Future Implications

I think social media has been changing for a long, long while, and the evidence lingers back in my undergraduate days when Myspace was the it-place online. How many people even use Myspace these days? At one point, I was so comfortable with Myspace that I was more interested in maintaining that page than I was my Facebook page. In the end, Facebook seems to have won the battle, especially since it’s been listed as “the biggest social media network on the Internet, both in terms of total number of users and name recognition” (Maina, 2016, “Facebook” section). Had I thrown in the Facebook towel instead of the Myspace one, I might’ve been all alone, talking to the air!

It’s also worth noting that Facebook was listed as #2 by one site just a year ago (Milanovic, 2015, “#2” section). This switch is potential evidence that social media shifts, and sites can vary by popularity as the years go by. Their standing isn’t set in stone, and if it isn’t permanent, keeping an eye on where sites do stand is a reasonable marketing strategy. There are so many social media sites to choose from, and the popularity of each could shift at any moment.

The shifting factor could be something that’s connected to the site itself—like when Facebook decided to expand its users to include more than “people who had valid college e-mail addresses” (Kornblum, 2016, para. 3). Opening up that window allowed for more users, and without that decision having been made, perhaps the site would never have become as popular or useful as it is today. If the site, however, has a flaw that makes use more difficult than what another site can offer, the social media trend could shift toward a different site just as easily. Again, it isn’t set in stone!

The bottom line is that a person should know where to promote his or her business online if maximum positive results are desired. Otherwise, the business owner might choose a site and put sincere effort into an endeavor that’s doomed to fail because the wrong media outlet was chosen. To put it simply, “social marketing strategies will have to evolve with whatever comes our way” (Farris, 2009, para. 8), and we should keep our eyes open.

This detail is something that companies have been considering for years—or at least potentially should have been considering—and I don’t think it’s letting up any time soon. The implication that things will progress and sites will possibly compete with one another leaves significant room for professional social media users to keep up with the times, so to speak. If we want to make the most of our social media endeavors, we should take the time to do our research and see what sites and apps are the most likely to positively impact our sales and/or goals. Otherwise, we might be dooming our businesses to fail, even though we’re putting in online time.

Is this a human or a technological issue? I think it’s potentially both. People seem to want to be on the cusp of something great, so seeing people continually strive toward that next-big-thing on social media makes sense. Likewise, companies are known to compete with one another, so seeing sites try to push their boundaries and top one another in certain elements makes sense as well. What owner of a site wouldn’t want his or her business to be number-one? So long as that competitive nature stands, I think sites will keep changing, and people will keep shifting their preferences in reaction—and in a desire to be top-of-the-line.

A similar issue could be the growth of technology itself, since phones and such have become tools for social media. Having a phone that can connect to the Internet wherever there’s a signal allows a person to tweet, pin, or post a status update without being near a PC or laptop. As technology continues to progress, like with keeping up with social media sites, businesses and such should do their research to see what new apps and technological devices should be embraced to keep up with the times.

Again, this concept could link back to the desire for people to be on top of trends and such—to progress with technology as it grows—but the ending result is still the same. If people want growth, and companies want to grow, things will change, and a business needs to consider those implications should the owner want to take his or her social media presence as far as it can go.

References:

Farris, S. (2009, December 23). “5 Social Media Implications for Brands in 2010.” Adweek. Retrieved from http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/5-social-media-implications-brands-2010-101173

Kornblum, J. (2006, September 11). “Facebook will soon be available to everyone.” USAToday. Retrieved from http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/tech/news/2006-09-11-facebook-everyone_x.htm  

Maina, A. (2016, May 4). “20 Popular Social Media Sites Right Now.” Small Business Trends. Retrieved from http://smallbiztrends.com/2016/05/popular-social-media-sites.html

Milanovic, R. (2015, April 13). “The World’s 21 Most Important Social Media Sites and Apps in 2015.” Social Media Today. Retrieved from http://www.socialmediatoday.com/social-networks/2015-04-13/worlds-21-most-important-social-media-sites-and-apps-2015

Viral Marketing Initiatives

What makes marketing initiative go viral?

This question seems simple, and maybe the answer comes down to the notion that social media is too vast of a marketing opportunity to let slip away if you want your business to expand in today’s world. Odds are, companies are putting information out there to the public, and the public is picking up on some of those details more than others. As one author says, “[v]iral marketing describes any strategy that encourages individuals to pass on a marketing message to others, creating the potential for exponential growth in the message’s exposure and influence” (Wilson, 2012, “Viral Marketing Defined” section).

Within that very definition, maybe the real question lurks. The audience might be what makes something go viral by sharing and telling, but what exactly “encourages individuals to pass on” (Wilson, 2012, “Viral Marketing Defined” section) details in the first place? There are probably plenty of answers for this question, and a number of them potentially have some validity, like the following list of five details in a marketing campaign that could make it go viral.

1. It’s emotional. If you want to attract viewers, you might want to connect with them. In order to do that, certain emotions can be targeted and expressed to draw in potential consumers, “particularly positive emotions like amusement, joy, hope, surprise, nostalgia, affection and excitement” (Reese, 2014, “#3” section). Another source reported that “surprise, curiosity, amazement, interest, astonishment, and uncertainty” (Libert, 2014, “#2” section) are ideal when creating the campaign that you hope will go viral. If people feel good or intrigued because of your campaign, they’re logically more likely to tell their friends, share the post, or spread the word about that campaign.

2. It looks (and acts) nice. Everything down to wording and imagery can be important with campaigns. Something that’s visually appealing or interesting might have a better chance at going viral than something that’s bland and forgettable. Even the time of day that a campaign posts can matter in the world of marketing (Reese, 2014, “#5” section). Making the post easily accessible by time can make the difference as to whether your intended audience is likely asleep when it posts or possibly in front of a computer. Ease of use and viewing is important for similar reasons, since “[i]f your content loads too slowly, is covered in pop-ups or is difficult to navigate, [people might] not share it” (Reese, 2014, “#6” section). In order to give your post the best chance at going viral, maybe consider those details to make it’s engaging and accessible.

3. It’s memorable. One of the most memorable campaigns I can recall is Dove’s video called “Dove Real Beauty Sketches | You’re more beautiful than you think.” In it, a series of people give self-descriptions to a sketch artist, then other people give the same sketch artist a description for that person. The end result is that people could compare and contrast how they see themselves as opposed to how someone else sees them by seeing both of the sketches (Dove US, 2013). I saw that video (maybe a lengthier version) for the first time a while ago, and I still remember it. What that means, in the end, is that this campaign was so successful on my end of things that it’s still having an impact initiated by the Dove company. Is there a better result for a campaign than to still be relevant so long after it aired? Whether the answer to that is yes or no, Dove was memorable, and it “yield[ed] more than 114 million views the first month” (Ankeny, 2014, “Real women, real rewards” section).

4. It’s built for certain consumers. For that above-mentioned Dove campaign, “[t]he content [seems to have been] developed with the target audience in mind” (Reese, 2014, “#4” section). Dove is a company with beauty-related products, and the campaign reached that potential consumer base by referring to beauty and aesthetic insecurities. Like their products that could help a person feel confident and comfortable, the experiment conducted could’ve done the same for those who were a part of the process. The products physically offer care, and the sketching process offered a deeper level of that caretaking. The campaign related to Dove’s consumers, reinforced their image, and spoke to at least this viewer!

5. It’s interactive. According to one source, “content that enables viewers to participate tends to be shared more often” (Reese, 2014, “#8” section). One of the best examples I can think of in relation to this detail is when Lay’s encouraged audiences to interact with them “with ‘Do Us a Flavor,’ challenging consumers to create new Lay’s potato-chip flavors for the chance to win $1 million or 1 percent of the winning chip flavor’s net sales” (Ankeny, 2014, “Crowdsourced Crunch” section). There doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of work on Lay’s part for this campaign, other than creating the imagery, idea, and such, and of course judging the competition. Most of the work was left to participants. In essence, you partake, and we’ll let it happen and reward a winner. Even if a person wasn’t interested in potato chips, he could still be interested in this competition for the reward detail. This strategy, in essence, stretched from only chip-fans to anyone-who-wants-money-and-will-make-chips-for-it, and the number of people reached might’ve been huge. Had Lay’s gone with something less interactive, the impact and reach might’ve been less grand, even if it required more work.

There are other details that could help a campaign go viral, but these steps are at least a starting point that could be used for a number of businesses, companies, or reasons. All in all, they could give you a better chance of going viral and expanding your post’s reach—which is potentially what you were going for in the first place!

References:

Ankeny, J. (2014, April 23). “How These 10 Marketing Campaigns Became Viral Hits.” Entrepreneur. Retrieved from https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/233207

Dove US. (2013, April 14). “Dove Real Beauty Sketches | You’re more beautiful than you think (3 mins).” Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpaOjMXyJGk

Libert, K. (2014, October 21). “8 Elements of a Viral Content Marketing Campaign.” Inc. Retrieved from http://www.inc.com/kelsey-libert/7-elements-of-a-viral-content-marketing-campaign.html

Reese, L. (2014, October 9). “Catching Content: Top 10 Attributes of Viral Marketing Campaigns.” EnveritasGroup. Retrieved from https://enveritasgroup.com/campfire/top-10-attributes-of-viral-marketing-campaigns/