To conclude…

Since it s possibly the last blog posted here, I would like to make a self-reflection after studying this course COMM464 E-marketing…

To me, at the very beginning, I have had a big stereotype about this course. I believed this course is related to some technical/computing stuff (personally not quite familiar with) on the basis of marketing. But, in the first lesson, this stereotype has been immediately be removed after the instructor’s introduction on the overview design of this course.

Indeed, this course has made me more aware of what is real business world happening with online marketing. According to my previous marketing knowledge, I always know that online marketing is growing more and more significant for all kinds of enterprises. But, with limited examples and scope covered in other marketing courses, I do not have a in-depth understanding on the this area of expertise until I study this course.

The course allows me to obtain various insights on different aspects related to online marketing, like website usability and evaluation, social media audit, paid/owned/earned media, email marketing, conversation models…all these are quite inspiring for me to know. Further, I am mostly impressed by the HSU exam and the HSU pro certification, right now, I am now certified by Hootsuite university…yeah…see my previous blog…@@

As for the class atmosphere, it is absolutely interactive when compared with my learning mode in my home university in Hong Kong, maybe Asians are a bit shy in expressing personal opinions in a crowd…well, I really inspire a lot from this, especially the use of Twitter in encouraging in-class discussions, which are all absolutely great to allow each of our schoolmates to share personal opinions, with immediate feedbacks given by others in class. The real-client project plus the inspiring guest lectures further add credits to this awesome course.

What a pity is, I am just an exchange student staying here for one semester, if not, I wish I can register more related courses in UBC Sauder….anyway, all of the above will not only become my lifelong knowledge, but also great memory…

I love this course, I love Sauder, and I love UBC…

Jim Yat Fung, Calvin

BBA (HONS) Marketing, City University of Hong Kong

Macy’s Gives Busy Mobile Consumers Scan and Shop Technology

Facebook: “likes” V.S. “People talking about this”

How user-generated content is changing the business today?

The way media are transmitted has changed dramatically over the last 10 years. User-generated content (UGC) has completely changed the landscape of social interaction, media outreach, consumer understanding, and everything in between.

Today, UGC is media generated by the consumer instead of the traditional journalists and reporters. This is a movement defying and redefining traditional norms at the same time. Current events are largely publicized on Twitter and Facebook (http://marketingland.com/fortune-500-companys-social-media-use-on-the-rise-52726) by the average person, and not by a photojournalist hired by a news organization.

In the past, these large news corporations dominated the headlines — literally — and owned the monopoly on public media.  Yet with the advent of smartphones and spread of social media, everything has changed.  The entire industry has been replaced; smartphones have supplanted how information is collected, packaged, edited, and conveyed for mass distribution. UGC allows for raw and unfiltered movement of content at lightening speed. With the way that the world works today, it is the most reliable way to get information out. One thing that is for certain is that UGC is here to stay whether we like it or not, and it is driving much more of modern journalistic content than the average person realizes.

Are there any patterns of consumer behavior appliable to e-marketing strategies?

The answer is absolutely YES!

According to Retention Science (http://www.retentionscience.com/), 65% of consumers shop online in the afternoon and at night. They discovered this after analyzing 100 million online transactions, 20 million user profiles and 100 email campaigns.

So what? For example, if email marketing messages are scheduled late in the day, at least not in the morning, it has a better chance of sticking around, getting read and more importantly, clicked.

It is also found that Tuesdays and Fridays were the best days to reach customers. Promotion offers sent on Tuesdays had a 28% conversion rate and Fridays came in at 27%.Weekends barely convert at all – 3% on Saturday and 6% on Sunday. Maybe that’s because people use those days to shop offline instead.

Retention Science found conversion based on subscription email newsletters predominantly occurs during the first 14 days of the subscription period (89%). The first and third days of subscription deliver the highest conversion rates with 23% and 11% respectively.

So, starting from today, thinking about if we, marketers, can learn something from Retention Science and apply it to the real world online and offline marketing!

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News Title:

How Email Marketing Tactics Have Changed in the Last Five Years

Read more: http://www.marketingprofs.com/charts/2013/11701/how-email-marketing-tactics-have-changed-in-five-years#ixzz2hIvD50Hj

Since 2008, marketers have adopted a more simplified email sign-up process for new subscribers and now ask for significantly less personal information, according to a recent study by Return Path.

News Comments:

Email marketing is directly marketing a commercial message to a group of people using email. In itsbroadest sense, every email sent to a potential or current customer could be considered email marketing. It usuall involves using email to send ads, request business,or solicit sales or donations, and is meant t build loyalty, trust, or bran awareness.

Based on the news content, I have obtained several insights with regard to the mentioned changes over the use of email marketing in these few years:

1. By requesting less personal infomation for subscribing a marketing program, from the customers’ perspective, they tend to be more secure and willing to receive the information without concerning the privacy issue plus the given benefit of convenience for making a subscribtion faster.

2. The opt-in-opt-out changes made nowadays allow users to have a say to determine what information they want to receive, it is believed that this option enables customers to have flexibility. For those who would still want to continue receive subscribed information, they are more likely to show stronger interests towards the company. By then, the company can focus marketing resources on these loyal customers. At the same time, by asking questions why customers opt out, companies can at the same time therefore find out if some parts of the marketing strategies go wrong and make changes accordingly.

3. Welcome message are sent at a higher frequency than before. To first time customers, these welcoming messages are very crucial to understand the background of the company. If they find themselves interested, they tend to pay more attention to the same or similar marketing strategies in the coming days.

4. However, according to the news survey, it is claimed fewer personalized emails are sent, which I personally believe it is not that effective because customers may receive thousands of emails every day. Without proper addressing and showing relevance to them, customers tend to ignore the emails, which will ultimately waste the markting resources.

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News Title:

Survey: 71% Of Companies Concerned Over Social Media Risks, But Only 36% Provide Employee Training

http://marketingland.com/survey-71-of-companies-concerned-about-social-media-risks-only-36-do-social-media-training-60212

News Comments:

Nowadays most organizations are embracing the social media as part of their business strategy because they realize how social media can boost their marketing and advertising strategies. However, when doing so, organizations would benefit greatly from properly understanding and managing the risks of social media.

Generally speaking, there are 3 major kinds of risks associated with the use of social media from the company’s perspective, including reputational risks, legal and employment risks, and information security risks.

The sources may come from the public like they may interact among one another or provide feedback or comments that can negatively impact the organization’s brand and image. On the other hand, the social media risks can also be resulted from Employees who disseminate proprietary information that harms the reputation of the organizations.

According to the news, the majority of the companies interviewed showed their concerns towards using social media platforms for their business. However, the employee trainings rate on social media still leave much to be desired.

To address the social media risks, the organizations should instruct their employees based on the following directions, like performing a risk assessment of inherent risks to pinpoint the likelihood and potential impact of the risks. Also, each department in the organizations should articulate its intended use of social media and make sure these uses align with the company’s objectives. Further, employees should be properly and regularly informed and trained on the company’s social media policy. The company should highlight acceptable and unacceptable social media uses.

With the above suggestions, it is believed that social media risks could be properly addressed and the organizations can then continue enjoy the business opportunities brought by the use of social media platforms.

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To me, e-marketing, when it first comes to my perception, is about…

1. meeting consumers’ heavy needs on social media

In this day and age, social media platforms have already been part and parcel of our daily life. From the perspective of consumers, they always seek advice from online social networking sites like forums, websites before purchase. Sometimes they even “share” their post-purchase feedbacks with their friends or family members via facebook, twitter…

2. the latest trend in the marketing world

Everyone is doing business in this way. a company may fall behind if it still merely adopts traditional marketing. By adopting e-marketing, many companies succeed in bring more business opportunities and profits than before. Time cost and targeting effectiveness are also greatly improved.

3. the integration with traditional media/marketing mix

Although e-marketing is growing more and more important, it can never fully replace with traditional marketing. Instead, the best way is to combine the marketing mix, price, product, place, promotion strategies via online and offline channels.

4. an ongoing and ever-growing process

There is no standard formula for successfully launching an e-marketing campaign. A specific kind of e-marketing promotion may be popular today, but not forever. Take the QR code as an example, its popularity decades over time. Also, digital marketing campaigns should therefore be adjusted and reviewed from time to time to ensure it works in the long-term perspective.

Generally speaking, different scholars may adopt different definitions towards the term “e-marketing”. However, to me, I believe e-marketing should be characterized by the above features based on my perception. Looking forward to have more in-depth understandings towards e-marketing after studying this course! =]

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