Written by Ann-Christin Fisher

Nowadays, 2.4 billion people around the world have access to the internet and therefore to a variety of social media platforms which enables consumers to connect and communicate with others, share, consume and create content about topics of their personal interest (Blazevic, et al., 2013). The purpose of this article is it to develop a theoretical framework of how the digital revolution, which is characterized by the development of the internet, has changed the roles between consumers and companies regarding to the information provision and procurement over the last years. The analysis will be done by reviewing existing literature and by comparing the communication behavior before the and after the advent of the internet has taken place. Furthermore, this article highlights the major opportunities and challenges that have emerged and provides suggestions of how marketers can adapt this changes to their existing marketing strategy in order reach the company goals by using company examples.

In this article the term consumer(s) will be used to refer to people who create and consume information about companies, their products and services. Furthermore, the term content which implies information about companies, products and services will be used as interchangeable with the term information (Gensler, et al., 3013; Peters, et al., 2013).

Just a few years ago, before the internet has developed to the internet that we know today, the way in which consumers acquired information about companies and their products in order to make the best possible purchase decision were determined by companies and limited in terms of time and place (Armelini & Villanueva, 2011). At this time, information was distributed from the companies to the consumers by traditional media channels such as newspaper, radio and TV ads and salesperson (hierarchical one way communication) (Muniz & Schau, 2011) to inform consumers. In order to reach a huge amount of consumers, marketers had to push a vast amount of information into the market which required a huge marketing budget. While the communication was determined by the companies, consumers did not have the power to share their experience, thoughts and feelings about companies, products and services to a broader range of consumers or even to give feedback to the companies (Muniz & Schau, 2011; Thurau, et al., 2013). Information beside these provided information of the companies were only possible to obtain from friends, family members and partly by salespeople through the traditional way of word of mouth.

The advent of the internet has changed the roles

This traditional market environment and the way in which consumers search for information, interact with others and purchase has changed essential though technological changes and the advent of the internet (Wind, 2008; Sing & Sonnenburg, 2012; Berthon, et al., 2012). This fundamental change is due to the development of user based hard- and software and the development of the web 2.0. The web 2.0 is the technical infrastructure that facilitates social media. Social media is defined and described as a group of internet based application such as forums, blogs and micro blogs, networks, video-, photo- and news sharing websites, forums for special interest, fan sites, online role playing games and customer review pages (Gensler, et al., 2013; Muniz & Schau, 2011; Berthon, et al., 2012). These social media platforms enable consumers to connect with each other, create-, demonstrate-, share- and consume content in form of texts, videos and pictures (Berthon, et al., 2012; Krishnamurthy & Kucuk, 2009). According to Blazevic et al. (2014) 90% of the internet user access social media platforms and spend between 12.4 to 20.7 hours per week on the internet (Aljukharad & Sencel, 2011), which leads to the connection and interaction among consumers. The development of the web 2.0 therefore has transformed the traditional way in which the available information is controlled, determined and distributed by the companies into a non-hierarchical, one to many communication. In contrast to the traditional communication, this way of communication is characterized by the fact that everyone has the power to create, share and consume the information that he or she wants to (Berthon, et al., 2012; Labrecque, et al., 2013). In terms of commercial purposes consumers have started to create content online about their experiences, thoughts and feelings about companies and products to a broader audience and to consume specific information with reference to their purchase decision. This interactive exchange of information among consumers around the world leads to more informed purchase decisions than ever before (King, et al., 2014; Thurau, et al., 2013; Labrecque, et al., 2013). The internet as such has therefore contributed to the shift in consumer behavior from passive consumers to active consumers (Thurau, et al., 2013).

These more informed purchase decisions are very much influenced by the experience and opinions about certain companies, products and services of other consumers. Depending on the product category and the importance of the purchase decision 66% of consumers rely on the opinion of their loved ones and even 55% rely on the opinion of consumers on the internet before marking a purchase decision (The Boston Consulting Group, 2013). Consumers or user generate content (UGC), which is used and produced to rely the purchase decision upon and varies in terms of form (word, messages, pictures, videos) and content (positive or negative reviews, adaptations, improvements or modifications of the company offerings or even informal discussions among consumers) (Berthon, et al., 2012). While the form of the user generated content is depending on the kind of social media which consumers use (e.g. YouTube or amazon.com, blogs etc.), the content mainly depends on the personal experience of the consumers. Through this user generated content, consumers play a more and more a valuable and active role in the brand communication-, promotion- and value adding process of a company than ever before (if intentionally or unintentionally) (Berthon, et al., 2012; Gensler, et al., 2013; Thurau, et al., 2013). This kind of personal communication among consumers about commercial topics is also known and denoted as online word of mouth and can have a positive or negative impact on companies with reference to the company goals (e.g. brand image, sales volume etc.) (Armelini & Villanueva, 2011). From a consumers point of view the content is very valuable when it comes to the decision making process whether to buy a product or not.

The impact on companies and how marketers can adapt

Hence, this development has extended the market environment in which companies operate and bear therefore new challenges and opportunities for their traditional marketing strategy. It is from particular importance that markets accept and embrace the changes and understand how to adapt the new possibilities to their traditional marketing strategies in order to reach the company goals (Thurau, et al., 2013; Wind, 2008). According to this changes and under the consideration of shrinking marketing budgets many companies have already started to embrace the environment of social media as a supplement to the traditional marketing communication (Armelini & Villanueva, 2011). An example of a company that started early to see the advantages of using social media is Procter & Gamble. Procter & Gamble (P&G) started to adapt social media activities into their traditional marketing strategies not mainly because of a shrinking marketing budget (Armelini & Villanueva, 2011) or to drive product sales but rather to discover their target group and get an understanding of what is going on in the world of its consumers (Barwise & Meehan, 2009). Through the decision of having a presence on the internet, P&G was able to build an online brand awareness as well as a relationship with its stakeholders (customers, public, government etc.). Whatever industry, the internet opens up the opportunity for companies to become visible and available on social media platforms which helps companies to build and maintain brand awareness (Barwise & Meehan, 2009). Furthermore through the use of social media companies have the possibility to interact with their consumers and are able to build relationships with and among consumers (Barwise & Meehan, 2009; Wind, 2008). One of the first online webpages P&G opened up was Beinggirl.com which mainly aimed to illuminate the tribulations of its 11 to 14 years old target group in order to gain an understanding about the topics the customers in this age are interested in or concerned about (Barwise & Meehan, 2009). This on the one hand helps companies to understand who their target group(s) on the internet are, because marketers cannot necessarily assume that the target group on the internet will be the same as the target group who buy the products. On the other hand being active on social media opens up the opportunity for companies to gain important and valuable consumer insights. Consumers are able and willing through the internet and various social media platforms (such as product review pages or direct feedback) to create in terms of recommendations and direct feedback about their experiences (Barwise & Meehan, 2009). Companies are in the position to listen to these feedback and therefore able to adapt to these suggestions in their marketing strategy. As a result this user generated content plays a valuable role for companies in the communication-, promotion- and value adding process (Gensler, et al., 2013; Berthon, et al., 2012; Thurau, et al., 2013). Beside all these advantages the internet provides for companies in terms of their communication strategy, there is also a downside which P&G for instance has experienced in 2010. Having an online presence and powerful consumers which are able and willing to generate content in order give their product experiences and opinions a voice which everyone can listen to can encourage the creation of negative content (Labrecque, et al., 2013). Angry and disappointed consumes are able to distribute negative information within a very short time though social media platforms such as Facebook or even through YouTube or product review pages. With the help of social media networks among consumers around brands, negative content can spread within minutes, even when the message is wrong. The impact of this negative electronic word of mouth can harm and damage a company’s reputation and can have a negative impact on the company goals. P&G faced this challenge when angry consumers of the brand Pampers created a Facebook page with the demand to withdraw the product from the market. In such cases consumer generated content can drive companies into a crisis (Barwise & Meehan, 2009). Therefore it is from particular importance that companies are aware of the power of negative word of mouth and that they do not anymore have the full control about the content creation and distribution. Thus, companies should implement social media crisis management as P&G did when it became affected by negative online word of mouth (Barwise & Meehan, 2009). In those cases companies than have the responsibility to keep care of the content that has been created and to react in an appropriate reliable way and response to all complaints (Barwise & Meehan, 2009; Gensler, et al., 2013). It is therefore crucial that marketers create a communication setting in order to integrate consumers in the communication activities (Sing & Sonnenburg, 2012). The task is to navigate and control the consumer generated content order to avoid negative content (Barwise & Meehan, 2009; Armelini & Villanueva, 2011). Through this way companies determine the frame and the consumers can contribute to it by creating content. Unilever with its brand Dove for example used this approach already in 2002 in the Real Beauty campaign. The goal of this campaign was it to define the real beauty in order to use normal and ordinary woman in their advertising campaign. Hence, the purpose was it through social media to encourage the consumers to create content regarding to the determined topic.

In conclusion, this paper aimed to illuminate how the digital revolution has changed the roles between consumers and companies regarding to their communication behavior by developing a theoretical framework based on academic literature. As we have seen by comparing the communication of consumers and companies before and after the advent of the internet it became clear that the development has changed the consumers’ role from a merely passive to an active consumer in the communication process. Companies are not anymore those who define and distribute the content but more those who have to adapt the new opportunities and challenges which the internet brought into their marketing strategy. Future research might focus on how strong the impact on the decision making process can be influenced by integrating consumer into the online communication.

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