perspectives

The all-too-familiar term, “spam”, but nope, we’re not talking about that luncheon meat you eat.

We’re going into the kind of spam that pretty much makes you go a little like… this.

Can’t deny that it is part and parcel of the digital world we live in today, eh? Somehow or another, we inevitably become victims of spam at some point of our lives, even with the implementations and improvements in anti-spam technology.

But first, ever wondered how the term “spam” even came about? Well, here’s the story.

The term is derived from a well-known Monty Python sketch set in a cafe where the luncheon meat is featured in almost every dish. As the waitress describes the menu with increasing usage of the word “spam,” a group of Vikings in the cafe start singing, “Spam, spam, spam, the word “spam,” drowning out all other communication with their irrelevant, repetitive song.

And there we have it, the term “spam” to describe the unsolicited commercial email and related undesirable online communication we receive as this form of spam literally drowns out actual, relevant content we may want to view as well.

Consequences of Spam

Increasing Consumer Discontentment

As the global internet connectivity rises, e-mail constitutes one of the leading digital marketing means since 2014. However, with the prevalence of spam, there is growing discontentment within consumers due to their increasing difficulty to find what is relevant, useful, or enjoyable for themselves with the glut of information, almost literally shoved in their faces via e-mail. I mean, think about it. As the volume of words and images available grows exponentially at a rate that is much faster than the number of recipients and the time they can devote to process the information, how much information go wasted because of the higher proportion of information that goes unread and unattended?

(Talk about not being a broken telephone, the channel by which the message is encoded and decoded through, is important after all.)

Hidden Costs for Consumers

Apart from the time wasted from filtering through spam, the indirect consequence of spam is the costs of server hardware consumers have to bear, since spam causes it to require more than five times as much capacity as would be required in the absence of spam. Well, it is estimated that only 1.2% of 90 billion spam messages sent daily worldwide get through to the consumer. Yet this totals up to a worldwide end-user cost of spam to nearly $14 billion per year.

Short-term Cost Savings, Long-term Diminished Brand Image Perceived by Consumers

Spam threatens e-mail marketing’s reliability and efficiency as a mean of communication over the Internet with its rapid growth. There is a (literal) price to pay for that.

Albeit short-term cost savings of spam advertising as compared to other means, given that e-mail is a platform where businesses can communicate brand value proposition to desired target audience, and enable customers to likewise communicate their needs to the businesses, the diminished brand image created when consumers receive endless spam content from companies will poorly affect the long-term brand perception and consumers’ confidence in the brand.

Effective communication via e-mail increases revenue to the firm through increased awareness, performance and customer conversions; increased traffic to websites, locations or call centers; and deepened customer relationships and engagement. Thus, this also means that in the long run, firms that devote themselves to save costs using spam advertising will end up facing consequences for their actions since they reflect poor communication with their consumers in doing so.

In my opinion, overall, not such a fair trade after all when consumers turn away from such brands when information is missed out on or poorly communicated due to the influx of spam, huh? I would think that brands in general should flee from spam and focus instead on quality content marketing to attract the right people, at the right time, with the right content because this builds brand confidence and induces re-visits rather than drive consumers away.

With that said, kudos to the firms in the webmail service industry that try to combat these spam content (quite successfully, in my opinion) as they invest in spam prevention services to reduce the burden on end users. The most successful companies being the “Big Threes”, Yahoo! Mail, Microsoft Hotmail, and Google
Gmail, which have large, dedicated anti-spam and customer support teams– so much so that small webmail services simply cannot compete as the three-firm concentration ratio has increased significantly to about 85% between 2007 to 2012.

I certainly look to spam with more of a negative connotation than positive, and should not be utilised by companies in general. I mean, the sad truth is indeed that the costs of spam outweighs its benefits drastically, at an astounding ratio of 100:1! What do you think?

Chloe

I’m sure you remember the Gojek Chinese lady I featured in my first post.

(But if you don’t, feel free to click here to read about Little Miss Infamous Popular for some context on what I’m about to share)

Beyond the “contagiousness” of the content, have you thought of how the virality could also have stemmed from the way it was communicated across the Internet?This week, we dive into the art of communication and how can we communicate effectively to create virality in marketing. In other words, as the title reveals, how not to be a “broken telephone” of a campaign.

What do you mean, “Broken Telephone”?
Firstly, how does one even become a “broken telephone”? We would have to take a look at the 1948 Shannon-Weaver’s basic model of communication for better understanding.

As seen above, this model sets out to illustrate effective communication between the sender and the receiver, where the message is encoded and passed through a channel amidst noise from the sender to the receiver, who will decode and interpret the message. Feedback, in the context of today’s digital world, is typically given through social and digital channels. A “broken telephone”, hence, arises when the message fails to be decoded and interpreted the same way it was encoded and intended due to various factors throughout the process.

How Not to be a “Broken Telephone” of a Campaign?
Now that we got that part cleared out, let’s get into the crux of this blogpost- how not to be a “broken telephone” of a campaign?

Simply put, you will need to fulfil 3 conditions to create that viral marketing epidemic you so desire to- Right Message, Right Messengers and of course, the Right Environment.

Right, right… hold your horses, let me explain further what Kaplan and Haenlein meant when they said “right”.

Right Message
One of the major keys to creating that viral campaign is to communicate the right message to your target audience- your message must be both memorable and sufficiently interesting to even stand a chance at the virality game. This also means that the messages sent must be able to engage with the intended audience and perhaps trigger an emotional response in the receiver via an element of surprise, combined with other emotions that can either positive or negative. Needless to say, we all know how the actions of our dear Gojek Chinese Lady were unacceptable to most, so much so that she literally had to leave the country to escape the criticism and consequences of her ludicrous actions because she evoked such negative responses from the general public who found her actions detestable.

Right Messengers
However, having the right message alone is insufficient. We need messengers to transform a simple message into a viral phenomenon! In the world of marketing, Kaplan and Haenlein classify these messengers into 3 main categories- market mavens, social hubs and salespeople.

Market mavens are the ones who have access to a large amount of marketplace information, and proactively engage in discussions with other consumers to diffuse and spread this information. Social hubs are the ones who have an enormous chain of social connections and serve as the bridges between different subcultures. It is arguable that a combination of these two groups of messengers will be the key to virality. However, that might only apply when it is something more personal and private, not for a marketing campaign that is intended for people to be drawn to a specific cause, product or service. This is where the salespeople come into play with their convincing skills as they amplify the message received from the market mavens and make it more relevant and persuasive to our target audience before passing it on the social hubs for them to spread the word. Seems like team work really does make the dream work, eh?

In the context our Gojek Chinese Lady, the market mavens are the originators of different articles, blogposts and memes that possessed the key information about the incident. It is, then, the social hubs who resulted in the virality as these raging Singaporeans who got triggered by her mannerisms decided to spread it like wildfire, the same way a social hub would do for a marketing campaign to make it viral. Since it is not so much of a marketing campaign, the salespeople do not come into play, unless you consider the strategic companies like SCDF, Caltex and many more who leveraged on the incident to create for themselves that selling point and attractiveness by relating their products (and services) to the incident. Smart move, it certainly caught my attention during that period!

Right Environment
Last but not least, the right environment.

A successful marketing campaign can only happen when marketers focus on seeding their campaign message not to countless people randomly, but to many disconnected subcultures through using platforms that have the ability to host different subcultures simultaneously, such as the social networking sites we all use today. This is based on the principle of the magical Dunbar’s Number of 150, also the maximum number of people with whom an individual can maintain stable social relationships in their daily life. The key is quality, not quantity.

Finally, to simply hope that Lady Luck is on your side to hold everything together. Case in point, the #myNYPD Twitter hashtag photo contest that backfired entirely when netizens began to respond with photos that were certainly not intended by the New York Police Department when they first came up with this campaign. Guess things sometimes just do not work out the way we want them to, huh? Better luck next time, NYPD!

With that, I conclude that all we need to stand a chance at virality is a combination of quality content, effective messengers (that are not broken telephones, of course!) and an environment that lays the foundation for a good message to be spread across! Sounds simple, but probably requires a lot more effort and thought processes than we think! What do you think about the 3 “Rights”?

Chloe

Ever find yourself having burning questions that you cannot wait to be answered?

You approach a friend, hoping he’d have an answer to them, only to have him say…

Familiar scenario, huh? Google has inevitably “replaced” our brains to become our go-to encyclopedia that can literally answer most, if not all, the burning questions of our hearts. Best of all, within a fraction of a second. Fast like the Flash, eh?

Interesting to note, however, that Google isn’t the only search engine lurking around on the Internet. Yet, they somehow manage to make up a solid 95.67% market share on mobile and tablet devices.

But yes, let’s talk about Google. From finding out what your IP address is, to the restaurants nearest to your current location, there is almost nothing that Google cannot tell you today. Here, take a look at the Top 10 Most Asked Questions on Google:

Crazy, huh? Down to the most minute questions, people are asking Google for an answer! This brings me to my point that with Google playing such an pivotal role in the lives of the Digital dwellers today as on-line search volume continues to grow at 10–20 percent per year, search engine marketing is arguably absolutely necessary as marketers are seeking to improve their visibility in the “search results” provided to potential consumers.

Search Engine Marketing (SEM) and its Techniques
First of all, Chaffey et al. defines SEM as “promoting an organisation through search engines to meet its objectives by delivering relevant content in the search listings for searchers and encouraging them to click through to a destination site”. How, you may ask? Through two key techniques, mainly Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and Paid Search Marketing (PPC).

What is SEO and PPC?
SEO is a marketing approach focused on improving visibility in organic (non-paid) search engine results. Simply put, SEO drives traffic to one’s website by improving the rankings according to the site’s content, services and links.

On the other hand, PPC, otherwise known as “Pay-Per-Click” is a relevant text ad with a link to a company page displayed on the search engine ranking pages when the user types in a particular phrase. As the term implies, a fee is charged for every click of each link, with the amount bid per click determining its position.

Knowing these definitions, therein lies the question all marketers would be curious about… which should we invest in? (Should we invest in both, or should we even invest at all?)

Advantages and Disadvantages of SEO and PPC

Even with the advantages and disadvantages laid out, it might potentially still be slightly confusing what might be the best between the two.

Down to the User?
My personal take is that it boils back down to how the marketer chooses to optimise either of the strategies to drive traffic to their site.

Using Black & White Hat Techniques (SEO)
For example, when using SEO, using black hat techniques such as keyword stuffing and invisible texts to deceptively increase a site’s page ranking will end up doing the company more harm than good in the long run. It is neither ethical nor effective because of the poor content within the site itself that will not be appealing to users even after they have clicked on the site. Conversely, the usage of proper white hat techniques to improve readability, content relevance, well-designed structure and well-written content will certainly ensure results.

Using Key Strategies for Optimisation (PPC)
In the same way, PPC can only be effective and enhanced should the marketer optimise its usage through proper targeting, budgeting, creative testing and campaign optimisation, as well as through IMC integrations such as combining the use of PPC with SEO and offline campaigns. I certainly agree most with the IMC integrations because in today’s digital world, engagement is key to the hearts of the consumers. An all-rounded experience digitally and physically would certainly drive traffic!

My opinions aside, a food for thought on the Optimal SEM Strategy as I had asked earlier.. According to Sen’s paper on Optimal Search Engine Marketing Strategy, all 4 options (Do Nothing, Just SEO, Just PSM, and Both) were thoroughly weighed appropriately and the conclusion was that “even if the total cost of implementing SEO and implementing paid placement was the same, and SEO always resulted in a high ranking on the search results page, paid placement would still prevail as the SEM strategy of choice for most on-line sellers.”

What is your take on what might be the best technique to SEM? Would love to hear your perspectives in the comments below!

Chloe

A life revolving around inter-connectivity and convenience, or a life where your privacy is not compromised beyond your own control? It seems almost like a best of both worlds between connectivity and privacy is impossible when it comes to the world of the Internet of Things, or IoT, as we know it. Now, then, to remain connected but be compromised, or to choose privacy, but be disconnected?

(Do we really have a choice today?)

Before we can even get into the boons and banes, what is the Internet of Things? McKinsey defines it as sensors and actuators connected by networks to computing systems, capturing data and managing performance of connected objects and machines in the process.

From an automatic car, to a smart home with intelligent technology that brings the owner home intelligence, energy efficiency, comfort, safety, you name it. Just imagine a life with all your devices connected to the Internet and yes, that includes your refrigerator, the temperature, the lights and even waking up to your coffee because your coffee machine is connected to your mobile phone to ‘know’ when you are awake. This is the world of the IoT today that has revolutionised the way we interact with our world today.

Did you know? More than 30 billion devices are estimated to be connected to the IoT wireless by 2020.

The IoT is giving rise to an increasingly inter-connected world, and by connected- I really mean VERY connected. This rise in connectivity would also bring about an influx of data in true real-time fashion that could change not just our personal lives, but the world of marketing, in a very much positive manner.

Benefits

1. Convenience
With IoT devices like the Element Classic A19 Kit by Sengled, one can now gain control of the smallest of actions (i.e. turning on/off your lights) remotely through an application, best of all, even hands-free with the help of Google Assistant or Amazon Echo! So sure, convenience is definitely a perk for the individuals as we become increasingly inter-connected as a community, especially in this ever-changing world that is constantly on the move. Time is of the essence!

2. Quality Experience for the Consumer
Moreover, IoT is in itself a game-changer for both the consumers and the businesses as it presents opportunities for real-time engagement and customer service . This is because of the newly-gained access to data, a lot of useful data that can make the consumer’s experience a very personalised and curated one as marketers can now predict what customers are likely to do in the future with their current databases of preferences and decisions through the day.

Just imagine a device and experience that is entirely catered just for you because your personal usage data is being analysed to modify designs and functions to suit you… WOW, and they really exist! To name a few, you can read more about FitBit, Amazon-Tide, Uber-Spotify, and many more here!

But a dream (of personalisation) or a nightmare (of privacy infringed)? Let me present you the drawbacks before you make a decision.

Drawbacks
However, the above-mentioned benefits can only come into play with appropriate use, not abuse, of the data entrusted to the marketers by the consumers.

1. Privacy and Control
It is true, as PewResearch affirms, that this data-saturated world would raise substantial concerns about privacy and people’s abilities to control their own lives.

2. Relevance
It is also true that the rise of the IoT waits for no one- eventually, it is going to be deeply ingrained into this digital age and the ones who refuse to be connected will inevitable be left obsolete.

So, my question remains… Do we really have a choice? With that said, however, at the end of the day, I do believe the onus is on both the consumer and the businesses to: 1) have discretion in the kinds of information we allow businesses to access in our lives 2) remain ethical in the usage of the increased intelligent information the businesses have gained from the consumer.

A ‘Black Mirror’ episode coming to life? Certainly not an impossible nightmare dream anymore. Many may say, once on the Internet, forever on the Internet- my question to you, then, is… Are you ready to risk it all for the sake of connectivity and convenience? Let me know in the comments!

Chloe

Remember this?

How about this?

I sure do remember them, but gone are the days when the greatest functions on our phones were their durability, and their ability to enable us to spend hours playing Snake to get our next high score. Our mobile phones have been, and are continuously evolving as the years pass.

(But where is she going with this mobile phone talk?) The title probably gave it away, but hold your horses, I’m getting there!

Today, we can pretty much say that we would be left immobilised (literally, HA) without our smartphones today. Mobile phones now empower us in the way it has combined countless uses from basic communication to information searching to finding our way to gaming, all within one device. I mean, this would literally be most of us when we find our phones missing, or when they malfunction, right?

As such, Becker asserts that mobile and digital have fundamentally changed consumer behaviour forever and successful marketing strategies today start with customer insight.

Mobile Marketing
So where does mobile come into play when it comes to marketing?

Otherwise known as “mobile marketing”, Kaplan defines it as “any marketing activity conducted through a ubiquitous network to which consumers are constantly connected using a personal mobile device”.

On “Micro-Moments”
In a world that craves speed, convenience and instant gratification, our mobile phones have become such a strategic device for marketing. This is done through what Google terms as “micro-moments”, which refer to touch points, or “moments, when we turn to a device- often a smartphone- to take action on what we we need or want right now.” Micro-moments are those when your target consumer is seeking quick answers to their problems.

They include:

As marketers, this means we have identify these micro-moments and cater to them with immediacy by availing the information desired within just a tap on the smartphone screens.

You must be thinking, ARE YOU SURE??

Yes! let me attempt to convince you with one more statistic that show that up to 1 in 3 smartphone users have made a purchase from a brand or company that wasn’t their first choice because they provide information when they needed it. If you still don’t find these figures convincing, feel free to try them out and see the results for yourselves!

How?
But how do you do it exactly? Fret not, I did the reading for you so here are some quick tips on how to successfully conduct mobile marketing through micro-moments (check Google out for the expanded version!).

1. Be There
As mentioned earlier, consumer behaviour has changed significantly in this technological, “mobile” age. Consumers are no longer as loyal to specific brands and will only decide based on information provided by the brands. Thus, it is important for brands to anticipate and provide valuable information that may cause the consumer to make the decision to purchase the brand.

2. Be Useful
With the short attention spans of consumers in today’s digital age, we must strive to be relevant in the information we provide to cater to the large majority of 91% of mobile users who will not stick around a mobile site or app if it doesn’t satisfy their needs in a quick and efficient manner.

3. Be Quick
Ensure that the consumer’s mobile experience on your application or website is as smooth and frictionless as possible, and fast like lightning because 29% of smartphone users will immediately switch to another site or app if it doesn’t satisfy their needs. People are expecting their goods and services to be immediately delivered. No chance given.

And that’s how you’ll put this knowledge about “micro-moments” into good use. Don’t you think they are so worthy of attention and definitely useful for marketing? I believe so.

And that was the digital world through my lenses… will you use these micro-moments to your benefit when it comes to mobile marketing? Let me know how you see it in the comments!

Chloe

All it took was a ludicrous story-turned-video, a click on the ‘share’ button and an hour for 26-year-old Choi (yup, they even found her details) to turn into the now infamous but meme-worthy Gojek Chinese Lady.

The question is, how did she rise to ‘hall of fame’ within such a short span of time? Certainly not because she was Chinese. 

One word, it was contagious.

What does it mean to be contagious?
The Berger’s Principles of Contagiousness (STEPPS) explain Chio’s sudden rise to ‘fame’ pretty well, as with many successful viral campaigns like the #icebucketchallenge that raised awareness (and funds) for the A.L.S. Association, as well as the #firstworldproblems, tweaked by WATERisLife, that successfully garnered attention and support from the world population for their cause.

But how exactly did possessing these traits (Social Currency, Triggers, Emotions, Public, Practical Value and Stories) contribute to the virality of these posts and campaigns? To give you some perspective, here are a few ways they led to their success:

1. Social Currency

Inner Remark-ability
One common trait across the above-mentioned viral content is that they all gave social currency– The Gojek Chinese Lady incident certainly had its fair share of inner remark-ability (in other words, worthy of remark) simply because it was not-your-average Gojek ride. I mean, let’s be real- the ride ended up in the police station rather than the intended destination of the passenger. Ha, now that’s something to be talked about.

Story
We can also see from the creation of the chain of memes by content creators all over Singapore like SGAG and YEOLO, that it was a story worthy of sharing and conversing about, all in the name of a little humour for the drama that happened.

In the same way, the #icebucketchallenge gave an even more heightened sense of social currency because firstly, its novelty made it very remark-able, given that it was such an innovative take to raising awareness of ALS and gather funds for its research at the same time.

The virality began with Pete Frates who turned an Internet challenge into an overnight charitable sensation when set his heart and mind to raise awareness for ALS, commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, the moment he started to experience its symptoms. Not because he started the challenge, or came up with it, but he was that weak connector that acted as the social glue because he came up with a mass bucket challenge in downtown Boston with one choice: make a donation for ALS research in 24 hours or dump a bucket of ice water over your head. As such, people were made to feel included (and shame-free) because they had an equal chance to participate in the campaign, whether or not they were ready to be a part of this project financially.

2. Public
Talk about public, even Kermit participated in this challenge to support the cause. The participation of not just random internet users, but many renown celebrities created greater tendencies to rise up to the challenge in an attempt to conform to the public phenomenon.

3. Emotions
And finally, as with all 3 examples cited, they definitely poked at the emotions of the local, if not worldwide, audience online. Probably especially for the self-proclaimed SJWs (aka social justice warriors) out there who feel unjust for Gojek Uncle for the behaviour he’s had to tolerate from Choi, over a $2 ERP.

Or even how the #firstworldproblems tugged at the heart strings of the privileged population of first world countries when they gain perspective of how it’s like living with less than enough in a third world country. A slap on the face, I would say. 

Tl; dr – Content become contagious when they display some, if not all of the above-mentioned traits, BUT let’s hope for the right reasons… but I guess my take is that not every trait has to be possessed before one can become viral. A substantial number, however, will do!

And that was the digital world through my lenses… let me know how you see it through yours!

Chloe