Abstract
In this high-speed world, actuality and agility are decisive factors for the success of any company. With consumers being constantly attracted to multiple points of interest, the attention span has become fundamental to the efficiency of any communication strategy. In this context, real time marketing (RTM) emerged as a possible path to increase the involvement of the consumers with brands. This chapter analyzes its impact and effectiveness. Using the brand Control as a basis for this study, a three-step methodology were conducted. First, Instagram posts of the brand were analyzed, comparing RTM publications with the others. Then, exploratory interviews were conducted with the brand's marketing director and the creative agency head of digital, and finally a questionnaire survey was applied to 386 brand followers. Results showed a significantly greater interaction and engagement in RTM publications, and most of the research hypotheses were confirmed, as well as validated the central question: the use of RTM increases brand engagement, mainly through likes, comments, and publication shares.
TopTheoretical Framework
Over the last 15 years, digital media platforms have impacted the practice of Marketing, offering new ways to reach, inform, engage, sell, learn, and provide services to customers (Lamberton & Stephen, 2016). Thus, the challenge now is to integrate all these new tools into the practice of Marketing to successfully take advantage of all the possibilities they offer and adapt their businesses to the digital world. The growing prominence of digital marketing has enabled new forms of communication and marketing, but it has also influenced the way consumers share information with each other and interact with brands (Dias & Duarte, 2022). In practice, the digital transformation of Marketing that has been witnessed consists of ceasing to think of Marketing as divided into traditional and digital, with the latter replacing the former (Torres, 2019). A Marketing plan must be fluid and continuously updated and companies must therefore always seek to innovate in their products, stay in touch with consumers' needs and seek new advantages instead of depending on past strengths, through the full implementation of the internet in plans. Thus, we have reached a point where digital marketing is just marketing, considering that all marketing actions that a company can consider always involve some kind of digital aspect (Lamberton & Stephen, 2016).
With more than three billion active users of social networks around the world, brands are increasingly recognizing the potential that this new channel represents for their performance in the Marketing area, to improve their reputation and increase their turnover (Liadeli et al., 2022). Despite this, in a world where speed and agility are decisive factors for success, most brands continue to operate inefficiently, in a process that consumes a lot of time (Scott, 2011). And “time” is precisely the focus and central element of this study, more precisely its impact on digital communication. In social networks, timing can be the key, but it can also be fatal, and it is through the study of Real Time Marketing (RTM) that it will be possible to conclude, in fact, it’s true impact on the brand-consumer relationship.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Real Time Marketing: Actions followed up immediately with the identification of trends and consumer feedback. They are most common on social networks, but not only. The aim is to generate conversations and engagement.
Communication Strategy: Plan for communicating with the brand's target audience. It includes a communication diagnosis, the definition of communication objectives and audiences, a strategic positioning, communication actions, and calendar, budget, and metrics.
Engagement: Interaction between the brand and its audience on social networks.