Ethical Correctness

The issues regarding the ethical issues with social media are important to understand as a marketer and also as a social media user. Essentially you are advertising yourself online when you sign up to a social media website. It allows people to see photo’s of you even if you privacy settings are at their highest. For example if I was to type my name into Google it would come up with my facebook page.  Likewise facebook is available to everyone and anyone, only a few pieces of information required. You often hear about paedophiles stalking young girls and boys via facebook pretending to be somebody they are not.


Due to the increased awareness that people now have following the PR scandals of the inventors of facebook being taken to court after allegations that they were selling sensitive information onto big corporations. Boyd (2008) suggests that people have become more skeptical of the social media sites [1], which has lead to them increasing their privacy settings. Now it is well known that many employers check peoples social networking sites before employing them. Many people think it is unacceptable for employers to do this, what people do in their spare time is up to them. However employers argue that when you are an employee at their company you are representing the brand, therefor unequivocally associated with the company. Following PR scandals, many employers will make employees sign a clause regarding the do's and dont's of social networking sites [2]. 

The issue that marketers face when using something such as social media to promote campaigns, sometimes targeting becomes threatening. People want to be interested in what you have to offer but not to the extent that they start checking their bank statements for fear of identity theft. Facebook is to blame when the advertising is so directly targeted as they are the ones getting paid for these companies to have your information, what exactly are we getting from it? An occasional advert that we are interested amongst the traffic of adverts that quite frankly we don’t particularly care about. I feel that if a company is going to use the adverts within social media pages, please do us a favour and do it well.

But a brand doesn’t need to have an issue with ethics. Many brands use social media to enhance their corporate social responsibility. I think this is important not only for natural disasters affecting the millions, but also for the local community in which the corporation operates. This creates great PR for a company and will probably increase sales as a result, perhaps linking to the earlier blog discussing seamless brands, this should be a part of the process for a company to become faultless. 


[1] Boyd, D. (2008) Facebook's Privacy Trainwreck: Exposure, Invasion, and Social Convergence, Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies. Volume: 14, Issue: 1, Publisher: UNIVERSITY OF LUTON, Pages: 13-20
[2] http://www.fastcompany.com/1692172/how-social-media-and-big-brother-are-hurting-your-job-chances

What goes around...

Public Spere?? A posh word for a lot of people gossiping. Many scholars have looked into the Public Sphere, what it means, who is in it, can we profit from it? Freedom of speech and democratic societies is something that people have fought for in the past. Although controlled greatly by political correctness many people feel it is their right to say what they want, public spheres have been around for sometime now.  The digital public sphere, could be classed by some as relatively new media where people are brought together through something they find interesting and feel should be discussed amongst others, perhaps debated, some scholars describe this as an extension of the public sphere rather than a different phenomenon.

Facebook and Twitter the hype of the moment. I myself cant go a day without going on facebook, the same goes for many of my friends. Primarily a way of communicating, however the introduction of pages to ‘like’ sparks interests from indiciduals that create discussions and creates a platform for a public sphere. An interesting view is purposed by Zeynep Tufekci  (2010)[1]. She views facebook as a quasi-public sphere, where things private are made public.

 I believe that a public sphere can be highly beneficial to marketing professionals. Many would agree that the most influential marketing tool is essentially word of mouth: It is free after all. Therefore by using a public spheres a buzz can be created about absolutely anything at all… Combine this with a PR stunt and bobs your uncle you’ve gone viral in seconds.. Bravo!! Creating a buzz on twitter could be an example of this.

On the contrary, have a bad product or service and people are very much inclined to discuss this negatively online. People are much more likely to discuss something bad that happens to them as the emotion linked to this is uncomfortable for them and they will feel as though they have been treated unfairly. So it is much harder to get something good said online, but if a company is good and as it were ‘does as it says on the tin’ for a lack of words then there should be no reason for negative comments.

Bearing this in mind, many companies are reluctant to draw attention to their products or services, as they are worried about the repercussions [2]. I say throw caution to the wind! The people and companies that are most successful and well known are the ones that take risks: Take Richard Branson and the succession of Virgin, if he never took the risks he did he wouldn’t have been mentioned in this blog…I bet he feels lucky!!

           

[1]^http://technosociology.org/?p=35

[2]^http://www.businessweek.com/managing/content/may2009/ca2009058%5f089

But its Private

In the post-modern era in which we live we have unlimited choice, the consumer has the power, and this has created a ‘want it now’ culture[1]. Not only do we desire things and want them straight away, once we have them, we want them improved, an upgrade or improvement, a warranty or tax-free.

Within the culture we have seen and witnessed the birth of online sites, such as E-bay where almost anything can be purchased with that one touch of a button, not only this but you can get it for the price you want to pay… even better! Especially bearing in mind the current economic climate.  Promotions online will usually consist of using advertising online mainly via SEO and regularly via social media pages. The debate forms as to whether this is invading peoples privacy, I believe it is just clever marketing.

However it is understandable that some people may feel that their privacy is being invaded when marketing does become so personalised. I believe there is a line between targeting and making people feel targeted. Companies need to be clever especially when wording their advertisements. However I do believe if you are going to put information online you need to be aware that there will be people trying to use this to their advantage and you are letting them.

[1] Denegri-Knott, J. 2010.  ‘I Want It Now!: Ebay and the Acceleration of Consumer Desire. European Association for Consumer Research, Royal Holloway June 30-July. 

SEO/Google

SEO is something I am greatly interested in. I believe that SEO is key to many organisations success. When integrated into a pre-established marketing plan and strategy will have optimum effect on a company’s turnover.

However companies cant just have this, integrating short term and long term marketing efforts will clearly be more effective and profitable for organisations to be successful brands. Google has taken the art of marketing to the next level by creating adwords and pay per click advertising. By using google and other forms of SEO marketing strategies brands can create more awareness. SEO itself needs a strategy, using links and keywords to be advantageous on search engine sites can be the difference in sales by the million.

A relative of mine Matt Blay is a director of a very successful SEO company, companies will go to him for their SEO strategy and he can dramatically increase their sales figures and has many a time transformed a relatively small company into a multi-million pound organisation. So SEO is powerful!!

Using google adwords can be expensive and should really only be used as a short term marketing effort to generate awareness for a company or business. For a company such as PSM Electrical Services ltd, using such an advert can be justifiable in the short term if there are new products or services that need to be communicated to the customers and can extend this companies product life cycle. However for long term effectiveness an overall SEO strategy would be more beneficial to a company such as this.

Seamless Brands

A seamless brand in my eyes screams repetition. If everything is the same each time you invest in a brand then they have done their job. It all boils down to trust. I trust that Tesco’s prices will always be lower than most other superstores, so on a budget Tesco will take the number one spot. However if I am looking for high quality, Marks and Spencer never fails me.

Seamless should mean that you cant pick faults…. On the topic of faults following an error on a website, many companies are now personalizing the message given on the 404 page, many of which link back to the website so that a consumer need not seek another site for their purchase. Making a seamless brand clearly takes time effort and money. Companies take years building up a repertoire with consumers, creating a loyal customer. Clearly these companies feel that keeping customers is an asset and are valuable to their business. Therefore reinforcing the Brand message and value is crucial to maintaining their clientele. If a company manages this in all aspects they have then created a seamless brand and a seamless brand in itself can create a unique selling point and competitive advantage.(Verganti, 2009). An example of a seamless brand could be that of Tesco, continuing to increase their market share in the UK and worldwide. Firstly due to their low prices, secondly for their promise and brand values (trust), attracting both new customers and keeping old ones by offering great rewards for using their products and services. 


[1] Verganti, R., 2009. Design Driven Innovation – Changing the rules of competition by radically innovating what things mean. US: Harvard Business Press