Identifying And Understanding Online Influence Essay

Some key determinants of a successful social media promotional campaign is measuring brand reach or viewers, and the level of engagement interacting with the promotional message. Level of influence can inspire followers to take some kind of action such as engaging with your message or making a purchase. Measurables such as tracking social media traffic to a company’s website or even time spent on a specific page, viewing of various products and other such actions can also provide valuable data. These are all relevant from a marketing perspective in evaluating increased brand awareness or appeal of interest to the promotional campaign.

According to www.merriam-webster.com, social media is a “form of electronic communication through which users create online communities to share information, ideas, personal messages, and other content.” There are many different social media sites that have emerged over the last few years that allow for users to communicate with other individuals, share their thoughts and ideas, as well as their creativity skills to construct a perceived image for themselves. “Identity is conceived of as something that one does, like a task one continues to perform throughout one’s life” (Micalizzi, 2014, 217). One of the social media platforms that contribute to these outcomes is Instagram. With the use of this social media platform, it becomes easy for an individual to construct the persona they would like others to perceive them as. An iconic figure that creates a persona through her Instagram is Kim Kardashian. Through the use of social media, Kim Kardashian is able to show her luxurious lifestyle to create a perceived persona about herself. In this essay, I will be analyzing Kim Kardashian’s social media account on Instagram to exhibit the celebrity’s mediated persona through the images that are put forth, and through the ways that this platform allows for a particular persona to emerge.

It is interesting how social media today is influencing the marketing role of many companies and how it’s playing a big role in their success. The more the company advertises on social media, the

Social media has become an influential ground for consumers to share their opinions about a company’s brand and products. In addition, it helps in having a strong brand that produces positive relations and distinguish the brand from competitors, is a critical component for effective marketing. According to Dahlén and Lange (2009) “the quality of the product is not the evident factor when it comes to purchasing a product, the deciding factor depends on how the brand is perceived” (Para. 1). This demonstrates the importance of incorporating social media as a tool to promote brands, allow for interactions, and customer satisfaction by engaging with customers more frequently for feedbacks or reviews. Thus create an opportunity for the company to show its devotion to their customers, and initiate good reputation, which can increase sales. In other words, social media has the ability to upsurge the awareness for businesses as well as the brand.

Instagram is a social media base that can aid business revenue by simply following certain guidelines to market any product. In Rachel Daley’s “21 of the Worst Instagram Marketing Mistakes & How to Fix’ Em” written for MadeFreshly, there are many strategies for marketing, therefore Daley was very insightful on what to do and what not do to succeed in marketing a product; however, her credible advice only scratched the surface and should have gone beyond the basics of social marketing. As the article unfolds there are four rhetors that become quite evident: Daley, and MadeFreshly. Additional rhetors include the world of businesses and the public, since the audience of Instagram includes the World Wide Web.

Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are popular social media platforms that millennials frequent. Facebook and Twitter are perfect outlets for Star Athletics to keep the consumer in the know about the brand and new products. Using these social media platforms will allow the company to interact with the consumer in real time and track responses about the brand through consumer post and hashtag tracking. YouTube vloggers also known as micro-influencers can do product reviews and give their honest opinions about the brand and product. Their audience is far smaller, but the level of engagement, trust and authenticity that a micro-influencer can foster with his or her followers makes it exponentially more likely that their audience will travel through the funnel. Micro-influencers’ engaged reach is like the ultimate stamp of peer-approved credibility that Millennials crave, which makes it exponentially more likely they will convert on that content (Burke 2016).

Before I embarked on my journey and moved to New York City, I was working as a marketing coordinator for a social influencer back home. With a small team size, I gained and learned skills required for many of the different aspects of the influencer business and within a year and half, I had the opportunity to work with many different brands and other influencers. I've gathered some industry tips influencer marketing tips I learned during this time.

Two brands from the same product category that I chose to compare their social media promotional strategy are Dunkin’ Donuts and Starbucks. I chose the two brands because they are the two largest, most well-known, and direct competitor coffeehouse chains in America. Specifically, I chose to exam Dunkin’ Donuts and Starbucks’ activities on Instagram for a week. I selected Instagram because the majority of its users are millennial, and in this case, it’s the brands’ largest customers. Also, I find it’s interesting how many brands are shifting to Instagram, where it allows brands to create a visual story that draws consumer’s attention, engage, and connect with fans better as pictures are easier to remember and process.

Companies use social media sites such as Pinterest or Instagram to visually show their products. Once the consumer sees the product on a social media site or ad they are more inclined to buy the product. “Pinterest and Instagram are no longer nice-to-haves for retailers. Both of these visual social platforms have become selling channels in their own right. This is thanks to buy buttons on Pinterest, which allow users to purchase items directly from the platform, and a robust advertising offering on Instagram, which allows users to click through to branded product pages” (Wallace, 2018, para.3). In some instances, the companies contact popular social media entertainers to advertise their products on their Instagram page.

Therefore, it is no surprise that advertisements are a significant part of Instagram. On the app many influencers will post pictures of products like detox teas, clothing or make up products. Some of the influencers would intentionally or unintentionally not mention their relationship with the company they were promoting. Though it depends on the state a few have laws that require advertisements to be made known to the viewers and potential customers. Therefore, many posters were violating advertisements laws by not telling their followers of their relationship with the company while promoting the product. The lack of transparency has caused viewer's to question the authenticity of product reviews. Which has led to popular hashtags, memes and

Instagram can drive sales and increase correspondence just as effectively as other social media channels if not better in a lot of ways. Approximately 75% of businesses are already using Instagram to promote their business and develop a well-rounded social media presence. With the 150 million users that access Instagram, you are missing out on a vast number of potential clients and outreach opportunities if you neglect this important resource.

Cell phone users can’t resist snapping pictures then allowing the Instagram filters to work their magic, transforming amateur images into something far more stylish. The man behind the app is CEO and co-creator Kevin Systrom, who launched his brainchild in 2010. The rapid rise in Instagram’s popularity saw it gain over 150 million monthly users by December 2013 and also earned Systrom a spot on Time magazine’s rundown of 30 people younger than 30 who are changing the world. This man created something that I love and use everyday that is why I wanted to show you him

In five short years, Instagram has gone from an app for your phone to a major social force that some experts predict could outperform its parent company, Facebook. Commercial advertising from all types of businesses is new at Instagram, but a recent Forrester study that analyzed three million user reactions with their brands found that Instagram has the

The marketing industry is an elaborate network that links companies to their consumers, primarily through written communication. The main objective of marketing is to identify trends and patterns in consumer behavior, and utilize the data to influence consumers to purchase more goods. From a macroenviroment standpoint, the general conditions of a market are heavily dependent on global environmental factors. The most significant factor that influences the markets today is technological advancements. Since the release of Facebook, Linked-in, Twitter, and Myspace in the early 2000s, the number of people using social media has increased to over sixty-five percent. The ever-growing dependency on social media platforms, has given marketers the tremendous opportunity to further market potential consumers. Social media marketing is a specific form of marketing that focuses on producing ad content that social media users will post on their own networks. This particular marketing technique is effective because ads and content are created, based on what personal information users post on social media. Firms and organizations that advertise their brands on social media are more likely to increase their customer base and annual revenue. By doing so, companies are able to increase exposure of their brand and widen previous hidden, customer bases. As a marketer, the fine line between right and wrong is often blurred. The amount and

ow much do you sincerely love to express your true self and share your experiences globally through pictures with other individuals online? With this social media networking app, you can do just that! Kevin Systrom and Mike Kreiger are the founders of Instagram and launched this app October 06, 2010 ( ). Since 2015 this app has grown to 400 million users, 95 million photos are being uploaded daily and 40 billion are being shared daily, this shows the true potential and value in this social media app ( ). The demographics of the users for this app range from children in their youth and all the way up to the elderly. Instagram is used for self-expression, social interaction, networking, making memories and also exposing the privacy of our youth.