Thursday, February 20, 2014

Social Media Marketing Encountered in the Last 48 Hours.


Greetings,

In the last 48 hours, I have been keeping an eye out on my Twitter and Facebook feeds specifically for cases of marketing and promotional purposes. After 2 days of casually checking both social media sites, I was able to come away with the following examples:
1. Boki Bandz- Tweet from my friend/upcoming Chicago Rapper promoting his new music video. Several of my good friends favorite this tweet as well. Clicked and saw photo of album art and instructions on how to download.
2. Luol Deng Foundation- Tweet from former Chicago Bulls player promoting his charity and how to get involved. Did not click.
3. CNNInternational- Advertising an on-air interview with a Hong Kong LGBT activist set to be aired on CNN at 4:30. Provides a link for more information. Did not click.
4. Vibe Magazine- Friend retweeted tweet from Hip-Hop magazine with a link to a web interview with Chicago based artist, Chance the Rapper. Did not click.
5. Old Spice- 2 friends on Facebook liked an Old Spice advertisement of comical appeal. Showed up on my newsfeed, but I did not click.
6. Miramar Theater Concert- Friend posts link to buy tickets to an upcoming show at the Miramar Theater asking, "Who's coming with?" Did not click.
7. Casey Wyatt Music- Friend on Facebook reposts sound cloud page of his DJ friend asking everyone to give a listen. Saw a good friend's comment of approval, so I clicked on it and listened to a track. 
8. Cigna Go You- Advertisement on the side of my Facebook feed offering a "magical trip to Ireland." Did not click.
9.  Date On Facebook- Advertisement on the side providing a link to meet singles in my area. Did not click
10. Pricegrabber.com- Advertisement on the side featuring Michael Jordan shoes on sale for $59.99. Did not click. 
Of the ten different examples presented, I only further investigated 2 of them. Both of them were music related which is one of my passions, but I feel that the most important reason that actually drew me to these two posts was the fact that each of them had good friends of mine also interested. Essentially, Facebook and Twitter were created for friends to connect with their friends. As both evolved through time, each became platforms for marketing and business related activities. This is something that somewhat bothers me; I see enough ads and promotions outside and on TV and now they are taking over social media as well. As far as I’m concerned, I will always ignore advertisements on social media unless they are really intriguing or shared by friends of mine. For example, the advertisements on the side of Facebook were completely disregarded by me. As a matter of fact, I normally do not even notice them, but for this assignment I purposely kept my eye open. The most powerful tools on Facebook and Twitter are the like and favorite options, respectively. Yet, the only way users ever like or click promotional related posts is if they are very appealing. I believe that Facebook and Twitter users are conscious of the fact that their friends and followers don’t necessarily want to see a bland ad or promotion, even if the user is a customer of that particular company. Online advertisements need to be either eye opening or comical if people are going to click and share them. This is something that all companies need to know, before they waste their money on irrelevant advertising.


Matt 

No comments:

Post a Comment