The Role of Media Convergence in Consumer Perception: Insights from China's Digital Marketing Landscape
Abstract
Media convergence has emerged as the sole digital marketing strategy, yet to people understanding, few studies to date employ a brand-level method relying on bases of measures such as ad reach and campaign efficiency. In China's cross-media marketplace in which social and e-commerce become integrated into the offline market whether end-users handle converged messages in a similar way is to be discovered. This qualitative study investigates the influence of media conglomeration on consumer interpretation, involvement of trust. This research employed in-depth interviews of eight Huawei, Li-Ning, Perfect Diary, and BlueFocus marketing participants and eight end-users and participatory tracking of cross-platform communication (WeChat, Weibo, Douyin). Research finds cross-platform consistency wins consumer trust and emotional connection, and over-spending and incoherent communication lead to confusion, distrust, and web fatigue. Platform-specific needs of consumers for content and reactions to more fun and interesting aspects of tailor-made and enjoyable material are found. Results indicate the meaning of narrative in brands that advance consumer interests through the other medias. In the direction of a more consumer-oriented conceptualization of media convergences are built from the work of creating how consumer trustworthiness, emotional involvement, and content relevance affect attitudes towards brands. Contributions are made to practical guidelines for brands that would like to converge traditional and digital medias in ways that build more connections with consumers within China's digital competitive market.
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