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Social Media Strategy: A Practical

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PRAISE FOR THE SECOND EDITION

“While social media platforms may evolve and change, the fundamental
principles of effective social media strategy remain relevant. This book
focuses on these timeless principles, providing you with a solid foundation
that can be applied across different platforms and adapt to future trends.”
Paul Wickers, CEO and Founder, Huggg

“A breath of fresh air to creatives who thrill to the freeing constraints of a


carefully considered and thoughtfully defined social campaign strategy. This
is 30 years’ experience and expertise from a social pioneer distilled into an
easy-to-navigate guide, updated with provocative interviews and illustrated
with compelling case studies. It’s not just a handbook on how to develop
strategy. It’s a handbook on how to inspire breakthrough campaigns that
use social media to activate the power of the brand, leverage the differences
between social networks and unleash the power of one-to-millions market-
ing. Not for the sake of awards. Or even campaign KPIs. But for enduring
brand, business and customer value.”
Debi Bester, Founder & Chief Innovation Officer, Department of Change

“Social media without the strategy is just, ‘stuff’. Avoid this by using Julie’s
book and the principles in it as your North Star, creating social campaigns
that deliver both commercial and creative value for the brands and organi-
zations you work with.”
Emma Perrett, Strategy Consultant, Industry Unlimited

“This new edition is an essential, encyclopaedic tool that offers actionable


guidance supported by real-world examples and insights, making it an indis-
pensable guide for achieving success in an ever-changing social media
landscape. Julie’s expertise is evident throughout, making this edition an
invaluable resource for anyone from experienced leaders to those just getting
started.”
Deborah Womack, Marketing Transformation Leader, and Founding Member of
BRiM (Black Representation in Marketing)
ii

“Julie’s analysis and insight into the contemporary social media landscape is
enlightening and entertaining – and chock-full of real-world examples any
brand manager operating in the modern social space can live and learn by.

From reputation management to influencer and advocacy activity, Social


Media Strategy packs in interviews, case studies and takeaways which are
both illuminating and practical.”
Tom Dennis, Head of Content Marketing, English Heritage

“The first book opened our eyes to the importance of social media to achieve
our business aims. In this second edition, Julie has taken this to another level
with invaluable learning and expert insights, a perfect mix in today’s world.”
Thomas Pinington, Managing Director, Pinington

“Social media continues to move at a dizzying pace, and this timely and
inspiring second edition guides readers using solid strategic principles that
are timeless.

It offers practical advice on how to understand markets and consumers to


create compelling campaigns, where social media is intrinsic to wider busi-
ness objectives. Case studies and examples are supported by fascinating and
candid interviews, and theory is clear and can be easily applied.

A must-read for anyone interested in how to design and deliver successful


social media strategy.”
Tamsin McLaren, Senior Lecturer in Marketing, University of Bath, UK
iii

PRAISE FOR THE FIRST EDITION

“Social media marketing is no longer optional, and those who use it without
a clear underpinning strategy run the risk of losing ground to those who do.
Julie Atherton carefully unpacks the winning formula for effective social
media marketing in this engaging, stimulating and thought-provoking key
text. I strongly recommend that any marketer worth their salt should have
a copy of this book on their shelf.”
Rob Angell, Associate Professor in Marketing Research, University of
Southampton, and Co-founder, Angell Sloan Research, University of
Southampton

“Social Media Strategy brings together traditional models with the most
current of social trends. This is a must read for established industry leaders
to keep on top of their game as well as providing a great insight for those
wanting to work in the sector.”
James Eder, business coach and Co-founder, Student Beans

“A must for anyone engaged in social media. This book manages to be both
at the cutting edge, forward thinking and a definitive reference of the best
approaches to social. Frankly, it might put me out of a job.”
Adam Fulford, Strategic Consultant, The Thread Team

“This is so much more than a social media ‘how to’ book. By showing where
social integrates with the full suite of marketing tools and channels Julie has
created a mini marketing handbook too. It’s held together by her strong but
simple ABC (audience, brand, campaign) model, and usefully covers social
in the context of important marketing practices like brand purpose, behav-
ioural economics, and customer journey planning. Interspersed with case
histories and interviews with marketing leaders, it was a great read.”
Mark Runacus MBE, Strategist, Acting Chair of Outvertising

“In this new edition Julie Atherton shares her extensive experience and
continues to de-mystify the world of social media to produce a practical,
research-based guide to the successful creation and implementation of social
iv

media marketing strategies. The new edition adds up-to-date case studies
and covers the impact of emerging AI technologies. The book remains
exceptional in linking this to wider marketing strategy and deals effectively
with the difficult issue of the development of the brand in social media. I
have no hesitation in recommending the book for all those interested in
understanding and developing the opportunities for effective customer
engagement in this fast moving and fascinating world.”
Matthew Housden, Principal Lecturer, University of Greenwich, Visiting
Professor, Grenoble Ecole De Management

“This is a powerful and practical social media strategy guide to what makes
truly great work, how to implement it and importantly how to measure it.
An essential read for anyone who wants to implement successful social
media campaigns. Highly recommended.”
Pete Markey, Chief Marketing Officer, Boots UK

“This book is the perfect guide to the contemporary digital culture that we
are all now immersed in. Social media marketing is now such a huge influ-
ence within the consumers choice of brands and customer engagement, that
this book is an essential tool in understanding it. On a personal note, Julie
has been a huge supporter of our degree course and is a highly knowledge-
able and informed person within the realms of social media.”
Lee Thomas, Course Leader B.A. (Hons) Advertising, University of South Wales

“This new edition successfully combines the theoretical and practical,


balancing updated, contemporary cases and interviews with a pragmatic
readable approach. It will help anyone in business (or studying it) navigate
the rapidly changing technological and social media landscape. The book
knits together business purpose with customer/audience understanding, to
provide a solid strategic base for successful social media and/or influencer
activity. An important read for anyone in the business.”
Professor Donald Lancaster, MBA Programme Director, University of Exeter

“Clear and insightful. This book is the go-to guide for creating a far-reach-
ing social media strategy for your brand, corporate campaign or cause.”
Susan Walkley, Managing Director, Public Relations & Creative Comms, Havas
Life Medicom
v

Social Media Strategy


A practical guide to social media marketing
and customer engagement

SECOND EDITION

Julie Atherton
vi

Publisher’s note
Every possible effort has been made to ensure that the information contained in this book is
accurate at the time of going to press, and the publishers and author cannot accept
responsibility for any errors or omissions, however caused. No responsibility for loss or
damage occasioned to any person acting, or refraining from action, as a result of the material
in this publication can be accepted by the editor, the publisher or the author.

First published in Great Britain and the United States in 2023 by Kogan Page Limited.

Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as
permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, this publication may only be
reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form or by any means, with the prior permission in
writing of the publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction in accordance with the terms
and licences issued by the CLA. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside these terms should be
sent to the publishers at the undermentioned addresses:

2nd Floor, 45 Gee Street 8 W 38th Street, Suite 902 4737/23 Ansari Road
London New York, NY 10018 Daryaganj
EC1V 3RS USA New Delhi 110002
United Kingdom India

www.koganpage.com

Kogan Page books are printed on paper from sustainable forests.

© Julie Atherton, 2023

The right of Julie Atherton to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in
accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

ISBNs

Hardback 978 1 3986 1001 9


Paperback 978 1 3986 0999 0
Ebook 978 1 3986 1000 2

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data


Names: Atherton, Julie (Business strategist), author.
Title: Social media strategy: a practical guide to social media marketing
and customer engagement / Julie Atherton.
Description: Second edition. | London; New York, NY: Kogan Page, 2023. |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2023033235 (print) | LCCN 2023033236 (ebook) | ISBN
9781398609990 (paperback) | ISBN 9781398610019 (hardback) | ISBN
9781398610002 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Internet marketing. | Marketing channels. | Social media.
Classification: LCC HF5415.1265 .A84 2023 (print) | LCC HF5415.1265
(ebook) | DDC 658.8/72–dc23/eng/20230726
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2023033235
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2023033236

Typeset by Integra Software Services, Pondicherry


Print production managed by Jellyfish
Printed and bound by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon CR0 4YY
vii

This book is dedicated to my Baker boys and Fi who continually inspire,


support and motivate me to take the next challenge.
viii

THIS PAGE IS INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK


ix

CONTENTS

List of figures and tables xiv


List of templates xvi
List of case studies and examples xvii
Acknowledgements xix

Introduction: How to use this book 1

01 Understand how social media is utilized in business,


marketing and interpreting customer expectations 6
Interview: Rachel Clay, Influencer Marketing Specialist, Matter of
Form 8
Our social lives 9
Interview: Nisa Bayindir, Consumer Psychologist and Digital Strategy
Director 11
Social feasibility and accountability 15
Social futures today 15
Bibliography 16

02 Integrated customer engagement: How to ensure your social


media strategy is integrated into your wider marketing and
business development 17
The traditional marketing funnel 17
The digital marketing customer journey 20
The win–win purchase 23
The emotional connection between customers and brands 23
Case study: #WeRiseTogether, Telia Finland 25
Customer engagement and social media 26
What level of engagement should you expect? 27
Using social media to meet your wider marketing objectives 29
Putting customer engagement into action 31
Interview: Sam Beament, Content Strategist and Social Media
Creative 32
Bibliography 35
x Contents

03 Getting started: Aligning social media goals and KPIs with


your wider business objectives 37
Business models in the digital age 37
Business strategy in the digital age 41
Strategic planning frameworks 45
Creating SMART objectives 50
Introducing social media measurements and KPIs 52
Bibliography 53

04 Audience: Using social listening to profile your networked


audience and generate customer insights for a global social
media strategy 54
Understanding your audiences 54
Customer, consumer, follower? 55
Case study: National Geographic 56
Understanding segmentation variables 57
Interview: Louise Newton, Freelance Travel Marketeer 62
What is social listening? 65
Interview: Christophe Folschette, Partner and Founder, Talkwalker 74
Dark social 75
Creating profiles 77
B2B profiles 80
Global social media audiences 80
Bibliography 81

05 Brand presence: How to drive action and engagement


through integrated content marketing on social media 84
Why it is important to create a brand presence in social media 84
Interdependent versus codependent brands 85
How to demonstrate your brand purpose 86
What is content marketing? 88
How to use integrated content marketing to represent your brand in
social media 88
Case study: Sylvia Plath AI – Hero, hub, help content in action 95
Using content marketing to drive action and engagement 97
Interview: Ian Atkinson, Chief Marketing Officer, SunLife 97
Using behavioural economics to drive action and engagement 100
Contents xi

Increasing customer loyalty through social media 104


Brand communities and loyalty 104
Bibliography 105

06 Campaigns: A quick step guide to organic and paid social


media channel selection for your objectives and
audiences 107
Getting started with channel planning 107
The ABC approach 108
Case study: Tiny Giant – New international business launch 109
Understanding your audience 112
Setting the brand stage 113
Delivering campaigns 114
Interview: Nick Barthram, Strategy Partner at Firehaus 115
Channel selection criteria 118
Case study: Using Twitter polls – AIDA, an AI guest curator,
Cheltenham Science Festival 122
Case study: University of Gloucestershire clearing campaign 126
Interview: Will Francis, educator and speaker on digital marketing 130
Using the social media channel selection templates 134
Interview: Lynsey Sweales, International Digital Marketing and
Ecommerce Strategist and Author 136
Using a social media content calendar to manage campaign
deployment 139
Bibliography 140

07 Measuring and benchmarking success: How and when do you


know your social media strategy is working? 142
Why measure social media campaigns? 142
The measurement levels 142
The key social media metrics at a tactics level 144
Assessing the importance of different metrics 146
The most important measurement calculations at a strategy and
business level 147
Interview: Christophe Folschette, Partner and Founder, Talkwalker 155
Bibliography 157
xii Contents

08 From customers to celebrities: Identifying and attracting


a range of influencers to advocate for your brand 159
The importance of influencer marketing 159
What is an influencer? 160
Interview: Amie Shearer, Former Head of Influencer Marketing,
Mumsnet 162
Case study: GoPro Ambassador Programme 166
Customers as influencers 167
Core influencer goals 169
Case study: Dreams – Using influencers and Mumsnet users to
co-create new products – the Mumsnet Kindred and Spirit
mattresses 169
Using influencers to build a brand presence 172
Interview: Sophie Roberts, Adventure Athlete, Mindset Coach,
Founder of TrailBlazers, Influencer 174
Using influencers in campaign delivery 180
Choosing influencers to meet your strategy 181
Interview: Stefani Nurding, Influencer 182
Identifying and reviewing influencer profiles 183
Interview: Nick Baklanov, Marketing and Research Specialist at
HypeAuditor 186
Measuring influence 190
Fake or real followers? 192
Bibliography 192

09 Crisis and reputation management for social media and PR:


A clear guide for the unpredictable 195
How social media has changed reputation management 195
Case study: TUI UK – using social media to support customers and
build brand reputation 197
Understanding reputation management 198
Putting reputation management into practice 199
When it all goes wrong: crises and reputation 200
Interview: Amanda Wood, Founder and Consultant, AJW Corporate
Communications 201
How good crisis management can make a real difference 205
Crisis planning for your business 206
The crisis communications plan 208
Contents xiii

Crisis proofing: leadership, culture and authenticity 209


Interview: Kate Hartley, Co-founder, Polpeo, and author of
Communicate in a Crisis 211
Bibliography 214

10 Thoughts on the future of social: What will happen next? 216


Social media business transformation 217
Interview: Toby Horry, Brand and Content Director, TUI UK 218
Social and search 222
AI and the metaverse 223
Interview: Kerry Harrison and Richard Norton, Co-founders, Tiny
Giant 225
Influencer marketing and CGI influencers 227
Interview: Rachel Clay, Influencer Marketing Specialist, Matter of
Form 227
Organizational agility 230
Interview: James Ainsworth, Global Head of Content, iManage 230
Social media channel innovation 232
Case study: Launching a business with Instagram: O Novo Mercado,
Brazil 234
Conclusion 235
Bibliography 236

Appendix 1: Useful information 237


Appendix 2: Social channels 246
Glossary 252
Index 268

Editable versions of the templates in this book can be found at


koganpage.com/socialmediastrategy.
xiv

LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES

FIGURES
2.1 The AIDA model in action 18
2.2 The win–win customer decision journey 21
2.3 Social media usage in the customer decision journey (based on a
revisualization of the Edelman customer decision journey) 22
2.4 The most engaging types of in-feed social content 29
2.5 Engagement rates by social media network 30
2.6 Social media’s impact on marketing and PR objectives 31
3.1 Top global brand changes, 2016–18–22 38
3.2 Mapping business models by value drivers 40
3.3 Customer value ecosystem example 45
3.4 An example of a potential VMOST for the UK brand Greggs 49
3.5 A tabular presentation example for a SMART objective 51
4.1 Segmentation variable examples 57
4.2 Population distribution by generation in the United States,
2022 60
4.3 YouTube is GenZ’s most used social media platform 61
4.4 Social listening and other insights 66
4.5 Instagram’s average engagement rates for different content types 67
4.6 Issues affecting airline consumers 68
4.7 Sentiment tracking graph example 73
4.8 What’s being shared via dark social platforms? 76
4.9 How are consumers sharing information or content? 77
4.10 The pen portrait framework 78
4.11 Applying the pen portrait framework to understand a cycling
brand segment 79
4.12 A pen portrait in action 80
5.1 Interdependent versus codependent brand relationship
characteristics 85
5.2 A development of the Chaffey content marketing matrix to enable
it to be mapped to the Edelman customer decision journey 91
5.3 An interpretation of the Lego International Women’s Day content
allocation 94
List of figures and tables xv

5.4 Behavioural economics System 1 in action 101


5.5 Using behavioural economics heuristics in social media:
social proof 102
5.6 Using behavioural economics heuristics in social media:
loss aversion 103
5.7 Using behavioural economics heuristics in social media: the
endowment effect 103
5.8 Using behavioural economics heuristics in social media:
the power of the group 103
6.1 The world’s most used social media platforms 119
6.2 The world’s favourite social media platforms 120
6.3 The AIDA avatar 123
6.4 The convergence of paid, owned and earned media 130
7.1 The three levels of social media measurement 144
7.2 Key social media metrics 147
8.1 The relative size and brand fit of influencer communities 166
8.2 The relative size and brand fit of employees, customers and brand
communities as influencers 168
8.3 An excerpt from the digital media kit offered to influencers by
HypeAuditor 184
8.4 Using HypeAuditor to search for influencers 188
8.5 Example of an influencer list 189
8.6 An example of an influencer campaign summary from
HypeAuditor 190

TABLES
6.1 Example of a social media channel comparison chart 124
7.1 Extract of Facebook results for the University of Gloucestershire
clearing campaign 145
7.2 Calculating a positive NPS score 154
7.3 Calculating a negative NPS score 154
A2.1 Social channels 246
xvi

LIST OF TEMPLATES

2.1 Mapping the AIDA funnel 19


2.2 Mapping the customer decision journey 24
3.1 STEEPLE analysis template 47
3.2 VMOST template 52
4.1 Pen portrait template 81
5.1 Hero, hub, help content template 95
6.1 Social media channels for consideration template (part 1) 125
6.2 Social media channels for consideration template (part 2) 135
6.3 Social media content calendar checklist 139
xvii

LIST OF CASE STUDIES AND EXAMPLES

Chapter 2
Telia Finland – #WeRiseTogether
Caterpillar – Cat®#BuiltForItTrials

Chapter 3
Nike – customer value ecosystems
Greggs – VMOST framework

Chapter 4
National Geographic – audience focused approach
McDonald’s – sentiment analysis

Chapter 5
Lego – brand presence and content pillars
McDonald’s – customer value exchange
Sylvia Plath AI – hero, hub, help content in action
SunLife – hero, hub, help model
Ryanair – building trust using TikTok

Chapter 6
Tiny Giant – international business launch
University of Gloucestershire – channel selection
Vivo Life – paid social media
Vittoria – paid social media
xviii List of Case studies and examples

Cheltenham Science Festival – Twitter polls


Firehaus – integrated social media channels

Chapter 8
Karina Garcia – mega influencer
Mumsnet – influencer community
Dreams Beds – using influencers
GoPro – ambassador programme
VOXI – creator activation
Chivas Regal – influencer marketing
Land Rover – product launch
Kellogg’s Special K – influencer community
HypeAuditor – using an influencer marketing platform
Stefani Nurding – social media influencer

Chapter 9
TUI UK – social media customer service
Southwest Airlines – crisis management example
United Airlines – crisis management example
Uber – #DeleteUber

Chapter 10
TUI UK – User Generated Content UGC
Tesco – customer service
iManage – social integration
O Novo Mercado, Brazil – Launching a business with Instagram
xix

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Social media moves so fast, but strong and thorough strategic principles are
timeless. I have really enjoyed creating the second edition, talking to new
and previous contributors, reflecting on what has changed in social since the
first edition, what will be next, and how businesses can be ready to take
commercial advantage. I want to thank my clients for all the opportunities
they have given me to work with them on their social media strategies, and
the lecturers and universities around the world who use the book on their
courses. And a special thank you to all the wonderful contributors who
kindly shared their time, case studies and knowledge: Rachel Clay, Nisa
Bayindir, Sam Beament, Louise Newton, Christophe Folschette, Kerry
Harrison, Richard Norton, Ian Atkinson, Nick Barthram, James Seymour,
Lynsey Sweales, Will Francis, Amie Shearer, Sophie Roberts, Nick Baklanov,
Toby Horry, Amanda Wood, Kate Hartley, James Ainsworth, Stefani
Nurding and Rodrigo Simonsen.
Finally, thank you to all the readers of the first edition and those who
have shared with me their feedback and insights into the great strategies you
have created.
xx

THIS PAGE IS INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK


1

Introduction
How to use this book

Who the book is for


Everyone who is either working in or studying digital marketing, influencer
marketing, content marketing or public relations (PR) needs to understand
the principles of social media strategy and its application to their business.
This book aims to inspire and educate anyone with an interest in social
media marketing and provide practical advice on how to create and deliver
your own successful strategies.

Why I wrote this book


When I wrote the first edition, there were lots of social media books on the
market but none that combined both a strategic and practical approach. By
using my simple ABC approach to social strategy, this book has enabled
marketers and students around the world to understand the potential of
social media and create and implement their own effective strategies. Now,
more than ever, this approach is needed as social media remains an integral
part of everyone’s lives and an essential part of every business strategy. It
affects not only how we talk to customers but how we communicate and
activate personal, employee, partner, ambassador and influencer relation-
ships. Through organic and paid channels, it affects every part of the
marketing mix. To succeed, there are just three things you need to get right:
A – your audience; B – your brand presence; and C – your campaigns. If
your social strategy tackles these effectively, you will be successful in social.
This book gives you the tools to do just that and a useful template to create
your own strategy.
2 INTRODUCTION

What the book contains


Social Media Strategy aims to provide a practical guide to social media
marketing and customer engagement. Whatever your involvement with
social media, the book explains how to create and apply a strategy to
improve your business performance. Each chapter takes a key element of
social media strategy building, explains the core concepts and provides tools
and frameworks to help you apply them in practice within an overall strate-
gic plan template. A comprehensive list of sources and resources will support
your strategy creation, and relevant case studies and interviews demonstrate
real-world applications. In this second edition, there are new interviews
with experts, influencers and brands, updated stats and insights, and addi-
tional case studies and tools.
The book aims to help you:

●● learn how to create a social media strategy


●● understand your networked audiences and their relationship with your
brand
●● create an interdependent brand positioning and presence within social
media and beyond
●● create successful social media continuous campaigns
●● understand how to integrate social media with your other channels to
market
●● use influencers successfully
●● measure social media performance
●● prepare for and manage a social media crisis.

How the book is structured


Chapter 1 – Understand how social media is utilized in business,
marketing and interpreting customer expectations
This chapter looks at the role social media plays in business and marketing,
and in setting and delivering to consumer expectations. It considers how
social media is changing with its increased importance in brand discovery
and research, the rise of social commerce and the continued growth of
INTRODUCTION 3

i­nfluencer marketing. It provides key facts and stats on the varied global
levels of social media engagement and performance.

Chapter 2 – Integrated customer engagement: How to ensure your social


media strategy is integrated into your wider marketing and business
development
This chapter looks at the theory of digital customer engagement in order to
understand how and why your social media strategy will enhance your PR
and strategic business development. It explains key marketing concepts and
tools, and provides useful practical templates, including the ABC social
media strategy template that can be used as you create your own strategy.

Chapter 3 – Getting started: Aligning social media goals and KPIs with
your wider business objectives
Any social media strategy needs to be aligned with your overarching busi-
ness strategy. This chapter provides guidance on setting social media goals
and key performance indicators (KPIs) for your PR and marketing campaigns
that support your wider business objectives. Useful templates are provided
to help you start building your own objectives and KPIs.

Chapter 4 – Audience: Using social listening to profile your networked


audience and generate customer insights for a global social media
strategy
Social media listening provides a wealth of information and insights to
enable a detailed understanding of your different audiences and customer
groups. This chapter considers global social media strategies and explains
marketing segmentation and profile creation for followers and customers.
You will explore the impact of psychology and generational experiences on
consumer behaviour and learn how to apply these insights to your own
customers.

Chapter 5 – Brand presence: How to drive action and engagement


through integrated content marketing on social media
This chapter looks at how to create an interdependent brand presence in
social media, the second element in the ABC of social. It considers how you
4 INTRODUCTION

represent your brand in social channels and demonstrate your brand


purpose. Integrated content marketing and the use of behavioural econom-
ics are explored and explained, showing how they drive engagement and
impact customer loyalty. Interviews and examples provide demonstrations
of award-winning social media campaigns in different sectors.

Chapter 6 – Campaigns: A quick step guide to organic and paid social


media channel selection for your objectives and audiences
Social channel usage varies by audience, location and market. This chapter
introduces the campaign element of the ABC of social media and will help
you decide which channels are the most appropriate for your objectives,
enabling you to maximize your impact through digital integration. It is
important to ensure that you are present on the most relevant channels,
both for building your brand presence and delivering specific campaign
objectives. You may also need to use some niche social networks as well as
the more popular favourites, and deciding which channels not to use is a
crucial decision in any strategy. The chapter includes tips for selecting chan-
nels, and insights for using different channels in both business-to-business
(B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) environments.

Chapter 7 – Measuring and benchmarking success: How and when do


you know your social media strategy is working?
This chapter explains the key social media metrics and how to measure
social media campaigns. Top tips for measuring and benchmarking are
included, together with explanations of the most important calculations
including return on investment (ROI), social equivalent advertising value
(SEAV) and net promoter score (NPS).

Chapter 8 – From customers to celebrities: Identifying and attracting a


range of influencers to advocate for your brand
This chapter explores how to use AI to identify and attract the right influ-
encers to advocate for your brand. Case studies and examples are used to
­demonstrate how celebrities, experts, employees, fans and customers can be
deployed for different influencer objectives and at various stages of the
customer journey. Influencers share their perspective and tips for making
brand relationships work.
INTRODUCTION 5

Chapter 9 – Crisis and reputation management for social media and PR:
A clear guide for the unpredictable
An essential part of any social media strategy is planning for the unexpected.
A brand’s reputation can be significantly improved or harmed in social
media, and this chapter includes key learnings from examples of success and
failure. Interviews with social media crisis consultants and PR professionals
on their planning and reputational management recommendations comple-
ment real examples to provide practical insights and advice.

Chapter 10 – Thoughts on the future of social: What will happen next?


How do you implement a culture of social transformation, stay abreast of
the latest changes in technology and consumer behaviour, and decide which
new channels and tools to embrace and when? This chapter considers what
might happen next in social. What will be the impact of influencers, artificial
intelligence, virtual reality and voice, how will content be produced and
what types of skills will marketers need to have? Interviews with leading
practitioners bring an insight into their visions for social.
6

01

Understand how social media is


utilized in business, marketing and
interpreting customer expectations

This chapter looks at the role social media plays in business and marketing, and
in setting and delivering to consumer expectations. It considers how social
media is changing with its increased importance in brand discovery and
research, the rise of social commerce and the continued growth of influencer
marketing. It provides key facts and stats on the varied global levels of social
media engagement and performance.

Across the world, in every culture, social media has, for many, become a part
of everyday life. It enables over 4.5 billion people, over 49 per cent of the
global population (Statista, 2023), to stay connected with loved ones and
work colleagues, to share important memories or information, to tell stories
and unleash their creativity, to run and manage businesses, to follow brands
and influencers, and capture not only what they have done, but how they
feel. It is the natural extension of digitalization. Initially a digital replication
of offline human social interactions, it has evolved to create its own social
behaviours and ecosystems that are only possible online. And these behav-
iours are transforming the way we search for information, find products and
services, hear news and build trusted relationships.
For businesses and brands, this means that social media is an essential
and integral part of all marketing and branding, and as such needs to be
embedded in any business or marketing strategy development. Social media
marketers, like digital marketers, are just marketers, and every person
UNDERSTAND HOW SOCIAL MEDIA IS UTILIZED 7

­ orking in business should understand the role that social media plays. As
w
Bayindir says, ‘Today, we’re experiencing a digital world with social media
at the epicentre of a new reality where virtual personal impressions, posses-
sions and choices are curated on social media profiles and truly becoming
the digital self extensions’ (Bayindir, 2023).
This book looks at social media strategy from a business marketing point
of view. Over the last 30 years, I have been involved in running businesses
and working with clients from both the brand and agency perspective. My
career has spanned global publishing, building an award-winning digital
agency from a start-up, partnering B2C and B2B brands from the automo-
tive, travel, financial services, retail, luxury, utilities and digital sectors,
advising charities and social enterprise businesses and training marketing
professionals and business leaders in digital, brand, social media and content
marketing. This experience has given me a detailed insight into the different
ways that organizations function, how brands are built and can decline, and
how brand, reputation and marketing combine to build value into a busi-
ness. This book uses this experience to demonstrate how to build a social
media strategy that is embedded into your overall business strategy, the
considerations needed and the advantages of this holistic approach.
In addition, while writing this book I have spoken to over 20 leading
social marketers, leaders in their field who still work daily in social media.
They work with brands across the globe in everything from audience research
to social measurement, from social advertising to brand building, from
community management to influencer marketing, and from crisis manage-
ment to content creation. Many run their own businesses, work for global
brands or work on international accounts at award-winning agencies. All
have a unique and insightful perspective on what makes social media work,
how it fits into an overall business strategy, and thoughtful views on where
social will go next. Their interviews are used to highlight different opinions
and provide alternative ideas of how to practically implement your social
media strategy.
Finally, it is important to note that this new edition takes into account the
post-pandemic landscape where digital communication channels have
increased in importance, technological innovation and adoption have been
accelerated and consumer behaviour transitioned into a new normal. It is an
exciting time for social media professionals and a strategic approach has
never been more important.
In the interview below, Rachel Clay reflects on some of those significant
changes.
8 SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY

INTERVIEW
Rachel Clay, Influencer Marketing Specialist, Matter of Form

Background

Clay is an Influencer Marketing Specialist for the award-winning luxury


branding agency Matter of Form, whose clients include Breitling, The Rug
Company, Elie Saab and Estée Lauder Companies. The agency works with luxury
brands across global markets in the arts, hospitality, fashion and retail sectors.
Clay is an industry expert and trainer on influencer marketing, with experience
from working on both the brand and agency perspectives. Her knowledge of
global social media marketing gives her an insight into the future of social
media development.

What has actually happened since we last spoke in 2019?

Back in 2019, I thought quite confidently that the West was working towards
the blueprint WeChat has created in China. In effect, they had built this entire
universe with their own payment systems and e-commerce channels, and
everything was very integrated and built around a social media community
framework.
To some extent that is still true. Although Meta has consolidated Facebook,
Instagram and WhatsApp, four years later it hasn’t been fully realized, and
certainly not in Europe. Instagram is a little more advanced in the States in
terms of the e-commerce offering and the capabilities of what you can do
within the app, but there are three factors which seem to have changed the
direction we are taking:

1 The pandemic. In the beginning, Instagram influencer marketing, and social


media marketing generally, benefited hugely, because it was one of the only
channels available to marketeers and brands to communicate with their
customers and audience. And because it did, it actually gained a little more
respect and was more valued. Unfortunately, that didn’t last, and Instagram,
Facebook and the other networks were impacted by the uncertainty around
the pandemic and by not being able to work in such a connected way. I think
that probably changed where the networks placed investment and the risks
that they were willing to take.
2 TikTok. The other curveball was the Chinese platform TikTok which was
rebranded for a Western market and has become huge in these markets.
UNDERSTAND HOW SOCIAL MEDIA IS UTILIZED 9

While there was always going to be another competitor, and it didn’t


necessarily mean that the dominant networks like Instagram and Facebook’s
plans needed to change, TikTok has massively impacted user behaviour.
TikTok, in the main, is a passive network. It’s not that social. Something like
96 per cent of people who use TikTok never engage with it; they never
upload anything, but they also never like or comment on anything. They
watch it like TV. So that’s changed user behaviour and that behaviour has
started to translate across to Instagram in particular. So, although video
content has always been important, it’s even more so now, and the
Instagram reels feature is a copycat, or their crossover format from TikTok.
This behaviour change has now affected how brands measure performance.
It’s much more about viewership than engagement. Previously we were
reliant on users engaging with content and thinking about how to click to
buy. Now, behaviour has shifted and they engage with social content much
more like they engage with TV.
3 Search. Social networks have started to overtake Google in terms of search;
they have become the first point of call, and particularly younger audiences
use them as search engines. When looking to discover new brands, new
restaurants, new makeup tricks, they will search on social networks and go
straight to that brand’s page and content there. Social media is now very
much being used as a search engine, and you can see that reflected in the
changes that have been made to the way hashtags are used and how search
recognizes them.
SOURCE (Clay, 2023)

Our social lives


One reason why it is important to embed a social media strategy into your
wider business strategy is due to the sheer level of variety and complexity
involved when you consider all of the different social media options. Although
the core channels remain fairly familiar, with Facebook, Instagram and
YouTube still prevalent in most strategies, our behaviour within these chan-
nels has changed and new channels continue to be added to die and fade
(Clubhouse) or thrive and grow (TikTok). Additionally, we increasingly use
social media to manage not only our personal relationships but our profes-
sional profile (LinkedIn) and day-to-day work interactions (WhatsApp, Slack),
to provide entertainment and replace traditional search (Instagram, TikTok,
10 SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY

YouTube), follow influencers and experts (Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn), to


expand our knowledge and seek information (Reddit, Discord) and improve
our customer service experience (Facebook). For many of us, a social media
channel will be the first place we go to communicate and find out information,
but with so many to choose from, how do businesses know where they need
to be and how to behave there, particularly when social channels are constantly
changing (Twitter to X)? These important questions are answered with a stra-
tegic approach, enabling you to confidently decide where to invest and grow
and which channels you no longer need.
Throughout the book, I talk about the ABC of social. This tripartite
approach should be the lifeblood of your business in social media and the
bedrock of your strategy. A is for audience, B for brand and C for campaigns.
Because social media is where your brand meets your customer in a place
where control is shared, it is unlike other spaces, where brands tell the world
about themselves. Social is a place where brands and people converse and
relationships are truly built. The ABC approach ensures your objectives
meet not only your demands but those of your customers and deliver sustain-
able and continually improving success.

Audience
So, social enables a brand to get closer to its customers or potential consum-
ers either by providing unique and important insights into their behaviour,
their views and how they feel about you to build a powerful, differentiated
and valued positioning, or by using sophisticated and accurate targeting
techniques to ensure you are seen by them. When building your strategy, you
need to understand the social life of your brand or business in relation to
your commercial short- and long-term goals, who your core audiences are,
where they engage in social media, how and what they use it for, and how
social is integrated into their whole life, as well as how you might fit into it
as a brand. Crucially, social media audiences do not exist as separate indi-
vidual relationships with your brand but rather, as networked communities
where your audience engages with different connected groups depending on
the channel and reason they are there. I refer to these as networked audi-
ences and cover them in more detail in Chapter 4. In her interview below,
Nisa Bayindir raises some of the challenges brands face in creating meaning-
ful and profitable relationships with a socially mature and diverse audience
landscape.
UNDERSTAND HOW SOCIAL MEDIA IS UTILIZED 11

INTERVIEW
Nisa Bayindir, Consumer Psychologist and Digital Strategy Director

Background

An award-winning strategist and consumer psychologist who blends research,


insights and consumer psychology to deconstruct consumer needs and
motivations, Bayindir has a multidisciplinary professional background in social
networks, start-ups, digital agencies and client-side global franchises. Regularly
featured in various global news outlets and industry publications, Bayindir
currently runs her own consumer psychology consultancy.

What is the appeal of social media?

Social media, naturally, has social at the core of its promise, or at least it did in
its earlier days. It’s such a game-changing phenomenon because it chimed right
in with one of the primary needs of the social animals that we are. Being
socially connected to ‘others like us’ is how we actualize and nurture our
existence, our identities. We grow and evolve as individuals, and become
stronger as groups, through our social interactions. These platforms held a
mirror to people to fulfil their individual and group needs and helped them
validate who they are, or who they aspire to be. Gordon Allport, the father of
personality and trait theories, is also the first scholar to mention the ‘self
extension’ concept – it is the sum of possessions, values and interests that
build or enhance the ego and one’s sense of self. Later, this concept was further
developed in the realm of consumerism. The socially-driven digital world is our
reality where virtual personal impressions, possessions, choices are curated on
digital and social profiles and are truly becoming the digital ‘self extensions’.
Over the last two decades, digital natives have willingly gone through the
constant cycle of adoption of new platforms and interaction formats, resulting
in a new normal in human psychology.

How would you sum up the current social media landscape?

Social media is the melting pot of the extensions of our identities equipped
with a previously unmatched reinforcement of human connections. As social
media brought people/consumers closer, brands strived to get closer to
consumers, and boundaries started to blur. On a B2B level, ‘closed’ networks
like Facebook turned into business platforms and open networks invented new
12 SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY

formats to support targeted, innovative ads by brands. Social networks’ B2C


promise is also evolving. Snapchat used to be all the rage, now TikTok is the
global social media phenomenon with questions around its addictive nature – it
took over the social media landscape in as short as three years. Facebook is no
longer interesting to the younger generations, X (formerly Twitter) has become
a debatably untrustworthy platform and the metaverse is redefining social
‘networking’, influencer marketing is the key ingredient to brand engagement,
and so on. But none of this will be relevant in a few years’ time. It’s a rapidly
evolving ecosystem that’s not very forgiving of rigid marketing strategies. The
landscape is now at a saturation point, with a lot of commercial and marketing
noise overwhelming consumers and they are becoming pickier, more
demanding and smarter about their data. We see an influx of choice and
demand by brands for attention and purchases, up against the data privacy and
content credibility concerns occupying the consumer psyche. So it’s conflicting
interests, and this does mean that something has got to give in the business
and engagement models we see today.

What trends are driving the near future of social media?

Two key trends we see in the evolution of social media today are actually
brought on by social networks themselves – their competition to offer better,
bigger, sponsored, ‘influenced’ content, entertainment, and so on. With the
ever-growing avalanche of choice and rich content, consumers are now pickier
than ever. Social media is now age-agnostic and there’s increasing discernment
and savviness across all generations. They don’t want to associate themselves,
or their ‘social media reactions’, with just any brand or content – they know
that the internet doesn’t forget, and it’s now almost a case of ‘personal brand
management’ on the consumer level. Brands are no longer *that* interesting,
people are interesting, communities are interesting, human stories are
interesting, authenticity matters. The future lies not so much in format or
brand-led bragging rights, but the human essence in the content that is offered.
Social media is learning to serve the people, not brands.

How is consumer behaviour changing on social?

The saturation point brought on passive networking, account deactivations and


committing to ‘dark social’ platforms (SMS, messaging apps, direct messaging).
This was all brought on since consumers’ self-perceptions seek individuality,
UNDERSTAND HOW SOCIAL MEDIA IS UTILIZED 13

privacy/familiarity and safety – almost all of these are not what social media
can reliably offer any longer – or at least, they have to work a lot harder to
overcome the consumer concerns around how their data is used. On top of all
this, the whole world went through a crisis of meaning and survival during the
Covid-19 pandemic. The real life that is offline is tangible and especially after
Covid-19, what people miss. People are trying to find ways to mimic and make
up for what they missed – a certain level of meaning, purpose, intimacy and
realness in their lives and connections. Therefore, true connections with social
circles in closed platforms are sought. And, of course, these are platforms
where brands are less welcome unless consumers proactively sign up for
interaction. We are changing the way we use the social platforms: the light-
hearted and entertaining side of social media, or the more ephemeral
channels/interaction types, are not necessarily what creates sustained user
interaction. Commerce, entertainment, news sharing – these are all utilitarian
benefits of social media and they don’t drive conversion as much as they used
to. Brands should use first-party data and social media listening more than ever
before to tap into what purpose they will serve for the consumers.

What should marketers do next in social?

What marketers need to bear in mind is that they shouldn’t ever give up on
their learning quest to understand real human needs, real life/offline
experience and psychological drivers behind consumer actions – and, to that
end, remember that social media tactics or being omnipotent on all channels
just because they are there are no longer the quick solutions to the problem.
They should unlearn, even overhaul, their brand purpose, their vision, and what
they stand for before creating a robust message to consumers that will
naturally fit with some social networks but not all (and that’s perfectly fine) and
the human experience expectations of consumers on these channels. Social
media is not the means to an end, it’s just one of the tools to use to strike a
chord with the consumer. Ultimately, whatever marketing channel is at play,
only the human, relatable brand messages and an effective seamless offering of
online/offline experiences will go through the intellectual filters of the
consumer interactions in the future.
SOURCE (Bayindir, 2023)
14 SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY

Bayindir’s points are insightful. They recognize a more savvy social media
user who manages their own digital presence and their relationships on
social platforms to suit their needs. Brands can be part of these networked
relationships only if they are transparent, trusted and meaningful. In short,
you need to be sure of who your audience is, where they are and how you
can bring value to them through your social media activity.

Brand
Brands aren’t built in one place; the world’s biggest brands exist in multiple
spaces across digital and real-world environments. Even previously pure-
play digital brands such as Amazon have physical stores and as Beament
says, we always need to ‘be conscious of how our brand plays out on social.
For example, a company may design a press ad, but as soon as I take a photo
and upload it to Facebook it becomes social content’ (Beament, 2023).
Importantly, as brands increasingly behave as cultural, purposeful ecosys-
tems and experience becomes the most important metric, social media
ensures your brand has a presence wherever your audience spends their
time. And, with no control over what people say about you in social, ensur-
ing you have a strong brand presence there, which listens and responds to its
communities, will support your wider brand and reputation-building activ-
ity, and provide a narrative to encourage positive interactions. I call this
mature, responsive brand behaviour in social media an interdependent
brand presence and cover it in more detail in Chapter 5.

Campaigns
All organizations want to encourage some form of action from their custom-
ers, consumers or stakeholders. That action might be to buy, visit, donate,
volunteer, promote or a range of other activities, and these actions are core
to the ongoing success of your business. Your campaigns will drive these
actions; some will be created by you specifically for and in social, but you
need to remember that every experience an individual has with your brand
has the potential to be filmed, photographed, commented on and shared,
enhancing or detracting from your brand experiences, and either driving or
diverting the actions you would like them to take. Crucially, as you build
and plan your campaigns, you need to consider which channels require a
UNDERSTAND HOW SOCIAL MEDIA IS UTILIZED 15

continuous organic brand presence and where and how you will use paid
social media to amplify and increase your impact.
These decisions will be impacted by your objectives, budget, skills and
capabilities, but most importantly by how each channel operates and how
your audiences behave there in terms of their social and interest graphs.
These specific questions start to be addressed in Chapter 6 onwards.

Social feasibility and accountability


One reason social was slow to sit at the top table of organizational strategy
is the argument that it is hard to measure. In reality, it is no harder to meas-
ure social than it is to measure your brand value – in fact, it is often much
easier. Where measurement lets social down is when it is added as an after-
thought, or only considers tactical social-only metrics such as engagement.
If social measurement and KPIs are tied to the overall business objectives
and critical success factors, then it becomes obvious where social media is
demonstrating real value. In reality, as adblocking continues to rise and
social media becomes the first place for younger audiences to search for and
research brands, it has become an even more important part of the inte-
grated marketing mix. In addition, as influencers drive traffic, build trust
and act as content creators, social media has added an increasingly diverse
range of conduits to consumers. The challenge, therefore, is to measure
effectively to ensure crucial decisions about investment and return are made.
The continually hungry content calendar needs to be challenged but this can
only be done if we know what works and why. This is covered in detail in
Chapter 7.

Social futures today


Change is happening faster than ever before as technology increases the
complexity and speed at which businesses need to respond. With the intro-
duction and increase of CGI and micro influencers, social commerce, AI
content creation, voice and short-span video, an immersive metaverse expe-
rience and increasingly socially savvy audiences, marketers need to be ready
to respond and capitalize on the opportunities they create. In Chapter 10,
we look forward to the future of social and consider how the areas of social
16 SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY

transformation, social and search, AI and the metaverse, influencer market-


ing and CGI, organizational agility and channel innovation will impact
future strategy development. Throughout the book, we consider where we
are now and what we can learn from the experts, innovators and early
adopters on where we are going next. Each chapter is designed to help you
navigate this changing social landscape and build a social media strategy
that is robust, effective, commercially viable and responsive to an uncertain
future world.

Bibliography
Barthram, N (2023) Strategy Partner at Firehaus [Interview], 28 February
Bayindir, N (2023) Consumer Psychologist and Digital Strategy Director
[Interview], 25 February
Beament, S (2023) Content Strategist and Social Media Creative [Interview],
29 March
Clay, R (2023) Influencer Marketing Specialist, Matter of Form [Interview],
3 March
Statista (2023) Number of social media users worldwide from 2017 to 2027,
13 February, www.statista.com/statistics/278414/number-of-worldwide-social-
network-users/ (archived at https://perma.cc/HH2R-F99E)
17

02

Integrated customer engagement


How to ensure your social media strategy is integrated into
your wider marketing and business development

This chapter looks at the theory of digital customer engagement in order to


understand how and why your social media strategy will enhance your PR and
strategic business development. It explains key marketing concepts and tools,
and provides useful practical templates including the ABC social media strategy
template that can be used as you create your own strategy.

The traditional marketing funnel


For decades businesses have applied the AIDA model to their marketing
activity to drive sales and ensure conversion. The AIDA model was created
in 1898 by Elias St Elmo Lewis, an American businessman, and has shaped
advertising and marketing strategy for over 100 years.
The model describes a sales process of continually reducing volumes and
increasing certainty and commitment. It has four phases: awareness, inter-
est, desire and action. Each phase has a part to play in convincing a potential
customer to buy.

●● Awareness: The first job of any marketing campaign is to ensure consum-


ers are aware of a particular brand and the products and services it offers.
Awareness could be generated via display, social media or other adverts,
word of mouth or referrals. Often awareness adverts are disruptive,
highly creative and targeted to specific audiences to ensure consumers
notice them.
18 SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY

●● Interest: Once the consumer is aware, the next phase seeks to generate
interest in a particular product or service. At this stage, more detailed infor-
mation is given either via the advert or on the company website. Consumer
interest can be piqued with interesting or useful information, especially if it
is unique to your product or especially targeted to your audience.
●● Desire: Turning interest into desire is when your brand really needs to
stand out from its competitors and create an emotional connection. What
is the compelling reason to choose you? Is your brand the market leader,
the most aspirational or the best value? Ideally, the consumer will be
persuaded to desire your product by the product itself or the initial
advert, but often, and especially for B2B or high-value sales, this process
will take time and require many different information and persuasion
elements. For example, to stimulate and increase desire, car manufactur-
ers use product configuration pages on their websites to encourage poten-
tial customers to visualize the exact colour and features they prefer.
●● Action: This phase is the turning point, the conversion to the sale or the
sign-up as a lead, depending on your marketing objective. Your market-
ing needs to be clear about the next step to take – ‘buy here’, ‘book now’,
‘register’. Often the action will take place on your e-commerce site but it
could be on your website, over the phone, in the physical world or, of
course, on social media.
●● When the AIDA model is drawn, it is often shown in relation to the market-
ing funnel to demonstrate the process for a particular business and the
reducing volumes at each stage (Figure 2.1). The examples below demon-
strate the type of marketing activities that might be used at each stage.

FIGURE 2.1 The AIDA model in action

Marketing activity

TV ads, display ads, events,


Awareness PPC, sponsorship,
social media ads
YouTube clips, display ads,
Decreasing
volumes Interest emails, blogs,
social media posts, SEO

YouTube films, reviews,


Desire microsites, data sheets, case
studies, whitepapers

Action Special offers, CTAs


INTEGRATED CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT 19

Mapping the AIDA funnel


When reviewing your own purchase funnel, it might be useful to map your
marketing and social media activity against the AIDA model. You can use
Template 2.1 for this (download it at koganpage.com/socialmediastrategy
(archived at https://perma.cc/QT5Z-9DZM)). Here the template has been

TEMPLATE 2.1 Mapping the AIDA funnel

Awareness
Decreasing
volumes Interest
Desire

Action

AIDA Volume Conversion


level Marketing activity Options for consideration by level rate

Awareness Activity PPC clicks Display ad Social Event


clicks media ad attendees
clicks
Volume 500 100 200 50 850
Interest Activity Email opens Social SEO Blog post
media post traffic reads
video views
Volume 100 80 150 60 390 46%
Desire Activity Case study Whitepaper Review Microsite
views downloads reads visits
Volume 20 40 10 30 100 26%
Action Activity Trials booked Sales Leads Visits
Volume 50 50 50%
Key:
Example marketing activities are included. Actual activities should be selected and included in the
tool
These numbers should be calculated or estimated and input into the tool
These numbers will be calculated within the tool
20 SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY

filled in with examples. content showing how a software company uses a


variety of activities to encourage trials. The conversion rates are calculated
at each level of the funnel to understand their impact on trials of the prod-
uct. In this example, the social media activity forms part of an integrated
mix.

The digital marketing customer journey


Traditionally, businesses built their marketing strategies based on the view that
consumers start the buying process with a large number of potential brands in
their consideration set. This set is continually reduced as choices narrow and
finally, the consumer makes a decision on which brand to select and buy.
Over a decade ago, McKinsey began to explore the digital customer journey
and how it affects traditional thinking. Known as the customer decision jour-
ney, the model provides a customer-focused view of brand relationships in the
digital environment by understanding the buying process from the custom-
er’s perspective. It has six elements that work together in the following way.

●● Consider: Initially, potential customers are thinking about buying a prod-


uct or service and one or more brands are in their starting consideration
set. They may have been prompted to consider the purchase because they
have seen some advertising, were recommended by a friend or have a
need to fulfil (for example, your vacuum cleaner has broken and needs
replacing). In a traditional sales funnel, this stage would include the larg-
est number of brands. In the customer decision journey, the stage can
start with just one brand.
●● Evaluate: In this stage, the potential customer starts to notice other
competitor brands and moves through a process of adding and subtract-
ing brands from the consideration set. Over time, the number of brands
under consideration does not necessarily get smaller and smaller, as it
would in the traditional buying process; rather, it can increase and
decrease continually until the moment of purchase. In a digital journey,
your customer is only a click away from your competitor, and techniques
such as remarketing, influencer recommendations and the customer’s
own online research can add ‘surprise’ brands into the mix at a very late
stage in the buying decision.
●● Buy: This is the ultimate goal for a brand. The sale is made, and the
customer journey has reached its successful conclusion. This stage is still
INTEGRATED CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT 21

important in the customer decision journey; it represents the brand’s goal


and does mean success. However, brands need to be very aware that this
stage does not always represent success for the customer. Often, once a
sale decision is made, the customer is wracked with indecision and inse-
curity as they wonder if they made the right choice.
●● Enjoy: This is probably the most important stage in the customer decision
journey. It represents the experience of owning and using the purchase
and validates the reasons why the customer bought from the brand.
Many brands neglect this stage and do not provide enough onboarding
support or marketing materials to explain how to use and enjoy their
products and services.
●● Advocate: If a customer enjoys the purchase and the experience of using
it then they have a high potential to become an advocate for the brand.
Facilitating and encouraging advocacy can increase your brand’s aware-
ness and improve sales conversion. This stage is essential in any social
media strategy.
●● Bond: This should ideally be the ultimate brand goal. It describes the
creation of a mutually satisfying relationship between the customer and
the brand. If a strong bond is formed then the customer enters the loyalty
loop, and instead of starting with a new consideration set next time they
need a new product or service, they will prefer to go back to the brand
and re-buy from them.

As visualized by Edelman (2013), the customer decision journey demonstrates


the way customers interact with brands in a digital environment. In Edelman’s
visualization, the ‘buy’ moment is highlighted as having primary importance,
enabling the ‘enjoy’ and ‘advocate’ stages that lead to an ultimate bonded
relationship. I prefer the visualization shown in Figure 2.2, which highlights
the primary importance of ‘enjoy’ and the perpetual dilemma occurring from
consideration to evaluation and between evaluation and purchase.

FIGURE 2.2 The win–win customer decision journey

Consider Evaluate Buy Enjoy Advocate Bond

NOTE A development of the Edelman decision journey (Edelman, 2013)


22
Social media usage in the customer decision journey (based on a revisualization of the Edelman customer decision journey)
FIGURE 2.3 

Social media ads, social posts, ‘How to’ Tik Tok and YouTube
blogs, podcasts, likes or referrals videos, UGC, customer forums
from influencers, friends or and communities, closed social
colleagues can all initiate a groups or pages can reinforce the
brand’s inclusion in a potential buying decision and help the
customer’s consideration set. customer enjoy their purchase.

During evaluation UGC, reviews,


case studies, approval ratings and Customer advocates are powerful
other supporting content can be voices in social media.
created and/or distributed in Potential customers trust people
social media to encourage they know personally over paid
purchase. influencers or brands.

Consider Evaluate Buy Enjoy Advocate Bond

Social media can support the sale


and encourage positive reactions.
The buyer can post celebratory
confirmation of the purchase and
friends and colleagues can
congratulate the buyer, providing
positive reinforcement.
Customers who like and follow
brands, share conversations,
images and stories build deep,
engaged relationships and are
more loyal.

NOTE A revisualization of the Edelman customer decision journey (Edelman, 2013)

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INTEGRATED CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT 23

No potential customer has a goal to buy from your brand. They have a need
or desire that buying from your brand could satisfy. By focusing on enjoy-
ment, the experience of using the product or service, rather than the purchase
itself, you create a win for both the customer and the brand and a much
greater chance of advocacy and bonding.
Social media can be used at every stage of the customer decision journey
to support and drive the process, and offers the opportunity to improve the
experience as well as encourage sales and bonding, as shown in Figure 2.3.

The win–win purchase


Recognizing the insecurity of the ‘buy’ moment for customers is even more
important in a B2B sale than in a B2C sale. In general, the longer the considera-
tion and evaluation phases and the higher the purchase price, the more likely
the customer is to feel that they have made the wrong decision. If you have just
bought a car, you are more insecure about your choice than if you buy a
hamburger, as the cost outlay is significantly higher and the impact on you and
your family will be greater over a longer period of time. If you have just selected
a new software tool for the company you work for, the insecurity levels will rise
again as a wrong decision could impact your career.
Brands that focus on making the ‘buy’ moment a success by supporting
an enjoyable experience create a win–win. The brand wins as it makes the
sale it requires and the customer wins because they feel great about their
purchase.
Social media is an important asset at the buy and enjoy moments as it
provides an outlet for individuals to spread the news of their new ownership
and receive reassurance and recognition from friends, family and colleagues.
In addition, the opportunity to join and benefit from customer forums and
communities can enhance the ownership experience and provide useful
information on how to make the most of your new buy.
You can use Template 2.2 to decide on your own priorities for your
brand.

The emotional connection between customers and brands


It is increasingly important to build an empathetic emotional connection
between your brand and your customers. Research tells us that we are most

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24
TEMPLATE 2.2 Mapping the customer decision journey

Mapping your customer decision journey

Consider Evaluate Buy Enjoy Advocate Bond

Marketing objective: Insert your objective here: Raise brand awareness, deliver qualified leads, etc

Stage objective Content elements


Journey
stage Potential Actual Potential Actual

Consider Social media ads, social posts, blogs, podcasts,


likes or referrals from influencers, friends or
colleagues
Evaluate Decide which stages are relevant and then UGC, reviews, case studies, approval ratings
identify the appropriate content or and other supporting content
Buy campaigns using the potential content Facilitate purchase notifications
elements list as a guide and image sharing
Enjoy ‘How to’ YouTube videos, UGC, customer
forums and communities, closed social groups
or pages
Advocate Influencer activation, review writing,
recommendations
Bond Product co-creation

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Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
Fig. 307.—Rhizome of Polygonatum multiflorum: a bud; b
shoot; c d scars left by shoots of previous years.
Fig. 308.—Smilax pseudosyphilitica: A shoot of male plant;
C ♂ -flower; D berry, almost ripe; E the same in longitudinal
section. B Smilax syphilitica: portion of branch with base of
leaf and tendrils.
B. Asparageæ, Asparagus Group. Scale-like leaves and green
assimilating branches.—Asparagus: horizontal rhizome. The aerial
shoots are very richly branched; the numerous needle-like bodies
upon the plant are leafless shoots, which are crowded together in
double scorpioid cymes in the axils of the scale-leaves; the two first
lateral axes, placed outside to the left and right, generally bear
flowers. Polygamous.—Ruscus (Butcher’s broom) is a S. European shrub
with leaf-like, ovoid or elliptical shoots (phylloclades) which are borne in the axils of
scale-like leaves, and bear flowers on the central line. Diœcious. Stamens 3,
united, anthers extrorse. Semele androgyna bears its flowers on the edge of the
flat shoot.
C. Smilaceæ. Smilax (Sarsaparilla) (Fig. 308); climbing shrubs
with the leaf-sheath produced into tendrils. The leaves have 3–5
strong nerves proceeding from the base, and are reticulate.
Orthotropous or semi-anatropous ovules. Diœcious (Fig. 308 C, E).
D. Dracæneæ. Fruit in some a berry, in others a capsule. The stem of
Dracæna, when old, has the appearance of being dichotomously branched; it has
the power of increase in thickness, and may become enormously thick. The
Dragon-tree of Teneriffe, measured by Humboldt, attained a circumference of 14
m. and a height of 22 m.; the leaves are large, linear or linear-lanceolate.—
Cordyline (East Asia), various species in gardens and greenhouses (Yucca is
closely allied). Astelia.
Pollination. Paris quadrifolia and Convallaria majalis have no honey, and are
chiefly visited by pollen-collecting bees (in the absence of insect visits self-
pollination takes place); Polygonatum multiflorum has honey secreted by septal
glands and protected by the base of the tubular perianth; it is pollinated by humble-
bees, etc. Asparagus officinalis has small, polygamous, greenish, honey-bearing
flowers; the ♂-flower is almost twice as large as the ♀; both have rudiments of the
opposite sex.
About 555 species; especially from N. America, Europe, and Central Asia.
Officinal: “Dragons’-blood,” a red resinous juice from the stem of Dracæna
and the roots of some Central American species of Smilax. The tuberous stems of
the Eastern Asiatic Smilax glabra are officinal. The flowers of Convallaria majalis
have been lately used as a substitute for Digitalis. Pungent, poisonous properties
are possessed by Paris. None of the species are used as food, except the young
annual shoots of Asparagus officinalis, a shore-plant which is used as a vegetable.
Order 4. Pontederiaceæ. Flowers generally zygomorphic, hypogynous, ☿, with
handsome, white or violet, petaloid perianth which forms a tube at its base. The
stamens are inserted at different heights in the perianth-tube, and are reduced to
three (in Heteranthera seldom to one). In some the ovary is trilocular with ∞ ovules
(Eichhornia), in others reduced to one loculus with one ovule (Pontederia). Fruit a
capsule or nut. Embryo as long as the abundant, mealy endosperm.—Tropical
water-plants (22 species) with peculiar sympodial branching, nearly the same as in
Zostera. Spikes without floral-leaves. Many intercellular spaces in the stem and
leaf.—In greenhouses: Eichhornia azurea, E. crassipes (both from tropical and
sub-tropical S. America); the latter has swollen petioles which serve as floats and
enable it to float freely on the water, sending down its roots into the mud.
Heteranthera reniformis, H. zosterifolia. Pontederia cordata.
Order 5. Amaryllidaceæ (Narcissi). The flower is epigynous,
otherwise exactly the same as in the Liliaceæ (6 stamens). The
majority, like these, are also perennial herbs with bulbs and scapes.
The fruit and the other characters as in the Liliaceæ. The external
appearance is, however, very different.
A. Amarylleæ have bulbs and the leaves generally arranged in
two rows; the flowers are borne singly or in umbel-like inflorescences
on lateral scapes, while the main axis of the bulb is unlimited.
Beneath the inflorescence is an involucre (Fig. 309).—Galanthus,
Snowdrop, has a polyphyllous perianth without corona; the three
inner perianth-leaves are emarginate and shorter than the outer; the
anthers dehisce apically. Leucojum differs in having the perianth-leaves equal
in length.—Amaryllis has a funnel-shaped perianth, entirely or nearly polyphyllous,
but somewhat zygomorphic. Crinum; Hæmanthus; Clivia.—Narcissus has a
tubular corona, a ligular structure arising from the perianth-tube
exterior to the outer stamens. In Pancratium (Fig. 309) the corona is united
with the filaments which appear to spring from its edge. Eucharis amazonica.
Fig. 309.—Pancratium caribæum.
B. Hypoxideæ. The leaves, which are grass-like, dry, folded, and in some hairy,
spring from a rhizome, generally with a divergence of 1/3. Flowers small, perianth
polyphyllous, persistent, on which account perhaps the Hypoxideæ may be
considered as the least altered type. The chief characteristic is that the embryo is
separated from the hilum. Hypoxis; Curculigo (C. recurvata, a favourite ornamental
plant; S.E. Asia).
C. Alstrœmerieæ. (Alstrœmeria, Bomarea); stems long, leafy, often climbing.
D. Vellosieæ (Vellosia, Barbacenia); stem woody, usually dichotomously
branched, with terminal, single flowers; it bears numerous aerial roots which pierce
the leaves and surround the stem. Stamens often (by splitting) 6–18. High table-
lands of S. America and S. Africa.
E. Agaveæ. Very similar to the Bromeliaceæ both in their distribution (nearly all
American) and in external appearance. They appear as gigantic bulbous plants
with perennial, aerial, generally short stem, and perennial, large, lanceolate or
linear, stiff, thick, and often thorny leaves, which form a large rosette; after the
course of several (8–20) years the terminal inflorescence is developed, which is
10–12 m. high, paniculate, and freely branched. Before the inflorescence expands,
a large quantity of sugar-containing sap is collected from A. americana by
removing the terminal bud; this on distillation yields “pulque,” the national drink of
Mexico. After flowering the entire shoot dies, but the subterranean lateral shoots
survive and reproduce the plant.—Agave americana, etc.; Fourcroya; Polianthes
tuberosa (Tuberose; Central America).
Distribution. The 650 species are chiefly natives of S. Africa and S. America.
Clivia, Hæmanthus, Amaryllis are from the Cape; Narcissus from S. Europe,
whence many species have been introduced; Galanthus and Leucojum are
especially from S. and Central Europe, and from the Caucasus.
Uses, few, except as ornamental plants: Galanthus nivalis; Leucojum;
Narcissus pseudonarcissus, N. poeticus, N. jonquilla, N. tazetta, etc.; Amaryllis,
Alstrœmeria, Eucharis, Crinum, Vallota, etc. The vascular bundles of the various
species of Agave (Agave rigida, var. sisalana, sisal hemp,) are used for cordage,
etc.
Order 6. Bromeliaceæ. The flowers are hypogynous, epigynous
or semi-epigynous; the perianth is divided into calyx and corolla;
stamens 6. The fruit is a capsule or berry with many seeds.
Endosperm mealy, embryo small, at the edge of the endosperm, but
not enclosed by it.
Fig. 310.—Aechmea miniata.
Fig. 311.—Multiple-fruit of Ananassa
sativa.
Perennial herbs with a very characteristic appearance (Fig. 310);
the stem is most often short, thick, and crowned by a rosette of many
leaves, which are long, often very narrow, leathery, stiff, and with a
spiny edge; they are usually channeled, completely closing round
each other, with their edges forming a tightly closed hollow, in which
generally water is collected (this among other things insulates the
inflorescence and thus prevents the access of creeping insects, such
as ants). The presence of numerous stellate, water-containing hairs
often gives the leaves a grey appearance, and the layers of cells
beneath the upper epidermis of the lamina form an “aqueous tissue,”
which serves as a protection against the rays of the sun and
regulates the evaporation. The stomata are often situated in furrows
on the underside of the leaf, and hence cause a striped appearance.
They are all American (525 species), especially from S. America,
where they live partly as epiphytes on trees, partly in the clefts of
rocks, often on the steepest slopes, to which they firmly attach
themselves by aerial roots; some are terrestrial. The stem is seldom
tree-like or many metres in height (Puya, in Chili; Hechtia, in
Mexico). The inflorescence is a terminal spike, raceme, or panicle,
often with large and brightly-coloured floral-leaves. The flowers are
without scent. The seeds, in the species whose fruit is a capsule, are
often provided with wings (hairs, expansions, etc).—Ananassa
sativa, Pine-apple (W. Indies, Central America) is cultivated for the
sake of its juicy, aromatic fruits, which coalesce with their fleshy
bracts and form a large spike-like fruit-cluster (multiple-fruits,[29] Fig.
311) bearing on its apex a leafy shoot, which may be used as a
cutting. Seeds very rarely developed.—Tillandsia (T. usneoides is a
filamentous, richly branched, rootless epiphyte hanging in masses
from trees; Trop. Am.), Aechmea, Billbergia, Pitcairnia, etc.
Uses. The leaves of the Pine-apple, in its native country, are used for the
manufacture of cloth.
Order 7. Hæmodoraceæ. 120 species; in all parts of the world except Europe;
perennial, often tomentose and resembling the Bromeliaceæ, Iridaceæ and
Amaryllidaceæ. Hæmodorum (Australia).—To this order belong Ophiopogon,
Peliosanthes, Sanseviera, and others.
Order 8. The Iridaceæ have epigynous, hermaphrodite flowers
with petaloid perianth as in the Amaryllidaceæ, but the interior whorl
of stamens is entirely suppressed, and the 3 developed outer
stamens have extrorse anthers (Fig. 279); there is 1 style with 3
large, generally more or less leaf-like branches bearing the stigmas.
Ovary and capsule as in the Amaryllidaceæ and Liliaceæ.—
Perennial herbs; bulbs are rarely found, but horizontal rhizomes,
corms, etc., take their place. The leaves are (except Crocus) as in
the Iris, two-rowed, equitant and sword-like. Flowers or
inflorescences terminal.
The Iris (Flag) has a horizontal rhizome. The flowers are borne in
the leaf-axils in fan-like inflorescences (rhipidium). The branches of
the style are large and petaloid; on their under surface may be seen
a small projecting shelf (Fig. 312 a) having on its upper surface the
stigmatic hairs. Beneath the branches of the style are 3 well
protected stamens, and immediately outside these the external
perianth-leaves. The honey is secreted in the perianth-tube, and the insects,
endeavouring to obtain it through the narrow passages at the base of the stamens,
settle upon the outer perianth-leaves, which are bent backwards and often very
hairy along their central line. The insects then rub their backs on the anthers just
above them, beneath the branches of the style; they readily deposit the pollen on
the stigma of another flower as they enter it, but cannot do so in withdrawing, since
the stigma is pushed back, and self-fertilisation is thus avoided. The stylar
branches lie close to the outer perianth-leaves, which are just beneath them, or
separated by a distance of only 6–10 mm.; the first form of flower is adapted for
Rhingia rostrata, the latter for bees.—Crocus has vertical, tuberous,
underground stems surrounded by the leaf-sheaths (corms), and
terminal flowers; the linear leaves are not equitant, but have two
longitudinal furrows on the under side. The perianth is gamophyllous
and funnel-shaped. The stylar branches (stigmas) are fleshy, rolled
together in the shape of a horn, and split along the edge.—Gladiolus
has corms like the Crocus; spikes with slightly zygomorphic, almost
bilabiate flowers, most frequently turning to one side. Position of the
leaves as in the Iris.—Diplarrhena has 2 fertile and 1 barren stamen;
Hermodactylus has a unilocular ovary with 3 parietal placentæ. Cypella and
Tigridia have bulbs.
Fig. 312.—Iris pseudacorus. One external and two
internal perianth-leaves, and one of the stylar-branches
have been removed, y The outer, i the inner perianth-
leaves; g stylar-branch; a stigma; s anther. The ovary is
seen in longitudinal section.
770 species; chiefly in the countries round the Mediterranean, and in Africa,
especially the Cape (Gladiolus, Ferraria, Moræa, Galaxia, Sparaxis, Antholyza,
Tritonia, Ixia, etc.), Australia and Tropical America (Sisyrinchium, Tigridia, Cipura,
Cypella, etc). A great number are ornamental plants: the cultivated Crocus-species
are from the South of Europe and Asia; Gladiolus communis from S. Europe; the
other species principally from S. Africa. The native species of Iris are I.
pseudacorus (yellow) and I. fœtidissima.
Officinal: the stigmas of Crocus sativus (Oriental, cultivated in France, Spain,
Italy, and Austria), used as a colouring matter, saffron; the rhizomes of the S.
European Iris florentina, pallida, and germanica (“Orris-root”).
Fig. 313.—Dioscorea batatas: A ♂-plant; B ♂-flower; C ♀-plant (nat. size); D, E
♀-flowers (mag.); F seed; G embryo.
Order 9. Dioscoreaceæ. Perennial herbs with fleshy, often very
large tuberous rhizomes (or roots); twining stems; leaves stalked,
often arrow- or heart-shaped, lobed, palminerved and finely
reticulate as in the Dicotyledons (Fig. 313). The flower is diclinous
(most frequently diœcious), regular, epigynous, small, and of a
greenish colour, but otherwise typical (Pr3 + 3, and A3 + 3, or G3); in
most instances 2 ovules are placed one above the other in each
loculus. The inflorescence is a spike or raceme, sometimes richly
branched and paniculate.—The order approaches most nearly to the
Amaryllidaceæ.
Tamus (Bryony) has a berry, Dioscorea (Yam) a thin-walled, 3-
edged or 3-winged capsule (Fig. 313). Both have subterranean or
aerial tubers; the Yam very often also developes tubers in the axils of
the foliage-leaves; tuberous roots are said to occur in D. batatas.
The tubers of many species of Yams (D. batatas from China and
Japan, D. alata, South Sea Islands and India, D. bulbifera) are a very
important source of food in the Tropics, especially the first-named.—
Testudinaria; Rajania.—The tuberous stem of Tamus communis and
Testudinaria elephantipes, and some species of Dioscorea is formed from one
single internode (epicotyl), and the aerial shoots are developed from adventitious
buds; in T. elephantipes the stem is aerial, and covered with thick scales of cork,
regularly arranged, and separated by grooves.
Tropical order (167 species); 2 species (Tamus communis and Borderea
pyrenaica) in Europe.

Family 6. Scitamineæ.
The flowers belong to the ordinary monocotyledonous type. They
are hermaphrodite, epigynous, and have either a petaloid perianth,
or calyx and corolla; they are, however, zygomorphic or
unsymmetrical, and of the stamens most frequently only one is
completely developed, the others being generally represented by
petaloid staminodes. The ovary has 3 loculi, more rarely it is
unilocular with the suppression of 2 loculi. Endosperm is absent
(except Zingiberaceæ); but, on the other hand, there is a large
perisperm. To this family belong large, glabrous, especially perennial
herbs with rhizomes; leaves large, distinctly divided into sheath,
stalk, and blade, the latter being more or less elliptical or lanceolate,
entire, with pinnate venation, and always with a very well-
pronounced midrib, gradually tapering towards the apex, and giving
off numerous branches, which run outwards, towards the margin, at
a larger or smaller angle; these lateral veins are closely packed, and
parallel, but with only weak, connecting branches between them; the
leaves, therefore, are easily torn pinnately (Figs. 314, 317). The leaf-
sheaths close tightly round each other and form a false stem.
This very natural family comprises orders closely connected with
each other, but is not itself nearly allied to any other family. First in
the series stands:—
Order 1. Musaceæ. The petaloid perianth is strongly
zygomorphic, the anterior leaf being very large (a kind of “labellum”),
the posterior one small; only the posterior stamen is wanting, or is
rudimentary, the other five are developed, and have quadrilocular
anthers; ovary, 3-locular. Seed with straight embryo in mealy
perisperm.

Fig. 314.—Two Musa-species.


The best-known genus is Musa, the Banana (Fig. 314). From the
short rhizome arise enormously large, spirally-placed leaves, whose
sheaths envelope one another, and form an apparently aerial stem,
several metres in height. The inflorescence is a terminal spike with
floral-leaves placed spirally, and sometimes magnificently coloured;
in the axils of each of these several flowers are situated in two
transverse rows (accessory buds); the lowest flowers in the
inflorescence are ♀ , the central ones ☿, the upper ones ♂ , so that
fruits are only found in the lower region of the inflorescence, the
remaining portion persisting as a naked axis after the floral-leaves
and flowers have fallen off; the inflorescence terminates in an ovoid
bud formed by the flowers which have not yet opened (Fig. 314, the
left-hand figure). The perianth-leaves are united (except the posterior
one). The fruit (known as a “Banana”) is a berry, having the form of a
smooth, short, three-cornered Cucumber (as much as 30 cm. in
length); inside the tough skin is found a farinaceous, aromatic pulp.
No seed is developed in the cultivated species.—Several Musa-species
are cultivated in the Tropics for the sake of the fruit (M. paradisiaca, M.
sapientum); for the fibrovascular bundles, M. textilis (Manilla Hemp).—Their home
is, no doubt, the Tropics of the Old World; they were introduced into America
before the arrival of Europeans. Musa ensete has dry, leathery fruits; an
ornamental plant.
In Musa the barren, posterior stamen belongs to the inner whorl; and also in
Strelitzia and Ravenala; the latter may have all 6 stamens developed. In Heliconia,
on the contrary, it belongs to the outer whorl; in Heliconia the perianth-leaves are
differently arranged, and there is only one ovule in each loculus. The three latter
genera have dry fruits and leaves arranged in two rows. In the “Travellers’ Palm”
(Ravenala madagascariensis) the foliage-leaves form an enormous fan.—Tropical;
about 50 species.
The order may be divided as follows:—1. Museæ: Musa,
Ravenala, Strelitzia in the Old World. 2. Heliconiæ: Heliconia in the
New World.
Fig. 315.—Diagram of a
Zingiberaceous flower (Kæmpferia
ovalifolia): b bract; v bracteole; k calyx;
p1, p2, p3 the petals; sst, lateral
staminodes (“wings”); lab labellum
(formed of two staminodes); st the fertile
stamen; * position of suppressed
stamen. The ovary is in the centre of the
diagram.]
Order 2. Zingiberaceæ. Perianth most frequently divided into
calyx and corolla. Calyx gamosepalous. Only 1 fertile stamen (the
posterior, Fig. 315, belonging to the inner whorl) with quadrilocular
anther, which encloses the style in a furrow; the 2 stamens in the
outer whorl are staminodes, the median one (the anterior) is wanting.
The 2 lateral staminodes of the inner whorl form the “labellum” (Fig.
315 lab), which usually is the largest segment of the flower, and is
often bilobed. Ovules many. The fruit in some is a leathery, 3-valved
capsule, with loculicidal dehiscence; in others it is more or less
berry-like and indehiscent, or irregularly dehiscent. Straight embryo.
—The aerial stem is seldom developed to any extent, and the
inflorescences, which are (compound) spikes or racemes, often with
coloured floral-leaves, spring in some (e.g. Zingiber officinale)
directly from the rhizome. The leaves are arranged in two rows.—
The ovary in a few instances (Globba and others) is unilocular, with 3
parietal placentæ.
They are perennial herbs with fleshy and tuberous rhizomes, which are used as
condiments and in medicine on account of their pungent and aromatic properties
and also for starch, dyes, etc. Officinal: rhizomes of Zingiber officinale (Ginger,
unknown wild, but cultivated generally in the Tropics), of Curcuma longa (Turmeric,
a dye, E. India) and C. zedoaria, of C. angustifolia and others (as E. India
Arrowroot), of Alpinia officinarum, China (galangal). “Preserved Ginger” from
Alpinia galanga. Similar aromatic materials (volatile oils) are present also, for
example, in the fruits; Cardamom fruits and seeds (from Elettaria cardamomum,
China, seldom from E. major).
315 species; Tropics, preponderating in the Eastern Hemisphere, India, and
especially S. Asia, whence all the aromatic species originate; they are now
commonly cultivated in the Tropics. Some are ornamental plants in greenhouses,
e.g. Hedychium, Costus, etc. Globba (with axillary buds in the inflorescence, as in
Ficaria), Renealmia, Kæmpferia.
Fig. 316.—Flower of Canna: f
ovary; pa calyx; pi corolla; l
labellum; st stamens; an anther;
g stigma; α and β staminodes.
Order 3. Cannaceæ. American herbs without aromatic properties.
Flowers asymmetric (Fig. 316). Calyx polysepalous. The stamens
are petaloid (Fig. 316 st) and barren with the exception of one (the
posterior), which bears on one of its edges a bilocular anther;
another, which is especially large and coloured, is termed the
labellum. The style is compressed and leaf-like, with a small stigma
at the apex. Ovules numerous in the 3 loculi. The capsule is
furnished with warts or soft prickles. Embryo straight.
Canna (30 species; Trop. Am.). The inflorescence is a terminal
spike with 2-flowered unipared scorpioid cymes in the axils of the
floral-leaves. Ornamental plants: Canna indica, etc.
The diagram of the andrœcium of the Cannaceæ and
Marantaceæ may be represented in the following manner (calyx,
corolla and gynœceum being omitted):—
Cannaceæ. Marantaceæ.
w w w w
st st
w lab wi c
* *
w The lateral staminodes, “wings;” st fertile stamen; * the suppressed stamen;
lab labellum; c hood; wi inner-wing.
The labellum of the Cannaceæ corresponds with the hood of the Marantaceæ
and not with the labellum of the Zingiberaceæ.

Fig. 317.—Calathea zebrina.


Order 4. Marantaceæ. The flower is asymmetrical. Only 1 or 2 of
the 3 stamens in the outer whorl are present as staminodes; in the
inner whorl 2 are petaloid and of the sixth stamen one-half is
developed as a staminode and the other half bears a bilocular
anther. One ovule only in each loculus. The style is strongly curved
and at first enclosed in one of the staminodes (hood) of the inner
whorl; later on it springs elastically forward towards the other
staminode (inner-wing) of the same whorl. The stigma is very oblique
or 2-lipped. Two of the three loculi of the ovary, in some (Maranta,
Thalia) become small and empty. Embryo curved. Leaves in two
rows, with sheath, stalk, and blade (Fig. 317); at the base of the last
is a characteristic swelling (articulus).—Phrynium, Calathea, Stromanthe,
Ctenanthe, Saranthe, etc. About 150 species; tropical, especially America. The
starch of the rhizome of Maranta arundinacea is officinal, “West Indian
Arrowroot.”

Family 7. Gynandræ.
The flowers are hermaphrodite and constructed on the ordinary 3-
merous, pentacyclic type with petaloid, epigynous, strongly
zygomorphic perianth, and generally one-stamened by the
suppression of the other 5 stamens. The family has derived its name
from the fact that the stamen is united with the style into a “stylar
column” (except Burmanniaceæ). All are herbs; many grow as
epiphytes on other plants.
This family and the Scitamineæ occupy correspondingly high positions among
the Monocotyledons; these two families may therefore be placed close together,
although one cannot be derived from the other. The first of the two orders is very
small, but the second is very rich in species. The Apostasieæ are best classed
with the Orchidaceæ and have no independent place.
Order 1. Burmanniaceæ. This order forms a transitional link
between the Gynandræ and the epigynous Liliifloræ
(Amaryllidaceæ), in having a 6-leaved perianth, and 6–8 stamens;
but some have a labiate perianth (the median perianth-leaf of the
outer whorl being very large). The ovary is most frequently unilocular
with three parietal placentæ; but in some it is 3-locular with axile
placentation. Capsule. Seeds ∞, small, with endosperm. The
relationship to the Orchidaceæ is shown especially in the very
imperfectly developed embryo and in the ovary. Small, tropical herbs
(59 species); some are saprophytes.

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