Before when I would think of advertising I would think of
radio ads, billboards, television commercials, maybe the side of a bus…but now,
in the 21st century, it means so much more. Advertising was very two dimensional but now
as the world evolves and technology advances, so must advertising.
If you were to compare the average person of the 2013 to
that of 1953, you would think that the days have gotten shorter. People today are always on the go, and seem
to never stop. A prime example is
television commercials. Today most
people(I know I do) are either using their TiVo or DVR system to record their
favorite programs and fast forward through the commercials. It seems that people are too busy to give you
their time of day, and always need to speed through things or be occupied with
something. Just look at the couples
around you next time you go to dinner and count how many of them are on their
phones rather than engaging in each other’s time. If people won’t give their own friends and
significant others their time, how do advertising companies get a piece of
their time? Simple, they steal it back.
When people are spending an average of 22 hours a week on
social media websites(Marketing Charts link), the answer is
simple. Advertise on social media. For all of us that have a face book, we’ve
all seen the “timeline” and format changes that have come over the years. With every one of them, has come a new space
or section from advertisements
This has become a new route for companies to
advertise, and the great part about it is that it is reasonably priced. Really any company can run an advertisement
of some sort, reaching out to a certain amount of people, and have it up there
for an agreed amount of time. But bigger
than that, is just social media in general…
Social media has become such a large part of everyone’s life
for a few simple reasons. It’s
easy. It’s fast. It’s free.
Anyone who has access to the Internet, now has access to social
media. According to ABC News’ Good
Morning America, more than half of Americans have a smartphone so
access to the Internet is becoming less and less of a problem. Any company between small, local “ma and pa”
shops to global conglomerates can have a face book page, twitter account and so
much more where people can go to connect not only with the company, but with
other people who are supporters of that company. As a small and local business owner myself,
it really is a great way to build an audience and get your message across
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| Yes, I threw in a cheap plug for myself... |
Still, social media is so much more than even that. Social media, and just online advertising in
general, is like giving another rock to David to use in his slingshot against
Goliath. Since the Citizens case
in 2010, large companies have had the same 1st amendment rights as
individual citizens. What does this
mean? This means that big time
politicians who have big time fundraisers have found a way to cheat the system
once again. Politicians can not
advertise or market themselves within 30(sometimes 60, depending on what
position the election is for) days within an election. However, now companies who either want or don’t
want a bill to be passed can back a candidate and advertise for them(just as
long as the candidate does what the company wants of course…) This makes victory nearly impossible for the
local citizens who have no backing but want to run for election. But now with the help of social media, even
the average Joe has a little better shot of winning than before.
I think as long as technology, social networking and mass
media in general keep evolving and growing, so will the world of
advertising. And with that growth,
comes more and more opportunities for normal people with an idea or a company
to become one of the “big guys” which, in my eyes, helps restore the concept of
“the American Dream” just a little more.
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