Blog 4: “Media Is Changing”- Topic Social Media
Social media is defined as an interactive digitally mediated technology that allows the creation, sharing and exchanging of information from an individual/s to another. There exist multiple platforms which facilitate these functions. These include platforms or so called “mediums” such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, TikTok, Youtube, Pinterest, Linkedin and so many more.
The more time passes the more platforms are created and the more they become famous. Social media is shaping the technological future as we know it. Everyone is always online, connecting to each other from places all around the world as a network. However, this could have both its advantages and disadvantages. These are:
Advantages;
- You reach large audiences
As time passes, the more people are using social media platforms. This happens due to the travelling of word of mouth and trends. Huge masses of people surf their social media accounts everyday which opens its doors to a significantly large audience.
- You have a direct connection with your audience
Since social media platforms are represented on the internet, everything is instant. Upload and download happen that instant. This means, everyone is connected with each other at even the same point of time regardless of the distances between people. That is what makes 24/7 support services possible.
- You can create organic content
Nothing is stopping you from inspiring yourself with someone else’s work. However, as an account user you are free to post whatever you want (Within the platforms privacy terms and policies of course) You are free to be creative as you want and as boring as you want.
- You have access to paid advertising services
Most platforms nowadays offer paid advertising services. Say you have a demographic you wish top target but find it extremely difficult? Just pay the platform to target that demographic and your promotion will be much more efficient. This way you will save time and money. This is an extremely powerful marketing tool and entices especially drop shippers nowadays. This is why you keep getting advertisements on products which you think seem really cool or that somebody might need.
- You build your brand
These mediums give the possibility to either start or grow their brands. I for one rely completely on social media to research my audience and without it would never manage to grow my business. You can promote, sell, comunicats, offer support, communicate and literally perform all sorts of interaction in line with passing or exchanging information. Thus the reason why so many people get enticed to start their own account and try to reach as many people (Followers) as possible.
- You drive traffic to your website
Social media is also a great way of bridging gaps for individuals to actually find your website or site in general. Such sites could be shops, portfolios or what not. Something that the social media platform does not provide and could be provided elsewhere through a link. Thus all social media platforms and sites in general could be linked.
- You can evaluate your performance
Most social media platforms nowaday even offer analytics. Analytics include multiplem demographics such as, sex percentage audience, location demographics, age demographis, interaction demographics etc. The sky’s the limit on data collection. This tool is great to track your performance and check whether your promotion is effectively targeting your target audience in the most effective and efficient way.
- You can join social media networks for free
One of the best things about social media is that it’s free to everyone. Fees will only be involved when getting extra features such as advertising and extended data analytics.
- You can create viral content
Viral content is the key to mass promotion. A trick to gather people’s attention usually lies within content which is either funny, cute or interesting. Something usually goes viral once a large amount of people share an emotional connection with the content shared and usually gets reshared leading to an exponential viral growth.
Disadvantages;
- You can receive negative feedback
Unfortunately anyone can leave negative feedback regardless if it is true or false. The good thing however, is that you can report a fake and false negative feedback with proper evidence and restore your positive reputation. It all depends on the platform’s policies and support services.
- You open up the potential for embarrassment
Not all content shared could lead to positive results. Every one of us shares a different perspective on how we look at things. Thus, should someone share sensitive content, some might not mind it whilst others might even find it offensive. It is crucial to studying the market and preventing yourself from embarrassing yourself from sharing something inappropriate for certain individuals. Should content be getting negative feedback and backlash, it should be deleted to prevent further embarrassment.
- You must spend a lot of time on your campaigns
Time management during a campaign is crucial to the success of it. Unfortunately, sometimes we spend more time on the campaigning and the marketing of a product or service rather than the actual product/service. However, the more time spent, the more preparation is gained and the better the campaign will be tackled. Experience also helps with such a project.
- You have to wait to see results
In a campaign, one post and its success rate does not determine the overall success of the campaign but just of that post. Therefore, we might be impatient to wait to finish an entire campaign when we want immediate results. Pressure from investors might also be put by investors but patience and results are crucial to accurate overall projected results.