Marketers use various means of communication in targeting the target audience. One of the means is through forums. “Forums are company-sponsored areas that allow the company to interact with its customers and prospects” (Janal,1997:72). In addition, Wertime and Fenwick (2008:9), supported Janal by saying that “while digital channels are now mass, they can also be extremely targeted, allowing for singular interactions with consumers…marketing through new media can be personalized in many ways”.
Online advertising such as Facebook provides forums for any individuals or organizations to allow direct interaction with their customers, clients, or even friends on real-time basis. This is a good platform to improve the customer service orientation in meeting the customer’s needs and wants as it provides first hand interaction with the customers. Regardless of the face-to-face interaction, forums enable a buildup of strong interpersonal communication between parties involved. However, some of the media users believe that messages are contradicting from their beliefs and likings therefore, they have the option to ignore the message that may be affecting their daily life.
Janal, Daniel S. (1997). Online Marketing Handbook. United States of America: International
Thomson Publishing Company.
Wertime, K. & Fenwick, I. (2008). DigiMarketing: The Essential Guide to New Media &
Digital Marketing. Singapore: Markono Print Media Pte. Ltd.
With some forums there is the issue of regulations regarding forum usage. Ofcourse there is the need for some regulation enforcing polite discourse when people get into disagreements, but the issue of 'the company line' gets into focus. Employees who post on the forums have to represent the company, how can we be sure the information given out by employees on forums is genuine, interpersonal dialogue or planned company messages. Do companies make a use of forum messages for marketing purposes or to enhance the experience of customers? Is there a conflict between the two?
ReplyDeleteGrish
Shebley say…
ReplyDeleteThere must be a moderator who moderates the forum at all time. For employees, they must be using their staff ID number in order to access the forum and they must be responsible for any information shared on the forum. If they (the staff) leak out any information to the outsiders within the forum and if they were found at fault, then the management have to involve with damage control by clearing the message on the forum and report this matter to the HR Department who will be conducting domestic inquiry (DI)…maybe by issuing warning letter or worst come to worst, they will then have to terminate the staff.
However, in my personal experience with an electronic payment company in Malaysia, the forum is only used by the Marketing Communication Department in communicating with the public (external audience) and none of the staff (except from the department) are allowed to be on this forum. We are the moderator and we use that platform to convey the messages. Guess what? We are actually using the Facebook forum as majority of our customers are more interested to engage with us on Facebook rather than getting the information from our corporate website. To answer your question Grish..yes the are some companies who make use of forum messages as part of their strategic marketing initiatives in getting closer to the customers and to my last day with the company, there is no conflict at all as the forum were used in solving any related issues and in continuously promoting our current and future products and services.