How you can make social media work

Social Media lets you perform a variety of marketing and promotional activities.
Using a combination of techniques will drive the message even better.
In principle we refer to: brand awareness; product advertising; reputation.

Engaging to create brand awareness

What made Twitter a quick success for business was its ability to engage with an audience instantly.

Example: Levis used Twitter to create some enthusiasm about its jeans. This campaign from 2009 used Twitter to play the social media version of the old game of "catch me if you can".

Participants followed the clues of the whereabouts of the "catch" left on Twitter, and their reward was a free pair of jeans. The game was captured on video, with a short extract opposite.

Promote your product

The video series "Will It Blend?" has become a classic.  It is a basic commodity product competing in a busy market. A little "uniqueness" created extra value. The company's revenues grew into the multi-millions on the back of these videos.

Create a reputation

Gary Vaynerchuk used video to promote his family owned New York wine store. The business annual revenues grew from $1m to $50m when he used YouTube to develop his reputation as a wine expert with a unique approach. 
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How videos help

Video is potentially the King of Content.  YouTube often has more traffic than Google.
​ And when you add all the other free video sharing sites then you have the potential for attracting traffic

Video works across 3 levels:

• Social element
  YouTube started to connect people, such as families and friends.
• Entertainment
  New pop groups, Independent film makers, have all utilised this facility.
• Promotional
  Companies using it as new TV advertising, where it's cheaper and more time is given over to get the message across.

​Noteworthy: Google has a feature on its AdWords set-up which enable  text ads to appear on YouTube. (Google owns YouTube.)

How product placement is done - Influencers

For many the main interest on YouTube comes from "young media personalities". These are the "celebrity video bloggers" (vloggers) whose regular videos receive "millions" of views. They appeal especially to the millenial generation (those who reached 18 from 2000 on) and their videos sell and promote product.  In marketing they are referred to as "Influencers" and help both established brands and the launch of new products. 

Prominent influencers have come and gone. Combining charm, wit, vulgarity it's not a new phenomenon

Jenna Marbles (now retired)
Developed a whole career and fortune from vlogging. Ads were placed on her videos. Her vlog wad satirical in content, and for "mature audiences".  Madame Tussauds even gave her a waxwork, such was her fame. Jenna is an early example having started in 2010. She "retired" having had over 1.7bn views on her channel with 20m subscribers.

Zoella (now Zoe Sugg)
Started in 2007 with the channel hitting 10.7m subscribers and some 1,1bn views. The size of her audience (1 to 2.5 million views per video) gave her an excellent platform for  product placement.  (As Zoe Sugg subscribers dropped to less than 5m.) The videos were usually 15 to 20 minutes in length and set a standard for communicating affordable fashion. ​

PewDiePie
Started in 2010 and with 111m subscribers has led the way with "gamer" videos which were live streamed. More recently his content has been more about his lifestyle.

Here are a few examples of recent top influencers

Moving on....

YT continues to offer a range of possibilities. The potential is still vast though direct income from views is under strain as it imposes arbitrary conditions on decency and what is acceptable. Nonetheless everything from News Channels, to expertise, to ASMR all thrive in the ever-expanding world of YouTube. 

And.....Traditional Adverts from TV to online - a couple of amusing examples 

The examples below fit any medium, and are popular to share across YouTube and Facebook, in any language.