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Harnessing the Power of Social Media and Web Analytics Anteneh Ayanso Brock University, Canada Kaveepan Lertwachara California Polytechnic State University, USA

A volume in the Advances in Social Networking and Online Communities (ASNOC) Book Series

Detailed Table of Contents

Preface................................................................................................................................................... xv Acknowledgment.................................................................................................................................. xx Section 1 Harnessing the Power of Social Media Marketing and Web Analytics This first section describes the different analytical applications available to social media marketers. The four chapters included in this section present a comprehensive overview of social media marketing research. With topics ranging from theoretical frameworks for modeling consumers’ participation in social media to best practices in current social media marketing, this section can serve as a valuable resource for those seeking to obtain an up-to-date introduction to this stream of research. Chapter 1 Marketing Meets Social Media: Classification and Evolution of Internet Marketing............................. 1 Anteneh Ayanso, Brock University, Canada Kaveepan Lertwachara, California Polytechnic State University, USA Brian Mokaya, Brock University, Canada In Internet marketing, organizations leverage the Internet and related technologies to promote themselves, their products, their services, and their brands. In virtually all sectors, recent advances in Web technologies have dramatically changed the nature and volume of Internet marketing. Competition in online advertising is currently very intense as organizations have shifted their focus from print and other traditional advertising media to emails, search engines, and social media outlets for most of their promotional activities. However, due to the growing convergence of digital technologies, distinguishing one form of online marketing from another is becoming increasingly difficult. The current practice shows that there is a significant overlap of technologies as well as activities in most of the online marketing and advertising outlets. This chapter attempts to provide a classification of the major forms of Internet marketing (or online advertising) available, and discuss the key technological trends, practices, and academic research in each area. In particular, the chapter highlights the changing trends in Internet marketing due to recent developments in Web 2.0 and social media technologies.

Chapter 2 Marketing in an Interactive World: The Evolving Nature of Communication Processes Using . Social Media.......................................................................................................................................... 29 Sheila Sasser, Eastern Michigan University, USA Mark Kilgour, University of Waikato, New Zealand Linda D. Hollebeek, University of Waikato, New Zealand The focus of this chapter is to address emerging trends, opportunities, and key challenges facing managers in their communication processes in an increasingly interactive social media environment. A review of the current social media literature and two qualitative research studies provide insights into the changing nature of the communications process in social media, as opposed to more traditional, communications environments. These insights are drawn together to provide a number of managerial implications for social media marketers. Chapter 3 Effects of Consumers’ Social Media Participation on Consumer Behavior: . A Marketing Perspective........................................................................................................................ 53 Ashish Kumar, Aalto University School of Business, Finland Ram Bezawada, The State University of New York at Buffalo, USA Technological advancements have shaped and reshaped the marketing landscape from time to time. The digital revolution in particular has given rise to a new digital era that has changed this marketing landscape, perhaps permanently. One of the core technologies involved in defining this digital era is the Internet. The Internet has not only empowered the people by creating and disseminating information like never before but also has affected the way we conduct our businesses. Various business usages of the Internet in search engines, email, mobile, and social media have given rise to new ways of conducting marketing activities such as affiliate marketing, display advertisement, email marketing, search marketing, and social media marketing among others. The significance and the relevance of online social media marketing have made this particular digital channel a topical subject of the digital era. The effects of social media have been felt in influencing both seller and buyer behaviors. However, the focus of this chapter is to address two important aspects of consumer behaviors in an online digital social media environment. First, the authors propose a conceptual framework of consumers’ social media participation. Second, the chapter discusses how this participation affects consumers’ behaviors including their purchases. Finally, the authors present a few econometric challenges associated with modeling consumers’ social media participation and quantifying its impact on their behaviors.

Chapter 4 Social Media Marketing In Emerging Economies: Case Study of Three Indian Firms........................ 79 Madhupa Bakshi, NSHM School of Management and Technology, India Prashant Mishra, Indian Institute of Management, India Nearly 30 million Indians who are online are members of social networking sites and popular surveys report that about two-thirds of them spend time daily on these social networking sites. More importantly, Indians spend more time on social media than they do using personal email. This has immense implications for a country which has been dubbed as one of the largest emerging markets and has multinationals vying to set up shop. This scenario in India is unique as Internet penetration piggybacks on the telecom boom, boosting online retail and advertising opportunities. Therefore savvy marketers will want to jump on this bandwagon. This chapter looks at the unique situation in India in context of the growth of social media usage and tries to find developed world theoretical models as to how companies are coping with this new phenomenon. The results indicate that the companies are eager to interact with their target groups in social media; however, few have found the path to full leverage the return on investments made on a social media presence. Much of their efforts remain confined to branding and therefore better metrics need to be developed for better analytics. Section 2 Getting Inside the Consumers’ Mind with Social Media Data This section second focuses on how organizations can harness social media and Web analytics to improve customer satisfaction and long-term customer relationship. With a large volume of information about consumers and their preferences readily available online, companies seek to gain a better understanding about their customers. The four chapters in this section explore the integration of social media into an in-depth analysis about consumer behavior and provide valuable examples of how businesses can take advantage of consumer information to build a long term relationship with their customers. Chapter 5 Integrating Social Media and Traditional CRM: Toward a Conceptual Framework for Social . CRM Practices..................................................................................................................................... 103 Kanghyun Yoon, University of Central Oklahoma, USA Jeanetta D. Sims, University of Central Oklahoma, USA In recent years, marketers have paid lots of attention to a new field called social CRM, created from the combination of social media and traditional customer relationship management (CRM) practices. In the past, traditional CRM practices have mainly focused on the task of valuing individual customers’ profitability through relationship management over time as the proxy of creating the firm’s value. Shifting away from this trend, firms have recently attempted to promote customer engagement into the value creation process as the core of CRM strategy. This chapter proposes conceptual guidelines for the success of social CRM practices, while considering the development of personalized customer engagement programs with social media depending on customer status over the life cycle.

Chapter 6 Analytics and Performance Measurement Frameworks for Social Customer . Relationship Management .................................................................................................................. 132 Anteneh Ayanso, Brock University, Canada Derek Visser, Brock University, Canada This chapter provides an overview of the analytics and performance measurement frameworks for social customer relationship management (SCRM). Based on a review of academic research and industry practices, the chapter discusses the limitations of traditional CRM, and the technology and analytical capabilities that support SCRM. The chapter also provides a review of existing measurement frameworks for SCRM strategies and outlines the various metrics that have been proposed and/or are currently in use as part of SCRM systems. Furthermore, in view of the opportunities and challenges of big data and the social media environment, the chapter highlights current business practices as well technology and analytics trends that facilitate the implementation and maintenance of SCRM systems. Chapter 7 Social Media Usage and Adoption: Are People Ready? . ................................................................... 161 Line L. Olsen, BI Norwegian Business School, Norway Tor W. Andreassen, NHH Norwegian School of Economics, Norway Social media is in vogue, but managers need to know their customers’ social media readiness to help them overcome any resistance to adopting the new benefits that social media offers and to secure customer satisfaction with the services offered through these channels. In this chapter, the authors present findings from two studies. In the first study, general technology readiness is investigated and pockets of users are identified. This study works as a backdrop for the second study, in which consumers’ social media readiness, the construct and its drivers are investigated. Overall, the authors find that customers seem to be ready for social media, as social media readiness has a positive, indirect effect on attitudes toward interaction in social media. Moreover, the effect is mediated through ease of use and usefulness. Chapter 8 Insights into Social Media and Online Digital Music ........................................................................ 181 Yanbin Tu, Robert Morris University, USA Miao Zhao, Roger Williams University, USA Cathleen Jones, Robert Morris University, USA This chapter investigates social media along with traditional assessment channels and their roles in music evaluation. For the current popular social media (such as Facebook and Twitter), marketing applications in the music industry are found to be limited. For certain specialized social media (social media sites specifically dedicated to music and audio sharing and product reviews and opinions), they are neither well known nor commonly used. More efforts to promote these social media are required to increase consumer awareness. This chapter also includes findings which describe consumers’ different attitudes about social media related to new artists and established ones. The use of traditional music evaluation channels and the use of social media are positively correlated. At present, social media do not significantly impact consumers’ music evaluations, but they do impact how much consumers are willing to pay for music products. Analysis of respondents’ statements about social media demonstrate that social media marketing applications potentially can have a great impact on digital music product evaluations and willingness to pay. Overall, findings indicate that the music industry should take better advantage of social media to influence consumers’ music evaluations and willingness to pay. Traditional channels and social media are correlated, indicating that the music industry should not neglect traditional channels while expanding the use of social media.

Section 3 Enhancing the Power of Social Media Analytics This section explores innovative approaches to utilize social media data to enhance the online user experience. The effectiveness of social media analytics hinges upon the predictive power of the analysis tools. However, social media data are considerably different from consumer information captured in traditional offline channels. The three chapters in this section show how organizations can improve their social media analysis in order to better serve their constituents. Chapter 9 Exploring the Properties of Online Social Network Data and Their Implications for Consumer . Social Data Analytics . ........................................................................................................................ 210 Yamen Koubaa, France Business School, France The prediction of consumer behavior is largely based on the analysis of consumer data using statistics as a tool for prediction. Thanks to online social networks, large quantities of heterogeneous consumer data are now available at competitive costs. Though they have much in common with conventional data, online social network datasets display several different properties. The exploration of these unique properties is indispensable to insuring the accuracy of predictions and data analytics. This chapter presents online social data, discusses seven properties of online social network data, suggests some analysis tools, and draws implications regarding the use of social data analytics. Chapter 10 Improving Search and Navigation User Experience by Making Use of Social Data ......................... 231 Mario Cataldi, Université Paris 8, France Luigi Di Caro, Università degli Studi di Torino, Italy Claudio Schifanella, Università degli Studi di Torino, Italy Available user-generated content provides a huge opportunity to contextualize and improve search and navigational processes. Currently, the huge amount of available social data requires that new forms of personalized content indexing be oriented towards a more efficient reuse and retrieval of information. Based on these considerations, this chapter presents a new system that makes use of the social profile of the user, which is automatically extracted and modeled from social network platforms, to improve the search and navigation experience of the user. This proposed system dynamically defines the social context of the user in way that allows it to be positively used to improve his navigational experience. In this chapter, the authors provide a set of visualization tools that permits the user to be immersed in a user-dependent visual space that represented by a set of text boxes that are semantically related to the user query. These boxes represent possible context-aware refinement of the user search interest which are represented through different cohesive set of terms extracted from his social profile. Within this immersive system, at each step, users can deepen their searches by selecting a semantic box that best fits with their needs. This chapter also presents an evaluation aimed at testing the efficiency and the usability of the proposed system and provides real case scenarios and user studies that validate the proposed approach from the user point of view.

Chapter 11 A Semantic Approach to LinkedIn Profiles: Critical Analysis and Insights ....................................... 254 Ilias Kapareliotis, Abertay Dundee University, U.K. Patricia Crosbie, Abertay Dundee University U.K. Language is essential in allowing us to analyze and make sense of our everyday lives. The development and increased use of social media now means that the way language is structured online can facilitate communication; however, it can also hinder communication. This chapter examines LinkedIn as an example of an online platform which uses verbal and visual linguistic expressions to aid communication. A number of linguistic theories and their impact on LinkedIn as a social media platform are examined. LinkedIn, and its use of user profiles, has been chosen over other social media because it encapsulates the majority of theories presented. The theories are strongly linked to the linguistic background appropriate for the online environment and recommendations and discussions are presented.

Compilation of References................................................................................................................ 269 About the Contributors..................................................................................................................... 297 Index.................................................................................................................................................... 303

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About the Contributors

Anteneh Ayanso is an Associate Professor of information systems at Brock University. He received his PhD in information systems from the University of Connecticut and a MBA from Syracuse University. He is also certified in Production and Inventory Management (CPIM) by APICS. His research interests are in data management, business analytics, electronic commerce, and electronic government. His current related studies include topics such as search engine advertising, the role of social media technologies and applications in the commercial as well as public sector, and methods for profiling and measuring ICT positions and e-government readiness of world nations. He has published many articles in leading journals such as European Journal of Operational Research, Decision Sciences, Decision Support Systems, Journal of Database Management, Communications of the AIS, International Journal of Electronic Commerce, Journal of Computer Information Systems, Government Information Quarterly, AIS Transactions on Human-Computer Interaction, Information Technology for Development, and in proceedings of major international conferences in information systems and related fields. He currently serves as editorial review board member of the Journal of Database Management, International Journal of Convergence Computing, and International Journal of Electronic Commerce and regularly reviews articles for many leading journals in information systems and related fields. Kaveepan Lertwachara is Professor of Information Systems and Chair of the Management, HR, and Information Systems Area at the Orfalea College of Business, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. He received his Ph.D. in Operations and Information Management from the University of Connecticut. He earned his MBA with an emphasis in Management Information Systems from Westminster College. He also holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Physics with a minor in Computer Engineering from King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology, Thailand. Dr. Lertwachara has done extensive research on technology-based innovation in retail services, electronic commerce, online social networks, and health care informatics. Some of his recent scholarly work includes research on electronic health records, peer-to-peer computing, online digital content and copyright issues, online retailing, and Web 2.0. His research has been internationally recognized and published in scholarly books and leading academic journals such as Communications of the Association for Information Systems, Decision Support Systems, Electronic Commerce Research and Applications, Information Technology for Development, International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, Journal of Computer Information Systems, Journal of Law and Economics, Journal of Management Information Systems and Management Science. He has also interacted closely with the business community. In 2007, he was selected by the Boeing Company as a Welliver faculty fellow where he conducted workshops on knowledge management and online collaboration. Before starting his academic career, Dr. Lertwachara worked in the healthcare and IT industries in both public and private sectors.


*** Tor Wallin Andreassen is Professor of Marketing at NHH Norwegian School of Economics and the Director of their Center for Service Innovation. Professor Andreassen is the Area Editor at MIS Quarterly and Journal of Service Management, member of the editorial review board of MIT Sloan Management Review, Journal of Service Research, Journal of Business Research, Service Science, Journal of Service Management, and Decision Science Journal. Dr Andreassen has published in leading journals such as: MIT Sloan Management Review, Marketing Science, Journal of Marketing, Quality & Quantity, Journal of Economic Psychology, Journal of Public Sector Management, Journal of Service Research, European Journal of Marketing, and Journal of Service Management. Professor Andreassen is the founder of Service Forum, The Norwegian Customer Satisfaction Barometer at the Norwegian Business School, and the annual Professor Johan Arndt Marketing Conference. Dr. Andreassen has published seven textbooks and has received several awards for his academic research: MSI/H. Paul Root Award 2007 (Journal of Marketing), Outstanding (Best) Paper Award (Managing Service Quality) and Highly Commended Article Award (Managing Service Quality and the International Journal of Service Industry Management); Citation of Excellence - Highest Quality Rating (European Journal of Marketing, Journal of Service Management); Most Downloaded Article - Top 3 (Journal of Service Management) and Top 200 (Journal of Economic Psychology). Madhupa Bakshi has over 18 years of experience in academics and industry in the field of media and communications both in India and abroad. Currently Associate Professor and Head of the Academic Committee at NSHM Media department, she did her Masters in Mass Communication from California State University and after that is pursuing PhD from Aligarh Muslim University. A PGDM from AIMA Ms. Bakshi’s interest area is media, branding, advertising and has presented papers on Media and Management at major International conferences. She is also a visiting faculty at Lady Brabourne College and IIM, Udaipur. Ram Bezawada is an Assistant Professor at the School of Management, State University of New York, Buffalo. He received his PhD in marketing from the Krannert Graduate School of Management and MS in statistics from the College of Science, respectively, from Purdue University. His research interests include topics relating to multichannel shopping, social/new media and digital marketing. His research has been published in journals such as the Journal of Marketing, Marketing Science and Information Systems Research. Mario Cataldi is an Assistant Professor at the University of Paris 8 who primarily focuses on Information Retrieval, Community Detection and Social Networks. He earned his PhD in Computer Science in 2010 at the University of Torino. He has collaborated with several institutes, universities and companies. His research interests include Information Retrieval, Social Network Analysis, Data Mining and Knowledge Management.

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Patricia Crosbie is a member of the academic staff in Dundee Business School University of Abertay Dundee. She is currently responsible for the delivery of programmes in Business Studies and Business Ethics, which includes ethics of marketing for business management and marketing programmes at the university. Past areas of research have included e-commerce and computer enabled communication. Previous collaborations with Dr. Kapareliotis include marketing communication and related marketing areas. P Crosbie has degree qualifications in Information Management and education and is a fellow of the Higher Education Academy. She has held a number of senior posts in Dundee Business School including Director of Academic Programmes and Division Leader. Luigi Di Caro received a PhD in Computer Science in January 2011. In 2007, he was involved in collaboration between the University of Torino and Telecom Italia Lab (TiLab) on TV contents classification and recommendation, text-based enrichment of domain ontologies and analysis of contexts of use. In 2007, he was a visiting student at the Arizona State University (ASU), under the supervision of Prof. K. Selcuk Candan and Prof. Maria Luisa Sapino, working on text mining and latent semantic analysis. From January 2009 to August 2009 he did an internship at Telefonica Research in Madrid, Spain, under the supervision of Alejandro Jaimes and Enrique-Frias Martinez. The topics faced in this collaboration range from user modeling to data visualization. He is currently a short-term researcher at the University of Turin under the supervision of Prof. Leonardo Lesmo, working on Natural Languages Techniques, Information Extraction, and Sentiment Analysis. Linda D. Hollebeek, Ph.D (Auckland), is a Senior Lecturer in the Waikato Management School at the University of Waikato (Department of Marketing), New Zealand. She also has work experience in management consulting. Her research interests include customer engagement, (e-)service marketing, and branding. Her work to date has appeared in the Journal of Service Research, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Marketing Management, Journal of Strategic Marketing, International Journal of Wine Business Research, and Food Quality & Preference. Cathleen Jones is an Associate Professor of Marketing at Robert Morris University. She combines practical experience and academics by conducting class projects with actual business clients. She earned her Doctor of Science in Information Systems and Communications at Robert Morris University conducting research into the impact of including health information and health icons on restaurant menus. Dr. Jones’ research interests include additional research into the impact of nutrition information and icons on restaurant patrons’ food choices, the use of social media by organizations, and interdisciplinary projects. She recently concluded a major consulting project with Lux Consulting and the FDA. Her work has appeared in the Journal of Foodservice Business Research, Services Marketing Quarterly, and The American Journal of Business Education.

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Ilias Kapareliotis holds a Ph.D. from the Athens University of Economics and Business, in luxury brand valuation systems. His research interests focus on luxury brand valuation systems, ethnographic methods for luxury brands, luxury brand management systems, experiential marketing, and international marketing. He has published different papers, book chapters and monographies in academic journals and marketing books. He has taught in various European universities both in undergraduate and postgraduate level. He has also a long experience in executive and professional education both in the service’s and product’s sectors. He has a long experience as a consultant in Greece both for local and multinational companies. He has been appointed as principal investigator and member of senior management teams in different EU projects. Mark Kilgour, Ph.D. (Waikato). Over the past two decades Mark Kilgour has worked extensively throughout South-East Asia and Australasia in both private consultancy and academic positions. His main research areas include major thought processing theories and their application to learning, promotion, and creativity. He developed the Tourism and Hospitality program for the Chartered Institute of Marketing. His current research focus includes Creativity and Innovation, Social Media, and Cross Cultural Marketing. Mark has published in journals including Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Advertising Research and the Creativity Research Journal. His Creativity Framework has been taught in Singapore, Germany, Malaysia and New Zealand and was the basis for his Doctoral thesis. Mark is currently the Chairperson of the Department of Marketing at the University of Waikato, New Zealand. Yamen Koubaa is an Associate Professor of Marketing, International Business and Multivariate Data Analysis. He earned his PhD from the University of Marketing and Distribution Sciences, Japan. His publications focus on the quantification of consumer cognition, the structure of image constructs, and business education across cultures. Ashish Kumar is an Assistant Professor at Department of Marketing, Aalto University School of Business. His research interests include multichannel retailing, digital marketing, social media marketing, and health marketing. He received a PhD in marketing from the School of Management and an MA in economics from the College of Arts and Sciences, respectively, from the State University of New York at Buffalo. He also has an undergraduate degree in computer science from India. His research has been published in journals such as Information Systems Research. Prashant Mishra is presently Associate Professor of Marketing at Indian Institute of Management Calcutta (IIMC). A Doctorate in Management and M.B.A. from Devi Ahilya University, Indore, Dr. Prashant has worked with PIMR, Indore; Nirma Institute of Management, Ahmedabad and Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies, Mumbai before joining IIM Calcutta. He has served as the Chairperson of Post Graduate Programme and also as Chairperson of Marketing Area at IIMC. He has to his credit more than 50 research papers, popular articles and case studies in the area of customer management processes, consumer psychology, brand management and behavioral processes in organisations in the journals and periodicals of repute. He has also co-edited / authored three books and a psychological test manual. Recipient of the Association of Management Schools (AIMS) Best Case Writing Award for the year 1999, Prof. Prashant is actively associated with several professional organisations in various capacities. His current research interests are Consumer Psychology; Services Environment and Ways to Improve Service Effectiveness; Retail chain processes; Product and Brand management. 300


Brian Mokaya received a Master of Science degree in management science from Brock University at St. Catharines, Canada. He is currently a senior SharePoint consultant at Ideaca Knowledge Services in Toronto, Canada. His work has been published in Decision Sciences. During his professional career, he has attained Microsoft technical specialist and Association for Information and Image Management certifications. His primary areas of interest lie in data mining, data analysis and business modeling, information and records management, and organizational change management. Line Lervik Olsen is Associate Professor of Marketing at BI Norwegian Business School. Dr. Olsen has been the research leader of the Norwegian Customer Satisfaction Barometer. Her work is published in journals such as the Journal of Service Research, the Journal of Economic Psychology, Managing Service Quality as well as in books. Dr. Olsen has received several awards for her academic research: Outstanding (Best) Paper Award (Managing Service Quality), Highly Commended Article Award (Managing Service Quality, Most Downloaded Article - Top 200 (Journal of Economic Psychology) and Finalist for Excellence in Service Research Award (Journal of Service Research). Dr. Olsen is member of the editorial review board for Journal of Service Management, Managing Service Quality, Journal of Service Industries, Total Quality Management, European Journal of Marketing, European Journal of Management and International Journal of Hospitality Management. Sheila L. Sasser, Ph.D. (Wayne State University), is a Professor of Marketing at Eastern Michigan University and a Visiting Professor at the University of Michigan Ross School of Business. She developed the award winning IMC graduate program social media, advertising, creativity, and media courses. Dr. Sasser was Journal of Advertising Special Issue Editor and has multiple publications in the Journal of Advertising, Journal of Advertising Research, Journal of Consumer Marketing, Creativity Research Journal and Research Annuals. She is a contributor to Pearson Prentice-Hall, Wiley-Blackwell textbooks and serves on the Editorial Boards for the International Journal of Advertising, Journal of Advertising, Journal of Advertising Research, International Journal of IMC, GABC Journal and is a reviewer for the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science. An Ogilvy Award Judge, Gold Medallion Winner, and Cannes Lions Delegate, Sasser was a Visiting Researcher at the Stockholm School of Economics and Imperial College London, University of Waikato, and Michigan State University, working globally for 30 years in business and academia. Claudio Schifanella: Claudio Schifanella is a researcher at the Department of Computer Science at the University of Torino, where he is member of the Heterogeneous Data Management (HDM) group. His research interests includes multi-way data analysis, social network analysis and knowledge representation. He is a member of the program committee of the ACM International Conference on Information and Knowledge Management and the International Conference on Web Information Systems and Technologies, and he is a co-chair of the EDBT international workshop on Multimodal Social Data Management. His industrial collaborations in the areas of digital media and smart television include RAI Italian broadcaster and Telecom Italia.

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Jeanetta D. Sims (Ph.D., University of Oklahoma) is an Associate Professor in the Marketing Department at the University of Central Oklahoma where she teaches courses in business communication and marketing communications. She is accredited in public relations (APR), and her research interests are in strategic communication, organizational diversity, and persuasion and influence. Her scholarship has appeared in book chapter and journal publication formats including the Journal of Communication, Journal of Public Relations Research, Human Communication Research, Communication Monographs, Communication Research, Atlantic Marketing Journal, Mass Communication & Society, Corporate Reputation Review, Council on Undergraduate Research Quarterly, and Still Searching for Our Mothers’ Gardens: Experiences of New, Tenure-Track Women of Color in ‘Majority’ Institutions. Yanbin Tu is an Associate Professor of Marketing at School of Business, Robert Morris University. Yanbin Tu earned his doctorate degree from the University of Connecticut. Prior to teaching, he worked for Bank of Shanghai in China. His research interests cover e-commerce, interactive marketing, database marketing, and customer relationship management. His work has appeared/will appear in International Journal of Electronic Commerce, Decision Support Systems, International Journal of Internet Marketing and Advertising, International Journal of Electronic Business, International Journal of Technology Marketing, and Communications of the ACM. Derek Visser is a current graduate student at the Goodman School of Business. Prior to that Derek completed his undergraduate degree in Information Systems at Brock University. His research interests include business analytics, big data analytics, social media, and decision sciences. Kanghyun Yoon is currently an Assistant Professor of Marketing at University of Central Oklahoma. He earned his B.S. and M.S. degree from Hankuk University of Foreign Studies (Seoul, Korea), M.B.A. degree from Illinois Institute Technology (Chicago, US), and Ph.D. degree from University of Wisconsin (Milwaukee, US). His research interests are in empirically modeling of consumer decision-makings, brand loyalty, customer satisfaction, online auctions, shopping value, and sustainability, using econometric, Bayesian, and IO approaches. Dr. Yoon has published his academic articles in several journals such as Information Systems Research, and Journal of Marketing Theory & Practice, among others. He is also an author of new online book called Fundamentals of Customer-Driven Marketing. Miao Zhao has taught at Marketing at the Mario J. Gabelli School of Business, Roger Williams University since 2003. Her research interests are in the areas of consumer behavior on the Internet, international marketing, and social media marketing. She has published in Journal of Interactive Marketing, Managing Service Quality, International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, International Journal of China Marketing, and other scholarly journals. Miao Zhao has a Ph.D. from the University of Rhode Island.

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Chapter 2

Marketing in an Interactive World:

The Evolving Nature of Communication Processes Using Social Media Sheila Sasser Eastern Michigan University, USA Mark Kilgour University of Waikato, New Zealand Linda D. Hollebeek University of Waikato, New Zealand

ABSTRACT The focus of this chapter is to address emerging trends, opportunities, and key challenges facing managers in their communication processes in an increasingly interactive social media environment. A review of the current social media literature and two qualitative research studies provide insights into the changing nature of the communications process in social media, as opposed to more traditional, communications environments. These insights are drawn together to provide a number of managerial implications for social media marketers.

INTRODUCTION Kaplan and Haenlein (2010) define social media as “a group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0, and which allow the creation

and exchange of user-generated content” (p. 61). This includes a range of social media tools such as Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn and blogs. Specifically, social media are developing into an increasingly pervasive tool within the evolving media environment. To illustrate, in April 2012,

DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-5194-4.ch002

Copyright © 2014, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited.

Marketing in an Interactive World

Facebook.com was reported to have 901 million users worldwide (Wasserman, 2012), with the average friend count being 190 (Facebook, 2012). Further, American users spend, on average, 421 minutes on Facebook each month (Parr, 2010). Based on these developments, organizations are rushing to engage and try to leverage this immense global audience to achieve their marketing objectives (Ayanso et al., 2010). Based on the observed trends, Mangold and Faulds (2009) refer to social media as a new hybrid element in the promotional communications mix; which has traditionally included advertising, personal selling, sales promotion and public relations. Specifically, the authors posit that the use of social media as a promotional tool differs from the use of the more traditional elements in that it has enabled the undertaking of many-to-many and/or consumer-to-consumer communications about products, services and organizations (Kaplan and Haenlein, 2010). Consequently, the level of consumer bargaining power in the marketplace has been reported to have increased significantly (Kucuk and Krishnamurthy, 2007). Further, Mangold and Faulds (2009) assert that while social media reflect specific characteristics of traditional media (e.g., facilitating company communications with (prospective) customers); it also exhibits non-traditional characteristics (e.g., enabling consumers to communicate directly with each other); thus resulting in a reduced level of managerial or company control over specific brand, product, and organization-related communications. Despite the substantial changes that social media represent to organizational communication processes and the dramatic global surge in social media usage, scholarly investigation into this area has been limited to date (Calladine, 2012; Mangold and Faulds, 2009). Consequently, this nascent state of research has engendered a lack of understanding of the distinctive nature of, and

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key developments within, the field of social media and the associated consumer behavior-based trends and dynamics (Kaplan and Haenlein, 2010). In order to capitalize on social media opportunities, corporations need to understand the nature of key developments within this rapidly changing new media landscape, and use this knowledge to inform and plan their strategic activities. By addressing specific ways in which social media is changing the consumer communication process, this chapter purports to enhance scholarly and managerial understanding in this emerging area. A review of key literature within the academic field informed the undertaking of two qualitative research studies based on focus group and questionnaire methodology, respectively. The key findings provide insights into the changing nature of the social media-based communications process, relative to more traditional communicative forms. These insights, consequently, spawn the development of a conceptual model addressing the communication model, which takes into account key managerial considerations for planning focal social media-based communication and promotional strategies.

LITERATURE REVIEW AND CONCEPTUAL DEVELOPMENT Theoretical Foundations: The Communications Model The American Marketing Association defines marketing as “the activity, set of institutions and processes for creating, communicating, delivering and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners and society at large” (AMA, 2012). Central to marketing practice is the importance of engaging in effective marketing communications reaching appropriate target audiences in terms of identifying and meeting


their specific needs, wants and preferences, and co-creating value with focal stakeholders (Vargo and Lusch, 2008). The effectiveness of any marketing communication process is influenced by a range of factors. The traditional communication model includes four key such factors: (1) The sender of the message; (2) The recipient of the message; (3) The message itself; and (4) The medium by which the message is sent (Stern, 1994). According to the model, the sender encodes a desired message, which is sent to the recipient via a specific medium. The recipient then decodes and takes a specific understanding from the message content. Further, external factors prohibiting the message from getting across to its target audience (i.e., interference) are known as noise. A diagrammatic representation of the traditional communications process is provided below in Figure 1.

THE COMMUNICATIONS MODEL IN SOCIAL MEDIA CONTEXTS Although many aspects reflective of more traditional marketing communications processes may still apply, the emergence and rise of social media marketing has engendered considerable changes to the traditional communications process. Specifically the unique, dynamic nature of social media implies that while social media campaigns require an understanding of the four stated core factors and their focal interactions, particular adaptations

reflecting the unique characteristics of social media are also needed. A review of the academic literature highlighted four key factors generating distinct dynamics of the communications model in a social media, versus more traditional, media environments: 1. The degree and ease of interactivity. (Rodgers and Thorson, 2000; Stewart, 2005) 2. Users’ active involvement and engagement in shaping the new media environment. (Chi, 2011; Keller, 2007; McMillian and Morrison, 2006) 3. Users’ perceived level of control. (Kelly, Kerr and Drennan, 2010; Swain, 2005) 4. Users motivations for using social media. (Gangadharbatla, 2008; Zeng, Huang and Dou, 2009) Specifically, the identified four areas highlight that social media has engendered a shift in the communications and promotional processes. Essentially, the heightened degree of interactivity and consumer engagement in this process imply that many consumers are no longer merely passive recipients of incoming organizational, brand- or product-related information, but are increasingly acting as proactive co-creators of message content (e.g., user-generated content) and meaning. While this specific interactive process is not new to the communication literature, what is unique is the number of customers that marketing communications may potentially elicit deeper levels

Figure 1. The traditional communications model

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of interaction and engagement with (Brodie et al., 2011). Hence we observe a movement toward much richer forms of communication, yet which is characterized by benefits and costs. The reported literature review offered insights into the ways in which social media place a distinct emphasis on the four key factors comprising the communications model, relative to their relevance in more traditional media environments. The next section provides further, qualitative researchbased insights into these distinctions.

RESEARCH QUESTION AND METHODOLOGY The research questions guiding this enquiry are: (1) (How) do social media affect the basic communication model?, and (2) Which specific model modifications are required for optimal application to social media contexts? To provide insights into these research questions we conducted qualitative research drawing on two sets of heavy social media users who employ this media for both private, as well as in some cases corporate, purposes multiple times per day. The first study involved a focus group sample comprised of four post graduate students enrolled in an Integrated Marketing Communication MBA program at a large university in the United States. These people were selected out of a larger class based upon their job positions. In each case they had roles that required advanced social media expertise. Their roles were; Digital Media Manager, Internal Communications Manager, University Campus Computing Sites Manager and a Director of Marketing. A semi-structured interview process was used based on the set of questions (Appendix A), informed from the literature review. The focus group duration was approximately 90 minutes. To protect the respondents’ privacy interviews were

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not recorded, although the main researcher took notes during the focus group session. Immediately after the focus group session the researchers met to write up the responses to ensure key issues were accurately recorded. The key findings from this exploratory study were used to develop a second set of questions, which were administered to two groups of graduate students. The first of these groups was sourced from the United States and a second group was drawn from New Zealand (Appendix B). We administered the questionnaires to two groups of 10 Graduate students. Sample selection was based on their fit with the profile of heavy and informed social media users (cf. VALSTM). The findings resulted in the development of a refined conceptual model addressing the elements of the communications model in specific social media contexts (Figure 2). The next section reports on the key findings attained from the thematic analysis of responses.

KEY FINDINGS: THEMES EXTRACTED FROM THEMATIC ANALYSIS A number of key findings emerged from a thematic analysis conducted on the data. In contrast to content analysis, thematic analysis incorporates the entire conversation as the potential unit of analysis (Thomsen, Straubhaar and Bolyard, 1998). Specifically, we consulted Spiggle (1994) and Bogdan and Biklen (1982), which include thematic analysis to interpret emerging facets of the social media communications model (Boyatzis, 1998). This section employs four sub-headings, which reflect the key factors of the communications model outlined earlier in the chapter, the sender, recipient, message, and the medium by which the message is sent.


Figure 2. The adapted social media communication framework

The Sender Given the relative infancy of social media as a communication medium, companies are framing their social media communications in different ways, ranging from pop-up display advertisements and promotional pages on specific social media channels (e.g., Facebook); to rich site summary (RSS) materials and viral marketing techniques (Kaplan and Haenlein, 2010). However, many of the advertisements follow more traditional media advertising tactics. These ad formats are likely to engender brand, product or company awareness or familiarity, or facilitate attitudinal change (Petty et al., 1983). These communication methods, whilst familiar to most brand managers fail to fully capitalize on the potential social media communica-

tion benefits centred on the ability to undertake two-way interactions with consumers, generate enhanced consumer engagement, brand attitude, and contribute to specific behavioral actions (e.g., product purchase; Brodie et al., 2011; Hollebeek, 2011a). Illustrative respondent quotes included: Many corporations want in, but they do not know how. They feel as if they are missing something and therefore feel the need to jump on board but without understanding social media and its uses and limitations. One on one fully interactive conversation with customers will help corporations/companies to maintain their customers and gain new ones by the powerful new marketing technique, the word of

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mouth. By listening to their customers, companies will have a heads up on any issues and keep their customers satisfied. At the end of the day, I think that it helps if the media planner thinks ‘conversation’ versus campaign’ as the latter is typically short-lived and the former is representative of the start or continuation of a relationship. Although the true value of social media may only be realized through leveraging two-way, interactive communication to develop (prospective) customer relationships, the development of a relationship is a complex process. Relationship variables extensively addressed in the literature include commitment, trust, co-operation, the existence of mutual goals, citizenship behaviors and consumer satisfaction (e.g., Wilson, 1995). The following respondent quote illustrates this assertion: ...key concepts associated with success in the social media space include: credibility, creativity, relevancy, frequency, permission and measurability. Where an organization has pre-existing relationships with focal message recipients, the specific form of social media interactivity may require adaptation, relative to that employed for new brand users, followers or audiences.

The Recipient (Receiver) Consumers use social media largely as a means of maintaining and enhancing their relationships with salient others, including friends, family and organizations, and to exchange information (Ridings and Gefen, 2004). Social media is therefore of growing importance to organizations seeking to engage in effective communications with their

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customers. However, this communication process will vary depending upon the specific relationship type, and consequently, the recipient’s information needs. Payne and Ballantyne (1991) propose a framework describing the relationship level between a consumer and a company, which ranges from prospect to customer, client, supporter, advocate and finally, partner. The responses generated in this study highlighted the importance of employing a variety of approaches based on the current status of a particular customer relationship. In social media, specific distinct levels of customer relationship depth may also be observed, as illustrated by the following respondent quotes: I follow some of my favourite brands on Twitter, and some offer special incentives for customers who engage via this social media platform. I am open to the interaction with brands on Facebook and Twitter because I allow them into my world. I either follow them [Twitter] or have become a fan [Facebook]. I understand the platform I am using and I have carefully picked the brands, most of which I use on a weekly or daily bases. Findings also indicated that the current relationship depth does not only influence the ease and types of customer interactions, it also has a number of implications relating to the specific message content posted on social media pages. To illustrate, communicating with ‘prospects’ who have relatively little company knowledge necessitates the use of high original attention grabbing stimuli to capture attention and establish of consumer awareness; while advocates may be more efficiently targeted by using specific messages such as reward points for their organizational, or brand-related, citizenship behaviors. For some companies advocates have a deep connection


with the company, which generates their active and voluntary participation in the communication process, such as by disseminating company- or brand-related information and events to their social media networks. Observing the students at the college I have noticed headlines bordering on the absurd will draw their attention in Twitter. Facebook seems to be the social media utilized when they are relaxing and have more time to take a break from work or school. Once again unique headlines may attract their attention and get them to click through to the rest of the ad. I also enjoy “becoming a fan of” a brand on Facebook (for instance, I’m a “fan” of Macintosh). That’s something I actively choose to do – not something that’s pushed upon me. Further, the critical importance of opinion leaders was evident (Burt, 1999). In the social media space researchers have recognized that key people exist who have a disproportional number of social connections and act as key hubs for the maintenance and enhancement of information flows within their networks (Murdough, 2009). To illustrate, some of these users are active bloggers or Tweeters, with large numbers of followers who actively seek out their content. The importance of these opinion leaders is magnified based on their large numbers of associates who have access to their real-time communications. However, a danger also exists for marketers in attempting to influence these opinion leaders, as they are difficult to control and could therefore generate undesirable messages over which the marketer has relatively little control. The following respondent quotes are illustrative of these findings:

..., the true power of the social network is harnessed when brands, non-profits or other such organizations are able to either influence the influencers or become the influencers, themselves. A word of caution: in undertaking efforts to influence the influencers, one had better have a good answer to the inevitable question – “Why should I work with you on this?”. While some might be tempted to pay for such services, doing so has backfired on more than one occasion and caused the organization irreparable harm to their social media reputations / credibility. My suggestion is to identify something else that the influencer values and push that button. Moreover, social media is an increasingly important source of information. For instance, consumers’ high (and growing) usage and ease of access to this medium are contributing too many individuals choosing to replace more traditional media (such as newspapers) with social media (e.g., Twitter for news consumption; Pavlou and Stewart, 2000). Consequently, the information disseminated via social media is increasingly used to inform consumers’ consideration sets. However, based on the unique characteristics of social media, consumers have the power to disengage from the company without the company being aware of this (e.g., when a consumer likes a company on Facebook, but chooses to hide updates from the company on his/her newsfeed). Further, electronic word-of-mouth is difficult to control for managers and is likely to stay around for a long period of time (Gruen et al., 2006). The following respondent quotes serve to illustrate these findings: From a corporate perspective, it is increasingly difficult for internal marketing/public relations

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departments to monitor the message and control a story. Individuals are constantly talking about your product, your brand. So, the concept of a “controlled key message” is out the window in an age of social media. Social media will change corporate communication to be more accurate by forcing corporations to pay close attention and monitor their reputation as any act, good or bad, is instantly broadcasted worldwide. Social media provides a tool for developing or enhancing relationships and eliciting feedback from consumers. Further, it is also a valuable source of consumer information (Ahren and Coyle, 2011). To illustrate, data mining of social media information can provide invaluable information about consumers and their demographic, psychographic and behavioral dynamics; thus highlighting the importance of social media for market segmentation purposes. Furthermore, organizations increasingly use social media to engage consumers, such as by eliciting feedback on advertisements, message content and new product ideas (Sawhney et al., 2005). To illustrate, Social media has… benefited companies by allowing them to gather customer feedback in real-time and adjust products and services based on that feedback. It’s (media platform providers having access and rights to your personal information), been going on forever. It’s no different than credit cards selling your info to other companies. In my experience, there are few recipients of such communications who would take issue with a brand reaching out to them as long as said recipients had previously granted permission (e.g. basic opt-in) and were being contacted only when the brand had something to say or offer that would add value in some way to the life of the consumer.

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The Message While social media provides a relatively costeffective, real-time communication tool with global reach, a number of challenges are also inherent in the use of social media as a marketing communications tool (Tuten and Solomon, 2012). As noted by a number of the respondents, the level of perceived quality and consumer acceptance of the communicated corporate social media identity is crucial. Drawing on the extended (services) marketing mix, a social media page may be viewed as a form of ‘physical evidence’ (Melewar and Saunders, 2000), and a poorly executed social media presence may be perceived as worse than no presence at all. As such, companies are required to trade off the costs of developing a social media presence and identity, and the costs and risks of maintaining this presence (Kaplan and Haenlein, 2010). I think a robust social media presence creates a better image of a company and elevates my personal opinion of the company. It sends a message to customers, like me that “they get it.” I also find that I engage with the social media savvy media companies more often, because they are top of mind. This observation generates the question of how the effectiveness of specific social media campaigns can be assessed, which represents an issue of key importance to contemporary managers (Tuten and Solomon, 2012). For example, given the potentially wide applicability of social media, the on-going stampede in the advertising industry to develop and promote pertinent social media metrics is not surprising. Companies are promoting traditional e-metrics, such as page views, hits and cost-per-click, as well as more sophisticated consumer engagement measures (Brodie et al., 2012; Hollebeek, 2011b). Specifically, effective metrics should provide insights into to the specific organizational objec-


tive for undertaking the social media campaign. Moreover, the orchestration of an integrated media/marketing campaign remains pivotal; and as such, social media may or may not be the most appropriate means of achieving specific marketing objectives. Our respondents noted: In my experience, success in this space requires a multi-pronged attack. While buying hyper-targeted media in the form of creatively executed interruption ads is one way to go, it is not enough on its own. The landing zone is another key, post-click through ingredient as this is typically the forum in which your target audience will interact with your organization. I’ve seen far too many cases of the destination execution missing the mark by miles when it comes to the needs and wants of the target audience. In fact, some would argue that the ad unit itself should serve as the self-contained point of user engagement rather than as a gateway. Marketers are learning with each new technological venture on how to best utilize the resources available. Social media [is] just such another venue, and is a viable option for marketers to use to communicate with its consumers. The difference with social media though, it that it becomes much more personal. Regarding the message content, the two key components of any creative advertising message still apply: (1) Originality; and (2) Appropriateness (Ford, 1996; Kilgour and Koslow, 2009; Mumford and Gustafson, 1988; Mumford and Simonton, 1997; Runco, 2004). However, in social media many respondents stressed the need to think about the unfolding consumer conversations, rather than the overall campaign; whilst acknowledging that organizations still need to consider the orchestration of the complete range of communication tools to ensure message effectiveness. To illustrate: There have been very few true marketing success stories that have developed entirely via social media or some other “viral” means. The brand

message is still important. Today it is more about the orchestration of traditional and new media to maximize impact. At the heart of a successful social media campaign is creating conversation. If companies can effectively attract customers to their social media outlets, they can start to have meaningful conversations with them via social media, and create goodwill and, ultimately, loyalty. Consumers are using social media to build closer relationships with brands. Consumers now have the option to connect with brands in a variety of ways and conduct conversations with them via customer reviews, Twitter feedback, etc. Through the development of mobile applications and more dynamic social media tools consumers will become even more engaged and most likely increase purchases and interaction with these brands, driving revenue. As noted above, message originality will depend in part on the recipient’s attributes, with an increased focus on originality aspects required for prospects. Conversely, existing brand advocates are expected to require a greater focus on the appropriateness of brand-related message elements, as well as the maintenance of an on-going dialogue in order to further build and develop the relationship. However, in some cases customers do not desire to have in-depth relationships with the organizations providing specific goods or services to them (Stone et al., 1996); thus necessitating caution on the part of marketers, for instance so as to not be viewed to invade consumers’ privacy with unwanted content. Second, based on the relatively embryonic state of social media communications a perceived novelty or originality effect may be observed, which may generate comparatively high (initial) levels of consumer attention to specific social media communications. Despite this observation, however, the substantial level of clutter observed in the social media space may serve to reduce the 37


potential effectiveness of these communications (Solis and Breakenridge, 2009). Concurring with this latter observation, the respondents noted the need for social media messages to incur a high level of perceived novelty, as most consumers using this media are relatively reluctant to being advertised to. To illustrate these contentions we provide the following respondent statements: I think that consumers react well to corporate new media, especially when it’s relevant and “cool”. As long as the use doesn’t become invasive and too salesy, consumers are very receptive to the methods. The reason I participate in social media is to connect with friends and colleagues - not to be advertised to. I tend to ignore online ads and rarely pay attention to the ads that are seemingly taking over Facebook (my social media site of choice). However, the form of communication is more personal than a banner ad, I am more apt to pay attention to it. For instance, I’m often invited to join Facebook “groups” or attend events put on by local companies and non-profits, and because that form of communication seems more personal, I will typically give it my full attention. This animosity toward corporate advertising in social media is also crucial to determining appropriate message content from a consumer perspective (Kelly et al., 2010). Hence for social media communications to be successful companies must be viewed by consumers to not be selling their offerings, but provide a level of added value to their consumer community (Homans, 1958; Hollebeek, 2011b). Correspondingly, a pervasive theme in the responses was consumers’ need for a soft-sell, relational approach to social media communications, and the need to provide information of value to the community at large: Social media advertising has to come subtly and “under the radar.” Burger King’s campaign for “Ditch 10 friends on Facebook” was ingenious, 38

for it was an interactive way to get the consumer involved in the brand - yet also promote the brand as well. It’s interesting, for social media exists so that people can relate to other people - yet, when you throw marketing in the mix, it’s almost as if you are breaking that “relational” contract for these sites. So, as a media planner, you need to be “sly” and creative with your content - yet also bold enough so that consumers see and respond to your ad. When I find brands that do a great deal of interaction “not selling” to clients, I’m influenced and say they’re on it, they get it! Communication only works if someone is there to listen. Personally, I am hard to communicate with considering I have no interest in being bugged by advertisers while I am using social media. It’s also critically important that companies (old and new) use social media as a tool to truly communicate and share knowledge and expertise, not simply sell and push their product. Effective social media involves contributing something valuable to the community at large – not just self-promotion. The above statements centre on the importance of community in social media communications (Brodie et al., 2012). Specifically, effective social media communications have the potential to (and do tend to) go viral within consumers’ networks of contacts within specific social media platforms (e.g. Facebook). Based on its relational nature, social media may be viewed to have greater application to particular social or conspicuous categories (e.g. new technology, apparel), relative to those consumed privately (e.g. medications); although relatively little is known in this area to date. To illustrate: Recently I posted a picture of some really hot shoes and captioned it “Buy these? Yes or No.” I had so many responses. But if I were able to add a link to where these shoes could be purchased,


I think a couple people would have bought them right then, just guessing by their response to how much they loved the shoes. In sum, appropriateness centres on the development of social media messages that are perceived to be relevant by its target audiences. As some social vehicle options provide detailed information on the target audience, such as by using cookies to track specific online behaviors (Sessler, 1996). However, irrespective of the privacy issues generated, there are also problems regarding the degree of customization and cost inherent in the tracking of consumer movements online. Hence while social media may provide high levels of interactivity with consumers (Brodie et al., 2011), this will typically come at a significant resource cost. The literature suggests that social media provides a useful platform for two-way interactive communications (Sawhney et al., 2005; Kaplan and Haenlein, 2010). Correspondingly, many of the respondents noted that the true value of social media was in its use as an interactive communication device, despite its cost: As a new company, I’d want to make sure that I could easily be found by potential customers. As such, I’d have an official Facebook page, and would also secure a Twitter “handle” and regularly “Tweet”. I’d monitor activity and posts on those sites and respond promptly. There is a cost, but what is the cost of not doing it?

The Media There is an understood arrangement with traditional media that advertising comes with the access to content. That understanding doesn’t exist in the digital realm. Consumers can choose to “like” a brand or not. But there may need to be some type of incentive, as people have very few brands that play an extremely large role in their lives.”

While the younger generation tends to accept that their information will be accessed and used to allow for improved targeting of advertising of promotional communications in social media marketing, they exhibit reluctance to feeling advertised to on an on-going basis on social media sites. This reluctance implies that any corporate social media communications need to be interconnected with consumers’ motivations to use social media, such as entertainment or informational needs (Kelly et al., 2010). While social media can be used to facilitate the process of developing consumer relationships, it typically lacks a direct sales focus. Hence social media are primarily used to communicate with key target audiences, establish or enhance brand or company familiarity, and to facilitate brand or company-related recall and recognition. I feel that brands communicating with me through my Facebook account or other means is acceptable. For instance, if there is an advertisement that pops up on my Facebook account home page, it is my choice if I want to explore it further. The advertisement could be a product I will be interested in, based upon my interests or other personal information I have made available to Facebook. Once again, it is my choice and not something I have to do or participate in if I don’t want to. That is precisely what the promise of social media is - a one-to-one conversation opportunity. But will consumers prefer one-to-one conversations with friends or with brands? It is a massive task for an advertiser to truly communicate with a large population of consumers, so we’ll see how that plays out. While social media has the potential to generate a wide range of interactive, relational communication processes, the establishment of these also comes at a significant financial development and maintenance cost.

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Highly relevant content and messaging is certainly possible in Social Media. Perhaps more important is communication that is created by listening. Social is an opportunity to have a dialog with consumers. The communications that can be achieved via social media could be of high quality if companies stay true to their marketing promises and don’t deceive consumers. It can be one to one and instantaneous. Trust will be a major component. Another related issue noted by one of the respondents was that social media interactions may serve to reduce consumers’ perceived formality between the organization and the individual, which may contribute to generating enhanced consumer expectations related to focal offerings. Consequently, achieving customer delight or satisfaction becomes more challenging (Rust and Oliver, 2000). To illustrate: It has grown beyond a simple communication tool and a fun way to share vacation photos - it is creating real change in society and how we consume media. There is an expectation that all communication should be instantaneous. Social media is also predicated on the expectation that we should all be connected all the time. Social media makes it harder to “unplug. As previously stated, social media has created an expectation of constant connectivity - and that can be mentally and physically draining for many people. One way organizations are attempting to overcome the high cost inherent in running social media communications is by providing semi-customized interactive elements (e.g., Tippex’ ‘Shoot the Bear” YouTube-only campaign).

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Specifically, this campaign allows the customer to interact with the advertisement whilst being given a limited range of standardized options, which are developed based on target consumers’ specific cognitive network models. As a result, the consumer is expected to feel that the promotion is customized for him/her; whilst the company is reducing its cost relative to that associated with developing individual interactive tools. Finally, it is important to understand how people are using social media. An interesting observation from the focus group discussion was that most respondents indicated looking at their social media pages multiple times each hour (i.e., not just multiple times daily). However, whilst doing so, they reported, typically, undertaking other, concurrent activities, such as work or using alternate webpages or media. Consequently, whilst users reported feeling highly engaged with their social media platforms (e.g., Twitter), the depth of this engagement may be restricted by the fact that consumers are often multi-tasking while using their specific social media pages (Hollebeek, 2012). Overall, the majority of the respondents stated that their level of engagement and depth of processing for social media interactions was relatively low. Consequently, organizations are faced with the challenge of continually developing highly appropriate, original content for their social media communications. To illustrate: Multi-tasking and the brevity of communications appear to be affecting the depth of processing of information - particularly among the younger generations. I do think that technologies are changing us. As a PR person, I understand the importance of “sound bites,” but sound bites are dwindling down to nothing. Attention spans and levels of absorption are probably smaller now than in past years/generations.


I think there is so much out there now that it almost has made everyone a little ADD (attention deficit disorder) - so I think it is that much harder for advertisers to really reach a person and then GET IN to the minds of the person. Summarizing these findings, we develop a revised communications model for social media communications in the next section.

CONCEPTUAL MODEL Based on the exploratory findings we develop a modified communications model for specific social media contexts. Specifically, the unique potential for engaging in interactive, two-way consumer communication processes using social media is highlighted in this new conceptual framework. While in many respects social media simply represents a specific new media format, as history has shown with the advent of radio and television, new media in themselves may have radical impacts on both businesses and societies. Specifically, new media change the way in which individuals interact with each other. The focus of our proposed adapted social media communication framework is on identifying the key communication aspects, which require modification from the traditional communication model as a result of the emergence and rise of social media.

Managerial Implications In relation to the sender we highlight two central elements in social media contexts. First, as the true value of social media is that it can provide a basis for conversations to take place directly between an organization and consumers (including via blogs, Facebook pages, Tweets, etc.) the attributes presented to the consumer via social media communications will have a significant impact on the organization’s brand perception. Further, organiza-

tions need to understand that the potential impact of an errant message or tweet can rapidly spread virally, which poses a significantly lower risk in more traditional media contexts. Consequently, the need for selecting and disseminating appropriate content within social media contexts is crucial for reaching desired levels of organizational social media performance. Relatively little is known regarding the key qualities of a successful Twitter or blog-based campaign. Despite the lack of understanding in this nascent area, we deduce from the literature addressing critical success factors in more traditional media forms that these would include the basic attributes of organizational empathy, credibility, trustworthiness, and responsiveness. In some respects this need for disseminating credible social media content may represent a potential advantage to the smaller businesses where the owner or a senior manager may act as the focal social media spokesperson. The ultimate aim is to develop a perception of a relationship between the social media spokesperson and consumers based upon the fundamental goals of relationship marketing of trust, co-operation and mutual goals over time. One of the major costs of social media is the level of control that can be lost to the organization. This is especially problematic within a social media context given the expectation of immediate responses by the consumer. This immediacy, combined with the large potential impact of negative communications, makes the determination of the organizational social media spokesperson crucial. The second sender consideration includes the organization’s objectives. Social media represents a wide range of activities and media formats (e.g., ranging from YouTube clips to information updates, and blogs). Depending upon the specific organizational social media objective, different social media channels, and message approaches, are expected to generate varying levels of message effectiveness. Hence organizations will need to develop an integrated marketing communications (MIC) plan, which interrelates the different social

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and traditional media tools needed to achieve clearly defined social media campaign objectives (e.g., enhancing consumer awareness, generating increased sales). Specific resultant combinations of social media tools are required to fit with the specific social media attributes. However, research into the unique characteristics of social media channels and resultant consumer behavior impacts is still in its infancy. Regarding the social media message, in many respects nothing has changed, relative to the process outlined in the traditional communication model. To illustrate, any message irrespective of media must contain the right combination of originality and appropriateness (Kilgour and Kowlow, 2009). The specific appropriate balance is contingent upon factors also observed for more traditional media channels, including the product type, the level of consumer involvement and engagement, and the ability of the media format to stimulate a consumer response. The challenge with social media is that in most cases the consumer’s primary reason for using the media is social, and unless corporate communications are able to add value to the network community, or the individual recipient’s social status, then it may be viewed as intrusive and unwelcome. Essentially, corporate communications may be viewed as noise, and unless consumers find value in those communications either through an entertainment value, or meeting a direct need such as information, they will tend to have a low propensity to engage with the particular corporate communication. As with traditional media, this can lead to the need for highly original content which can crowd out the appropriateness of the message and with it, the key brand-related information. One of the advantages of social media is that it has the potential to not only have a number of visible cues including color, sound and movement, but also includes the potential for interactivity and increasing levels of message customization. Specifically, greater levels of user-generated content can be encouraged via this media with

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the advantages of higher levels of involvement and engagement. However, based on the observed knowledge gaps, the need for undertaking further academic research in these emerging areas is crucial. Indeed just one such area of research is the respondents’ indication that the effectiveness of social media communications may be reducing as people get accustomed to this new media and the environment becomes more and more cluttered. So, as in the early days of television, while initially people may have clustered around their set looking at the advertisements, this effect soon died off. With respect to the recipient (receiver) we identify a number of interrelated new issues in social media contexts. First, any organization needs to identify the current level of relationship they have with the potential recipient. Using the established academic literature we can view any communication recipient as being anywhere along the continuum from prospect to partner. For organizations social media communications to prospects will need to be different to those for strong existing brand partners. Specifically, prospects will tend to require messages that focus far more on attention grabbing stimuli and may require incentives and other means to encourage engagement. For partners, by contrast, an established relationship exists, thus generating a need to maintain (or enhance) trust and perceived mutual benefit from engaging with the organization or brand are critical. The partner’s self-concept may well be tied in with their consumption behavior and social media can be used to reinforce their feelings of self-worth through providing information that enhances their peer esteem. Targeting, therefore, needs to consider the customer’s specific relationship status. So while social media allows for the potential for relationship marketing to occur, it is crucial that the organization identifies the current state of their relationship with each customer to determine the appropriate message and social media method. Likewise message components, specially the creative elements of the social media campaign,


must reflect the existing knowledge and perceptions of the target audience (Sasser, Koslow & Kilgour 2013). These targeted communications and the developments of a relationship are of course not cheap. It would be erroneous to assume that relationship marketing making use of social media will be substantially less resources dependent than the use of traditional media. Trust is at the forefront of any long-term relationship and the building of trust requires on-going communications based upon mutual benefit (Homans, 1958). An occasional Tweet may excite a follower but this does not necessitate feelings of empathy, trust and an advocacy relationship. From an academic perspective a continuum of social media tools and effects would be invaluable to an organization. Given the high resource costs of developing relationships via social media what is apparent in this research is the importance of the opinion leader. In the social media environment the people who are seen as experts by peers on a particular product area; that is, computers or smart devices, have potentially got a far greater reach than they would have under the traditional media environment. Social media sites, such as blogs and Facebook, provide a relatively low-cost media with significantly greater reach than was possible when using more traditional media. The ability of organizations to reach these opinion leaders or those at the centre of the network hub subsequently has the potential for significant payoffs. It must also be recognized that while these opinion leaders have become more crucial their potential influence can be either positive of negative. Moreover the data mining potential of social media means the identification of key opinion leaders and network hubs is possible. Correct targeting of these opinion leaders and developing interactive communications has the potential for significant word of mouth benefits at a relatively low cost. The identification of the requirements of these opinion leaders (which may well be purely information based to support their

expert status and therefore enhance their selfconcept) is therefore a key targeting consideration. Essentially the organization must remember the situational factors of the user, primarily the fact that the user is using the social media as a social communication tool and hence the organization must provide social value. This social value should therefore consider the product context, the informational context, and the value of any information to the social community. A final point is that organizations must continue to realize is that while social media is rapidly changing the communication landscape, it is in some respects just a new media and still follows the basic communication principles. However, unlike traditional advertising mediums it allows a degree of potential interactivity that, while still inferior in many respects to face to face communications, is superior in many respects to traditional mass advertising mediums. Finally, we raise a comment regarding the specific types of lines used in Figure 2. First, the fine, full lines with two directional arrows between the message elements, originality and appropriateness, and the different recipients as well as the opinion leaders. This indicates the message requirements to the different groups. For opinion leaders as they have high levels of knowledge of the product category they are more likely to be responsive to messages that focus more on appropriateness content as are people who have a more established relationship with the organization such as users or advocates. For prospects higher levels of originality will be needed to elicit attention. As with the other lines there is also potential for the recipient to be actively engaged and even take over the message development process. The wide dotted lines with two directional arrows indicate the potential for two-way interactions as per between the various recipients and the sender (the organization) of the message. In the case of the opinion leader the aim would be to ensure the true value of social media is achieved by establishing a conversation rather than the tra-

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ditional one way communication format. Whether this can be achieved for recipients with a less developed relationship with the organization will depend upon the level of involvement that can be elicited by the social media tool(s) utilized. Finally, the black one directional arrows indicate at one way effect, such as the effect of noise on the interactive process.

CONTRIBUTIONS AND FUTURE RESEARCH DIRECTIONS We expect this research to contribute insights to marketing-, social media- and broader information and communications technology (ICT)-related scholars and professionals alike. Specifically, by outlining key areas of convergence and divergence of specific social media communications from those observed in more traditional communications processes, we endeavor to raise scholarly and managerial awareness of the distinct potential needs, dynamics and best practices for the use of social media in focal marketing communications. Overall, the findings suggested that to understand the unique nature and dynamics typifying social media, and its key ensuing implications, consideration needs to be given to those specific characteristics beyond those inherent in traditional promotional communications. As such, this research serves as a catalyst for the undertaking of further research in this area, which may wish to adopt the proposed conceptual model of the adapted social media communications framework introduced in Figure 2. Despite its contributions, this research is also subject to a number of limitations. For example, the rapidly evolving nature of the social media environment engenders a need for the continuous investigation and cross-validation of specific findings in this area, including those reported in this chapter, to ensure on-going relevance of the

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reported findings. Second, the exploratory nature of this research results in limited generalizability of the reported findings. Hence future, large-scale validation of the documented findings is required to further advance insights into this emerging area. Moreover, future research may wish to adopt samples typified by distinct (e.g., demographic, psychographic) characteristics to determine the degree of convergence of the findings with those reported in this paper. Third, while cross-sectional research may provide useful, pioneering insights, future longitudinal research is required to attain further insights into the development of consumers’ social media-based communication processes and behaviors over time. Fourth, while the reported questionnaires asked questions using the specific term ‘social media’ the majority of the respondents referred to specific social media or social networking sites (e.g., Facebook, specific blogs). Hence care needs to be taken regarding the application of these exploratory findings to the broader set of potential social media, such as wikis and Internet forums, which may have a lesser relevance in the context of the present data (e.g. based on distinct consumer motivations for using those specific social media, etc.). Moreover, this paper addressed the potentially significant role of opinion leaders in disseminating social media messages to their networks of associates. Hence future research may wish to explore and quantify the specific effects accruing from focal opinion leaders and their associated behaviors and dynamics in social media communications. Furthermore, relatively little is known regarding the specific tools, applications and tactics organizations either currently have at their disposal, or may develop, that serve to generate optimal consumer-perceived value in social media communications. Further, to what extent do consumers’ online and offline brand-related behaviors (e.g., word-of-mouth) converge? How


may specific cultural differences impact upon consumer preferences for focal social media communications? In conclusion, our preliminary findings suggest that the undertaking of successful social media communications, to a large extent, is based upon highly similar success factors (e.g. recipient knowledge, appropriateness, originality) as those observed in more traditional media communications. However, despite the observed similarities, we outline a number of differences (e.g., the highly interactive- two-way engagement potential inherent in social media, the communication requirements of different recipients), which give rise to the need for an adapted social media communications model (Figure 2). We expect our proposed conceptual model to provide relevance not only to scholars undertaking research in this fruitful, emerging area, but also to practitioners seeking to optimize the performance of their social media communications.

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KEY TERMS AND DEFINITIONS Communications Model: The traditional communication model includes four key factors: (1) The sender of the message; (2) The recipient of the message; (3) The message itself; and (4) The medium by which the message is sent (Stern, 1994). According to the model, the sender encodes a desired message, which is sent to the recipient via a specific medium. The recipient then decodes and

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takes a specific understanding from the message content. Further, external factors prohibiting the message from getting across to its target audience (i.e., interference) are known as noise. Conceptual Model: A theoretical, commonly simplified, representation of a specific phenomenon, which is designed to facilitate the explanation, and/or prediction, of such phenomena. Consumer Engagement: The level of a consumer’s cognitive, emotional and behavioral investment in their interactions with specific objects. Key consumer engagement dimensions include immersion (cognitive investment), passion (emotional investment), and activation (behavioral investment; Hollebeek, 2011b).

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Social Media: “A group of InternetInternetbased applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of WebWeb 2.0, and which allow the creation and exchange of user-generated content.” This includes a range of social media tools such as Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn and blogs (Kaplan and Haenlein, 2010; p. 61). Thematic Analysis: Data analytical technique designed to develop relevant themes from qualitative data. In contrast to content analysis, thematic analysis incorporates the entire conversation as the potential unit of analysis (Thomsen, Straubhaar and Bolyard, 1998).


APPENDIX A Focus Group Facilitators’ Question Guide Questions 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15.

Do you all use social media? How would you characterize a person who uses versus does not use social media? Have companies tried to reach you via social media? How have they tried to do this? Have you actively sought out company material via social media? How do you think social media has influenced your perceptions of companies? Some commentators note that social media communications are more suited to companies that already have strongly involved loyal customers, what do you think? If you were a new company how would you use social media as a communication tool? If you were a well-established company how would you use social media as a communication tool? How do you feel about media platform providers having access and rights to your personal information? What do you think about the quality of communications that can be achieved via social media? Do you ever think social media will replace the existing traditional media? Do you think the advents of new technologies are changing the depth of processing of consumers? What are the negative aspects of social media for society? How do you think social media will evolve as a corporate communicate tool into the future? Have you actually ever bought something due to social media, either directly or indirectly?

APPENDIX B Question Guide (Study 2) 1. Have you ever used any form of social media? (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Second Life, blogs, Web forums, podcasts, wiki’s etc.) a. If Yes, go to Question 2 b. If No, go to Question 7 2. Are you aware of any companies that have tried to reach you via social media? a. If Yes: How have they tried to do this? 3. Have you actively sought out company material via social media? a. If Yes: How have you done this? 4. How do you think social media has influenced your perceptions of companies? 5. Have you ever bought something due to social media, either directly or indirectly? a. If Yes: What have you bought? 6. What do you think about the quality of communications that can be achieved via social media? 7. Some commentators note that social media communications are more suited to companies that already have strongly involved loyal customers, what do you think?

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8. If you were a new company (please state the type of company you are relating your answer to, e.g. sports good, fashion, cell phone, etc.), how would you use social media as a communication tool? 9. If you were a well-established company (please state the type of company you are relating your answer to i.e. sports good, cell phone...), how would you use social media as a communication tool? 10. How do you feel about social media platform providers (such as Facebook, Twitter, etc. having access and rights to your personal information? 11. Do you ever think social media will replace the existing traditional media? 12. Do you think there are any negative aspects of social media for society? 13. Do you think the advent of new technologies is changing the depth of processing of consumers? 14. How do you think social media will evolve as a corporate communicate tool into the future? 15. How would you characterize a person who uses, versus does not use, social media?

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