As we have discussed over the course of a few weeks, social media has
transitioned the way we do marketing and the way we build public relations. The
phenomenon is inevitable for any marketer, because the pace at which technology
is changing and the number of platforms becoming popular with consumers is extravagant.
Advertisers are smart in capitalizing on such fronts. Today, let’s discuss in-depth
on how social media is playing a role in digital advertising.
It goes without saying, businesses need to think carefully who to target
through their ads and then tactfully build brand profiles as word spreads on
social media at astounding rates. Poor engagement or press can be costly to a
business. Understanding the platform and then utilizing it to its max is
beneficial to any business. Here is an example of how much Nike is spending on
online advertisements:
Smart marketers are going to the extent of utilizing celebrities to
endorse brands, which in return is adding followers to the site and helping
boost sales. One such platform is Twitter. This social media platform is quite
popular between athletes, celebrities and politicians. Seung-A Annie Jin and
Joe Phua conducted a research examining how celebrities were leveraged by brand
marketer to use Twitter and gain traction using electronic word-of-mouth
(eWoM). According to Jin and Phua:
The most-followed Twitter accounts as of 2013
belong to pop stars, including Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga, and Katy Perry (each
with more than 30 million followers), and other public figures, including President
Barack Obama (27 million followers), talk show hosts Oprah Winfrey and Ellen
De-Generes (17 million followers each), and soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo (16
million followers) (Twitter Counter 2013). The more followers one garners on
Twitter, the greater perceived social influence one has…. Nike spent $2.4
billion on celebrity endorsements (Cendrowski 2012). Companies invest in
celebrities to improve brand recognition and trustworthiness and to create
positive attitudes or distinct personalities for the endorsed brand (McCracken
1989)” (Jin and Phua, 2014).
Following are a few pictures gathered from various social media
platforms to demonstrate how celebrities are helping advertise brands:
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| Beyonce promotes Pepsi |
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| Kim Kardashian promotes Sugarbearhair |
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| Michael Jordan promotes Nike |
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| Jennifer Lopez promotes Louis Vuitton |
As we see from aforementioned research,
since social media has unprecedented reach, businesses are steadily trusting it
as an outlet for advertising and attracting consumers. Online advertising has a
key advantage, as the communication is two-way compared to old fashioned advertising.
Shrihari Sridhar, et al., denote:
“From a capabilities standpoint, online advertising’s
reach is ubiquitous (and can even include an international audience), but from
a pragmatic perspective, online advertising’s reach is limited by the volume of
visits to the content-based website, or online search behavior. Moreover,
because advertisers can track prior- and post impression online behaviors of
their consumers, the target ability and relevance of an online ad is superior
to their offline counterparts. Finally, behavioral targeting technologies
enable firms to tailor online display advertisements to consumers on the basis
of their past browsing history, and therefore such advertisements are used to
build brand awareness” (Shrihari Sridhar, et al., 2016).
The group further shares the following description table and trends of various
advertising channels being utilized by businesses:
The group notes, advertisers can track
prior and post impression online activities of their shoppers, relevance could
be superior to offline counterparts.
Let me share some videos so you see the relevance of social media on
business advertising in this day and age. The following YouTube video
illustrates how social media advertising works:
Moreover, the following YouTube video depicts the importance social
media is bringing upon advertisements:
To sum it up, social media is an ever-advancing phenomenon with an assortment
of functionalities that bring immense advantages to businesses if utilized
properly. Companies need to be smart and understand this mammoth inside out.
The internet provides infinite amount of detail via books, scholarly research,
blogs, to name a few, on how to best use the various social media platforms. As
a business, understanding your role and responsibilities will ensure feasible
engagement with consumers and help boost sales via proper advertising.
References:
Jin, S. A., & Phua, J. (2014). Following
Celebrities’ Tweets About Brands: The Impact of Twitter-Based Electronic
Word-of-Mouth on Consumers’ Source Credibility Perception, Buying Intention,
and Social Identification With Celebrities. Journal Of Advertising, 43(2),
181-195. doi:10.1080/00913367.2013.827606.
Sridhar, S., Germann, F., Kang, C., &
Grewal, R. (2016). Relating Online, Regional, and National Advertising to Firm
Value. Journal Of Marketing, 80(4), 39-55. doi:10.1509/jm.14.0231.
