Stephen Dann

Political marketing and stakeholder engagement

Political marketing theory has developed and evolved in conjunction with advancements in political science and commercial marketing. Commercial marketing has been increasingly interested in developing marketing mechanisms which allows it to satisfy the core customer groups while also meeting the broader needs of the community and other stakeholders. Political marketing has the opportunity to build a marketing framework that focuses on delivering value to a core target market (voters, supporters) and addressing the needs of society at large. The paper outlines a new definition of political marketing to meet the challenges of addressing the needs of the political marketplace, political party stakeholders, and the broader social agenda.

Applying services marketing principles to postgraduate supervision

Purpose – The paper aims to describe the application of two key service quality frameworks for improving the delivery of postgraduate research supervision. The services quality frameworks are used to identify key areas of overlap between services marketing practice and postgraduate supervision that can be used by the supervisor to improve research supervision outcomes for the student.Design/methodology/approach – The paper is a conceptual and theoretical examination of the two streams of literature that proposes a supervision gap model based on the services gap literature, and the application of services delivery frameworks of co‐creation and service quality.Findings – Services marketing literature can inform the process of designing and delivering postgraduate research supervision by clarifying student supervisor roles, setting parameters and using quality assurance frameworks for supervision delivery. The five services quality indicators can be used to examine overlooked areas of supervision delivery, a...

Review of the literature on the use of social media by people with traumatic brain injury (TBI)

Abstract Purpose: To review the literature relating to use of social media by people with a traumatic brain injury (TBI), specifically its use for social engagement, information exchange or rehabilitation. Method: A systematic review with a qualitative meta-synthesis of content themes was conducted. In June 2014, 10 databases were searched for relevant, peer-reviewed research studies in English that related to both TBI and social media. Results: Sixteen studies met the inclusion criteria, with Facebook™ and Twitter™ being the most common social media represented in the included studies. Content analysis identified three major categories of meaning in relation to social media and TBI: (1) risks and benefits; (2) barriers and facilitators; and (3) purposes of use of social media. A greater emphasis was evident regarding potential risks and apparent barriers to social media use, with little focus on facilitators of successful use by people with TBI. Conclusions: Research to date reveals a range of benefits to the use of social media by people with TBI however there is little empirical research investigating its use. Further research focusing on ways to remove the barriers and increase facilitators for the use of social media by people with TBI is needed. Implications for Rehabilitation Communication disabilities following traumatic brain injury (TBI) can be wide-ranging in scope and social isolation with loss of friendships after TBI is common. For many people, social media is rapidly becoming a usual part of everyday communication and its use has the potential to increase communication and social participation for people with TBI. There is emerging evidence and commentary regarding the perceived benefits and risks, barriers and facilitators and purposes of use of social media within the TBI population. Risks associated with using social media, and low accessibility of social media sites, form barriers to its use. Facilitators for social media use in people with TBI include training the person with TBI and their communication partners in ways to enjoy and use social media safely. There is minimal rigorous evaluation of social media use by people with TBI and scant information regarding social media use by people with communication disabilities after TBI. Further investigation is needed into the potential benefits of social media use on communication, social participation and social support with the aim of reducing social isolation in people with TBI.

We definitely need an audience: experiences of Twitter, Twitter networks and tweet content in adults with severe communication disabilities who use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC)

Abstract Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate the Twitter experiences of adults with severe communication disabilities who use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) to inform Twitter training and further research on the use of Twitter in populations with communication disabilities. Method: This mixed methods research included five adults with severe communication disabilities who use AAC. It combined (a) quantitative analysis of Twitter networks and (b) manual coding of tweets with (c) narrative interviews with participants on their Twitter experiences and results. Results: The five participants who used AAC and Twitter were diverse in their patterns and experiences of using Twitter. Twitter networks reflected interaction with a close-knit network of people rather than with the broader publics on Twitter. Conversational, Broadcast and Pass Along tweets featured most prominently, with limited use of News or Social Presence tweets. Tweets appeared mostly within each participants micro- or meso-structural layers of Twitter. Conclusions: People who use AAC report positive experiences in using Twitter. Obtaining help in Twitter, and engaging in hashtag communities facilitated higher frequency of tweets and establishment of Twitter networks. Results reflected an inter-connection of participant Twitter networks that might form part of a larger as yet unexplored emergent community of people who use AAC in Twitter. Implications for Rehabilitation Twitter can be used as an important vehicle for conversation and a forum for people with communication disabilities to exchange information and participate socially in online communities. It is important that information and resources relating to the effective use of Twitter for a range of purposes are made available to people with communication disabilities who wish to take up or maintain use of Twitter. People with communication disabilities might benefit from support in using Twitter to meet their goals relating to participation in online forums and information exchange. Practitioners need to consider how their own social media skills might impact on service delivery and supporting these goals.

Adaptation and Adoption of the American Marketing Association (2007) Definition for Social Marketing

Social marketing has traditionally been the adaptation and adoption of commercial marketing. With the release of the American Marketing Association (2007) definition, commercial marketing may well have become the adaptation of social marketing with the new commercial marketing definition recognizing the role of non-profit and social marketing with “clients” as one of the four beneficiaries of marketing activities. The revised definition also includes indirect benefit in the form of value for customers, consumers, and society at large in an update that makes the contemporary definition of marketing extremely compatible with existing social marketing theory and practice. This article examines how social marketing theory and practice fit into the revised understanding of commercial marketing. It also discusses how the new AMA definition resolves several of the problems encountered with the AMA 2004 definition of marketing. In summary, AMA (2007) presents an opportunity for the mainstreaming of social marketing within the core understanding of marketing practice, while also creating the opportunity for social marketers to adopt the commercial marketing approach of creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings of value to improve the welfare of the individual and that of society.

Reaffirming the Neutrality of the Social Marketing Tool Kit: Social Marketing as a Hammer, and Social Marketers as Hired Guns

Social marketing has been a discipline founded on the open and robust exchange of ideas regarding the nature of social change, the adaptation and adoption of commercial marketing, and the ethics of influencing behavior for beneficial outcomes. As a practical discipline, with a strong theoretical and philosophical framework, it also relies on the open communication between academic and practitioner to ensure those researching and those implementing are speaking the same social marketing language. In early 2006, the international social marketing mailing list (SOC-MKT) was subject to a short, albeit critical, debate on the ethics and nature of social marketing, the social marketing tool kit, and the role of social marketers. This article reports on the summary and implications of the debate among academics, practitioners, and founders of the social marketing discipline.

Classifying the narrated #selfie: genre typing human-branding activity

Purpose This paper explores the purposive use of the selfie in the construction of personal narratives that develop and support an individual’s human brand. Selfies were divided into archetypical clusters of “genres” that reflected the combined story told through Instagram image and accompanying text captions. Design/methodology/approach The analysis drew a randomized sample of 1,000 images with accompanying text from a large capture of 3,300 English language captioned selfies. Coding for semantic and semiotic data used a three-wave technique to overcome interpretive limitations. Findings Based on their structural characteristics, seven genre types emerged from the coded sample set. These primary genres of selfie meta-narratives are autobiography, parody, propaganda, romance, self-help, travel diary and coffee-table book. Research limitations/implications The research is limited in generalization to the Instagram photo-sharing app platform by design. Samples were taken from the app due both to its popularity and its capacity to annotate images. Selfies conducted in non-public, non-annotation-based apps may produce alternative genres and classifications. Practical implications The paper presents a genre classification to examine how selfies are used to “show, not tell” a portion of the consumer’s life story. Brands, firms and marketers can apply genres to examine the selfie types that best connect with the identity of their brands and consumers, based on how their consumers communicate within the Instagram network. Social implications Selfies are an oft pathologized and moralized aspect of consumer conduct. We present a view of the selfie as a deliberate, consciously considered communication approach to maintaining social bonds between friends, family and wider audience. Selfies are presented as a combined effect of consumption of a social media service (Instagram) and the co-production of valued content (the selfie) that recognizes the individual as an active constructor of their digital self. Originality/value The paper outlines a novel framework of selfie genres to classify the deliberate human-brand narratives expressed in selfies. By taking a narrative perspective to the Instagram selfie practice, the genre type captures the combined effect of the mimesis and diegesis, where the mimesis showing of self is contextualized with the diegesis of the provided captions to capture an intentional storytelling act of image and text.

Social media and social marketing in relation to facilitated communication: harnessing the affordances of social media for knowledge translation

Abstract In this reply to Lilienfeld, Marshall, Todd, and Shane (2015) we provide a social marketing perspective on ways that facilitated communication (FC) is presented and discussed on social media platforms, in the field of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). The growth in uptake and use of FC in recent years has occurred in the context of rapid growth in mobile technologies and AAC integrated with social media and online learning. Social media have been used to disseminate both materials that are supportive of FC and materials that provide scientific evidence of facilitator influence over authorship in FC. In order to illustrate how social media are being used to spread information about FC, we present a limited scan of two social media sites—TwitterTM and YouTubeTM—for information about FC. In this paper we discuss barriers to evidence and facilitators for FC in social media and consider the role that social marketing might play in relation to FC. Clinical implications for using social media to counter FC and directions for future research are discussed.

A call for innovative social media research in the field of augmentative and alternative communication

Abstract Augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) social media research is relatively new, and is built on a foundation of research on use of the Internet and social media by people with communication disabilities. Although the field is expanding to include a range of people who use AAC, there are limitations and gaps in research that will need to be addressed in order to keep pace with the rapid evolution of social media connectivity in assistive communication technologies. In this paper, we consider the aims, scope, and methodologies of AAC social media research, with a focus on social network sites. Lack of detailed attention to specific social network sites and little use of social media data limits the extent to which findings can be confirmed. Increased use of social media data across a range of platforms, including Instagram and YouTube, would provide important insights into the lives of people who use AAC and the ways in which they and their supporters use social media. New directions for AAC social media research are presented in line with those discussed at the social media research symposium at the International Society for Augmentative and Alternative Communication in Toronto, Canada, on August 12, 2016.

Exploring Catholic Social Teaching in a Social Marketing Context: History, Lessons and Future Directions

Social change through the use of social marketing has often grappled with the principle of “social good”. Building on the tradition of Klein and Laczniak (2009, 2012) in applying Catholic Social Teaching (CST) to commercial marketing, this paper outlines the points of similarity and divergence of contemporary social marketing frameworks with CST. As social marketing theory and practice moves away from its marketing parent discipline roots, this paper argues that CST with its focus on human dignity, subsidiary and the common good provides an increasingly relevant and compatible framework with which to evaluate ethical issues emerging in the social marketing domain. There is potential for social marketers to draw on the intellectual work underpinning CST to inform social marketing practice in engaging in the delivery of social benefit independent of the religious tradition.