Social Media and Marketing: Making Distinction(CSIT Week II Part I)
Social Media as an Evolving Tool of The Corporate and Social World
I think it is important to set the stage when talking about social media as both its own corporate platform and a tool for social use. All companies need to make a profit and its no secret that Facebook(who owns Instagram and a slew of other social media corps) sells information to other research centers and even government companies. Other than that, however, corporate brands pay to expose their product all over front pages and timeline feeds. Much akin to just walking down the street in real life and seeing a slew of advertisements, when one walks down a digital pathway they are exposed to paid advertisements.
Instagram and Snapchat are functionally 'personal usage' platforms with a focus on sharing either public or private content. Snapchat is oriented around quick tidbits from friends to friends with its 'news' section just being clickbait garbage. Youtube and Facebook present an entirely corporate perspective when it comes to advertisements. Youtubers rely on actual ad revenue displayed by Corps. in order to gain money with Google Adsense. Facebook is a bottomless pit of misinformation and ads out the wazoo, so the distinction is pretty clear.
Facebook has the largest userbase out of any social media platform, and in essence, it is essential to have a Facebook page(at the very minimum) for personal business. Instagram, with its more personal effects, can be used by single individuals to promote brands rather than being THE brand(known as influencers). Twitter has recently developed brand personas wherein a social media manager will interact with other Twitter users, usually in a hilarious manner. Snapchat remains the sole remainder in terms of least usage between companies in terms of overall exposure.
All social media has turned into an almost overexposure of branding and corporate incentive. It is just apart of the ever-evolving social and consumer landscape that no one can really escape.
I think it is important to set the stage when talking about social media as both its own corporate platform and a tool for social use. All companies need to make a profit and its no secret that Facebook(who owns Instagram and a slew of other social media corps) sells information to other research centers and even government companies. Other than that, however, corporate brands pay to expose their product all over front pages and timeline feeds. Much akin to just walking down the street in real life and seeing a slew of advertisements, when one walks down a digital pathway they are exposed to paid advertisements.
Instagram and Snapchat are functionally 'personal usage' platforms with a focus on sharing either public or private content. Snapchat is oriented around quick tidbits from friends to friends with its 'news' section just being clickbait garbage. Youtube and Facebook present an entirely corporate perspective when it comes to advertisements. Youtubers rely on actual ad revenue displayed by Corps. in order to gain money with Google Adsense. Facebook is a bottomless pit of misinformation and ads out the wazoo, so the distinction is pretty clear.
Facebook has the largest userbase out of any social media platform, and in essence, it is essential to have a Facebook page(at the very minimum) for personal business. Instagram, with its more personal effects, can be used by single individuals to promote brands rather than being THE brand(known as influencers). Twitter has recently developed brand personas wherein a social media manager will interact with other Twitter users, usually in a hilarious manner. Snapchat remains the sole remainder in terms of least usage between companies in terms of overall exposure.
All social media has turned into an almost overexposure of branding and corporate incentive. It is just apart of the ever-evolving social and consumer landscape that no one can really escape.
I like how you mentioned social media managers and how they have changed what customer service means from their stereotype of being hilarious! Do you think you've come across any business instagrams that do a great job at being the brand without directly doing sponsored ads with influencers? Nice post!
ReplyDeleteYou make a good point about Facebook having the most users. Perhaps that alone makes it good for business, but it's also where everyone is, so a good place to find old friends. I didn't realize that Snapchat was more personal or had the least amount of marketing.
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