AMB330 Week 2 Notes – Digital Audit Foundations

Acknowledgement of Traditional Owners

• QUT recognises the Turrbal and Yugara peoples as the First Nations custodians of the lands on which the university now stands.
• Respect is paid to Elders, lores, customs, creation spirits and the enduring role Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people play in QUT’s teaching, research and learning community.

Lecture Overview (Week 2 – “Digital Audit (1)”)

• Administrative updates.
• Reflections on the live client brief + student presentation expectations.
• Rapid review of foundational marketing/digital concepts.
• Assessment 1 focus: “Digital Audit” section, covering
  • Analysis of three digital platforms (one must be the website).
  • Evaluation of digital strategies used.
  • Examination of organisational voice & relational commitment.
  • Assessment of user engagement (dialogic & parasocial potential).
  • Deep—dive content analysis (1 example per platform).

Customer Journey Mapping & Touchpoints

• 7-Step mapping framework (Browne 2021):
  1) Set an objective.
  2) Define personas → highlight target customers.
  3) Break journey into stages, set stage-specific goals.
  4) List all touchpoints.
  5) Gather data / voice-of-customer feedback.
  6) Detect pain & friction points.
  7) Prioritise improvements.
• Definition: “Touchpoints” = any direct or indirect moment a customer comes into contact with the brand (Qualtrics).
• Industry considerations: B2C vs B2B vs B2G; high- vs low-involvement product categories.
• Question prompt: Determine whether your client sells a high- or low-involvement offering.

Low- vs High-Involvement Decisions (BC Campus)

• Involvement = personal importance + information required for purchase.
• Low involvement:
  • Low price, low risk, routine response behaviour.
  • \text{Examples: toothpaste, snacks}
• High involvement:
  • High price, complexity, higher perceived risk; extended problem solving.
  • \text{Examples: car, house, insurance}

Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) & Generative AI

• Batra & Keller 2016: Traditional + new media interactively shape decisions.
• Open question: How will Gen-AI alter message integration, personalisation & content velocity across channels?

PESO Model & Media Categories

• Paid, Earned, Shared, Owned (Spin Sucks):
  • Paid Media: Sponsored posts/ads.
  • Earned Media: Non-paid publicity, WOM, press coverage.
  • Shared Media: Social & UGC.
  • Owned Media: Brand-controlled assets (site, blog, app).
• Prompt: Consider Gen-AI’s role in content generation/ amplification for each bucket.

Media Planning Foundations

• Hallahan 2011: Strategic, integrated approach required to choose optimal channel mix.
• Activity: Personal reflection on a familiar brand—enumerate experienced touchpoints.

Assessment 1 – Digital Audit (Key Instructions)

• Audit ANY three active digital offerings (MUST include website).
• Use provided template; rate each audit criterion 1\rightarrow10 (justify with theory + evidence).
• Focus on ANALYSIS, not description.
• Visuals (screens, graphs) → Appendix (not graded; reference in report).
• Provide live links + academic/industry citations.

Marking Rubric (HO2.1 excerpt)

• High Distinction ((>8.49/10)) = perceptive discussion, critical & discerning analysis, seamless integration of accurate research + original insights.
• Lower bands progressively show less depth, integration, relevance or evidence.

Criterion 1 – Analysis of Platforms

• Identify three channels; assess “channel–content alignment”.
  1) Audience composition: Are users the brand’s targets?
  2) Platform requirements: format, character limits, algorithmic preferences, posting cadence—did the brand comply?
  3) Feature utilisation: Lives, Reels, Stories, Groups, hashtags, SEO tags, etc.
• Reference: Olivares 2019 – Cross-channel content strategy.

2025 Facebook Algorithm (Hootsuite 2025)

• Uses AI-driven “personalised ranking” for every refresh.
• Core ranking factors:
  • Source affinity (“Who posted it”).
  • Content type match to user history.
  • Predicted engagement probability.
  • Anticipated interest to broader community.
• Four-step model:
  1) Inventory – full eligible content pool.
  2) Signals – >10^5 behavioural/context cues.
  3) Predictions – click, dwell-time, like, share, informativity.
  4) Relevance score.
• Optimisation tips (11-point list): originality, native tools, post timing, audience insight, authentic engagement, Reels push, analytics, etc.

Criterion 2 – Analysis of Content (Content Audit)

• Method:
  • Sample 10\text{–}20 posts per platform.
  • Assign each to customer-journey stages: Awareness → Consideration → Purchase → Advocacy.
  • Cluster to infer overarching digital strategies.
  • Spreadsheet audit required; screenshot → Appendix.
• Decision-Journey Informational Needs:
  • Awareness → problem framing, brand story, thought leadership.
  • Consideration → comparisons, demos, testimonials.
  • Purchase → offers, CTAs, payment assurances.
  • Advocacy → community stories, referral incentives.

Digital Strategy – Conceptual Views

• McKendrick 2016: Executives overly equate “digital” with social/web; true strategy spans devices, CX, data, ops & metrics.
• Kannan & Li 2017 definition:
  • “Adaptive, technology-enabled process… co-creating, communicating, delivering & sustaining value.”
  • Touchpoints growing >20\% per year.

Top-Down Planning Logic (RevenueBuilder)

• Goal → measurable milestone.
• Strategy → logic linking goal + tactics.
• Tactics → specific actions; must align to goal & audience.

RACE-Inspired Digital-Growth Goals

• REACH (acquisition), ACT (interaction), CONVERT (sale/lead), ENGAGE (lifetime value).
• Requires marketplace analysis (audience, competitors, partners, SWOT), clear KPIs, segmentation & content strategy.

Strategy Example: Thyroid-Awareness Campaign

• Insight: Low awareness vs. resistance.
• Strategy pillars: build knowledge, humanise disease impact, demonstrate testing ease.
• Students asked to brainstorm aligned tactics (e.g., influencer patient stories, demo clinics, physician Q&A livestreams).

Customer-Journey Map (Digital A Agency Example)

• Seven sequential touchpoints (SEO → Content → Display Ads → Email → Event + App → Retargeting SMS → Automation).
• Google Analytics + Tag Manager measure traffic & attribution across the path.

Content Audit Table Template (SEMrush)

• Columns: URL, word count, date, category, format, metadata, backlinks, shares, sessions, buyer-journey stage, etc.

Digital-Strategy Illustration – Zazu Dining Room & Bar

• Earned highlight: “Reader Choice Award” post.
• Owned/Shared: Reels promoting venue ambience.
• Hashtags (#diningbrisbane, #asianfusion) broaden reach.
• Objectives apparent: social proof, seasonal tie-ins (Valentine’s Day), community building.

Social Metrics Map (Across Journey Stages)

• Awareness → Impressions, SOV, video plays (Organic) / \text{CPM},\;\text{CPV} (Paid).
• Consideration → Engagement rate, link clicks / \text{CPC},\;\text{CTR},\;\text{CPL}.
• Decision → Conversions, ROAS.
• Adoption → Brand mentions, support response metrics.
• Advocacy → UGC volume, boosted-post CPM.

Strategies vs Tactics (Slide 44)

• Strategy = broad road; Tactics = specific alley.
• Tactics consist of channel choice, message & format mix.
• Effectiveness ↑ when traditional + new media are blended & audience insights guide selection.

Paid / Owned / Earned / Shared – Visual Recap

• Paid Media: \text{sponsored }\rightarrow\text{ reach at cost}.
• Owned Media: \text{control }\rightarrow\text{ cost-efficient, brand voice}.
• Earned Media: \text{third-party validation}.
• Shared Media: \text{community co-creation}.

Organisational Voice

• Sundar et al. 2003: Interactivity = interface capacity for dialogue.
• Kelleher 2009 constructs:
  • Conversational Human Voice (11 items: invites dialogue, humour, admits mistakes, etc.).
  • Communicated Relational Commitment (6 items: expresses long-term relationship intent).
• Blog vs traditional page → blogs rated higher on conversational voice.
• Organisational blogs must:
  1) Be authored officially/semiofficially.
  2) Carry explicit/implicit organisational endorsement.
  3) Feature an identifiable organisational representative.

Brand Personality (Aaker 1997)

• Five dimensions & sample traits:
  • Sincerity (down-to-earth, honest).
  • Excitement (daring, cool, imaginative).
  • Competence (reliable, intelligent, successful).
  • Sophistication (upper-class, charming).
  • Ruggedness (outdoorsy, tough).
• Nation-branding example (Mexico vs Brazil Facebook pages) uses same framework.

User Engagement & Dialogic Communication

• Dialogic definition (Kent & Taylor 1998): “negotiated exchange of ideas & opinions.”
• Goal: open, honest, ethical relationships; adapt to stakeholder needs.
• Parasocial relationships (Horton & Wohl 1956): one-sided bonds with media personas; dimensions = Proximity, Similarity, Attraction (Yuan et al. 2016 measurement scales; model fit \chi^2=186.125,\;p<0.001).
• Application: spokespersons on Facebook ads can strengthen equity via parasocial pathways.

Example Posts for Analysis (Illustrative)

• Qantas Facebook feed: heritage storytelling (Dash-8 “Winton”), solidarity message (incident in DC), destination spotlight (Vancouver approach) – demonstrates organisational voice of national pride & empathy; mixed paid/shared.
• Australia.com Reels: wildlife encounters, scenic sunsets → excitement & sincerity; heavy use of short-form video to match algorithm.
• UQ HASS: community success stories, research highlights; encourages comments & shares (dialogic tactic: question prompts).
• Queensland Health mould-advice post: informational, crisis-relevant, clear CTAs & protective advice; simultaneously posted as TikTok short (cross-platform repurposing).

Assessment Criterion 4 – Analysis of User Engagement

• Evaluate dialogic tactics: surveys, polls, open questions, rapid replies, live streams, acknowledgements.
• Examine whether advanced platform tools (e.g., Instagram Q&A stickers, Facebook Group Rooms) are deployed.
• Success indicators: comment volume, response time, sentiment, share ratio, repeat interactions, follower growth.

Criterion 5 – Single-Post Deep Dive (One per Platform)

For each chosen example:

• Identify target persona & journey stage.
• Clarify primary objective (educate? convert? advocate?).
• Assess creative/formats used (imagery, copy, CTA, alt-text, hashtags, links).
• Measure outcome vs intent: reactions, click-throughs, dwell-time, conversions.

Ethical, Philosophical & Practical Take-aways

• Digital audits must go beyond surface description – triangulate data (analytics + theory + best-practice benchmarks).
• Content should be inclusive, accessible & culturally respectful (tie-in: Acknowledgement of Country).
• Gen-AI’s impending influence calls for vigilance: authenticity, bias mitigation, updated competency frameworks.

Key Numerical / Statistical References

• Touchpoint growth rate: >20\% annually (Kannan & Li 2017).
• Parasocial measurement model fit: \text{CMIN/DF}=1.939,\;\text{CFI}=0.939,\;\text{RMSEA}=0.052.
• Facebook ranking signals: “hundreds of thousands” analysed per refresh.

Suggested Study Actions

• Practice mapping a real client’s journey, label touchpoints, assign PESO categories & journey stages.
• Run a mini content audit in Excel; compute content-stage distribution percentages.
• Draft voice/personality descriptors for the client and verify consistency across channels.
• Collect 3-5 engagement metrics per platform; track over one week to gauge dialogic performance.
• Brainstorm Gen-AI opportunities/risks for your chosen brand.