Month: February 2020

A common saying goes that “Dogs are Man’s best friend”. Dogs are widely known to be loyal, provide great company and requires attention. Both Man and Dogs have a mutually beneficial relationship.

In today’s modern society, this relationship between Man and Dogs can be interpreted with our daily relationship with our mobile phones and social media usage. We are loyal to our phones we carry them with us almost everywhere we go. Studies have shown that Singaporeans spent about 3 hours 12 mins on average per day on mobile phones. Our phones provide great company in many situations, such as during travels and while waiting in line. We give attention to our phones every day, and have mutually beneficial relationship with our social media or mobile applications. Mobile social media applications provides entertainment and company while we provide them with attention.

Andreas Kaplan (2012) classified mobile social media application into four categories:

1. Quick-timers:
Applications that are time-sensitive but not location-sensitive. This meant that users can send / post messages or contents and the receivers / viewers can view them despite being in a different location or time zone. For example, an Instagram user can upload a story showing that they are having dinner at Marina Bay Sands at 7pm and their followers can view the story within the next 24 hours wherever they are.  

2. Space-timers:
Applications that are both time and location sensitive. This means that the time of posting a particular information and location of the post are correlated. For example, the sharing of current location through WhatsApp.

During my overseas school program in Vietnam back in November 2019, my friends and I were arranged to stay at 3 different hotels within the same district. Being excited first-timers in Vietnam, we relied on location sharing through WhatsApp to inform each other of where our respective chartered busses are at while on the way to our hotels. However, we realised that the location sharing was only accurate at the time of sending as the location changes as the bus moved. This led to a confusion when a friend mistakenly thought that both our busses are heading towards to same street when the actual fact was that the chartered bus that I was in was just passing by that street.

3. Slow-timers
Applications that are not sensitive to time and location. This meant that viewers can view and access the uploaded contents anytime and anywhere without a time and location limit. For example, fans of K-pop boy group “ASTRO” can watch and listen to their music video for their song “Blue Flame” on their YouTube page anytime and anywhere despite the video being uploaded on 20 November 2019 in South Korea.

4. Space locators:
Applications that are not sensitive to time but sensitive to location. This means time of posting does not matter as much as the location itself.  For example, travelers can rely on applications such as TripAdvisor to read past reviews and find locations of specific places that they had not visited before.

During our free time in the mentioned Vietnam school trip, we relied on travel applications to determine which places we should visit. My friend found a night market through travel websites with positive reviews and wanted to visit it. However, as we approached the location, we found out that the particular night market was closed as it does not open on some weekday nights. Despite making a wasted trip, we learnt the importance of ensuring location information credibility.

Conclusion:
Mobile technology has helped us in different situations and even became a part of our daily lives. Andreas Kaplan’s (2012) study of social media application classifications pointed out the underlying basis of our social media usage that we did not think more about.

Marketing has evolved over the years to include social media marketing into various marketing and outreach efforts to reach a wider audience that are reliant on receiving information and contents through social media platforms. This led to the merger of mobile technology, marketing and social media towards current communication and connectivity approaches. Therefore, time and location are important factors to be considered when executing mobile marketing.

Have you seen this viral “Shoot dance” that was even incorporated into various KPop songs?

Or the viral egg (Eugene) that achieved the highest number of likes on Instagram?

And finally, presenting the viral Baby Yoda:

These are examples of how contents can spread widely through social media, and these are the result of creative ideas.

After learning about Jonah Berger’s message characteristics, Malcolm Gladwell’s network characteristics, and Seth Godin’s people characteristics, I realized the common trait among the three approaches is connection. 

Jonah Berger’s message characteristics of 6 STEPPS of contagiousness underlies how some content spreads more. Let’s apply it into Dove’s #Realbeauty self-esteem campaign through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

1. Social Currency: When people share or participate in Dove’s campaign, they present an positive image as supportive towards the cause and at the same time encourage more women to appreciate their own beauty.

2. Triggers: As the campaign spreads and become iconic, it becomes an ongoing trigger that can even empower women even after the campaign is over due to their natural connection towards female personal care.

3. Emotions: The campaign created high positive arousal of acceptance and appreciation towards different and real beauty.

4. Public: The campaign created social proof whereby watching more women join in and feel empowered will reinforce message / beliefs that everyone is beautiful in their own ways.

5. Practical value: Sharing / participating in the campaign allows individuals to feel satisfaction of contributing to the spread of the positive message and helping others to feel accepted.

6. Stories: Dove created story based advertisements to show reality of women speaking positively of other women to encourage confidence and show that others might be able to see things in us that we might not know.

Malcolm Gladwell’s network characteristics highlighted the six degree of separation, and how strong and weak ties affect information shared.

For example, a recent article showed how Gladwell’s viral effect through connectors can expose a post towards larger audiences. Despite current measures to work from home due to COVID-19 virus, a group of management trainees at Hang Seng Bank (Hong Kong) posted photos through their social media showing the group hiking. These linked to Gladwell’s explanation of how a post can become viral through close connectors / followers before eventually spreading towards weak and non-related connectors. 

An example of Gladwell’s Mavens is Shu An from Clicknetwork who tests various products and provide reviews.

Seth Godin highlights the importance of producing something remarkable for target audience and how to communicate with the target audience. Thus, different types of campaigns will suit different types of influencers. 

For example, KPop idol Irene (from Red Velvet) becomes the first Asian celebrity to endorse DAMIANI, a Italian luxury jewelry brand, latest collection ‘Belle Epoque’. She “lured viewers with her unmatchable aura and class, emphasizing the elegance of the jewelry collection to the fullest” (AllKPop, 2019).

Conclusion:
Each theory presented different yet relevant theories that is relevant in the spread of ideas, information and content in current time. A combination of all three theories would bring out strong marketing and influences towards the right target group and even attract attention of new viewers. However, if I had to choose one out of the three, it would be Jonah Berger’s message characteristics approach. Only about 30% of viewers believed advertisements, thus it is important to rely on word of mouth offline or spread through other people online to build connection and eventually spread the brand and brand image, along with other aspects that were covered in Berger’s message characteristics approach.