For image source click here

“You can ignore everything on social media platform but memes” says Brittney Helmrich, Business News Daily Staff Writer. “The term meme is coined by biologist Richard Dawkins in 1982” as Brittney states in her blog post.

I found this idea really interesting, what better way to put your advertising campaign out there in an easy, interactive and shareable way but memes. People not only like them but memes tend to go viral as stated in the blog post. One of the most successful meme advertisements is done by Denny’s, Seamless and others. Memes fit two categories: if you are a new company (want to go viral on internet) or if you are an old company (want to increase interactions).

However, just like one size doesn’t fit all, memes is not for all companies. If the company is strictly professional and targets the market where fun can be unprofessional, memes can adversely affect the reputation of the company. The concept of memes backfired for companies like FAFSA as mentioned by Brittney.

A careful selection of meme marketing, based on the reputation and image of the company, can be really beneficial. When I think of my client Sunberry Fitness, I feel memes marketing can be really effective. It could be used in email marketing by my client, in order to increase click through rates. Something that makes people laugh about fitness definitely does attract attention. This could be done to increase client interaction with Sunberry Fitness as well.

Source: http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/7431-memes-social-marketing.html

We have always thought of LinkedIn as a means of connecting professionals. Imagine a platform where several businesses and professionals meet, can there be a scope to perform B2B marketing? Author Neil Patel, the Chief Evangelist of KISSmetrics, suggests seven ways in his blog to do so.

For image source please click here

• Turning company page into lead generation: Neil states that no one really pays attention to boring company details which we generally see, therefore, a business should create a page with attractive image, clear pitch (about the company) and recent updates option (this should allow to views to start and interact in conversations).
• Showcase page: Companies should take advantage of showcase page option on LinkedIn, which will give views further information about the company.
• Advances searches: Companies should connect and reach out to prospects found through advanced searches. This helps narrow down the target prospects and is more efficient.
• Save searches: After target prospects have been identified, companies should save them for future.
• Search groups: Companies should look into joining groups which are relevant to the line of work and be an active participant.
• Start groups: Once a company becomes a leader in a group, the company should open its own group to facilitate conversations.
• Publish content: Companies should publish content which they feel is relevant and adds value to the readers of the company followers.

In my opinion, using LinkedIn to perform B2B marketing can be very effective as a business can filter its prospects through advanced search. It is easier to find like-minded and common interest individuals; therefore, promoting a company value proposition using LinkedIn can be useful to the target market. This can lead to business to business connection and the relationship can end up in a future business prospect.

Lastly, a social platform like LinkedIn can also be used to build effective personal connections following the same steps as above (mentioned by Juilo, Comm 464 professor).

Source: https://blog.kissmetrics.com/linkedin-strategies-b2b-marketing/

According to the study “Connected Consumers Are Not Created Equal“ more than half of the sample size spend most of their time online. According to figure 1, social media accounts for the maximum activities in these 11 countries. Figure 2 identifies that the younger population aged between 16 to 35 years are influenced to make decisions based on social media. “The impact of social media grows smaller as age rises” says Cynthia Boris, marketing pilgrim writer.

Figure 1

Picture taken from click here 

Figure 2

Picture taken from click here 

In my opinion, when companies have a younger client group, the focus should be to create a strong online presence. Some questions that companies need to consider:

• Does the product have strong advertisement that influences the viewers to share or like it?
• What is the feedback (positive or negative) from the users of the product?
• How is the company responding to the customer feedback?

Based on the number above, we can’t stress less how important it is to create a positive online environment for the product. As Paul, Comm 464 professor, mentioned that it is essential to be able to create online loyalty for a product. Companies should look for ways to satisfy customers and provide excellent service that makes customers be a spokesperson for the person. If people are talking “good” and “positive” about a product on social media, the company will be able to create a need by tapping a wider market and influence people who base their decisions on social network (figure 2).

My takeaway from this article is that creating a positive and likeable image is vital on social network. If a company wants to be liked, have regular customers and have loyal spokes person online, ensure strong social media presence.

Source: http://www.atkearney.com/consumer-products-retail/connectedconsumers

According to Financial Times, from an anonymous source, Facebook is launching a new product entering the professional world. The best feature of this is product is that you will be able to access newsfeed, group message and share files online, however, the feeds will be completely separate from your personal account. This type of feature is a competition to already established professional usage platforms such as Google, IBM etc., as stated by Jason in his blog post.

Moreover, this can more or less replace cloud computing. From a marketing point of view, there is no scope as of now because Facebook is making this product free of any advertisement. However, the approach of certain Canadian websites to promote shopping while at work such as buy your shoes at work to get discount, is an interesting concept that can be implemented through this Facebook product.

In my opinion, if Facebook is able to target professional people to watch a quick advertisement while at work, can open up a huge advertisement scope for companies who focus on goods and services for professionals. For instance, Facebook could open up a small window on the screen to play paid and targeted advertisements to the product users. These users should be able to buy the product with just one click and get it delivered to their office or home address.

If implemented properly, this can turn out to be an efficient while-at-work advertising gun for Facebook.

Source: http://mashable.com/2014/11/16/facebook-at-work-2/

Photo source click here

When Facebook was first introduced to public, users were only able to interact with their friends with random advertisements on the sidebar. In the course of time, Facebook not only changed its user interface but also advertising algorithm.

Advertisements are targeted towards Facebook users and it is tailored based on what posts users have liked or read in the past. Users are able to follow or unfollow a brand, which helps marketers to identify the users who actually like the brand rather than throwing in an advertisement on the newsfeed of a user who doesn’t like the brand.

Moreover, an interesting fact about Facebook is that when you search for an item online in other platforms, Facebook can identify the trend and suggest advertisements accordingly. Whenever I Google a watch or search for an item on Amazon, Facebook gives me suggestions on my newsfeed with related items.

I find this intriguing and Facebook algorithm is taking online advertising to a new level. Marketers can benefit by being efficient when advertising only to the users who will actually value them, increasing ROI to a greater extent. Users can benefit themselves by avoiding being bombarded with advertisements they are not interested in. Overall, a win-win situation created through Facebook’s new advertising technique.