Kaitlin Cortney

 

 Social Media is an incredible tool that can be used to market brands and products to a very wide, but also very direct audience. While we have previously discussed the ways in which social media platforms are changing due to trends and other external forces, there is no denying that social media continues to be useful when developing brand recognition. These days, a developing trend is companies creating content itself on these social media platforms.

Viacom recently announced  the launching of Viacom Digital Studios. The purpose of this is to create content on social media websites. As AdWeek reports, Viacom Digital Studios “creates short-form and long-form content for Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter and Youtube”. This is important because it reflects how the landscape of social media is changing. At this stage in the game, it is not enough to simply advertise your product, brand, or in this case, television programming on a social media site. This current trend requires brands and organizations to actually create new content specifically for these social media platforms.

 Viacom Digital Studios will be creating “programming unique to each platform,” as AdWeek states, which allows a more targeted audience for each specific social media model. Yahoo Finance reports that Viacom Digital Studios “reaches 4.3 billion social video views and 4.7 billion minutes viewed domestically in the second quarter”.

In addition to the creation of this new content, Viacom has also stated that it will be expanding VidCon, which takes place in Anaheim this June to London. VidCon is a convention for Youtubers and their fans. This turns social media into a truly interactive experience, bridging the gap between entertainers (or brands) and their audiences.

The creation of content and the engagement of fans is something that all organizations throughout the world need to keep in mind when they are developing their social media presence. Eventually, simply advertising on these platforms alone will not be enough for consumers. Having this exclusive content or interactive experience will be what will set companies apart, but may eventually simply be expected. Organizations need to be prepared for this shift.

Resources:

Will the Generation Born into the Age of Social Media be the End of it?

Social Media Marketing post the Cambridge Analytica scandal

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180430006152/en/

Viacom Digital Studios Partners With Twitter and Expands VidCon to London

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/viacom-unveils-viacom-digital-studios-193000118.html

Luxury brands are popular all over the world. This is no different in China, a huge market that is particularly interested in these luxury items. As Forbes reports, “Chinese customers already make up 32 percent of the global luxury market, and that number is predicted to rise to 44 percent by 2025”. That is a huge percentage, and is continually growing. As such, these luxury brands are continuing to try to break through to that market. They are doing this through the power of social media and digital marketing.

Social media is different in China than in the United States and some other parts of the world. Although Chinese consumers do not use Facebook or other US based social media platforms, social media marketing is huge and highly effective in China. Brands frequently use the social media platform WeChat to advertise. WeChat is a Chinese social media platform that can do all that Facebook does, and more, and is how most Chinese people connect. The strategic luxury brands have invested in advertising on this platform in interesting ways. As Forbes continues, “Many luxury firms selling to Chinese consumers have found that using WeChat stores is extremely effective. All of the top leading brands have WeChat accounts in China”. This is an excellent way of making sure Chinese consumers become aware of their brands, and of building relationships between brand and consumer.

In addition to the social media marketing that these luxury brands do, there has been an increase in luxury brands using other forms of digital media to advertise in China. Luxury brands including Hermès and Dior have created mobile games to advertise their brands. As the article states, this approach is particularly effective for Chinese millennials as the marketing campaign focuses on “nostalgia marketing” and “by mimicking the look and feel of their favorite games, brands can engage millennials on an emotional level”. The use of mobile games is not something often associated with luxury goods, but these brands know their market, and are capitalizing on this knowledge. This is an interesting approach to digital marketing in China and one that other brands should be cognizant of when creating marketing campaigns.

 

References:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/sarahsu/2018/04/30/luxury-brands-still-struggle-to-crack-the-red-hot-chinese-market-but-theyre-adapting/

http://www.businessinsider.com/what-is-wechat-2015-10

Luxury Brands Build Mobile Games to Attract Chinese Millennials

 

 

Here in the United States, consumers are very familiar with the Dove brand, and its message of body- and self-confidence. In fact, in 2004, Unilever, Dove’s parent company, launched the Dove Self-Esteem Project under the Dove brand. As a global brand, this mission has extended beyond the United States, into countries all over the world. Dove recently released a commercial with ADK Tokyo in Japan that showcases the self-esteem issues of teenage girls in Japan. According to the ad, “Only 7% of Japanese teenage girls feel confident about their looks” and “This is the lowest in the world”.

In 2017, Dove published their Dove Global Girls Beauty and Confidence Report:

https://www.unilever.com/Images/dove-girls-beauty-confidence-report-infographic_tcm244-511240_en.pdf

This report is a data collective describing confidence in girls around the world, ranging from physical looks to assertiveness and self-esteem. The report accounts that “Over half of girls around the world do not have high body esteem”.

Dove’s stance on self-esteem is particularly important in this current time. More and more, consumers are choosing to make purchases and support brands if they are assured that those brands take stands on social issues, and are proponents of things the consumers also support.

AdWeek reports: “Consumers were noticeably more receptive to brands communicating social or political messages on social media as compared to other platforms” and states “58 percent of consumers responded that they were receptive to such messages on social media, compared to 47 percent for television or radio and just 25 percent for print advertising”. The stances companies are taking matter, and it matters where they are taking these stances if they want to be assured that consumers will see them.

But even with all of Dove’s support of girls’ confidence and self-esteem, they are not free of controversy. In 2017, Dove released an ad that was seen by racist by many. This is an example of how although a brand can be progressive, there is still so much work to do.

 

References:

https://www.unilever.com/brands/personal-care/dove.html/

https://www.dove.com/us/en/dove-self-esteem-project.html/

https://www.unilever.com/Images/dove-girls-beauty-confidence-report-infographic_tcm244-511240_en.pdf/

Majority of Consumers Want Brands to Take a Stand on Social and Political Issues, According to New Study

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/business/wp/2017/10/08/dove-ad-that-shows-a-black-woman-turning-herself-white-sparks-consumer-backlash/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.2f41ec1b5ee3/

 

Adidas makes jerseys from plastic, Dove tackles low self-esteem among school girls: International round-up

Building Self-esteem Among Japanese School Girls

 

Social Media advertisers have certainly taken a hit in the last few weeks. Anyone turning on their TV or opening a browser page is inundated with talking heads discussing personal data breaches across various platforms. After the fallout from the Cambridge Analytica scandal, advertisers are waiting anxiously for the impact this will have on social media marketing going forward. Between public distrust and government regulations, the recent headlines may completely reshape how advertisers are permitted to market on social media.

Facebook has been the poster child for this abuse of user privacy. But the scandal affects other tech giants besides Facebook. Platforms like Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, and Google are all highly influential forms of social media, and ones that also make a lot of money in advertising. According to Daisuke Wakabayashi and Jack Nicas of the New York Times, “Like Facebook, Google collects vast amount of data on users – including their YouTube choices, internet searches and location history – to target advertisements. Facebook has more than two billion users globally, but Google has seven products, including YouTube, Gmail, and its Android software, with more than a billion users each”.

This is an absurd amount of people whose information is potentially at risk.

While Mark Zuckerberg is grilled in the United States’ Congress, countries around the world are already taking steps to protect consumers’ data. In the European Union, a new law entitled the General Data Protection Regulation, or, GDPR, goes into effect May 25. CNNMoney states that “Under the new law, companies will have to obtain an individual’s consent in order to store and process personal data. Requests must be clear and written in plain language” in addition to other regulations. The CNNMoney article also states that this new law impacts “any organization that holds or uses data on people inside the European Union…regardless of where it is based”. This is a huge shift in the social media landscape.

This leaves advertisers in a state of worry. What are the potential ramifications of all this? Will countries around the world enact legislature to prevent this kind of privacy overreach in the future? How can advertisers maintain their targets when they are subject to these new regulations? Will these social media platforms ever regain the confidence and trust of the public that it once had?

While the answers to these questions can only be answered in the future, one thing is for certain: marketers need to be vigilant in keeping their eyes on the ever-changing landscape of social media marketing.

Sources:

http://money.cnn.com/2018/04/12/technology/data-protection-europe-gdpr-facebook-tech/index.html

 

The state department has issued a new rule that requires US visa applicants to surrender their social media accounts at the time of application. The new proposal focuses on the major US platforms including; Facebook, Flickr, Google+, Instagram, LinkedIn, Myspace, Pinterest, Reddit, Tumblr, Twitter, Vine and YouTube. In addition covers the Chinese sites; Douban, QQ, Sina Weibo, Tencent Weibo and Youku; the Russian social network VK; Twoo, created in Belgium; and Ask.fm, out of Latvia.

During his presidential campaign, Trump assured an increase in security in the Visa vetting process for those wishing to enter the United States.

This new requirement affects people visiting the US from Brazil, China, India, and Mexico. Countries that the US already grant visa-free travel will not be affected by this. These countries include Australia, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, and South Korea.

Is this fair? Is this a violation in our freedom of speech? Is this like, the most creepy “Big Brother” tactic ever?

Hina Shamsi, director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s National Security Project, has argued that. “This attempt to collect a massive amount of information on the social media activity of millions of visa applicants is yet another ineffective and deeply problematic Trump administration plan. It will infringe on the rights of immigrants and U.S. citizens by chilling freedom of speech and association, particularly because people will now have to wonder if what they say online will be misconstrued or misunderstood by a government official.”

Meanwhile, Facebook who is under tremendous hot water for their public scandal with Cambridge analytics, has made clear that they do not agree with any attempt to collect social media accounts from those wishing to visit the US. But this is Facebook, the company who has earned billions of dollars on selling their customers data.

This new part of the visa vetting process comes about from so many recent leads that have been discovered that possibly could have prevented terrorist attacks. Namely the attack in San Bernardino, CA that happened in 2015. Before he committed the gruesome attack, the husband and wife had been self-radicalizing themselves online and officials according to the New York Times have admitted that they missed these signs.

While the intentions of the new rules are obvious it does leave some questions to outsiders wanting to travel into the US. To what extent is their freedom of speech still relevant? What are the guidelines of being accepted or rejected? A user on China’s largest social media platform made a claim that, “We Chinese have learned well enough the lessons to be drawn from isolation. Now it’s America’s turn.”

We’ll have to see how this plays out and for how long….

 

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