The Cost of Social Media

We use a number of social media platforms in our every day lives. Facebook for socializing, Twitter for news, Instagram for pictures (and now videos),Tumblr for whatever it is Tumblr is for.  And that’s just scratching the surface.  In my opinion, these platforms have blown up because they’re easy to use and most importantly they are free.  But how do they stay free?  And what does it cost users for these platforms to remain free?

Here's an example of an ad on Instagram.

Unfortunately, each of these social media platforms needs to make money in order to remain free to users, which leads us to advertising on social media.  Let’s be honest here, advertising on social media platforms is annoying, albeit a necessary evil.  Recently there has been tremendous growth in social media advertising.  Along with the announcement of its IPO, Twitter announced a new ad platform.  Then, Instagram announced advertisements.  Even Pinterest is getting in on the action.

A promotoed tweet on Twitter.

So what does this mean for the user?  Well for starters our experiences on these platforms is seriously about to change. I’ve already noticed a change on Twitter, although it’s inconsistent about when I have ads and then when I do have ads, they are usually not targeted to me.  Same goes for Facebook ads, which are consistently on my newsfeed but generally irrelevant to my life.

I don't have a dog....

I will happily have ads on all of my social media networks if it means I keep getting free access.  However, I firmly believe advertisers are under using this advertising opportunity.  Twitter has a vast amount of data about each of its users, based on profiles, who they follow and what they tweet about. It should be easy to target content towards certain people.  This is not the case.  I have never once seen an ad targeted towards me, which I personally find ridiculous because I have a public Twitter profile with an obvious bio.  On Facebook, I can be equally as easily targeted through pages I like, as well as based off of my bio. 

Why does it seem like an opportunity is being wasted?  In my opinion it is.  Social media is an amazing place for advertisers to target their core audiences.  I’m more likely to follow through on an ad that aligns with my interest, as opposed to an ad that has nothing to do with me and instead turns me off to that brand.  While interaction on social media between brand and consumer is extremely important, I also think that understanding advertising on social media is just as important.  Taking advantage of data provided by Twitter and Facebook about their users is already an invaluable too and will only continue to grow as social media becomes even more widely relied upon.

Check out my Vine about ads on social media: https://vine.co/v/hw7urAgBb5I

Brands Should Really Use Social Media More

I truly believe that social media is underused by many major brands and companies.  One of the biggest draws to a brand for me personally, is transparency.  I don’t want your corporation to be some mysterious place where I buy goods and don’t know where they come from or what your company is all about.  Obviously before social media we had ads that were capable of “deceiving” us into making decisions.  Now, we live in a world where any sort of deception can be easily uncovered.  So what does this mean for brands?  To me, it means show me what you’re all about.  That's where social media comes in.  The beauty of social media is that you can do this for free, using Facebook, Twitter, Vine, Instagram, YouTube, even Tumblr, a brand can be almost like a friend to consumers.

It’s because of this transparency that social media provides that I think more brands need to use it to survive and build a consumer base.  Take Chipotle for example.  I recently watched the new Chipotle ad, which by the way is not streaming on television.  It blew me away, so I decided to tweet at Chipotle about it.  I got a response from them in about 20 minutes.  I didn’t follow Chipotle before this, but now I do because they have brand representatives on their Twitter feed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, responding to the tweets of Chipotle customers.  That is brand management.

Another major part of brand management is engagement from the top tier of the company.  According to a report by CEO.com, 68% of Fortune 500 CEO’s are not present on any social network.  To me, this seems detrimental to the brand, although potentially redeemable by how active the Twitter of the brand is.  Let’s continue with the Chipotle example.  Steve Ells, the founder of Chipotle does not have a Twitter.  The Chipotle Twitter will tweet about Steve, but Steve himself does not tweet.  Does this take away from the Chipotle brand?  Maybe not in this case because the Twitter is already so engaged, but it’s still questionable.  I think this shows that engagement on social media isn’t tied to the CEO being present, but it certainly can’t hurt.

Overall, I think social media needs to be used by all brands, big or small.  Sometimes that means you can get to millions of followers and sometimes you won’t.  What’s most important is to be engaged with your followers-it’s how you gain more.  I’m an example of that.  And while Chipotle isn’t my favorite restaurant, they managed to get me to engage with them and that is a successful use of social media.

Check out my Vine about brands and social media: https://vine.co/v/hwWlW6iOQtF

First Post--Hello World!

This fall I started my senior year of college. Typically in college you take classes and as part of my social media studies course we have been assigned the task of creating a blog and writing in it throughout the semester. I'll be writing about topics related to social media, my life and my life using social media. Plus anything and everything else inbetween. Below I'll give you the stats on my life aka random information you should know in order to read this blog without being completely and utterly confused (assuming someone besides my mom, professor and roommate are reading this).

Name: Jess Canter
Hometown: Philadelphia
Current Location: Washington, DC
University: American University
Major: Public Communication and Political Science
Dream Job: Still deciding
Favorite Color: Blue
Favorite TV Show: Happy Endings (RIP)

I also like long walks on the beach, pina colatas and getting lost in the rain. You can always find me at the refreshments table.