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  • You can run, but you can’t hide!

    No matter how hard you try, you cannot get away from social media advertising. On all the main sites like YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, more and more advertisements are showing up. Most of the advertisements can be easily skipped over, and most of them you have no interest in, but sometimes you come across an ad that I actually pay attention to. Let me give some examples of what ads have stuck out to me. I know it is not a huge craze anymore, but Clash of Clans wore me down on Facebook. I saw those ads so many times and after a month of clicking out of them, I decided to give it a try. Little did I know that I would spend hours of my time playing that addicting game that ended up being really fun. Thank you Facebook for pushing phone apps on me. Another one that was shoved into my face on Facebook was the clothing site Jackthreads. I had seen it over and over and over again until I finally downloaded the app. I never would have expected that I would end up buying multiple items of clothing from this app. What these companies are doing for advertising, whether they are meaning for you to see the advertisement 300 times a day, or if it is just a coincidence, they are doing something right. And if you see an advertisement everywhere you look, try it out, it might be a fun way to pass time.

    ~Bryan Murray

  • Social Media Marketing For A Cause

    It is hard to imagine a world without social media. So much of our life is spent scrolling through our Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook feeds. Society’s consumption of social media has become almost addictive and has definitely impacted how users go about their daily lives. I will be the first to admit that I am extremely reliant on social media for my daily entertainment. Many older people who grew up in a social media free time often complain about all of the negative impacts the social media addiction has had on today’s younger generations. While there is definitely truth behind their beliefs, its hard to overlook the tremendous impacts that social media has had on our society. There are many instances where brands have used social media marketing to support a cause.Lets take a look at two examples:

    1. TOMS

    screen-shot-2017-02-24-at-12-08-19-amTOMS has always been an extremely charitable brand. For every pair of shoes purchased, they donate another pair of shoes to a child in need. In 2015, TOMS ran a social media campaign where users could post a picture of their bare feet with the hashtag #withoutshoes and the company would donate a pair of shoes to a child in need. In just one day, the campaign produced 17 million impressions on TOMS social media alone, and they donated over 27,000 shoes to children throughout the world.

    1. Anheuser-Buschscreen-shot-2017-02-24-at-12-20-21-am

    Anheuser-Busch ran a campaign during the holiday season where they encouraged people to post a picture of their Thanksgiving meal using the hashtag #ABgivesback. Every time the hashtag was used, the company would donate a meal to someone less fortunate. The campaign was extremely successful because it helped those in need and also gave the brand a more positive image.

    TOMS and Anheuser-Busch are two very different brands, but at the end of the day, they both used their social media marketing for the greater good of the world. There are many brands who are also using social media for the same purpose. When brands run campaigns such as these, it is hard to look at social media in a negative light. Social media has provided a new way for people from all walks of life to come together and make the world a better place.

    Have you ever participated in a social media campaign for the greater good? Let us know in the comments down below.

    -Jaime Mangold

  • The Age of Social Media Advertising

    Do you ever wonder why your Instagram is magically filled with advertisements of all the things you love and want? Well, Instagram has launched a new targeting tool which allows brands to reach consumers who are highly engaged in their brand.

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    Amy Cole, head of brand development for EMEA at Instagram says “Advertisers are shifting their focus this from people’s mailbox to their mobile phones and Instagram has become brands’ shop window”. Many marketers are hesitant to use Instagram in their marketing strategies despite its growing popularity and usage. According to Greenlight, the digital agency behind the new targeting tool, of the 100 senior marketers they surveyed only 60% of them are not currently using Instagram as a marketing tool. Even after 30% of Instagram users admit to buying items after seeing them in photos or videos on the application.

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    We are starting to see more of our favorite brands pop up on our social media for this exact purpose. Companies are playing off of Instagram, the highly visual social media platform, to show a more personal side of their brands. Instagram provides more than just visual content, it shares a story. With this highly intimate interaction with consumers, companies are able to connect on a different level and increase sales and brand awareness. Along with intimacy, a study done by Visual Teaching Alliance says that 90% of the information transmitted to our brain are visual. This means that we mainly interact with our world through visual contexts! When we see something we are more likely to remember it and therefore buy it.

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    Forward thinking marketers would benefit from investing in marketing tools such as this one for successful campaigns and advertisements. In a techno savvy world where we are in constant contact with our cellphones and social media platforms it is unwise for any company not to invest more time and money into visual social media marketing.

     

    Do you think its necessary for brands to start engaging more with their social media following?

    -Isabella Martinez

  • Showing the Human Side of Businesses

    Whether you are an individual about to speak to a crowd or an organization trying to increase brand awareness, connecting to your audience is essential. Knowing your audience, what message you are trying to send, and the most effective channel to send your message, are all critical components when trying to achieve this connection. The various channels that organizations can communicate through is always increasing as technology advances and right now social media platforms are the latest and greatest among these channels. 56732301

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    While Mr. Burgundy is right, simply creating social media accounts is not enough. The most successful companies use social media to show a more human side of their organization. People are bombarded with thousands of advertisements daily and smart consumers block out these traditional advertisements. What social media allows is for companies to reach potential consumers in a different way and engage with their audience more than ever.

    img_2612The challenge becomes knowing how to properly use this new-found channel of communication. Companies who treat their audience as individuals, and therefore treat their organization as an individual, have the most success establishing a connection through social media. Instead of focusing on purely sales related messages, social media platforms should be used to communicate any information that is relevant to a given audience, messages should sound natural, and be current in order to really show off that human side.

    Denny’s is a company that is a great example of this and has been gaining recognition as one of the funnier and more engaging companies on social media.

    https://twitter.com/DennysDiner/status/618503585685377024?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

    This tweet of a viral video and catchphrase, with Denny’s’ personal touch, shows the company’s ability to take something that is relevant to their target audience and apply it to their brand. Denny’s goes even further when it comes to engaging with their audience and actually responds to some of their audience.

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    While these tweets may be on the more extreme and silly side for many companies, it is perfect for Denny’s and what they are trying to communicate.

    There is a fine line between showing the more human side of an organization and being inappropriate, as many companies have found out when there has been significant backlash after an inappropriate post. However, with a properly run social media account, the benefits of using social media to gain new customers and maintain an image of being a thoughtful and relevant organization, vastly outweigh the potential downside.

    -Brian Clifford

     

     

  • The phenomena of advertisement on YouTube

    I don’t know about you all but I love YouTube! I subscribe to a couple of different channels mostly related to beauty, fashion and traveling; but also, channels such as BuzzFeed and VEVO. I have the attention span of a five year old, so watching 10-20 minute long videos is perfect for me to keep my full attention and not get bored or drift off into distractions such as my phone.

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    YouTube has grown tremendously in the past couple of years, and from what experts are saying it will continue to do so. Did you know that over ONE BILLION unique users visit the site each month? How crazy is that!? Additionally, YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world, only trailing behind Google! Seeing these statistics, it becomes clear that YouTube not only has a massive audience, but an extremely diverse one as well.

    In our modern world, digital marketing is more important than ever and advertisers are realizing that they need to be utilizing numerous different outlets. YouTube has become a fresh new marketing tool which can help advertisers and companies reach their specified target audiences. The success behind YouTube is the interaction and engagement is provides. Users often share, like, and comment content; creating an extremely close knit community among users.

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    There are many ways to advertise on YouTube, product placement being one. One new trend among YouTube users is video blogging, also known as vlogging. Video Bloggers often rack up millions of views, and have quite the influence to their fan base. A study from Variety asserts that “teenagers’ emotional attachment to YouTube stars is as much as seven times greater than that toward a traditional celebrity”. For this very reason, advertisers are choosing to showcase themselves before, during and in videos which generates a large-scale audience. Sometimes it can be a placement ad that plays before the video (we have all seen the “Skip ad in 5”), but can also come in form of sponsored mentions, gift merchandising, or even partnership reviews.

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    YouTube has been around for a long time but it is rapidly becoming more and more influential. With 300 hours of video uploaded per minute, the site gives advertisers a wide variety of advertising opportunities which reaches people all over the world in a constant and visually appealing manner.

    Do you watch YouTube? And if so, what are some of your favorite channels?

    – Olivia Nilsson

  • Valentine’s Day Candy Sales

    Image result for valentine's day candyLet’s take a look at what made Valentine’s Day great in the world of sales. We know from the previous blog post that there are a variety of things that people bought for their loved ones on Valentine’s Day this year, but let’s take a look at the classic: candy!Image result for valentine's day candy sales statistics

    Candy is the most commonly purchased gift every year on Valentine’s Day, just barely beating out greeting cards this past year. It is estimated that in 2015, $1.7 billion was spent on candy and that number just keeps increasing each year. About 36 million worth of heart shaped chocolate boxes were purchased within that amount. In the same article, it also estimates that the amount of chocolate that the amount of spending equates to is about 58 million pounds! In 2015 as well the total amount to be spent on Valentine’s Day was $18.9 billion dollars, but that’s because of other big spenders like nice jewelry or expensive flowers.

    While were here, we might as well talk about the other type of sales. Candy sales! All across department stores and discount stores you can start finding candy already up to 50 or 70 percent off. Go out there and get yourself some candy!

    Image result for valentine's day candy sales memeImage result for valentine's day candy sale

    –Andrew Moody ’17

  • Valentine’s Day, Come and Gone

    When I think of Valentine’s Day, the first things that immediately come to mind are candy, flowers, and stuffed animals, but people get much more creative with their gifts on this special holiday, especially now in 2017.

    According to Readers Digest, these are some of the best gifts to buy your special someone on Valentine’s Day:

    1. Candles
    2. Puzzles
    3. Earrings
    4. Mittens or Gloves
    5. Bamboo hearts
    6. Couple’s Pillows
    7. Desserts
    8. Personalized Wallet Inserts
    9. Phone Cases
    10. Personalized Notes

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    Even though these may be among some of the more creative gifts, heart-shaped candies and chocolates still saturate my hungry mind when I think of Valentine’s Day. Since Valentine’s Day disappears as quickly as it comes, the candy stores slash their prices overnight, and with Easter right around the corner, stores are eager to clear their shelves of Valentine’s candy and restock with Easter goodies.

    Not only can you get great deals on the Valentine’s Day candy, but you can also stock up and use your leftover candy for Easter and other holidays. Personally, the candy is the best part of any holiday, so I always take advantage of the sales.

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    -Jennifer Howard