Digital Strategy

This blog discusses data management and privacy, regulated sponsored content, and the impact of social media on consumer decision-making. It emphasizes the importance of protecting user data and abiding by Federal Trade Commission guidelines. The blog also highlights the benefits of using Facebook as a digital marketing platform and the effectiveness of native advertising. The bibliography includes relevant research studies on consumer empowerment and social media marketing.

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Digital Strategy
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Data Management and privacy:
The questionable data management practices of Facebook have provided stimulus for my first
blog entry on data management and privacy.
Cambridge Analytica Scandal has ruined the reputation of Facebook. One of its whistle-blower
revealed all the steps how Facebook was used as a social media platform by Cambridge
Analytica to harvest profiles of around 50 to 60 million users in the US election campaign in
2016 to make Donald Trump the US president. However, Facebook first denied the scandal.
Later, Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook himself admitted that Facebook has breached the
social media network users. He also described the actions that will be taken to maintain strong
data security of users. He went on admitting the mistakes that Facebook did from 2015 while
handling user data. I think that this initiative taken by Zuckerberg will not let users lose trust on
Facebook. He said that it is the responsibility of the social media platform to protect user data.
Facebook is a great platform for ensuring consumer empowerment. Different brands of product
and services choose Facebook as a platform of digital marketing. However, marketers should be
careful while sharing sensitive information in social media. I feel that both user and Facebook is
responsible for data management and privacy.
After admitting Cambridge Analytica scandal, Mark explained the steps that he will take to
protect data. All the applications that were accessed by large number of users and friend’s data in
Facebook will be audited. If developer of any application denies to audit then Facebook will ban
the developer. I feel that people should not lose trust on Facebook, as the initiative taken by
Zuckerberg to protect data was strong. Due to the scandal, an US user of Facebook launched
complaint against Facebook demanding for #delete Facebook campaign.

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Facebook has reacted well to these issues saying that it would change the way users share data
with third-party application. CEO said that it is the responsibility of Facebook to secure data and
if it fails to do so then Facebook do not deserve to serve its users.
Marketers and brands that were using Facebook as a great platform to sell their products are now
worrying about data privacy. Facebook is an open platform where consumers share opinions
about a product or service. They even share personal data like bank details to complete online
transactions of their products and services. Several e-commerce websites are linked with
Facebook and brands demanded for its data security. I think that data security breaches have
become common in today’s IT world. It depends on Facebook how it deals with breach issues.
Zuckerberg promised that Facebook would ban the access of developers to apps that have
remained dormant for more than three months.
One of the co-founder of Thinkerbell, Adam Ferrier who has knowledge of consumer
psychology said that anxiety is growing among consumers in the industry that data security is
going out of control. According to the theory of consumer empowerment, consumers have five
powers namely power over relationships, instruction, aggregation, participation and self-
liberation. The scandals with Facebook will hamper the relationships between consumer and
brand. Nevertheless, Facebook has taken steps to tighten its data security policy. It has limited
access of developers to user data.
I would recommend Facebook as a digital marketing platform because it is has proved itself to be
the best marketing platform in 2017. As a social media network platform people used to share
their ideas and opinions freely about a product or service. The opinions can be viewed by other
consumers and help influence their buying decision. Therefore, if entrepreneurs want to market
products, Facebook would be a good choice. It will help to build a strong relationship between

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the brand and its consumer. It will also provide liberty to consumers to choose whether to opt-in
or opt-out the brand community. Secondly, users can share information about their real life
experience of products. Other consumers will be benefitted by these reviews. Sometimes
consumers end up knowing more than sales person. The rating of a service also influence choice
of product. The connected people can raise their voice for or against any situation collectively.
Consumers can raise their voice freely if they feel that a brand is behaving irresponsibly. With
Facebook as a platform, the consumers will be able to create an ‘anti-brand’ community that will
expose the faults of products and unethical activities of the brand. Consumers have the right to
interact with the brand community and not just listen to what it says. They should have their own
voice. However, Facebook should take the responsibility to protect privacy of these data so that
further security breaches do not happen and data can be kept safe and secured.

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Regulated Sponsored Content:
There are a number of people that are not influenced by advertisements, as they do not pay much
attention to them. A number of people demand that they cannot differentiate between an ad and
an advertorial.
The main idea behind this is that sponsored content, native advertising, branded content and
advertorials camouflage for their success. The Atlantic was criticised for publishing a piece
written by Church of Scientology. The critics argued that the publication blurred the line of
difference between advertorial and advertising. However, The Atlantic argued that the
publication contained a yellow label written, “Sponsored content” in it. But critics said that the
label was not clear and prominent.
The Federal Trade Commission brought forward some guidelines in 2015 regarding native
advertising. They reasserted that advertising should not be confused with news. However, it is
argued that top label written sponsor content in it might not be clear and can confuse consumers.
The readers might confuse between editorial and advertising. According to theory of consumer
empowerment, consumers can freely post contents related to a product or service. But FTC laid
down a code of guidelines that content presented by consumers must be authenticated and
unfiltered. The reason behind it is that marketers might face NAD challenge. All users and social
media channels must abide by the codes but presently it is voluntary. For the first time in
Australia, users will be able to understand whether a post in Instagram feed is paid by a brand.
The new code laid down by the Australian Association of National Advertisers (AANA) applies
to all social media users. Danger lies when Australian Competition and Consumer Commission
(ACCC) breach laws laid down by Australian Consumer Law (ACL). But till now, Australia
have not faced any cases against social media influencers. I think the law would be effective as

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the brands in Australia Re increasingly turning to influencers for promoting their products that
has led to young people becoming their own ad agencies.
Native advertising is defined as use of online ads to market a product. I find that this paid form
of advertising is being used lately. Whenever we open e-commerce websites or other websites
online ads pops up. It is also found in social media feeds. Researchers have found consumers
view native ads 53% more than display ads. They have also found that it has increased consumer
purchase by 18%. In today’s digital world, consumer empowerment has become a central area of
research. This mainly focuses on the interface of business society and the advancement of public
policy. In the act of native advertising, the different kinds of social media platforms such as
Twitter, Facebook and other platforms prioritize their medium with the help of different forms of
advertisements. These advertisements are meant for the purpose of viewing of the customers and
thus would be able to put an influence over the customers. The main purpose of publishing these
forms of advertisements is meant for the public who would view them. With the impact of these
kinds of advertisements, it has been seen that these brands were able to attract 25% of more
consumers through the use of social media platforms. Different consumers have mainly viewed
these native advertisements more than any other form of editorial content. The different other
forms of mobile media buyers have reported that the use of native advertisements were effective
towards the achievement of the set goals of branding. With the high use of native brands, the
different companies have seen a major form of upward shift in the intent of purchases rather than
the advertisements produced from banners.
If I would have worked in influencer marketing then I would have been very strict for ensuring
that the sponsored contents are labelled. I would charge social influencers money for breaching
ACL. An influencer is charged $220,000 per post and a brand is charged $1.1m. This is because

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theory of consumer empowerment has given consumers the right to choose among the products
and services that are marketed in social media. But that does not mean Brands and marketers will
take this advantage to exploit them and use influencers to sell their product. Researches have
found that two out of five publishers do not abide by the Federal Trade Commission guidelines
for identifying sponsored contents.

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Bibliography:
Brodie, R. J., Ilic, A., Juric, B., & Hollebeek, L. (2013). Consumer engagement in a virtual brand
community: An exploratory analysis. Journal of business research, 66(1), 105-114.
Broniarczyk, S. M., & Griffin, J. G. (2014). Decision difficulty in the age of consumer
empowerment. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 24(4), 608-625.
Campbell, C., & Marks, L. J. (2015). Good native advertising isn’ta secret. Business
Horizons, 58(6), 599-606.
Carpenter, D., & Moss, D. (2013). Preventing capture through consumer empowerment
programs: Some evidence from insurance regulation. Regulatory capture: Special
interest influence and how to limit it, 152-173.
Constantinides, E. (2014). Foundations of social media marketing. Procedia-Social and
behavioral sciences, 148, 40-57.
Habibi, M. R., Laroche, M., & Richard, M. O. (2014). The roles of brand community and
community engagement in building brand trust on social media. Computers in Human
Behavior, 37, 152-161.
Hajli, M. N. (2014). A study of the impact of social media on consumers. International Journal
of Market Research, 56(3), 387-404.
Househ, M., Borycki, E., & Kushniruk, A. (2014). Empowering patients through social media:
the benefits and challenges. Health informatics journal, 20(1), 50-58.
Howe, P., & Teufel, B. (2014). Native advertising and digital natives: The effects of age and
advertisement format on news website credibility judgments. ISOJ Journal, 4(1), 78-90.

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Hudson, S., & Thal, K. (2013). The impact of social media on the consumer decision process:
Implications for tourism marketing. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, 30(1-2),
156-160.
Labrecque, L. I., vor dem Esche, J., Mathwick, C., Novak, T. P., & Hofacker, C. F. (2013).
Consumer power: Evolution in the digital age. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 27(4),
257-269.
Wojdynski, B. W. (2016). The deceptiveness of sponsored news articles: How readers recognize
and perceive native advertising. American Behavioral Scientist, 60(12), 1475-1491.