The Future of Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing is constantly growing. The question is, however, will it last?

According to the Huffington Post, marketers allocate 7.6% of budgets to social media, and it is expected to reach 18.8% by 2019. Currently, marketers only spend 4 to 6 hours a week on social media, but social media is known to be the top contributor of relationship building. With this, 33% of consumers say social media is the top way to discover new brands and products.

Knowing this, social media marketing will only continue to grow. Throughout the last century, the way companies marketed to their audiences was through radio, television, and print media. However, with those media outlets, communication was limited. Today, the opportunity to spread awareness and controlled messages is much greater.

With social media, companies have the opportunity to communicate instantly with their target markets and respond to costumer complaints, creating open communication. This helps the brand build a voice and develop relationships with audiences.

I think ease and reliability will cause social media marketing to continue to increase, easily surpassing television. However, I do believe one day, something even faster and easier will come along, pushing social media to the waste side. Until then, I am eager to see where social media will take the marketing, advertising, and public relations industries.

What Makes a Video Go Viral

What makes a video go viral? With 100 hours of video being uploaded to YouTube every day, it's easy for your video to get lost in the shuffle. Forbes lists 6 qualities that define most viral videos today:

1. Be Short and Sweet.
2. Be Upbeat.
3. Be Timely.
4. Be Involved.
5. Be Informative.
6. Be Inspiring.

While I agree with the list provided, I think one major quality is missing: humor. My favorite viral videos are meant for entertainment. If you can make someone smile, laugh, and have fun, they are more likely to share it with their friends or on social media. One of my all-time favorite viral videos was made by the average Joe. They used music, humor, and a family aspect to connect with their audience, which made the video that much more enjoyable. I'd like to present "Baby Got Class"!

Besides humor, the other emotion to channel in your video is empathy. By pulling at heart-strings or tapping into your audience's emotions, it makes your video more memorable, and thus more sharable. In "World's Toughest Job", the audience is led to believe interviewees are hearing the most insane job requirements. At the end of this advertisement for American Greetings, the interviewer reveals the job's real title: Mom.

Overall, creating a video that will go viral is difficult. However, if done right, any video has the potential to be the next internet sensation.

The Super Bowl Isn't Just About Football

With the month of November almost half way over already, companies are already buying advertising space for the 2015 Super Bowl. This leads to the impending question: What creative campaigns can we expect to appear in the nation’s most watched program? First, let's look back. 

Brands seemed to adopt the use of the hashtag a lot in 2014, with 57% of Super Bowl commercials using them. Some of my personal favorites spun off in to full ongoing campaigns. Bud Light is always successful in the Super Bowl with #UpForWhatever in 2014 and #HereWeGo in 2013. Coca-Cola made a splash with their commercial, which prompted conversations online using #AmericaIsBeautiful. Esurance debuted a massive cash giveaway using only #EsuranceSave30, which I admit I even took part in. Why not? I could’ve used $1.5 million!

However, my favorite use of social media during last year’s Super Bowl was done by T-Mobile. The brand paired up with the contract-less Tim Tebow to promote #NoContract, paralleling their phone plans that do not require signing lengthy contracts. In my opinion, T-Mobile is being crushed by their competitors, so seeing some creativity from the brand come during the Super Bowl was a pleasant surprise.

Furthermore, in 2015 I imagine brands, seeing the success of 2014, will add more social media into their advertisements. The use of hashtags, websites, and short videos leading up to the big game will increase, as well as the debut of big campaigns during the actual game will rise. The more brands can engage their audience before, during, and after the event, the more successful the campaigns will be.

Overall, I’m excited to see what big plans companies have for their advertising, because after all, we know the Super Bowl isn’t just about football anymore.

My Favorite Social Media Campaign

It's no wonder Coca Cola is one of the biggest brand names. It constantly finds new ways to sell the same old products. The way it does it? Social media.

When it debuted its "Share a Coke" campaign this year, the message was to share a Coke with the people you love. It brought back the idea of Coke being a classic family drink that can be shared with younger generations. The campaign originated in Australia in 2011 and was just introduced in America this summer. Quickly, it seemed like everyone, young and old, was digging through stores to find "their" Coke, and they were talking about it. Soon, #ShareACoke was trending on Twitter, and it seemed like everyone was posting selfies with their personal bottles on Instagram. To take it one step further, Cokes were beginning to make appearances in baby and wedding announcements!

I have to admit, although I am not normally a Coke drinker, I too was scanning the Cokes at the checkout counter any time I went to the store hoping to find my name. If I had, I probably would have bought "my" Coke. In the end, isn't that the whole point? Kuddos to you, Coca Cola!

Long term, I'm not sure if "Share A Coke" will stick around. I know Coke will be riding the wave of success for a little while longer, but once excitement dies down, I see the campaign ending. However, that's not to say Coke can't relaunch the campaign again down the road hoping to mimic its earlier success.

Decoding a Killer through Social Media

The death of a young child is one of the most heart-wrenching for people to cope with. This becomes even more difficult when the death is because of violence, especially by his or her own peers.

School shootings are happening more and more often in America. This type of violence is heartbreaking and incredibly difficult for people to understand. The most logical way to begin to understand is by asking, "Why?" However, the reasons anyone decides to kill, especially children, will never be fully understood.

When school shootings are carried out by children themselves, the media often turns immediately to social media. The generation of children in middle school and high school today post everything on social media, including every thought, feeling, and action. This helps tap into that lingering question of "why?".

For the recent school shooting in Seattle, Washington, shooter Jaylen Fryberg's social media accounts were blasted all over the news. By utilizing social media, the media was able to see that Fryberg was depressed and had a distorted outlook on his recent breakup. This helped answer the "why" in choosing his targets.

While social media can be a useful tool in looking into the mindset of a killer, it prompts a terrifying realization. Since the shooting, Fryberg's final Tweets have been retweeted thousands of times, spreading his messages of anger and hate.

By giving these hateful people attention, almost glorifying them, it shows other people with similar thoughts and feelings that killing is the answer to their problems. The only solution I see in this problem is by focusing the media's attention in memorializing those lost instead of trying to decode the motives of a killer.

Apple Pay: A Wallet in Your Hand

Apple just released their newest innovation. With Apple Pay, iPhone users can link their credit cards to their phone and pay quickly and easily.

The most enticing aspect of this idea is the security. If a user's phone is lost or stolen, the "Find My iPhone" feature can help them locate it. Even better than that, the phone can be locked down or swiped clean from anywhere, so thieves won't obtain the user's information.

Like any new idea, the reactions have varied.

My opinion is that Apple Pay is a great idea. Will it take awhile to really take off? Yes. Will it eventually take off? Yes. Society is always looking for new ways to make things easier, faster, and more convenient. Apple Pay is the solution.

Yik Yak: A Bully's Platform

When it comes to the internet, everyone knows nothing is ever deleted. This makes it very easy for anyone's most embarrassing moments, pictures, and mistakes to be forever archived for the world to see. At the time, that drunken picture or angry Tweet may have seemed like a good idea, but as time goes on, the regret usually sets in. But what if your social media image isn't in your own hands but someone else's?

The University of South Dakota has already faced something similar to this. With the Facebook site "USD Confessions", people submit their anonymous posts, which are later posted on the page for anyone to view. However, the administrator for the site is able to reject posts that are too over-the-top or shorten the names of mean or crude ones to somewhat protect the victim of the post.

The newest craze is an app called "Yik Yak". This app is created so anyone in a certain geographical location can post anything to a public wall. These topics could include someone's best pickup lines or discussions on the weather... Or worse.

The problem that immediately arose was the abuse of the anonymity. What was originally supposed to be a fun and innocent way for college students to communicate has become a public forum for bullies to take out their aggression. Anyone can use this site to completely destroy someone's reputation or credibility. To remind everyone, once something is online, it's there forever. One simple post can seriously damage someone's future. Luckily, I have not been a victim of Yik Yak yet, but it's popularity is still on the rise.

Two more unknown problems have come from the site's creation. First, instead of being used solely by college students, the site has trickled down into high schools and middle schools. As many of us remember, middle school is full of enough bullies. Adding an aspect of anonymity will only add fuel to the fire. Secondly, the safety of campuses all across the nation is being tested through the site. Already in its short life, the site has been used for death threats against students and bomb threats against schools as stated in this website.

What's the solution? Ridding the internet and phones of these anonymous sites is a first step. Someone with strong opinions should not be able to hide behind an app. The world is full of enough bullies. By giving bullies such a convenient platform to unleash their ridicule, we are only inviting more negativity and peer pressure into our society.