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Samantha Potter
Professor Malcolm Campbell
UWRT 1103
11 November 2015
Social Media Marketing: Theres An App For That
As I try to listen to my professor talking about some new biology concept I am distracted
by the all too familiar glare of a bright screen right in front of my face. The girl in front of me is
glued to her phone; to her the teacher is only an annoying muffled background noise. She
aimlessly scrolls through her Facebook feed, liking an occasional picture or two until she moves
on to the next app, Instagram. And then when she gets bored with that one, on to Snapchat, and
then the next latest app until she makes a full circle back to Facebook and repeats this process
until the class is over. Without exception, this happens every class. Teens are obsessed with being
connected to the online world; a recent study shows 92% U.S. of teens go online daily, including
24% who say they go online almost constantly (Pew Research Center 2015). Millennials are
adapting and doing things in a different way and it all seems to stem from having a willingness
and desire to embrace and utilize technology. Since social media is such a prevalent part of teens
and young adults lives its important that you, as a company, take advantage of this and hop on
board the social media craze. By learning about millennials your company can make the
necessary changes in its marketing strategies to increase profit.

What kind of advertisements millennials are looking for

Social media is very widely used today. According to the CEO of DK New Media,
Douglas Karr, states social networking is the top online activity in the US, with the average

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American spending 37 minutes per day and about 46% of web users look towards social media
when making a purchase. Businesses are taking advantage of this new phenomenon, a recent
study found an increase from 86% in 2013 to 92% in 2014 of marketers indicating that social
media is important and will be important for their business. Brands are realizing that if they wish
to reach their prospects and customers, an online presence must be apart of their marketing
strategy. But how do you reach out to these young people? Because millennials as a group spend
over 1 trillion dollars a year, you certainly will want to know how exactly to gain their attention.
NPR did a recent study on millennials and interviewed a diverse group of two-dozen people all
ranging from ages 18-34 and varying in gender, race, and occupation. They asked the group what
kinds of advertising campaigns they liked the best and their answers included: cute animals (Ikea
cat commercial), fun social media (Lowes 6 second vines), and just being direct (Brisk drink
ads). Ads they did not like included brands that try too hard, contain body image issues/leaving
people out, and are sexist and contain outdated gender roles. Overall the group liked messages
that were clever but subtle, ads that took advantage of social media and added a personal touch
to them, and ads that were socially progressive and inclusive (Sanders). NPR went even further
and conducted an interview with Dr. Americus Reed, a professor of marketing at University of
Pennsylvania Wharton School of Business. He gave some insight on why millennials like the ads
that they like. His main points are that 1) millennials like to talk about themselves, they seek
authenticity, and value self-expression and 2) they are do-gooders who like to be nice so they
like brands that put good things out into the world. So, when trying to create ads marketing
specifically to millennials, you will want to make sure that you are creating content that has good
intentions, is socially progressive and inclusive and represents your brand.

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Strategies for connecting to your audience

But what are the best approaches to connecting and engaging potential customers? When
building your brand on social media you need to know what the best strategies are. You will want
to choose networks and platforms that support your brand image. For example Facebook is a
great platform for mostly all brands because nearly three quarters of US adults use the site. If
your brand is solely image based and relies on pictures to advertise your product, Instagram will
be a good site to use; usually clothing and retail companies will use Instagram to show off their
products. Pinterest is a great site to reach women because the majority of users are young
women. Along with picking appropriate sites you should create content that is valuable and
shareable to your customers. People want to share simple meaningful content and content that
pertains to their interests. So if someone is already following your brand, chances are they like
your products; a good way to play off this is to create sharable content that directly relates to
your brand and what your brand stands for. But before you start posting material, it is important
to know your target audience and what they value and will want to see from you. To know this,
take a look at your demographics and use various monitoring tools track your content statistics.
Which content has been shared/liked the most and which has gained little to no attention at all?

Why interaction is important

Interacting with customers is key. When companies interact with customers it makes
them feel important and part of something bigger. They feel like their ideas and thoughts matter.
When people tweet and tag brands it gives the brand an opportunity to connect and interact with
the customer on a more personal level. It enables the company to begin a conversation. People
formainlythreereasonsfollowbrandprofiles:theyfollowbecausetheyusethebrandsproduct

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orhaveapositiveattitudetowardthebrand,ortheywillusetheirsocialnetworkingsitestofind
outinformationabouttheproductandservices,ortheyfollowtotakeadvantageofspecial
promotionsandoffersonline.AccordingtoanarticlebyRosemaryThackeray,anassociate
professoratBrighamYoungUniversityinProvo,Utah,encouragingthecustomertobeapartof
thecreativeprocesshasmanyadvantages.Itcanincreasebuyinandloyaltytothecompany,if
someonetrustsandlikeswhatabrandstandsfor,theyaremorelikelytocontinuebuyingfrom
thatparticularbrand.Anotherreasonthisisagoodthingisthatsomeonewillbemorewillingto
recommendtheproducttohisorherfriendsandassociatesiftheyhaveagoodrelationshipwith
thebrand.Atacticthatworksverywellandencouragescustomerinteractioniscustomer
generatedcontent.OneofthemostwellknownexamplesofthisistheDoritosSuperBowl
commercialcontest.Peoplewereaskedtosubmitvideosofhomemadecommercialsaboutthe
chipbrandDoritosandtheentrieswouldbevotedonwiththewinningentrybeingproducedand
airedontelevision.AnothercustomergeneratedcontestwasfromLays Potato Chips; they
created a Facebook contest asking consumers to submit flavor ideas and vote for new chip
flavors. The contest generated more than eight million entries and consequently generated a lot
of traffic to their site. Even if you just tweet out promotional discounts you are still interacting
with the customer and creating a relationship that you both benefit from.

Social media mistakes

There are several mistakes you should avoid when using social media to promote your
product. First being, posting offensive material. Surprisingly, offensive material gets posted
regularly. This can be very bad for your brand reputation whether it was on purpose or not. An
example of this happening is when U.S. Airways tweeted a pornographic picture in response to a

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customer. The company did not realize what they had done until an hour later, after their twitter
had already blown up. Another mistake to avoid is ignoring follower feedback. If followers do
not like something you are doing or putting out into the world, generally they will let you know.
Even if they dont explicitly tell you what they like or do not like, a simple statistics check on
your posts will tell you which posts are being liked and shared the most and which are gaining no
attention at all. You will also want to avoid going silent on your social media sites. To maintain
your audiences attention you need to post on a consistent basis. Because if you dont followers
are likely to forget about you and move on to the next brand. Finally, you will want to pay
attention to trends and not misinterpret them. For example, before you start using a hashtag,
make sure you know exactly what that hash tag stands for and means.

Why its important

Socialmediamarketingisveryimportantbecauseitssuchanewwaytodirectlyengage
consumersinthecreativeprocessofproducingandcontributinginformationanditcanalso
enhancethepowerofviralmarketing.These technologies allow for collaborative writing (e.g.,
wikis), content sharing (e.g., text, video, and images), social networking(e.g.,Facebook),social
bookmarking(e.g.,ratings,tagging),andsyndication(e.g.,RSSfeeds).(Thackeray).Big
organizationsandbusinessesusesocialmediatoengagewithcustomers,receivefeedback,and
buildmeaningfulrelationships.There are three main reasons for social media promotions, to
increase product awareness, to persuade people to purchase the product, or to remind them that
the product exists. However,before you implement social media into your marketing plan you
need to consider which tools and tactics you are going to use. This should depend on different

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factors including your priority audience, related costs, budget, and your marketing goals. The
manybenefitsofsocialmediamarketinginclude,increasingbrandrecognition,increasingprofit,
connectingtoyouraudienceonamorepersonallevel,andbeingabletorespondtoproblemsa
lotquicker.

Works Cited

Agius, Aaron. The 4 essentials to building your brand on social media. Entrepreneur.
23 April. 2015. Web. 20 Oct. 2015
DeMers, Jayson. 5 Fatal Mistakes That Will Kill Your Social Media Marketing
Campaign. Forbes Magazine. 8 Oct 2015. Web. 26 Oct 2015
Lenhart, Amanda. Teens, Social Media and Technology Overview 2015 Pew Research
Center, 09 April 2015. Web. 12 November 2015
OBrien, Owen. Recap of marketing to millennials by Keith Kaplan Social Media
Association. 06 November 2015. Web. 11 November 2015

Sanders, Sam. How do you market to millennials? National Public Radio. 22 Feb.
2015. Web. 20 Oct. 2015
Thackeray, Rosemary, Brad Neiger, Carl Hanson, and James McKenzie Enhancing
Promotional Strategies Within Social Marketing Programs: Use of Web 2.0 Social
Media Social Marketing and Health Communication. 02 Oct. 2008. Web. 26 Oct. 2015.

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