How to Use the Six-Step Digital Ethnography Framework to Develop Buyer Personas: The Case of Fan Fit

Abstract

Background One of the key features of digital marketing is customer centricity, which can be applied to the domain of health. This is expressed through the ability to target specific customer segments with relevant content using appropriate channels and having data to track and understand each interaction. In order to do this, marketers create buyer personas based on a wide spectrum of quantitative and qualitative data. Digital ethnography is another established method for studying web-based communities. However, for practitioners, the complexity, rigor, and time associated with ethnographical work are sometimes out of reach. Objective This paper responds to the gaps in the practically focused method of using social media for digital ethnography to develop buyer personas. This paper aims to demonstrate how digital ethnography can be used as a way to create and refine buyer personas. Methods Using a case study of the Fan Fit smartphone app, which aimed to increase physical activity, a digital ethnography was applied to create a better understanding of customers and to create and refine buyer personas. Results We propose two buyer personas, and we develop a 6-step digital ethnography framework designed for the development of buyer personas. Conclusions The key contribution of this work is the proposal of a 6-step digital ethnography framework designed for the development of buyer personas. We highlight that the 6-step digital ethnography could be a robust tool for practitioners and academicians to analyze digital communications for the process of creating and updating data-driven buyer personas to create deeper insights into digital and health marketing efforts.

Panorama del marketing en salud en el Reino Unido: Un análisis de la literatura

“…"Sandías, jeringuillas y regulación: El marketing de Instagram de las clínicas cosméticas en el Reino Unido y los Países Bajos" (Hermans, 2023) "Cómo utilizar el marco de etnografía digital de seis pasos para desarrollar personas compradoras: el caso de Fan Fit " (Fenton et al, 2022) "Teléfonos inteligentes, redes sociales y bienestar mental de los adolescentes: el impacto de las políticas escolares Restringir el uso del tiempo diurno: protocolo para un estudio observacional experimental natural que utiliza métodos mixtos en escuelas secundarias de Inglaterra" (Wood et al, 2023) "Exploración de las habilidades empresariales, las experiencias y la preparación de los fisioterapeutas privados establecidos en el Reino Unido a la hora de establecer y desarrollar un negocio de fisioterapia: Un estudio fenomenológico hermenéutico" (Watson & Minns Lowe, 2023).…”

Improving Sustainable Food Access and Availability in Rural Communities: An Assessment of Needed Resources

“…Buyer personas have been used in the social marketing of health-related initiatives [40] and thus may have strong applicability to Extension education efforts at the intersection of the food system and health and wellness [3]. However, research on buyer personas is limited in academic and peer-reviewed literature; currently buyer personas are a largely practitioner-based method [40].…”

“…Buyer personas have been used in the social marketing of health-related initiatives [40] and thus may have strong applicability to Extension education efforts at the intersection of the food system and health and wellness [3]. However, research on buyer personas is limited in academic and peer-reviewed literature; currently buyer personas are a largely practitioner-based method [40]. Thus, the current study examined the potential of buyer personas-or in the case of Extension education, client personas-of those most and least likely to participate in Extension education programs related to food access in rural areas.…”