Week 3

Week 3: Social Media Marketing

This week in COM125, we learned about social media marketing. Over the past 100 years, we have seen media consumption steadily increasing. Since the early 1900, all types of media have been increasing but the one that has had the highest spike till date is the wonderful and ever expanding Internet. Humans on average spend more than 80 hours per week on the Internet, which to me is amazing but not in a good way. This shows that people are becoming more dependent on the Internet when seeking out information since it is available at their fingertips 24/7 thanks to smart phones and 4G networks.

However detrimental this may be to our social skills and such, it has allowed the Internet to blossom into a gold mine for companies. It’s an efficient and effective way to advertise their company and gain publicity. In my opinion, since we spend so much time on the Internet, print ads will soon become irrelevant and ineffective.

One company that has had great success in its social media marketing campaigns is Coca Cola. I’m sure everyone that uses the internet frequently or is on some social media platform has heard or seen of their “Share a Coke” campaign. It was a giant success for Coca Cola. The campaign started off in Australia where they managed to gain a 7% increase in sales, which is outstanding! What I think was so great about this campaign is the fact that consumers were actually the ones that publicized the campaign. Even friends of mine were joining in by taking pictures of their customized names on the Coca Cola bottle and posting pictures on Instagram and Facebook. The hashtag that circulated the Internet at the time was #shareacoke. I really feel like Coca Cola managed to reach out to consumers and make them feel part of a community, not just a brand campaign. I think the campaign really thrived on the comedy aspects of it. For example on 9gag, funny names or pictures of the bottles circulated and spread brand awareness all across the Internet. It’s a shame that the campaign never made it Singapore, since everyone, being so tech-savvy with social media, could have really helped Coca-Cola in Asia.

Another company that has taken advantage of social media marketing is Nike. I think Nike is very different to Coca Cola in the sense its demographic is vastly different. Since it is a sporting brand, it has many endorsers under it’s belt. Moreover, these Nike sponsored athletes are all over the world which gives Nike that cutting-edge advantage. I think the best thing about Nike’s campaigns is their slogans. Everyone knows their most famous one “Just do it.” I think seeing this slogan and the logo alone is enough marketing on social media platforms since the brand is so well known and has established a stable and loyal client base. I’ve seen many of their ads on YouTube and Facebook, which are all very striking. The social media platforms in 2013, which were the most popular, were Google+, Twitter and Facebook. Nike is most active on Twitter and Facebook, and Google+ get the least attention. On twitter, they post very regularly and have garnered almost 800,000 followers. This shows how wide Nike has cast their net and is expanding their loyal fan-base on social media.

Overall, I think social media marketing is very effective is used properly. Companies, whether big or small can spread brand awareness through social media effortlessly and at the same time it costs them a lot less to get their name out there. In today's world the majority of social media users are still a 'young' demographic aging from 18- 29 years old so adjusting campaigns to appeal to this demographic is smart. (i.e. Nike) 

References:

http://incitrio.com/cokes-share-a-coke-campaign-an-integrated-marketing-success/

https://econsultancy.com/blog/62412-how-nike-uses-facebook-twitter-pinterest-and-google