The idea that communication should be
strategic and integrated applies to all
internal and external messages. This includes marketing, advertising, public
relations, and social media messages. Kotler and Keller (2012) argue that “marketing
communications activities must be integrated to deliver a consistent message
and achieve the strategic position” (Kotler & Keller, p. 501). It is
important to consider that each constituency is impacted or influenced by different
messages. Marketers must take this into consideration in every step of the
communication process - from identifying the target audience and communication
objective to designing the message and selecting the appropriate channel for
the target audience. This allows marketers to judge each type of communication
based on their ability to affect experiences and impressions, build customer
loyaltyand brand equity, and drive sales (Kotler & Keller, 2012, p 501).
Social media should be an important part of every
organization’s communication strategy. One of the most important reasons for
this is its accessibility. Social media is a quick and affordable way for
organizations to share information. In addition, social media platforms in
general provide audiences with opportunities to share feedback. As we learned
in this week’s reading, “feedback from constituents determines the overall success
of a communication and, more critically, the successful implementation of
strategy in general” (Argenti et al., 2005, p. 87). Overall, an effective IMC plan should improve an
organization’s ability to reach the right audience with the right message at the
right time and in the right place (Kotler and Keller, 2012).
Argenti,
P.A., Howell, R.A., & Beck, K.A. (2005). The strategic communication
imperative. MIT Sloan Management Review,
46 (3).
Kotler, P. & Keller, K. L. (2012). Marketing management. (14th ed.). Essex, England: Pearson.
Bobbi Sue,
ReplyDeleteYour point about accessibility is one that I would like to elaborate on. Social media does provide quick and budget friendly option and with the rise in mobile traffic, this becomes even more of a factor.
“What’s driving this growth is a shift in device mix toward smarter devices,” says Arielle Sumits, an
analyst at Cisco, the world’s largest maker of networking gear. Cisco predicts that the number of
mobile users will to rise to 4.9 billion in 2018 from 4.1 billion in 2013 as consumers in emerging
markets come online. (Guglielmo, 2014)
Fundamentally as the rise smart devices grow the accessibility of social media becomes greater for the masses. This will inherently increase the use of social media. “On cellular networks, Facebook, which celebrated its 10th anniversary yesterday, is responsible for generating the most mobile traffic. The other top 9 apps: YouTube, Netflix NFLX -0.88%, TubeMate, Instagram, TuneIn, SoundCloud, Flipboard, Skype and Twitter” (Guglielmo, 2014). The overall efforts of an organizations IMC strategy will need be developed appropriately to take into consideration this potential growth.
Not only will growth in mobile devices be relevant to social media accessibility, but also relaying the message clearly and consistently will improve the organizations transparency and following. Check out this infograph from SocialMedia Today of what’s in store for 2014: http://socialmediatoday.com/1920701/what-plan-2014
I hope that we can all learn from this information and better utilize our resources in social media. I think every organization will benefit from these best practices when our accessibility to the world is constantly evolving.
-Becky
Reference:
Guglielmo, C. (2014, February 5). Mobile traffic will continue to rise, rise, rise as smart devices take over the world. Retrieved February 5, 2014, from Forbes.com: http://www.forbes.com/sites/connieguglielmo/2014/02/05/mobile-traffic-will-continue-to-rise-rise-rise-as-smart-devices-take-over-the-world/
Excellent point, Rebecca. More and more people are accessing messages and social media through smartphones. According to Alexandra Jacopetti (2013) of Social Media Today, mobile marketing is “the most direct and immediate form of communication” (para. 2). The growing attachment to smartphones makes a mobile friendly communication plan a must for any business. “These devices will always outnumber e-mail accounts for communication, convenience, and versatility” (para. 2). Because the number of people using smartphones and accessing social media through mobile devices is on the rise, it is necessary for businesses to tailor their messages accordingly. Jacopetti (2013) drives home this point in saying “every business owner knows the most important thing about business retention and growth –satisfy the needs and wants of the customer. One thing customers want is easily accessible information, so get rid of overlarge or too tiny graphics and skewed, wonky text, meaningless ads, and un-engaging posts and tweets that frustrate so many consumers enough to have them give up on your feeds”(para. 16).
DeleteReference
Jacopetti, A. (2013, November 25). Mobile is the new black: How to make your social media mobile friendly. Social Media Today. Retrieved from http://socialmediatoday.com/alexandrarose/1943986/mobile-new-black-how-make-your-social-media-mobile-friendly
Bobbi Sue,
DeleteThe rise in social medial through smart devices will only grow with technological advances. Is it our resposbilitiy to obtain knowledge of these advancement and provide a strategy for our organizations? I believe this is an integrated process that all hands must be on deck. We all must work tighter with our different departments to ensure that we are utilizing these platforms appropriately and that we are making it accessible for our targeted audiences.
You mentioned Alumni at Marist, one platform that my full-time organization is looking into is EverTrue. Has Marist ever explored this networking/social connective platform?
Hi Bobbi Sue,
ReplyDeleteGreat post this week! You touched upon the importance of feedback in determining the success of a company’s communications and overall strategy, a topic that also resonated with me. Our reading mentioned the example of people buying and selling shares as indication of what they think of the company (Argenti, Howell, & Beck, 2005, p. 87). While this definitely gauges what shareholders think, it does not provide any (descriptive) explanation as to why they either or gained or lost interest in the company. Like you mentioned, social media is a great way for companies to get this specific, direct feedback, and get it instantaneously.
This feedback isn't necessarily linked to a certain aspect of the business, either. Constituents can respond via social media if they experienced good or bad customer service, if they enjoyed or disliked an advertisement, or if they were excited or disappointed in a change in company direction or strategy. Social media is a great avenue for collecting overall feedback that a company may not be able to procure without doing research on its own.
Can you think of any other outlets that provide feedback on the strategic communication process? While communicating effectively with targeted audiences is essential, understanding what does or does not work is equally as important.
Lindsey
Reference:
Argenti, P. A., Howell, R. A., & Beck, K. A. (2005). The strategic communication imperative. MIT Sloan Management Review, 46(3), 83-89.
Lindsey, thanks for taking the time to read my post. You pose an interesting question about outlets for strategic communication feedback. I think we both agree that social media is a great way to get feedback both quickly and inexpensively. But, it isn’t the only way. There are some simple ways to gather feedback that are equally as effective including speaking face-to-face with key constituents, intercept interviews, conducting online or phone surveys, just to name a few. By providing constituents the opportunity to share feedback, suggestions, concerns, and more, you learn what your business is doing right, what things could be done better, and what new products or services are needed (Hughes, 2014, para. 1).
DeleteHowever, equally important to the feedback received is how the company uses the information received. According to Hughes (2014), “however you gather customer feedback…act quickly on whatever you gather, particularly if customers have experienced problems or aren’t finding what they’re looking for. The value of gathering customer feedback lies in doing something with the results” (para. 9).
Reference
Hughes, S. (2014, January 15). Collecting and using customer feedback in the digital age: Ask SCORE. The Times-Picayune. Retrieved from http://www.nola.com/community/st-tammany/index.ssf/2014/01/collecting_and_using_customer.html
Great point about the importance of companies using feedback! Some companies conduct thorough research projects that require time to organize and analyze results, and then need to be presented and interpreted. This lengthy process may take too much time and render the information irrelevant by the time changes can actually be implemented. It’s essential to evaluate feedback as soon as it’s received.
DeleteOne of the more immediate receive-and-implement forms of feedback are mobile app updates. App users are able to give reviews/ratings/feedback right on their device’s app store, allowing developers to adjust the app and push updates to its users (and they seem to be able to do this as often as they like – I seem to have available updates everyday!) Especially with mobile apps, everyday users have great insights and developers are quick to implement their suggestions.
Bobbie Sue,
ReplyDeleteYou address some key points in effective IMC implementation. "Integrated marketing communication combines different media to improve the results of marketing campaigns" (Linton, n.d.). Integrated marketing communications requires both a consistent messages and design consistency.
In a recent marketing communications campaign we did for our undergraduate program, we created a document that defined our brand personality, brand tone and voice, and all the content messaging that we wanted communicated during the duration of our 4 month campaign. After upper level management gave the green light on the communications document, all our communication and design had consistency, using the same set of images and the same exact content across all social media platforms, direct mail, emails, landing pages, and other websites. This creates a unified cohesive platform for maximum brand impact.
What ways have you seen consistency in design and content produce great results or in what ways have you noticed a loss of impact due to the lack of consistency and design in a company's IMC strategy?
Isaac
References:
Linton, I. (n.d.). Elements of Integrated Marketing Communication. Retrieved February 5, 2014, from
The Houston Chronicle website: http://An integrated campaign makes use of the full range of
communication media to perform specific roles.
Isaac, thanks for reading through my post. To answer your question about a company that in my opinion has had a great deal of success with integrating their messaging and brand across all platforms is Dunkin Donuts. Dunkin is a 64 year old company that has seen a great deal of success on the East Coast. They have managed to weather numerous rebrands over the past 64 years. There trademarks and products are unmistakable. “Dunkin' Donuts is a strong brand name. In addition to a more selective franchisee-recruitment process, Dunkin' Donuts has established a strong social media presence, and it's now more well known for its coffee than its donuts” (Moskowitz, 2014, para. 5.). Whether you are seeing a television commercials, hearing an advertisement on the radio, driving past a retail location, or seeing a social media message, the Dunkin brand is unmistakable.
DeleteReference
Moskowitz, D. (2014, February 5). Surprise: Dunkin’ Donuts is a growth story. Retrieved from http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2014/02/05/surprise-dunkin-donuts-is-a-growth-story.aspx
Bobbi Sue,
ReplyDeleteI thought you brought up some great points in your initial blog post. There has also been some great conversation so far in the comments section. I wanted to bring up some points you made about social media.You mentioned many points about how it is an essential part of an organization, mainly because of its ability to gain feedback. Is there a company you believe other organizations should model themselves after?
-Pat
Pat, thanks for reading through my post this week. I think one company that has made really great use of social media is the Ford Motor Company. They’ve found a way to make connecting with Ford a social experience. Visiting Ford’s website provides numerous opportunities to connect with them through social media and in doing so prospects can read messages from other Ford customers. Ford also uses the feedback it receives from consumers through social media to improve their products. “Ford uses this as a way to get new ideas for their next generation of cars. These ideas are not taken lightly; Ford has used many of these innovations to advance the technology of their cars. They do a great job of involving their fans and customers into their company growth” (Porterfield, 2011, para. 25.). Overall, it is important to encourage consumers to interact with your brand through social media. The easier an organization makes social sharing the more likely a consumer is to share.
DeleteReference
Porterfield, A. (2011, April 12). 9 companies doing social media right and why. Social Media Examiner. Retrieved from http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/9-companies-doing-social-media-right-and-why/
Bobbi Sue,
ReplyDeleteI really liked that you brought up how different constituencies can be influenced and/or impacted differently by various messages in the communication progression. I feel that this is an important concept that we should not forget and extremely relevant to our topic of conversation. Your reference to Argenti, Howell, and Beck, “feedback from constituents determines the overall success of a communication and, more critically, the successful implementation of strategy in general,” (Argenti, etc. 2005) explains it perfectly, especially in relation to social media within a company’s communication tactics. As you had pointed out, the accessibility to social media plays a significant role in the how organizations are reaching the consumer at an individual level. Beyond accessibility and ability to “share feedback,” I am going to play the devil’s advocate here and ask: Do you think the social media platform allows for more honest feedback from individuals because it has the ability to reach them directly and in a personal environment? Or, do you feel it exposes the communication channels to ways that can attract dishonesty from these individuals?
“With the introduction of social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, individuals are expressing their identity to others and it has become very hard to distinguish whether these identities are true to the individuals.” (Wendy, 2013)
Check out this TED video called The Internet Might Keep You Honest by Jeff Hancock. http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/tech/2013/01/11/ted-hancock-future-of-lying.ted.html
References
Argenti, P. A., Howell, R. A., & Beck, K. A. (2005). The Strategic Communication Imperative. MIT Sloan Management Review.
CNN. (2013, January 11). The Internet might help keep you honest. Retrieved from CNN- TED: http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/tech/2013/01/11/ted-hancock-future-of-lying.ted.html
Wendy. (2013, April 6). Social Media Makes Us More Honest in the Workplace. Retrieved from 7 Geese: http://blog.7geese.com/2013/04/06/social-media-makes-us-a-more-honest-employee-in-the-workplace/
Bobbi,
ReplyDeleteGreat layout for the page, love the chatbar on the side and the handles at the bottom of the page, would love to know how you set it up. You made great points in your post and you used multiple references from different courses. As Kotler and Keller (2012) argue that “marketing communications activities must be integrated to deliver a consistent message and achieve the strategic position” (Kotler & Keller, p. 501), I stand by this message firmly. Due to social media and the multiple media platforms it is on, messages need to be clear and consistent across all mediums which allow for effective two way communication. Communication as evidenced through our readings must be embedded within the overall corporate strategy to have an impact on long term goals of a firm. I agree with your assessment of social media and the accessibility of it. Currently due to its availability on the web as well as mobile devices social media is available everyone on multiple platforms. It allows firms to engage in two way communication of there products and services and gets them immediate feedback.This has been a revolutionary concept as in the past marketing was one way communication, which really cannot survive in this dynamic global economy currently.
Kotler, P. & Keller, K. L. (2012). Marketing management. (14th ed.). Essex, England: Pearson.