Week 13: Clear: Social Media

Social media is such a rapidly growing thing and everyone is trying to jump on it that it's easy to forget that you actually have to actively think and engage in setting up a social media site for your business.  I only joined Facebook because all of my friends from MySpace went there instead.  This definitely shows how the network effect takes place.  I have no urge at this moment to go to Google+, but that's what I said when I was on MySpace and Facebook was exploding.

I can definitely see the positives for having a social media presence for your company.  I already have several business that I've liked on Facebook (Blizzard, Circle K, Rock 104, and others).  Most are actively posting almost once a day about their products, specials, and news.  A good business will post at least or twice a day (if not more).  Rock 104, on my page, posts rock music news almost hourly.

Social media is the new form of advertising.  Marketing research is delving more towards social media than it is television advertisements, it seems.  On my Facebook page, I get advertisements about Military Gamer Discounts, Verizon Military Discounts, Facebook War Games apps, Military Social Work, how to win a gift certificate to OPGI.com (I have no idea what this even is), the "Best Star Wars Game on FB," and Lingenfelter Engines.

Two of those don't even apply to anything I have any remote interest in.  I've never posted my love of cars or... whatever OPGI.com is, yet they somehow have made the connection that I would be interested in their products.

Luckily, Facebook has made their advertisements seem out of the way and non-intrusive.  This is brilliant on their part because if they were intrusive, I would quit Facebook quick, fast, and in a hurry.  One thing I can't stand are pop-ups, advertisements, and anything of that sort.  They're plagued with viruses and spyware and are always trying to get some sort of credit card information from you by some point.

Here's an image of my Facebook profile with some of the businesses I like and the advertisements listed above: