5 Things I Learned About IMC & Advertising Management

1. Communicating effectively is more than just good advertising. - If your communication with your team isn't clear of the goals and objectives and your communication in turn, doesn't reach or effect your target audience the way your intended, your advertising efforts won't matter. The advertisement is only as good as its ability to effectively reach and persuade your target market. Not only in advertising but in other fields, such as product development and merchandising, it is important to know your target market and know how to communicate with and to them to get the best finished product out to the consumer. In my hopeful field of work, it'll be important for me to be able to communicate with the consumers to develop and improve upon future products and services the company I work for may provide. 

2. Knowing the customer better than the competition - There is always going to be a company out there that wants to be bigger, better, more innovative, with better customer service, etc., so it's important that your company knows the customer better than the competition does so that even if you aren't the 5-star of service, the customer will go to you because you know exactly what they want, even better than the next guy. No matter where I go in my career, knowing the customer better will always be a main goal in most companies. I recently landed a position with Nike and I feel they do exactly that. They are, if not the best, one of the best companies and most successful athletic and footwear companies in the world. They take the time to understand the customer and their needs and wants and in return to them the best and more innovative products to date. 

3. Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) - ROAS is the revenue realized on every $1 spent on advertising. In business, it is very important to spend efficiently. If the money your spend on Ad's isn't generating nearly as much as you've put in, you can assume your are doing something wrong. I may never use this figure again in my life but in merchandising we have a similar calculation: GMROI or gross margin return on investment. Basically for every $1 spent on a bought product, so many dollars are gained for investment or profit. 

4. Public Relations - Public relations is the management of publicity and communications with groups in contact with the company. There can be external and internal public relations departments who also work closely with marketing, sales, and human resources. Public relations takes care of tasks such as company newsletters, special company events, and annual progress reports. Although I won't be working in advertising or marketing, I will be in sales and may work with the public relations department or just experience some of the work they do. Public relations is a vital part to any company trying to maintain a certain image or standard, especially larger companies who need an entire department for inter-department communication and planning as well as making sure their name isn't subject to a negative image, scandal, or controversy. 

5. The differences between Online "traditional marketing" and Social Media Marketing - the traditional online marketing consists of display ads, those annoying pop up  and sidebar ads that force us all to use the handy "Ad Blocker" tool on our computers. They typically have a higher cost because of the cost of ad space as well as the opportunity for personalization and targeting of their ads. Social Media Marketing encourages customer engagement, pulls people in, compliments online traditional marketing and all for a lower cost. In advertising and businesses trying to reach a wider market, it's important to not only understand your target but know your goals and know which type of marketing strategy would best fit those goals and needs. With social media on such a rise and with such positive response, if I ever wanted to start my own clothing company, I think I would chose to use Social Media Marketing because of its low cost and it's ability to easily integrate with traditional online marketing if I wanted to use it. I like the idea of using the ultimate consumer to base marketing strategies and gain important feedback so that companies can better serve with consumer. 

The Who, What, & Why of Crowdsourcing

Crowdsourcing is not only a way for companies to gain insight from their consumer but it is also a way for them to use the publics intelligence to complete the businesses tasks at hand. Instead of using business funds and time to plan advertisements that may or may not connect to the consumer, they can use the insight from their consumers for practically no cost at all. 

A successful example of a crowdsourced ad is the Doritos Crash the Superbowl ad competition. Viewers were asked to enter in a Doritos ad in chances to win the chance of their work being shown during the Superbowl Halftime, here are a few examples:

Another example of crowdsourcing advertisement was when Starbucks invited their customers to decorate their iconic white cup anyway they wanted and share it on social media sites such as Instagram and Facebook. 

Crowdsourcing comes with its disadvantages but thankfully the good outweighs the bad. Companies aim to build better relationships with their clients, viewers, and consumers and crowdsourcing allows that. By working with the target audience to develop ad's they wish to see and will make the biggest impact on them, companies can develop and work with their target market to both satisfy the customer and their marketing goals. 

Instead of paying private companies or using valuable time brainstorming their own ads, they can use their viewers with little resources and costs. Crowdsourcing also allows many people from all walks of life to use their creativity to develop ad's that may not have been developed through a professional ad company. By letting viewers develop ads for your company, it allows the potential for new customers who may not have used or known about your company before hand. 

The biggest critics of crowdsourcing are the the consumers themselves. Just like any ad, companies put their name behind ideas that they believe will get them a positive results. While paying big companies to form advertisements for your company, they don't always get it right and sometimes those dollars can go to waste in an ineffective ad. However, with crowdsourcing, companies put their name behind ideas that come directly from the consumers which most of the times comes with positive results because they are from the people the companies were trying to target in the first place. Crowdsourcing is a way for people and small groups to get together and compete for the best ad with little to no pay but instead a chance to develop advertisements that they, as the consumer, want to see and maybe even the chance to get recognized by the masses. People often complain about annoying or boring ads but with crowdsourcing, companies give the people two things they want, the chance to create ad's they want to see and the change to get involved and give their opinion. 

Unpaid Tobacco Spokesperson & You Didn't Even Realize

With Tobacco companies racking up the dollars, why should they waste any of their hard earned profit on advertising? With the amount of non-traditional, free advertising done by celebrities and people around the world, it's at no surprise if big tobacco companies felt this way. Through this new "Unpaid Tobacco Spokesperson" ad by Truth, they are showing that there are negative effects of the tobacco use by celebrities because they are in the public eye and tobacco companies are banking on their actions.

Theories

Verbal & Visual - concrete and realistic - Smoking is a trend around the world so using verbal and visual cues to portray a concrete and realistic portrayal of tobacco use is what the ad used to reach it's target audience. 

Means to End - This ad contains a message : Non-smoking/quit smoking -- healthy -- self-respect/wisdom/comfortable life/happiness. This ad is trying to get viewers to understand that not only are people unconsciously supporting tobacco use and promoting it but also coming off as smoking is okay, which it's not: smoking is unhealthy and it needs to end.

Leverage Point

Celebrities Smoking Cigarettes

Tag Line

"Unpaid Tobacco Spokesperson"

Appeal Strategy

1. Musical Appeal - The fast-paced music brings in the viewer but particularly gains the attention of a younger generation who likes this type of music. Because it sounds like music they would listen to on their own, it is easily stuck in their minds. 

2.  Rational Appeal - With no spoken words, this advertisement forces the viewer to be active in reading and watching the entire ad to get the message. There aren't any puns, hyperboles, or dialog, just the straight facts about celebrities unknowingly being unpaid spokespeople for big tobacco companies.

Messaging Strategy
Affective and emotional messaging strategies are both apparent in this ad. The ad gives off a sense of influence that try's to connect the viewer to their campaign by making it relevant and allowing viewers to get involved. It is also emotional because it connects something our society views as important and influential, celebrities, with an issue that many people see eye-to-eye on, smoking.

Executional Framework

The executional framework of this ad is informational. For the most part, the only thing these Truth ad's do is tell the facts straight up, as is. The facts about tobacco use and it's effects on the body, the environment, and others are so shocking that they usually don't need to do anything more than tell the truth about tobacco.

Main Message

When someone wears or uses products, they are essentially a walking billboard for whatever company/brand/product. The main message of this particular ad is aimed towards celebrities and how their actions influence our society.

Effective?

Yes, it's straightforward and tells people what's going on and that it should end.

1. Visual Consistency - The repeated tagline, music, and views of celebrities smoking.

2. Repeated Tagline - the tagline is the same throughout the majority of the ad.

3. Simplicity - it's simple and straightforward. There are no distractions or changes in scenes until the end where the facts and call to action are shown. 

Target Audience

It's like they say, "you can't teach an old dog new tricks". The anti-smoking campaigns obviously want to reach a wide target audience, because smoking isn't necessarily specific to one generation, one race, one sex but the probably is tobacco is addicting and if you've been smoking it for 20 years, you're less likely to quit than someone who has dabbled in it occasionally. This particular ad is targeting the younger generations, the people that would recognize Rihanna, Orlando Bloom, and Chris Brown. This generation is the most easily influenced, especially by social media. By targeting this specific generation, the anti-smoking campaigns are able to potentially stop a person in this target audience from smoking or at least make them think twice about what they are doing and why they are doing it. 

Which Social Media Platform Is Right For You?

The other day I had asked a friend what the website to their father's construction company was, her answer shocked me. Nowadays, it seems only natural for any and all companies to have some type of social media presence so when I find out through a friend or try and search a company on one of my many social media platforms with no luck, I am confused. With social media being one of the most influential forms of marketing in the business world today, it is a shame for those companies that misunderstand its use and advantages. 

Not to say that every company should have each form: Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, the whole nine yards but with an ever growing online presence of consumers, it may be wise for companies to look into which form fits their customer the best. Below, I have listed out the top factors to consider when choosing a social media platform no matter what type or size of company you are.

1. Target Market

Like in a business plan, a company must determine their target market in order to pick an appropriate social media platform. Simple demographics such as age, gender, income, field of work, etc., are all needed when determine if your company will chose to rely heavier on Facebook than Twitter. Psychographics are also an important indicator when choosing social media, what does your consumer like to do in their free time, what are their views on different products, etc. In the chart below, Avalaunch has broken down each social media network (using super cute kittens) in terms of what they are best for and why your customer may using them. Using the target market, companies should focus their energies on sites that their target market uses the most. As it says below, if your target market in interested in pictures then you should use Instagram but if your target market is more concerned on "How-to's" you should use Pinterest or Youtube because that's what your target market is using.

2. Competition 

On social media, it's more than just knowing your competition, you should research and understand what your competition is doing on social media as well. Knowing which platforms they are and aren't using can be an important factor into choosing which platform your company should use. If your competitor isn't using any platform, you are at an advantage because your company is the one most consumers will see first. However, if your competition has a strong social media presence, you can use that as an advantage for your company because you will be able to see what they are doing right and wrong. If your competition has have traffic or use on Facebook, you may want to consider using an additional platform along with Facebook to boost traffic and engage with more of your target audience. Using the chart below, you can determine which top platforms your company should invest.

3. Usability

With more than a handful of successful social media platforms on the market and thousands of companies using them, it's important that not only your customers understand how to use them but your company does as well. Misuse of social media can be a driving factor into why your company isn't doing as well as you projected. However, the correct use and full understanding of the benefits each platform has to offer you is important to effectively reach your target. Chuck Cohn of Forbes.com has listed 3 steps companies should take to properly use their social media. 
1. Chose the right platform
2. Set goals
3. Organized activity/posting
Another helpful site gave insight on features of Facebook that business should and can use to optimize their online profiles. Anything from page insights to promoted posts, if a company is unaware of the different ways to evaluate and reach their target audience on their selected platform, the sole purpose of having a social media outlet becomes pointless.

Lately, Instagram, Pinterest, and LinkedIn have been my most viewed social media outlets. Instagram because I'm always on my phone and looking for brands/people to follow. LinkedIn because I'm trying to start my career and Pinterest because I am always looking for ideas for my other blog. So these are the 3 social media platforms I will use when evaluating which demographic would use it and which IMC elements and Ad's should be used.




Instagram
Demographic:
Females between the ages of 18-25 whom are educated and possess a higher income. These women tend to be on the artsy side or like to view things in a more eye pleasing manner. This women shares her life via social media or maybe in combination with a blog and she is most likely into fashion, keeping up to date with major social events or up & coming companies.
IMC elements/Ad's: Contest, giveaways, links to shops, promotion of customers or celebrities using products will be the best way to reach this demographic. By engaging with their target through giveaways and making followers feel like they are appreciated with promotions, companies can effectively use Instagram to reach this target if done correctly.

LinkedIn
Demographic:
Male between the ages of 30-40 who are highly educated and posses a higher income. This male mostly has a white collar profession and views business interactions as a way to meet others and advance themselves. This male enjoys networking on personal levels as well as stay up to date on companies of interest.
IMC elements/Ad's: Encouraging users to be apart of networks or groups, sharing business news/stories, and posting openings in your company is a great way to catch the attention of this individual.

Pinterest
Demographic:
Female between the ages of 28-39 who have higher education and are likely apart of a higher income household. They may be a stay-at-home mother, into DIY, fashion, baking, and like to be able to view different types of products in one site because they are caught between work and getting their children to soccer practice or a nightly PTA meeting and cooking dinner.
IMC elements/Ad's: Click-through links on pictures and company pages can help direct this target market to your site. Getting others to pin your products or services via 'Pin This' links on your website or using hashtags can be seen as an effective way to get your target market to interact with you and your site.

Spam Purge: Hitting Instagram's Biggest Accounts Hard

Instagram: a self-promoting social media hub. Whether you're just another non-famous Instagram user or a well-known brand or socialite, Instagram is your go-to for putting your life or brand out there for the world to see. For individuals it's a way to express your creativity, share your life, or simply show off but for brands it's more than that, it can drive sales, increase site traffic, and spark conversation (Ridge, 2014).

As an Instagram user myself, I found my follower numbers increasing, at the time I thought it was my photography skills or my friend level or my semi-annoying use of hashtags...but I was wrong. Spam Accounts; they were the culprit for my increasing numbers and when Instagram noticed and eliminated these accounts from their app, my numbers dropped. 

 You'd think Instagram users would appreciate the deletion of spam accounts on their profiles in order to see a more accurate portrayal of their popularity or following but not ever user was amused. 

 According to Rich McCormick from the Verge.com, rapper Ma$e proceeded to delete his Instagram account when we went from having over 1 million followers to just over 100,000 due to the spam purge. While most will disregard this resolution to fake followers, many users have become upset. Apparently people can purchase Instagram followers through online sites to bump up their numbers (McCormick, 2014). When I first heard of this upset, I instantly had 2 questions: why are people so concerned with having tons of followers and are companies, brands, and 'celebrities' buying their followers to come off as more popular? 

 At first thought, some might believe that this might be damaging to brands that use Instagram as a way to connect with their customer but I believe, like Eric Brown from the article below, that this might be one of the best things that have happened to these brand accounts. The point isn't how many "followers" you have but more importantly how well your brand is connecting with the actual followers and customers you have. 

 For those of you who don't believe in Instagram and social media in general to be a successful marketing tool for public figures and brands of all short, just look at the stats. According to a recent poll by L2, Instagram has the most "engagement and conversation from browser to shopper." (Gillett, 2014). I've included a diagram (above) that shows the different statistics through adoption, engagement, and content of a brand. While companies are starting to jump on the Instagram bandwagon due to it's astonishing numbers, it still remains one of the most underused forms of social media available (Gillett, 2014). Either brands haven't placed Instagram as one of their top priorities or they haven't considered using it at all. While Instagram may not be for every brand, they should consider it's 300 million users as a reason to start. 

To avoid spam "followers", companies should invest time in their social media platforms. By setting accounts to private, companies are able to better select who can follow their brand and weed out the spam accounts in the process. Although that might take up a bit of time and resources, brands should be able to easily access the same program Instagram used to get rid of all the inactive or spam accounts.

While most brands may not have the time or resources to engage in such time consuming work, there are alternate ways to hone in on the true "followers" by connecting with them through their fans accounts. Benefit Cosmetics have done an amazing job with engaging with their true followers by having fans submit photos of themselves using products that Benefit supplies. 11,900 fan submissions later, Benefit is now able to show the Instagram world that not only are they a brand but they are a brand that real people use (Gillett, 2014). The article by Rachel Gillett, gives 7 tips, from promoting new products to holding follower competitions and contests, for Instagram brands to adopt for optimal brand exposure and connection to followers.

The big debate; which is more effective, Instagram or Twitter. After doing some research into what others have found, my intuition was correct. With more impressions, likes, and views, Instagram takes over the social media world. The graph below shoes that although Instagram has less brand posts compared to twitter, they have a larger interaction on less content. So while companies are busy tweeting their hearts out, they could be spending time on other things while occasionally posting to their Instagram accounts (Elliott, 2014).

There is a great article by Socialbaker Analytics that compared Instagram and Twitter's post engagement and profile interactions and once again, Instagram blew Twitter out of the water. But why? Why is Instagram so much better than Twitter? In the article by Vindu Goel of the New York Times, Instagram not only has more users than Twitter but it also have more authorized accounts than Twitter and photo and video social media is what is in demand for marketing at this time (Goel, 2014). 

While both Instagram and Twitter have their pro's and con's, I believe that Instagram is a more effective social media platform for engaging with customers due to their ability to easily communicate with their followers and share images and in my opinion, images sell better than words.

Want to check out the article for yourself?

AdWeek




Works Cited

Mairead Ridge

Nate Elliott

Rachel Gillett

Rich McCormick

Socialbakers

Vindu Goel