{"id":1981,"date":"2020-03-25T19:32:03","date_gmt":"2020-03-25T19:32:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/leapgroupnetwork.com\/the-convergence-culture-and-its-effects-on-you-and-me\/"},"modified":"2022-08-10T14:50:32","modified_gmt":"2022-08-10T14:50:32","slug":"the-convergence-culture-and-its-effects-on-you-and-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/leapgroupnetwork.com\/logic-magic\/the-convergence-culture-and-its-effects-on-you-and-me\/","title":{"rendered":"The Convergence Culture and its Effects on You and Me"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"q2-2011-the-convergence-culture\"

\n

\nToday\u2019s marketing landscape is hyper-fragmented. The advent of the Internet segmented audiences into niches previously unseen in marketing. However, the Internet, much like TV, required a fixed location to access content.<\/span>

\n

\nNow, with mobile pushing our boundaries, it combines the access of Internet content with the portability of newspapers or magazines. Thus the boundaries \u2014 time and location \u2014 that defined when consumers absorbed marketing messages have been vanquished.

\n

\nAt first glance, this appears daunting to traditional marketers and media buyers. How can one place media on all of the different channels and outlets and get a respectable ROI? Instead of the lens on the channel, the focus should be the audience and how you reach the intended audience agnostic of the channel.

\n
<\/p>\n


\nCONVERGENCE = the FLOW of CONTENT ACROSS MULTIPLE MEDIA PLATFORMS<\/h3>\n


\n

\nHenry Jenkins, Director of the Comparative Media Studies Program at MIT and leading thinker on convergence theory, describes convergence as \u201cthe flow of content across multiple media platforms, the cooperation between multiple media industries and the migratory behavior of media audiences who will go almost anywhere in search of the kinds of experiences they want.\u201d

\n

\nThe first part of Jenkins\u2019 definition, \u201cthe flow of content across multiple media platforms,\u201d gives marketers plenty to address. The arrival of Apple TV, the adoption of the iPad and Kindle, and the growth of mobile are just a few items on the marketing action list. Convergence applications \u2014 like threadsy, Ping.fm and FriendFeed \u2014 that manage social networks and information flow are additional considerations for buyers who need their messages to punch through the clutter. Marketers must stay on top of the many messaging and functional implications that result from such rapid developments. CMOs need teams of in-house and outsourced specialists ready with the resources to support what should be a dynamic, flexible tactical plan.

\n

\nSo, how can the concept of media convergence offer a marketer solace? Because, when convergence really 24 QUARTER TWO 2011 takes hold, when people can freely select information without choosing channels or worrying about bandwidth, marketers can rise above this sandstorm and become real social constructionists. Those of us who have been charged with visioning, creating brand strategies, or gathering consumer insights need to prepare ourselves because the future of marketing will borrow much of the psychology of the past. Convergence does not really occur through media appliances, no matter how sophisticated they become. Convergence occurs within the brains of individual consumers and through their social interactions with one another. Media convergence has less to do with devices and much more to do with dialogue \u2014 it\u2019s me, it\u2019s you, it\u2019s what we have to say, and it\u2019s happening right now.

\n

\nTrue convergence and access to one big network will exponentially excel the pace of our participatory culture. And it\u2019s here \u2014 in what Henry Jenkins calls the Convergence Culture \u2014 that a marketer\u2019s love of culture, society, and all facets of human nature come into play.

\n

\nThe convergence culture will be anything but simple. Because it is global in nature and has political and economic influences, understanding how to navigate this ecosystem is a highly complex task. What it boils down to is acknowledging the need to reaffirm identity in a shared informational and linguistic framework. That means re-thinking your conceptual understanding of the marketplace, your own organization, and how they will blend together under a collective focus.

\n
<\/p>\n


\nTHE MARKETPLACE<\/h3>\n


\nWith cloud computing, everyone will have access to the same information anytime, anywhere and in any format they want. Forget reaching out through channels and think more about how your customers define themselves. Then, explore those items they deem important.

\n

\nTo really know your customers, to honor and understand where they\u2019re coming from, you have to be a great observer of economics, culture, politics and spirituality. Customers will still have one-on- one relationships with brands, but we have to begin thinking about these relationships differently. We shouldn\u2019t fixate on the brand position and loyalty; instead, we should understand that with convergence, people will move quickly and will not be especially loyal unless the brand helps support individual self-images, specific causes, or movements that evoke emotion.

\n

\nA recent Nielsen survey of more than 800,000 Facebook users and 125 individual campaigns from 70 brands found that based on consumer purchase intent, Facebook ads that contained social context were four times as effective as standard Facebook ads. Additionally, earned ads exceeded paid, as purchase intent was bolstered by a friend\u2019s recommendation.

\n
<\/p>\n


\nYOUR ORGANIZATION<\/h3>\n


\nYour business more than likely falls somewhere in between \u201cwe\u2019re using some new media to see what happens\u201d and \u201cwe have a solid digital strategy.\u201d If you\u2019re tending toward the latter category, more than likely you\u2019re staying ahead of the curve fairly well. But, in preparation of convergence, the next question to ask is, \u201cDoes our comprehensive digital strategy support our corporate business strategy?\u201d

\n

\nMany brands are building strong online customer communities, but unless this effort is supported by the entire organization \u2014 from the CEO to customer service to logistics \u2014 the brands will never realize the full benefit. You can\u2019t develop an effective corporate social strategy unless you care about and engage in social culture.

\n

\nYou should draw ongoing connections between your corporate culture and the social wants of your customers. What are you trying to achieve? How does this intersect with the self-statements and social movements going on in the conversational ecosystem?

\n
<\/p>\n


\nKEY GUIDING PRINCIPALS<\/h3>\n


\nThis type of cultural assessment is all well and good \u2014 but what does it all mean at the end of the day? What can we do today to lead our brands to a stronger position tomorrow? Let\u2019s take a look at some real moves that can keep us on the right track.

\n

\n1) If you\u2019re going to say something, make it meaningful. If you haven\u2019t already, begin to value creativity, art and a narrative approach within your organization and your brand community. It will be increasingly difficult to shine in a sea of global chatter, so put your best writers and designers in the right seat on the corporate bus. sitting at.

\n

\n2) Remember to pull marketing principals. With all the insight that data provides and all the power of customer relationship management (CRM), it\u2019s tempting to continually push out offers and information. While this is good, you should equally focus on pulling together a community through things that matter to them, before leveraging self-selected community members to do the pushing.

\n

\n3) Prepare for the closing of the digital divide and keep an eye out for new customers. One of the major tipping points for convergence will be the widespread disbursement of a single high-speed network. This opens up all kinds of opportunities to digitally market to underserved areas in the United States and abroad.

\n

\n4) Be straightforward. With an open network, agendas and power plays will emerge. Take a stance on what\u2019s right, just and good for society \u2014 there\u2019s nowhere to hide. You should also revisit your identity all the time. It\u2019s not self- indulgent; it\u2019s the only way to keep your teams on track and relevant.

\n

\nThese are the ways to weather and even excel in what many view as the coming storm. So don\u2019t fret \u2014 celebrate! Here\u2019s to the return of storytelling and romance in marketing. Here\u2019s to the future! What an exciting time to be alive and participating in the post-information age with so much opportunity ahead. Our efforts today will truly shape the ideas of tomorrow \u2014 and that\u2019s a table you definitely want to be sitting at.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today\u2019s marketing landscape is hyper-fragmented. The advent of the Internet segmented audiences into niches previously unseen in marketing. However\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40,"featured_media":1984,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[53,47],"issue":[18],"collection":[],"class_list":["post-1981","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-audience-intelligence","tag-web-digital-experience","issue-convergence"],"acf":[],"gutentor_comment":0,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/leapgroupnetwork.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1981","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/leapgroupnetwork.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/leapgroupnetwork.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leapgroupnetwork.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/40"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leapgroupnetwork.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1981"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/leapgroupnetwork.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1981\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leapgroupnetwork.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1984"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/leapgroupnetwork.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1981"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leapgroupnetwork.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1981"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leapgroupnetwork.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1981"},{"taxonomy":"issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leapgroupnetwork.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issue?post=1981"},{"taxonomy":"collection","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leapgroupnetwork.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/collection?post=1981"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}