Dynamic Transactional Model of Communication: ride the digital wave to post-COVID19 recovery

COVID19 has fast-tracked e-commerce. In New Zealand, brands like Warehouse have started reducing their brick and mortar outlets in favour of a centralised digital portal. Very soon, there will be a fewer number of the red barns in New Zealand. The ‘out-of-sight, out-of-mind’ effect would shrink the brand equity or perceived worth of Warehouse, unless the company engages in branding activities. Under COVID19 condition, shifting sales online was a smart move. In addition, brands need to also start managing their branding online.

In New Zealand, brands such as Warehouse have started to reduce their brick and mortar outlets in favour of a centralised digital portal. Very soon, there will be a fewer number of red barns in New Zealand. The ‘out-of-sight, out-of-mind’ effect would shrink the brand equity or perceived worth of Warehouse unless the company engages in branding activities. Under COVID19 condition, shifting sales online was a smart move, but in the long term, Warehouse would need to manage its branding too online.

Our studies have observed factors of brand equity (e.g. awareness and loyalty) in the comments left on social media2. By employing content marketing, businesses can churn up social media to strengthen these factors. The resulting engagement enlarges the online presence of brands, generating social signals and backlinks that are critical for appearing on the search engine result pages (SERPs) and directing traffic to the website. These are the crucial digital pathways to the consideration set of customers. Thus, along with moving sales online, brands need to apply social media strategies to produce the same or better outcomes than the brick and motor format.

Most businesses have social media accounts. Some use it to inform users of their offering (one-way channel of communication), which is not utilising its full potentials. Others use this channel because the competitors are using it. Such ad hoc use of social media will not achieve high-level objectives like increasing brand equity and ranking on SERPs. Marketers need a reliable framework for using social media, which is lacking both in the literature and practice. What is available to businesses is mostly a set of ‘dos’ and ‘don’ts’ learnt through trial and error.

Our research team developed a dynamic transactional model (DTM) of communication for social media1. DTM provides a framework for creating social media strategies. It defines the tactics and corresponding KPIs for evaluating the effectiveness of the strategy. This framework offers marketers the much-needed confidence to use social media.

Unlike traditional models, DTM treats all parties involved as senders and receivers of information. The information exchanged (e.g. comments on social media) can be mined for producing insights3. These insights are valuable market-based knowledge for identifying niche markets and new product development that are critical for remaining competitive.

Despite the proliferation of digital media, traditional media continue to exist. Our framework provides ways to combine traditional and digital media into a media-mix. We used DTM to propose a media-mix for communicating the harms of drinking alcohol during pregnancy to New Zealand women of childbearing age4. While much of our developmental work of DTM was carried out using public health messages, the model can just as well be used by brands to communicate their messages to the market.

Consequent to the uncertainty created by COVID19, moving online is increasingly becoming a necessity for businesses to remain viable. Our DTM provides a framework for employing two-way communication for propelling businesses into the online environment. Using the DTM framework businesses can grow their online presence, enlarge their brand equity and become competent. Post-COVID19, there is bound to be an outburst of economic growth. DTM is the framework that businesses need to catch the big wave to recovery and success.

References

1. Parackal, M., Parackal, S., Mather, D., & Eusebius, S. (2020). Dynamic transactional model: A framework for communicating public health messages via social media. Perspectives in Public Health. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1177/1757913920935910
2. Eusebius, S. (2020). Customer-based brand equity in a digital age: An analysis of brand associations in user-generated social media content. (Thesis, Doctor of Philosophy). The University of Otago. Permanent link to OUR Archive version:http://hdl.handle.net/10523/9882
3. Parackal, M., Parackal, S., Eusebius, S., & Mather, D. (2017). The use of Facebook advertising for communicating public health messages: A campaign against drinking during pregnancy in New Zealand. JMIR Public Health & Surveillance, 3(3), e49. doi: 10.2196/publichealth.7032
4. Parackal, M., & Parackal, S. (2019). A renewed media-mix, based on the dynamic transactional model, for communicating the harms of alcohol to women in New Zealand. Health Promotion International, 34, 921-930. doi: 10.1093/heapro/day033