Online Privacy — Is it the Ultimate Oxymoron?

 

The world as we know it collectively agrees that having the internet is a commodity; it is a gift of technology that we can’t live without. From movie reviews, how-to instructional webpages, e-shopping, communication, etc. — we have learned to take advantage of it in the most useful of ways.

Fast forward to the present year, 2012, and we are learning that our passion for the internet is being taken advantage of by information-collecting interfaces. With the technology boom of the past decade,  specifically social media, we have come to learn that we are being forced to fork over personal information (sometimes unwillingly) to corporations, marketing firms and more.

It can be as simple as making an online purchase on E-bay, where the system memorizes your e-mail and personal information. Newer technologies  are developing in bundles, such as the ability to partner up with Facebook and create an application for your website, a way of integration and social sharing. Examples of this include Huffington Post, Yahoo, Spotify, Pintest, Rotten Tomatoes, and even the most recent campaign of our re-elected President Barack Obama. Instead of making you create a new account on their website, you can simply log-in with your Facebook credentials within seconds.

Consumers are becoming more and more aware of the fishy and pesky techniques that companies are using to collect personal information. They are becoming more educated in the reasons behind the invasion of privacy —  facilitating targeted marketing campaigns based on demographic and psycho graphic components.

Pro-privacy groups and firms are fighting back with the aid of the government. This can be observed in the article, McDonald’s Online Games Remove Social Networking Features After Complaint Over Kids’ Privacy(http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/23/mcdonalds-online-games-re_n_2005616.html).  McDonald’s was forced to disengage in social sharing on their HappyMeal.com website, which allowed their target audience (kids) to forward invitations to their friends (other kids) without their parent’s permission — a clear violation of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act.

This is just one of many retaliations against privacy sharks, a movement that has been gaining traction in the past year. The problem here is that your personal information is at such a high value, that criminals and tech-gurus will always be looking to leverage that asset for financial gain.

Do I think our personal information is safe? No. Unfortunately, everything is already out there. There is only so much you can hide as there are terabytes upon terabytes of personal information since the history of the Internet. If you don’t believe me, then you sure haven’t Google’d yourself lately.

 

 

 

E-Marketing and the Decision Making Process

Making decisions makes up a good portion of our lives — the  average human can make thousands in a single day. Most of the decisions we make  are small such as deciding what to eat in the morning, where to sit down in the classroom or what shirt to wear for the day. The decisions that are valuable, however, are the ones that make an impact where it counts: your pocket. Taking advantage of this opportunity is a vital one  for ambitious businesses.

Unconsciously, we are being targeted everywhere we go. Brands, services and businesses aiming to spark a sense of need/desire in the consumer are saturating the world we live in with banners, advertisements, forums, public relations and community events. In the past five years the saturation of information has been sent to overload with the evolution of e-commerce and e-marketing.

A prime example of how e-marketing has evolved a business is Amazon. This mega-billion dollar company provides an online market for just about anything. Through the power of consumer reviews, endorsements and critique, they have provided their customers and potential customers valuable insight that facilitates or sways the decision making process. Desire development may spark when a consumer sees the visuals, live demos and message boards about a certain product. On the other hand, they may get turned off when they see the horrible reviews a product has received.

Social media marketing is a major player in e-marketing and the decision making process. On Facebook, we choose to “like” our favorite products, brands and personalities. This is another way of opting in to their e-marketing online messaging, which may include brand messages, advertisements and consumer conversation. Amazon may use social media to create buzz about the products that they have on sale, discounts, new releases, or about their Amazon Prime video-streaming — services that their fans would never know about unless they read it on Facebook.  This has proven to be a cheaper way of advertising, as the potential gain is unlimited for brands.

Recent studies by Empathica, as noted by the Position Growth Blog (http://blogs.position2.com/what-influences-buying-decisions-in-social-media), note that social media provides a base of research that can help brands learn about the consumers that are interested in their products. It can also create opportunity in unrecognized markets. Here are some interesting social media facts, as noted from the blog:

• 47% of people using social media to find coupons and promotions are women.
• Only 33% men look for offers on social media.
• While 30% of the respondents said that they followed brands for information, 40% said that they look for promotions and coupons.
• Although, promotion hunting is a primary driver of social behavior, the survey also found this habit was driving overall online behavior as well; 26% of respondents admitted to specifically look for more coupons online

As my professor noted, e-marketing has permeated the decision making process. An evolving company must take note of the change in consumption if they plan to become or remain relevant in this ever-growing digital world.

Digital Politics

Republicans, Democrats, Liberals, Conservatives, Independents, and politicians from all walks of life have established their presence in the digital landscape that is 2012. Anthony Miyazaki notes in his article (http://www.sensibleemarketing.com/2012/02/e-marketing-and-politics-how-true-is.html), of how the campaigning has transformed, from a time where you had to read about politics in newspapers and hear about it over the radio, sometimes weeks later. Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy held the first political debate on television, where more than 70 million U.S. viewers tuned in.

 

The evolution of technology has facilitated the communication for those in power and transformed society as we know it. As noted in Dragonflyeffect’s post on politics and social media (http://www.dragonflyeffect.com/blog/2012-elections-politics-social-media/), we can see that there have been movements in recent history that prove how influential the social space really is. The 99% formed an Occupy protest nationwide, where they would make their voice be heard to the 1% by occupying their spaces. The whole country as a whole coined the ideology and in essence, they proved their point. Accomplishing this was no easy task, but in a conjoined effort, were able to solidify a integrated communications plan that flooded social media (Facebook viral posts/sharing, Twitter hashtags/trends, YouTube viral videos) and spread instructions on how to start your own movement in your city.

 

With the overflow of information that we find online, the problem that we all face is whether to believe what we read. Every person is an author, a journalist, a blogger, some people have massive Twitter followings, or hits on their blogs, and may influence their readers no matter what type of nonsense they publish. This clutter of political ramble sometimes clouds our minds, and perceives us from the truth. Even the mainstream media tends to lean more towards the right or the left, and there is no impartial and unbiased channel or source. The naive and gullible will be victims of mass publicity, viral videos, social campaigns and ongoing discussion that is commonly influenced by the things we see online. Fortunately, we all have a right to also find credible sources. History doesn’t lie, so reading into our past may better help us make decisions in upcoming elections. In the end it all becomes a tale of believing candidates that make a lot of promises, with little proof that they will follow through on their promises.

How Much Interactivity Does E-Marketing Need?

Many executives, presidents and owners of companies are faced with tough decisions on a day-to-day basis, decisions that determine the success and longevity of their brand. One decision that should be a “no brainer” is deciding to use online marketing in the most efficiently interactive way possible, without splurging your budget.

All companies have a defined amount of money that they are allocating for online marketing, so how much to spend and invest all depends on the brand at hand. Company traits such as type, size, reach, influence, recognition and company goals are all things to consider when brainstorming your strategy for online interaction. If we were talking about a mom & pop pizza store in a suburban area of Miami, the goal of the company is to attract business. They may consider developing different social media channels to create awareness of their restaurant, targeting SEO and SEM for key terms through Google, or purchasing traditional advertising in newspapers and radio. Being interactive through their e-marketing wouldn’t be as much of a priority, since they don’t have a loyal fan base and online conversation is little to none.

On the other hand, if we were talking about larger brands and corporations, being interactive online is a  vital tool to remain relevant and fresh in the consumer’s mind. Consumers appreciate when a company is transparent, when they report the good and the bad, when they communicate to their consumers and more importantly, when they reply to their concerns. As Anthony Miyazaki noted in his latest entry for “E-Marketing for Sensible Folk“, marketers salivated at interactivity, hoping it would bring a consumer psychologically closer to a brand and ultimately developing a sense of brand loyalty.

Even though e-marketing interactivity may have problems (time consuming, not always positive, expensive, negative consumer interactions and the saturation of interactivity from other brands), the benefits greatly outweigh any problems. It is a brand’s responsibility to take advantage of every single tool in order to maintain a consistent and integrated communication plan. Whether it be discussion boards, forums, Twitter, Facebook, polls, surveys, contests, YouTube or chatrooms, using each and every one of these should be considered by all brands. If technology matures, so must the brand. The way consumers engage their information is transforming at an alarming rate, and a company will be operating shorthanded if they decide to stick to traditional strategy.

Take MTV’s Video Music Awards, for example. Ad Age reports that the VMA’s were a social TV “blockbuster” (click here for article). During the day of the event, a total of 19 million VMA mentions were recorded. 19 million. The conversation and buzz prior, during and after the awards show was a marketer’s dream. MTV President Stephen Friedman stated, “Knowing that our fans are watching the show on television while actively discussing and sharing key moments on social, we’ve created a multiplatform digital ecosystem for those moments to be amplified in real time.”

Now imagine if MTV did nothing to embrace interactivity; what if they never created an official Twitter hashtag (#VMA), or they didn’t promote artists, tweets and activities through their social channels, or through their website, or if they never drove digital media, pictures, video through each and every one of their avenues of communication. How successful would their production had been compared to how it was? The sentiment for the online conversation was 20% negative, but a whopping 64% positive. Did the good outweigh the bad? Yes.

Interactivity is essential to the development and success of a company. Major brands have caught on, now it’s all about who does it the most efficient way saving time, money and resources.