Pushed to Pay

Agenda setting theory has popularly been seen on social media now a days, I feel that Facebook is the most popular medium where this takes place. Facebook has set it up so when a user "likes" a post that is promoting a particular brand, advertisements relating to that topic will begin to show up more frequently in one's timeline. This is good and other times rather annoying depending on the advertisement. Social media has become more active towards making your account personalized to you. On some accounts I find this to be rather creepy, it is crazy to me that technology can sometimes know more about you than you think you know about yourself;big brother is always watching. Companies take advantage of everything that they have available to them and use it towards their promotions and advertisements to reach you as the consumer.

   Social media marketing is continuously growing; buzz is starting to develop about creating paid promotions. The goal of this is to make companies pay for a spot on a social network to share their new products, messages, or promotions. Do I think that business's will start to step back from putting out social media advertisements? Absolutely not, companies who care enough to share what they are offering to the public are not going to let something like this let them fall behind their competitors. This especially will not hurt big brand companies varying anywhere from cars, apparel, and even food brands. Social media marketing is a rapidly growing and updating field. These business' should be prepared for change and be ready to accommodate to what is coming in the near future. As for small or locally owned business it may be a different story. Business' on the smaller spectrum may not have the funds to keep up with paid promotions. That being said, what they lack in the area of paid promotions they can still gain on smaller things that are still free to them. They should reach out in organic ways such as tweets, email, and Instagram to inform costumers of promotions. Also this article on pagemodo came up with tactics to accomplish paid promotions for small business'. I think that paid advertisements will have its pros and cons, but doesn't everything?

Think Before You Type

   Social media has become one of the most effective ways for companies and corporations to reach out to their costumers in various ways. The most popular one that is being used at the moment seems to be Twitter. It is any easy way to send out news, promotions, and other information. Is it almost too easy? It happens all too often that big time companies send out something over social media without double checking things before hitting send. This being a perfect example of how companies and business's are not fully educated on social media yet. One in particular that I found to be ridiculous was this tweet sent out by Gap, obviously whoever was in charge of their account was not paying attention that day. 

   

   Companies are putting the responsibility of being in charge of social media to the wrong people. Someone who has just recently been hired and is still learning the ins and outs of their workplace should not be put in charge of what is being shared with the public. Social media has its ups and downs. Although it is a quick an efficient way to share things, it shouldn't be taken lightly. That being said I also do not feel that it is a smart idea to put the CEO of a company in charge of the social media aspect of it either. The CEO has enough things going on, although they do know the ins and outs I don't feel that that responsibility should be added onto their workload. They don't have the time to properly use social media for all it is. As great as it is to get information out about one's company it is also more effect to form a relationship with the public. Response is often what people are looking for and they want it quick. I think it would be a smart idea to have one or more individuals maybe even a group of people for bigger companies who get together and collaborate ideas on how to improve the companies public image through social media. This person(s) should converse with the CEO and other peers about things going on throughout the company as a whole and then plan how they would like to present any of that information to the public. I highly advise for a company to use an application that manages all of their social media accounts together. This would help with keeping up to date on all of them, and to stay organized. Social media in the business world can be a great advantage towards the company if put in the right hands.

Defined by the User

   Social media has popularized itself through multiple ways, one way that really has helped is the simplicity of being able to get one's word out to the public in the tap of a finger. It is left up to the user behind the medium on what sort of messages they would like to send out for all to see. One group in particular that has recently been making a name throughout social media today is ISIS. This group is displaying acts of violence all over the social scene as well as tiny acts of kindness. They have an interesting strategy of how they broadcast their public image. One post will show a violently disturbing picture of someone who has been beheaded, but then the next could be a picture of a member of ISIS feeding kittens. Their active and technologically savvy ways of gaining viewers and followers seems to be working. Not only are they strategic about the things that they post, but they are also active on all of their accounts. Being active is a big part of maintaining popularity in the world of social media, once one falls behind it is only a matter of time before they are forgotten and become old news.
   In today's society it is left up to the individual(s) behind screen. Social media could very well be considered a double edged sword, it can be used both positively and negatively. It all depends solely on who is in charge of it, and how they choose to use it. People can gain not only feedback back but also a positive image through all forms of social media. One in particular form of a positive way that social media has been used recently is the ALS ice bucket challenge, the money they have raised through their message going viral has helped their cause tremendously. That being just one act that has helped many through using social media. I feel that using in that way is the correct way that it should be used. Then on the other end of the spectrum you have those who use it in negative ways such as ISIS along with many other groups. There are many pros as well as cons to everyone having access to social networks. People who blatantly use social media in a negative way often get more attention than the ones who are using it in a positive way. This really aggravates me, if there were only a way to better regulate what is being put out that would be nice, but then again it is still an advantage to learn about all of the messages that are being spread instead of just the good ones. I feel that the good the bad and the ugly should be put out for the public to view, but wish that more people would use social media to better themselves, their group, or their companies.