Online marketing can be defined as any attempt to promote a product or service on the internet in order to increase sales or gain a following. Although they have their similarities, online marketing is quite different than traditional marketing. The differences between these two styles of marketing mainly stem from how they are presented. Traditional marketing techniques can include tv commercials, magazine ads, radio commercials, etc... What online marketing brings to the table that these others do not is interactivity. With most online ads, even if the ad itself is not interactive, usually there will be an option to click on it to learn more about a product or service. With TV commercials and billboards, the user only sees the commercial without being able to expand on it.
Along with allowing users to interact with ads, online marketing allows products or services to gain a following. With the growth of social media sites such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, it has become quite easy for companies to gain followings for next to no cost. These sites allow fans of goods and services to "follow" them and get any necessary updates. Unlike TV and other traditional marketing techniques, online marketing allows users to basically customize their own ad experience while surfing the web.
Thursday, November 19, 2015
Thursday, November 5, 2015
Blog Assignment 4
Fair use is the copying of copyrighted material done for a limited and transformative purpose, such as to comment upon, criticize, or parody the copyrighted work. In the case of Girl Talk, it is tricky to say whether or not his music violates fair use policies or not. On the one hand, those arguing against Girl Talk could say that his music is too similar to the original songs that he samples. The opposing argument could be made that even though he uses large chunks of songs, he changes them and makes them his own.
As far as damaging the profits or reputations of the original copyright owners, an argument can't really be made. Because Girl Talk does not sell his music, the only way he profits is by performing live shows for an audience. It could be argued that this is simply a way of self-expression that does not infringe upon the reputations or financial gains of the copyright holders.
In reality, artists that Girl Talk samples should be flattered that someone cares enough about their music to try and expand upon it. All he is doing is showing his appreciation for multiple genres of music by mashing them together.
As far as damaging the profits or reputations of the original copyright owners, an argument can't really be made. Because Girl Talk does not sell his music, the only way he profits is by performing live shows for an audience. It could be argued that this is simply a way of self-expression that does not infringe upon the reputations or financial gains of the copyright holders.
In reality, artists that Girl Talk samples should be flattered that someone cares enough about their music to try and expand upon it. All he is doing is showing his appreciation for multiple genres of music by mashing them together.
Wednesday, October 28, 2015
Blog Assignment 3
Penn State Interactivity Study
This article has quite a lot to do with internet communication. In the article, Penn State professors tested a very interactive anti-smoking website against a plain control anti-smoking website. According to the findings in the study, the interactive website caused participants to see smoking as much more displeasurable than the control website. With a scrolling feature that allowed participants to interact with pictures of negative effects of smoking, the interactive website was seen as much more engaging to the users.
I think that one way we can measure the interactivity of a website is by measuring the depth of the clicks. Normal, less interactive websites simply have links everywhere that bring you to a single webpage. With an interactive website, every click gets you to a page related to the previous page. If we can measure the depth of one interactive activity on a website, we could measure the interactivity of the entire site.
This article has quite a lot to do with internet communication. In the article, Penn State professors tested a very interactive anti-smoking website against a plain control anti-smoking website. According to the findings in the study, the interactive website caused participants to see smoking as much more displeasurable than the control website. With a scrolling feature that allowed participants to interact with pictures of negative effects of smoking, the interactive website was seen as much more engaging to the users.
I think that one way we can measure the interactivity of a website is by measuring the depth of the clicks. Normal, less interactive websites simply have links everywhere that bring you to a single webpage. With an interactive website, every click gets you to a page related to the previous page. If we can measure the depth of one interactive activity on a website, we could measure the interactivity of the entire site.
Thursday, October 1, 2015
Blog Assignment 2
Sarnoff's Law is the law that I agree with most. This law institutes the idea that the value of some broadcast is equal to the number of viewers the broadcast receives. This goes hand-in-hand with common economic theory, where the amount of value given to something is based on the value it creates for others. That being said, a youtube video with 1 million views should be considered much more valuable than one with only 30 views. The same can be said for television news programs. The news channel with the most viewers is usually considered the most valuable news channel out of the lot.
I believe that in this era of society that ways information is gathered will not change very much. At this point, almost anything anyone could ever need to know is at his or her fingertips. With a smartphone in almost everyone's pocket, information has gotten about as easy to find as anything. That being said, the only way that information could be easier to find is if some of the human element is eliminated. Siri is a slight example of this where instead of manually searching for information, a user can simply ask a computer to do it for them. Although this is an early form of artificial intelligence, I don't think it will advance much further in the next five years.
Another way that people may be getting information five years from now is from devices such as Google Glasses. Devices like these will make it even easier and faster to gather information. Without having to manually find information, people will have more time to do other things.
I believe that in this era of society that ways information is gathered will not change very much. At this point, almost anything anyone could ever need to know is at his or her fingertips. With a smartphone in almost everyone's pocket, information has gotten about as easy to find as anything. That being said, the only way that information could be easier to find is if some of the human element is eliminated. Siri is a slight example of this where instead of manually searching for information, a user can simply ask a computer to do it for them. Although this is an early form of artificial intelligence, I don't think it will advance much further in the next five years.
Another way that people may be getting information five years from now is from devices such as Google Glasses. Devices like these will make it even easier and faster to gather information. Without having to manually find information, people will have more time to do other things.
Thursday, September 17, 2015
"Generation Like" Discussion Questions
1. Engagement is the amount of attention a social media user gets from their audience. In the film, the skateboarding kid would always make inappropriate jokes and play pranks on people. Even though he got famous from skateboarding, in order to keep his audience engaged he had to change the focus of his videos.
Interaction can be defined as how a user of social media gets involved on social media. An example of this could be "like"ing a post or the Hunger Games superfan who interacted on the fan site for prizes.
Reach is the amount of people that see someone's post on social media. In the film, many youtube stars were worried about the number of followers they had on their page. This could be a measure of their reach.
The target is simply who an ad, post, or comment is directed towards. The Hunger Games superfan is in the teenage demographic that the film's website is trying to target.
2. "Like"ing someone's post on Facebook does not mean all that much to me. However I do not "like" most things I see on Facebook. When I "Like" something on Facebook, it is basically me telling that person that I either agree with or enjoyed whatever he or she posted.
3. Honestly, knowing others like the same things I like on Facebook does not influence me very much. At this point in my Facebook career I use the site mostly for news and sports, so I don't actually do that much social networking. Because I don't post very often at all, I don't get that many "likes" and therefore am not affected by them.
4. An influencer is anything that can change the way someone thinks about a person or object. Facebook has become a major influencer on some due to the pressure created from "likes". When certain people like certain things, others will follow the trends.
5. In the film, Oreo created a rainbow cookie to support gay pride. This was favored very well by the community and actually caused them to sell many Oreos. By appealing to supporters of a social issue, Oreo gained customers they most likely would not have had.
6. There are many ways that companies can use social media to advertise. Many companies have a Facebook, Twitter, and even Instagram account where they post deals, news, and other promotions. Once a user likes or follows a company on social media, there will be a constant flow of reminders about the company to the end user. Another way to advertise on social media is to actually buy ad space, however many times these ads can be seen as annoying.
7. Marketers are using social media to build brand trust by not only expanding their reach, but expanding the interaction of their followers as well. Many companies encourage the use of hashtags in order to get people talking about their products. When people see many other people supporting a brand, that envokes a sense of trust for a new user of the brand.
8. Celebrities are using social media to promote themselves more than ever. In the film, a star of The Vampire Diaries hires a company to manage all of his social media accounts. This company attempts to grow his follower base so that more people will be engaged with him.
9. Corporate sponsorship is when a company pays a social media user to promote products via their chosen medium. One of the youtube presenters in the film was sponsored by Taco Bell and even did reviews of some of their tacos. If he thought it was cool, his followers most likely did too.
10. Marketers in the film were trying to be both transparent and invisible. However, although most companies tried to be, not all succeeded. It is very hard to be both transparent and invisible as we saw with the Taco Bell example. Although the youtuber was simply eating a taco, the viewer most likely knew that he was paid to do so.
11. The Hunger Games plot is a lot like advertising using social media because of how social media users fight for sponsors. The plot of the movie involves children fighting for sponsors so that they can be more favorable in the public eye. This is much like how youtube and other social media sites have their users battle for sponsors with their content.
1. Engagement is the amount of attention a social media user gets from their audience. In the film, the skateboarding kid would always make inappropriate jokes and play pranks on people. Even though he got famous from skateboarding, in order to keep his audience engaged he had to change the focus of his videos.
Interaction can be defined as how a user of social media gets involved on social media. An example of this could be "like"ing a post or the Hunger Games superfan who interacted on the fan site for prizes.
Reach is the amount of people that see someone's post on social media. In the film, many youtube stars were worried about the number of followers they had on their page. This could be a measure of their reach.
The target is simply who an ad, post, or comment is directed towards. The Hunger Games superfan is in the teenage demographic that the film's website is trying to target.
2. "Like"ing someone's post on Facebook does not mean all that much to me. However I do not "like" most things I see on Facebook. When I "Like" something on Facebook, it is basically me telling that person that I either agree with or enjoyed whatever he or she posted.
3. Honestly, knowing others like the same things I like on Facebook does not influence me very much. At this point in my Facebook career I use the site mostly for news and sports, so I don't actually do that much social networking. Because I don't post very often at all, I don't get that many "likes" and therefore am not affected by them.
4. An influencer is anything that can change the way someone thinks about a person or object. Facebook has become a major influencer on some due to the pressure created from "likes". When certain people like certain things, others will follow the trends.
5. In the film, Oreo created a rainbow cookie to support gay pride. This was favored very well by the community and actually caused them to sell many Oreos. By appealing to supporters of a social issue, Oreo gained customers they most likely would not have had.
6. There are many ways that companies can use social media to advertise. Many companies have a Facebook, Twitter, and even Instagram account where they post deals, news, and other promotions. Once a user likes or follows a company on social media, there will be a constant flow of reminders about the company to the end user. Another way to advertise on social media is to actually buy ad space, however many times these ads can be seen as annoying.
7. Marketers are using social media to build brand trust by not only expanding their reach, but expanding the interaction of their followers as well. Many companies encourage the use of hashtags in order to get people talking about their products. When people see many other people supporting a brand, that envokes a sense of trust for a new user of the brand.
8. Celebrities are using social media to promote themselves more than ever. In the film, a star of The Vampire Diaries hires a company to manage all of his social media accounts. This company attempts to grow his follower base so that more people will be engaged with him.
9. Corporate sponsorship is when a company pays a social media user to promote products via their chosen medium. One of the youtube presenters in the film was sponsored by Taco Bell and even did reviews of some of their tacos. If he thought it was cool, his followers most likely did too.
10. Marketers in the film were trying to be both transparent and invisible. However, although most companies tried to be, not all succeeded. It is very hard to be both transparent and invisible as we saw with the Taco Bell example. Although the youtuber was simply eating a taco, the viewer most likely knew that he was paid to do so.
11. The Hunger Games plot is a lot like advertising using social media because of how social media users fight for sponsors. The plot of the movie involves children fighting for sponsors so that they can be more favorable in the public eye. This is much like how youtube and other social media sites have their users battle for sponsors with their content.
Tuesday, September 8, 2015
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