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Dissertation Topic (advertising & Imc)

Posted by Anonymous on 7/26/2013 at 11:48 PM ET 65 Points

Hey all,

I was looking for some opinion on my cross-cultural (Turkey-South Korea) research thesis topic. Basically I wanted to include advertising, IMC and social media (as these are my key fields of interest).So was thinking something along the lines of

How has social media changed the role of advertising in IMC in Turkey and South Korea? (i don't know if it makes sense)

or

can't think of anything else:((( please hheeellpppp:((

I would be very interested in hearing your expert opinion on what sort of question would be more viable, and ultimately what would (with a lot of work) be interesting to read.

Any help would be greatly appreciated :) Thanks a million;))

Posted by Moriarty on 7/27/2013 at 6:07 AM Member

My first thought is that social media is only another technology. Whilst technology has speeded things up - I can speak to someone in Hong Kong in the space of several seconds using my phone book's stored numbers. The point is what do I say that I couldn't say in an email or letter? Older technologies, possibly slower but contain the same information.

My point is that whilst it is faster, it doesn't actually do anything. You still have to speak to a human being. What you say is the crucial element here, and there's no technology that'll help you with this save to speed up the response. That's why many of the "new" internet marketing techniques were actually established before 1900.

Looking at the issue from this perspective may help.

Otherwise you're looking for communalities between the cultrues of Korea and Turkey. Do they share tastes, foods or music in any way? What do both nations like where you can form a bridge that will extend trust? After all, trust is the essence of social media interactions, and trusting them first is always a good principle. Take a risk that they'll understand that you mean well.

Taking risks with them can sometimes be unproductive - especially where the recipient is incapable of trusting themselves let alone others (the sort of person who needs to grow up and stop calling for mummy when there's a problem with their business). Mind you, they're not the kind of people who would either use social media, and even if they did would do so in a manner that would be inhibited and lacking in character. After all, it's character that shines through in social media interactions where you only have image and words to convey thoughts and emotions.

Does this help any? What are your thoughts on the above?
Posted by koen.h.pauwels on 7/29/2013 at 12:53 AM Accepted

living and working in Turkey, i think your topic is important and timely. Worldwide, we are only starting to see academic research on how social media has changed advertising. For instance, social media conversations provide an early indicator on which advertising works and will ultimately translate into sales (e.g. http://pages.stern.nyu.edu/~atakos/centerresearch/likesandtweets.pdf ).I know of no such research in Turkey or South Korea

Comparing Turkey and South Korea on this research question is very interesting: while social media is well developed in both from the consumer side, advertisers in Turkey have yet to figure out how to integrate social media and advertising. In general, even very large advertisers in Turkey do not appear to use any systematic approach to connect advertising to performance - instead they spent millions based on the vague promise of brand building. Don't know the situation in South Korea, but would love to learn

cheers,
Posted on 8/3/2013 at 5:43 AM Author

Thank you guys for priceless thoughts. Very much appreciated. Btw, koen would it be possible for you to give me a little more specific info on the direction that i should take? Greatly appreciated.
Posted by Moriarty on 8/3/2013 at 6:26 AM Member

Good luck in Korea and have a great weekend; glad we could help.
Posted on 8/3/2013 at 7:42 AM Author

Thanks heaps Moriarty. Have a good weekend as well.