If You Want Me You Can Catch Me On Your Social Network
Since I have attended the University of Texas at Austin, I always find the reactions I receive when I tell others I am an Advertising quite interesting. For example, last year I went to Supercuts, and while I was getting my hair cut, the barber said she hates commercials and doesn’t understand how anyone could go into the advertising and marketing field. If you understand Twitter and its previous #tts (trending topics), you will understand this: #thatawkwardmomentwhen the barber asks you your major 5 minutes after brutally bashing advertisers and marketers. There was an awkward silence after my response for a few minutes, but I found it to be funny. This brought me to the idea to interview one of my friends and ask them how they feel about social media and advertising. The interview is as follows:
Me: Do you know what social media is?
Interviewee: Yes.
Me: Can you define social media in your own words?
Interviewee: Yea, it is a networking site that allows people to communicate with each other.
Me: Do you know what advertising is?
Interviewee: Yes, it’s when marketers try to get you to purchase their product or service
Me: How do you feel about advertising on social media sites?
Interviewee: It’s okay I guess, just as long as I’m not bombarded by pop-up ads while I’m trying to use the site.
Me: Have you ever found any coupons or other promotions on any social media medium?
Interviewee: Yes I have, several times actually.
Me: Can you give me an example?
Interviewee: I can’t remember the exact coupon, but I remember I printed out a coupon that a company had tweeted about from their website.
Me: What did you think about the convenience of being able to save money while going through a daily routine?
Interviewee: It was really convenient, I’d follow more companies if they all did that.
Me: Thank you for your time.
After the last question, it was clear that I had all the information I needed to understand my friend’s attitude towards advertising and social media. He liked the idea that he was able to save money by printing a coupon via a tweet linked to the brand’s website, but did not want to be overwhelmed by ads on the sites itself. If advertisers and marketers can find a balance between the two, then they can probably have more successful campaign launches.
Over and Out,
J. Houston
