For the 25th anniversary of Economic and Business Studies at the UOC, professors Pacheco-Bernal and Jiménez-Zarco reflect on the way in which technology has influenced the disciplines of marketing and market research, both in terms of their evolution and their scope. They also present challenges linked to these disciplines and faced by organizations at a key moment of digital transformation. For marketing, technology has provided a before and after. Basic concepts that currently determine the core of the discipline emerge and are consolidated as technology places new tools, devices, channels and even environments within our reach. Marketing is going from the field of short-term sales to building and maintaining, in real time, complex and lasting relationships with a strong emotional component between agents of various natures and with varying interests. In terms of market research, the potential offered by the development of new technologies in understanding consumers, while it has not eclipsed more traditional market research, has modified the panorama with regard to the quality and quantity of the information obtained and the breadth of methodological options for gathering data. In the midst of the digital era, the integration of data coming from various sources and the use of hybrid methodologies enable the sector to anticipate trends and better understand market behaviour.
Most people claim that they would definitely prefer to lose their wallet before losing their phone. Although the phrase may seem a bit of an exaggeration, it encompasses part of the reality that we often do not see, or that we do not want to see, specifically the amount of information which we have on our smartphone and the capacity that we have to obtain information immediately. Online communication has led to instantaneous information searches, both personal as well as professional. This new digital channel has given rise to an exponential growth of the data stored on the network so that end users can get to know what is happening in any part of the world at any time. Connected to this increased amount of information available, so-called influencers have appeared, who use this new on-line channel and do image-based digital marketing linked to a company, brand or product. Their followers (previously known as fans...) are potential product purchasers. As such, managing this digital asset is very important for companies and their marketing departments. Properly utilising and following up on influencers can greatly help to generate higher sales through a digital marketing channel that still has a long road ahead of it.
Millions of users follow and interact with each other on different social networks. Companies must adapt to the new phenomena of social communication as part of this context. This article analyses the impact of social networks on company communications, new social consumers and their new purchasing habits, the opportunities for companies on social networks, and finally the trends and challenges in the immediate future.
The loss of influence of conventional media, due to the emergence of the Internet, has increased the concerns of brands in terms of ascertaining how to influence different segments that exist in Spain. However, there is a factor that continues to influence people: the opinions of third parties (formerly offline and now also online). Therefore, it is interesting for brands to analyse new opinions transmitted online by third parties, that may also be influencers and who are the focus of this study.
With this in mind, this research focuses on the perception of women between 25 and 45 years old, (a segment of Spanish society – the target group) of the Sense Girls (as key influencers in the fashion, beauty and Fitness/Life & Style sectors, important for the target group) on YouTube and Instagram, focusing on how they communicate and how they could be taken into account in the field of marketing/communication.
Since this information could not be obtained from secondary sources, an ad hoc quantitative (questionnaire) and qualitative (focus group, in-depth interviews, channel analysis) investigation has been carried out.
As a result of this research, it can be concluded that the Sense Girls should be used in the marketing strategies of brands, differentiating communication types for each of the clusters into which women between 25 and 45 are divided.
The emergence of social media has led many companies to adopt them as marketing channels. Yet these media are novel enough to still leave many marketers unsure as to how to plan an effective social media marketing strategy, actually oriented towards engaging prospects. In this article, we discuss how to shape a social media strategy. To do so, we show the key concepts and steps involved in the planning process of this type of digital marketing strategy, and how to measure their impact immediately.