Syntax Literate: Jurnal Ilmiah Indonesia pï¿½ISSN: 2541-0849 ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½e-ISSN: 2548-1398

Vol. 7, No. 3, Maret 2022

DIGITAL-VISUAL IMAGERY IN MARKETING COMMUNICATION OF MODERN LIFESTYLE: ANALYSIS OF PROPERTY ADVERTISEMENT IN INSTAGRAM

I Putu Dedy Wahyu Wijaya, Z. Hidayat

Bina Nusantara University, Indonesia

Email: [email protected], [email protected]

Abstract

The use of Instagram as a marketing medium is currently a massive undertaking. Its progress creates various new cultures in today's society. Not a few people or institutions have changed their behavior to enjoy the benefit of Instagram's growing popularity. One agency that is also taking advantage of this upturn of Instagram is a property developer. They use Instagram as part of their 360 marketing methods. In line with this, Instagram is also used to signify activities and various forms of goods that are considered to have specific values. The advancement of technology also accelerates and facilitates the creation of a new culture in society. Agencies that have seen the opportunity to take advantage of this cultural and lifestyle reform, try to spread their ads through the same platform: Instagram, with correlating themes related to society's trend. Instagram, an image-based social media, pushed these developers to compete to design various kinds of illustrations to influence their target market. Based on those premises mentioned above, this research was carried out by analyzing Instagram posts from property developer accounts in 2020. The method used is semiotics by Charles Pierce. During the research, it was found that property developers' accounts often take advantage of a particular moment to boost their visual campaigns. These moments are often related to hobbies, lifestyle, places, and everyday items. Thus they can create a connection between them and their target consumers via Instagram's visual media.

Keywords: Instagram, property, visual, ads, modern lifestyle, semiotics

Introduction

The rapid development of technology globally provokes the business sector to shift its marketing strategy from conventional to a combination of conventional and digital. Digital marketing also allows business owners to develop their business online in terms of product development, pricing, and distribution. This way, the cost can be minimized, (Agung & Darma, 2019). One of the digital platforms that currently received much interest in social media. (Arrigo, 2018) said that social media is an application system that can collect various interactive data from its users and is also directly controlled by the user, helping these users distribute their social and business experiences. Therefore, with millions of users, various forms of data will be available for the business sector to be prospected to become leads and potential consumers. In this case, one of the business sectors, a property development company, started to take this opportunity. Social Media offers features that allow companies to see and map the characteristics of their target market.

One social media characteristic is that it maximizes certain visual and verbal benefits to attract a person or a group's attention. According to Hootsuite statistical data from 2020 to July, the top six digital platforms most frequently used by the global community are Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp, FB Messenger, WeChat, and Instagram. These social media platforms have their unique advantages and were used according to their users' needs. As time goes by and being the means of self-actualization and social interaction, people use social media for marketing their products digitally and building exemplary communication with their customers. Today, one of the most influential social media is Instagram. Instagram, which has a feature that focuses on visual content such as visual design, photos, and videos, helps business owners reach their customers with no time and space limitation (Agung & Darma, 2019). One of the visual editing sites, Adobe Spark, stated that Instagram is the first place for an investment platform to promote a brand. Instagram's features, such as photography, visual design, short videos, selfie photos, and live-stream that enable users to interact directly with their followers, helped build a brand.

Next is on discussion related to how a property developer conducts marketing communication while building their brand through Instagram, emphasizing visual communication. As an initial understanding, we know that the visual itself, in this case, is closely related to semiotics. One of the key figures in the early development of semiotics study was the American philosopher Charles Sanders Peirce (1839-1914). Put merely, and semiotics is a field that studies signs, (Chandler, 1994). Semiotics itself has a broad range of study. Semiotics is about a sign representing conversation or daily activities and relates to something that represents something specific. In the meaning of semiotics, signs can take several forms, such as words, pictures, sounds, gestures, and objects. The other opinion put forward by the philosopher Charles Peirce is that semiotics was the formal doctrine of signs closely related to Logic. Peirce adds these signs were meant for someone who has meaning in certain things (Chandler, 1994).

In this modern era, both directly and indirectly in the marketing and advertising sector, many parties have used this semiotic method in their investment to sell their product or service. The primary purpose of advertising is to convey, persuade, and encourage purchases of goods and services until finally, a consumptive culture was formed, (Zakia & Nadin, 1987). As business people will put forward the Instagram platform with its visual features as a weapon for brand investment and understand the semiotic method, they must also understand the consumers themselves. (Gordon & Ryan, 1997) stated that whether it is easy to persuade and direct consumers to use a product or service after interacting with advertisements is correlated with age, socioeconomic status, and intellectual capacity. There are four types of consumer criteria based on the above correlation: critical, appreciative, alert or cautious, and deniers, (Gordon & Ryan, 1997).

Critical consumers, consumers with characteristics like this, improved their knowledge and intellectual capacity through various forms of advertising information that they have absorbed. They grew up seeing advertising through unusual and popular media, which made them think that they have the right to comment, rate, and evaluate how good or bad an advertisement is. (Gordon & Ryan, 1997). A next group is an appreciative group. This group tends to enjoy the advertisement. Those in this group, regardless of whether an advertisement is good or bad, enjoy the ads served. They think seduction and solicitation of advertisements is a form of amusement. These consumers can be found across any age, gender, socioeconomic group (Gordon & Ryan, 1997). The third group categorized is the group with the criteria of being alert and wary of an advertisement. This group can enjoy ads that, according to them, have a clear message and purpose. Groups on this criterion can balance their emotional and rational responses to an advertisement. They will be very attentive to advertisements that have harmful or excessive elements. The group within these criteria was usually found in people with upper economic strata. The last group is the denial group. The group on this criterion tends to react negatively to all advertisements except the very rational ones. They are usually from lower socioeconomic strata and older age. They emphasize more on rationality (Gordon & Ryan, 1997).

After building a shared understanding of what digital platforms were used for in digital marketing, what visual concept will be needed, and what were the criteria of consumers who will be targeted. The property developer who has the selling value of their products can easily map how visual design was applied to products targeted and marketed according to their lifestyle.

Research Methods

Secara khusus, penelitian ini menggunakan penelitian eksperimental, yang bertujuan untuk mengidentifikasi apakah suatu perlakuan memiliki dampak positif atau negatif terhadap situasi yang dihadapi. Tes pra-posting dilakukan hanya pada satu kelompok dalam penyelidikan ini. Dalam hal pemberian ASI eksklusif, penelitian ini dirancang untuk menilai seberapa efektif hal itu. Sebelum dan sesudah intervensi, kelompok subjek disurvei. Temuan pra dan pasca pengujian dibandingkan dalam studi kausalitas (Dharma, 2011).

Penelitian ini dilakukan di RSUD Kotapinang Labusel karena salah satu visi dan misi rumah sakit untuk meningkatkan program ASI eksklusif dengan memberikan edukasi terhadap ibu post pregnancy namun masih tinggi angka dimana ibu post pregnancy berperilaku tidak benar dalam menyusui.

Populasi dalam penelitian ini adalah seluruh ibu postpartum yang sedang menyusui di RSUD Kotapinang Labusel pada bulan Mei, Juni, Juli yaitu sebanyak 32 orang. Sampel dalam penelitian ini ditentukan dengan menggunakan purposive sampling yaitu cara menyaring responen dengan beberapa kriteria yaitu Ibu post partum yang masih menyusui 0-6 bulan dan Ibu postpartum tidak memberikan makanan tambahan selain ASI, Adapun jumlah sampel yang didapatkan dalam penelitian ini berjumlah 25 ibu postpartum.

Results And Discussion

A. Ilustration

The illustration functions became a conveyor of an idea or feeling for the public's enjoyment and understanding. An illustration has its specific elements and details, as shown in several visual posts on the Instagram account of Vasaka Soltera, The Element, and Grand Shamaya.

*Vasaka Solterra*	*The Element*	*Grand Shamaya*

Figure 2

The illustrations

Following the illustrations' intended use, each of the posts strives to maximize their main illustration points. Vasaka Solterra pointed out two icon illustrations. The first is a mobile screen showing their website and on it an image of towers. The Element displayed a room unit, while the Grand Shamaya illustrated a balcony unit.

The three of them posted illustrations as the post's main object because the developer has not started building its properties yet. The illustrated images portrayed the future projection of their products, including the facilities provided.

The next discussion is about illustrations related to indexes. Vasaka Solterra applies photos in its visual index. A woman figure with polished nails, the latest iPhone Series, Macbook Pro, a bowl of oranges, and a notepad in the picture. These indexes create a message that a well-groomed career woman who owns premium gadgets was attracted after seeing Vasaka Solterra's website. These indexes visualize the characteristics ofï¿½ Vasak Solterra's potential customers. The visual indexes of The Element are a table and a TV, a bed set, lounge chairs, shoes,ï¿½ photo frames on a table, carpets, curtains, bedroom lamps, bed tables with cups and sheets of paper, a view of a multi-story building from the window, and wooden parquet.

The consequence of this index creates an impression of luxury in the eyes of potential buyers. For this reason, the colors chosen are brown, beige, and white, and the preferred texture of wood, fur, and leather. Grand Shamaya's visuals are wooden ceilings, parquet floors, marble, sofas with cushions, tables and chairs, small closets, TV, windows, and paintings. The indexes in Grand Shamaya's visuals have an almost similar value as The Element was identified through the texture and color that dominates the illustration image.

The next type of Charles Pierce's sign is a symbol. There are four symbols in Vasaka Solterra's visual, namely Five Million / Month Down Payment *, Get Our Special Promo Luxurious Kitchen Set *, Visit our website and Get Special Promo * terms and conditions apply. The Five Million / Month Down Payment * refers to the developer's payment convenience to potential customers. Get Our Special Promo Luxurious Kitchen Set* has a connection with gift offers that the developer gives to purchasers at a particular time after buying the unit. Visit our website and Get Special Promo are directives to visit the website to get more detailed information and other promo offers. Theï¿½ *term and condition apply, which means specific requirements need attention. The Element's visual symbols are the Headline Your Very Best Signature Life and the website, www.theelements.co.id.

Furthermore, the headline Your Very Best Signature Life is a statement that the developer gives potential buyers the best offer of their lives. Besides, the baseline shows www.theelements.co.id; a website to access all information about The Element products. Grand Shamaya's symbols are the Spacious Balcony headline and the #staycation #stayshamaya baseline. The Spacious Balcony headline tells the design value of the balcony unit. Meanwhile, #staycation #stayshamaya baseline is a caption to label information about the post in the form of photos, videos, text, and others. Inclosing hashtags in a post will organize new updates so that they will be easier to find.

B. Event

*Grandï¿½ Shamaya*	*Grand Sungkono Lagoon*	*Lippo Cikarang*

Ramadhan Event	Chinese New Year Event	Christmas Event

Figure 3

Event

Table I

Event

*Developer*	*Icon*	*Index*	*Symbol*
Grand Shamaya	Living room interior, a hijabi woman.	Veils, a woman clasped hands, jewelry rings, living room sofa set with cushions, carpets, room decorations, and ornaments Pastel rose gold colored background with ornamental graphic decoration.	Get The Double Investment; Limited For four units only; Free Best Seller Menu of Sonokembang Catering for six months, 2020 - Ramadan special Gift, www.grandshamaya.com, T&C apply.
Grand Sungkono Lagoon	Cakes, lanterns, Tree branches, ang pao (red envelope).	Moon cakes, lapis legit cake, red lanterns with Chinese letters, tree branches with flowers, red ang pao, red coins.	Lunar New Year; New Year 2020; New Investment; Discount up to on Rp 20 million* + Cashback 20%,ï¿½ Ang Pao up to Rp 5 million, Saturday - Sunday, 25 -26 January 2020, 10:00 - 18:00, Marketing Lounge, Venetian Tower - G Floor, Grand Sungkono Lagoon, Jl. Abdul Wahab Siamin, Kav 9 -10 Surabaya.
Lippo Cikarang	Christmas tree, family, home interior.	Christmas trees, Christmas tree decorations, a man, a woman, a little girl, curtains and steps.	Are you ready for Christmas? www.lippo-cikarang.com.

Celebration days often become the theme for promotional programs. This strategy expresses appreciation to clients and potential customers who are in celebration. This step can also be a community approach. Three visuals taken as a sample in one year point out several characteristics. The icon displayed on the visual is an illustration that is familiar to the public, especially those who celebrate. The icon can be in the form of people, food, or objects associated with the event.

As exemplified in the Grand Shamaya, the icon displayed is a hijabi woman. Hijabi woman reflects a Muslim woman in Ramadan nuances. Likewise, the unit illustration image represents the project design in the future. Overall, this visual indicates that Grand Shamaya is celebrating Ramadan event together with potential customers.

On the index side, the illustration combines elements directly related to the celebration and to the developer who designed the visual theme. The visual state can adjust to marketing needs, whether the intention is hard selling or soft selling. Take an example from the Grand Sungkono Lagoon indexes. The elements spotted are a picture of a moon cake, a layer of legit cake, a red lantern with Chinese letters, and a May Hwa flower tree branch. These are the items that usually present during the Chinese New Year celebration. Meanwhile, ang pao images and gold coins are part of the illustration related to the developers. They attempt to show clients and potential consumers the benefits of participating in their Chinese New Year celebrations program.

The content of symbols can be significantly related to the developers or to the celebration itself, depending on whether the purpose of the visual is promotional or congratulatory. Take Lippo-Cikarang as an example. Its post contains the sentence "Are you ready for Christmas?" and www.lippo-cikarang.com. The first sentence is a persuasion that aims to ask how prepared the audience is for Christmas. This symbol correlates directly with the icon depicting an illustration of a family decorating a Christmas tree. The second sentence is the website address to access more information about Lippo Cikarang.

C. Hobby

*Vasaka Bali*	*Puri Lembana*	*Grand Kamala Lagoon*

Vacation	Prizes	Vacation

Figure 4. Hobby

Table 2

Hobby

*Developer*	*Icon*	*Index*	*Symbol*
Vasaka Bali	A beach.	Sea, beach sand, umbrellas, grass, twilight sky.	How to spend your year-end holiday in Bali,ï¿½ For Further information (0361) 3350 400, www.vasakibali.com, IG Vasaka Bali, FB Vasaka Bali Indonesia.
Puri Lembana	Electronic devices, a home, folding bicycles.	iPhone, iPad, TWS, Brompton, smart watches, a male model and a female model, tree, an iMac.	Commemorating National Customer Day 4 September 2020, Best Investment, Initial Price of 800 Million, costumer anti-inferior, free to choose anti-inferior gifts, because you're special!
Grand Kamala Lagoon	A woman waking to an open window looking out to a view.	A kitchen, a swimming pool, a mattress, a woman spreading her arms, a nightgown, windows, a cellphone, clouds.	Free Staycation, December Festival, 7 Benefits.

Hobbies are also a common approach by developers to reach buyers and potential customers. Many developers appreciate the buyers through rewards related to their hobbies or preferences. The choice of reward tends to base on the growing trend and the target buyers' lifestyle. Hence, they will feel valued at most. In this visual advertisement, different graphic techniques are applied as the icon visualization. Some play with real photos, the others manipulate digital imaging techniques. The technique is adjusted to how many icons to display. Take an example from Vasaka Bali post. The icon displayed by Vasaka Bali is a snapshot of people enjoyingï¿½ beach sunset in Bali. This photo perfectly captures the atmosphere of enjoying a vacation in Bali. Some people consider vacationing in Bali as a hobby.

The index depends on the icon illustration, whether in the form of a photo or digital imaging. For photos, the illustrations designed should make the most of the existing index so that the result will be eye-catching. Whereas, for digital imaging, the indexes should represent tools for a hobby. For example, those of Puri Lembana. Puri Lembana uses digital imaging techniques in its post. They combined the images of iPhone, iPad, TWS, Bromptons, smartwatch, a male Model, a female Model, trees, and iMac into one display. This visual interpreted as this luxurious electronic equipment and quality folding bikes prizes can support activities, upgrading the appearance, and adding to luxurious collection. The picture of a male and female model casually and elegantly portrays socialite buyers or luxury gadget users. Finally, the tree silhouette nuances the beautiful atmosphere of the Lembana located around Bandung.

Symbols, in this context, are more persuasive and informative. Therefore, the information contained is more straight-forward. Grand Kamala Lagoon shows an example. The symbols on this post are "Free Staycation," "December Festival," "7 Lucky benefits". Free Staycation is a program that offers the purchaser the atmosphere of living in the Grand Kamala Lagoon area for free. The "December Festival" indicates that in December they have more festivities than usual. "7 Lucky benefits" shows that there are seven benefits in total: "Free Staycation."

D. Facility

Grand Kamala Lagoon	The Element	Grand Sungkono Lagoon

Experience	Sport	Pool

Figure 5. Facility

Table 3

Facility

*Developer*	*Icon*	*Index*	*Symbol*
Grand Kamala Lagoon	Grand Kamala Lagoon area, 2 people on an electric scooter	Apartment tower, two grab wheel scooters, roads, parks, a man and a woman	7 lucky benefits, Thereï¿½s no better time to buy apartment than today!
The Element	A woman exercising	Ladies, orange tracksuits, some treadmill	Stay healthy, wealthy, and pretty.
Grand Sungkono Lagoon	A swimming pool on top of the tower.	People swimming, trees, wooden parquet, sun loungers, several buildings and the atmosphere of the night.	Orilin apartment Rp 4 million pre-launch prices!, Discount up to Rp 20 million* + Cashback 20%* + ang pao up to Rp 5 million*, the highest rooftop poolï¿½ in Indonesia, 1 minute to satellite highway, 031 567 0188, 081515670188, IG grandsungkonolagoon, www.grandsungkonolagoon.com

ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½

For the developer, the facilities are crucial because they support buyers' daily needs. For this reason, developers compete to showcase facilities they have along with their significance. The three visual samples depict the projections of how buyers utilize the facilities. The icons indicate that the facilities are amongst many privileges the property offers. For instance, Grand Sungkono Lagoon displays an image of a swimming pool on top of the tower. This specific illustration describes the future facility design by Grand Sungkono Lagoon. The graphic shows a modern lifestyle and gives a cozy and private atmosphere.

The index illustration was arranged in such a way as to allow the impression and atmosphere conveyed to clients or potential customersï¿½for instance, The Element's indexes. The index recorded in the visual includes a woman, an orange tracksuit, and some treadmills. The intended impression is the completeness of the Gym facilities, which at the end can be enjoyed by prospective residents.

Symbolism can be drawn from the Grand Kamala Lagoon post. There are two symbols, the first is "7 lucky Benefits" and the second is "There is no better time to buy an apartment than today!". The first symbol means that there are seven benefits that consumers will get. The second symbol is a suggestion as to when the right circumstances to own an apartment is.

Conclusion

The research results show some interesting findings related to the visual images in Instagram posts. First, in terms of image selection, developers whose properties are unfinished choose to maximize icons' function to visualize the products they develop. On the other hand, some image posts dominantly use indexes to translate the visuals of their products. Using illustrations such as apartment towers, residential buildings, show units, and gift gimmicks, developers create an idea of what consumers will purchase. These pictures were posted periodically, adjusting to the events that take place in certain months. They were carefully managed to fit the trends in society. The hierarchical order of maximizing the use of icons, indexes, and symbols in the visuals is adjustable to the needs.

The next compelling finding is that when a developer has finished building their property, they are more likely to optimize real photos of both the building and the current event. The illustrated image was only used for certain celebratory events. In translating modern lifestyle nuances, the last finding is that some visuals illustrate activities and objects correlated with hobbies, applications, and devices.

This research concludes that if a property developer wants to utilize Instagram as a marketing medium, they can apply icons, indexes, and symbols to the graphics, in turn, depending on the condition of the product, whether it has been built, or whether there is a celebration day in near future. This strategy also helps create a map of the target consumer's characteristics through product display and gimmicks.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

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I Putu Dedy Wahyu Wijaya, Z. Hidayat Nainggolan (2022)

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Syntax Literate: Jurnal Ilmiah Indonesia

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