College Students and Advertising

According to a report done by Chegg.com,

· 88 percent of the students believe it's important for companies to give back to the community
· 84 percent said they evangelize brands that reward loyalty
· 49 percent who received a product sample on campus talked with their friends about it
· 61 percent follow a brand on social media
· 33 percent stream all their TV content

If you want to get into college kids' limited coffers, you might want to make them laugh out loud. On top of that, the humor needs to be authentic and genuine. ­In order to retain brand loyalty, a company must convey messages that relate to their target market.

Moreover, there are plenty of opportunities to advertise to college students through different avenues and channels. Through technology, advertisers are finding more creative ways to have their marketing messages be seen for example, in-app spots, YouTube ads, Facebook, and Twitter ads.

In what ways do you see people creatively advertise to college students? Comment below.

Digital Influencers: Popularity Contest or Actionable Insights?

If you haven’t heard of digital influence, then you’re late to the party. Vendors such as Klout, Kred, and PeerIndex are tools that are used to measure your influence on the internet using certain algorithms to do so.

Brian Solis, Principle Analyst of the Altimeter Group released a report The Rise of Digital Influence which analyzes the technology that measures digital influence, and serves as a “How-To” guide for businesses when creating a digital influence strategy.

Do you believe it?

I believe that a leader’s (influencer) worth is not measured by the amount of followers that he or she has, but his or her ability to influence them. Hence: popularity ≠ influence.

Take my Klout score, a modest 55. For the last 30 days, my score has been on a steady decline (check out this trend line to prove it).

This is funny to me because, within the last 30 days, I thought that I was at my peak of interactivity within my networks. I engaged with thought leaders, curated content, and created connections between my followers.

Now, is this score indicative of my influence? Maybe, or maybe not. How can we trust it?

Now if we take a look at Justin Bieber or Lady Gaga, are their scores indicative of their influence or rather their popularity?

A year ago, Matthew Creamer of AdAge wrote a post Your Followers are No Measure of Your Influence in which he took a look at Justin Bieber’s Klout score of 100 (at the time) and challenged its relevance.

At the end of the day, influence isn’t measured by how many followers you have (albeit he has 19.8 million followers), but by driving action that is measurable (retweets, likes, follows, etc.) which eventually leads to sales.

With that being said, it’s safe to agree on two things: 1) It is imperative for businesses to take a look at digital influence, although 2) It is hard to give digital influence a “score”.

What does this mean for businesses?

Solis recommends to not focus on the score, but rather, focus on engagement goals instead. It is the responsibility of the brand to pay attention to the relationships they create with their engagement efforts.

Now, should you believe in your score 100%?

Probably not, but Solis explains why it is useful.

At a minimum, these scores indicate the stature someone possesses within social networks and, in many cases, provides insight into the interests or topics that contribute to that standing. This stature is referred to as social capital, the networks of relationships among people in a particular society, enabling that society to function effectively.

Takeaways

Still, take notice of digital influence scores
Although I just argued that digital influence scores may not be truly indicative of one’s influence, Solis did explain that it does reveal ones stature when it comes to social networks.

This may be important to any employers who are looking to hire anyone whose duties may involve engaging in the space of social media.

True InfluenceAs I mentioned above, and which has been said by many, true influence is measured by the ability to deliver change and drive a change in behavior, not by the amount of followers or fans one has.

Use this idea to connect with influencers to obtain business goals such as building brand awareness, shifting sentiment about your brand, or the holy grail, generating sales and leads.

Don’t focus on the score, rather, focus on engagement goals.

What are your thoughts on influence?

Story Telling: The Real Purpose of Advertising

Is it to boost sales? Is it to expand brand awareness? The answer to all of those is technically “yes,” but many miss the mark. Some think that selling their products or services is the number one goal for their advertising. Others think that just getting their name out there is the priority. And some think that they have to knock down the competition and prove that they are superior.

But, those lines of thinking are like going the wrong way down a one-way street. It’s narrow-minded and has blinders on the side of its eyes.The Real Purpose of Advertising

The real purpose of advertising is to tell a story. Every product, service, and brand has something unique about it. Every advertisement should be set up as a fantastical world where a viewer can get lost in and use their imagination.

The mind and imagination are powerful tools for you. By allowing viewers to think and create their own interpretation of the ad, it creates more engagement. Engagement that you can use to your advantage to then achieve what you may have originally thought advertising’s purpose was.

Reflections on Advertising

Whether you're a child, a student, a college professor, or a mother or father, you are constantly being bombarded with marketing messages by advertisers who are targeting consumers. When looking at an advertisement we quickly disseminate the meanings behind the symbols and signs presented through images.

The role of the advertiser forces him or herself to think outside of the box and put themselves in the shoes of the consumer and uses psychology to understand what their target audience will feel like after seeing this advertisement. Advertisements that move emotions are powerful because it can resonate within somebody and change their whole perspective on a product, service, or idea.

With that being said, advertisers must also be careful in the messages they choose to portray because ideally it is that message that represents the brand as a whole and could impact the company negatively if it isn't well received.

Moreover, advertisers are becoming more creative in their practice and are finding new ways to reach their target audiences. Those who are creative, strategic, and timely will be successful in this industry.

What are your thoughts on advertising, and are there any best practices you can share? Comment below.

New Media and Advertising: New Opportunities

New media and technology offers an array opportunities for advertisers to get creative and interactive with their target markets. The technology landscape has exponentially grown and the way people consume their media has changed. With the advent of social media, consumers spend more time on social networking sites like Facebook or Twitter.

Companies like Facebook and Twitter are constantly looking for new ways to monetize their business and offer promoted and paid content on their websites. Facebook for example has an array of data that you can enter from geographic location, interests, and gender/age range. This data allows advertisers to drill down to reach their specific/niche target market.

Companies like SayMedia are advertising agencies that use creative ways to place interactive ads. Here are examples of things that they do.

These ad frames use interactive elements within the spot to engage their target audience to participate.

What are some creative advertisements that you’ve seen? Whether in the form of a tweet, or an embedded interactive spot? Comment below.

Stereotypes in Advertising: Gender

Among many places that stereotypes occur in our world, advertising is home to various examples of widely exaggerated images and ideas that the media wants us to conform to. When observing stereotypes within gender, it is easy to fall into the ideologies of 'all women are like... and all men are like...'. It is easy to identify the contrasting images within gender roles and advertisers do a good job of conveying that message.

In this commercial we see a group of women in a research facility proving that clorox is the best detergent for taking out stains. What this commercial tells its audience is that washing clothes is a woman’s work. This commercial reinforces the stereotype that women should stay at home cleaning. Also, most of the scientists in the video are men. This reinforces the stereotype that men do the important work while women stay home cleaning the clothes.

This is an example of an ad that not only breaks from gender stereotyping, but also reinforces it. The photo was taken for a french woman’s clothing store. It shows a man wearing a blouse holding a baby. To me this imagery breaks from womens stereotypes. Then the ad brings in the stereotype by asking the question “What would the world be without women?” as if a man holding a baby is such a shocking notion.

What are examples of gender stereotypes that you see in advertising today? Is it right or wrong for these advertisers to do so? Comment below!

Should You Care? Racial Stereotypes in Advertising.

Widely accepted in the past and still relevant today, racism and racial stereotypes exist within images in advertising. Fortunately, attitudes have developed a sensitivity to this issue and slowly combats the use of racial stereotypes in marketing and advertising messages.

In this article I will be showcasing some examples of racial stereotypes and imagery in both print and digital ads and provide an analysis on their purposes, whether it is a thing of the past, and if advertisers own an ethical responsibility over this issue.

Here is an example of the technology giant Intel using racial imagery in their advertisement. Here you see a white manager (master), with six of his athletes who happen to be dark skinned (resembling slavery) bowing down in a synchronized manner.

In Dove's 2011 "Visible Care" campaign, the advertisement shoes a before and after photo with three women lined up from left to right. The advertisement is clearly implying that using Dove soap will make you "whiter" hence "cleaner". Although Dove denied the allegations, the underlying message that the public saw was the ideology of scrubbing your skin can turn your darker skin into light, white skin.

Though racial stereotypes in advertising was widely accepted in the past, these two recent and relevant examples show how there can be subtext underlying messages within modern advertising.

What do you think? Were these advertisements offensive or harmless? Comment below!