Week 11

Reference Material

Antony Young – Brand Media Strategy

I’ve been particularly interested in chapter 10 – “Getting Social” as I myself love Instagram, and I know how much brands are using social media marketing as a selling point. I saw an advert recently actually about an “Oodie” (a wearable duvet), despite never having seen one in my life before seeing photos on my Instagram feed, it was something I really loved. Naturally I visited the page, scrolled through some pictures, and went back to my feed after 15 seconds. The next few days went by… then the advert popped back up into my feed again. This time I was interested and I ended up thinking about that Oodie for the remainder of that day. The next day ended up buying one. Now until the previous week this was not a thing I needed in my life. But what has intrigued me is a) how that advert got to me in the first place (maybe I did unknowingly like a picture/post at some point that related to one?) and b) the fact they knew I had visited the site, and pushed through advertisements trying to tempt me. I know all of this is what marketing is all about, but now I realise how affective it really is.

“As the media continues to shift, and consumer behavior evolves, social media is becoming a principle medium to drive and support the brand media strategy.”
• I need to consider how I could use social media as a promotion for my idea. Essentially, my idea is that the transcription service would be able to work with social media such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Youtube etc. – so how would I create something that would work in combination with these platforms? Similarly, how would I then use those platforms to promote this product?

“That is, comparison sites, ratings and reviews, comments on social media channels, and user videos on YouTube are becoming a more go-to resource and are changing consumers’ decisions on a brand with dramatic effect.”
• I think it’s all down to easy access and just being able to search a consumer page and see how people really feel about a product. For instance, I know plenty of sites that choose to reject any negative feedback and only display positive feedback – this isn’t honest and is hiding the truth from a consumer. Social media is accessible to anyone and at anytime therefore making it easy for people to post their experiences, and people know this.

“According to consumer insights company Compete, consumers who choose to “follow” a brand on Twitter are 56 percent more likely to purchase it. Similar numbers were recorded on Facebook. Social media’s ability to drive purchase is increasing.”
• This is true. We subscribe/follow pages because we want to learn more about the product we want and whether it really is worth purchasing. Social media is the new Argos catalogue; I remember flicking through that every christmas when I was a kid, circling things I wanted. Now I just follow Instagram pages and subscribe to emails. That’s a really evident example of how times have changed in the last 15 years and how everything has switched to social media – it plays a bigger role in our lives than most of us realise. It’s convenient too – we can learn about the ins and outs of a product from our sofa.

The top criteria for owning a social media site to promote your business is:
• Increasing brand awareness – selling your unique idea
• Humanising the brand – connecting with the public
• Establish your brand – be knowledgable
• Post frequently as people are online throughout the day – peak times?
• Use social media as a stepping stone to your website – attracting visits
• Boost sales and spread word of mouth – followers/likes
• Partner with other businesses – collaboration
• Promote your business – advertise
• Source content – listen to what people want

All in all, from knowing how I behave/have been influenced by brands on social media sites and reading this reference above, I would consider hosting a social media Instagram page in my marketing strategy for advertising my subtitling business.