Background of Social Media

Week #1January 29, 2014

Utica CollegePRL 408: Social MediaThomas Armitage

What we will cover this year Background Social Media in PR and Marketing Goals, Strategies, Building a Following Content Creating and Blogging Contests and Promotions Reputation Management, Crisis Communication Social Media Advertising Evaluation and Measurement Integration with Other PR/Marketing Functions Use and Importance of Video Use of Mobile and Location Based Services Customer Service Tricks to the Trade Managing a Personal Brand, Job Searching

In today’s lesson…

Definition Social media is... Types of channels Timeline Analogy to a city The “big 5” Features Overview of integration Brands that are doing it right

Definition

Social media provides a way for people to share ideas, content, thoughts, and relationships online. Social media differs from the so-called mainstream media in that anyone can create, comment on, and add to social media content. Social media can take the form of text, audio, video, images, and communities (Scott, 2013, pg. 53).

Social media provides users the opportunity to freely share content and interact with one another on the web.

Social media…

Is an extension of a multichannel marketing strategy. Builds awareness by attraction rather than

interruption. Is comprehensive, intimate and community driven. Engages customers in dialogue. Builds frequency less expensively than old media. Can reach markets that would normally be too

difficult/expensive. Can target a narrow market while casting a wide net. Impacts ability to be found online. Is available 24/7–almost indefinitely. Allows access to decision makers w/o gatekeepers.

(Brauner, 2009)

Types of channels

Social networking Blogs Video/photo sharing Chat rooms/message boards Email marketing Wikis Social bookmarking Mobile apps

Timeline

1985: AOL opens 1997: Blogging begins, AIM launches 1998: Google opens 2001: Wikipedia founded 2002: Friendster launched 2003: MySpace, LinkedIn, iTunes launched 2005: Facebook expands, Flickr, Digg, YouTube launched 2006: Twitter launched 2007: iPhone released 2008: Facebook tries to buy Twitter…#fail 2009: “Unfriend” was word of the year 2010: iPad released 2012: Facebook surpasses 1 billion users 2013: iTune app downloads exceed 50 billion(Curtis, 2013)

Analogy to a city

Corporate sites = stores on Main St. Craigslist = bulletin boards eBay = garage sales Amazon = major superstore Mainstream media = print newspapers Streaming music = radio stations Chat rooms/forums = pubs and

saloons Social media = cocktail party

(Scott, 2013)

The “big 5”

Facebook (71%) LinkedIn (22%) Pinterest (21%) Twitter (18%) Instagram (17%)

(Lunden, 2013)

Features

“Free” Real-time Sharing Commenting Streaming Feeds/hashtags Reviews Check-ins Crowdsourced media

Overview of integration

Social media isn’t one specific tactic but rather a channel to carry out tactics, accomplish goals, achieve results.

One way vs two way communication? What are you trying to accomplish? Who is your

target? What is the audience of the channel you are considering?

How much time/resources can you devote? How will you integrate into traditional efforts? Is that even necessary?

SM has/is assisting other types of digital marketing: Email marketing, forums, real-time web chats, SEO,

digital press releases, mobile ads, etc.

Brands that are doing it right

Zappos Vitamin Water Best Buy JetBlue Starbucks

(Porterfield, 2011)

One awesome example

This Twitter picture from Oreo was posted 20 minutes into the blackout during last year’s Super Bowl. The caption with the tweet read: “Power out? No problem.”

Next week we will discuss…

Use of Social Media in PR and Marketing

To do: Create Twitter handle Begin using #UticaCollegeSM and read articles Create Twitter list of 10 brands Obtain access to Wordpress blog Read Chapter 11 in the textbook Write blog post #1 Enjoy the Super Bowl!

References

Brauner, L. (2009). Top 10 reasons for social marketing. Retrieved on January 24, 2014 from http://online-social-networking.com/top-10-reasons-for-social-marketing

Curtis, A. (2013). The brief history of social media. University of North Carolina at Pembroke. Retrieved on January 24, 2014 from http://www2.uncp.edu/home/acurtis/NewMedia/SocialMedia/SocialMediaHistory.html

Lunden, I. (2013, December 30). 73% of U.S. adults use social networks, Pinterest passes Twitter in popularity, Facebook stays on top. TechCrunch. Retrieved on January 24, 2014 from http://techcrunch.com/2013/12/30/pew-social-networking/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=sfgplus&%3Fncid=sfgplus

Porterfield, A. (2011, April 12). 9 companies doing social media right and why. SocialMediaExaminer. Retrieved on January 24, 2014 from http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/9-companies-doing-social-media-right-and-why/

Scott, D. M. (2013). The New Rules of Marketing and PR. New Jersey: Wiley.