Title: Development of an optimal solution for digital marketing variables in an online tool

Authors: Vandana Ahuja

Addresses: Jaypee Business School, Sector 62, Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India

Abstract: IT enabled interactivity has lead to the creation of an online dialogue which can be leveraged by organisations for the dual purposes of building brand equity and building customer relationships. While touching the subject of new interactive marketing communication tools offered by the contemporary collaborative web, this paper focuses on the use of corporate blogs by organisations as tools which foster community interaction and organisational participation to build a congenial ecosystem where organisational elements co-exist with customers and incorporation of consumer feedback is a vital tool for organisational growth (Sifry, 2004). This paper focuses on understanding the role and function of interactivity in an online tool while outlining how an organisation can have the right mix of structural features catering to this role of interactivity. This has been attempted by studying the level of interactivity of a corporate blog by calculating an interactivity score and analysing the relationship between the level of interactivity of the blog and the reach (percent of global internet users who visit the site) as well as the Technorati rating of the blog. Further, by maximising the interactivity score, using linear programming, an attempt has been made to determine an optimal solution to understand the desired level of presence of structural parameters in a blog, catering to specific functions served by the dimension of interactivity.

Keywords: internet marketing; corporate blogs; interactivity; branding; Technorati authority; digital marketing variables; online marketing; brand equity; customer relationships; community interaction; organisational participation; consumer feedback; organisational growth; linear programming.

DOI: 10.1504/IJIMA.2015.068345

International Journal of Internet Marketing and Advertising, 2015 Vol.9 No.1, pp.49 - 65

Received: 21 Oct 2013
Accepted: 15 Jul 2014
Published online: 31 Mar 2015 *

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