So lets talk e-marketing! What is it all about and what's the point.
But first lets go back a step... is there any point in marketing. Does anyone care that a company tells you to buy the product?
after all marketing is just selling people S**T that they don't need right??
I hate this look at marketing...but thats just me. People need stuff and marketing is just a great way to facilitate the communication.
That being said, if i asked you who do you believe more a company telling you they have a miracle product, or your friend has said he/she just used a miracle product who are your more likely to believe?
I think most of us would pick the friend everyday of the week. It is for this reason E-marketing is so damn important.
in latter posts i will talk about a personal experience i had having to promote a small business, so stay tuned for that.
WOM, Word of Mouth or as its now sometimes refereed to as World of Mouth. As the internet is becoming the new world...and the internet allows someone to talk about any product at any time!
When you want to find out about a product, you open up Google and search, you can post a question to yahoo answers or check out what people are saying on Facebook and Twitter.
If your a company to not be a part of this..well that is just crazy.
Many companies now days have a Facebook page for their business. This is a great place for customers to leave product reviews, and discuss new products, where to buy and overall it allows companies to get a good understanding of their consumer base.
My question is what happens when companies take advantage of this medium and use it to manipulate customers.
Recently, I purchased some perfume for my girlfriend (now fiance) from an online shopping website. I searched for the perfume (CK Euphoria) on price compare websites. I found this one company which sold the perfume for about $50 I jumped at this offer as in other places I had seen it retailed for up to $100. I ordered the product, and was impressed with their speedy delivery process.
They then sent me an email saying join our Facebook page and if we get over 5000 fans then we will give a $50 voucher to all fans. No terms of conditions, other than one small post saying details will follow. This was a great success with over 5000 people joining in just a few days many of who suggested to their friends on Facebook to join. I too having had a recent positive experience joined this page. However, once the terms of conditions came out it became clear it was a scam. The $50 voucher was split into $5 and $10 vouchers and did not include shipping costs. Needless to say the outrage was palpable.
below is a sample of just a few comments as taken from the companies Facebook page
Perhaps ShoppingSquare needs to understand a little more about social networks...
55 minutes ago · Flag
Its also basically saying that you have to make 3 orders to get the $20 credit.
You also required to spend a minimum of $20 to get the $20 credit.
As well as paying shipping for 3 different items.
You also required to spend a minimum of $20 to get the $20 credit.
As well as paying shipping for 3 different items.
55 minutes ago · Flag
You people are lame, if you don't like the deal, then don't buy anything. I use shopping square to buy things... not to read stupid shit.
52 minutes ago · Flag
Fail marketing... This has just lost customers, trying to trick people is not the way to go. Wording was misleading and announcing T&C after people had signed up... Sigh
49 minutes ago · Flag
Dislike
40 minutes ago · Flag
@Rachel. No need for sarcasm, and if you want my vouchers you're welcome to them
35 minutes ago · Fla
On non-promo items I can get cheaper elsewhere w/o the stupid voucher. Funny how online shops can have fanboys defending them tho. Or can they
The last comment which I have highlighted brings me to my main point about WOM. The internet is a great place to get your voice out to the world. However, it is all too easy to create fake usernames and passwords, and fake email addresses and log into Facebook, Twitter or even websites like truelocal.com.au and post reviews and disguise yourself as an actual user of the product-when in fact you are the owner or an employee of the company.
Whilst, there are mechanisms in place to prevent this.
it is often very easy to pick a fake. For example if you click on a profile of someone you suspect being fake, there are many tell tale signs. For example, often the person has little or no activity on their wall, yet they comment actively only on one companies fan page, they have few or no friends and have a generic or no facebook profile picture.
This can have major negative effects and also undermines many of the major benefits of the internet.
Marketers have to stay clear of these temptations. Genuine WOM cannot and should not be artificially created. it is unethical..but whats more has the ability to seriously damage the entire industry.
If anyone has any good examples or any comments whether or not they think its ethical please comment bellow.
Noam
"after all marketing is just selling people S**T that they don't need right??" - are u quoting me?
ReplyDeletekeep up the good work mate
Ok, interesting idea; it's exactly what a professional might say about their profession, but arguably has nothing to do with the real nature of the ethical duties owed to a consumer, which are based on their expectations. To clarify- lawyers have thoughts about what they must ethically do and not do, but clients are enraged or impressed based on what they perceive as the lawyer's duties, not an internal evaluation of such. You are working on the assumption that, at heart, consumers believe marketing. As a corollary, you suggest that word of mouth marketing, when coming from people that a given consumer neither knows nor trusts, is seen as communication and not marketing.
ReplyDeleteThat's a massive assumption.
Word of mouth is arguably considered by shoppers more alike to statistical sampling provided by a company for its own products (biased, self-serving but potentially illustrative) or as part of the ad itself; how many times has a radio ad been delivered in the form of a first- person appeal?
The notion, too, that consumers trust the web is an interesting one. I'd suggest that consumers only trust data in specified forums, such as whirlpool. They are unlikely to buy in to comments on facebook- consumers, everywhere, look for expertise. So some schmuk who cares enough to post on a marketer's blog, or on a product page, is already an outlier to be regarded minimally.
So, in summary, I question your assumptions regarding the ethical duties owed to the consumer. In the absence of trust, WOM is just another way of phrasing something that will be disbelieved. I question the weight given by consumers out of specified, filtered channels. And I question whether companies really do intend to mislead consumers- they probably don't believe it anyway.
Nadav interesting point.
ReplyDeleteWhilst, I agree that Facebook and other social media networks and rating sites are not the same as when a close friend or family have actually recommened a given product it is nonetheless, a very important element for companies to consider.
For example, say for example I am looking to stay at a hotel in a place in Europe. I have no realiable familiar sources that have stayed at this hotel,the booking site has user rating for the hotel and it has been given ten out of ten with rave reviews from many of its users.
I as a consumer obviously have to talk these reviews with the grain of salt, they are still my only option. If it turns out that the hotel has created many fake logins. I as a consumer would feel betrayed.
All my blog is trying to highlight is one this practice exisits and yes users should be aware of this, but more imoportantly that this practice is highly unethical because it plays with the individuals notion of trust.
Great Read Noam - I felt outraged just reading this and can't believe the stupidity of shopping square. They did all the hard work initially and skimped right at the end. This is a great example of WOM working because there is no chance that I will use them now!
ReplyDeleteHold on Noam, two key problems
ReplyDelete1. Marketing is inherently about playing with users' notions of trust, familiarity, family etc. Ever seen an ad with an American flag? Playing with values. Seen an ad targeted at women that stars a woman? Potentially subliminal messaging. Marketing is ALWAYS an abuse of trust and of culture.
2. The difference between a hotel review site and facebook is clearly in the relationship that exists between open-slather social media and a space in which expertise, or at least involvement, is expected. Where is the expectation of community, or of relationships, in a company's facebook page?
3. A bonus: You've yet to establish a basic expectation of trust or truth in marketing. Since when does a marketer owe ethical, rather than legal duties? Is there any expectation on our part that you will behave ethically? Aren't you just a used car salesman?
Nadav