Social Media Marketing
Zach Dourson
07/08/2012
Professor Oberlin
Genre Analysis Essay
Social Media Analysis
Social media marketing is the newest and biggest craze that is sweeping the nation. Companies small and large have resulted to Facebook or Twitter to reach a whole new demographic. With over 900 million users on Facebook and 140 million on Twitter, you can see why. Marketing this way reaches over a billion people day in and day out and the biggest thing is, it spreads like wildfire. With that, the professionals and the “everyday” people tend to have similar yet slightly different views on this topic. To see what the normal people thought, I visited Facebook – Mark Zuckerberg, Marketing Ramblings – Craig Smith, and Wikipedia – Jimmy Wales. After researching, I found that many “everyday” people really enjoy this tactic. It is easy for them and can be done instantly and right from home. However some may not realize they are being marketed too, most are in agreement that social media marketing is a great way to get the word out. As for the professionals, I checked a number of articles. Two that caught my eye were Nick Hafele’s Social Media Marketing: Interactions, Trends, and Analytics as well as Social Media: The New Hybrid Element of the Promotion Mix by Glynn Mangold. The pros both agree that if done correctly, social media marketing can increase sales dramatically, widen the customer base and develop customer loyalty. So by hearing both sides, is social media marketing just the latest fad that will soon die off, or is this just only the beginning of what is to come?
Looking at the “people on the street” articles, their audience is “people on the street” articles; their audience is you and me. They are here to inform us of what the social media marketing is and to give a little background on the subject. Since most are used by all of us on a daily or weekly basis, it becomes almost run by the people. The audience knows what social media is, and that a lot of people use it, but what some don’t know are the possibilities it could have in the marketing field. The reason for this is because they just see the sites as a way to keep up with friends, which it does, but do not realize that they are being marketed to. They spend little time thinking of business while on Facebook or Twitter, but the businesses are constantly sending out promos and coupons right before their eyes. So the purpose of these sites is to let us know, as consumers, the opportunities out there for great deals and to inform us of the nature of the businesses reaching out to us on social media. As for the professional articles, those are used on more specific terms. They are to provide analysis of the social media market and whether or not it is worth it to implement a marketing strategy that involves it for businesses. Therefore, the audiences they intend to reach are the companies out there thinking about making this move. The companies have likely visited many sites to conduct research and crunch some numbers, so they have a good in depth knowledge of the marketing. However, they are on the search for the things they do not know so that they can fully form the best social media marketing out there. They want to know how to approach the consumers in the strongest way possible. With that, they are likely to spend many hours, days or weeks researching the topic and how it has done in the past, to perfect the way their product or service is marketed on social media. The overall purpose of the professional articles is to provide as much information as possible for businesses to make sure they maximize the potential of this new craze.
The credibility for the two different types of articles is accounted in different ways. The professional articles are obvious – it is done by a professional. Therefore people are likely to believe what they say. As for the “everyday” people sites, finding credibility is more opinion based. Sites such as Facebook and Wikipedia are constantly used by the public but also show what the consumers are thinking. Being on Facebook for 10 minutes will show the marketing strategies that companies use in the field. Therefore people are getting the “real life” experience. The emotions appealed to are the same way. With a very professional attitude, the pros give data and analysis and tests to show results. The emotional appeal is very serious because people reading these articles are getting down for business. As for the normal sites, the emotional appeal is almost whatever people make it. Facebook can be used for research or leisure as can Marketing Ramblings and Wikipedia. They are designed differently and the reason being is because so many different types of people use them. It isn’t the businesses that search on Wikipedia to research social media, it is everyday people that want a background on the fact or find it interesting. That’s the reason why it is what you make it; to apply to a wide band of audiences. As I stated earlier, the facts back up the professional articles. Numbers don’t lie. This is very appropriate for what they are getting across. They want every last detail to be shown to give every aspect of social media marketing. To back up the “everyday” sites is once again opinion related. To go on Facebook, search a business and see its strategies are a good way to measure the pros and cons but it is up to that person to make a conclusion from the data.
Charts, graphs, bullets, are all ways the professional articles are broken down. They get the points across. The normal sites also have some structure. Both Marketing Ramblings and Wikipedia are broken down into a very neat and orderly fashion and are easy to read. Facebook is a completely different story. And once again, it is how it is used. By searching any page, it will give you a full breakdown and information on that page, but by scrolling the newsfeed, only the newest post is what is seen. With that you can see the marketing in action but do not know the full background. That is what is cool about it. It is organized to get the message across as it is sent out. Therefore, you do not have to visit the page to get the information. The other two use a chronological order of sorts to get the message through step by step. The organization used by Hafele and Mangold break down the beginning to the end, inside and out of social media marketing. The reason being is that way it is easy to follow for businesses and the message is clear and detailed. Therefore nothing is missed by the businesses researching the topic. All the sites do use a more formal language. Though the pros use bigger words and more marketing specific phrases, the “everyday” people sites also like to stay professional as well. The specialized vocab is what sparks the change between them. Phrases such as “Consumer-generated media” or “Promotion mix” (Mangold) are terms that only marketing savvy people would fully understand. The other sites tend to use simpler language and explain in more detail what each phrase means. They still keep a professional attitude; just do not want to leave readers confused.
Overall, social media marketing is happening and it is happening fast. Both genres agree that this tactic can be huge if done correctly and that is their common ground and honestly the most important part. The biggest difference would be the audience each is trying to reach. The businesses use the professionals, while the interested people use the “everyday” sites. Both do a great job getting the point across to their own audiences. As for the opposites, the pros are way too complex for what the “everyday” reader would wish to read and the normal sites are not detailed enough for businesses to fully research every aspect of the social media marketing. However, what is important is that both companies and consumers have expanded their use of social media and more marketing is coming.
Works Cited
“Facebook.” Facebook. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 July 2012. <http://www.facebook.com/facebook>.
“Labelyn Studios: The Official Home Page of Nick Hafele, Grad Student in Information and Communication Technologies.” Labelyn Studios: The Official Home Page of Nick Hafele, Grad Student in Information and Communication Technologies. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 July 2012. <http://www.labelynstudios.com/>.
Mangold, Glynn. “Socialmedia: The New Hybrid Element of the Promotion Mix.” Business Horizons. 4th ed. Vol. 52. N.p.: n.p., n.d. N. pag. Print.
“Social Media Marketing.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 07 Aug. 2012. Web. 08 July 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_media_marketing>.
“[Updated] How Many People Use the Top Social Media?” Digital Marketing Ramblings… N.p., n.d. Web. 08 July 2012. <http://expandedramblings.com/index.php/resource-how-many-people-use-the-top-social-media/>.
I feel that this is a very intersting topic and that you did a great job on this paper. I find it intersting just because I use Facebook and twitter on a daily basis and it makes me think about the different businesses that I have looked up or the businesses that have sent information or coupons. I think it would be interesting to hear more about ways these businesses are going to try to reach these average people. Besides promos and coupons is there a way that these businesses can target their audience and make these average people more interested? But overall I think you did a great job!
Great job at covering the topic. This is a very important topic for the current times. I wonder how far social marketing will go. I do think you did a nice job of showing how the professional and popular genres are geared differently. I think the structure is well done and you cover all the ideas we were asked to do. I don’t think it needs any major change. Just like most drafts a couple word changes but that’s it. Just re-read it and fix any minor faults. But overall this is a great job at covering the topic!
Zach, I really enjoyed reading this paper. I especially like how you chose to use Facebook as a source as well. I would have never thought to have done an analysis like that over something that I use so much everyday. One of the only mistakes I noticed right away was in the first sentence, instead of using the word “resorted,” I think you accidentally used “resulted.” Other than that, honestly, I was impressed by the work here. Very well done!
Zach, I feel like you had A quality analysis in this paper and fairly good supporting details to go along with it as well as overall focus. Your writing could be a little more clear in some spots you might want to reread to make sure everything flows the way you want it to.