Social Media is an explosive technology that has greatly influenced Pop Culture. I think because social media has so many different functions (little to no cost advertising, keeping in touch with people fast and efficiently, etc) it will absolutely become something bigger and better and more relied upon. I've run across several examples of the use of social media from places you might not have expected.
Kretchmar's Bakery, in my home town, created a fan page on Facebook and they use it religiously. Everybody in Beaver knows about Kretchmar's and it's fairly impossible not to, but Facebook helps people as far away as other countries remember fond times involving their beloved bakery from way back when. Recently, Kretchmar's has used their Facebook page to advertise different weekly specials during their 50th Anniversary sale. They don't put any signs in the window of the bakery and the only way to know about these sales are to be a fan on Facebook. Utilizing social media has been a great decision on the part of the bakery because they have spread their fan base, their customer base, and increased buying habits of their customers. I know that I, for one, have specially looked for their weekly sale announcements online and my family has made special trips down to buy things we would not ordinarily.
The Beaver Library has a Facebook page as well, which was quite unexpected due to the age of the people that work there. I became a fan, thinking they'd release titles of new books, and library events and programs. Unfortunately, the updates are few and far between and they either advertise events at the last minute or way too far ahead. Unlike Kretchmar's, they don't have many photos and make few posts. Beaver Library's idea behind utilizing social media was a smart one. Library demographics are traditionally older, more mature folks, but by being on Facebook, the library is trying to turn that around. They want to get more people involved with the library and more people to get excited about and utilize the library. Because Facebook's users are among a large age range, the library can generate interest in a very large group of people including teens, parents, middle-aged, and just generally forward-thinking patrons. This kind of exposure, if handled right (which, it needs improvement), could change the demographic of the library and transform it from a stodgy old-book smelling, low energy environment into a vibrant (yet still reserved) culture-enriching place. The large remodel they did a few years ago on their actual building was the beginning of this transformation. I feel that if they continue to utilize social media tools, they will be ahead in the long run.
Even the Pittsburgh Zoo is using social media to drive its supporters. They're offering specials like "like the zoo on Facebook and post a message to our wall, print it out and bring it and receive $5 off the price of admission." You have to do something and get involved with the zoo (or other organization or place of business) and you will receive something in return. Social media advertisements are a classic example of a call to action campaign and because any of the social medias are so easy to interact with, it's all the more effective in terms of ways to advertise.
Social medias are growing among the private population too. Twitter is often used to gather people quickly. That can be used for both good and bad, but it is a tool nonetheless. Twitter is especially useful for call to action campaigns as well because all it does is allow the user to post updates and spread it around the web (more so than Facebook because of privacy options, I believe). On Facebook, you can make "events" and invite friends. These can be degrees of public or private, even by invitation only. This makes it much easier to plan surprises and gatherings of varying sizes. Using Facebook for these attending these events is good because Facebook will remind you when the event is coming up too. Because of this social media technology, there is less paper waste and less of a grape vine effect (wrong messages). My cousin, a hater of technology and the internet, has a blogger blog set up for her 8 month old baby. This way, everybody in our family with internet access can go to the blog and check for updates when baby Avery does something new. Also, Allison doesn't have to have pictures printed, scan them in and email them and then we don't have to download the pictures because we can go back to them in cyberspace. Words cannot express how much better this is than email and besides, you can't lose track of it like an email: everything stays on the site and while you can become a blogger member to receive updates, you can also just go to the web address every week or so. In these ways, social medias (Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Myspace, etc) help families and friends connect and stay updated about each other without having to interact much or spend a lot of time. You can also have a more broad friend base than you would have in real life because social groups don't really exist online as much and there's no rule about how often you have to talk to your online friends.
There are good and bad points with social medias, but I think the good far outweigh the bad. Because so many people are growing up in the age of computers, I think that more people are being exposed to social medias and seeing them as a way of life, a lifestyle. Computer technology in general has led to society evolving into a technology-driven world. The use of social medias will continue and increase in popularity because they are a catchy fad or trend of the computerized world and those things rarely go backwards.
Resources:
As this article says (http://chris.pirillo.com/social-media-in-education), I don't know why students don't use social media in the classroom! I think that if they did, they would learn quicker how useful it can be and not just see it as a way to "catch up with friends, chat about their day and play games." I think I fall into that category, actually. I have used social media tools for educational purposes, but I also use them for personal purposes like those mentioned. It's hard for me to make the transition of using them for personal purposes to using them for professional purposes. If there were a gateway, I think that would be a good thing. In some of the other articles I read where the 30-39 year olds and 60-69 year olds are making the most of social media tools, I believe it because they have been introduced to them as business tools, not necessarily social tools. I think using social medias in an educational setting is one solution for this.
The Social Marketing Blog (http://www.scottmonty.com) seemed a bit overwhelming when I first looked at it (just because of the amount of relevant information). I thought the toolbar at the bottom that coaxes you to share this page and update thus and such is somewhat obtrusive and annoying and by this point in my readings on social media, overwhelming. However, why wouldn't you want to share this blog? It's about social media marketing and hands you access to all your social media outlets at the bottom (in that way, it's smart). So what am I going to do? I used it! When I started reading the blog, I immediately grabbed the article titled "The 1.0 Homage." I saw it as sign that it's okay for me to really learn to use social media and it's okay for me to feel overwhelmed at the newfound complexity of my life and the 5 million things I now need to check daily. I can always take a short hiatus or simplify my life in other ways, but it's an important tool that's out there that I need to take advantage of. The "I See England, I See France" article was also interesting. From having done my research, I already knew the vast age range of people who took advantage of Facebook. This post shows that the largest group of users is 18-25, but also that 61% of Facebook's users are over the age of 25. This alone makes it a great social media marketing tool to take advantage of. The statistics from other countries were also interesting to look at in comparison to the U.S. statistics. As a female, the "Online Ad Targeting Is Pretty Much Like Dating" article was intriguing. I don't necessarily agree with all the points, but it was interesting to see a main consensus and the article was written in a refreshing and jovial tone. "Advertising to Gen Y on Social Networks" was informative because it had a list of ways to reach Gen Y on the social networks and kind of gave marketers a job.
Other informative links:
http://www.studio1c.com/blog/17-internet-marketing/197-using-flickr-as-an-online-marketing-tool.html
I'm thinking about acquiring a Flickr.
No comments:
Post a Comment