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social media image  - Social Media and its importance in marketing

Advertising has been a core part for companies to raise awareness of their brands and products to the general public for many centuries with our current advertising methods  not even existing, but they still play an important part in raising one’s reputation. In order to raise awareness of your products back then, companies had to rely on spreading through word-of-mouth and prints out plastered everywhere. But with the advancement of technology today, advertising agencies can easily create advertisements for their clients in the comfort of their seat at home. 

As the development of technology progresses, we have become more reliant on the use of it to perform our tasks that can be achieved through a handheld device. Social media applications such as Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter are apps that appeal towards younger smartphone users as these apps allow the users to interact with each other without physical contact and keep up-to-date with each other’s progress in life. Companies see this as a perfect opportunity to use social media apps to advertise their products and raise their brand awareness. Modern day advertisers are more creative with their advertisements as they are more knowledgeable about the situation around the world and the rising trend among their target audience which enables them to create advertisements to attract their audiences more effectively and creatively.

Different countries have their own unique way of advertising in social media depending on the occasion. For example, social media and marketing in Malaysia are unique for its diversity especially during festive holidays such as Chinese New Year, Deepavali and Thaipusam due to these advertisements consisting of actors from other races. This helps to promote and boost racial diversity and harmony in Malaysia while boosting the festive atmosphere. Another example is America’s Super Bowl which is a large football event that is held annually. Companies who advertise during Super Bowl would usually showcase their products featuring popular actors performing in wacky and bizarre situations to make their audience laugh and enjoy watching the advertisement. However, some advertisements on social media in America tried to expand their racial diversity but failed with most advertisements that would show white as the more dominant race than minorities. Dolce & Gabbana, a luxury brand from Italy, was infamous for one of its advertisements in China that featured their actress eating Italian food with chopsticks. This has garnered plenty of hate from their Chinese viewers and resulted in one of the founder’s Instagram being hacked by an anonymous hacker. 

Social media also has helped companies to interact with their consumers by having casual conversations with them. This became a normal practice for social media teams when a popular interaction between Wendy’s Twitter account casually, but cleverly insulting their consumers. Casual interactions between companies and their consumers will help their consumers to feel more appreciated and raise the companies’ public image.

As technology continues to develop, people will continue to rely on their smartphones more to perform their daily tasks and companies will also continue to exploit their habits to advertise their products.

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