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RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

To study the effectiveness of digital marketing and its tools on brand


equity
To identify challenges faced by marketers due to the rise of digital world.
Emerging marketing strategies which can be embraced by organizations to
compete in the digital world.

LITERATURE REVIEW
Paper 1: The impacts of Electronic Word of Mouth on Brand Equity in the Context
of Social Media
Erfan Severi, Kwek Choon Ling & Amir Nasermoadeli
In the world of social media, fast interaction and communication have steered
businesses to become more under the spot light of consumers. Through the
social media, consumers can express their views to millions of people in only
seconds in which this phenomenon indicates consumers are now more used to
having news brought to them in comparing to searching for information. Word of
mouth is one of the most powerful channels in social media. It is a powerful tool
in delivering information. The research paper aims to find out the roles of various
brand equity constructs (including brand loyalty, association, awareness, image
and perceived quality) in mediating the inter-relationship between eWOM and the
dimensions of brand equity based on the context of social media. A survey of SEL
worldwide (2008) discovers that 70% of the consumers approach social media
sites to access products and brands related information and 49% of them finalise
their purchase decisions based on info they have retrieved from the social
networking sites.
Brand Equity
It can be defined as the financial and marketing values connected to the brand in
the market place. The dimensions that encompass it and would be discussed are
as follows: brand awareness, brand association, brand loyalty, perceived quality
and brand image.
Brand Awareness
Phenomenon Created by the ongoing visibility, powerful association with the
right product classification, buying experiences and enhancing familiarity. It is a
significant catalyst in impacting customer purchasing decision making, especially
in creating three advantages, namely learning, choice and consideration
advantage. Thus, brand awareness influences consumers taste, perception and
purchasing, depending on the degree of familiarity of the products and services
offered.
Brand Association

Brands awareness is defined as positive feelings of consumer towards the brand


based on the relative degree of brand strength. Three types of brand association:
attitudes (customers overall appraisal of the brand), benefits (the thought
customers have about a particular products or a service that would benefit them,
such as sensible advantages, outstanding advantages and experimental
benefits) and attributes (including product related and non-product related
attributes, for instance feeling, price, experience, and brand personality). Brand
loyalty can be enhanced if customers have higher degree of brand association.
Brand Loyalty
Defined as constant purchasing or re-patronizing a preferred good or service over
time. Customers who are loyal to a particular brand will consider that brand as
their preferred selection and they are less likely to be targeted by price war and
they do not easily switch to other brands. However, it can be affected by the
consumers direct and indirect assessment and evaluation of the particular brand
that based on various sources, such as personal experiential leaming and word of
mouth.

Paper-2: Do Online Gossipers Promote Brands?


Shintaro Okazaki, Natalia Rubio, and Sara Campo
This study studies the effects of tie strength and network size towards the
willingness to participate in electronic word of mouth (eWOM) on social
networking sites. Additionally, it studies gossipers willingness to participate in
eWOM and claims that it would be more pronounced if they were connected with
strong ties rather than weak ties. It postulates that propensity to gossip online
influences online Social functions such that these functions are more
consolidated among members with high Pf0Pensity to gossip, compared with
members with low gossiping propensity.
The research focusses on the use of gossip to spread online word of mouth over
social networking sites. After consolidating online social functions-information
value, entertainment value, friendship value, and normative pressure-On an SNS,
members are more likely to engage in gossiping behaviour. The primary interest
lies in a relationship between online gossip and eWOM. Online gossipers are
more likely to transmit mutually beneficial information to peers and friends, while
eWOM is related more to brand or product information.
This is particularly the case, where they had a higher degree of involvement in a
product category. The strength of consumers relationship with a brand
community determines the level of community engagement in helping other
members, participating in joint activities, and otherwise acting volitionally in
ways that the community endorses and that enhance its value for themselves
and others.
Furthermore, the online community size affects the strength of value
perceptions. Social influence variables, group norms, and social identity are
perceived as value perceptions to a much greater extent among individuals
belonging to small group-based virtual communities, compared with those
belonging to large network-based virtual communities. Specifically, the members

of large network-based communities seek a reputation to establish trust and


status and to foster social interactions, since they usually dont know each other
initially, and their motives are self-referent. This reputation-seeking behaviour
seems consistent with propensity to gossip, as gossip is viewed as an agent of
struggle for status and prestige among individuals and cliques. Gossip is often
used for social comparison between in-group and out-groups, in favour of the
former by providing knowledge that would strengthen the preference for feeling
positive about ones in-group. In contrast, small-group communities see little
need for such struggle or social comparison, and are less prone to engage in
gossip.
Additionally, it also studies the effects of tie strength and network size while
considering them simultaneously and comes with the conclusion that there is no
significant difference between gossipers and non-gossipers in terms of eWOM
intention on an SNS.

Another thing that is discussed in the research paper is that regardless of


propensity to gossip members belonging to a small network rather than a large
network would be more willing to participate in eWOM on an SNS.
Gossipier may be less motivated when the degree of involvement in a product
category is low, because the product is less important they would not feel like an
expert, and reporting this gossip would draw little attention from other network
members. In this case, tie strength and network size are the key determinants of
eWOM intention. Small-group members may pay more attention because they
are likely to be close friends, and therefore connected with strong ties, due to
more intimate communication.
In the beginning, the research estimates the level of involvement of consumer
with 5 products - beer, sports shoes, mobile phone, laptop computer, and travel.
After estimating the importance of these 5 products using a product involvement
scale it was assesses as to what type of sales promotion could induce realistic
and actionable interests. All subjects used one or more SNS. They were asked as
to what kind of sales promotion they may refer to friends on a SNS. Discount
information was the most frequent response.
Overall results are consistent with theoretical predictions. Gossipers, compared
with non-gossipers, perceived information value, entertainment value, and
friendship value more strongly, while feeling more pressured by group norms.
They are interested in prestige or fame by being recognized as an expert on a
particular topic or area of knowledge by their fellow SNS members. When they
find interesting information to serve this purpose, they are willing to spread it.
This tendency is stronger when they belong to a large network, but the closeness
of the relationship among members is no longer relevant.
The paper tests the aforementioned hypothesis for a high-involvement product,
laptop computer, compared with a low-involvement product, beer. Results are
consistent in that online gossipers on SNSs tend to act as predicted. In contrast,
propensity to gossip loses its role when the product is uninteresting or
unattractive. Such trivial information can be spread only among those connected
with strong ties, rather than weak ties.

Paper 3: Will social media kill branding?


Chiranjeev Kohli, Rajneesh Suri, Anuj Kapoor
The first step in successful branding entails the creation of meaningful
differentiation. Creating differentiation should rest squarely with marketers. If
marketers dont create a focused positioning based on meaningful
differentiation, consumers will take over, especially in the age of social
media. That would be an undesirable outcome.
A second point on branding is the importance of building an emotional
connection. This is significant for two reasons. In general, physical attributes
are easier to duplicate, and hence rarely provide a true strategic edge.
More importantly, in the age of social mediawhen it is easier to share
information and evaluate physical attributesbrands that rely solely on
these are more susceptible and unlikely to do well in the long run.
Building emotional connections, though, takes time and effort. Once brands are
out in the market, social media can disrupt their position because
marketers have very limited control and consumers are more likely to trust
their peers rather than sponsored commercial messages. As such, branding
based only on heavy messaging from marketers will not work. Brands will
become more transparent, and the ones that lack authenticity or the
ability to deliver quality cannot succeed.
The next step in the branding process entails creating brand knowledge;
that is, building awareness about the brand and its image. This is a
daunting task, requiring substantial investment over long periods of time;
once accomplished, though, it protects established brands against new
entrants.
Social media has the potential to disrupt this on both dimensions. Brands can
get noticed with smaller investments, if they are creative about their use
of social media and/or connect with customers. And, longer time horizons
are not needed because social media has the ability to move information
faster and to amplify it. This poses a significant threat to established
brands while providing an easier opening to new entrants, in essence
creating a more volatile marketplace. This will also disrupt the traditional
branding practice of investing heavily in hopes of higher returns, and will
shift the landscape toward brands that can thrive with lower market shares
and those that cater to more focused segments. So, marketers will have
less control over the content their consumers view, create, and share.
The final step in the branding process entails garnering a favourable
consumer response. People patronize brands for three reasons: brand inertia,
assurance of product quality, and expression of identity and aspirations.
Brand inertia will remain stable for the most part because if people stick
with their brands, social media will have little influence on this. However,
if individuals buy brands because they are assured of their quality as
vouched for by others, social media can be very disruptive; a better-quality
brand can easily replace an existing brand of choice. Social media makes
brands more transparent, so they need to be good to be successful. Moreover,
social medias ability to access information, transmit it faster, and amplify

it will make it easier to compare brandsand brands that are established


on the basis of physical attributes will find it more difficult to protect
themselves. Finally, brands that are purchased because consumers have an
emotional bond with them and/or are seen as an expression of their
identity will continue to thrive because that is a stronger bond and a
more stable state of affairs that is not easily disrupted. However, building
this bond will become more challenging as upfront investments will likely
be constrained. On this front also, branding will be impacted in ways it
has never been before.
In conclusion, branding in its traditional form is threatened on multiple
fronts because:

branding will become more transparent and reliance on physical


attributes will decrease;
newer brands will be easier to introduce, leading to a higher
frequency of attacks on established brands, which will reduce their
life span;
heavy investments in building megabrandswhich lies at the heart
of the traditional branding paradigmwill be more difficult to justify;
and
there will be a shift toward creating niche brands targeted at smaller
segments.
High involvement products will become more vulnerable as their purchase
is preceded by an extensive information search that is often based on
physical product attributes- a task which has been made easier by social
media. As such this sector can expect disruption

Paper 4: Digital marketing and social media: Why bother?


Maria Teresa Pinheiro Melo Borges Tiago, Jose Manuel Cristovao Verissimo
From a consumers perspective, the use of information communication
technologies offers a number of benefits, including efficiency, convenience,
richer and participative information, a broader selection of products,
competitive pricing, cost reduction, and product diversity. Online social
networking tends to enhance these benefits, as consumers are able to
communicate more proactively. For example, through online social
networking, individuals can seek out others opinions about specific
products. In doing so, consumers have been shown to value peer
judgments more than firm promotions, indicating a shift in the locus of
persuasive power.
If most customers engage with social media, firms should engage with
social media as well. The World Wide Web was used to present marketing
messages through page views and advertising to reach large numbers of
people in a short amount of time. It served as an advertising tool that
shaped surfer behaviour rather than as a medium that facilitated
interaction between buyers and sellers.

Firms should seek to develop digital relationships using promotional


strategies that emphasize the co-creation of content and meaning. To this
end, word-of mouth communication can be particularly helpful online
communication tools allow customers to respond to firms. This pressures
firms to adopt a more digital presence.

Managers rely heavily on digital marketing to build their brand , improve


knowledge and heighten communication flows . Because social networks are
largely based on user participation, it was reasonable to expect that the
promotion of social activities would emerge as a key motivator for firms to
become involved with social media.
Results clearly indicate that communication is a key component in digital
marketing. However, digital marketing is not limited to the content of the
message; it extends to links with customers and represents a powerful tool
for building, consolidating, and maintaining brand awareness. The Web to
create engagement with customers and promote brand awareness. Digital
media enables and improves communication processes.
The Web can be an extremely useful tool for marketers in creating strong
brands and gaining competitive advantages. To effectively utilize the
advantages offered by the Internet, though, firms must adopt social media
as a channel of providing information to customers; connecting with
stakeholders; and, ultimately, generating sales.
As marketing communications become increasingly integrated with the
digital space, marketers can use social media to create digital linkages
with customers. All efforts in this domain should lead to increased
engagement, stronger relationships with customers, and subsequent
customer engagement.

Paper 5: Challenges and solutions for marketing in a digital era


Peter S.H. Leeflang, Peter C. Verhoef, Peter Dahlstrm, Tjark Freundt
In 2011, more than 50% of social media users follow brands on social media and
companies are increasingly investing in social media, indicated by worldwide
marketing spending on social networking sites of about USD 4.3 billion. Managers
invest in social media to create brand fans who tend to have positive effects on
firm word of mouth and loyalty. There are 32 billion searches on Google every
month and 50 million Tweets per day. It is expected that more than 115 million
people in the United States will create online content at least monthly in 2013.
As a consequence, brand managers no longer control the messaging they use to
create brand strategies maintain that this new environment for
organizations/marketers is not without risk. Several researchers have shown that
posted product ratings and reviews become increasingly negative as rating
environments mature. Research findings suggest that more than 90% of all

consumers read online reviews before they buy products and that 67% of all
purchasers of consumer goods are based on user-generated content.
Approximately, consumers read at least four reviews before making a purchase.
Importantly, these reviews play a key role in purchase decisions. Hence social
media content creates empowered customers who are more led by other
customers than by advertising.
The use of social media also creates a tremendous increase in customer insights,
including how consumers are interacting with each other and the products and
services they consume. Blogs, product reviews, discussion groups, product
ratings, etc. are new important sources of information describing how customers
collect information, use that information, and how that information is used in
their decision-making, shopping behaviour, and post-purchase behaviour.
The digital revolution in society and marketing creates tremendous challenges
for firms.
Three potential challenges are most important for digital marketers:

The ability to generate and leverage deep customer insights;


Managing brand health and reputation in a marketing environment where
social media plays an important role;
Assessing the effectiveness of digital marketing.

It is important to describe the current use of digital channels. We asked


companies their current use of digital media and their intended use in the
coming two years. Company home pages, e-mail, and social media are most
commonly used today. Social media and mobile applications represent the
biggest growth areas for companies over the next 24 years. We thus expect that
firms will increasingly adopt these channels in their marketing operations to
interact with customers. With more than one billion smartphones at the
beginning of 2013, mobile is driving a second Internet revolution that is even
more profound than the first one. Marketers are expected to move away from
tactical mobile efforts to more transformative mobile marketing strategies in the
next few years.
Four major marketing challenges in this new era which seem to be the most
prevalent.
1. The use of customer insights and data to compete effectively;
2. The threatening power of social media for brands and customer relationships;
3. The omnipresence of new digital metrics and the subsequent assessment of
the effectiveness of (digital) marketing activities;
4. The increasing talent gap in analytical capabilities within firms.
Most of them involve data and the underlying capabilities for analysing data,
providing firms a deeper and more actionable understanding on how marketing
can contribute to a stronger performance in a digital environment. The most
important solution seems to be that marketers should create stronger
capabilities in digital marketing analytics. Marketers and marketing departments
not familiar with (analysing) digital data, digital metrics, digital customer

journeys, etc. could soon begin to struggle and their functional responsibilities
may be assumed by more digitally oriented functions, such as IT.
Marketing needs to adapt to the new digital era by strongly focusing on
(1) Quantitative skill development,
(2) Fact based proposition development, and
(3) Developing brand and customer relationship strategies taking advantage of
the increasing engagement in brands of customers through social media.

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