The 6C model of social media marketing Social media sites (e.g.
Facebook or
Twitter) are essentially vehicles for carrying content. This content – in the form of words, text,
pictures and videos – is generated by millions of potential customers around the world, and
from your perspective (= company’s perspective) this can indeed be an inspiration to create
further value for these customers. The following model in Figure 17.9 mainly represents
communication style number 4 (social media marketing) in Figure 17.8. If there had been no
feedback to the company in the model, it would have been more like style number 3 (viral
marketing). Figure 17.9 defines six distinct, interrelated elements (Cs) that explain the creation
and retention of customer engagement, seen from a company perspective; however the user-
generated contents still plays an important role in the model.
Company and content The 6C model begins with the company and the content it
creates. Basically, the internet remains a ‘pull’ medium, in the way that firms seek to pull
viewers to its content, and finally to the company itself. However, before any ‘pull’ can happen,
the content has to be pushed (seeded) forward in the chain. Content can take the form of, for
example, a Face book product or brand page and/or a YouTube video pushed out to viewers.
Consequently, content pushed into the social media sphere by a company acts as a catalyst for
our model of engagement or participation.
Control The dashed line denoting control in the 6C model (Figure 17.9) is intended to
represent a wall beyond which the company passed over control of its brand to the online
community and the customers. In order to accelerate the viral uptake of its brand messaging,
the company sometimes gives up the digital rights and blocks in order to encourage online
community members to copy, modify, re-post and forward the content. The content is intended
to be copied and/or embedded into people’s websites, blogs and on Facebook walls. The key
point to this stage in the process is that the company (the content creator) must be willing, and
even embrace, the fact that they no longer have full control over the content: it is free to be
taken, modified, commented on and otherwise appropriated by the community of interest. This
may challenge the conventional ‘brand management’ wisdom stating that managers must keep
control of brand image and messaging.
Community and Influencer marketing The company creates content and pushes it over
the symbolic border of control to the other side, where a community of interested consumers
now takes it up. At this point, communication becomes bidirectional. The use of arrows in
Figure 17.9 for push and pull attempts to reflect the ‘give-and-take’ that goes on between a
community and the company, represented by the content creators. In its simplest form, it is
reflected in the art of commenting: posting reactions, on Facebook or YouTube, to the content.
In some cases the company can even learn about ‘customer behaviour’ in the market by
following these online community discussions. In an ideal world, a series of reflexive
conversations takes place in the community, independent of any action by the company, which
will often have a passive role as an observer. When transferring the ‘content’ into the online
community, the company and the con tent providers often try to target the influencers (or
opinion leaders), which are typically some of the first to receive the message and transmit it to
their immediate social networks. They function as connectors or bridges between different
subcultures, and their network of social hubs can facilitate immediate transmission of the
content to thousands of online community members.
The purpose of ‘influencer marketing’ is to win customer trust, especially when com pared to
traditional online ads (Conway, 2019). Influencer marketing is less intrusive and more flexible
than traditional online ads. An influencer is an individual who proactively engages in discussions
with other online community members and customers to diffuse and spread this content. It can
be a teenage girl posting about her favourite local ice-cream bar to make a few bucks, or it can
be a celebrity-influencer like Kim Kardashian posting about a clothing line to make $200,000.
For SMEs it is absolutely relevant to work with micro-influencers, who are individuals who work
in their special category and are truly knowledgeable, passionate and authentic. They are seen
as a trusted source when it comes to recommendations for what to buy. Micro-influencers are
affecting a much smaller social circle (segments) around them, but they can do it much more
effectively than mega- or celebrity influencers. Haenlein and Libai (2018) showed that micro-
influencers not only have over 20 times more conversations with their social group than an
average consumer, but they also found that 80 per cent of potential customers are very likely to
follow their recommendations. Marketers therefore do not have to turn to celebrities to
enhance their social media campaigns.
