A couple of days ago, I found myself in a very peculiar situation, where I was out with a group of friends and they were talking about pictures on there Facebook pages that had 15 comments and 4 likes and my other friend said she had even more 23 comments and 34 likes. I had to interject and tell them how unimportant comments/ likes are, and how it really doesn't matter. It does not make you "hipper" individual, if it was just a comment, nothing more nothing less, or so I thought.
Looking into this conversation a bit further, I began looking for answers on why people have become so interested in such things. I came across an article that has 17 tips on how to get more twitter followers and tweeter friends. People have become so depended on social network and the attention as well as information it brings to them. I have come to realize that people find a sense of satisfaction with expressing there inner thoughts, beliefs, as well as designing something that represents them to the best of their abilities. As technology has continued advancing, people have adapted to using several different social networks to stay in contact with others. Others post status to speak their minds, in all sorts of ways, whether it is writing their favorite song lyric, or even writing where they are headed on a Friday night .Social media marketing and viral marketing tend to bring in lots of attention to websites such as twitter pages . For example, artists want more and more fans and individuals to visit their pages and follow them. With the artist example, they are hoping these likes and followers raise the possibility of people actually moving to the next step and maybe even downloading music and becoming true fans. Who would have thought something so simple would bring this positive effect on companies and individuals.
Social media is not being used as a mean of just communicating as it might have began as. Now, it has becoming the number one of the top marketing tool, and has become a need for companies and artists out there. Companies are really greatly on social networks to be their main and major marketing channels. These networks are also currently coming close to Google , in most useful marketing channel. Google has had dominate power in the search engine sector previous years. Yet, Facebook is sliding right by and catching up to that. The intense power of the social network on even the Google website proves this to us. Google is using a Social Search, that includes things included on your friend's twitter such as related information they have provided like videos and links. They have had the social search since 2009, but now with this new feature, people will be seeing a much integration of their social media with the search engine. You have to be signed on in order for tweets, uploads, and links to be included on searches. This is including Twitter, not Facebook since Facebook is a much more complex system to search and choose information to share.
The next time I hear people talking about how many likes Lady Gaga has, which by the way as of right not 11:38 pm is 28,478,180, I am not going to push my old opinion on how I felt it was not important. Instead, I am going to think about how people are becoming exposed to her videos in the push of a button, and finding out her tour dates, and maybe listening to her music for the first time; this is creating new leads for her industry, who may become future prospects and long term followers of her music.
Till next time, its my time to go spend time on my favorite social network, Facebook!
Aileen
http://www.facebook.com/ladygaga?v=wall
http://www.seroundtable.com/archives/023302.html
http://www.digitaltrends.com/social-media/google-boosts-social-search-by-giving-friends-posts-higher-page-priority/
http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/facebook-leads-the-surge-against-search-engine-marketing-0997/
http://socialmediatoday.com/pammoore/271077/17-tips-get-more-twitter-followers-and-tweeter-friends
Social Media has truly created a new era of marketing. Soon we will be seeing this in textbooks. You are right, facebook and all of these outlets gives consumers a sense of likeability. It has allowed us to feel like we can freely express ourselves and become apart of something big. However I do feel like marketers do not always use these outlets to its full potential and the more it grows the more they lose connection. This marketing tool is surely a way to reach and connect, but do consumers truly feel connected? I think sometimes we do and most times we do not. At least for me I feel more connected with a brand I was already connected to prior to facebook and all of these new outlets. It is a bit more difficult to grab my attention and sustain it with a new brand through social media when there is not much interaction happening. This is something for marketers to consider.
ReplyDeletePersonally,I am a strong supporter of all kinds of social media and as I mentioned in my blog post on this topic. I use it daily to my personal and professional advantages. At this point I hardly imagine my life without it.
ReplyDeleteHowever, social media is not only growing in importance, but is also taking over many in-person interactions. Instead of picking up a phone or going to see a friend next door, we send them a message on Facebook, post on their wall or ask them something in the chat. Instead of sending personalized thank you notes to our family and friends, we compose a "thanking tweet" or update our statuses with a "thanking message". We share pictures, stories, personal information, play games, and do many things that we used to do in person, online.
There is actually no need to come out of the house to keep up with your friends' lives anymore. Everything is out there for you to see. There is even no need to search for it, because you get it all on your "daily news feed" :)...
Again, I love social media, but sometimes, when I chat with my roommate on Facebook while sitting in separate rooms of the same apartment, it hits me that that some of us may be getting a little too involved in the virtual world.
It also applies to businesses. Social interaction online is very important, however there is nothing more personal than a hand written "thank you note" or a phone call.
As in every aspect of life, balance is the most important thing to have to be healthy and achieve successful professional and personal relationships, and I hope people like us, involved so deeply in the social media reality, are able to find it.
Have a great President's day girls! :)
Aileen,
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree that "likes" and "comments" are ego builders for many people, and clearly a way to connect for business, celebrities, and the rest of us regular people.
When it comes to being valued, that's where a bit more in-depth interaction would be useful (particularly for a company). Of course, how could Lady Gaga ever truly interact with her 28 million plus followers? We know she can't one-on-one, but then again, I'm pretty sure the vast majority don't expect that.
Anna's comment makes me wonder how many of the new generation have ever used old communication media? You know, the words written by hand on a piece of paper, folded up, placed in an envelope, and mailed by the post office to some other location. Yes, it's a pain; it's dreadfully slow; it's immediate response factor is quite low. But there's nothing online that has the same feel when it's received. At least not yet!
Great blogging and commentary!
Anthony
e-marketingforsensiblefolk.blogspot.com