Social Media Marketing Trends

When the topic for this weeks blog was left up to me to decide what I wanted to write, I started thinking about if I had heard anything in the news recently about social media and companies that market on them. Nothing came to mind so I did what most people would do, Google it! I found a webiste http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/social-media-marketing/five-social-media-trends-for-2011/ that was all about the social media marketing trends for 2011. This content was a little old, it was posted in the last few weeks of 2010 but it is still very recent and applies to the future.

There are five trends outlined in this website from alot of different aspects of social media but one in particular stood out to me. This trend had to do with getting companies to realize that the members of these social media sites that are followers of their brand also control what they want to see from them. These companies need to focus heavily on creating conent that will legitmately put into people's streams. This happens through the followers of the company hitting the Like button or Retweeting something on their own account. This will also get the followers friends to notice the information and will ensure the marketing tactic is a success!

I thought that this was something that seems obvious but it over looked. Most of us have become fans of a business on Facebook but we decide when we want to be updated on what is going on with that business by going to their page but if they were proactive and developed some savvy posts that would show up on news feeds this would help to promote the company name a lot faster and more efficiently.

Successful Social Media Campaign

Burger King had a very successful campaign on Facebook for their Whopper. They created a campaign called the "Whopper Sacrifice" in which people could delete 10 people from their friends list in order to receive a coupon for a free Whopper sandwhich. The Burger King name as well as Whopper were publicized on the news feeds and profiles of the person that deleted their friends as well as the person that got deleted. Each time a someone was sacrificed they were sent a notification that their friend had choosen a Whopper over their friendship! This campaign gained a lot of attention making news on various other sites such as Youtube as well as new stations such as Fox news along with newspapers like the New York Times. This campaign got everyone talking about Burger King and their Whopper sandwhich and also increased their sales. The campaign may sound harsh but a lot of people joined in, to the tune of 200,000 friends sacrificed in a week! All of the extra recognition that Burger King received on the new stations as well as the newspapers was free advertising for them. This was a genius idea that really got people talking and was also humorous.

This campaign took place in 2009 and as recently as January 21, 2011 was still being talked about on various blogs and other social media sites. This one is going to be talked about for a long time to come. I love this idea and think that it was genius of Burger King's marketing department!

In order to find this article I Googled successful social media campaigns and this campaign showed up on several different lists that have been recently updated. A true testament to the staying power of social media marketing.

Can social media help/hurt on job hunt?

Social media is a large part of our society now. My last post was about how social media is here to stay and is not just a fad, it is becoming an integral part of many aspects of everyday life. The pages that one may have established on various networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Linked In can either help or hinder the job search.
If these web pages were created with future goals in mind, more than likely they can be of assistance when looking for a job and may even result in the employers coming to you instead of vice versa. The content on social media sites are created by yourself so the content is completely under your control. Seize the opportunity to make yourself stand out and look your best. Stay well informed on current events happening in your field of interest and write about it on your social network page. You should also join groups and create contacts that could lead to possible job offers in your field of interest. When these social network sites are maintained and created for the right reasons they could be very beneficial.
When creating these profiles you should always keep in mind that whatever is on the internet never really goes away and is always accessible by others. Make sure to portray a positive image and stay true to yourself in order to find leads that will result in happiness for you in your career.

Social Media Marketing is Here to Stay!

Social networks such as Facebook and Twitter along with various others are here to stay. They are growing at a very rapid rate and have become a source for so much information. If there is any product or service that you may need additional information on, it is as easy as posting a status and asking your friends for their opinions or experiences.

Word of mouth is the cheapest yet most effective form of advertising for any company. Social networks are the best form of word of mouth advertising available to anyone. Businesses are just now starting to scratch the surface of how to advertise on these networks. The future is bright for advertising in general but the amount of people that a social network can reach in a short amount of time is mind boggling. A fellow blogger stated that he knows someone personally that uses social media for advertising by establishing expertise in an area via blogs http://dmiracle.com/blog-marketing/you-do-know-that-social-marketing-isnt-a-fad-right/.