Digital Marketing. Annmarie Hanlon
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consumer communication in the digital age, shown in Figure 2.3. Its central focus is how communications have moved from business to consumer (B2C) to consumer to business (C2B) and consumer to consumer (C2C).
Naylor commented how ‘C2B and C2C Marketing communication is increasingly played out in other media and in view of others’ (Naylor, 2017, p. 131). These shared sentiments have given rise to different types of consumer power and she categorised four types of consumer communications: voicers, activists, social networks (including C2C) and irates.
Voicers can share opinions more easily via social media, instead of a binary consumer to business route. Whilst activists can still seek redress from the courts for specific remedies, their messages can be shared using hashtags and the cost of the legal fees could be crowdfunded. Early social networks were considered by Naylor as friends and family – we are not talking about Facebook here! So, in a pre-digital age, stories were shared with co-workers, colleagues and other personal face-to-face networks (F2F). Social media facilitated this content to be imparted to a wider audience online. This model also considers word of mouth (WoM), from a positive and negative perspective.
The final group in Figure 2.3, irates, may have previously taken forms of direct action to gain attention and ensure their point of view was heard. For example, students could have marched, protested and organised demos to complain about specific issues. Does this still occur or have social media campaigns become the new normal?
Naylor further described different types of communication methods such as phone, letter, face-to-face (F2F), company website, social media and via third parties, and within this the concept of user-generated content, noted as a way for consumers to communicate and engage with brands. Chapter 4 considers the area of user-generated content (see Key Term, p. 109) in more depth.
Figure 2.3 Typology of consumer communication (C2B/C2C) in the digital age
Source: Naylor, 2017, p. 134
2.3.2 The Rise of the Prosumer
American futurologist Alvin Toffler is largely credited with creating the term ‘prosumer’ in his 1980 book The Third Wave: The Classic Study of Tomorrow (Toffler, 1980). He combined the words ‘producer’ and ‘consumer’ to form ‘prosumer’, as consumers had become producers of goods and services. There are many examples of this, such as Wikipedia where individuals both add and consume content on the site. This is one of the many reasons it contains errors – you or I can add content that may or may not be accurate, true or relevant.
Other examples are user-generated content (see Chapter 4), where consumers post images of products purchased, producing free advertising material for companies.
Case Example 2.1 Open Source and the Prosumer
Most software sales models are based on a licence being sold. If you want to access Microsoft Office or Adobe Photoshop, you need to buy a licence. You are a consumer, you pay your money and access the product.
The opposite to this model is the Open Source movement, which advocates the development of software ‘that can be freely used, changed, and shared (in modified or unmodified form) by anyone’ (Opensource.org, n.d., p. 1). The developers create and share free software and the rules state that when you download it, if you adapt it to incorporate additional features you re-share it across the Open Source platform. The software is still accessed by a licence, so you can be advised of updates. This online community is self-managed and self-regulated so no one truly owns the software.
There are many competitors to Microsoft's Office packages, including: Apache OpenOffice, LibreOffice and NeoOffice. These packages may not have the full functionality of a full MS Office suite, but most users only take advantage of a small percentage of the tools and they are popular with many businesses.
2.3.3 Second Screening
Second screening is also referred to as dual screening, media meshing, sofalising or connecting media.
The concept is about watching a TV screen (or a programme via Netflix on your laptop), whilst Facebooking friends on your mobile and using a tablet to search for content mentioned on TV. This enables consumers to watch a programme whilst searching for additional content about the programme and communicating their feelings about the programme to friends – simultaneously.
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See the paper ‘Who is on your sofa?’ by Doughty, Rowland and Lawson (2012).
2.3.4 Showrooming and Webrooming
The concepts of showrooming and webrooming first emerged in the practitioner sphere and it took a while for academics to start exploring these ideas. This was probably because the impact was greater in retail stores.
Showrooming involves searching in store and buying online:
Shoppers now frequently search for information in the store and simultaneously search on their mobile device to get more information about offers and may find more attractive prices. (Verhoef et al., 2015, p. 175)
Webrooming involves searching online and buying in store:
The opposite of showrooming also occurs, which is now referred to as webrooming, where shoppers seek information online and buy offline. In the past, this was found to be a dominant form of research shopping. (Verhoef et al., 2015, p. 175)
2.3.5 Liquid and Solid Consumption
A new concept of liquid consumption versus solid consumption has emerged, championed and defined by Professors Fleura Bardhi and Giana Eckhardt (see Key Terms).
Key Terms Liquid and Solid Consumption
Liquid consumption: ‘ephemeral, access based, and dematerialized’
Solid consumption: ‘that which is enduring, ownership based, and tangible’
(Bardhi and Eckhardt, 2017, p. 582)
This is a step change, as previously consumption was simply consumption. Bardhi and Eckhardt argued that the change has partly occurred with the increase in the digital economy and that consumers, in some cases, place greater dependence on digital access than physical ownership. Bardhi and Eckhardt also suggested that liquidity is not to be celebrated and may be as a result of income, life situation and the ability to move on quickly. Whilst this is a concept and has not been fully researched, one area to consider is lifestages. Do people move towards fluidity as they age and start to downsize and de-clutter? Is it only about lifestage or also point of view?
One other issue is digital clutter. It's great adopting a fluid perspective, but how many photos have you stored on Facebook? How many emails have you archived? As it is easier to retain liquid possessions, do we ever review and remove, as we would do with old clothing? What will happen to charity shops that feature heavily across the UK high street if a generation moves towards liquid possessions? These shops, from Cancer Research to animal charities, depend upon the acquisition of solid possessions. This is certainly an area that requires more research.
Students often move between solid and liquid consumption. Some bring a carload of possessions to university whereas others travel light, often due to necessity, with a laptop, mobile phone and clothes. Those towards the fluid end of the scale can access music and films online and their contacts and memories are stored in their mobile phone.
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A good starting place is an academic