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.
Yes organizations could "push" their brand through news posts within Facebook, and this is the beauty of social media. However, customers could have poor perceptions on the brand due to annoying advertising type strategies. Advertising has a poor position in social media, because it's more about the people's opinions than it is the organizations in matters such as probing their brand name through Facebook.
ReplyDelete100% agree with what Brent said. While more posts mean showing up more in customers' news feeds, it can also push them away if they begin to feel annoyed or interrupted. I just went to hear a speaker talk about these sorts of things, and one thing she said was that it's crucial for a business to develop a schedule for when they post. She used the example of posting twice a week, but it varies with different companies. You want to stay on people's minds, but don't want to invade too much of their space.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with Brent, because I get annoyed with random ads popping up on my facebook and I usually end up hiding them because I don't care or flat out don't want to look at them all day.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I can't deny that these tactics do ultimately influence my buying behavior. For example, when I go to Target to buy toilet paper or something random, I realize that I subconsciously go for the brands that look more familiar. So even if I saw the ad for only a second before I hid it, the image is still imprinted in my mind. For some reason, I feel like when people put more effort into their ads, they must know what they're doing with their product.
So back to your point, Jennifer, I think marketers do need to work hard to make sure that their ads/links show up in as many places possible, even if it may be a little over the top.