For the Greater Good? Social Media in all its Glory as a Double-Edged Sword
Social networks are only now becoming a fully-realized factor in the means of presenting a brand or image. As a result, the benefits of doing so are being weighed against the detriments.Take a recent example. Life's Good (AKA "LG") published "Reality or Ultra Reality?", an approximately two minute video clip, on YouTube two days ago (on September 3rd). In just roughly forty-eight hours, it has already earned at least one and a half million views*. LG successfully produced what is now called a "viral" advertisement. The commercial is as innocent as most on television, but has a funny story to it. Hilarious enough that the video is being shared across many different platforms, including Facebook and Tumblr to name a couple.
 |
| Scenes from LG's viral video |
This single instance of viral marketing shows how useful the technique has become in the last decade or so. Social networks allow for a rapid spread of information. An advertisement that goes over very well with its online audience can dramatically increase the respect given to its brand. Whether or not the product LG is advertising really does well has no significance - it has likely gained more subscribers to its YouTube channel as well as "likes" for any of its global pages that have shared the video's URL.
When a business wishes to produce some kind of viral media in order to hype up a product or service, they can choose to use special audience-targeting features depending on the platform they are using, whether it is Facebook, Twitter, or another. For example, Facebook can be fed an age range, geographic location, or gender preference when creating an advertisement for a business' page. Facebook already takes some information from the average user's profile and personal information. Perhaps parsing an individual's list of favorite music artists or novel writers. However, this has come under fire in recent years because of the possibility that a person's privacy is being intruded upon. The Los Angeles Times reported on September 5th that Facebook would be holding off on analyzing and possibly using its users' profile photos for more marketing potential.
 |
| Facebook's Landing Page for Advertising |
The main issue here is that while businesses can effectively reach a large audience, they can also harm their audience. Advertising a new product or service can create positive hype, but if that advertising can be linked to a single user of the chosen platform, then such an issue can prove to be a detriment to the brand. Individuals have rights to their privacy and whether or not they would like advertisements specifically tailored to their interests. If Coca Cola's logo is found in an analyzed profile photo, should that give Facebook the right to deliver Coke advertisements directly to the person who owns the profile?
Viral marketing has become more of a personal tool in that it is meant to be disseminated by the people and for the people. Traditional advertisements are much more targeted, which again leads to possible personal life intrusions. The key issue today is how best to utilize the two while still leaving a brand untarnished. This makes a substantial amount of sense seeing as how 55% of home internet users use social networking sites and 48% share content found online**. Because of this delicate balance between proper and improper use of social media platforms, businesses need to be sure to respect their audience and not simply objectify them.
*YouTube videos' view counts do not update immediately. The given number is recorded at the time of this writing.
**Home broadband use has increased from roughly 1 hour per month in 1995, to more than 15 hours per month in 2000, to almost 29 hours per month today, as consumers find more valuable applications and content online. // Almost two-thirds of the time users spend online is focused on communication, information searching, entertainment or social networking. (broadband.org)
Great job writing your Social Media post. You are the first one I have seen to talk about viral videos. They can make a lot of money and really advertise your brand because people remember what they like or is funny and you might even get money from Youtube if the video is popular enough. I also thought it was good to touch on the harms to your brand the internet could have. Especially if someone talks badly about your product and it gets popular.
ReplyDeleteThanks Ian! They really do have tremendous potential. I definitely forgot to mention how even an everyday consumer can create their own video (or other form of content) that can become viral while featuring a brand's product/service. While that can and does often pose a risk, it also allows for something I would think of as counter-warfare per se (relative to advertising that is). It allows brands to further interact with their consumer-base and build off of what is seen in popular culture. It can be harmful or rewarding - it's just a matter of risk.
Delete