Developing A Social Marketing Campaign - Case Study Example

Internet Addiction (Insert Name) (Institution Affiliation) Table of Contents 1.0 Background, Target Audience and Goals 3 1.1 Key Background Information 3 1.2 Campaign Purpose 4 1.3 Target audience 5 1.4 Campaign objectives and goals 5 2.0 Barriers, Competition and Influential Others 5 2.1 Proposed Behavioral change model. 5 2.2 Barriers to adoption of the desired behavior 7 2.3 Key benefits that the target audience will receive 8 2.4 Competing alternative behaviors 9 3.0 Positioning and Marketing Strategies 10 3.1 Positioning statement 10 3.2 Product design and platform 10 3.3 Monetary and nonmonetary incentives 11 3.4 Place 11 3.5 Promotion 12 Conclusion 13 References 13 1.0 Background, Target Audience and Goals 1.1 Key Background Information The internet is a neural tool that was initially designed to facilitate and aid research mainly amongst military agencies and academic institutions. The way some individuals utilize this tool, however, has raised eyebrows amongst the Internet addiction community and raised a great discussion of the issue of internet addiction. One of the most controversial elements associated to the issue of the addiction to internet is that in contrast to chemical addiction or drug dependency, technological advancement offered by internet in our society is one of the many benefits and not a tool to be wholly criticized as addictive. Use of the internet addictively is a fresh problem that is unfamiliar with many medical practitioners and as a result unable to treat since there are currently no established methods of dealing with this issue (Block, 2008). In addition, some therapists are unaware with the internet which makes it very difficult to comprehend the issue of internet addiction which has severe impacts on the society in general. Some of the cost to the community of this problem continuing includes poor academic performance, occupational problems and familial problems. The notions of internet, technological and computer addiction have been studied previously by several researchers and academicians. The concept of internet addiction has however raised a fierce argument amongst the academicians and clinicians. The core contention that only physical substances that are injected or ingested to the body can be addictive has been one of the main subjects around which the debate is revolving (Young 1998). The definition of the term addiction has been expounded beyond what most people believe it to be i.e. in reference to cases that involve ingestion of substances and drugs, to include a wide variety of conducts that in many occasions do not necessarily involve any intoxicant substances such as habitual gambling, playing video game playing, overeating, exercise, love affairs or relationship and even television – viewing. Linking addiction exclusively to drugs and substances typically forms an artificial distinction that makes the term irrelevant in such like when drugs are not involved. In general, the internet is currently a technological tool that has been highly promoted. This makes diagnosis and detection of addiction very difficult (Mitchell, 2000). It is therefore very essential that medical practitioner and skilled clinicians to properly understand the key characteristics that usually differentiate pathological use from the normal internet usage. The fact that currently internet addiction is not listed in the Stastical and Diagnostic Manual for Mental disorders and that there are no set of accepted criteria for addiction complicates its proper diagnosis. 1.2 Campaign Purpose Internet addiction often partakes of some of the major negative attributes of addiction to substances and drugs and has been revealed to lead to severe problems like relationship and family problems and failing in school. This campaigns aims at enhancing the diagnosis techniques that will empower clinicians in their duty of treating internet addiction to prevent these negative effects (Young, & de Abreu, 2010). Furthermore, the inactive act of persistent computer usage might distract the sleep patterns due to late night logins and also cause lack of proper workout that may lead to an increased risk for eye strain, back strain or carpal tunnel syndrome. This campaign aims at eliminating the risks associated with internet addiction. 1.3 Target audience The primary target of this campaign is patients with internet addiction disorder. In addition, since the internet addiction may not be discovered during the early clinical interview, the target audience of this campaign is mainly the clinicians in order to enable them to routinely assess any signs of the presence of addictive internet use. 1.4 Campaign objectives and goals The main objectives of this campaign are: To identify Internet addictively usage as a problematical behavior. To establish criteria set that would differentiate normal from addictive Internet usage in order to enable effective in diagnosis and subsequent treatment. Examine the extent of the problems 2.0 Barriers, Competition and Influential Others Use of the technology especially the Internet stands genuine in home, school and business practice as in e-commerce, online auctioning, electronic banking and even electronic correspondence to venders. Consequently, traditional abstinence models of curbing internet addictions are not practical interventions or solutions if they prescribe banning of Internet usage. 2.1 Proposed Behavioral change model. The focus for intervention and treatment should basically consist of controlled use and moderation. Based upon several research findings obtained from various practitioners who have encountered internet addiction in their line of duty, several techniques can be applied to treat internet addiction disorder. However, most of this techniques involves behavioral changes such as practicing the opposite time in internet use, setting goals for the addicts, encouraging abstinence from particular applications, use of reminder cards, use of external stoppers, family therapy and encouraging the victims to join support groups. Simple techniques on time management make the first four intervention techniques presented. When right management of time alone cannot correct compulsive Internet addiction, then more serious mediation techniques are necessary. In such situations, treatment should be focused mainly on assisting the internet addicts in developing effective coping strategies. This approach will eventually help the patients in changing the addictive behavior through proper support systems and personal empowerment. When internet addicts find positive ways of dealing with their addiction, then Internet reliance to weather hindrances should not be necessary anymore. Clinicians should however have in mind that the patient shall most probable experience a miss and loss of being online for recurrent time periods and long hours in the early days of their recovery. This is very normal and should be expected. After all, life can be a very challenging adjustment for many patients that derive a great source of desire from the Internet, the central part being living without it. The other thing that should be done by the therapist or clinician is reorganization of the patient’s time management. This is one of the key elements in the treatment of internet addiction. Thus, the clinician or the medical practitioner should take some time with the internet addict in order to put into consideration the perpetual and current and practices of using the excessively Internet (Weinstein, & Lejoyeux, 2010). The clinician should inquire from the patient about where they usually access the internet from or use the computer, for how long are they usually on during a classic session, the time of day she or he usually begin and the days of the week she or he is usually online. It is essential for the clinician to create a new timetable with the patients that are expected to change their behavior in order to restrain the addiction custom after the clinician has assessed the specific nature of the internet usage of the patient. 2.2 Barriers to adoption of the desired behavior While most of the patients defend the Internet as a safe addiction, they still evade the not so pleasant situations and dealing with the habitual personality that in most cases activate the compulsive behavior. The intervention and internet addiction management programs must then address the common barriers to self-management that are prevalent among the indigenous internet addicts which include poor literacy to the issue of internet activity and poor accessibility to health services considering this is a new disorder of which several clinicians does not know how to deal with it. For a long time, the urban population have demonstrated asymptomatic nature of Internet addiction, low level of knowledge about the Internet addiction and lack of knowledge about what health services are available. Internet addiction management in the urban areas is also hindered by the impacts of life stresses and circumstances that make it difficult for urban population to make appropriate behavioural changes that will enable them curb this disorder. In addition, the behavioural change is severely impaired is due to social determinants, such as educational levels, financial status, unemployment and cultural perspective, that prevent individuals from gaining insight of the internet addiction disorder, self-control and addiction management. In many occasions, the health services do not meet adequately the social and cultural needs of the internet addicts. The holistic approach to the internet addiction that is often taken by the affected parties especially the youth and the complexity of the health determinants means that a new approach will be required in order to improve the general recovery from internet addiction disorder. Development of appropriate social relationship and academic achievements are the two functioning areas that are adversely affected by the symptoms of internet addiction. The social and academic impairment experienced by adolescents and school aged children is well documented in various scholarly articles but the management of the internet dependence is not a subject which has been widely researched on. 2.3 Key benefits that the target audience will receive One of the key benefits is recovery from internet addiction. The concept of recovery is a multi- definitional subject primarily because it is an individualised and unique process. This concept emerged from the consumer movement in 2000s and continues to be utilized with an increasing currency in Internet addiction sector. Some people believe that specifying a single definition around recovery concept in a context of Internet addiction will ignore the key value of individuality and community involvement which underpins the entire concept. The definition of recovery and the way various people write or think about this concept is quite personal with a good deal of variability. Recovery orientation is acknowledged as being an aim in service delivery in Internet addiction treatment and intervention. The second key benefit is education which involves learning about what the community supports and the creation of awareness about various techniques of diagnosing and treating internet addiction. Education will also enable an individual to be aware of the available resources, opportunities, professional support and self-help strategies. It plays a crucial role in making informed choices about wellness, recovery and participation in adult roles that are highly valued on top of enhancing personal self-knowledge and awareness. 2.4 Competing alternative behaviors Various researchers have of late replaced with Internet the words drugs and substances in their examination of Internet dependence, making the conclusion that it has alike signs as withdrawal, tolerance, negative life consequences and craving. Internet addiction has been labeled by various researchers and academicians as a compulsive and obsessive conduct centered on its resemblances to compulsive shopping addiction, gambling addiction and love addiction, since these specific conditions lack a chemical reliance. Very little is still known about Internet dependence entirely. Generally, dependent users or internet addicts are probable to use the Internet for between twenty to eighty hours in a week, in which a single session could take up to fifteen hours. For such extreme internet usage to be possible, sleeping patterns are usually disoriented to accommodate late night logins. Addicts of the Internet typically stay up past usual bedtime hours and are usually online until two, three, or four o’clock in the morning with the fact that they have to wake for school or work at six in the morning. Caffeine pills are used to enable one to go for longer Internet sessions in the extreme cases. Such deficiency of sleep frequently results in extreme exhaustion which impairs both occupational and academic functioning and severely decreases the resistant coordination of the dependents making them vulnerable to disease. 3.0 Positioning and Marketing Strategies 3.1 Positioning statement The target audience of the marketing campaign includes both the clinicians and the internet addicts. The campaign aims at taming their behaviors and assisting them to recover from the disorder. There has been a fast development of online interactions amongst groups of people with actual alike interests who, congregate in an absolute space although geographically spread, since the explosion of computer networking systems, especially that of the Internet. Socialization has been shown to be one of the attractions responsible for the Internet’s addictive power by research. 3.2 Product design and platform The fundamental mechanisms should be very well understood so as to be able to develop internet addiction effective treatment methods. The cognitive behavioral model is one of the most comprehensive studies undertaken towards this end. While the scope of the behavior and the undesirable effects of this behavior on daily life were highlighted in the previous internet dependence studies, this model mainly emphases on maladaptive cognitions. This model places mal-adaptive cognitions in the center of pathologic usage of internet. Healthy internet usage is defined as a manner of using the internet for a period of time which can be considered sensible under the circumstances precise to the user for a clear purpose and in acknowledgement of the differences between the communication through the internet and the real communication and without assuming a diverse character; by the cognitive behavioral model of internet addiction (Davis 2001). 3.3 Monetary and nonmonetary incentives Every individual or institution of dealing with internet addiction will be charged at a specific fee regarding the kind of service offered. In care of recruitment events, the university will be charged according to the destination and the amount of time taken. Normal commission paid to the counseling agents will range between 10 percent and 15 percent of their turn over (Lovelock, Wirtz, & Chew, 2009). Our promotion and advertising will pivot around six principle strategies namely: internet web site, public relations, our shop front, press advertising, customer relations and organized visits which include career talks, student fairs, familiarization tours and recruitment events among many more. The e-marketing being a set of processes or more specifically, an organizational function for creating, delivering and communicating value to the target audience and also manage client relationships with online business agencies will always be aimed in ways to benefit stakeholders and the universities. This is because e-marketing holds together innovative, technical and creative aspects of the internet which includes design, development, advertising and sale of services. 3.4 Place In this era and age we are living, digital technology and computers are constantly on the point of greater things which are characterized by fresher, improved ways of making things that in certain ways is true. The old turn out to be obsolete in a year or two. The newer is always improved. It may not be that simple, though, internet and Computers imply to be making our lives simpler, easier, and hence more gratifying. People have become psychologically and physically dependent on many substances and behaviors for centuries (Varadarajan, 2010). This addictive pattern is made up of a driven pattern of usage that can regularly deteriorate on to negatively affect our lives and does not necessarily reflect a casual interest. Legal, marriages, financial status, employment, relationships and health, and or are the key life areas that seem to be heavily affected. 3.5 Promotion Our promotion and advertising will pivot around six principle strategies namely: internet web site, public relations, our shop front, press advertising, customer relations and organized visits which include career talks, student fairs, familiarization tours and recruitment events among many more. In order to reach a wide audience, the promotion mix will concentrate on online advertising since that is where majority of the victims and audience. The online ads are different from other advertisements such as magazine since their goal is to appeal mostly to a forecasted demographic or audience on a one to one basis. Since the advertisers have knowledge about the audience that is targeted which are mainly Internet addicts in our case, people who will participate in certain activities such as contributing to blogs entries and uploading pictures to help in advertisement. The recruiting agency will not always rely on expectation that a particular group of individuals will show interest in its new services but will ensure online adverts used are tailor made to suit a specific targeted audience. On finalizing a positioning strategy, by gathering a proper marketing mix, it is translated into action. Place (distribution), Promotion, Price and Product, is the popular four P’s definition of the marketing mix with each “P” encompassing a set of decision features that together defines the firm’s proposal to its goal market. The combination should be custom-made so that targeted clients see it as being of higher value than those offered by opponents – by reflecting the firm’s select of competitive advantage. Conclusion Internet addiction which has been defined in this paper as the inability of an individual to control his or her internet usage, that in turn leads to functional impairment of daily activities and stress as well as distressful feelings. Internet usage in a problematic manner and the proposed diagnostic and classification criteria in this field have presented inadequate data on whether Internet dependence can be categorized as a disorder. Through a Meta – synthesis of qualitative studies, this study offers comprehensive and in – depth analysis of internet addiction. References Block, J. (2008). Issues for DSM-V: Internet addiction. American Journal of Psychiatry, 165(3), 306-307. Lovelock, C. H., Wirtz, J., & Chew, P. (2009). Essentials of service marketing. Prentice Hall/Pearson. Mitchell, P. (2000). Internet addiction: genuine diagnosis or not. Lancet, 355(9204), 632. Weinstein, A., & Lejoyeux, M. (2010). Internet addiction or excessive internet use. The American journal of drug and alcohol abuse, 36(5), 277-283. van Rooij, A. J., Zinn, M. F., Schoenmakers, T. M., & van de Mheen, D. (2012). Treating internet addiction with cognitive-behavioral therapy: a thematic analysis of the experiences of therapists. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, 10(1), 69-82. Varadarajan, R. (2010). Strategic marketing and marketing strategy: domain, definition, fundamental issues and foundational premises. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 38(2), 119-140. Young, K. S., & de Abreu, C. N. (Eds.). (2010). Internet addiction: a handbook and guide to evaluation and treatment. Wiley. Young, K. S. (1998). Internet addiction: The emergence of a new clinical disorder. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 1(3), 237-244. Read More