P3 - A, B, C

P3 Learners explore commercial uses for social media products

P3 – A – Advertising

Facebook is the most popular social networking website and is the main go-to for people who want to market their products or websites etc. Advertisers will create titles with action words to attract people to click their link. These advertisers will then generate themselves income as traffic will be directed to their website; ultimately paying Facebook to make more money as the outcome of doing so. These ads are usually pay-per-click and generate the user around 79p per click from user. These ads always will be on the timeline or to the side of the page for users.

Twitter also allows people to advertise their products by users being able to promote their tweets. These promoted tweets usually appear on people’s twitter feeds due to their browsing habits or can even just appear on the twitter explore page for everybody to see. The advertisers will aim to create a tweet which will be re-tweeted by people so that their followers will then see the tweet and then maybe also click on the link. Twitter used to be known for the high cost of putting ads on the website but has been made easier due to the promote tweets option. This is also a pay-per-click service and generates users around 55p per click. For snapchat they use various types of advertising such as filter advertisements which is an effect which goes over the users face and displays a brand name e.g captain Morgans using the well known pirate beard and hat on the users head and face.They also have video advertisements which will play every so often while browsing snapchat stories and news articles.

In my personal experience I am used to many paid ads being plastered around social media pages and being a hassle when you accidentally click on it and have to spend your time waiting for a new web page to load to then just delete all while your mistake of a click pays the advertiser.

Social medias also display many sponsored links which are created due to the users browsing history. In some terms of websites such as amazon they can pass their users browsing habits onto their social networks and display them as ads. The purpose of this is to make the user be interested in the advertised product as they have recently been searching for it and it can result in them clicking the link and buying the product.

Here are some examples of the advertisments featured on these social medias. (click to enlarge)

Facebook:

Twitter:

Snapchat:

P3 – B – Viral Marketing

Viral marketing is a marketing technique which use existing social networks to produce interest in their own products by pushing certain details whether its new stock or a sale etc. potential consumers see this as an ad or a link they’ve found online and they will then share it themselves if they find it interesting enough. Many of today's viral marketing come in video form but there are many eBooks games images and even just simple text to get these viral ads across but video is the main one as that is what currently dominates social media. This viral marketing can bring in new customers and put them in the spotlight for a few weeks if the ad is popular enough.

Viral ads usually do the best on the video sharing website YouTube but the second in line is Facebook which is where many ads perform well and achieve their goal of gathering an audience to buy into their product. There are many viral ads which circulate all the time but some stick out and remain in peoples heads. Many of these ads can just be simple and relatable to people in general. For example there was a facebook ad for a charging cable but didn't have the standard wire material so therefore made it appealing as it was innovative and racked up 283,000 shares and 41 million clicks to the items website.

A new feature for snapchat with viral ads is a new deal signed with Time Warner where their productions will show mini clips on snapchat so that the viewer will be interested in the clip and become a fan of what is being shown. It makes it unique as it will be 10 second clips just like peoples normal snapchats to each other.

A viral instagram/facebook trend was the hashtag "ALS Ice Bucket Challenge" where people shared videos of pouring cold water and ice on their heads and then donating to the charity which was researching the cure. As a result the cure was found due to all the money donated.

P3 – C – Product/ Service Reviews

Customer reviews of products are viewed as very helpful to uncertain users but not all view them. Customers are able to post reviews on products or servicing to help assist other in them enquiries. The most popular example is trip advisor which lets the users comment on hotels, restaurants and attractions they have visited and they suggest it or don’t suggest it to other users. It can be seen as good as if the review is positive it puts a company in positive light and can help generate income and seem more trustworthy to other customers. However, some customers abuse these review websites and writer what they want sometimes just for fun or it can be rival companies or they can be attacking to a group of people or a business and could lead to damaged reputation even if a review was completely made-up. These review websites are all well and good but now the likes of facebook have introduced their own which allows users to rate places such as restaurants and bars and even the likes of schools and venues etc. This allows also the business to reply to user reviews and post on their review page also which keeps everybody informed and connected. This is mainly a facebook feature personally reviewing things but on other social medias allow users to hashtag or geolocate where they have been.