Mobile technology and social platforms are redefining the way people interact. Social media sites are not only colonised by young people for socializing but also utilized as a branding tool by individuals,business and academia.
Research finds that young people frequently spend time online on their phones, on social media apps, whether they are at home, at school, at university or at work, and they frequently update the information on their profiles since they are aware of the personal branding potential (Viţelar et al., 2019; 2013).
It is predicted that 75.3% of US businesses will use Instagram in 2020; 200 million Instagram users visit at least one business profile daily; 62% of people say they have become more interested in a brand or product after seeing it in Stories (Newberry, 2019).
“Universities and colleges are aware of the marketing and branding potential of the internet n general and social media in particular” (as cited in Maresova et al., 2020). Maresova et al.’s research reveals that universities tend to use social media primarily to share the latest news and successful stories of the university and its students.
References
Maresova, P., Hruska, J., & Kuca, K. (2020). Social media university branding. Education Sciences, 10(3), 74. doi:10.3390/educsci10030074
Newberry, C. ( 2019), 37 Instagram Stats That Matter to Marketers in 2020. Retrieved from https://blog.hootsuite.com/instagram-statistics/
Viţelar, A., & National University of Political Studies and Public Administration. (2019;2013;). Like me: Generation Z and the use of social media for personal branding. Management Dynamics in the Knowledge Economy, 7(2), 257-268. doi:10.25019/mdke/7.2.07
Hi Ceci,
Branding and social media has quickly become a part of mobile culture. Influencers are prevalent on most users accounts and continue to grow as people take on jobs that involve posting on social media. For example, a handful of people that I went to high school with and followed previously now use their social media accounts for their job. I can see the added benefit, these accounts are not something I would start following now but because there were an existing follow prior to advertisements I haven’t unfollowed them. Branding and social media is a huge field and will progress greatly in the coming years.
Thanks for sharing those stats, I found it super interesting!