digital media

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The exercise that I completed this week was setting my Google Alert for Nordstrom.

The goal was to understand how companies overcome negative press and what words will bring up negative results in articles about the company. Negative press on the internet can impact how customers feel about a company. Online shaming impacts employee morale, higher voluntary employee turnover and a decline in sales.

Task one would be understanding Online Reputation Management (ORM). Companies should be using ORM to see what is being said about them on the internet. This is the core of developing company management.

As an example, I will use Nordstrom. You can use any company that interests you or your own company to manage its reputation.

I chose Nordstrom due to their amazing reputation of customer service and always changing online site. I first entered in Nordstrom in the Google Alert monitor. By setting this alert, it will allow me to be able to see what is being said about Nordstrom online. I started by entering key words like Nordstrom scandal and Nordstrom fraud. Nothing showed up with these words which shows that there is no negative talk about Nordstrom in these categories. The words that I ended up choosing that allowed more feedback were fashion, sale, designer, campaign, and customer service. 

The links that showed up were:

• Nordstrom Campaign- Nordstrom Expands Holiday Giving Campaign To Include Four Partners And A Goal Of $1 Million (Links to an external site.)
• Nordstrom sale- Animal-rights activists clash with Nordstrom over fur sales (Links to an external site.)
• Nordstrom Customer service- ‘Tis the Season to Tap Into Tech and Improve the Shopping Experience 

These examples show that Nordstrom, after many years, remains a steady business with limited negative lash on the internet. 

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Is it right or wrong for a business to try to hide negative information online?

I think every company does not want to share mistakes that they have made, yet it is wrong to hide negative information. Companies want to show their best side to the public to get customers and also for employees to want to work their. They want to maintain their reputation and allow the public to think the best of them. I also believe that it is hard for companies to not share mistakes. In today’s world, the minute something happens, it is released in the news or on social media. Social media is easy for people to post their opinions of a company and share what had just happened to them with the company. Having negative information released can also show consumers how far they have come as well. Overall, businesses should not hide negative information from online.

I believe Nordstrom is good at mastering a successful online market. Nordstrom has great customer service and puts their customers first, which results in positive feedback online. Nordstrom also gives 1% of their gift card sales to charity and allows volunteer opportunities. Along with this, “employees can receive up to $5,000 annually to match their personal contributions of cash or volunteer time to qualified nonprofit organizations”. The company also gives back through the brands that are available at the stores which allows customers to feel back up Nordstrom as having sustainable brands.

Overall, after doing research on Nordstrom and previously worked for the company, I would absolutely say that Nordstrom is a great company to work for and has mastered the art of online brand marketing.

Citations:

“How We Give Back.” Nordstrom, https://shop.nordstrom.com/c/nordstrom-cares-non-profit-support.

“Chapter 11: Online Reputation Management (ORM) ” Digital Marketing Essentials, by Jeff Larson and Stuart Draper, Publishing by Edify, 2018.Scheff, Sue. “How Negative Publicity (Shaming) Can Impact Your Company and More.” HuffPost, HuffPost, 20 July 2017,

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/how-negative-publicity-shaming-can-impact-your-company_b_596d2279e4b05561da5a59ca.

Personas allow companies to get a general idea of who and what their customers are looking for. It allows you to point out key components of what they might like and what would draw them into your store/website. The more detailed, the better. Using a “character” helps the company be able to target personalities and traits of the customer while creating product or advertisements for the company. This way, the team of the company can envision how the customer will respond to the approach they are using.

People have hundreds of unread emails in their inbox. How are you going to be the one that is opened? Stated by Megan Marrs, “the subject line is more important that the body paragraph”. You need to be clear and concise in what you are try to proclaim to the customer. If your subject line is clear on the points you are going to make, studies show that your email will most likely be opened.

The challenge of sending any email is if the email is getting opened and read. “You want your subscribers to look forward to your emails”. It was said in the 37 Tips for Writing Emails article that you want to be like someone’s friend and have your subscribers trust you like a friend. The goal of writing the email would be to use a conversational voice. You want the customer to feel as though you are talking to them and not just talking to a group of people. Don’t waste people’s time and use information that is going to help them. You need to be on the side of the customer and give them a reward for taking the time to open the email.

Students can also use personas in able to educate themselves on what is happening in the current marketing field. Using Design Thinking Methods are important when creating a persona. Part of a persona is understanding who their target market is and who visits their store. Who as a company are you trying to reach? What are the challenges that you face in getting those customers in the door? Learning how to create a persona map and create the personality of a customer can help in any marketing job that a student obtains in their future.

The best way to get a clear persona is interviewing a customer. Using surveys to get real information creates a realistic persona. Once you have the understanding of one of your customers, it will make it a lot less challenging than starting from scratch and having to make up a person. Comparing past and current customers is something that you will also want to look at. Why are customers different than they were before? Is the company offering something different or has the customers been loyal throughout the time period of the company?

As a company, you should be discussing differences in a persona and asking teams for different ideas on how to improve the company based on the persona. Understanding a customer can also help you advertise upcoming events such as posting on social media. Social media is recently one of the best ways to reach a variety of different target market groups. Utilizing this feature is something that customers should take advantage of. Using a welcoming design and inviting social media page will encourage followers and future costumers. Your social media page should feature your “Brand identity”. You want your followers to know what they can expect from your company.

My Persona- Starbucks

For my project, I focused on a persona based on Starbucks. This was a female in her early 20’s that had a busy lifestyle. She participated in receiving her college education and maintained a job as well. She had a spunky personality and needed energy throughout the day to keep moving. This female needed a place to go to get her favorite coffee while both having the place to study and catch up with friends. She also wanted to be able to try new things and feel welcomed in the space. Her main source of finding out information was on Instagram and Snapchat. Due to this, Starbucks needed to post about their new products and deals on these sources in order for her to know what was coming. She usually starts her day with a cup of coffee. She expects consistency and good customer service to bring her back every morning.

Using this persona can allow Starbucks to understand what a customer is looking for and help them continue to be a loyal customer. Starbucks customers can range in gender and age, yet they are all looking for a place to relax and enjoy coffee together.

Citations:

“The 9 Best Email Subject Line Styles to Increase Your Open Rates.” WordStream, https://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2014/03/31/email-subject-lines. 

“How To Create Personas For Marketing In 2019.” Digital Agency Network, 20 Mar. 2019, https://digitalagencynetwork.com/how-to-create-personas-for-marketing-in-2019/. 

Lee, Kevan. “The Beginner’s Guide to Creating Marketing Personas: Buffer.” Buffer Marketing Library, Buffer Social Blog, 30 Nov. 2018, https://buffer.com/library/marketing-personas-beginners-guide. 

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Online advertising is considered the pillar of “free” compared to the traditional way of advertising such as in a magazine or in the newspaper. The current model of advertising is based on what the marketers want consumers to see. Advertisers have a way of presenting a topic such as smoking and making it sound as though it’s not bad for you. Consumers want to see what is new and will follow a trend. Marketers have to use their own morals whether they want to present information to consumers. Most marketers will do whatever will benefit their company even if it doesn’t necessarily benefit the customer. It has become increasingly easy for marketers to gain information from consumers due to social media on the internet.

Privacy is the main concern on someone’s mind when they post something on the internet. Data is being collected in a way that many consumers are not aware of. Websites use cookies that track data that consumers are searching. This is the reason you could search an item and then that item shows up in an advertisement on your social media the same day. These types of advertising is based on consumer behavior. Advertisers now have the ability to target certain target market groups to get the best results in their advertisement. Online advertising will never be less dangerous until consumers gain back their privacy. The article, “Online Behavior Advertisement” called online advertising an “unregulated stock market”. In order for consumers to gain back their privacy, there needs to be rules set in place to “regulate” online advertising.

I do believe that this current model of online advertising is dangerous to society. Not only do advertisers have the ability to convince consumers that they need a product, but marketers have the ability to target consumers based on past search history. It was stated in the article “The End of Privacy” that “Facebook is a data harvesting platform”. The goal of Facebook is to gain as much data as they can. Facebook was originally created in order for friends and family to connect and share information and pictures about their lives. Marketers have realized that figuring out what humans want is a difficult thing to do and in order to be as successful as they can, they need as much data as they can collect. Overall, I would give the online advertising a score of 4 as dangerous to society. Society is lacking privacy. It has gotten to the point of consumers having to put tape over their computer cameras to “not be watched”. Collecting data has gotten out of hand. 

Creating a code of ethics for digital marketers would include

• Creating a relationship with consumers to gain the correct information in an ethical way
• Respect
• Honesty
• Fairness
• Integrity
• Maintain high standards
• Morals
• Citizenship

After reading the article, “What Have Ethics Got to Do With Digital Marketing”, it was apparent how easy it is for marketers to find information about consumers. Social media has been a big impact on data collection. Social media is a big part of daily lives and consumers are constantly posting about what they like and what they don’t like. Marketers have to use their ethics and decide if collecting certain data is unethical. Not only is collecting unethical data using bad morals, it also damages brands. Yet, who defines if it is good morals or not. It was said in the “Small Business” article, that if a consumer is going to post about something, it is “free” to the web. Marketers have called this a “free exchange”. Marketers need to create an ethical handbook to discuss what is morally right and wrong. On the other hand, another article, “Talking the Internet”, starting that the internet can be fake and fixed. People can now buy followers for their social media accounts including Twitter and Instagram. This is making it harder for marketers to find truthful data.

Overall, it has become increasingly hard for consumers to have privacy on the internet. It has become dangerous for society with this current model of online advertising. The internet is “free” and marketers do not have a set of exact morals that tell them what is good and bad. It is the marketers job to respect the privacy of consumers. Laws have been set in place to ensure fairness and make sure that other companies do not steal other marketing ideas. Expanding these laws to ensure privacy to not use cookies and take data from consumers without their permission will only ensure that consumers are safe and respected on the internet.

Citations:

“The End of Privacy.” Philosophy Talk, www.philosophytalk.org/blog/end-privacy.

Boote, Tim. “What Have Ethics Got to Do with Digital Marketing?” Digital Marketing Magazine, 17 Jan. 2017, digitalmarketingmagazine.co.uk/digital-marketing-features/what-have-ethics-got-to-do-with-digital-marketing/4031. 

 Spizziri, Martha. “Ethical Issues in Online Advertising.” The Balance Small Business, The Balance Small Business, 12 Nov. 2018, www.thebalancesmb.com/ethical-issues-in-online-advertising-39115.

Boerman, Sophie C. “Online Behavioral Advertising: A Literature Review and Research Agenda.” Taylor & Francis, 9 June 2018, www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00913367.2017.1339368.

What is search ranking?  Search ranking is your websites position in the search engine.  Ranking for a webpage can be incredibly important. Depending on what words and questions are asked on your webpage will determine how high your website is in the search engine. This affects the performance of your company and allows it to grow or succeed. Every company should want to be at the number one stop on the ranking page after a consumer types in a question.

Creating a “what is” section on your webpage is very important. A “what is” section would include all the questions that the visitors of your page would be asking.vMaking sure that you are adding the question that is most searched in your webpage can help you reach “Position 0”. Position 0 is the ranking on the search page after typing in a question in the search bar. It was said during the Position 0 and Answer box video by Danielle, “that you can be in position 3 or 4, but understanding what it takes to get to position 0 is the important part.” 

Asking employees that work for the company is a great place to start. Stating questions that might be asked by consumers about the company and then being able to add those questions to the website is a great start to getting your company in the position 0 spot. Going after key words is something else that is important. The key words don’t necessarily have to be words most used, but adding any words will help viewers find your web page easier. Using the exact words, “what is” is something that will also make your webpage perform higher.  Creating a glossary of all the words that could potentially be used to search for your company and adding in what is questions will help your page perform the best it can.

After reading through, “How to Rank: The SEO Checklist”, there are 9 steps to help you webpage be successful. Step 1 would be to us accessible URLs. It is important that the person visiting your webpage sees images and videos to help them understand what they are reading. Step 2 includes stating the problem that your company is solving. The words in the solution needs to be easy to understand and follow to keep the reader engaged. Step 3 is to use words that the researcher would use. Don’t use complicated wording that doesn’t bring the viewer to your site. Wording is most important! Step 4 and 5 is to use something with authority to authorize what you are saying. Use descriptions and authorize it. Lastly, steps 6-9 is to further explain why this problem is important. Optimize exciting words and images to make the viewer want to stay on the page.

If you can get your webpage to position 0, there is a 33% chance that your page will get clicked on. Using these tools will help guide the performance of the webpage. The internet is forever changing, and because of that, it is important to stay up to date on what words are being searched and how well your company is doing when “what is” questions are being searched. Just because you are number one one day, doesn’t mean you will stay there forever.

Citations:

Fishkin, Rand. “How to Rank: The SEO Checklist.” Moz, Moz, 31 July 2019, moz.com/blog/rank-in-2018-seo-checklist.

“MRKT 484 Danielle on Position 0 and the Answer Box.” OSU MediaSpace, media.oregonstate.edu/media/t/0_7in427is.

“Create a Website.” Quicksprout, www.quicksprout.com/ways-to-improve-seo-ranking/.

“The Step-by-Step Guide to Improving Your Google Rankings Without Getting Penalized.” Neil Patel, 6 May 2019, neilpatel.com/blog/improve-google-rankings-without-getting-penalized/.

Conversation is a talk, especially an informal one, between two or more people, in which news and ideas are exchanged. This concept is a main way companies can be successful. Creating a website to draw viewers in creates that conversation. Having a landing page that is interesting and exciting will show the viewer what they are about to gain knowledge about which will cause discussions between one another.

The landing page is the first thing someone sees when they click on a website. Because of this, it needs to be intriguing and needs to make the visitor want to see more of the site. These five steps discussed in “Digital Marking Essentials” will increase the conversation of the website and the landing page overall.

1. NSAMCWADLP! This acronym stands for never start a marketing campaign without a dedicated landing page. Having a home page for a website starts conversation. A website is different than, for example, a Facebook page. The person who visits a website needs to know why they have clicked on that page and where they will go from there. This alone will start conversation about a website. This also shows that the company has a goal and therefore, they will be less distracted while on the site.
2. Attention Ratio: The key part of a landing page is to capture your audience’s attention. The goal needs to be known by everyone visiting the site to show them what they should be talking about. Showing too many photos and other websites will distracts the viewers. This concept is attention ratio. Having low attention ratio, or as close to 1:1 as you can get, will create more success for your landing page. White space can end up being more visually appealing than being distracted by a full page.
3. Context: It important to a viewer that the ads displayed on the site/ landing page match what information is being displayed. It would be easy for a viewer to lose focus and get distracted on another page if the information does not match the site. Ads displayed need to either bring the viewer to another site that has to do with the website or possibly another form of the companies website such as social media. Another way to excite views would be to add fun context. Adding colorful pictures and videos can make a view excited about the site and what information is about to be told. This can also cause the view to remember the website. They can remember a catchy song or even the certain colors on the page.
4. Use existing media: Your company should be involved on other sites including social media. Be sure to attach a link to the website to ensure more foot traffic on your landing page. More ways to reach your viewers creates more conversations about your company. This is also another way to excite the viewer based on pictures instead of words on a website.
5. Honesty & Credibility: Showing your audience reviews from past work experience can intrest a customer more. Creating fake reviews although can only hurt your credibility. It is important to stay honest with your viewers to gain positive feedback and following.

Sources:

Systems, eZ. “7 Easy Ways to Increase Landing Page Conversions.” EZ Publish Platform, CXM & CMS, ez.no/Blog/7-Easy-Ways-to-Increase-Landing-Page-Conversions.

Sign In with Auth0, edify.stukent.com/app/publication/d801ea3f-55b7-4374-ac5a-03d0e2cff93f/cb47ca6c-e25b-460e-a11e-acb31043218b/5b500d4d-ec32-4605-b18c-3eb70c446276/89cddb4c-113d-47a1-97d0-a7f8fe1c8194/view.

“How to Create a High Converting Landing Page (12 Essential Elements).” The Daily Egg, 26 Feb. 2019, www.crazyegg.com/blog/landing-page-essentials/.

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