Can Social Media Become Too Much Clutter?

Social Media tools have endless resources coming in from the public to a point where there is a colossal amount of information continually flowing through the network. There are sites such as Twitter, Blogger, Facebook and many other Social Media sites that produce gratuitous amounts of tweets, blogs, and comments! For a marketer trying to find information for topics such as consumer satisfaction/ preferences how could they even begin to do so? Also, will this cloud of information on hobbies and feelings become overwhelming to the Social Media venue?

In the book, Secrets of Social Media Marketing, Tamar Weinberg, wrote an article called “How to Deal with New Media Overload” about special social media tools she uses to organize her vast amounts of social media ‘overload’. Tamar said she uses a web-based news organizer called ‘Bloglines’, which “…makes it easy to read information published using RSS (Really Simple Syndication), which is a format that pushes information from Web publishers to subscribers” (page 43). This tool makes it easier for all of the blogs, related to a specific search, to be condensed down from hundreds of thousands of blogs into one simple display. This makes the search for blogs, at least, more simple and to the point when in need of information.

Tamar Weinberg also suggests another way for organizing data through way of social media with typical search engines such as Google, Ask.com, and Bing by using the ‘advanced search’ option. This can save marketers immense amounts of time by grouping the most significant websites into the search and leaving all of the miscellaneous related searches out. Also, putting certain words in parenthesis in your search helps signify the important information that is needed. For example, when looking for a hotel in the Netherlands one might search, ‘best Netherland hotel resorts’ which would bring up less more reliable searches than best Netherland hotel resorts without the parenthesis, because the parenthesis ask for hotel resorts in the Netherlands and no where else.

This topic is important, because there is a need for the organization of this data in order to use socail media to the most prosporous destinations. Tools like Bloglines and Digg make customizing useful information through the Web easier to gather and formulate into business. Finally, this process of social media organization should make the whole information gathering less overwhelming to researchers.

Successful and Unsuccessful Social Media Campaigns

        Some social media campaigns can be spot on when it comes down to reaching their target audience and making them a part of the experience in a positive way. Movie campaigns are probably the easiest campaigns to pursue, because they have to do with media and have to reach all aspects of media in order to encapsulate their viewers. Plus, word of mouth has always been the best way in order to sell someone on going to see a movie, and social media is the base of word of mouth on the internet.
        When it came time for Pixar and Disney to release Toy Story 3 they went all out with setting up a Facebook page, created an ad for the iPhone, and also created viral videos for people to enjoy aside from the movie. All of these tasks go beyond the cliché billboard and banner advertisements and showed an interest in their viewers. This campaign worked, because it was easy to set up a Facebook page and make some quick YouTube type videos in order to gain more viewers. On their Facebook page was a ticket buying application to get people to purchase their tickets ahead of time.
        The Molson Canadian Beer Company tried to engage with their audience and in return failed miserably with their “Cold Shots Campus Challenge” on Facebook. Molson was intending for its consumers to give their brand greater recognition by asking them to post their best party pictures in order to win ‘best party school’. Molson failed to realize that this game would consist of college students drinking way over the limits of intoxication in order to win best party school, which could have caused death or serious injuries. This caused uproar with school Presidents and Deans, because these pictures were defacing the value and academic intelligence of their institutions. Molson had to pull out of the campaign a month before its designated end.
        Sometimes Social Media can help one another and at other times it can hurt them. The best way to make a Social Media campaign is to make it fun and not too difficult in case of hidden flaws that could tarnish the company and campaigns objectives.

http://mashable.com/2010/09/14/social-media-campaigns/

http://www.docstoc.com/docs/25380527/Molson-Social-Media-Marketing

Social Media: How Can it Help/Hurt Your Professional Life?

Social Media is an outlet of consumer perspectives and opportunities waiting for marketers to gobble this valuable information up in order to formulate better target markets for products/services. In the book, Secrets of Social Media Marketing, Paul Gillin wrote a section in the first chapter about the opportunities to go further with a company through use of Social Media and the negative/positive perceptions and feedback from consumers.

Fiskars, a scissor selling company found through Social Media that their target market was not companies that valued the precision of their scissor  blades (even though they fulfill this market as well), but that of a younger crowd of women in their 20’s that enjoy scrapbooking. This was profound information that set up many opportunities for Fiskars Company, because Social Media uncovered their ultimate target market which could possibly have ruined the company if not revealed. Social Media can also uncover the past of present and future job seekers and information found about them can ultimately be devastating if an employer views rude conduct, excessive partying, and/or drug use all over the internet.

 Facebook and MySpace are known for being checked by employers, because they want to hire someone who is responsible and takes care of themselves. Social Media also provides employers with background information on recent jail, prison, and/or institutional visits when they are searching. I have researched ‘my name and my most recent employer’ under search engines (Google, Bing, etc.) and have found nothing incriminating and everyone should take time out to search their name before any future interviews. Brian K. is a friend of mine who has a degree in Family Studies and had been declined a job due to a DUI on his record from within the past 5 years. Caroline, was a peer that I worked with in the past who was fired from Kohl’s when they found out about a past shoplifting crime that was on her record.

Cnn.com posted a video, The Help Desk: Verifying Your Background Check, which identifies cases in which people are victims from their own background checks and receive loss of employment in the job market.

Unfortunately, Social Media can harm some people but in other cases can help people as well. All someone can do is keep their criminal background clean and try and get some sort of credit for achieving goals in the workplace posted up under your name. An example for a photographer would be to have many of his/her photos up on the internet so that when they have their name checked by an employer the search engine might bring up all of their beautiful works and get them the job.

           Gillin, Paul. Secrets of Social Media Marketing. Quill Driver Books (2009).

Link to Cnn.com video: http://money.cnn.com/video/pf/2009/09/30/pf_data_broker_privacy.cnnmoney/

Is Social Media a Fad? Brent Hudson

          Social Media has been around since the introduction of the first product/service to consumers by way of Word of Mouth (WOM) communication. There wasn’t an exact name for it and now there is. Social media should be a tool  used by every company and marketing team  in order to pin-point the exact target market to reach out to; understand the consumers opinion (positive or negative; and reach out to them by way of Social Media ( Twitter, Blogs, Facebook, etc.) to maximize profits and consumer preferences. Social Media has been around without most peoples recognition until recently when it was discovered as a useful tool in today’s technological world of mass internet users. Social media is not only permanent but a wide-spread trend that can only get stronger and lead to even greater results in the future. WOM communication is a huge part of Social Media and our society thrives on it and a speaker on Bizaarvoice.com said “The average consumer mentions specific brands over 90 times per week in conversations with friends, family, and co-workers.” (Keller Fay, WOMMA, 2010). Movie theater and Video store rentals rely on WOM communication and have from the very start of business.

          Social Media is so profitable because it subtracts hundreds of thousands of dollars that would have been spent advertising in order to reach the target market when they have more success through Social Media forms like twitter and Facebook. Also, advertising has become obsolete compared to social media, because people choose to avoid the annoying pop ups compared to sharing what they feel about a product/service to their friends and/or family.

          According to a survey from US mom internet users says, “Consumer reviews are significantly more trusted -- nearly 12 times more -- than descriptions that come from manufacturers” (eMarketer, February 2010). This statement is powerfully true, because a manufacturer will say whatever they can in order for a consumer to buy their product, and some consumers have been ripped off and left angry. However, Social Media has made it easier for customer complaints so now there is also more of a chance of knowing a company’s dark secrets and on the other hand can check out some new places your friends suggested due to their satisfaction.

         Social media will continue to be a major success for marketers and all companies that use it. Technology has risen to great heights and now it’s time to be as advanced with the internet as we are with the television to reach further into the potentially strong customer relationship status. Social media is not only a trend but a step toward the future for greater expectations met by companies due to the information gathered.

www.womma.org