Spamming Away

Recently I read an article that Facebook has found a way to target their advertisements to our shopping habits off of the web. What happened to the days of being ad-free? When we could play on our social sites and not have to be bothered by all these advertisements. What has gotten even worse is the way companies are spamming away on our individual newsfeeds. They are finding any way to place themselves in our everyday lives in hopes of eventually getting another sale. This is not the way to make your followers or friends happy. Social platforms have so much potential for brands if they are used correctly, but more often than not brands are failing horribly.

In the professional world, slowly but surely the fortune 500 companies are adapting to the social world we live in. They are hiring social media specialists and creating a team to focus solely on their social strategy. These companies are successful; for example CNN, Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, Coca Cola. With a social media team in tact, strategies and plans are formed to attract the customer in a way that will create a relationship. I believe the best way to a consumer is to give them something they don't already have; knowledge about what you are offering. By giving them content that is intriguing, they will feel as though your brand has given them something they could not get anywhere else. There starts the loyal relationship. The fashion industry is what has grabbed my attention on social media. I am not what you would consider a "fashionista" but I believe that the different fashion brands I follow have made me much more knowledgeable. Particularly rent the runway has put out several pieces to help me in my current stage of life. If ever I have trouble picking shoes or accessories, their content always has the answers. Because they have offered something for me, I would definitely say I would vouch for their brand. If brands can produce valuable content, then social relationships will be much more powerful than ever before.

Being Who You are Meant to Be

Earlier this week one of my daily devotionals talked about being you and nobody else. We are all intended to be who God created us to be. We are not supposed to pretend to be something we are not. Specifically it talked about how we should not change ourselves so that others will accept us. If someone doesn't accept us then more than likely they were not intended to be in our lives. Each of us have our own brand. It is who we are. It is how we portray and define ourselves to others. Unfortunately, there are a lot of people who change themselves for others. They want to be skinnier, or taller, or have bigger boobs. Too often people have a hard time accepting themselves. I believe a lot of it comes from the world we live in today. At least with girls, it is clearly misleading to constantly stare at pictures of actresses on the red carpets or models on the runway because these women make us think that we have to look like them. That is one of the most frustrating things about social media is that it leads us to constantly compare ourselves to others, and we are constantly criticizing ourselves. Part of me wonders if technology weren't what it is today if so many girls would still be getting plastic surgery or be facing eating disorders. However, social media is going nowhere; so I hope that brands targeting women will be very selective in their choice of spokespeople. The right celebrity can make or break a brand. These spokespeople are able to truly make the brand memorable and desirable when they are seen on different platforms using or talking about the products. When women's clothing stores use "real" looking celebrities to endorse the brand it encourages all the women seeing the ads, tweets, posts. etc. One of my favorites is Kate Hudson and Ann Taylor. Kate Hudson has been seen wearing different Ann Taylor outfits, and it makes me want to go to the store and buy that same outfit. If brands are strategic with their spokespeople and how social media is used, they have the ability to become unstoppable.

Awards Season: The Grammy's Have Arrived

It's that time of the year again. Awards Season. There is the People's Choice, Golden Globes, SAGS, the Grammy's, and the Academy Awards. I am sure that I forgot a few but those mentioned are the ones I pay attention to. What is it about the awards season that gets social media a buzz? The starts Instagrams blow up, which is always very entertaining to see what everyone is wearing. I rarely pay attention to the actual awards, but I always make sure to watch the pre-shows. The best part is the red carpet walks. Who is attending with who and who is wearing the best dress? Oh, and of course there will be several stars who show up on the Fashion Police. I think if I were to be in their shoes, it would be difficult to not only put myself out there on the red carpet, but you are putting yourself out there on every single social platform. This has the potential to be overly praised or harshly criticized and rejected.

While watching the pre-show I saw that Huffington post is doing a live poll of the best and worst dressed for this year. This is what social media has come to. Finding multiple ways for viewers to participate from their living room couches. For certain things I think this is a great idea, but for others I think it can be a little cruel. Obviously I will joke with my roommates about how ridiculous some people are dressed, but I personally have a hard time sharing that with the rest of the world.

I think that fashion retailers can truly benefit from awards season and the use of social media. These retailers could use the awards shows to engage with their customers on what the different starts wore. If a certain style is extremely favorable, the retailers could use that to their benefit. I have already seen that with local retailers and stars everyday wear. Specifically the Red Dress Boutique has shown pictures of famous women wearing different trends and then placed those pictures next to in-store items that are identical to the stars outfits. The more that different business and brands do this they are truly connecting and engaging with their audience. Personally, I am much more likely to go buy something from a store when they show me that my favorite actress was spotted wearing it. The brands are taking content that is already out there and giving it to their audience to see and interact with.

Hopefully tonight I won't see anything to horrible that I allow myself to publicly criticize! But until next time I hope you all stay out of social media trouble.

Super Bowl Sunday: a Game for the Boys and Halftime for the Girls

Super Bowl Sunday is all the hype from January up until February when it happens. The grocery and party stores have massive sales and promos and the large national companies are preparing their commercials. Tonight I watched the Super Bowl with two of my roomates and we had a casual night in. Instead of going to a typical super bowl party, we simply picked up take-out from various restaurants and watched the game in the comfort of our own home. Since the Falcons were not in the game, none of us really cared about the game or who won. What we did care about was Beyonce's Half-Time performance and the reunion of Destiny's Child. I actually find it funny that tonight's game held one purpose for the boys and another purpose entirely for the girls. Obviously the boys cared about the game, but the girls cared about the performances and the commercials. Just take a look on twitter, facebook, and instagram and you will see the proof to my statements. All of my girl friends went twitter crazy during half-time. One of my personal favorite facebook statuses was about the reunion of Destiny's Child and how anyone under the age of 17 would have had no idea who the two girls performing with Beyonce were. I sometimes forget about the different generation gaps and how those younger than my group of friends grew up with different pop singers and boy band collections. However there are those certain artists that everyone no matter their age can relate to or enjoys listening to. One group in particular would be the Rolling Stones. The Stones have been around since my parents were young yet we are able to share the enjoyment of watching them perform live together.

Although I may be able to enjoy certain music with my parents, there are other things we do not similarly share. On nights like tonight my parents probably have no idea who many tweets or facebook statuses are updated. If they weren't watching the game, they would not find out nearly as quickly about what is occurring. The social media world allows my generation in particular and those immersed in social media to be in constant communication. Social media allows us to constantly know if something is happening even if we aren't watching it. Most of the time you can have all of the details of a particular event without even watching it because of your friends posts on twitter. This can be a good and a bad thing. At times it can be very comical but at others it can become overwhelming and annoying. On nights where I am able to enjoy the performance I think social media makes it more entertaining, but if I had to be studying tonight and wasn't able to see Beyonce, I believe that social media would have further made me feel excluded. I don't believe that it is meant to feel this way, but people are always going to feel left out when they are not able to partake in the fun. In my case, whenever I am really stressed out about school, I try to remove myself from social media entirely so that I am not distracted and so I don't lower my mood even further. Social media is capable of being extremely entertaining but it is also capable of being the biggest distractor when trying to be productive. I guess that is why I am lucky that this semester I am taking a social media class. Technically, I am doing school work if I procrastinate by playing on facebook and twitter. Now if only I could convince my parents that.