The Changing Marketing World
The internet is inexpensive for companies to place advertisements. Newspapers, magazines, commercials, phone books are all great ways to reach customers that are stuck in the past. The articles and information are available online. While reaching customers is more attainable than before, satisfaction is a huge factor in becoming successful. The speed of the internet is continually increasing, while people adjust to the speed, they expect everything else to improve too. With the increasing rate, it is important to have customer service available all the time. Customers can find information by looking directly at what others think. They can look up questions and send complaints or praises or problems at the click of a button. Pleasing the customer is always a struggle, but in the digital age, it is the most difficult it has ever been. Businesses need to have market researchers who find out customer base insights including customer habits and requirements, effectiveness, sales analysis, territories, and marketing characteristics.
Recently there has been an uproar on social media of what is called, “brand generated marketing” (BGM). BGM is where companies want to reach a more significant group of people, so they have consumers become their ambassadors. Ambassadors can receive unique products they post pictures with to promote the company. Often, they are given codes to give out to advertise. The primary goal of social media marketing is to build awareness on a level that is available to many people. Social signals are likes, comments, and shares that an interested consumer can help market without trying to increase promotions to the desired target audience. Characteristics of businesses are flexible depending on the target group. A target group is an audience a specific company tries to lure in. These can change based on gender, age, financial groups, and race. Based on the target group, researchers can find information on what they need to display to grab their desired audience. Another factor of targeting is the placement of ads, whether it be on a specific social media platform, a website, or in print.
Determining what goes on social media is essential. There are a few rules that companies should follow to be the most impactful: be authentic, be native, and be consistent. Genuine posts are ones that tell a story and try to develop where the company came from and the direction it is headed. This form of posts is valuable, so customers do not feel as if they are buying into a stranger. Everyone wants to be apart of something, and purchasing a product or service has to feel like their own. They want to relate to what the advertisement told them. Native posts are not different than what they would typically see. Ads change due to what platform it is posted; Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram cannot use the same ad. The same reaction will not be the same because expectations on different platforms alter. Posts on Twitter tend to be short and funny blurbs about a topic, while Facebook advertisements tend to be longer and thoughtful. On the other hand, Instagram is strictly photo or video, which is more challenging to navigate. Pictures that are similar to customer posts are more efficient than a shot of an unused item on a plain white background. Customers are looking for something relatable and not different, but consistency is essential. A cohesive feed on Instagram is not only visually appealing, but when people are scrolling through their feed, they can quickly identify that a particular post is a company by the edit and a caption. Posting frequently enough that they are identifiable is essential too. On Twitter, companies that have a more humorous approach to reply to comments or post about a topic need to post more frequently to be sure it is seen as humor and not hurtful to customer’s opinions. Marketing researchers are continually finding ways to reach their target audience better and increase sales.
The marketing industry is ever changing to engage the customer base better. Researchers are always finding new ways to increase revenue, but recently the hard facts and simple advertisements are not as influential on the world population. As small businesses become companies, growing bigger and bigger, corporate companies are investing more money and time into social media and internet marketing to keep their profits up and expanding.
About the Writer
Emma Greenspan, Opinion Editor
Emma is a Senior at Wheeler and the opinions editor for the print edition of The Catalyst. She stays involved as the Varsity Cheer Captain and President...
