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Summarizing the extant research on marketing communications, social media and word of mouth, this book clarifies terms often incorrectly and interchangeably used by scholars and marketers and provides principles of effective marketing communications on social media for different brand types and in different geographic markets.
Conversations among consumers on social media now have an unprecedented ability to shape attitudes toward people, products, services and brands, and to influence buying decisions. Consequently, the digital era brings to the fore the importance of interpersonal relations and the power of personal recommendations. This book is the first to empirically investigate how the form and appeal type of marketing communications in social networks influence electronic word of mouth, including an examination of brand type and geographic market. The author focuses on motivations and reveals why people exchange opinions about brands, products, and services in the digital environment. The book summarizes the existing research on marketing communications, social media and word of mouth, and provides cutting-edge knowledge based on the analysis of the actual behavior of consumers and rules of effective marketing communications on social media.
This research-based book is written for scholars and researchers within the fields of marketing and communication. It may also be of interest to a wider audience interested in understanding how to use social media to influence electronic word of mouth.
Anna Bianchi, PhD, is an experienced marketing professional. For over 13 years, she has been developing and implementing marketing communication strategies of global brands, working in both a marketing department and an advertising agency in Poland, Italy and the US. As an international expert in digital and social media marketing, as well as the marketing communications of luxury brands, she has led some award-winning projects. Her academic research and publications are focused on social media and word of mouth. She is a business consultant and trainer, and lectures on innovative marketing communications to both university students and marketing professionals.
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It aims to reflect the evolving role of marketing and bring together the most innovative work across all aspects of the marketing ‘mix’– from product development, consumer behaviour, marketing analysis, branding, and customer relationships, to sustainability, ethics and the new opportunities and challenges presented by digital and online marketing.
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Driving Consumer Engagement in Social Media
Influencing Electronic Word of Mouth
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Driving Consumer Engagement in Social Media
Influencing Electronic Word of Mouth
Anna Bianchi
First published 2021 by Routledge
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ISBN: 978-0-367-61310-5 (hbk)
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3.1 Electronic word of mouth 39
3.1.1 Why do people spread eWOM on social media? 43
3.1.2 Why do people search for eWOM on social media? 44
3.1.3 What are the consequences of eWOM on social media for consumers? 45
3.1.4 What are the consequences of eWOM on social media for companies? 45
3.2 Word-of-mouth marketing 45
3.2.1 Viral reach 49
4.1 What to examine and why? 62
4.1.1 The influence of marketing communication form and appeal type on eWOM in social networks 62
4.1.2 eWOM and marketing communication effects on social networks in different product categories 63
4.1.3 Marketing communications of luxury brands on social media in an international context 63
4.1.4 Differences between countries in social media usage and eWOM 64
4.2 Research setting 66
4.2.1 Facebook 66
4.2.2 Cosmetic market 69
4.2.3 Luxury brands 70
4.2.4 The US, Italian and Polish markets 75
4.3 Research method 80
4.4 Measuring electronic word of mouth on social media 96
6 The influence of marketing communications in social media on electronic word of mouth
6.1 Marketing communication form 123
6.2 Marketing communication appeals 130
6.3 Brand type 141
6.4 Geographic market 149
6.5 Discussion 161
1.1
1.2
1.4 Share of advertising spending in Italy by medium
4.1 Conceptual model
4.2 Hofstede’ s framework: Score comparison between the US, Italy and Poland
4.3 Trompenaars’ model of cultural differences: comparison between the US, Italy and Poland
5.1 Relative frequency of brand post form
5.2 Relative frequency of brand post form for mass-market and luxury brands
5.3 Relative frequency of brand post form within the Polish, Italian and US markets
5.4 Relative frequency of marketing communication appeals
5.5 Relative frequency of marketing communication appeals for mass-market and luxury brands
5.6 Relative frequency of marketing communication appeals within the Polish, Italian and US markets
5.7 Relative frequency of brand post appeals
5.8 Relative frequency of brand post appeals for mass-market and luxury brands
5.9 Relative frequency of brand post appeals within the Polish, Italian and US markets
5.10 Sentiment analysis of brand posts
5.11 Average comment rate and share rate for brand post form
5.12 Average comment rate and share rate for marketing communication appeals
5.13 Average comment rate and share rate for brand post appeals
6.1 Product category – comment rate: means plot
6.2 Product category – share rate: means plot
6.3 Day of the week – share rate: means plot
6.4 Communication form – comment rate:
6.5 Communication form – share rate: means
6.6 Communication form – product category –
6.7 Communication appeal – comment rate: means
6.8 Brand post appeal – comment rate: means
6.9 Communication appeal – share rate:
6.10
6.11 Communication appeal – communication
6.12 Communication appeal – communication
6.13 Communication appeal – product category –
6.15 Brand type – communication form – share
6.16
6.17 Brand
6.18
6.22
6.23
6.24
6.25
6.26
6.27
6.28
3.1
4.1
4.5
4.6 Marketing communication appeal classification
4.7 Marketing communication appeals vs. gratifications of eWOM on social media and using social networks
5.1
5.2
6.1
6.3 Communication form – comment rate: post-hoc
6.4 Communication form – share
6.5
6.6 Communication form – share rate:
6.7 Communication appeal – comment
6.8 Communication appeal – comment
6.9
6.10 Communication appeal – share rate:
6.11 Communication appeal – share rate: ANOVA
6.12 Communication appeal – share rate: post-hoc Tukey
6.13
6.14
6.15
6.16
6.17
Acknowledgments
This book is based on the author’ s doctoral dissertation, concluding her “Multicultural Management in the Era of Globalization” doctoral studies at the Faculty of Management, University of Warsaw (grant no. POWR.03.02.00–00-I053/16–00 within the Operational Program “Knowledge Education Development 2014–2020” financed through the structural funds of the European Union).
Introduction
Since the beginning of human society, people have given each other friendly advice based on reciprocal personal knowledge and empathy (Dichter, 1966). In marketplaces since ancient times, personal recommendations have driven the success of products, services and their sellers (Barreto, 2014). With the advent of mass media, advertising became the key form of marketing communications (Kotler & Keller, 2012; Wiktor, 2013) and the number of advertising messages started to grow exponentially. Today, advertising clutter, the relentless flow of advertising messages from offline and online media, creates informational noise in which people get lost. As a consequence, when looking for advice on purchase decisions, consumers are again turning to each other (Kimmel & Kitchen, 2014; Plummer, 2007). Contrary to perceptions, the digital era brings to the fore the importance of interpersonal relations and “the oldest, newest marketing medium”– word of mouth (WOM) (Dellarocas, 2003; Silverman, 2005).
As the traditional modes of marketing communications appear to be losing effectiveness (Mangold & Faulds, 2009; Tkaczyk, 2013; Trusov, Bucklin, & Pauwels, 2009) and the number of users of social media, where brands and products are discussed, is constantly growing, marketers and scholars are particularly interested in understanding how to use social media in order to influence electronic word of mouth (eWOM) (Morra, Ceruti, Chierici, & Di Gregorio, 2018; Schivinski & Dabrowski, 2016; Trusov et al., 2009). Given its enormous reach and accessibility, eWOM has now an unprecedented ability to shape consumers ’ attitudes toward brands, products, services and organizations, as well as to influence their buying decisions.
But how can eWOM be influenced by marketing communications on social media? This book directly addresses this question, which is scarcely investigated in the academic literature. Prior academic research poorly addresses the influence of the form and appeal types of marketing communications on eWOM in social networks, as well as eWOM and marketing communication effects on social networks for different product categories. There is also a lack of research on the marketing communications of luxury brands on social media and research incorporating the differences in social media usage and eWOM in an international context.
By filling this research gap, the purpose of this study is to assess the influence of marketing communications in social media on eWOM Specifically, the main research problem is to understand how marketing communications in social networks influence eWOM, while considering the communication form, communication appeal, brand type and geographic market
Content analysis of 1,170 Facebook posts of mass-market and luxury cosmetic brands within three different geographic markets (the US, Poland and Italy) is used to answer the research question. The selected research method allows findings to be derived from the analysis of actual brand activities and actual consumer behavior, which is a significant advantage compared to studies based on declarative data.
The theoretical foundation of this study is based on Uses and Gratifications (U&G) theory –“one of the most influential theories in the field of communication research” (Ruggiero, 2000, p. 26) and considered to be the most appropriate theory to explain why people choose specific media (Ruggiero, 2000; Shao, 2009). This theory is particularly suited for the study of the Internet (Johnson & Kaye, 2003; Stafford, Stafford, & Schkade, 2004) and has been widely employed to examine why and how people use social media (Lee & Ma, 2012; Wagner, Baccarella, & Voigt, 2017; Whiting & Williams, 2013). According to U&G theory, media usage is guided by the psychological and social needs people seek to satisfy (Katz, Blumler, & Gurevitch, 1999). Needs motivate audiences to use specific media in order to obtain specific gratifications. The explanatory basis for U&G researchers are motivations –“drives, urges, wishes, or desires which initiate the sequence of events known as behavior” (Bayton, 1958, p. 282). Motivations reflect the gratifications people seek and potentially obtain from media use (Sundar & Limperos, 2013). In the current study, it is argued that eWOM on social media can be analyzed and explained on the basis of individual motivations. Different motivations lead consumers to engage in eWOM on social media to a different extent, and the engagement varies depending on the marketing communication form and appeal type, brand type and country. The marketing communication model developed by Hoffman and Novak (1996), personal behavior theories (personality traits, elaboration likelihood model), as well as social influence theory, the theory of “the strength of weak ties” (Granovetter, 1973) and Hofstede’ s theory of cultural difference are used as an additional theoretical framework. Prior studies suggest that marketing communications on social networks using videos may have the highest positive influence on eWOM and underline the crucial role of emotional appeals in marketing communications. It seems that people are more likely to exchange information about luxury brands than about mass-market brands, especially when emotional appeals are used in the marketing communications of luxury brands. Furthermore, the extant academic literature suggests that the influence of marketing communications in social networks on eWOM varies according to geographic markets. Is this actually true?
To the best of the author’ s knowledge, this is the first study to empirically investigate how the form and appeal types of marketing communications in social networks influence eWOM, including the investigation of brand type and geographic market. From a theoretical standpoint, it allows a deeper understanding of marketing communication processes in the virtual environment and their antecedents. Although there is a growing body of research on social media, due to their dynamic character practice is still ahead of the theory. Studies on social media represent an important development in the field of marketing and could have a significant impact on the future course of the discipline (Kumar, 2015).
From a practical perspective, the intent is to provide marketers with concrete guidelines on the communication content to be used on social media to achieve eWOM effects. These principles consider both mass-market and luxury brands, and the perspective of international companies; for the latter, effective marketing communications requires a deep understanding of different cultures and the way they affect consumer behavior (Okazaki & Taylor, 2013; Wa ˛ sowicz-Zaborek, 2018).
This book is composed of six chapters. The first three chapters present an overview of the extant literature. Chapter 1 is dedicated to marketing communications. It describes the essence of marketing communications, its primary goals and challenges. By presenting the U&G theory, marketing communications models and the elaboration likelihood model (ELM), this chapter lays the theoretical foundations and outlines the scope of the study. Furthermore, marketing communications mix, elements of online marketing communications, online media types and media share in advertising spending are discussed, providing an extensive overview of marketing communications from a practical perspective with a focus on changes that have occurred in the last decades.
Chapter 2 is dedicated to social media and their role in marketing communications. User Generated Content (UGC) – the key element of social media, as well as functionalities and types of social media are discussed in this chapter. Social media users ’ characteristics, motivations of social media usage and types of user behavior on social media are also examined. Last but not least, this chapter provides an overview of the concept of social media marketing, including a presentation of prior studies on the antecedents and consequences of consumers ’ brand engagement in social media, as well as on the social media adoption and content strategies used by companies.
Chapter 3 is focused on WOM – its definition, valence, people’ s motivations of spreading WOM and its role in marketing communications. Particular attention is devoted to eWOM, its definition and characteristics. A novel definition of eWOM is provided in a dedicated section in which traditional and electronic WOM are compared. Furthermore, eWOM on social media and the crucial role of online communities are discussed, including motivations for spreading and searching eWOM on social media, as well as its consequences for both consumers and companies. WOM
marketing – a new mode of communication within the marketing communications mix – is also thoroughly described. This description includes different approaches to WOM management and the main types of activities performed by companies in order to encourage WOM with a focus on clarification and comparison of different terms often incorrectly and interchangeably used in prior studies. In addition, social network characteristics as one of the factors affecting viral reach and the main approaches to model the contagion process are described.
Chapter 4 outlines the research. The first section of the chapter highlights the research gap, introduces the research problem and presents the specific research questions the study aims to address. The conceptual model depicts the analyzed relationships. This section also provides justification for the examination of social networks. The second section of the chapter provides the justification of the research setting within Facebook and the cosmetic market as well as the relevance of the examination of luxury brands and the US, Italian and Polish markets. The third section describes the research method. Among other things, it presents different classifications of the content appeals of marketing communications and introduces a novel classification of brand post appeals. Finally, the last section explains how to measure eWOM on Facebook including sentiment analysis of user comments.
Chapter 5 provides descriptive statistics for the analyzed data including frequency, measures of central tendency and measures of variability. It gives a general overview of marketing communications of the analyzed brands and eWOM effects.
Empirical results obtained from multivariate and univariate analysis of variance are described and discussed in Chapter 6. The influence of the marketing communication form, appeal type, brand type and geographic market are presented. The chapter finishes with a discussion of the influence of marketing communications in social media on eWOM.
Finally, the last section of this study provides conclusions that include a summary of the research findings, theoretical and practical implications, limitations and directions for future research.
References
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Bayton, J. A. (1958). Motivation, cognition, learning: Basic factors in consumer behavior. Journal of Marketing, 22(3), 282–289.
Dellarocas, C. (2003). The digitization of word of mouth: Promise and challenges of online feedback mechanisms. Management Science, 49(10), 1407–1424.
Dichter, E. (1966). How word-of-mouth advertising works. Harvard Business Review, 44(6), 147–166.
Granovetter, M. S. (1973). The strength of weak ties. American Journal of Sociology, 78(6), 1360–1380.
Hoffman, D. L., & Novak, T. P. (1996). Marketing in hypermedia computer-mediated environments: Conceptual foundations. Journal of Marketing, 60(3), 50–68.
Johnson, T. J., & Kaye, B. K. (2003). Around the World Wide Web in 80 ways: How motives for going online are linked to Internet activities among politically interested Internet users. Social Science Computer Review, 21(3), 304–325.
Katz, E., Blumler, J. G., & Gurevitch, M. (1999). Utilization of mass communication by individual. In J. Hanson & D. Maxcy (Eds.), Sources: Notable selections in mass media (pp. 51–59). Guilford, CT: Dushkin/McGraw-Hill.
Kimmel, A. J., & Kitchen, P. J. (2014). WOM and social media: Presaging future directions for research and practice. Journal of Marketing Communications, 20(1–2), 5–20.
Kotler, P., & Keller, K. L. (2012). Marketing management (14th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Kumar, V. (2015). Evolution of marketing as a discipline: What has happened and what to look out for. Journal of Marketing, 79(1), 1–9.
Lee, C. S., & Ma, L. (2012). News sharing in social media: The effect of gratifications and prior experience. Computers in Human Behavior, 28(2), 331–339.
Mangold, W. G., & Faulds, D. J. (2009). Social media: The new hybrid element of the promotion mix. Business Horizons, 52(4), 357–365.
Morra, M. C., Ceruti, F., Chierici, R., & Di Gregorio, A. (2018). Social vs traditional media communication: Brand origin associations strike a chord. Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing, 12(1), 2–21.
Okazaki, S., & Taylor, C. R. (2013). Social media and international advertising: Theoretical challenges and future directions. International Marketing Review, 30(1), 56–71.
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Introduction
Wa ˛ sowicz-Zaborek, E. (2018). Czynniki społeczno-kulturowe i demograficzne a zastosowanie narze ˛ dzi internetowych w internacjonalizacji przedsie ˛ biorstw. In M. K. Witek-Hajduk (Ed.), Internet a zagraniczna ekspansja przedsie ˛ biorstw (pp. 55-76). Warsaw: Oficyna Wydawnicza SGH.
Whiting, A., & Williams, D. (2013). Why people use social media: a uses and gratifications approach. Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal, 16(4), 362–369.
Wiktor, J. W. (2013). Komunikacja marketingowa Warsaw: Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN.
1 Marketing communications in the digital age
All over the world there are countless publications on marketing communications. Books, articles, conference proceedings and websites explore its different features and provide suggestions on how to communicate effectively. Since the early years of the 21st century, academics, researchers and marketing practitioners have shown a growing interest in marketing communications on social media and eWOM. Among over 300 articles from academic journals reviewed for this study, over 80% were published within the last 15 years and, on average, every year the number of articles has grown by nearly 25%. Unfortunately, most publications on marketing communications, social media and WOM present the subjective opinions of authors, rather than reliable scientific evidence. The first three chapters of this book fill this gap by providing up-to-date and reliable findings of the mostcited empirical research. By presenting an overview of the extant academic literature, they enable a better understanding to be reached of what marketing communications, social media and WOM really are and why they are so important in today’ s world. The overview moves from the macro level of marketing communications to the micro level of eWOM on social media.
Marketing communication is a dialogue between a company and its environment – current and potential customers and other stakeholders (Bajdak, 2013). This definition, as well as the origin of the term “communication” (from the Latin “communicare”– to share), emphasizes bilateralism, interaction, relationship and exchange, which constitute the essence of marketing communications and lay the foundations of social media.
This suggests that social media can be an ideal environment to pursue the goals of marketing communications (Batra & Keller, 2016):
• creating awareness and salience
• conveying detailed information
• creating imagery and personality
• building trust
• eliciting emotions
• inspiring action
• instilling loyalty
• connecting people (i.e., creating brand advocacy and WOM)
The last point is particularly important. While being one of its goals, WOM plays a fundamental role in marketing communications, a role that is not limited to product promotion.
As marketing communications and promotion are often used as synonyms, it is worth underlining the differences between the two terms. Promotion is a rather unidirectional influence of a company (Wiktor, 2002), related to the product and directed at consumers, while marketing communications is a broader term, a dialogue which includes all stakeholders (Kijewska & Mantura, 2017; Koniorczyk & Sztangret, 2000; Wiktor, 2013). For instance, marketing communications can be used to attract new employees or to motivate the current ones. WOM can contribute to a company ’ s image as a good employer. Marketing information deployment within market research is also regarded as marketing communications, but its purposes are cognitive (e.g., examining customers’ needs) rather than promotional (Kijewska & Mantura, 2017).
Marketing communications faces a crisis. Marketing communication expenditure and the number of advertising messages are constantly growing, thus leading to a constant decrease in advertising effectiveness and a constant increase in spending to make it effective (Godin, 1999; van den Putte, 2009). In a world full of advertisements, “ a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention” (Simon, 1971, p. 40). As Godin (1999, p. 38) sums up: “The more they spend, the less it works. The less it works, the more they spend” . Prior research on advertising highlights a decline of trust (Godes et al., 2005) and negative attitudes toward advertising among consumers (Internet Standard, 2012; Szubra & Trojanowski, 2018; Taranko, 2018). People do not like and avoid advertisements. Therefore, one of the major challenges for marketers today is to find a new way to capture people’ s attention and position a brand in the consumer ’ s mind (Kotler, 2012).
How can this major challenge highlighted by Kotler be addressed on the basis of existing theories in marketing and communication research? Uses and Gratifications (U&G) theory is deemed particularly relevant in this case for three main reasons. Firstly, it assumes the active role of consumers, who of their own volition decide to participate in the communication process. Secondly, its individual-centric perspective is consistent with the personal dimension of WOM. Thirdly, U&G theory is functionalist in its approach, and is thus likely to develop general guidelines and concrete problem-solving ideas applicable in marketing practice (Morgan, 1984), which is consistent with the purpose of this study from a practical perspective.
U&G theory has its origins in media effects research (McQuail, 1983). In the 1940s, the initial studies of communications developed an approach to examine the “gratifications” which attract and retain audiences to the specific media and content types that satisfy their psychological and social needs (Katz, Hass, & Gurevitch, 1973). Diverging from other media effect theories that examine “what do the media do to people” , the U&G approach is focused on “what do people do with the media” , thus providing an insight into functions served by a specific medium or content (Katz, 1959, p. 2). “The message of even the most
Online marketing communications
potent of the media cannot ordinarily influence an individual who has no ‘ use ’ for it in the social and psychological context in which he lives” (Katz, 1959, p. 2).
U&G researchers distinguish gratifications sought from gratifications obtained (outcomes), and media consumption is related to the discrepancy between the two (Palmgreen & Rayburn, 1979). The more the gratifications obtained correspond to the gratifications sought, the more people will continue the consumption of a medium. The assumptions of U&G theory include (Katz, Blumler, & Gurevitch, 1974; Ruggiero, 2000):
• active audiences with varying levels of activity and goal-directed media use
• media selection initiated by the audience members
• media competing with other sources that can satisfy the same need
• self-awareness of the audience members and their ability to articulate many of the goals of media use
• no value judgments about the cultural impact of mass communication; focus on how and why people use media
In sum, in order to find a new way to capture people’ s attention – a new medium of marketing communications – we need to explore why people use media. Consistent with the essence of marketing, we need to look at people’ s needs, we need to give them a reason to pay attention, and we need to give them a reason to listen. The prominence of consumers ’ needs is a recurrent theme in this book and constitutes the core of the following sections and chapters.
Katz, Hass, and Gurevitch (1973) provide a list of psychological and social needs satisfied by exposure to mass media, which includes five categories of needs:
• cognitive (related to information, knowledge and understanding)
• personal integrative (strengthening proper credibility, confidence, stability, and status)
• affective (or hedonic; related to aesthetic, pleasurable and emotional experience)
• escape or tension release
• social integrative (keeping in contact with family, friends and other people)
Since 1990, the media have experienced a huge transformation; however the essential needs they satisfy have remained basically the same (Nambisan & Baron, 2007).
Hoffman and Novak (1996) explain this media transformation by showing the evolution from a traditional one-to-many marketing communications model for mass media and an interpersonal communication model in the computer-mediated environment to a new model of many-to-many marketing communications in a hypermedia computer-mediated environment where users co-create content. In the traditional model of marketing communications,
communication content is transmitted from a firm to consumers through a medium. There is no interaction between consumers and firms. On the contrary, in the interpersonal and computer-mediated communication model, content is transmitted through a medium from one consumer to another but this model includes interaction, so through the medium the recipient provides feedback to the sender. This model is implicit in eWOM on social media. In the new model of marketing communications in a hypermedia computermediated environment, the content is hypermedia (i.e., combining text, images, audio and video with hypertext links) and the medium is a distributed computer network (Internet). In this model, interactivity can take place both with and through the medium. Therefore, this model can be viewed as a mix of the two previous models. Consumers and firms can interact with the medium (e.g., navigate the Internet), firms can provide content (e.g., on their websites) and transmit it to consumers, but consumers can also add productrelated content to the medium. Additionally, because of such interaction, the sender is also the receiver. The primary relationship is not between the sender and the receiver, but rather with the “mediated environment” they interact with. Using this new model of marketing communications in a hypermedia computer-mediated environment, it would be interesting to explore how the content provided by the firm to the medium (on the Internet) influences the additional content consumers provide (eWOM). This issue is covered by the scope of this study (Figure 1.1).
One could argue that the Internet is merely another medium of marketing communication (like television, radio or newspapers); however, the interactive nature of the Internet creates an entirely new environment that changes the traditional parameters of mass communication.
The interactivity of the Internet strengthens the core U&G theory assumption of an active audience (Johnson & Kaye, 2003; Sundar & Limperos, 2013).
“Participants in the communication process have control over and can exchange roles in their mutual discourse” (Williams, Rice, & Rogers, 1988, p. 10). Consumers in the communication process become “ comm-sumers ” , consuming and creating information (Wiktor, 2013). “From a marketing communications point of view, customers are no longer passive targets but are becoming active media of communications” (Kotler, Kartajaya, & Setiawan, 2017, p. 13). Moreover, demassification, i.e. “the control of the individual over the medium” (Ruggiero, 2000, p. 16), strengthens the U&G notion of the media
Figure 1.1 Scope of the study
selection being initiated by an individual. On the Internet, consumers select content which is useful for them and satisfies their needs (Wiktor, 2002). This also suggests that users are aware of their needs (Johnson & Kaye, 2003), thus strengthening the U&G theory assumption of self-awareness. Also, the variety of content on the Internet allows users to satisfy a wider range of needs (Johnson & Kaye, 2003; Sundar & Limperos, 2013). Three categories of gratifications can be distinguished on the Internet (Stafford, Stafford, & Schkade, 2004):
• content gratifications (satisfied through the media content e.g., information)
• process gratifications (related to the media consumption process, the experience of navigating, e.g., entertainment)
• social gratifications (creating and strengthening social ties)
The advent of the Internet has revived the significance of U&G theory. Contemporary academic thought suggests that the theory, which “has always provided a cutting-edge theoretical approach in the initial stages” of every new communication medium, is gaining new life (Ruggiero, 2000, p. 27). With an increasing number of media available, motivations and gratifications have become ever more important components of audience analysis. Prior research suggests that information and entertainment gratifications are the most relevant types in the online environment (Polan ´ ski, 2017). This finding relates to another model that provides a theoretical background for the current study, namely the elaboration likelihood model (ELM). ELM is a theory of persuasion – one of communication-induced attitudinal change, developed in the 1980s by Richard Petty and John Cacioppo, which is commonly used as a theoretical foundation in eWOM research (Cheung & Thadani, 2012). It proposes two different “routes to persuasion” related to different types of information processing. Under the “central route” (or in central information processing), persuasion occurs as a result of “ a person ’ s careful and thoughtful consideration of the true merits of the information” (Petty & Cacioppo, 1986, p. 125). It requires high cognitive effort and occurs when the information recipient has high motivation and ability to process the information. On the other hand, under the “peripheral route” (or in peripheral information processing), persuasion occurs “ as a result of some simple cue in the persuasion context (e.g. an attractive source)” (Petty & Cacioppo, 1986, p. 125); it requires low cognitive effort and occurs when the information recipient has low motivation and ability to process the information (Cacioppo & Petty, 1984). Information gratifications can be the most relevant when users are able to and want to process the information, while in the opposite case, entertainment gratifications may be expected. Media usage gratifications and routes to persuasion are also related to the two main marketing communication appeals (rational and emotional) commonly used in different modes of communication. Before exploring the communication appeals, in order to understand expressions of marketing communications, it is worth mentioning the different
modes of communication. By modes of communication, we mean the ways a company can communicate with its stakeholders. The various ways compose the marketing communications mix Kotler & Keller (2012) distinguish the following modes of communication within the marketing communications mix:
Given the scope of this study, online marketing communications and WOM marketing deserve special attention. WOM marketing is discussed in a dedicated section of Chapter 3, while now we will focus on online marketing communications. With the growing reach of the Internet, which in January 2020 registered 4.54 billion users (We Are Social, 2020), the importance of online communications grows year on year (IAB Europe, 2019; IAB & PwC, 2019; Moorman, 2019). It is noteworthy that there are numerous classifications of the elements of online marketing communications and their continuous development makes a univocal classification difficult to achieve. Different authors refer to elements, forms, media, platforms, techniques, tools or channels of online marketing communications. These terms are often used interchangeably, leading to a lack of common understanding. The term “elements” seems the most appropriate as it underlines the complementary character and necessity of using multiple elements in online marketing communications. These elements include:
• websites
• search engine marketing (SEM)
• online advertising
• e-mail marketing
• mobile marketing
• online partnership
• online public relations
• social media (thoroughly described in the following chapter)
A website is an essential element of online marketing communications; it is a modern “business card” of an organization or brand. It can be addressed to various stakeholders of an organization (e.g., current and potential customers, shareholders or employees). By conveying information, building image and facilitating sales (Karasiewicz, 2018), it fulfills crucial functions for every company.
Once a website is online, SEM is used to drive traffic to the website. The higher the rank of a website in the search engine results pages (SERPs), the higher the number of visitors (Chaffey & Ellis-Chadwick, 2012). SEM includes the positioning of websites within search engines through the delivery of relevant content on websites (SEO) and paid marketing activities (or paid search) (Karasiewicz, 2018). Figure 1.2 depicts an example of the results of the two types of activities. The first four results indicated as “Ad” and “Sponsored” derive from paid search, while the last two (“organic”) results stem from SEO.
In a nutshell, in paid search a company pays for clicks on the link to its website that appears at the top of search results. The average click-through rate (CTR) for Google AdWords is 4.1%, meaning that only four out of a hundred users click on a sponsored link in Google (Chaffey, 2018). This rate can seem low, but the average CTR in paid search is actually one of the highest among the elements of online marketing communications. This relates to sponsored links that appear in search results being related to the specific keywords typed by users, meaning they precisely correspond to the searched information. In other words, users click because the links displayed satisfy their need for concrete information. Immediate results, high reach, precise targeting (which can include various criteria, e.g., demographic, geographic or devices) and a relatively low cost-per-click (CPC) are significant advantages of paid search. However, it is worth underlining that paid search can still be costly in highly competitive sectors and that users are skeptical about the relevance of sponsored links (Chaffey & Ellis-Chadwick, 2012; Karasiewicz, 2018). While being free of charge and bringing results which are seen as more trustworthy, SEO is vital in the long term. However, due to its complexity, specific competencies and time are both required to improve the website’ s ranking in organic search results. Another way to attract users to a website and build brand awareness is online advertising. Online advertising refers to a non-personal, paid form of presenting and promoting brands and organizations online by an identified sponsor (Karasiewicz, 2018). It includes display (banner) and video advertising as well as classifieds and directories (listings). Widely used formats of display advertising include double and triple billboards, rectangles and top layers (Internet Standard, 2012). The CTR varies among industries, channels and formats, and may be higher for video ads that also seem to be seen more positively by users (Chaffey, 2018; Internet Standard, 2012). The average CTR for display advertising is .05%, or in other words, every 10,000 impressions of a banner on average bring only five clicks on its content (Chaffey, 2018). Furthermore, the average CTR is decreasing over time (Chaffey & Ellis-Chadwick, 2012; Kaznowski, 2007). This gives an idea of how difficult it is to attract users ’ attention and interest and confirms the importance of marketers’ quest for guidelines on effective content for marketing communications. The main advantage of online advertising relates to its high reach and the possibility of using various targeting criteria (e.g., demographic, geographic, devices or user interests). For instance, an advertisement can be shown exclusively to women, who are at least 25 years old, live in San Francisco and are interested in healthy food. However, due to a high number of ads,
Another random document with no related content on Scribd:
There is now a barber in town—A French one. Although I need a hair cut pretty badly, I think I’ll stay away. From the work he has done on a few of the boys, I have come to the conclusion that I can do as good a job myself. Over here a bald headed man has the advantage. Nothing doing with the clippers, however, once was enough for me with a convict head....
The latest in regard to what becomes of us after peace is declared, is that we will be with the Army of Occupation. That doesn’t sound at all good. It is a good thing that hearing is not believing in most cases or I would be on pins and needles all the time.
November 10
D M
The night before last there was wild excitement in camp. All afternoon we had been hearing the latest news from the front, and the war was finished at least every five minutes. That night one of the boys returned from the mission and said that a Lieutenant told him that there was no doubt about it, Germany had thrown up the sponge. I wasn’t there, being asleep in bed at the time, but they woke me up and told me between—hics—that the war was over. The piano in one company’s house was playing all the war music that was ever written and the air rang with cheers, popping of corks, songs, and whatnot. It wasn’t long before our door was banged open. We were
paged and told that the war was fini, and to come out and join the party. I’m afraid they didn’t get much of a response from us, both of us being pretty tired. Some day they won’t be crying wolf and we are going to miss out on the party. The Frenchmen are just about crazy, and who can blame them? When the end comes, and it’s coming sooner than any of us realize, you in the States will get the all over feeling long before we do. Things will go on for us camion drivers just about as they are going now, and not until both feet are planted on the other side of the pond will the guerre be really finished for us.
November 11
D M
Am I awake or is it a dream. It doesn’t seem possible that the war is OVER. When it was brought home to me that the armistice had been signed, it left me not dancing with joy but numb. It didn’t seem
possible and now, two hours after, I’m just beginning to cheer. Think of the millions that are made happy these days, and think of those whose boys will never return. Just about two weeks ago the lieutenant I had in C Co. was killed. He was a fraternity brother of mine, and one of the finest fellows I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. I am glad that I have had the privilege of being one in the great Army of Right. My only regret is that I could not have come over about three years sooner.
I remember when I first got here, early in July, 1917, how we looked forward to the day when America would have its army in the field. There was no question in our minds about their showing something. When they did get in they showed something all right, they showed more than something. It was a case of “The best is none too good.”
We have moved along twice since I last wrote. To look at the signs in this place you would think you were in Germany. German names for streets and German signs everywhere. This isn’t the first of that kind that we have struck, but it was more so than the others. We are in a huge farmhouse that used to be for Hun officers only. Its roof
hasn’t a hole and we haven’t a broken pane of glass in our windows. We have the best room yet, and a fireplace that could take a tree, roots and all. The Boche turned a nearby farm into a bath house and it is a wonder. Showers beaucoup and tiled bath rooms with enameled tubs. They moved so fast that there isn’t much damage done. They did leave their trade mark though. There is a chateau that looks perfectly O. K. from the outside, but inside it is a total loss. They planted a mine and wrecked it. Mines are planted all over the road. Yesterday afternoon two went off. The last blew our windows open.
Understand we are on our way to Somewhere in Germany. We will be on the move, I expect, for some time now so my letters may be few and far between. Will try and keep them coming through.
November 20
D M —
Wars may come and wars may go, but we go on forever. Believe me! when we heard that the armistice had been signed, you would have thought we had all gone suddenly crazy. It took some time, I’ll admit, for the good news to sink in—but when it did—Oh boy!
We are now on the way towards Germany. It is almost a certainty that we will travel along with one of the French armies of occupation; carrying Ravitaillement (grub for man and beast) to them. Talk about moving, ever since the last shell was fired, that’s all we have been doing. You would think we were a checker game. I can’t say we were tickled to death at the “Army of Occupation” news as we expected to be on our way towards the States within a couple of months.
November 22
D M
They say that a tug boat, or some kind of a water animal, is going to brave the dangers and carry mail across to the folks at home. I am therefore stealing a few moments from my soldierly duties to throw a bit of ink. I’d much rather take the place of this letter and let them ferry me across instead, but as we are elected to be a part of the clean-up squad, it can’t be done.
It is sad but true, but we are a part of one of the French armies of occupation and are now “Nach Berlin.” We are making the grade by the instalment plan—stop here today and move on tomorrow. Our job is carrying “Ravitaillement,” and we are just as busy now as we were during the days of shot, shell, and bomb. Just as busy, but it’s a great deal more tiresome without any excitement.
That is, it’s more tiresome for the drivers and some sergeants. The clerk’s duties are just the same, although I have been told that I’m to take over the mess and supply sergeant’s jobs along with what I am already doing, which is nothing at all. Guess they decided I was wearing out too many chairs, and drawing too many pictures for a “Soldat deuxième classe.” There was enough yelling with the old mess sergeant and I can see a battle royal ahead of me when I begin to dish up the chow. As for getting clothes, it can’t be done. Some of the men are running around in pants held together with wire, pins, and string.
It is going to be a cold winter, and I hope that those at the other end get a little pep and begin to unwind Mr. Red Tape.
All day troops have been passing here, going up; part of the army that we are attached to, so I wouldn’t be surprised if we were on the go again soon.
Have seen thousands of returning prisoners, refugees full of spirit, but so pinched and hungry looking, clothed in rags and even in the uniform of the Boche soldier. We fed some at our kitchen one night and they were starved.
In the town I sent my last letter from, the son of the people whose house we had taken over dropped in to look the place over. It was the first time in four years that he had seen his parents’ home. His mother, sixty-four, and his father, sixty-eight, were carried off by the Huns in February. They were expected back almost any day and he wanted to see what there was left. The house was in perfect condition and there were a few sticks of furniture about, but the Boche had taken the meat and left nothing but the bone. His parents were more fortunate than many, having a home with a roof, but even then it’s pretty tough for two old people to return to their home and find it stripped of the things they loved.
From the shooting around here one would think that the war was still going on. Almost every one that has a gun is out banging away, and once in a while a mine will go off and shake the house. The Italians stationed here got hold of some rockets, and every night they dot the sky with red and green lights. Every day is a Fourth of July, but not a “safe and sane” one.
The Italians were life savers in that they had a portable barber shop, first time we have run into a good barber shop in a long time. One of the boys in our company took a hand at the game, but after trying his luck on a few heads, the bottom fell out of his business.
The camions are just about on their last legs. It is to be expected, as they are rolled “tous les jours” and they are not in the camp long enough for the drivers to work on them. Out of our eighteen cars we have about ten that are able to roll. If they keep on going, there won’t be anything left to drive and they will have to send us home.
The American army has forgotten for so long that we, in the Reserve Mallet, are a part of them, we don’t expect them to think of us suddenly in this stage of the game.
Permissions are still going on and no one seems in any hurry to get back. Those who were in Paris at the time of the signing of the armistice have wild tales to tell.
November 27
D M
The lid is off, at last we can come out of the trenches and go over the top in our letters. Old Man Censor has had his whiskers cut and we can throw the ink from bottle to paper without a worry.
As you know, I jumped from the minor league (American Field Service) into the major (U. S. Army) on October 1st, 1917. After taking the leap we were sent to Soissons (Aisne) which was to be our home for some little time. Soissons was some town! The Boche had been there before us, but had left a great part of the city standing. With its hotels, cafés, tea rooms, stores, and bath house, we led the life of Riley.
Our camp lay just on the edge of the city on the bank of the Aisne river, and in the camp I had my first lesson in ditch digging, kitchen policing, drilling, rock breaking, and a few other like things.
Things went along pretty smooth for us until March 21, when there came the grand finale as far as Soissons was concerned. Up to that date we had had a few air raids, which would start the twins barking and us running for abris. The twins were a pair of “seventy-fives” in a field right behind camp.
On March 21 things began to pick up. All the morning I had been hauling rock and more rock, and along towards noon I was tired, dirty, and didn’t much care if school kept or not. I walked into our barracks and started some water boiling to remove my rock hauling makeup (as far as I know, that water is still boiling). Was lying on my bunk when the word came that we were to pack up our stuff and be ready to move at any moment. It was like a bolt out of a clear sky. “Be ready to move,” and we thought we were settled for the rest of the war!
It did not take long to roll up my blankets, to dump my stuff into my barracks bag, and to lug it all down to my truck. Started to roll my blankets after I got them to the camion, when there came a whistle, a bang, and a shower of dirt, stones, and twigs. A shell had landed on the other side of the river. Before I had time to collect my thoughts there came another whistle. This time I was under the truck ahead of the bang,—more dirt, rocks, and twigs. No wonder they were moving camp! There was a bridge dead ahead of me, about forty yards away. These two shells had just missed the end furthest from me, and I could see that if the bridge was the attraction I didn’t want to stick around. My blankets were still unrolled and I started at them again. Another whistle, another dive, and this time a regular downpour. This shell had landed on my side of the river just off the bridge. Right on its heels came another, and this one saw my exit. I
started for camp on the run, but didn’t get far before there came a bang. The concussion floored me and when I picked myself together, saw a bunch of the boys gathered around something under a tree that had been hit.
The something was one of the boys wounded, in the leg. Why no one else was wounded, or no one killed, is a miracle, as that shell hit where every one seemed to be. No doubt hitting so high up the éclat was thrown over our head. The boy who was wounded is now in the States. His leg is now O. K., but he will always be lame.
That noon while at lunch two more shells landed in the river, side of the dining room. It seemed as though they were following us. Later on when we turned the trucks around and ran them by camp away from the bridge, the shells began to land up at that end. That night, however, the Huns raised their guns and began to send the shells over our heads towards the railway station. All that night we would hear the whistle of the shells passing over head and the bang in the distance of their landing.
The next day we moved out of Soissons onto the “Route de Paris.” We were just outside the city and all night and most of the day it was bang, bang, bang. The Huns certainly were throwing the shells into the city, and it didn’t make you feel “in the pink,” when you had to go into it for water, and to the storehouse and railway station for supplies. All the time we were there it was “beaucoup” work. We carried a great many troops from one front to another and miles of shells. In fact it was work from then on.
After a short stay here we carried on to Villa Helon, which is about two kilometers from Longpont. This town was a gem and it certainly was tough when we had to leave. The day we left, May 28, I believe, the town roads were crowded with incoming and outgoing troops.
We moved at about midnight and the Huns gave us a farewell in the shape of a bombing. The French were setting up their famous seventy-five guns in the rear of the chateau as we pulled out. That wonderful chateau is now, no doubt, a heap of ruins.
Refugees were everywhere. Wagons loaded with their goods, people on foot, in carts, on bicycles, all moving towards Paris, crowded the roads.
From Villa Helon we pushed on to Barcy, stopping over night a couple of times at some towns. Barcy lies just outside the city of Meaux and is right where France turned the Germans back in 1914.
While in this town we carried shell after shell to those points where the heaviest fighting was going on. It was at Chateau-Thierry that we first saw the American troops in number.
What a changed Chateau-Thierry it was when the Boche were driven out! It wasn’t as badly shot up as I expected to find it, but it certainly had been mauled.
From Barcy we moved to Hardivillers. This small town lies between Breteuil and Crèvecœur-le-Grand, not far from Amiens. In the latter place and beyond, we saw our first of the British. It was in and around Amiens that bombs were the thickest. The country was so open that a night convoi was always an invitation for a bomb. Between Moreuil and Hangest they took twelve shots at us without a hit. That same night, however, they got another section and wounded a couple of men and killed another.
Our next stop was Bus, the town of no roofs and German dugouts, with the nearby woods that sported the German huts. Bus is between Montdidier and Roye. The former city is the worst shot up of any that I have seen. It lies on the top of a hill and is just blown to dust. Not a wall or a tree standing. One could live in Roye without a great deal of
