Social media advertising replacing traditional methods due to price, interactivity

The history of marketing has always been centered on the idea of advertising. As time has passed, the method of best advertising has continued to develop. From print, to radio, to television, and now to social media, ads always find ways to reach their consumers. Today, social media is

changing the way marketing professionals look at advertising. Social media advertising on websites like Facebook, Twitter, and Yik Yak are quickly turning traditional methods of advertising into obsolete figments of the past. Social media ads are changing the marketing industry because they allow for the growth of a brand identity, a cheap marketing solution, and most importantly, an outlet to connect with consumers.

Traditional advertising techniques focus on mass marketing, rather than personalization

Infographic courtesy of entrepreneur.com

In past generations of marketing, advertising has been focused on getting the message across to as many people as possible. The idea of advertising began in 1730s when the first magazines were created according to the info graphic on the left. Ads gave business owners an opportunity to draw attention to their goods and services. As mediums developed, ads became commonplace in the world. Billboards, television sets, and radios were all centers for advertisements.

The only issue with these ads is that they can not be targeted to specific consumers. These types of ads are created for viewing by the masses and not single consumers. The ultimate goal of marketing professionals is to get customers to buy their goods, but they first have to reach the right customers, which is not easily done with traditional advertising techniques. As the history of marketing continues, a push towards personalization is what has changed the industry.

The personal ad movement began as television and radio ads that could be targeted to general demographics who consume specific content. For instance, a marketing team can likely guess that the audience for a new MTV show will be teenagers while an episode of Dateline NBC will likely be viewed by adults. By increasing the degree of personalization in ads, marketers are able to have their messages resonate with consumers more effectively. As the advertising industry grew into a 78.5 Billion dollar industry in 2011 according to an article on traditional marketing from marketing-schools.org, more professionals sought ways to reach their consumers even more efficiently than with previous methods. This is where social media entered the conversation.

Internet use over 40% of the world for first time is causing more marketing professionals to pursue social media advertising

The growth of social media has changed the way that marketers look at advertising. Today, Internet growth worldwide has climbed over 40% and more than ever people are using social media tools such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Social media allows users to connect with friends,

check the news, and post moments of their lives. For marketers, this is a treasure trove of information about potential consumers, and the key to creating powerful ads. The growth of social media advertising allows those in the advertising and marketing fields to tap into this never ending database of information.

According to a study on social media marketing industry, 93% of companies are using social media to connect with consumers. This number is so high because social media is a  better tool at reaching consumers compared to its traditional marketing counterparts of print, television, and radio ads. Social media advertising is cheap, enhances a brand identity, connects with consumers, and creates a word of mouth mentality amongst consumers.

Social media better than traditional advertisements at creating brand identities and connecting with customers 

Graphic courtesy of Adweek

Jordan Looby, the assistant director of marketing in the University of Maryland Athletic Department, says that he prefers using social media when advertising because it is both cheap and timely compared to traditional advertising mediums. He explained that if a team at the university is announced as an NCAA tournament bid, it is much more practical to create an ad using photoshop and distribute it over the team's social media compared to paying for an advertisement that will not run until the news is already irrelevant. According to Looby, one of the best aspects of social media is its ability to be free and fast. In the info graphic on the left by adweek, the average social media ad will cost less

than $5 to reach 1,000 people while mediums like mail and newspaper can cost upwards of $40-50 respectively. Because of this cost disparity, social media ads are quickly becoming the most popular advertising technique amongst marketing professionals.

Another aspect of social media advertising that is better than traditional ads is the ability to build a brand identity. A study by David Flauds explains how by posting on various social media accounts, companies like GE are able to create their company values through actions and not simply words. Although traditional advertising techniques can accomplish this, social media allows marketers to constantly post and tweet to create an overall brand identity that consumers can appreciate and believe in. This will help attach customers who share common value and will lead to greater numbers of sales.

The biggest difference between traditional and social media ads that has pushed marketers towards the latter is that social media allows companies to connect one on one with their consumers. A study by Rosemary Thackeray tells how social media allows marketers to “directly engage” consumers through posts and feeds. This is the idea of the marketing paradigm where new ads are sent one to one as opposed to one to many. A strong social media presence is now allowing companies to respond to consumer interests in ways that could never before. They can answer inquiries, write to disgruntled customers, and help spread their brand. A post by Angela Hausman in the Hausman marketing letter speaks to how social media is a two way communication system and that this system give companies a chance to reach who they want to target in their ads and do it on their terms. This leads to an increased ability to market effectively and also allows customers to communicate with each other through word of mouth advertising on social media.

With all of the positives of social media, the question still remains on how effective it really is at advertising and what is next. A new marketing tool called the Klout score is able to tell how influential brands are on social media. This score tracks the effectiveness of a company on social media and can report a score on how “influential” their brand is. For instance, President Barack Obama is one of the most influential figures on social media with a 99 Klout score. As for the future, the possibilities are endless. Jordan Looby believes that the next step in social ads will be an increase on interactivity and personalization where consumers will feel like ads were created just for them.

Overall, social media advertising has changed the marketing profession for the better. It is not only cheaper and faster, but it allows companies to better connect with their target consumers. This is a change that is here to stay and will continue to put traditional advertising techniques on the back burner for years to come.

Diversity gap in media leads to college students consuming same media genres

• The is a lack of media diversity in the consumption of college aged students
• Preference behavior and memory based models determine media preferences
• The large diversity gap in media can be narrowed by the FCC

In today's highly connected and easily accessed world, the limits seem endless on the different types of media that can be consumed. Companies like Netflix, Spotify, and Youtube make watching movies and listening to music faster than ever. With media spreading every day, it would make sense to believe that the current society is one with a large level of media diversity. After testing the opinions of three University of Maryland-College Park
students, this does not seems to be the case.

With so many available options, it would seem as though there would be lots of diversity among student preferences. The results of a three person survey discovered however that students consume the same basic types of music, video, and book genres. Within these genres, preferences can vary, but the broad scope shows that diversity is not all that widespread. For example, all three students stated that they enjoy electronic music, but each describe their favorite aspects of the music in different ways such as electronica and EDM.

The Lack of Media Diversity is caused by disproportionate numbers of Women and Minorities in Media

Beyond the tastes of three college students, the issue of media diversity extends to the creators of media and how its demography effects the consumption of the general public. Civilrights.org is dedicated to the issue of media diversity and it claims that the problem stems from "the disproportionate lack of women and minority reporters, producers, and owners." The lack of differences along the cutting edge of media leads to gaps in diversity. According to an infographic (right)  by indiewire, there is a large diversity gap between the award winners at the Academy
Awards. This is a sign that because there is a lack of diversity of the top consumed media, it is hard to form preferences different from the crowd.

In addition to cinema, the iTunes Top Ten List shows a lack of diversity amongst the top singles in the U.S. Each song is categorized in either the pop or soul genres.

It is clear that there is a media diversity issue in society, but how does the average consumer get influenced by the owners of large media companies? A study on musical stereotypes, explains that people choose their source of music based on personal characteristics. For instance, the study describes that the "psychological characteristics" of the consumer (such as whether they are extroverted or not) leads them to enjoy different types of music. It is these "psychological characteristics" for music stereotypes that fit consumers into genre classifications. Knowing this, media owners are able to capitalize and market their products to appeal to the largest portion of the general public. Top songs like Uptown Funk by Mark Bronson and Bruno Mars are able to break through stereotypes and appeal to the masses because they are conceived knowing the common characteristics of music listeners.

Another explanation for society's lack of media diversity stems from the way humans form their preferences. One important factor leads to preferences according to a study on the formation of preferences for political candidates is memory-based models. This theory can be used to describe how the public wants to consume the same media and is unaffected by the lack of media diversity.

The memory-based model describes that preferences are developed from experiences in the past. If a movie goer enjoys Happy Gilmore with lead actor Adam Sandler, this theory suggests that they will likely continue to consume his movies even if they do not fit into the same genre. The memory-based model explains that if you had a good experience, your memory and preferences will push you to similar experiences. Because of this, large media corporations can provide the same experiences for years without changing diversity.

Diversity lies in the hands of the FCC and Media Owners

There are few easy solutions on how society can improve media diversity. An opinion piece on Al-Jazeera describes media diversity as an old problem for new media. Some of the solutions could involve diluting the few number of media owners with more open minded people, or creating laws that push media to be more diverse. Both would involve the government, and specifically the FCC who choose to deregulate media in the 1990s. These solutions could help spark diversity in media and once it has started, science has shown that the preferences of the population will take over and crave more diversity.

Diversity in media will ultimately lead to a more diverse set of genres that people will consume. Diversity is not a negative to the film, television, and literature industries. It can open new storylines and ideas that have not been tapped into previously. It can appeal to the large groups of minorities that are underrepresented in the current media model. And, it can create a society where three college students do not listen to the same exact media. Diversifying media in the end, is the best way to diversify the media types that people consume.

Taco Bell, Dulce & Gabbana use extreme male gender roles in new ad campaigns, potentially cause negative effects on personal image

I chose the following ads by Taco Bell and Dulce & Gabbana as examples of advertisements causing negative effects on consumers because both blatantly play on the idea of male gender roles.


Taco Bell's commercial uses the same technique described in the book, playing on the idea of gender roles as a joke to inadvertently trick viewers into believing in the roles described, such as driving a truck. This ad also uses the tag line "If you need to be told how to be a man" which portrays to the viewer that only men eat Taco Bell.





Dulce & Gabbana also plays on gender roles by advertising the idea that their product helps users have sex with women. It only uses men with large muscles, oiled bodies, and no chest hair in their ads to show the type of "men" that use their product.

These ads use the idea of the perfect man as defined by gender roles to help advertise their products. According to the book, this can cause negative effects on the way consumers view themselves.

Test Post

Hi, my name is Devin. I am a sophomore marketing major, and I am interested in working in the sports marketing field. I play the drums and was on my high school rugby team. I currently intern in the University of Maryland Athletic Department helping to oversee the marketing of the Maryland Softball program.