1.5W Model
Mass communication was originally considered to be just an ordinary process of the sender transmitting information to the receiver. In 1948, American political scientist Harold Lasswell proposed the “5W Model” in his article “Structure and Function in the Communication Society”. This model summarizes human communication activities into five links and elements. Any communication behavior can be described by answering five “W” questions: Who, Say What, In Which Channel, To Whom, With What Effect, as shown in Figure 1-5.
“Who” is the communicator, who is responsible for collecting materials, processing information, and transmitting information during the communication process. It can be an individual or an organization. “What to say” refers to the content of communication, which is a combination of messages composed of meaningful symbols. Symbols include both language symbols and non-language symbols. “Channel” is the intermediary or material carrier that information must pass through for transmission. It can be interpersonal media such as letters and telephones, or mass media such as newspapers, radio, and television. “To Whom” is the audience of communication, the object and purpose of communication. “Effect” is the reaction caused by information in various aspects such as cognition, emotion, and behavior after reaching the audience, and it is an important criterion for testing whether the communication activities are successful. In the study of social media, the 5W model theory can be used to study the process of social media communication.
2. AIDMA rule
The AIDMA rule was first proposed by American advertising expert E. S. Lewis in 1898. The meaning of the AIDMA rule is: A (Attention) is to attract attention; I (Interest) is to generate interest; D (Desire) is to cultivate desire; M (Memory) is to form memory; A (Action) is to promote action. The so-called AIDMA rule refers to a rule that dynamically guides the psychological process of consumers from seeing advertisements to making shopping behaviors, and patterns its sequence. The process is that consumers first pay attention to the advertisement, then feel interested (Interest) and read it, then have the desire to buy it and try it out (Desire), then remember (Memory) the content of the advertisement, and finally produce purchasing behavior (Action). This kind of psychological change caused by the effectiveness of advertising and guiding consumers is called the AIDMA rule.
In social media marketing, AIDMA rule is often used to explain the consumer psychology process. By using this rule, we can accurately understand the psychology and behavior of consumers, formulate effective marketing strategies and improve the transaction rate.
3. AISAS model
AISAS model is a new consumer behavior analysis model proposed by Dentsu in response to the changes in consumer lifestyles in the Internet and wireless application era. In the current Internet environment, marketing methods are gradually changing from the traditional AIDMA marketing rule to the AISAS (Attention → Interest → Search → Action → Share) model with network characteristics. In the new marketing rule, the emergence of two “S” with network characteristics – Search and Share – points out the importance of search (Search) and share (Share) in the Internet era, rather than blindly instilling one-way concepts to users, which fully reflects the impact and change of the Internet on people’s lifestyles and consumer behaviors. In the era of social media, Internet information dissemination not only stays in personal information release and group information sharing, but also involves various forms of dissemination such as comparing and discussing news and corporate information (including advertisements). Information release has changed from B2C (a model where merchants release information to consumers) to B2C2C (a model where merchants release information to consumers and consumers release and share information to consumers).
4. Six Degrees of Separation
A conjecture in the field of mathematics is called “Six Degrees of Separation”, which is translated into Chinese as the Six Degrees of Separation Theory or the Small World Theory. The theory states that there are no more than six people between you and any stranger, that is, you can get to know any stranger through at most six intermediaries.
In the 1960s, American psychologist Milgram designed a chain letter experiment. Milgram randomly sent letters to some residents living in various cities in the United States. The letter contained the name of a Boston stockbroker and asked each recipient to send the letter to a friend who he thought was closer to the stockbroker. After receiving the letter, the friend sent the letter to a friend who he thought was closer to the stockbroker. In the end, most of the letters were sent to the stockbroker, and each letter was handled 6.2 times on average. Therefore, Milgram proposed the six degrees of separation theory, which states that it only takes six people at most to establish a connection between any two people in the world.