Staying on Top of Brand Perception in a 24/7 World

Photo credit: eBay

In a digital environment, communication never ceases. Traditional 9-to-5 business hours are a thing of the past, particularly when it comes to marketing products and services. It’s not a matter any longer of announcing benefits and solutions through advertising and marketing collateral – the public expects a fluid two-way conversation that meets its needs and addresses any issues it may have.

While we may well have always relied on the advice and recommendations from our friends and neighbors in our communities, technology has allowed that community to expand and yet become readily available to communicate with as well. Whether it’s through message boards, social media platforms or simply outreach via email to our connections, there is an opportunity to quickly find answers, make a complaint or look for justice when one feels slighted in some capacity – and quite publicly, too.

Credit: Spacecoast Business Magazine

Consider the communication in the graphic to the left (click image to enlarge for ease in reading). A person asks a simple question, looking for a recommendation for a good plumber. Within that exchange, she quickly learns of someone considered reputable and a plumbing contractor to stay away from. If this exchange is on a platform, such as Facebook, depending on the privacy settings, this query and the associated feedback can be seen by a small number of people or everyone associated with the individuals in the conversation. While both the recommendation and the warning come from single individuals, think of how their messages can amplify throughout a social channel. Then think about what anyone in this conversation might say when asked anywhere else about a plumber recommendation. Whether they experienced poor service with the contractor that someone issued a warning about won’t matter. Most likely they’ll also replicate that same warning going forward, as well as the recommendation.

While there has always been an opportunity for praise or warnings as it relates to a service or product a business provides, digital communication allows each to travel far faster and farther than ever before. “What just a few years ago was unchartered and unproven in terms of its impact on business, is now a differentiating factor that can determine a company’s success or failure” (Field, 2013, para. 2).

So as marketing/communication professionals, there are three important factors to consider:

1. “Customer service is always on…you have to address problems as fast as you can” (Agrawal, 2016, para. 3, 5).
2. “A level playing field…due to the way customer behaviors have shifted, it’s now easier than ever to hit your target audience” (Agrawal, 2016, para. 6).
3. “Pay to play is coming back (and it’s cheap)…social media channels, pioneered by Facebook have brought back the idea of paying to play…you have to dedicated a small budget to reaching people via social media” (Agrawal, 2016, para. 11).

While the digital age may feel more complicated to those in the communication field, in many ways it becomes far easier for any organization to stay on top of what the public feels about its brand, to harness the power of public enthusiasm and dispel potential issues – and work some magic through the diverse mediums now available.

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References

Agrawal, A. (2016, February 15). How the digital age has changed marketing channels forever. Forbes. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/ajagrawal/2016/02/15/how-the-digital-age-has-changed-marketing-channels-forever/#682557d65e30 

Field, J. (2013, April 26). How the digital revolution has changed marketing - Spacecoast Business Magazine. Retrieved from http://www.spacecoastbusiness.com/how-the-digital-revolution-has-changed-marketing/

Convergence: When All Forms of Media Intersect

Photo credit: CNC Cookbooks

Every new form of communication brings inherent benefits and potential threats to mediums that came prior – and to us as consumers of this information via new communication mediums on whether each can be considered a trusted source.

Consider the immediacy that telephone and telegraph brought over postal mail, and the effect it had on providing communication over long distances between the communicator and receiver – the possibilities for two-way conversation as well. If newspapers were an early conveyer of information and news to mass audiences, imagine the effect of radio and eventually, television, in bringing information to the masses. With each new medium, there was potential still for former means of communication to still remain vital, but within the very capacity in which it was formed. With the advent of the Internet, however, possibilities for integration of all of these mediums became viable, bringing new life to old mediums.

“What has often occurred is that consumers will actually use multiple mediums at once. This is known as convergence” (Rodriguez, 2015, para. 10). In using this diverse media, it becomes important to recognize that consumers are now also producers of information, which both “increases the volume and dumbs down the sophistication of the information flow” (Morgan, 2013, para. 3). That’s not to say that input from a consumer versus a journalist or subject matter expert is any less valid across the board, but one must not take any information at face value and make the assumption that it is unbiased, ethical or accurate. As communication professionals, it then becomes necessary to be able to quickly assess information for these qualities, taking into consideration who created the content, what the intent may have been and whether this is a credible and ethical source. The beauty of convergence is that it does indeed allow us to consume many forms of communication and recognize the intrinsic value created by varied media. 

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References

 Morgan, N. (2013, December 10). How digital technology has changed communication. Forbes. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/nickmorgan/2013/05/21/how-digital-technology-has-changed-communication-first-of-three-posts/#384d760f46cb 

PROVIZORCA. (2011, October 27). PROVIZORCA: How new technology changes the way we communicate [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=c1uURVbQCs8 

Rodriguez, K. (2015, November 30). Effects of mass media on society: How media convergence changed our world. Retrieved from https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/effects-mass-media-society-how-convergence-changed-our-rodriguez

Technology in Communication: Who’s Driving This Train?

Photo credit: Hans Train Phonecard Collection

Technology has brought us advances we might never have imagined, providing us with possibilities far beyond the realm of reality just a short time ago.  “However, how much of this power is man actually using to solve the problems of mankind?” (Majeti, 2014, para. 2) – or are we simply relying on myriad tools, technological gadgets and gizmos, to distract us from problems and entertain us instead? Do the never-ending array of state-of-the-art tools provide us with an easier life, or do they chain us to a life of endless communication and connectivity?

Charlie Leadbeater, a writer, social entrepreneur and social innovator, speaks to the ways in which communication technology serves both as a convenience and a constant reminder to stay connected, in this video from the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity.   

Most tellingly, Leadbeater notes an experience in which he had taken a walk with his son up a mountainside, where mobile coverage was nonexistent. As he descended later back into mobile range, his phone began to beep, signaling messages that had come in during the signal-free period. He remembers “sitting down looking at my emails on this beautiful mountain” (Banff, 2016), and wondering if he was looking at his emails because he truly wanted to or if it was simply because the phone had reminded him that he had messages and therefore made him feel he needed to. “So we’re constantly in this dilemma about all this technology which is it for us, a tool or something we use for our purposes or are we for it?” (Banff, 2016).

As Leadbeater read his email, on that beautiful day in the mountains, perhaps responding as well to a few, what was his young son up to? Was he sitting there, waiting patiently or finding his own amusement during that time? It can be argued that the technology we use for communication so captures our attention that “we are living in our individual bubbles where each person is more interactive with the person inside the gadget than the person next to her/him” (Majeti, 2014, para. 3).

As we continue our use of technology for communication, perhaps that is the question we must ask ourselves -- are we more involved with the person inside a gadget than those we're able to communicate face-to-face with -- and these as well: 

• Is this technology driving our actions and interactions or is it simply a convenience that allows us to further our communication in positive ways? 
• Are we engaged in the world around us or engulfed in the use of technology in an attempt to capture or understand that world -- and finally, 
• Are we solving problems and enabling efficiencies or simply using technology because we can? 

If we are to be most effective in our use of technology, these are questions to consider at every juncture of our work and personal life.

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References

Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. (2016, January 27). How is technology changing our workplace culture? [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch ?v=Ukvd4adVcHw

Majeti, D. (2014, December 11). Technology – Do we control it or does it control us? [Web log post]. Retrieved from https://uhethics.wordpress.com/2014/12/11/technology-do-we-control-it-or-does-it-control-us-author-dinesh-majeti/

Build a Technology Awareness Strategy

New platforms for communication come our way via technology in what can sometimes seem like a never-ending array of options. Just when we feel we understand which way to go, there are two or three more paths to explore.

Whether we’re an entrepreneur, a communication professional or just trying to figure out how to best represent ourselves in digital space, it can be overwhelming to consume as much information as we’d like to feel well informed. Through Exploring Modern Media, you’ll be able to keep up to date on the issues and news related to technology and communication in bite-size pieces, easy to swallow and relevant to your interests and concerns. You’ll be able to develop a personal and professional technology awareness strategy, enabling you to: “Determine your needs, assess the resources available to you, rank the resources in order of usefulness to you, and make or allow the time to use the resources” (Nichelson, 2016, para. 5).

Let’s get started.

References

Nicholson, B. (2015, August 5). Keeping up with technology: Four steps and resources. Retrieved from https://www.thebalance.com/keeping-up-with-technology-1200433