IMC Hawks Blog

Tag: Facebook

  • The Real Cost of Advertising

    Our economic troubles are hurting deeper than the punch from the gas pump, bruise from increased tuition costs, and stabs from the job market. These economically challenging times are also abusing the fundamental business principles that companies have relied on for years. In particular, these bad financial times are changing the way advertisements are valued.

    Many companies assume that when they are affected by hard economic times, it is best to pull the plug on various advertisement campaigns as a way to cut marketing costs. However, this kind of penny-pinching seems to only make the struggling financial situation worse. According to a study prepared for American Business Media by Yankelovich Partners and Harris Interactive, businesses who continue to run ads have a significant competitive advantage over those who choose to cut back.

    Simply: there is a value to spending money on advertisements, regardless of economic struggles.

    Darwin’s theory of “survival of the fittest” has never been so true in today’s economic downfall. Companies cannot risk pulling their advertising from the marketplace if they want to remain in the thoughts and minds of consumers. If only the fit survive, then a company should use aggressive advertisements and marketing strategies as a way to not only reach their audience, but to intimidate the competition. The continuation of building clientele through running advertisements establishes an image of loyalty, faith, and stability a company has in their product or service to the consumer. If the advertisements get pulled, then so will the opportunity to reassure to consumers that the company is prospering despite the economic hardships.

    If a company is facing the decision to pull advertisements as an attempt to adhere to budget cuts, it would be wise to think beyond the element of monetary cost. Because the cost of losing attention could be larger than the amount of money you may be saving without advertisements.

    -Oliver Evans, Sally Shupe, Jared Sales

  • What Are You Watching?

    It’s that time of year again when all of the major television networks bring back our favorite shows with the premier of new episodes that we have been anticipating since May.  Whether or not you are a frequent viewer of network television, you most likely know the excitement that comes from the end of summer reruns and the fresh series that awaits.  NBC, CBS, ABC, and FOX are considered the top four major networks; each competing for the top spot as their most popular shows return to television this week.  In addition to the return of the popular shows, these networks invest millions of dollars in the premier of new series that hope to get their viewer ratings among the highest.

    One of the most beneficial ways to get the viewer anticipation flaming is through the persistent use of advertising that each network uses to promote these new episodes.  They build the viewer into believing that the show will be a suitable part of their weekly routine through advertising strategies such as time slots, commercials, clips, sound bites, and many more.  The importance of advertising is to bring the consumer in; while the importance of programming and commercial ads is to keep them coming back each and every week. If an advertisement is presented to us on a persistent level, it can successfully send messages to different aspects of our lives that we feel can relate to the show. For example, reality shows advertise their “genuine”, “real” experiences; family comedies advertise their ability to bring families together; dramas advertise towards our emotional appeals.  In realizing these types of advertisement strategies, we should be conscientious about what we watch in today’s vastly well marketed society. Because where our interests are targeted, our willingness to watch these upcoming premiers follows.  This week will not only reveal the new episodes that these major networks have in store, but will also reveal the kind of connection viewers hope to achieve with the programs they choose to watch.

    By: Oliver Evans, Sally Shupe, and Jared Sales

  • Osama=0, Facebook & Twitter=2

    Last night social media networks exploded with the news of Osama Bin Laden’s death. If you have a social media account, there was no way you did not hear the news before President Obama’s speech. Most people, especially members of the millennial generation, spread the news around the world like wildfire. On Facebook, statuses were updated every second with celebratory posts of the death of the most hated person since Adolf Hitler. Twitter set a new record on traffic, with an average of 4,000 tweets per second from the beginning to the end of President Obama’s speech.

    How does this relate to IMC? IMC incorporates social media, which helps create social capital. It is evident that last nights social media event fostered a community around the country and globe of American nationalism, helping to reunite the country once again as the United States of America. In all of our debates over whether social media inhibits social capital, it is now quite clear that social media is a driving force in creating social capital, and on a large scale.

    Here’s to you IMC, for helping create a community one status and tweet at a time.

    -Allison Day, Jessica Berinson, Megan Canny, Melissa Gagliardi, & Scott Burgess

  • Facebook vs. Twitter

    Social media has become such an important aspect of our culture and now provides businesses the chance to market to their potential and current consumers. It is interesting to notice whether having, for example, a Twitter or Facebook account will make a difference for your company.

    To keep with the theme of competition going for our IMC-Hawks blog, we’ll ask,
    Which is a better social network to market a business: Facebook or Twitter?

    Facebook: We all know the story of Mark Zuckerberg and his genius creation of Facebook in 2004. Facebook has now grown to have over 500 million active users and about 70% of those million are from outside the U.S.

    What makes Facebook appealing to businesses? It’s community based. Facebook allows you to know who is interested in your product and allows you find out what specific target market to aim for, as well as updating the users of any new information. Facebook gives the business an opportunity to upload multi-media information and gives users the chance to speak their minds about the specific product or service.

    Twitter: Twitter has 175 million registered users and about 95 million tweets go out a day. I like to think of Twitter as basically a site for multiple Facebook status’ (if you want to put it that way).

    So why choose Twitter for your business? The 140 character limit allows you to keep the message short while containing the most important information you want to deliver. Twitter is all about messaging at a fast pace. If you want to get something out fast, Tweet it! You also can see who is following you and what consumers are saying about your product (a similarity to Facebook). However, most tweets for businesses usually contain a link that drive the reader, if interested, to a specific site or article.

    Twitter offers a link for businesses on their website: http://business.twitter.com/

    If you weigh the comparison out, it seems that both Twitter and Facebook offer important social media marketing tools. It all comes down to what will be more appealing for your company or what will be more effective.  In my opinion, as a consumer, Twitter and Facebook work together in a positive way. You can tweet out a link to your Facebook page and you can connect your Facebook page to your Twitter account. Nowadays, having both Twitter and Facebook isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Involving your company one way or another on a social networking site is crucial for your company, especially on the customer satisfaction side. It is appealing when the company is involved and connects on a more personal level.

    Which one do you think is more successful in connecting with customers? Facebook or Twitter?

    -Micaela Fouhy

  • Happy Data Privacy Day!

    Last month, Facebook updated the layout and features of users’ profiles, making it easier to share information with friends.  The upgrade also included tighter privacy settings.  Many users began complaining about Facebook’s privacy policy after learning that their personal information was being accessed by external sources without users’ permission.

    Facebook users also became wary of privacy settings on Wednesday when Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg’s own Facebook fan page was hacked.  The hacker’s message encourages Facebook to become a publicly traded company “if facebook needs money, instead of going to the banks.”  The IP address connects the hacker’s location to the US Department of Defense office in Williamsburg, Virginia, although he could have hacked into their IP network.

    With users questioning Facebook’s privacy settings, the social networking site needs to appease its customer’s worries in order to keep them from moving to other similar sites.  This week Facebook is enabling HTTPS so that users can be sure that their information is being held by a secure connection.  If anyone tries to hack into a user’s Facebook page, they will not be able to see any of their information.  The catch, however, is that users must turn on HTTPS on their own.

    Facebook has also added authentication features that will ask for more information if suspicious activity is detected.  Photos and other information from a user’s Facebook page will be used to ensure their identity and questions will be asked that only the user could know the answers to.

    With all of these new privacy features being implemented with the help of Facebook’s public relations team, Facebook hopes their brand will remain legitimate and that they won’t lose any of their customers.  They have listened to the concerns of their users and have found multiple ways to calm down their worries.  With today being Data Privacy Day, we will see how long Facebook can keep their customers happy.

    -Brie Golden

  • Campaigning 2.0

    Social networking is the biggest thing to happen to political campaigns since television, and this medium is rapidly changing the way candidates reach voters.  We first saw heavy use of social media tactics with the 2008 presidential election.  You could “friend” the candidate you planed to vote for on Facebook or “follow” them on Twitter.  If you chose to do so, you were given access to immediate updates from the campaign trail and information on platforms in quick, bite-sized pieces of information that were easily digestible.  The trend of using social media in political campaigns has only strengthened since 2008; now almost all candidates have Facebook pages and a presence on other sights such as Twitter, Linkedin and Gist.

    Political campaigns are benefiting greatly from the use of social networking.  The sights help to lend transparency and credibility to political campaigns by eliminating a middleman.  Voters can go straight to a candidate’s Facebook page and read facts straight from the candidate, rather than receiving biased information from a third party.  Michigan House of Representatives member, Justin Amash, began posting his votes, along with a short explanation from the House floor as his Facebook statuses.  He immediately received feedback from his “friends”, both good and bad.  Since starting this, Amash has gained popularity and even announced his candidacy for the US Senate through his fan page.

    Social networking sites also offer the ability for candidates to access a wide variety of voters inexpensively.  Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, and various other social networking sites also allow people to be the voice for candidates, which could either make or break them.  If a candidate has supporters touting their name all over their profile, then they are likely to receive more attention.  If people are constantly talking about how great somebody is then other people are going to think that candidate is a good choice.  Refer back to the last presidential election and this is seen clearly.

    All in all, social networking has evolved the way political campaigns are carried out.  No longer can candidates rely on traditional tactics, rather they have to continuously keep their publics informed through status updates, tweets, etc.

    Sarah McIntosh, Eliza Wadson, Jocelyn Walson, Sean O’Connell

     

  • Jay-Z Joins the NJ Nets on the Court of Social Media

    The New Jersey Nets have had a questionable relationship with Twitter, recalling a scenario not too long ago when their teammate, Terrence Williams, tweeted out how he regretted being drafted to the Nets. With this in the past, it appears the Nets are attempting to rekindle their relationship with the social media giant. They are now attempting to use its features a little more…constructively.

    The Nets are deemed by many sports fans as “historically bad” at basketball with a record of 5-51. Thus, they are attempting to liven up their fan base and keep the support on the court. In an article on February 23, 2010, the Nets unleashed their newest marketing effort to try and increase their wobbly attendance. They have announced a contest for fans to win tickets to Jay-Z’s concert on March 6th.  In order to be a “fan” and enter the contest, an individual must become a fan of the team on Facebook or must follow them on Twitter.

    Once a fan on Facebook, fill out a form before March 1st to be entered into the drawing. As a follower on Twitter, tweet the message “Hey @NetsBasketball I want to win two tickets to the Jay-Z concert at the Izod Center on March 6th. More info: http://bit.ly/jayznets.”

    It is clear the Nets are attempting to build a stronger social network to not only increase attendance but also foster an identity for the future. They are attempting to connect better with their fan base and build a lasting brand. With part owner Jay-Z on their side, this strategy might actually work. Let’s just hope Terrence Williams does not tweet out that he’d rather have Lady Gaga tickets…

    Rachel Kaylor