Is There Online Privacy?

Protecting consumer privacy has not always been a topic of concern for the government. Only a few months (or maybe years, OK) government decided to think about protecting consumers. The government realized that people are being attacked with advertising and information because of the lack of consumers’ privacy. When people go online, their needs and wants are being tracked down by every single company with an online marketing research department. If you are a consumer, this sucks. But if you are a company trying to attract consumers, this rocks.

 

What About Congress and Online Privacy?

Consumer privacy is really a very complex topic. Of course that it would be great if people could just go online without having to worry about who is watching them. But on the other hand, giving that kind of freedom to people can be dangerous. So, of course governments need to watch and study what are consumers doing online. What is not good is having to give all your personal information to an online site only so that you are able to access its contents. Fortunately for Facebook users, the Federal Trade Commission is about to reach a settlement with Facebook because of certain practices that Facebook used to force consumers to share everything with everybody. Hopefully, this will help congress make decisions about protecting consumers’ online privacy so that people can go online without having to worry that all their information will be out there for everyone to read.

 

Want to Know More About Online Privacy?

If you are interested in receiving more information about online privacy, maybe you want to check www.privacyrights.org, where you will be guided through the several ways that people can obtain all your information. Maybe by being informed you will be able to save yourself from some really ugly situations due to the lack of online privacy.

 

References:

https://www.privacyrights.org/

 

 

Why Have Online Social Networks Become Essential?

When the trend for social media first started, people thought social media was a great way to be in contact with friends and family.Then it all started to change and social media became the way politicians gained votes, companies built brand awareness, and consumers talked about products and services for everyone to see what they thought.

People have grown so dependent on social media that they they even carry social media with them 24/7 on their phones. A recent study showed that social networks have more than 70 million people connected through their phones. The study says that almost 40% of those consumers get online almost daily, mostly to see status updates from friends and family.

Online Social Networks in Politics

It seems that social media is essential even for politicians. According to a study carried out by Dr Ciarán McMahon, politicians who have Facebook or Twitter accounts receive almost double the votes of a candidate who do not use social media to interact with the community. Politicians must be aware that people spend a significant amount of time on social networks discussing and commenting on issues that matter to them. Through online social networks politicians discuss issues and address the community to announce how they are working to better serve it. If the world continues to evolve around the Internet, politics will soon be driven by online social media. In the near future, politicians will learn and understand that in order to gain more votes, they will have to create one-on-one social media relationships with the citizens.

Social Networks for Marketing

For companies, social networks are the best way to approach consumers and tell them everything about their products and services. Social networks are important for companies and their services and products because it spreads, it lasts, and it helps them get found. Companies can use social media to send information about their products and services. But, more importantly, they can use social media to communicate with consumers. That is, to tell consumers what they offer and to listen to what consumers need to say about their products and services. Social networks are a great advantage for companies; having a direct relationship with consumers can make a product or service more profitable. Because of the opportunities that lie within online social networks, the marketing strategies for all companies may focus specially on networks such as Facebook and Twitter.

Online social networks already created radical changes in the way marketing is handled. Now, marketers, advertisers, and every person involved in an organization should create strategies that evolve around social networks.

References:

How and Why a Social Media Manager is Essential for Your Business

http://mashable.com/2010/11/01/future-social-media-politics/

http://www.businessinsider.com/social-networking-shaping-online-conversations-business-innovation-and-profits-2011-10

E-Marketing has changed the Consumer Purchasing Process

Ever since the Internet became so popular, consumers have been facing many changes in their needs and wants. E-marketing influences what consumers want and need. Now, it is not only a matter of what a person really needs to survive, but how the Internet makes consumer believe that they need more than what they really need. Consumer behavior is influenced by internal and external factors. Internal factors are needs and motives, personality, learnings, self-concept and attitudes. And external factors include family, culture, social status, and friends’ references. Those external factors are very well influenced by E-marketing. Now that many people spend time on the Internet, those external factors have changed in order to accommodate what the Internet offers. The Internet has become part of the culture of many people. At least in developed countries, like the United States, most people spend many time on the Internet.

The Internet has actually become a culture for many people. Consumers access the Internet for all steps of the decision buying process:

1. problem recognition: People find new products or services online and they create a need in their system.
2. information search: Consumers go online to make research and find out how they can satisfy those needs.
3. alternative evaluation: People compare and look for reviews for all available options.
4. purchase decision: After comparing and realizing what product or service best satisfy their needs, consumers make the decision to purchase
5. post-purchase behavior: After the decision has been made and the product or service has been tasted and used,  consumers decide whether it is good or bad and they start spreading the word, commonly through social networks, etc.

Every day marketing is changing a lot. From the behavioral targeting that many companies are using to know what consumers want and need in order to fulfill those needs to how word-of-mouth has becoming more and more a thing of social networks. Some years ago, people used the Internet for research to find out how to get the best of what they wanted. But now the Internet just enters the minds of consumers and make them make decisions that they really were not expecting. It seems like the time where machines drive our world is here!

But of course this isn’t like everything is bad. As it says in this study from KyunHee University in South Korea, “The Internet can enhance consumer efficiency by facilitating consumers’ access to consumption related information more quickly”. Even though consumers have been influenced by what they find online, they take advantage of the greatness of the Internet to be able to fulfill their needs and wants.

At the end, as long as consumers know how to handle e-marketing driving their purchasing processes, the Internet will be a great source for people to satisfy their needs.

References:

http://www.fao.org/docrep/004/w3240e/W3240E05.htm

http://www-rohan.sdsu.edu/~renglish/370/notes/chapt05/

 

How the Internet Has Changed Tracking Consumer Behavior

When, Why, How and Where: The most important questions when studying and investigating consumers’ needs and wants. Marketing focuses on understanding consumers so that all products and services can be delivered to the correct market. How people behave is so important because that is the way marketers are able to tell what consumers want. Consumers should be aware that specialists are always following and investigating them. Thanks to marketing, people can obtain better benefits from the services and products they purchase or use. 

How Consumer Behavior Has Changed Thanks to the Internet

Online ad targeting is what is working now. Every single company out there is getting into media in order to increase its market size. In order to reach out to consumers companies need to be on Facebook, Twitter, blogs, etc. It always makes consumers happy. This is Just what Boloco does.  What better way to reach consumers than through the Internet? By being on the Internet, companies get reviews, questions, queries, etc., from consumers. It is the easiest way to have constant interaction with consumers to be on top of what consumers need and want. 

Consumer Knowledge 

At the end of the day, what is important is having consumer knowledge. Knowing them, understanding them, and being able to give them what they want. Psychology is the most important part of marketing. And thanks to the Internet, we are able to see and understand what consumers want. Marketing is evolving with the Internet. The way researchers find information about consumers has become mainly through the Internet. Millions and millions of people use the Internet every day. 

Behavioral Targeting

Through Internet research, consumers are telling the world what they want. If today one consumer starts looking for a computer online, marketers will obtain this information and take it for their benefit. Those companies in the computer industry, will reach out to this consumer with ads and Pop ups. This consumer will look at those ads and he or she will be attracted to investigate and maybe purchase from that certain supplier. This happens everywhere: from Google to Yahoo to Youtube and even Facebook. Every search engine consumers use is tracked by companies so that they know who you are and what you want. Demographics is so important for marketers because that is the best way to start understanding consumers’ needs and wants. At the end, this is what makes products and services so beneficial and satisfying for consumers. 

People may think that behavioral targeting is not good. But ever since the beginning of marketing and consumer behavior, marketers have been finding ways to study consumers from any point. Marketing is becoming more and more about the consumer. Everywhere consumer looks, they find information they want. This happens because of behavioral targeting. Here are 4 Ways Behavioral Targeting is Changing the Web. As long as marketers make it safe, behavioral targeting will be a benefit for all consumers. At the end, the world will serve consumers what they want because they asked for it. 

References:

http://www.aj2000.com/articles/behavioral-targeting-promise.htm

http://www.consumerpsychologist.com/

http://mashable.com/2011/04/26/behavioral-targeting/

The Attack of E-Commerse to the Newspaper Industry

Newspaper Industry is shutting down little by little because of the Internet and E-Commerce era. Nowadays people just go online and read news and everything else that interests them. Besides, advertising agencies rather go to online sites to advertise instead of advertising on newspapers. Who doesn’t want to spend all the marketing and advertising money on media that people actually read? People used to receive the newspaper everyday. It was part of the routine to read the paper every morning or every night before bed. It doesn’t happen very frequently now.

How you can use the newspaper, for good

Even though people have stopped reading the newspaper, newspaper still have lots of great uses. People use the newspaper to: cover themselves from rain, make dress patterns, wrap an avocado to ripen fast , write a phone number on a corner when someone gives you a number over the phone and you don’t have anywhere else to write it, to potty train your pets, etc. There are, in fact, many uses to the newspaper. So, people definitely should not allow the newspaper to die. Keeping the tradition of reading newspaper, and being able to use the paper in so many uses is fun and practical.

Writing Phone Numbers on Newspapers

The newspaper Industry Must Attract More Consumers to its Services

E-commerce is taking over the world. People do not really need to take the newspaper and read it to find news, information, and advertising. Whatever people want to know, they can find it online. If it is news, products, events, or ideas, everything is online. Every service that newspaper used to offer exclusively is now found online. Journalists and newspapers need to keep finding ideas to attract new people and get them to read the newspaper. It might not be easy, but that is the only option they have in order to save the industry from shutting down.

More Reading:

http://www.economist.com/node/7830218

http://www.astrostar.com/Eighty-Uses-For-Old-Newspaper.htm