E-Marketing/8E

Chapter 14
E-Marketing Communication: Earned Media
Chapter 14 Objectives
– Describe the five levels of user engagement and
explain what each means for earned media.
– Outline the marketing benefits of engaging
consumers in collaborative content creation.
– Explain the role of trust in earned media and its
implications for consumer behavior.
– List some key techniques for engaging users and
discuss the importance of each.

©2018 14-2
Chapter 14 Objectives, cont.

– Discuss how a company can build, maintain,

monitor, and repair its reputation online.
– Identify specific metrics used to monitor, measure,
and refine earned media activities.

©2018 14-3
Dell Starts Listening
• A blog post about Dell Computer brought a hailstorm of
customer service complaints that lasted for nearly 2 years.
– The blogger complained that a laptop and its in-home
service he purchased from Dell were inadequate.
– The complaint followed Dell’s decision to outsource
technical customer service to India, a move which also
generated many negative comments.
• When the complaints didn’t stop, Dell appointed a media
manager to deal with internet chatter who initiated blogs in
multiple languages to handle complaints and ideas.
– The blog IdeaStorm gathered ideas and endorsements that
resulted in numerous changes in the company.
©2018 14-4
https://www.dell.com/en-us/blog/ 5
©2018 6
Earned Media
• Earned media are like physical word-of-mouth on
steroids: a social megaphone.
– Can be initiated by the company through branded
content, news sites, and press releases.
– Companies have little to no control over user-
generated content (UGC).

©2018 14-7
User-generated content (UGC)
Airbnb

©2018 8
User-generated content (UGC)
Airbnb

©2018 9
User-generated content (UGC)

©2018 10
User-generated content (UGC)

©2018 11
Engagement
• Engagement occurs among and between the
company and internet users who are actively
discussing the brand.

• This is compared to traditional media, which only

allows passive exposure, such as when a consumer is
watching television.

©2018 14-12
Engagement
• Trust is a key component of word-of-mouth communication
resulting from customer engagement.

• In fact, 79 percent of consumers claim to trust other

consumers online as much as personal friends or family, with
more than 90 percent acknowledging that both positive and
negative reviews influence their opinions.

• For example, when planning trips or on the road, travelers

visit the largest travel site, TripAdvisor.com, to check out the
millions of reviews and opinions of hotels and sites in nearly
50 countries, which are written by other travelers as they are
planning trips.
©2018 13
User Engagement Levels
• Engagement occurs
Emoticons: Simple face by nicubunu - A simple face

among and between

the company and
internet users, who are

Engagement Level
actively discussing the
brand.
• There are many levels
of user engagement
online.

©2018 14-14
User Engagement Levels- Consume
• The least engaged internet users consume online
content only. They read blogs, view videos, view
photos, listen to podcasts, read the reviews and
opinions expressed by others occupying higher levels
of engagement on websites and forums.

©2018 14-15
User Engagement Levels- Connect
• At the next level, users connect with others by
creating a profile on a social network, such as
“friending” on Facebook or joining TripAdvisor or
other sites that require registration to read content.

©2018 14-16
User Engagement Levels- Collect
• Consumers who collect information go through a process of
filtering content and tagging what they find valuable in social
media sites.

• Collectors might also subscribe to RSS feeds on blog sites so

that they can actively read content of interest.

©2018 14-17
User Engagement Levels- Create
• Creators actually write or upload original multimedia
content to websites, such as videos to YouTube, photos to
Facebook, or music and podcasts to iTunes.

• This involves creating content—which is a higher level than

simply voting on someone else’s content.

• These consumers write product reviews/ratings, create their

own blogs/webpages, and comment on other people’s blogs,
contribute to wiki sites (e.g., eHow, Wikipedia), and generally
add much more to the social media content.

©2018 14-18
User Engagement Levels- Collaborate
• The most engaged customers collaborate with the company
when they work with others in discussion to find ways to
improve products.

©2018 14-19
Social Media Influencers and
Traditional Journalists
• Companies identify social
media influencers by
observing and
participating in social
media discussions.

• Companies often include

press releases about their
brands on their Web sites
and send them to media
firms for publishing.

©2018 14-20
U Lifestyle is one of the websites under the
Hong Kong Economic Time's network.
©2018 21
Techniques for Engaging Users
• Successful viral marketing programs involve
appealing content that has a high chance of
spreading.
– Few companies can create content that goes
viral, although Old Spice is credited with the
fastest-growing online viral video campaign.
– Viral blogging via Twitter can also be effective.

https://youtu.be/owGykVbfgUE?si=7Db3R2
14-22
hENvk-jemL
Viral marketing
• Viral marketing is a bad name
for a great technique. When
individuals forward e-mail to
friends or share Facebook
newsfeed posts or YouTube
video, they are using what we
like to call word-of-mouse.

• Viral marketing is the online

equivalent of word-of-mouth
and sometimes referred to as
word-of-mouse

©2018 23
Viral Marketing turns sales funnel upside
down

©2018 24
Techniques for Engaging Users, cont.
• Multimedia sharing of photos, art, video, and
music can generate online discussion.
• Wikis, Web sites that allow users to post, edit,
and organize content, as well as online ratings and
reviews can also be effective tools for engaging
online users.

©2018 14-25
Viral Blogging
• Viral blogging is when bloggers conduct viral marketing.

• For example: Twitter and Partreon

©2018 26
Multimedia Sharing
• Users upload many types of media for other to view, rate, and
comment on.

• Photo and art: Flickr

• Video: Youtube
• Music: Spotify

©2018 27
Wikis
• Wikis are websites that allow users to post, edit, and organize
multimedia content. This closely related to crowdsourcing and
user-generated content.

©2018 28
Ratings and Reviews
• Prior to a purchase, consumers like to collect information such as
what brand to buy, from which vendor and at what price. Rating
and review in social media facilitate commerce both online and
offline.

• For example:
• Customer rating and reviews
(feedback from real customers, integrated into an e-
commerce product page, a social network page, a consumer
review site)
• Consumer conversations
(people communicate via email, blog, discussion group)
• Sponsored reviews
• Expert rating and review
©2018 29
Advocacy marketing
• Advocacy marketing involves deliberately encouraging others
to express a positive attitude about a brand and encouraging
them to recommend its products to their friends, family and
other contacts

©2018 30
Social Recommendations & Referrals
• Whereas rating and review
usually are visible to all,
social recommendation and
referrals are personal
endorsements design to
realize value for customer
advocates.

- Referral programs
involves financial rewards for
customers and partner
who refer new customer

©2018 14-31
Social Apps
• Facebook features thousands of software apps on its
site that engage users.
– Facebook messenger allows users to send
messages to mobile phones.
– Instagram allows users to take photos and share
them on Facebook and Twitter.

©2018 14-32
Location-Based Services (LBS)
• LBS is a business model
for m-commerce.
– Facebook places can
add a location to
Facebook text-based
or photo posts.

©2018 14-33
Converting Facebook Fans to Customers

10 Reasons Brands Fail to Convert Facebook Fans into Paying Customers

1. Failure to Get Past the First Step (try to engage visitors immediately)
2. Poor Text and Visuals (must be relevant to brand and visitors)
3. Stagnant Page Content (use consistent fresh content)
4. Inconsistent or Sloppy Branding (Facebook page and Web site with
consistent brand elements)
5. Confused Calls-to-Action (make clear offers on Facebook)
6. Too Many Clicks (create only a few clicks to target content)
7. Mystery Visitors (compile Facebook user profiles)
8. Preconceived Notions (use Facebook specific campaigns)
9. Ineffective Plugin Use (integrate “like” buttons, recommendation and
comment boxes well)
10. Sticking to Stand-alone Metrics (integrate Facebook with other shopping
stats)

©2018 14-34
How Do Companies Entice
Engagement?
• Provide high-quality, timely, unique, and
relevant information.
• Create entertaining content.
• Offer competitions.
• Make an exclusive offer.
• Reward influentials and fans.
• Incentivize group behavior.

©2018 14-35
Reputation Management Online
• With earned media, there are many opportunities for
other people to shape the reputations of a company,
its brand, and employees.
• According to PR firm Weber Shandwick, 63% of a
company’s market value is attributable to reputation.
• The reputation management process includes 4 steps:
– Build
– Maintain
– Monitor
– Repair

©2018 14-36
Earned Media Performance Metrics
• In addition to metrics such as number of likes and shares on
company-owned channels, there are a number of metrics that
can be applied to earned media.
– General earned media metrics: number of users who
interact with an application, time spent viewing a video,
social media fan growth, etc.
– Actions taken by users: Number of downloads, number of
games played, polls voted, etc.
– Conversations on blogs and elsewhere: Tweets/retweets,
positive/negative comments, etc.

©2018 14-37
Group Project Presentation (15%)
• Group Presentation PPT submission deadline:
28 March 2025 (Friday) 5:00 p.m.

• Double check your presentation order Week 11 or Week 12.

(Beside Group L03)
Group 1,2 and 3 on Week 11
Group 4, 5, 6, 7 on Week 12
Time (Week 11) Time (Week 12)
Course Summary Group 4
Group 1 Group 5
Group 2 Group 6
Group 3 Group 7
©2018 38
Group Project Presentation Order:
• Group Presentation
– Content: Summary of your business plan
– Time Limit: 15-20 Minutes

 Please print out your PPT slides on the date of the

presentation.

• Please come to the class 15 minutes before your

presentation time.

Please Double Check Your Presentation Order

39
Group Project Business Plan and
Individual Assignment
Group project PPT submission deadline (15%):
28 March 2025 (Friday) 5:00 p.m.

Group project business plan submission deadline (25%):

22 April 2025 (Tuesday) 5:00 p.m.

Individual assignment submission deadline (35%):

29 April 2025 (Tuesday) 5:00 p.m.
Next week (Week 11): Course Summary

©2018 41