Technology in Communication - Marketing

Social media is the ultimate marketing and advertising tool. With so many people online and engaging with these platforms, there is no better way to push a marketing campaign than through these massive and growing platforms. Major corporations are taking notice of this and pivoting their marketing budgets to focus more and more on digital media and platforms to keep up with changing trends. For example, in response to the growing trend of short-form video media, companies have begun to dedicate far more of their marketing budgets to platforms like Facebook Stories, which alone is responsible for an average spending increase of 124% (Williams, 2019). As social media continues to dominate the cultural zeitgeist, communications professionals must know how to navigate these platforms as effectively as possible in order to be successful. Knowing how to use these platforms is a good start, but to truly tap into their marketing potential, one must go beyond simple literacy on the platforms. When it comes to marketing on social media, there are two things professionals must know - the website and the community.

When I say that professionals need to know the website, I mean that they must know more than just how the website works. A good deal of their research should be looking into how the website interacts with its audience and what industries have thrived on the platform. If the platform serves a specific audience, how can one adjust their marketing efforts to best meet that audience's preferences and make a lasting impression? Doing research into this can yield some interesting insights. For example, according to a study published in the Journal of Nutritional Science, users of the live streaming website Twitch.tv were, on average, more receptive and positive towards advertising related to food and beverage than those who used Twitch's leading competitor, YouTube (Pollack et. al., 2021). While this is a highly specific piece of information, it does show that researching the analytics behind social media platforms can lead to more effective marketing. By knowing what brands and advertisements are better received, one can tailor their campaigns to meet these metrics. Thankfully, much of this information is readily available online. For reference, one can find metrics on the aforementioned Twitch.tv here at twitchtracker.com. Other websites like this exist for other social media platforms, but the fact remains that research is key to knowing what works for what platform.

While knowing about the analytics and statistics for websites is a great way to tailor one's marketing efforts, the true strength of social media is in community building. As a social platform and forum, social media allows for individuals to come together over common interests, beliefs, and values online and this has only become easier as social media websites continue to refine and optimize user feeds based on user data. The communities that come together on these websites have many interesting implications for marketers and advertisers, but perhaps the most exciting development is the rise of the influencer. Through influencers, communications professionals can tap into a trusted, respected resource within a community and use it to further their messages. At times, influencers might even unintentionally move marketing efforts forward by creating content related to the marketer's product. For example, in this video from 2017, fashion and make-up influencer Safiya Nygaard advertises for Instagram's Marketplace unintentionally by using the website to purchase products and reviewing what she bought (Nygaard, 2017). Nygaard was not sponsored by Instagram for this video, but her content nevertheless pushes forward the idea that the Instagram Shop Tab is a trustworthy place to shop. It taps into the trust that communities online put in influencers like Nygaard and promotes the product or service as reliable all while tapping into their established and sizable (in Nygaard's case, 9.63 million users on YouTube alone) follower base.

"I Bought the First 5 Things Instagram Recommended To Me" by Safiya Nygaard, 2017

Importantly, however, it is worth noting that while influencer marketing can be a powerful tool for marketers, it is not something to be relied upon. As this phenomenon is so new, there is still much research that needs to be done to determine how effective influencer marketing truly is. Furthermore, there is evidence to suggest that it may not be as helpful as first thought. According to a study conducted by the American Marketing Association, influencer endorsements did lead to an increase in engagement metrics from users but did not directly lead to increased economic effects for the products and services being endorsed (Waltenrath et. al., 2022, p. 541). The reason, it seems, is that users were more interested in interacting with the endorsement for the influencer rather than what was being sold to them (2022, p. 541). With this in mind, it is important to remember that, like all tools in the communications professional's tool belt, it is to be used when appropriate.

Reference

Nygaard, S. (2017, May 19). I Bought the First 5 Things Instagram Recommended To Me [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Df3u46xBVMY

Pollack, C. C., Gilbert-Diamond, D., Emond, J. A., Eschholz, A., Evans, R. K., Boyland, E. J., & Masterson, T. D. (2021). Twitch user perceptions, attitudes and behaviours in relation to food and beverage marketing on Twitch compared with YouTube. Journal of Nutritional Science, 10, e32. https://doi-org.ezproxy.snhu.edu/10.1017/jns.2021.22

Waltenrath, A., Brenner, C., & Hinz, O. (2022). Some Interactions Are More Equal Than Others: The Effect of Influencer Endorsements in Social Media Brand Posts on Engagement and Online Store Performance. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 57(4), 541–560. https://doi-org.ezproxy.snhu.edu/10.1177/10949968221096591

Williams, R. (2019, January 28). Brands ramp up ad spend on Facebook stories by 124%, study finds. Marketing Dive. Retrieved February 23, 2023, from https://www.marketingdive.com/news/brands-ramp-up-ad-spend-on-facebook-stories-by-124-study-finds/546946/