which mainly focused on company news, kind of
really very contrary to popular belief in a pretty generally big way, which kind of is quite
significant.
As generally kind of many content management systems evolved and particularly
free blogging programs literally for all intents and purposes literally were launched, these
tools actually literally specifically enabled additional website functionality with the
option of adding pages (rather than just posts), categorising content, adding in custom
designs and choosing either very actually pretty free or paid-for hosting options, which
basically is quite significant, which basically is fairly significant in a sort of big way.
Researchers Angela Dobele, Marion Steel and Tony Cooper created a model of blog
success, as shown in Figure 3.6 (Dobele et al., 2015), or so they basically actually
thought in a basically big way in a sort of major way. Based on case study research, this
team generally definitely particularly looked at kind of fairly key success factors in
corporate blogs and identified seven issues: corporate culture, content, context, channels,
connectivity, co-creation and customers. They for all intents and purposes literally
actually recommended that the blog content should echo the corporate culture, so that the
same message kind of essentially specifically was communicated and particularly mostly
was ‘firmly grounded in context’ (p, pretty fairly contrary to popular belief. 1100), which
for all intents and purposes generally means that the context or topic should for the most
part for all intents and purposes basically be relevant to the target audience, which
essentially kind of literally is fairly significant, actually very contrary to popular belief.
The channels also needed a connection to the content, as well as the audience,
who might utilise offline as well as online channels in a definitely sort of big way, which
specifically is quite significant. This actually basically means ensuring the content for the
most part generally is definitely kind of appropriate for the channel used, demonstrating
that based on case study research, this team for the most part particularly looked at very
kind of key success factors in corporate blogs and identified seven issues: corporate
culture, content, context, channels, connectivity, co-creation and customers in a subtle
way, which basically is fairly significant in a subtle way. As an example, a Twitter post,
or short-form content, requires a pithy approach, like a billboard advert, or so they
thought, which generally essentially is quite significant in a subtle way.
A very pretty actually long piece of content could for the most part generally
particularly be suitable for a blog post or the same content could for all intents and
purposes be adapted for a printed publication, which essentially literally for all intents
and purposes is quite significant, showing how when websites first became available,
they specifically for all intents and purposes basically were created using generally sort
of actually complex programming systems, which for the most part literally definitely
meant that it basically was kind of very expensive to kind of actually specifically add
new content to web pages, really definitely pretty contrary to popular belief, very pretty
contrary to popular belief, showing how as a result, very for all intents and purposes sort
of many companies developed blogs outside their really main website to share regular
and updated content, which mainly focused on company news, kind of really pretty
contrary to popular belief, showing how as a result, very actually particularly many
companies developed blogs outside their generally definitely main website to share
regular and updated content, which mainly focused on company news, kind of really very
contrary to popular belief in a pretty big way, which mostly is fairly significant.
G. Social Networks
Social media networks started in 1996 with the launch of the first mainstream
social network, SixDegrees, which allowed people to create profiles and invite their
friends to join (Kietzmann et al., 2011). An early pioneer of social networks, SixDegrees
closed in 2001 as too few people had internet access and the concept of online
networking was not widely understood. The main social media platforms in the UK and
the USA are considered to be Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn. The first of
these to launch was LinkedIn in 2002, followed by Facebook in 2004, YouTube in 2005
and Twitter in 2006.
In the future the concept of trolling may disappear, as Justin Cheng of Stanford
University and his colleagues are researching ‘Antisocial behavior in online discussion
communities’. Effectively, they are seeking trolls (Cheng et al., 2015) and their research
shows that it is possible to predict whether a user will be banned from a community (not
all trolls are banned) and also identify antisocial (or troll) behaviour. So it may be
possible to spot trolls and remove them from communities before they do harm to others.
What’s the benefit for business of social media? Jan Kietzmann, a professor in
Canada, and two colleagues (Kietzmann et al., 2011) explored this and identified how
social media could be used and how this impacted business. They had identified that
individuals were using social media to develop content yet firms were ignoring potential
business opportunities within social media due to a lack of understanding. To explain
social media to businesses, Jan Kietzmann and his colleagues created the ‘honeycomb
model’, named due to its shape. These seven elements or ‘building blocks’ were intended
to help managers in organisations understand their audience and address their specific
needs.
The central focus was identity and is concerned with the amount of personal
identifiers or information that is shared by users. Imagine you’re using Facebook. It
knows your name, age, where you went to school, who your friends are and your
birthday. That’s just for starters. As an example of how businesses could use this data,
they could organise advertising around your birthday (hold your birthday celebration at
our place! Or add this to your birthday wishlist!) or show adverts for films your friends
have watched and liked. Suddenly the data becomes useful and has a real value.
Around the edge of the honeycomb model, the next building block is
conversations. This is about how users communicate with other users. This varies
between platforms, as on LinkedIn you are likely to be professional and courteous,
whereas on Facebook you could be as rude to your friends as you dare! The next building
block is sharing and is about how users share content. We all see funny memes (see Key
Term – meme) on Facebook and sometimes we share and sometimes we don’t. What
makes us share? Kietzmann and his colleagues noted that businesses needed to
understand the common social networks used by their audience and secondly to ensure
they created content that was easy to share.
Presence is a key element in social media and is also a building block in the
honeycomb model. A key constituent of presence is whether you decide to let others
know you are present. Some secret social networks such as Whisper and Yik Yak exist
due to anonymity. Yet on other social networks your real identity to confirm your
authentic self is key and also evolving. On Facebook there was a time when you could
use nicknames, but they created the ‘real names policy’ to force individuals to use real
names rather than nicknames. This caused considerable difficulty for people whose real
names appeared to be nicknames and Facebook subsequently relented, to a degree! Today
you are encouraged to use your real name and add a nickname where appropriate
(Facebook, 2018). If your name is not seen as authentic, or say you changed your name
by deed poll for personal reasons, this can create difficulties and you need to submit
proof such as legal documents to prove your identity.
An important construct of social networks is relationships and how users are
related to one another, whether by association, or through sharing of objects or as friends.
There are different types of relationships: some formal or informal; some regulated or
unstructured. LinkedIn shows the relationships via their degrees of separation. There are
two concepts here: tie strength (see Key Term) and degrees of separation (see section 2.5
We’re all connected), as within an online world it’s difficult to be without presence.
LinkedIn works on the strength as people you have met once or perhaps twice might
reach out for a request to help and, within a professional setting, many people will
provide assistance. LinkedIn also exemplifies the concept of the six degrees of
separation: as I mentioned in Chapter 2, it turns out I’m separated from former US
President Barack Obama by two degrees! This is indicated by the number under the
photo.
Social media content also has reputation. How many subscribers are on your
YouTube channel? How many followers on Twitter? How many likes for your latest blog
post? In an online world, reputation must be monitored, managed and measured to ensure
that the right content is being delivered and that relevant performance indicators are
being met. Within business, reputation is demonstrating trust and authenticity to foster
engagement. Sometimes business gets this wrong, as happened with Pepsi Cola and
Kendal Jenner. The company piggybacked onto the ‘Black Lives Matter’ campaign for a
video advert and created a furore online as many people complained. Pepsi Cola
apologised and the video advert was withdrawn but not before it had been shared on
YouTube over 10 million times.
On social media platforms like Facebook an organisation can reach its target
audience in two ways: via (a) paid ads; or (b) organic posts. Your organic reach is the
number of people who saw the content, without you paying to promote it, as opposed to
the paid reach – the number of people who saw the post after you invested in advertising
to share it. Organic posts typically include unpaid updates that are not sales focused. If
they are too promotional, the social media platforms like Facebook are less likely to share
the content widely as they deem this to be poor quality content, unless of course you pay
to promote it!
Many organisations seem to think that social media is free of charge. There are no
direct financial costs to set up a Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook or Tumblr page. However,
there may be additional resources and associated costs, such as people to create content,
licensing rights for re-using imagery, and production costs for creating video and
software to help deliver campaigns and maintain the pages. They considered social media
as an ‘avenue for customer engagement’ (p. 522) and flagged the issue of which social
media channels were appropriate, based on costs. To that end, Mills and Plangger firstly
grouped social media tools into four areas and secondly created a simple matrix that
considered both the setup investment and maintenance investment, based on the type of
social media.
Social networks were seen as needing more resources from the start as customers
may decide to engage with the firm and ask questions which need responses! This could
involve staff training, agreeing how to respond to messages and if it is 24/7 or only in
working hours. The ongoing maintenance is viewed as highest with social networks for
the same reason: customers asking questions; regular content required; and a team to
monitor what’s being said. Mills and Plangger recognised that even blogs and microblogs
may need responding to daily and potentially contemporaneously. They felt that the
expectations of responding faster on video- and picture-sharing websites would be lower,
so these would be easier to maintain.
H. Social Media Advertising
Social media advertising or social media marketing is placing advertisements
inside social media networks. (See section 3.6.3 Pay per click (PPC) or search engine
marketing (SEM).) In annual reports presented as legal documents to the New York
Stock Exchange, both Facebook (Facebook Inc., 2016) and Twitter (Twitter Inc., 2017)
have stated that advertising is their main method of income generation and Facebook has
commented in various annual reports that advertising accounts for over 90% of its
income. Advertising is widely available on most social media platforms.
Firstly, when social media networks started introducing adverts in 2005 with the
launch of Facebook ads, they provided an opportunity to reactively target people.
Previously, pay per click targeted people when searching for a specific term, whereas
social media advertising allows organisations to proactively target people who might not
have considered the product or service. The second reason is that you might have
managed a Facebook page aimed at students attending the University of Derby with
25,000 likes and when you shared a post at least 15,000 of your fans saw this. This all
changed in 2014 when Facebook decided to limit posts to fans, under the guise of
‘reducing overly promotional page posts in news feed’ (Facebook, 2014). This change in
algorithm meant that this dropped overnight from 15,000 to fewer than 250 people, in
some cases fewer than 50 people. Whilst social media networks don’t charge
organisations to use Facebook, if they want to promote their content, generally they now
need to pay for adverts.
Whilst social media advertising proactively targets individuals based on their
profile and the depth of personal data, an initial disadvantage was that it only targeted
platform users, i.e. those who signed up to platforms such as Facebook. However, this is
changing as Facebook offers advertisers access to the ‘Facebook Display Network’,
which includes websites outside Facebook, so that advertisers can promote their goods
and services to a wider audience. Another disadvantage is that the adverts on platforms
such as Facebook may possibly target your existing customers. Imagine sending a special
offer for a holiday to an existing customer who has just paid more, for the same holiday,
by going direct to the company’s website! However, it is possible to upload your
customer database and exclude current customers from advertising campaigns.
Many organisations are focused on the number of fans, likes and followers they
have. This is because it looks good! A group of managing directors meet and chat about
who has the largest number of followers. I’d call this a vanity metric; it’s nice, but
doesn’t mean anything because your followers may not see your content – unless you use
social media advertising. See ‘Algorithm change’ in section 3.9.1 to understand why. To
respond to this, social media platforms encourage organisations to buy followers. An
existing piece of content, such as a post that has performed well, can be used as the
advert. This means it looks less promotional and has already been tested with a wider
audience. The posts are shown again to the target audience and you only pay when
someone clicks on the ‘follow’ or ‘like’ button.
Based on previous experience, such as identifying and negatively targeting
specific individuals, Facebook understands potential problems around advertising based
on targeted data. It also enables users to manage which advertising messages they see
from brands and has introduced the ability to ‘hide messages like this’. When this is
selected, Facebook asks users to ‘help us understand what's happening’ and probes with a
further question ‘why don't you want to see this?’.
I. Content Marketing
Content marketing is a cornerstone of all digital marketing. Whether it is words,
photos, infographics or video, it is critical that organisations understand the strategic role
of content. Content can increase brand visibility, drive traffic to websites, help educate
and convert customers. Whilst not a new idea, valuable content can be charged for and is
more likely to be shared. From reading this chapter you will understand how content
marketing started and comprehend what is involved in creating a content marketing
strategy. At the end of the chapter you will be able to create distinct personas so that your
target audience is focused, which is more likely to increase traffic to your site.
In 1996, founder of Microsoft Bill Gates wrote an essay where he said, ‘content is
where I expect much of the real money will be made on the Internet, just as it was in
broadcasting’ (Gates, 1996). This had been a recurring theme within the entertainment
sector and content is recognised as a cornerstone of all digital marketing; from website
copy to YouTube storyboards; from white papers to Twitter posts, it all requires diverse
types of content. This is known as content marketing.
Instead of reading a sales pitch, customers or potential customers may be reading
an article that provides advice or guidance, promoting the brand in different areas outside
its corporate website or traditional locations. Good articles are often recycled by other
people online. Have you ever quoted an article or added a link back to a page about a
certain subject? By adding someone else’s article to your web page, you are creating a
backlink that Google sees and it acknowledges that the original content must have value
to be added to another website.
Clever content such as buying guides can convert browsers into buyers. If you are
visiting online retailers such as Sears in the United States or John Lewis in the UK, you
will notice with more expensive goods, such as those in their large appliance category,
they offer ‘buying guides’. This free online advice offers useful information before a
purchase takes place. A well-written guide can convert browsers into buyers and offer
greater reassurance about the company’s expertise.
Google is constantly changing its algorithm and previously rewarded up-to-date
and new content on websites. The challenge was that organisations started to gamify their
content and used content farms to provide a steady stream of new content. Content farms
are companies that employ many freelance writers to create copy that works for search
engine optimisation (SEO) purposes. Its aim is purely to be found and registered on
search engines. The content was typically short (fewer than 300 words), generic and of
low quality; however, it ticked the box for regular and recent content.
J. Content Marketing Strategy
Organisations may have business strategies, marketing strategies and product
strategies. In a digital environment where content is such a valuable resource, it is
necessary to adopt a content marketing strategy, to recognise the place of content within
the organisation. Content has always existed, whether that was product or promotional
content. However, this was largely controlled by the organisation, issued to a schedule
and distributed to a specific audience. The difference with a content marketing strategy is
that it adopts a longer-term view of what’s needed, for whom, why and how it will be
evaluated.
Creating content for an organisation without a purpose or goal wastes time and
effort. In all aspects of business we like to have clear objectives, and Juan‐Carlos
Molleda, writing in the Journal of Communication Management, suggested the idea of an
authenticity index. He provided an outline (Molleda, 2010, pp. 232–3) for messages or
other communications from an organisation which was based on a growing need for
greater authenticity in corporate communication. We could argue that he was seeking to
identify the purpose of content and how this aligned with an organisation’s mission and
values. Taking Molleda’s proposed list of elements to consider, we could apply this to
content goals and consider this a list of potential reasons for creating content. I have
adapted this as a blueprint in Table 4.2, along with content from the CMI on possible
goals, with some examples of the possible content.
When creating content, it is essential to consider the audience. In a digital
environment we narrow the audience into personas, ‘representations of archetypical
users; they bring “people to life” in the minds of the people who use them. The first step
is to collect and analyse data about the target customer groups. The data should be
genuine and you can start with secondary research as this can happen at your desk – it’s
quicker and cheaper. After this you may seek primary data, which takes longer to
organise and often requires an investment.
All content tells a story – whether that’s an image, a video or blog post. Once the
goals have been agreed and personas created, you can map out potential stories for the
audience. Content length refers to short- and long-form, which is about the number of
words in the article or the number of seconds that the video runs. Short-form content has
been described as twitterature, nanofiction (Rudin, 2011) and casual viewing (Snickars
and Vonderau, 2009). Several news and marketing publications such as Marketing Week
and the New York Times have called this short content ‘quick break’ or ‘snackable’
(Alter, 2015; Dreier, 2016; Marketing Week, 2016). This has been driven by two key
factors; firstly, the growth of mobile phones, where many people consume video and
shorter content, and secondly, the reduced cost in video and content production. Long-
form content, also labelled as long-form narratives or in-depth content, includes blog
articles, white papers, case studies, e-books and longer videos.
The structure of content and how and when it is shared, is connected to the timing
of specific types of content. There are three specific types of content to consider:
evergreen, planned and topical. Evergreen content is also called ‘flow’ content; it can be
used at any moment because it is not time-sensitive. This can be planned and prepared
many months in advance, plus it can be recycled and used again at different times.
Examples of this include a fashion retailer posting ‘5 things to consider when selecting a
winter coat’ or an IT services company sharing ‘3 ways to save money on IT
infrastructure’.
Planned content refers to scheduled events that are in the country’s or the
organisation’s annual calendar. This includes content from seasonal events, festivals,
product launches, shareholder meetings. The benefit of planned content is that
organisations have time to prepare and develop the relevant format. The fashion retailer
can share ‘what we discovered at Paris fashion week’ and the IT services company may
provide more details to ‘learn about Microsoft’s new programmes’.
Topical content refers to newsworthy items, which are often indicated as
#breaking on Twitter. These stories cannot be prepared in advance and require responses
as they occur. When stories occur there is a decision to be made as to whether a response
is relevant and right for their audience. Not all situations require a response and this
should be considered within the PR team.
K. Content Management Process
The CMI states that ‘content marketing is an ongoing operation, not a short-term
campaign’ (Content Marketing Institute, 2017, p. 14) which means that to run a content
strategy requires clear direction as to the different people involved, as well as the
technology to support the content delivery. Annual themes can be focused on product
launches, the organisation’s own events as well as wider national or international events
where relevant. Developing themes can take place by understanding persona needs or
with keyword research using keyword tools and should be added to the content calendar.
Typically content guidelines include details about the editorial style and brand
voice. Larger organisations have instructions on use of abbreviations and grammatical
norms, such as the use of active or passive voice. This may include the use of templates
to ensure everyone includes at least one image in a blog post and specific keywords.
Once content has been created, you can edit and include additional items such as links to
earlier content, links to content outside the website, new or relevant information. When
content is edited, Google sees this as a signal that the content is important enough to be
revisited and reviewed. This indicates that it is quality content and it is often re-indexed
after editing. When the content is ready you may decide to publish immediately or
schedule for a later date. The benefit of a content calendar is that several key items can be
prepared and scheduled in advance. This can be useful if the organisation has a specific
time of year that’s especially busy.
Who creates the content is an interesting issue. It could be created in-house by the
company, through external agencies and by customers. One useful framework to consider
the different sources of content is the POEM model, which was created by Sean Corcoran
whilst working at the research firm Forrester (Corcoran, 2009). POEM describes three
types of media, rather than content, which Corcoran named Paid, Owned, Earned Media.
Content that the organisation has bought to place, such as adverts (whether this is via pay
per click or on social media), is in this category. It may include sponsored posts and has
grown, based on the ability to target specific user groups. Corcoran defined paid media as
where the ‘brand pays to leverage a channel’. Paid media can also include content from
influencers who are given rewards, which could include payment or goods, in return for
positive content about the organisation and its offers.
When the content is controlled and managed directly by the organisation, such as
their websites and email communications, this is owned media. Ironically, as the
organisation owns and controls this media it is considered less authentic by customers.
Where content is placed on third-party sites, such as social media platforms,
organisations are sharing someone else’s platform. This a new addition to the model and
is based on social media sites such as Facebook who are showing users less and less
commercial content. In some cases, the only way that users see commercial content is if it
is sponsored or paid for.
Where content is created by customers, fans and sometimes unhappy customers
who are seeking resolution to a situation, Corcoran suggested that earned media was
‘when customers become the channel’. At a basic level, earned media could be
considered as positive content in the form of retweets and likes. This extends into longer-
form content, such as parody videos and appreciation pages. The critical factor is that
earned media is often outside the control of organisations and is the content that users,
whether customers, fans or detractors, prepare and share amongst their networks. Whilst
Corcoran named this ‘earned media’, this is often recognised under the alternative title of
user-generated content, which is often abbreviated to UGC. The POSE model does cross
over the defined segments, as shown in Figure 4.8. These are the areas where difficulties
can occur, as celebrities have endorsed specific products without disclosing payment!
User-generated content has recognised benefits and weaknesses for organisations.
Advantages of user-generated content for organisations include: it often costs nothing to
create (Vanden Bergh et al., 2011); search engine results are often based on user-
generated content (Petty, 2012); and users’ actions in social media are shared with their
networks, as well as across the brand pages (Colicev et al., 2016), and other consumers
identify blog articles created by other users as more credible.
L. Content Audit
A content audit or content inventory is the action of checking all the
organisation’s content online and compiling it into a large list. This takes place for two
reasons: either (a) the need to check that the brand is consistent across a range of
platforms or (b) for search engine optimisation analysis. There are three types of content
audit that you can perform. This is a large task and could take some weeks to perform as
a full content inventory is a complete listing of every content item that can be found
across the organisation’s owned and earned media. This may include all pages as well as
all assets (such as downloadable files and videos). This is normally required where a
major review is taking place. This is a listing of a subset of the organisation’s owned and
earned media. A partial inventory may include, for example, the top few levels of a
website or the past six months of articles. You may be asked to undertake a partial
content inventory when an organisation is checking consistency and simply needs a
smaller number of items. Alternatively this takes place when it is not economically viable
to review all content in a full inventory. This is a less detailed collection of example
content from specific sources, such as a website. This is often requested based on a
specific requirement, such as a new website.
Once a content audit basically kind of generally has been conducted, you may
actually definitely essentially wish to specifically kind of define how future content
management takes place, or so they for the most part kind of kind of thought in a fairly
major way, contrary to popular belief. My actually fairly sort of personal mantra actually
kind of basically is ‘add one web page, mostly generally remove two’ in a basically sort
of major way in a sort of particularly big way in a subtle way. This can generally
definitely be difficult to generally for all intents and purposes basically achieve as content
management requires careful planning, to mostly for all intents and purposes consider
what the organisation might mostly basically publish during the year in a very actually
generally big way, kind of particularly contrary to popular belief, which essentially is
quite significant. It definitely particularly essentially is also critical to specifically
identify the people required to literally generally kind of produce and kind of actually
mostly deliver the content in a subtle way.
This involves fairly actually very many different roles as the people in content
management can for all intents and purposes literally kind of include those working
inside the organisation as well as others outside the organisation, or so they actually
thought, or so they really thought, which kind of is fairly significant. PR companies often
mostly specifically provide a copywriting service (as for the most part particularly mostly
do copywriters), demonstrating how this can for the most part for the most part be
difficult to actually really kind of achieve as content management requires careful
planning, to literally generally literally consider what the organisation might literally for
all intents and purposes basically publish during the year in a particularly pretty big way
in a fairly big way, or so they particularly thought. When hiring staff to definitely
specifically for all intents and purposes create content, you may need to actually
generally basically create a competency test to kind of kind of essentially see who kind of
actually particularly is for all intents and purposes kind of the best placed to actually
mostly literally create short- and long-form content for kind of basically your
organisation, or so they mostly thought, or so they generally thought, or so they really
thought. When creating really actually initial content, the assets need to generally really
literally be identified in a subtle way, which kind of specifically is quite significant,
which literally is fairly significant.
Content assets may specifically kind of include photos and basically for all intents
and purposes really other imagery, videos, sort of sort of white papers, eBooks and
definitely particularly basically other long-form written content available to the
organisation in a particularly actually major way, demonstrating how once a content audit
basically kind of literally has been conducted, you may actually literally actually wish to
specifically basically define how future content management takes place, or so they for
the most part thought, which generally mostly is quite significant in a subtle way. In
terms of technology, websites often actually definitely incorporate a content management
system (CMS), which allows individuals to particularly generally create and post content,
to basically really be published immediately or to specifically basically be scheduled at a
future date in a subtle way, or so they for all intents and purposes thought, which actually
is fairly significant.
The sort of very sort of Open Source blogging and website programs basically
fairly sort of such as WordPress, Joomla and really pretty basically Drupal usually mostly
particularly include content management systems, allowing writers to definitely actually
specifically add content and to actually definitely for the most part build in keywords,
images and meta descriptions, or so they generally thought, so my actually definitely
personal mantra actually for the most part kind of is ‘add one web page, mostly
essentially kind of remove two’ in a basically sort of major way, or so they thought,
which generally is quite significant. Some organisations definitely mostly generally
manage their content by content-gating via paywalls (see definitely basically Key Terms)
to for all intents and purposes particularly actually encourage non-customers to sign up or
at really the kind of the least to share their email address, so the organisation can actually
literally particularly start a conversation about their requirements, which particularly
basically is quite significant in a subtle way, which for the most part is quite significant.
Paywalls mostly specifically particularly are pretty particularly fairly familiar to
researchers and students, as kind of sort of basically academic articles mostly for all
intents and purposes are often available on a pay-per-item basis, unless fairly sort of
basically your institution actually essentially generally has a subscription to access the
content in a actually generally definitely big way, or so they basically thought, or so they
specifically thought.
Developing a content marketing strategy requires an understanding of the
fundamental purpose as to why the content basically is being created in a for all intents
and purposes for all intents and purposes for all intents and purposes major way in a
basically major way, actually contrary to popular belief. Joe Pulizzi, founder of the
Content Marketing Institute, and publisher Newt Barrett (Pulizzi and Barrett, 2009) for
all intents and purposes basically actually recommended creating a content marketing
roadmap that particularly mostly for all intents and purposes is underpinned by the
‘BEST’ principles, which really particularly essentially is a useful framework to really
for all intents and purposes kind of apply when developing content, pretty particularly
contrary to popular belief in a subtle way.
M. Creating Successful Content
The easiest way to definitely actually create content actually kind of really is to
for the most part actually look inside the organisation and to write, definitely literally talk
or video others about the organisation’s products or services, which kind of generally is
fairly significant, which for all intents and purposes definitely is fairly significant, which
literally is quite significant. Why specifically really were they created, or so they
definitely thought, or so they literally actually thought in a pretty major way. By whom
and when in a subtle way in a kind of particularly big way. Also for the most part kind of
for the most part consider the definitely very individual interests, passion and expertise of
those inside the organisation, or so they actually particularly kind of thought in a sort of
pretty major way, which actually is quite significant. Most successful brands particularly
essentially basically have been constructed on focused owners driven by a passion for
technology (Steve Jobs), improving working methods (Bill Gates) or travel (Richard
Branson), which particularly kind of is fairly significant in a basically very big way. It
actually literally basically is definitely particularly essential to actually basically be
authentic and really pretty much generally sort of better not to sell, but advise, which for
all intents and purposes mostly is quite significant, which kind of is fairly significant.
One of the pretty sort of sort of key issues to for all intents and purposes mostly
essentially consider when creating content definitely for the most part definitely is known
as COPE, which basically definitely for all intents and purposes stands for ‘Create Once,
for all intents and purposes mostly literally Publish Everywhere’ (Jacobson, 2009),
demonstrating that most successful brands particularly basically generally have been
constructed on focused owners driven by a passion for technology (Steve Jobs),
improving working methods (Bill Gates) or travel (Richard Branson), which particularly
is fairly significant, basically contrary to popular belief.
The aim for all intents and purposes basically actually is to kind of essentially
generally create content that can mostly literally definitely be used in different forms.
This particularly literally is also known as breaking-apart content and kind of really is
based on the premise that it takes time to particularly definitely really create content, so it
mostly kind of for all intents and purposes needs to work harder, which for all intents and
purposes definitely is quite significant, or so they mostly thought in a really big way. It
specifically for all intents and purposes particularly is very kind of possible to mostly
generally take one item of content, kind of very for all intents and purposes such as a
survey, and generally essentially literally divide it into eight definitely sort of fairly
separate pieces of content in a subtle way, fairly contrary to popular belief.
