Tag: Social Media

Social Media: The universal power move

imcclass March 30, 2022

By Hope Weaver

The Power Move

The use of social media is skyrocketing. Individuals resort to sharing their lives on the internet now more than ever. It is constant being updated, retweeted, shared, liked, disliked, and deleted. Most use Instagram to stay connected, Facebook to scout out their next restaurant visit, and Twitter to share what’s on their mind. As a result of this cycle, brands must resort to meeting their audience where it makes the most sense . . . on these digital platforms. The use of social media is an effective tool in boosting company performance and customer traction. Building a client base on social media is a new form of communication that is no simple task. As evolutionary as social media is, many companies rely on its algorithm to survive. Understanding the ins and outs of posting and growing on social media is a job in and of itself. Discovering what consumers want to see and how to provide that desired material is key to social media mastery.

Power Move Explained

Researchers Jun Li, Woo Gon Kim, Hyung Min Choi conducted a study centered around the effectiveness of social media. More specifically the study focused on how social media pages enhanced the performance of casual-dining restaurants. The results of the study suggest that first, social media is a measurable component, and second a selective approach must be taken when cultivating a brand’s media presence.

Social Media as a Measurable Component

It may seem pointless to assume that social media is its own science. To the consumer, advertisements, products are marketed to you, images are posted, and you consume the media you want to see … scrolling past the rest. Yet, ads are planned, items are marketed to specific media accounts, and the algorithm is an ever-changing resource. Businesses benefit greatly from understanding the algorithm and guiding their focus toward learning more about media sites like Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Li, Kim, and Choi mention in their article that “customer engagement metrics (customer reviews, ratings, likes, shares, and positive comments), in the social media environment, were directly related to overarching corporate goals, such as revenue” (2019). This means that competence in a variety of social media sites and their algorithms is vital to the success of customer engagement and overall company morale.

Cultivating a Consistent Media Presence

Brand consistency is an important concept in the methods of social media marketing. The overall aesthetic of each company should be presented on their online platforms as well as in person. In order to maintain customer loyalty and brand consistency, attention must be placed on the social media pages. For example, as cosmetic details like colors, typeface, and logos are important to the physical brand, the same ideas must be translated into media marketing. Maintaining consistent activity is also important to mastering the ‘power mover’ of social media. Posting on a schedule and with a theme will ensure that you reach your niche audience. New content is a must but keeping it consistent with the aesthetic and posting schedule is important.

Tips and Tricks

Based on the evidence compiled from the article mentioned above, proper use and selection of social media sites are important for a successful brand. Choosing the best site is important for finding the right users and followers for your page. Additionally, it is necessary to implement promotional activities that your users will show interest in. This way investing time in what they consume, and such information leaves a lasting impression. There are companies that make it easy to post consistent scheduled content allowing brand consistency and media mastery to be more attainable.

Source

Li, J., Kim, W. G., & Choi, H. M. (7 August 2019). Effectiveness of social media marketing on enhancing performance: Evidence from a casual-dining restaurant setting. Tourism Economics, 27(1), 3-22. https://doi-org.liblink.uncw.edu/10.1177/1354816619867807

Social Media Connoisseurs: The Adaptability of Content Creators

imcclass March 28, 2022

By Michalah Matthews

Content Creators in IMC?

Influencers and content creators are an ever-growing demographic, directly influencing what it means to be in social media strategy. As COM majors, we are expected to have experience with social media along with some knowledge of how to curate posts and increase visibility of a brand. Social media influencers are not just a face for promotion of specific brands, but they also make up their own brand and have to work a platform to their advantage.

The Evolution of Social Media

Technology and social media platforms are constantly updating and becoming more innovative in terms of what they offer their consumers. App developers want to continue to have users interact with their app so they’ve even adopted features on their sites similar to other platforms to encourage their users to keep using it. Instagram started to develop and change several different functions of their app. They’ve added a shopping feature, Reels, and have allowed users to start posting “stories” to showcase snippets of their life. While these updates have made things easier for the consumer, they have had some pretty big impacts on content creators who rely on social media for their brand.

Making Apps Better…

Social media moguls have had to adapt to the constantly changing platforms. These adaptations have had positive and negative effects on their ability to promote their brands. One adaptation they’ve had to make is choosing the correct platform to advertise their brand. Not long ago, sites like Tumblr and YouTube were “on and poppin” making them the app that produced the most visibility for content creators. People no longer have the patience or time to read a blog or watch a 15-minute long review about a product. This is where the creation of Instagram comes in. Instagram started as a platform to simply post a photo allowing increased visibility through use of hashtags. This technology created a very straight-forward system benefiting users and creators alike, making it a positive impact for their brand, but this update didn’t seem to be enough for consumers.

…Or Worse?

With these changes, comes a challenge for those who depend on these apps to make a living. One of these updates that had a negative impact on content creators was the development of the algorithm for Instagram feeds. Technology has updated and allowed us to curate experiences for people based on the things they frequently look at online. For example, I love a good human hair wig so every now and then I see a banner ad for some stranger’s hair on my browser. That is a benefit to the curation of ads and content based on what an individual likes to see when they’re on the Internet. Although I view this innovation as beneficial, the curation of content for users is actually a content creator’s worst nightmare. In creating posts for an individual based on what they usually view, it erases the visibility influencers may have had prior to the update.

Content Creators Adaptation to Change

Views are one of the ways content creators receive money but if their posts are not being seen, it makes it hard for them to profit. While this is a negative to having social media as a main source of income, it has allowed them to be creative in finding ways to combat this update to the algorithm. According to Arturo & Ibáñez, who have studied and dissected the adaptability of content creators, one way content creators have been able to work against the decrease in visibility is collaborations with other influencers. Arturo and Ibáñez have given this technique the name, “cooperative algorithm hacking”(p. 2). If you have an Instagram and you happen to follow a few beauty or fashion influencers, this is a common occurrence among that community. They do a type of series that is composed of several different influencers of the same category or community. For example, not too long ago the Bratz dolls were trending due to the influx of people becoming interested in the Y2K theme. This resulted in a few influencers doing a Bratz doll challenge, where each influencer selected a doll to create a look for. In doing this, their followers not only saw the content of someone they liked seeing but they saw similar content from a different creator. This is an example of how content creators successfully adapt to the constant updates of social media platforms.

How does this relate to IMC students?

As IMC students, we are content creators ourselves! We’ll have to be just as innovative in our ability to adapt to the ever-changing rules of social media. Experience in breaking down the reports and analytics that our posts generate will be necessary, as well as the familiarity with navigating any changes to apps themselves in order to maintain a successful marque. Our ability to be adaptive and innovative are some of the many things labels are looking for in individuals to represent their brand.

(Photo from Jackie Aina via YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbQ-a-4xVwA)

Source

Arturo, A., & Ibáñez, F. (2020). “You need at least one picture daily, if not, You’re dead”: Content creators and platform evolution in the social media ecology. Social Media + Society, 6(3) doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/2056305120944624

It’s not you, it’s the process: What to actually expect when creating content

imcclass March 26, 2022

By Abigail Morris

As I sit here writing this post, I find myself “stuck” on how to introduce this topic. I’ve spent hours on collecting, organizing, and summarizing data to include into this article. Yet, I’m sitting here clueless and hesitant. I’ve spent years of my academic career honing my skills to create content such as this and still I find myself constantly in this headspace. And because I aspire to do this as a career, the pressure of continually creating post and visuals that are interesting an engaging can become extremely discouraging – especially when I’ve dedicated so much time to the practice. But when I take a moment to step back and analyze where this disconnect is coming from, I begin to understand that this stagnant headspace is part of the process.

With every creative industry (especially in areas of art and literature), there is a tedious and straining side of content creation that hardly ever is mentioned or noticed. And when you’re creating relatable/interesting text and visuals – one might find themselves more inclined to interject personal elements into their work (that are deemed professional and relatable to the topic). Diana Bossio in the article, Burning Out and Turning Off: Journalists’ Disconnection Strategies on Social Media, she states that “These exchanges [emotive intrapersonal communication within a professional context] are a kind of labor, and they can also be seen in the context of building and engaging with community, being ‘creative’, expanding personal and professional networks, and engaging in a pleasurable activity. Baym (2018) characterizes this as relational labor, or practices and strategies that creative professionals have adopted to create stronger emotional and thus commercial relations with audiences.”

So, whenever a post receives positive feedback and attention, the creator of that content will feel a sense of accomplishment that validates their passion to keep creating. In the same sense, this kind of personal connection with content creation can cause emotional fatigue and burnout whenever they feel that they aren’t “hitting the mark” with their work. And with the added pressure of one needed to meet their quota, this can further discourage an individual within this field.

Like how writers and artist cope with creative blocks, understanding social media burnout can help content creators to identify aspect of their work that are causing stress or lack of fulfillment, so that one may be able to find ways to fix this disconnection.

This kind of persuasive and engaging rhetoric is heavily used within social media marketing, especially when one uses this to convey their brand identity as relatable. According to Demand Metric, 82% of consumer’s have a more positive perception of an organization after reading custom content. Because of this, 90% of organizations use content as a method for marketing. This desire for a brand to articulate an active, positive and informative image to their audience has become a necessity when creating brand trust and loyalty. With this push to create a positive and engaging public narrative for an organization, those assigned to accomplish such task many find themselves mentally and emotionally drained in order to provide their clients with quality work.

(Photo from Adobe Stock user Drobot Dean)

So, what should someone do then they are creatively “stuck”?

Disconnect by creating a professional persona.

The journalist interviewed for this study recommended that content created for work should not be used or posted on personal accounts. This ability to divide your personal and professional life is a way that any content creator can ease the stress of work so that they have the mental capacity to think outside of the box and create. In the article, Bossio states that “For journalists using social media as a professional communication tool, disconnection strategies actually work in tandem with the different ways they connect online, positioning those connections more strategically as professional labor and thus inscribing particular meanings and uses for social media interactions.”

Now, this ability to disconnect doesn’t mean that you’re sacrificing effective “personal” quantities of the brand identity that draw the attention of your target demographic. This just means that your personal and professional social media post shouldn’t be intertwined. Similar to the concept of dividing your physical workspace from your bedroom – the same concept should be used within your creative process. Although these personas differ, they’re still a part of who you are.

Just like how your able to decorate your desk at work with personal little nick-nack and trinkets – you can bring elements of yourself into the work you create. At the same time, you’re not going to put your queen-sized mattress in your office cubical. The professional persona that you create for work can embody a similar presence of your personal self. But when you start to associate the stresses of work into areas of your life in which you mentally and emotionally escape (in this case, social media), you begin to lose that sense of security that once was there (which is the number 1 way for any level-headed individual to lose their sanity).

As easy as I make this advice sound, one’s ability to successfully disconnect and create a professional persona is not something that can accomplished overnight. This kind of self-discovery takes time to properly analyze and evaluate.

(Photo by Adobe Stock user WavebreakmediaMicro)

In the meantime, if you find yourself in a creative limbo, remember that:

This is absolutely normal
Many people who work within the creative field experience this at some point within their career.
Even though you feel creatively stagnant, YOU ARE DOING SOMETHING.
It just takes time to see those results.
If you’re aware of what you’re experiencing, IT WILL PASS.
Understanding the source of stress and creative fatigue is vital when creating your “plan-of-action” to overcome the creative block.

Applying these steps into your workflow can tremendously help the stress created that can manifest itself into creative blocks. Also, acknowledging this aspect can lift the internal frustration that comes with constantly creating and posting content.

Allowing yourself the time to self-reflect and implement what you’ve discovered into your workflow not only lifts the pressure of expectations that you and those around you create, but it also allows you to focus on creating work that efficiently conveys the intended message.

How can brands stay up to date with user generated content?

imcclass March 22, 2022

By Courtney Busick

Brands are constantly changing. They need to stay up to date on how an audience interacts with them on social media. Many companies are finding users who share their content through stories or posts shows more engagement and interaction than counting likes and comments. How can brands engage their audience? By understanding their human values and what makes them want to share user-generated content with others.

What is user generated content? User-generated content (UGC) is completely created by the user. Many brands are using this by asking users on social media questions about their products. More and more brands are finding that they can get free marketing from social media users with UGC’s. Whether it’s Lays asking for new chip flavors or Coke sharing the hashtag #shareacoke, brands can get reviews from user who share their content on platforms.

Sometimes it can be hard for a brand to navigate UGC’s so here are some tips I love from other marketers that can help you engage with user-generated content.

(Photo Pi Datametrics, https://www.pi-datametrics.com/blog/name-game-coca-colas-shareacoke-summer-ad-campaign/)

Connect Human values to your Products

Understanding a user is understanding what they value. Brands must look at human values and use those to generate content that users enjoy. “Human values are guiding principles reflecting style goals in life that may impact how individuals judge situations and events” (Nikolinakou 14). Meaning that human values are what drives our decisions. It affects consumer behavior towards certain products. It can also affect what we purchase. There are four levels of human values described by the article a brand should understand. Self- Transcendence (audiences’ stances on political or social issues), Conservation (audience’s desire to maintain security and stability), openness to change (what motivates users to change their opinions about products/services), and Self enhancement (user’s need to achieve success, wealth or influence) (Nikolinakou 14).

Target actually used this in their “Acceptance” campaign. In 2010, Target pledged to donate $500 million to student’s education and they would double that for the best college acceptance video form their audience. So people sent in videos of them opening their college letters (Siu 2015). This allowed for the brand to connect with the brand personally and have fun showing of their authentic emotions. They touched on self-transcendence and conservation of their audience by showing what they value and how they are going to engage their loyal customers.

(Photo from Contently, https://contently.com/2012/08/03/target-video-captures-real-college-acceptance-reactions-video/)

In IMC, we should always be focused on the values of the consumer. This can also be seen through looking at a specific target audience. This is from their demographic to their psychographics and behaviors. What are the values and behaviors of my audience and how can I engage them in user content? For user generated content, you not only want to look at your brand target audience, but the population that is most likely to share you content through reviews or promotions.

Reach out to audiences with specific human values to share content or promote a brand

Human values drive consumer decisions. The primary and most popular values is conservation values. Consumers are constantly looking for trust and safety from their brand (Nikolinakou 15). By brands reaching out to the customers for promotions it makes them feel in charge and in control of the brands they love and their purposes.

An example of this is social media management company Buffer. Instead of creating captions and content on their own, they encouraged their users to engage in their blog and submit their own content. They get the chance to be featured on their account. They post their own content to make you feel a part of their content process. Buffer also makes sure to be quick in responding to comments and dm’s on their pages. It allows for them to be authentic and true to their followers.

In IMC, brand loyalty is so important. If a consumer picks our brand, we know we have to think of how we can meet their needs and that they want to stay with us. You cannot have customers without brand loyalty. As a customer to certain brand, I want to feel like the brand cares about me and what I value. I like to find brands that are consistent and authentic with what they do. People are influenced by others around them, so it creates a strong community of people who love and will continue to purchase from your brand.

So what makes it easy for brands to use user generated content? Connection and understanding. In order for brands to immerse themselves into user generated content they must understand their clientele and who is loyal to their brand. They must observe human values and understand what human values they should reach in order to find quality brand users.

Sources

Nikolinakou, A. (2019) “Do human values matter for promoting brands on social media? How social media users’ values influence valuable brand‐related activities such as sharing, content creation, and reviews” Journal of Consumer Behavior. 14-22

Siu, E. (2021, April 15). 10 user generated content campaigns that actually worked. HubSpot Blog. Retrieved February 25, 2022, from https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/examples-of-user-generated-content 

Which Form of Social Media Content Works Best for Increasing Brand Attitude?

imcclass March 20, 2022

By Shelby Watson

(Photo from Dreamwealth Films, http://dreamwealthfilms.com/content-is-king-what-bill-gates-said-about-internet-in-1996/)

Creating content-driven media to share across social channels is one of the most effective ways for a brand to reach their target audience today. However, there are so many different ways to create advertising content. How do you know which one is the most effective? Especially for brands that are looking to increase positive attitudes towards their product or service, understanding the techniques available and being able to decide which one will work the best for your purposes is incredibly important.

What are the major techniques used by companies on social media?

First, it will help to understand what techniques are available to you. Content marketing is a more traditional tool used by a brand, where hired social media coordinators will create original content for a brand, share that content, and try to increase brand reputation or sales. Typically, this form of content is heavily curated by the company producing it and is easy to control, which can allow a brand to create a cohesive image of itself.

Sponsored content is content that a company pays someone to post in order to promote the brand’s image or encourage sales of its products. Often, sponsored content is posted by influencers within a certain niche market or a well-known or respected celebrity. Sponsored content is almost always disclosed as such, so an audience is aware that the content they are seeing is marketing.

User-generated content is content that an individual posts on their own social media channels promoting a brand or product. Often, user-generated content does not disclose whether or not the poster was paid or otherwise compensated for promoting something. This kind of marketing can be riskier because a brand cannot always predict how an individual will talk about their products or services.

Which techniques are most effective at increasing positive brand attitude?

According to a study completed in 2019, there are significant differences in how audiences receive certain types of content. Sponsored content is generally received less favorably, likely because the disclosure that something is a paid #ad comes off as insincere to a targeted audience. For example, in November of 2021, Amazon teamed up with actor Terry Crews in hopes of improving attitudes towards the working conditions within the company’s fulfillment centers. In a TikTok posted to his channel, Crews visits an Amazon warehouse and acts like a kid in a candy store, excited about the work and employee benefits offered by Amazon (which the video says include paid college tuition and flexible working hours). The internet was quick to point out the insincerity within the video, noting that it does not accurately represent what working at a fulfillment center is like. Crews was also criticized for being willing to promote such an unrealistic video for money. In the end, Amazon’s brand attitude, as well as Crews’, took a hit because of the sponsored content.

(Photo from Business Insider, https://www.businessinsider.com/terry-crews-amazon-ad-video-2021-11)

On the other hand, content marketing and user-generated content are both better received by audiences because these forms of content are generally trusted more. It makes sense that user-generated content is more likely to read as sincere – if someone who doesn’t work for or with a company promotes a product or service, we are likely to believe they do actually enjoy it. For example, shopping has become a popular niche within TikTok and Instagram. #Amazonfinds on Instagram is filled with all kinds of items people are promoting from the website, and “Amazon Must Haves” videos like this one are incredibly popular across TikTok. Popular ways for brands to encourage positive user-generated content include challenges or giveaways that require users to post something in order to participate.

It is a little more surprising, however, that content marketing and user-generated content show little difference in how they influence audience brand attitudes. Audiences likely trust content marketing more than sponsored content because the connection between author and message is clearly established. We know that a brand is going to market goods or services to us, so we expect to see ads when we follow a brand on social media. However, when we follow a celebrity or influencer, we expect to see content about them and their lives, not necessarily ads. So, this form of marketing reads as trustworthy.

To continue with the example of Amazon, the company uses its Instagram (@amazon) as a way to reinforce its brand image and messaging. The company features humorous reviews of items from its website and uses symbols such as Amazon delivery trucks, the trademark Amazon smile, and the brand’s orange, black, and white color palette in order to support the brand image it has already built. Because we expect to see Amazon promoting itself and the items it sells on its own Instagram page, we are more likely to trust the content they are posting and in turn, may be more likely to purchase something through their platform.

How can this help me market my own brand on social media?

Understanding how your audience perceives different forms of content on social media can allow you to make informed decisions about how to improve brand attitudes. Depending on what your brand is looking to accomplish, you might determine that sponsored content is not the way to go or that you would prefer the control of content marketing over user-generated content. It’s always important to remember that these are general rules and that specific scenarios may call for specific kinds of content. However, using scientific research and recent case studies can help you make better decisions about your brand marketing in the future.

Source

Christandla, F., & Müller, J. (July 2019). Content is king – But who is the king of kings? The effect of content marketing, sponsored content & user-generated content on brand responses. Computers in Human Behavior, 96, 46-55. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2019.02.006

Social Media Influencers and Their Impact on a Brand

imcclass March 18, 2022

By Julia Dolinshek

What is a Social Media Influencer?

Within the last decade, social media has become an extremely popular outlet for individuals of all kinds to interacts with family, friends, and brands that they love. The rapid growth of social media has caused brands to hire social media influencers to promote their products and spread a positive light onto their company (Singh, et al., 2020). With so many people being active users of social media, brands took advantage of the ones with a high following to not only promote their products, but also represent their brand as a whole.

Reports indicate that over two thirds of multinational brands around the world plan to increase spending on influencer marketing within the coming years (World Federation of Advertisers, 2018). Global spending in social media marketing and communication are expected to reach $15 billion by 2022 (Schomer, 2019). Social media influencers typically consist of individuals who have a sizable audience who are willing to create content based on different products and ideas that they support. Their followers are likely to trust any brand or product that they are endorsing, with an end goal of more people supporting the brand being promoted. With social media influencers using effective communication and marketing skills, while also being paid by the brand, everybody wins. Although the publicity is great for both parties, issues can arise when the personal lives of influencers are brought to life. This has the potential to impact a brand for the better or for the worse.

Social Media Influencer’s Impact on a Brand – Better or Worse?

It’s no secret that humans are all imperfect. We all try our hardest to be our best selves, both publicly and privately. It is easy for someone who is not in the public eye to make a mistake. They are able to realize a mistake, learn from it, and grow as a person because of it. There is not a large following of people to bash them and make them feel like they are unforgivable. As a social media influencer, this is not the case. Social media influencers are held to a high standard for many reasons. These individuals can be representing multiple well-known companies at a time. They are also the inspiration and role models to many of their followers. Research has shown that recommendations from social media influencers enhance consumers’ positive perceptions about a brand and consequent purchase intentions (Lu, Chang, & Chang, 2014). When a social media influencer makes a public mistake, it immediately reflects negatively on the brands that they are collaborating with. It causes the brands image to look poor, which can cause a loss of many valued customers. In today’s time, there are so many different brands to support and love. If an influencer who is promoting a particular brand is involved with a public scandal, it may cause supporters of the brand and the influencer to step back and find other competing brands to support instead.

For Worse

Social media influencer Olivia Jade was followed and looked up to by millions. She was a fashion, beauty, and lifestyle influencer. She had various partnerships with well-known companies such as Sephora, HP, Lulus and Amazon. In spring of 2019, it was discovered that Olivia Jade’s parents, Lori Loughlin and Mossimo Giannulli had paid $500,000 in bribes to get her admitted into the University of Southern California. Followers and supporters of Olivia were all baffled by the news, stating that she was the “poster child for white privilege” (Clark, 2020). This not only made Olivia Jade look bad, but also the companies that chose to partner with her. This scandal led to all of these companies dropping Olivia Jade as a social media influencer for their brand.

For Better

Companies also sponsor individuals who will make their brand look even better than ever. Tik Tok star, Charli D’Amelio, is sponsored by popular brands such as Dunkin Donuts, Invisalign, Pura Vida Bracelets, Hollister Co., and more. Charli promotes to over 160 million followers. In 2020, Charli used her voice to speak out on topics such as Black Lives Matter, the murder of George Floyd (Charli D’Amelio: Trading card, 2021). This not only educated her large following on important events, but let others know that she is an ally and supportive of equality for all. This specific example would reflect positively on brands that she collaborates with.

Bringing it all together

Influencers hold great power for brands within the world of social media. Appealing to the correct target audience while effectively communicating positives about products will have great impacts on what consumers chose to purchase and support. Social media is bigger than ever before. Brands are choosing to pay social media influencers top dollar in order to shine a positive light on their company.

Sources

Charli D’Amelio: Trading card. SponsorUnited. (2021, November 24). Retrieved February 7, 2022, from https://sponsorunited.com/charli-damelio-trading-card/#:~:text=TikTok%20superstar%20Charli%20D’amelio,influence%20on%20social%20media.

Clark, Chavaz. (2020, December 9). Olivia Jade Giannulli, Lori Loughlin’s daughter, breaks silence on college admissions scandal, says she was “poster child of white privilege”. CBS News. Retrieved February 7, 2022, from https://www.cbsnews.com/news/olivia-jade-giannulli-lori-loughlin-college-admission-scandal-interview/

Lu, L. C., Chang, W. P., & Chang, H. H. (2014). Consumer attitudes toward blogger’s sponsored recommendations and purchase intention: The effect of sponsorship type, product type, and brand awareness. Computers in Human Behavior, 34, 258–266. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2014.02.007

Schomer, A. (2019). Influencer Marketing: State of the social media influencer market in 2020

https://www.businessinsider.com/influencer-marketing-report?r=US&IR=T Accessed

29th Feb 2020.

Singh, J., Crisafulli, B., Quamina, L. T., & Xue, M. T. (2020). ‘To trust or not to trust’: The

impact of social media influencers on the reputation of corporate brands in crisis. Journal

of Business Research, 119, 464-480. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2020.03.039

World Federation of Advertisers. Brands to invest more on influencers. (2018). https://

www.wfanet.org/news-centre/multinational-brands-focus-on-influencertransparency/

Accessed 30 July 2018.

The Future of Marketing and Social Media

imcclass March 16, 2022

By Jaime Mull

Social media is constantly evolving, and new trends are occurring every day online. It can be difficult to keep up with the constant renewing and recycling of trends on apps like TikTok and Instagram. Companies, now more than ever, are using their various social media outlets to target consumers with current trends and memes to sell their brand or product. Well-known brands have used social media to sell their products for many years, but it hasn’t been until recently that they’ve truly engaged with consumers and actively participated in the trend cycle that is occurring. If brands are now using social media as their main selling source and are constantly posting and engaging with customers, how will their engagement evolve in the next few years? What will we see from brands on social media in the next few years that we haven’t seen yet?

How is Social Media Used Today?

Social media is not just a one-dimensional outlet for people to share their life and thoughts with others. Over the past few years, social media has evolved into so many different things, and has allowed people to communicate and share ideas in various ways. Specifically for marketing, social media has now become the main outlet for brands and companies to share products and communicate with their consumer-base. With apps like Instagram and Twitter, consumers can comment on a brand’s post or tweet, and the brand has the ability to respond right away. This gives brands a huge advantage and allows them to show consumers how reliable of a company they are.

The growth of social media platforms has also created an omni-social presence, which suggests that almost every aspect of a consumer’s decision-making process is prone to social media influence (Appel et al., 2019). With the amount of different apps and websites that brand’s can post on (TikTok, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Snapchat), it is almost impossible for the consumer to avoid a product or specific brand message. If a brand wants people to see their message, they have several options for sharing and can pay to promote themselves even more.

The use of influencers and celebrities in marketing has also increased greatly and is extremely popular today. Considering the possible reach and engagement influencers command on social media, companies have either begun embracing influencers on social media, or plan to expand their efforts in this domain even more (Appel et al., 2019). This means that influencers being used to promote a product or brand isn’t going to change in the near future, because it has shown to be effective.

Brands will Become your Best Friend

A safe assumption to make based on past and current trends is that brands will become even better equipped to answer consumer’s questions and meet consumer’s needs. For example, new platforms have emerged to make the connection between customer and firm effortless. Much of this is via instant messaging applications for businesses, which several leading technology companies have recently launched as business-related features in existing platforms (Appel et al., 2019). Brands are going to become even more accessible in the next few years due to platforms like this, that will allow customers to reach someone within the company in less than a few minutes. Consumers are tired of waiting for days to hear back from a brand’s customer service line, and they’re tired of hearing the same excuses for why certain products don’t work. Brands are going to become much more personable and honest with consumers, as well as make themselves available for questions and feedback at a much faster rate.

The Future of Political Collaboration

Something we saw in social media in the last few years that wasn’t as evident in the past was the increase in posts regarding politics, specifically from brands. Many popular brands, ranging from Ben & Jerry’s to Bumble, spoke up during the 2020 Presidential election and were very clear about which side they were taking in the race. It is becoming a growing trend for brands to show their support for political figures, which is interesting because there’s always the chance that they lose customers who don’t agree with their stance.

There is also the case of politicians themselves utilizing social media more in the future, essentially to market themselves. A relevant example of this is with Donald Trump and his run for office in 2016, and 2020. Research has shown that with simple interventions, social media platforms can increase targeted audiences’ likelihood of voting (Appel et al., 2019). We will definitely see more social media use from politicians, as well as brands in support of politicians, in future campaigns and election years.

Social Media is Always Evolving

While it is always interesting to analyze social media and predict what trends and themes will happen in the next few years, no one really knows for sure what will happen online. Social media is constantly shifting and changing shapes, and new trends are always being created. It will be interesting to see how social media unfolds in the future.

Sources

Appel, G., Grewal, L., Hadi, R., & Stephen, A. T. (2019, October 12). The future of social media in Marketing – Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science. SpringerLink. Retrieved February 24, 2022, from https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11747-019-00695-1

Distel, A. (2019, July 24). Photo by Austin Distel on unsplash. Beautiful Free Images & Pictures. Retrieved February 24, 2022, from https://unsplash.com/photos/tLZhFRLj6nY

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