Success With Social Media Marketing

Social media presents endless opportunities for success. Social media marketing has become a necessary component within a businesses marketing and public relations sectors. But with the overwhelming amount of presence online, how can a business stand out?

Agency Sales suggests the following tips for social media marketing success:

• Putting your messages on the right sites – “What you need to do is determine where your market is and post your media messages on those sites” (Lontos, 2010)
• Knowing how to utilise these sites successfully – there’s no point being present on these sites if you don’t fulfil the potential they have for your business. 
• Post your businesses messages responsibly – Posting too often can become a nuisance; not posting enough will be of no benefit. Finding the right balance in posting is imperative to avoid the negative effects of over posting. 

A good example of a social media campaign isTourism Australia’s, “The Best Job in the World” campaign, which utilised YouTube as a method of creating great tourist interest. 

 

References

Lontos, P. (2010). KEYS to social media marketing SUCCESS. Agency Sales, 40(2), 44-45,47-48. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/211010559?accountid=26503

Tweet Your Way Through a Crisis

When a crisis arises, it’s a make or break situation for a company. Even the smallest of issues can become a full blown crisis with devastating damages to reputation and finances. In the event of a crisis, the media is a companies greatest ally. In today’s society, a company can be it’s own ally through social media. Although the impact of social media in a crisis it not entirely understood, social media is a powerful and now essential communication tool during a crisis.

 

Shultz identifies the following as some positive aspects of Twitter in a crisis:

– Communication through Twitter during a crisis leads to less negative crisis reactions than blogs and newspaper articles.

– Twitter users were more likely to share the message than blog users and nonusers of social media.

(2011)

Here are some examples from real social media use during a crisis:

Red Cross 

After a social media employee accidentally tweeted a personal tweet on the Red Cross Twitter account, the organisation quickly jumped online to rectify the employees mistake. If the organisation hadn’t acknowledged the mistake as quickly as they did, the nature of the rogue tweet would’ve made this honourable humanitarian organisation look very bad.

The rogue tweet: “Ryan found two more 4 bottle packs of Dogfish Head’s Midas Touch beer… when we drink we do it right #gettngslizzerd”

The response:

 

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Malaysia Airlines

In the past week, a tragic event saw the need for Malaysia Airlines to implement crisis communication for the second time this year. The horrific event of the shooting down of MH17 put the crisis team at Malaysia Airlines to the test again. Since the event unfolded, the use of Twitter has been vital in communicating updates, condolences and information about safety and future flights.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Ultimately, the importance of social media in a crisis is becoming a pivotal tool in reducing the damaging impacts to an organisations reputation and public perception.

References:

F Shultz et al, Public Relations Review 34, 2011, pp20-27)

Social Media Management Goes Wrong

Social media has become a vital component of a companies operation. The successful utilization of social media can create an advantage for a company over its competition. Social media interactions “are materially impactful, unavoidable, and so ubiquitous that no business can afford simply to ignore them.” (Wollan, Smith & Zhou, 2010). The management of social media is vital because once something is posted on the Internet; it’s there for eternity. If something goes wrong on a company’s social media, the impact could be devastating. Examples of the successful use of social media are a plenty, but what happens when the use of social media goes terribly wrong?

 

Example 1: Nestle

Nestle landed itself in a PR nightmare when the employee controlling their social media accounts responded to a customer in an antagonistic and sarcastic manner. Although some might consider this simply Nestle policing their own Facebook page, some thought this was insulting to their customers.

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Example 2: Burger King

Now this example wasn’t really the fault of Burger King, however, they should probably have tighter security on their social media accounts. Burger King fell victim to hackers who changed their Twitter name to @McDonalds and began promoting McDonalds on their account. Burger King ended up with a boost of 30,000 followers by the time the incident had been resolved, however, the end result could have been a lot worse.

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Undoubtedly, the constant management of social media is imperative, as well as extensive training on appropriate usage and how to deal with unhappy customers.

References

Wollan, R., Smith, N., & Zhou, C. (2010). The social media management handbook : Everything you need to know to get social media working in your business Wiley.

How LinkedIn Can Land You A Dream Job

With the continual growth in the job market, landing your dream job is becoming increasingly difficult. But with the growth of the job market comes the growth and expansion of the Internet and social media. LinkedIn is a social media site for professionals. A revolution in job seeking, LinkedIn allows users to create a profile to attract the attention of potential employees, boost their chances as landing a job, and networking with professionals in their field. As von Rosen stated, “You are only as visible as the size of your network on LinkedIn.” (2012)

 

 

But what can a LinkedIn account really do for you? Here are some of the most beneficial aspects of creating your own online resume through LinkedIn.

 

1. Networking – LinkedIn provides the opportunity to network and introduce you professionals in any field. Whoever you need to connect with, LinkedIn can help.
2. Keep up-to-date with friends and colleagues – LinkedIn is a versatile social media site, allowing users to also connect with their friends and colleagues, learning news about their careers, professional lives and projects.
3. News about professional opportunities – Through LinkedIn, users can hear about opportunities for jobs and with companies they’re interested in. Users will never miss a job application deadline with the help of LinkedIn.
4. Relationship building tool – Users can make connections and then further build on those relationships through the use of the site.

 

So if you’re looking to spruce up your job application or give employers a quick and easy way to learn more about you and what you can offer, LinkedIn is the ideal social media site for job seekers.

 

References

von Rosen, V. (2012). LinkedIn marketing: An hour A day Wiley.

 

Snap, Upload, Monetize – Using Instagram as a Marketing Tool

Instagram has bought us countless photos of salads and Starbucks, however this photo based social media platform provides yet another marketing opportunity for businesses. Instagram is an online and mobile video and photo sharing social media site. With just a quick click of a phone camera, a business can upload photos and videos on just about anything that their business is doing. You can promote products and services, provide insight to the operation of the business and even promote business relations with charities, just to name a few. Released as a phone app in October of 2010, the app quickly gained popularity and is estimated to have over 200 million active users each month. But how can we really utilize Instagram for the benefit of a business?

 

Here are some examples:

 

–       Instagram allows businesses to run photo contests, by asking users to use a particular hashtag to participate. Sony gained followers by asking people to follow them on Instagram and hashtag pictures that represent love. This process created a greater following and increased customer engagement.

 

–       Clothing chain Topshop provides promo codes on some of their posts, as a reward to followers for opening, reading and viewing their content. This allows businesses to learn their audience and keep them engaged.

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Twitter Tactics

Is it possible to sell a product or service in 140 words or less? Can a business successfully communicate with an audience with only 140 words? Twitter has proven on copious occasions that it is a platform with the ability to market and advertise.  The unique social media site made its debut in 2006 and has since become a powerful marketing tool. Twitter has its very own business section which provides tips and tools for businesses to optimise their Twitter marketing.

Twitter as a marketing tool is best utilised through targeting. Targeting tactics include the following:

• Followers – Twitter allows interested audiences to follow a businesses Twitter. For the business, this means they gain an audience who they know are interested in their business, as they are willingly following their Twitter page.
• Tailored Audiences – Businesses can tailor their audiences based on previous data.
• Interests – Twitter offers 25 broad interest topics with over 350+ broad sub-categories, allowing targeting of users with similar interests to your business.
• Location – Businesses can connect with a global audience and geo-target audiences based on their postal codes, specific regions etc.
• Gender targeting
• Device – Businesses can target an audience based on what device they access the site with.

 

The YouTube Revolution

The Internet is a platform that is constantly evolving into bigger and better things. Without a doubt, one of the greatest successes of the modern day Internet is the video site, YouTube. Since the site began operating in 2005, it’s believed that 3,000,000,000 videos are watched daily and over 35 hours of footage uploaded by the minute.With such extreme amounts of user traffic and generated content, YouTube is not only a revolution in itself, but also in the marketing world.

YouTube is an incredible promotional tool with various uses. For example, the site has shot many of it’s users to worldwide fame, including pop-singer Justin Bieber. But YouTube is not just great for hilarious videos and adorable puppies -for the marketing industry, YouTube provides a platform for businesses both large and small to create an online video portfolio. Uploading content on YouTube is free, which allows for businesses to cut back on costs while simultaneously creating an effective marketing tool for their products or services. If successful, a business can profit from the utilisation of YouTube as a marketing tool.

Chilli Group suggests some ways in which businesses can make use of the YouTube marketing revolution. They suggest uploading video content including some of the following:

• TVCs
• Video testimonials
• Corporate DVD
• Virtual tours
• Product demo videos
• Podcasts
• Training / educational videos
• Event footage
• Media mentions (have you featured on a news item or a lifestyle TV show?)

[SOURCE]

Facebook As a Marketing Tool

From kids and teens to adults and grandparents, all types of people are now active in the world of Facebook.  With Facebook’s domination as the most popular media site, incredible amounts of data are generated on a daily basis.  With a community of members well up into the millions, Facebook gathers and distributes tons of information. While most of this information might seem useless to most, it’s a goldmine to businesses and organisations. When Facebook is utilised as a marketing tool, businesses use the collected data to find their consumers, communicate with them, gather information about their brand image and to further promote their brand. With the popularity of Facebook, a business can monetize without the added costs of traditional marketing and communicating methods.

Below are some of the most popular Facebook tools used to fulfill marketing objectives, according to Contemporary Management Research:

•  Facebook profile: A strong profile of the organization can be established on Facebook with its vision and mission statement stated and clearly defined.
•  Facebook groups: The following are the most important aspects that can be used to attract consumers: the name of the group, the group topic and image of the group.
•  Business/Fan pages: Fans will receive updates from the company as new information is posted. The organization can regularly post information on the business/fan page on upcoming events, articles, games, blogs, podcasts, videos and links.
•  Sharing events: The organization can advertise its upcoming events on Facebook.
•  Social ads and polls: Social ads can be placed on Facebook according to the age, sex, location, workplaces and education level of the users. Polls can also be organized on Facebook to obtain valuable feedback from users.
• Facebook messages can be tailored and sent to individual users.

Businesses also have the option to geo-target their posts on their own Facebook pages:

 

[Wishpond]

An example of Facebook marketing:

 

[Wishpond]

With the growing popularity of all platforms of social media and the downturn of the economy, Facebook is undeniably useful for more than just posting selfies and cat memes.

 

 

References:

Ramsaran-Fowdar, R., & Fowdar, S. (2013). The implications of facebook marketing for organizations. Contemporary Management Research, 9(1), 73-83. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1438729497?accountid=26503

Scherer, J., Marketing for small businesses, 11 Awesome (and 1 terrible) Facebook post examples with critiques & best practices,  Wishpond. Retrieved fromhttp://blog.wishpond.com/post/58738215261/11-awesome-facebook-post-examples-critiques-best-practic

Wikipedia Gets Weird

Wikipedia is the go-to source for millions of people worldwide. Much of the content is informational and great for general knowledge and informational purposes. However, Wikipedia is one of those sites where looking up something basic lands you in the mystical pit of the internet. Before you know it you’re reading about alien hand syndrome and whole-body transplants. Because anyone and everyone can edit and add to a Wikipedia page, sometimes things can get weird. And sometimes, there are pages on Wikipedia that make you question why they exist to begin with. Here are some examples of Wikipedia being weird.

– List of sexually active popes

– This very informational and medically accurate article on pink eye.

 

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– Have you ever considered living in an airport? Apparently, these people did.

– Everyone loves Gothams hero Batman. This Wikipedia entry gives a detailed description of Batman.

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– We’re all grateful for inventors, without their bravery and intelligence this post wouldn’t exist. But not all inventions have gone flawlessly and successfully. In fact, here is a list of inventors killed by their inventions.

– This accurate entry of the definition of Communism.

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As you can see, Wikipedia isn’t always right, accurate or correct. Just another reason Wikipedia can’t be cited in academic assignments.

Deadly Blogging: The “Pro-Ana” Trend

In a society that still considers eating disorders a taboo issue to discuss, the internet becomes a place for the sick to find solace. With the growing popularity of social media and blogging sites, the pro-ana trend was born and it took eating disorders to a whole new level. The term pro-ana refers to the promotion of anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa on online platforms. Eating disorders are a disease highly misunderstood by the general public, which causes those who are suffering to feel increasingly isolated, forcing them to turn to the internet for help. But this is where many sufferers get stuck.

Pro-ana sites aren’t a place for those who want to be saved; they are a place to indulge in the lifestyle of an anorexic.  Pro-ana sites, which have a strong presence on Tumblr, appear to be an online community for sufferers to find others who understand their struggle. However, pro-ana sites feature all the tips, tricks and techniques to endorse a persons eating disorder. The blogs become a forum for purging and starving tips, comparison of weight and progress and ‘thinspiration’ photos. The blogs followers form a clique like community that band together to perpetuate eating disorders and reject the disapproval of the their non-eating disordered counterparts. Overall, these blogs become a forum to compete to be the sickest.

A study titled “Communicating Stigma” found that there were several motivations for pro-ana blogging. They included social support, self-expression and coping with stigma. The study also found that blogging caused negative drawbacks such as instilling fear in the disclosure of eating disordered behaviour and encouraging eating disordered behaviour. 

Billie*, a participant of the study, stated the following about her pro-ana blogging experiences:

“I often refer to how my blog is my true self and how in real life I have to act and hide my true feelings. I often call myself an actress on a stage playing out a part in my real life. My blog is who I am backstage when I’m stripped of the makeup and costume.”

In conclusion, blogging is an incredible phenomenon that has copious benefits and provides a platform for individuals everywhere to express themselves. However blogging also has a negative side which is undoubtedly prominent in the pro-ana online trend. 

 

References:

Yeshua-Katz, D., & Martins, N. (2013). Communicating stigma: The pro-ana paradox. Health Communication, 28(5), 499-508. doi:10.1080/10410236.2012.699889