Checking your Facebook after searching for new shoes on Google, and within seconds your search results will pop-up on your screen. Digital advertising is everywhere and every minute, if you like it or not… On your Facebook timeline, Instagram hashtags or you twitter account, you can not ignore the newest trend in advertising.
The past decade advertising switched from traditional advertising to digital advertising. Posters, newspapers, magazines and billboards are replaced with banned adds, pay-per-sale ads and sponsored search ads. In digital advertising, pay per click, pay per action and pay per impression are being sold and the ads are shown to a particular set of viewers.
The leading question in the article “Can you measure the ROI of your social media Marketing” is how can you tell whether social media are working? An important point in this article is the fact that marketers need to focus on the reasons behind the use of the social media. In that way, they will have a clear image, for long-term returns. Another article is “Social spending: managing the social media mix”. This article describes a lens for strategically thinking about social media, and by identifying important dimensions of social media with respect to execution. The conclusion in de article states that social media is a good substitute for traditional advertising. “For mobile devices, think apps, not ads” is focussed on the mobile devices and their relationship with digital advertising and marketing. The article reveals five strategies that can help them succeed. First, add convenience, in this way marketers will have a great return on investment. Second, offer unique value. Third, provide social value. Fourth, offer incentives and last but not least, entertain.
There are a lot of examples of social media and digital branding. The first example is Coca-Cola’s #ShareACoke campaign during the summer of 2014. Coca-Cola removed the famous and very well known “Coco-cola” logo and replaced it with the 250 most popular first names for American teens. Coca-Cola personalized the campaign, by giving customers the opportunity to send “virtual bottles” and share them via Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. Another example of successful social media campaigns is the “Ice Bucket Challenge”. In this campaign people asked for awareness for ALS victims. People shared videos, giving friends and family the challenge to throw a bucket off ice over their heads.
A big similarity between the two campaign is the use of videos and personalization. Where Coco-cola used names and the Ice Bucket Challenge used real faces, the campaign reach out to the customers personally, where the loyalty of the campaign grew. Another comparison is the use of a hashtags, which made the marketing go viral very fast and let customers drive the campaign to a success.
Coco-cola and the Ice Bucket Challenge are great examples of successful digital advertising and marketing. The companies managed to reach a worldwide audience, using a simple hashtags, and creating extra revenues for their firms. While doing so, they entertained people and made hundreds of lives better everyday.
- Hoffman, D. L., and Fodor, M. 2010. Can you measure the ROI of your social media marketing? MIT Sloan Management Review 52(1) 41-49.
- Weinberg, B. D., and Pehlivan, E. 2011. Social spending: Managing the social media mix. Business Horizons 54(3) 275–282.
- Gupta, S. 2013. For mobile devices, think apps, not ads. Harvard Business Review 91(3) 71-75.
