Why should we be more cautious about digital marketing strategies directed at us?
In the modern age of digital media platforms, our lives have progressively become more and more transparent as technology evolves. With great transparency comes greater danger as we no longer have the privilege of privacy in our lives. Big tech companies such as Facebook and Google are collecting and storing our data by watching our each and every move on their platforms. The data cloud of these tech companies contains information about all of our behavioural patterns online, our spending habits, personality, family members etc. This gives them a significant amount of power over us as their data are highly valuable to many companies. They make billions of dollars selling our personal data to companies for
marketing purposes.
This unregulated monetization of consumer data is what American author, Shoshana Zuboff, describes as “Surveillance Capitalism”. Surveillance Capitalism occurs in major tech companies when they exploit on their user’s data to gain profit for themselves. These companies will then use the data generated to target back to consumers with personalized
advertisement and content. For example, if I search for a hand lotion product on Google or Amazon today, I will likely come across another lotion ad or perhaps a body wash advertisement the next day on my browser. Some may argue that targeted digital marketing is beneficial to society, however, just like every technological advancement in society, there are pros and cons to personalized ads. Digital marketing can be both efficient and very dangerous.
Here are a few pros and cons of targeted digital advertising for consumers:
Pros
1. Convenience
You can save so much more time and effort when purchasing items online from a digital ad. As it is a direct delivery of the product, consumers do not have to go through much hassle by going to the website and searching for the items they desire. The ad just pops up at a section of your screen and from then on it is a rather simple process- you see it, you click it, you buy it.
2. Right targeted demographic
Targeted and personalized advertising will always be targeting a person’s interests and therefore the consumer will most likely find the ad intriguing or relevant to them in one way or another. As people have a higher chance to be coerced into wanting the product, this method of advertising will mean that less ads will be wasted and dismissed.
3. More awareness, more options
Consumers will be more aware of what company sells the product they are interested in. After seeing the targeted advertisements, they will now know where to find what they like. They could also click in and navigate through the advertised websites to see more options and variety to what they’re looking for.
Cons
1. Invasion of privacy
Data from personalized ads are retrieved from web cookies and data-mining. Consumers will feel uneasy that their personal information is being shared with a random company trying to sell them a product. People will believe that these companies are spying on them and they will not feel comfortable clicking into or purchasing products off of the advertised
site.
2. Violating freedom of thought
If many personalized ads are being shown to a person online, they will not be able formulate their own thoughts and opinions to make their own decisions. This will limit a consumer by disallowing them to explore other interests and alternatives available, they will be trapped in their confined bubble of interests. These tech companies are practically manipulating consumers to spend more money.
3. Potentially Dangerous
There are many spam advertisements online that may bring viruses to our devices or let people see what they are unwilling to see. Digital marketing will also make the internet a dangerous place for children as they may accidentally purchase something or unintentionally click on harmful content. Besides that, the companies that initiate the personalized digital marketing also have unlimited access to our personal data, putting us at a very vulnerable position.
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Digital Marketing Worldwide Statistics:
1.5 billion social media users across the world
4400% Return of Interest
49% of consumers would like to get promotional emails from their favourite brands
77% of B2B businesses will do their own research online before speaking to a salesperson
67% of clicks go to the first 5 results displayed in search engines
78% of Internet users conduct product research online
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