A
digital marketing
Digital marketing is the component of marketing that uses the Internet and online based digital technologies such as desktop computers, mobile phones and other digital media and platforms to promote products and services. Its development dur ...
system (DMS) is a method of centralized channel distribution used primarily by
SaaS
Software as a service (SaaS ) is a software licensing and delivery model in which software is licensed on a subscription basis and is centrally hosted. SaaS is also known as "on-demand software" and Web-based/Web-hosted software.
SaaS is co ...
products. It combines a
content management system
A content management system (CMS) is computer software used to manage the creation and modification of digital content ( content management).''Managing Enterprise Content: A Unified Content Strategy''. Ann Rockley, Pamela Kostur, Steve Manning. New ...
(CMS) with data centralization and syndication across the web, mobile, scannable surface, and social channels.
Web
A DMS publishes to web channels, usually in the form of a stand-alone website. It can manage any part of the web process, including
web design
Web design encompasses many different skills and disciplines in the production and maintenance of websites. The different areas of web design include web graphic design; user interface design (UI design); authoring, including standardised code a ...
,
web hosting
A web hosting service is a type of Internet hosting service that hosts websites for clients, i.e. it offers the facilities required for them to create and maintain a site and makes it accessible on the World Wide Web. Companies providing we ...
, domain registering, marketing, content creation and other standard methods of web promotion. The goal of web publication is to give the user a digital 'home' on the web, where clients, guests, fans and other web browsers arrive as a destination. Other methods of digital marketing often work to drive traffic to the web channel.
An example of a
SaaS
Software as a service (SaaS ) is a software licensing and delivery model in which software is licensed on a subscription basis and is centrally hosted. SaaS is also known as "on-demand software" and Web-based/Web-hosted software.
SaaS is co ...
DMS services is
HubSpot
HubSpot is an American developer and marketer of software products for inbound marketing, sales, and customer service. HubSpot was founded by Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah in 2006.
Its products and services aim to provide tools for customer ...
.
Social
A DMS publishes to popular social channels, including
Facebook
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin ...
,
Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
and
Instagram
Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...
in orer to drive traffic to the user's website. The publication can be in the form of text, images, or videos.
Privacy issues
Digital marketing is considered a challenge to
privacy
Privacy (, ) is the ability of an individual or group to seclude themselves or information about themselves, and thereby express themselves selectively.
The domain of privacy partially overlaps with security, which can include the concepts of a ...
because consumers' information is searched, collected, and used in digital marketing without consumers' awareness.
The privacy of customers is important because it is related to customers'
perceived value, satisfaction, loyalty, their trust in a company, and the performance of a company.
Types of information
Basic information:
In the traditional sense, private information mainly includes gender, age, educational background, marital status and other basic information.
In the network society, private information also includes personalized digital information such as account passwords.
Activity information:
Private information refers to
browsing history
Web browsing history refers to the list of web pages a user has visited, as well as associated metadata such as page title and time of visit. It is usually stored locally by web browsers in order to provide the user with a history list to go bac ...
, purchasing records, location, social activities and so on
Illegal use of information
At present, the discussion on the consequences of privacy issues caused by digital marketing technology is increasingly focused on the possibility of illegal use of information.
The information of consumers may become commodities, which will be exchanged or traded without the consumer's awareness and authorization.
The consumers' information is mainly exchanged or transacted in two forms.
One is that the related merchants share those data. The other is that those data are sold by certain recommenders to a third party.
For example, the data that can identify the financial status of consumers is very attractive to credit agencies. All of these above increases the risk of consumer privacy.
Customer attitude
Some customers tend to choose the latter between a right to privacy and other favourable conditions. Pieces of evidence show that some customers are willing to allow merchants to use their personal information if they can have something to gain in return, even just small rewards, even though they do worry about their privacy may be invaded. In addition, digital marketing provide convenience to people.
In the minds of some customers, this convenience is more important than their privacy, especially for teens. Nevertheless, most people are very concerned about whether their privacy is protected.
Supervision and administration
Permission marketing
Permission marketing is a type of advertising in which the people who are supposed to see the ads can choose whether or not to get them. This marketing type is becoming quite popular in digital marketing these days. Seth Godin first introduced th ...
is a system where consumers can grant licenses only to a few merchants which are chosen from a large number of merchants.
Merchants can also post privacy logs to promote transparency and accountability.
The
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is an example which meets the above requirements. It stipulates that merchants can collect customers' information only for specific, clear and legitimate purposes and deal with them only in a fair, transparent, and legal manner and merchants must protect this data. Customers should be informed that how will their data be used, what will be the effects and other relevant information in a concise, easy-to-understand and freeway so that they can determine whether it is necessary to grant authorization or not. Except the right to be informed, the GDPR also provide customers with seven other rights such as the right of access, the right to erasure, the right to restrict processing, the right to object and establishes corresponding accountability system.
References
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Content management systems
Information systems
Website management
Digital marketing