Social Marketing

Two Tips

Social marketing messages should not just be like any other message or like spoken communication. They should be clear and concise. Keeping it simple and clear has excellent potential to make the marketing message effective for various reasons. One of the reasons is it makes it easy for the audience to understand the message. Hughes (2003) says that audiences always want to know how a business can help them, but they do not want to spend hours trying to figure out the meaning of a message. Secondly, keeping it simple and clear get things done. It lures audiences into taking action. When they understand the message, they will likely take action, which might be to enquire about prices, to purchase, or any other. For instance, saying “call us now” can attract more business calls than saying, “If you want any of our products, call us through this number.” Thirdly, social media messages have a hidden meaning that tells the audiences more about the organization. By keeping it simple and clear, audiences see a professional and trustworthy organization that can meet their needs. Hence, it attracts more customers.

The second most useful tip is having a little fun sometimes. People sign up for social media platforms to have fun and not to view business adverts. Therefore, to effectively make a marketing message and with significant impact, a business has to make it a little funnier to attract social media users. Funny messages make marketing effective and creative by attracting the audiences’ attention. According to neuroscience experts, humans are attracted to anything they perceive as good or bad depending on past experiences. Therefore, using instilling funny memories that people usually perceive as “funny” can attract more attention, and the more it attracts, the more the message reaches more audiences. Secondly, funny marketing associates the humor in it with the brand. Simply, audiences also view the brand the same way. They also get attracted to the brand because they perceive it in a friendly and humorous way. Lastly, funny messages make a lasting impression, which is one of any business’s ultimate goals.

Formative and Pretesting

The main difference between formative research and pretesting is when they are done and the reasons for conducting. Formative research refers to a study conducted before formulating a message, during the implementation of the message, and after implementation to aid in deciding and describing the target audience. This type of research’s primary use is to gain information on different aspects of the target audience that is vital for tailoring the marketing message. Some of the information that formative research seeks to understand is the factors influencing the audience’s behavior, interests, characteristics, needs, attitudes, and practices, and the best way to reach them. On the other hand, pretesting is done before realizing the main message to the target audience, and it is done only once. It refers to measuring the validity, reliability, sensibility, and practicability of the message before it is released to the audience. It often involves doing a test on a small group of people to establish its reaction towards the message. The primary purpose of pretesting is to identify whether the message will impact or whether it is valid, reliable, or sensible to the target audience.

I would use formative research in a scenario where I do not have much information on the target audience. This will give me all the necessary information to design the best message that matches the target audience. For instance, if I make a new product in a foreign country, before developing a message to create awareness of the product, I will have to do formative research on that country’s target audience because I will have very little knowledge about them. Secondly, I would use pretesting if I am unsure whether the message I have designed is compelling. To make sure it is or it is not, I would test it on a small audience, for example, on one social media platform, and filter the number of people who can view it. By this, I will know the validity, reliability, and sensibility of the message through the targeted group reaction.

Creative Brief

Working on a creative brief may seem simple, but for the brief to be effective, there are vital steps that need to be followed, as Landau (2019) explains.

1. The first step is to give background information on the client, their contact information, details about the project, what is being designed, and why.
2. Target audience. The designer gives information on who the target audience is and what they think about the product. It involves studying the audience.
3. The profile of a typical user. The third step is to give information on a clear picture of the product or service’s end-user. This is essential for effective customer development.
4. Insights. The critical insights about the market that have been discovered, such as competition insights, are crucial.
5. Objectives. Clearly defines the program’s goal, how it will be accomplished, and how the success will look like.
6. Message. Formulate a clear, simple, and concise message for the target audience and how they will believe in the message.
7. Customer behavior. The brief should state what action is expected from the customer, such as purchasing or trying the product.
8. Tone. Depending on the values of the target audience, the tone should be critical. For instance, it may be serious or humorous.
9. Inclusions. Any other thing such as the logo, phone, address, and the like should be included.
10. Deliverables. It states how the message will be delivered to the audience.
11. Timeline. It explains if something needs to be done when it should be done to fit in the timeframe.
12. Budget. The financial approximate that the project will consume is stated.
13. Approval. The person responsible for approving the project is stated.

Schmidt (2019) outlines three benefits of a creative brief for an organization. One, It improves the team’s understanding of the brand and product. This is because the brief contains in-depth information about the product, and so if the advertisement is released, the team will feel the impact on the product’s success. Secondly, it makes marketing campaigns more efficient because all the information necessary for a successful campaign, such as the objective, target audience, and competition analysis, is included. Lastly, it improves team collaboration. It ensures the team stays focused, commutative, and connected because they have to work together on the brief.

eHealth and mHealth

One example of eHealth is Google fit. It is a fitness platform developed by Google. It can work on android devices and Ios. The primary purpose of the platform is to track the health of users in regards to their fitness. The user works by providing information about themselves, such as gender, age, height, and weight. After that, they are directed to various activities such as move minutes and heart points. The main strength of Google fit is its simplicity; its health metrics are simple. The main weakness is that it does not display overtime progress of activities. The second example is Apple Heart Study, which uses information from the apple watch to determine irregular heart rhythms. Its primary purpose is to identify irregular rhythms such as atrial fibrillation to minimize diseases such as stroke. It involves users having an apple watch that corresponds with their heart.

This platform’s strength is that it is convenient because users have to wear an apple watch that monitors their heartbeats. The weakness is that the study has been reported to produce a high number of false-positive rhythms. This is disadvantageous to patients because it could lead to unnecessary tests and arouse anxiety (ACC News Story, 2019). Lastly, fibit is a fitness application that measures data such as the number of steps, quality of sleep, heart rate, and other personal metrics related to fitness. Like the Apple Heart study, fibit involves users wearing devices such as a watch or having a mobile device while doing activities such as running. Its strength is that it has a large number of users because of its popularity. It also provides a platform for users to connect with friends, get expert advice, and read educational articles relating to fitness. The weakness is that it is unclear whether it impacts people of all ages, according to a study by Ridgers, McNarry, & Mackintosh (2016).

References

ACC News Story. (2019, March 8). Apple heart study identifies AFib in small group of Apple watch wearers. Retrieved from https://www.acc.org/latest-in-cardiology/articles/2019/03/08/15/32/sat-9am-apple-heart-study-acc-2019

Hughes, T. (2013). Why clear communications are important. Retrieved from https://wordconstructions.com.au/articles/business/whyclearcomms.html

Landau, P. (2019, April 17). A step-by-step guide to creative briefs. Retrieved from https://www.projectmanager.com/blog/guide-to-creative-briefs

Ridgers, N. D., McNarry, M. A., & Mackintosh, K. A. (2016). Feasibility and effectiveness of using wearable activity trackers in youth: A systematic review. JMIR mHealth and uHealth, 4(4), e129. doi:10.2196/mhealth.6540

Schmidt, C. (2019, November 21). Creative brief – 3 benefits from delivered guidelines. Retrieved from https://www.canto.com/blog/creative-brief/