Digital Media
Convergence, Advertising and New Media: Advertising in the age of
Social Media. By Jacob Harrison - 40734145
We are interacting with
each other in new and unforeseen ways online. One of the most popular
ways to socialise, communicate and express ourselves online is
through social media such as Facebook and Twitter. The affect of
digital media convergence on society is both profound and ongoing,
but above all is a complex interrelationship between technology,
societal and economic factors (Dwyer, 2010: 8). Perhaps one of the
most significant forces driving digital media convergence is
monetary; the field of advertising being a key component in its
procurement. In this essay I will discuss how traditional advertising
techniques are being adapted to the social media environment with
mixed success.
Social Media offers a new
platform to not only gain access to hard to reach markets, but due to
its interactive nature provides advertisers and companies with the
opportunity to directly engage and develop relationships with
'consumer-users'. New ways of interactive advertising are being
developed, as Laurel Papworth (2011) explains regarding the Junior
Master Chef forum page that her company, The Community Crew,
administer. Consumer-users often volunteer valuable personal data
allowing companies to generate 'qualified leads' – the company can
identify the consumer's specific wants or needs and is better placed
to address them.
However, there are also
pitfalls for advertisers and companies in this interactive and
dynamic space. If companies choose to enter the realm of social
media, they must be prepared for negative and public reaction to
their products and performance. Companies can no longer risk ignoring
their social media engagement, as their image can be hijacked by
negative parties. Take for instance the Twitter scandal that was
publicised regarding the 2010 BP oil rig disaster, as examined by Mia
C. Long's article in Social Media: Usage and Impact (2011).
Interactive advertising
in social media can generate a positive outcome for business,
advertiser and the consumer. Laurel Papworth is CEO of Community
Crew; a company that manages administration of companies' social
media sites and online communities. She spoke at the Screen Australia
Digital Ignition Clinic in November 2011 on story community, building
influence online and monetising social networks. One of the sites her
company administers is the Junior Master Chef forum page; she
describes a particularly effective example of the convergence of new
media and advertising '
'With Junior Master Chef,
we get about 16 000 comments during an ad break. We have to manage
that and manage the conversations, we write reports, and one of the
reports we wrote showed that the members were talking about “How
did the kid's cut vegetables without cutting themselves? They're
children!”. And by reporting that back channel ten found a company
that makes special utensils for kids, … and the next thing I know
they are being spotlight sponsors of the show and of the forum... and
the community go “Oh! That's who it is!” and then they tweet it
and they Facebook it and they link to the company and they all answer
each others questions, so its not advertising to them, its useful
information.' (Papworth, 2011. 54:43 timecode.
<http://screenaustralia.richmedia-server.com/sound/MultiPlatformStory/ScreenAustralia_MultiPlatformStory_LaurelPapworth.mp3>)
This is a prime example
of the possibilities of old media advertising practices applied to
the new world of social media. The convergence of advertising
practices and I.T. skills delivered an opportunity for a fast and
effective response to consumer desires that did not exist until the
widespread establishment of digital technology in homes and the take
up of digital technology and social media by conventional media. This
new ability for business to engage directly in traditional media and
online create a deeper connection with consumers, and as businesses
engage on a personal level in the consumers life this helps to
maintain a bond with the business rather than merely address a
transient need. (Sheehan et al, 2009).The combination of
skills sets along with the integrated online content and traditional
television platform presents a mutually beneficial outcome for
business, advertisers and consumers.
Although there are many
advantages for business and advertisers in direct interaction with
consumers through social media, there are considerable risks for
companies reputations. When businesses fail to properly engage with
social media and maintain the integrity of their online presence,
other parties may take advantage of this over site. In 2010 the BP
oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico was an environmental disaster and
public relations nightmare for BP
(<
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/29/bp-oil-spill-timeline-deepwater-horizon>).The
slow response to the environmental impacts, the consistent failure of
their effort to stop the oil, and their reluctance to provide
compensation to the affected population had seen the companies share
price and reputation fall dramaticly. There was widespread global
outrage due to all these factors, but it was made considerably worse
by there lack of engagement with the media.
Culture-jammers took
advantage of this failure to respond to public outcry, creating a
false twitter account named 'BPGlobalPr'. This was a parody account,
but it had many more followers than the official BP account and many
believed that this was in fact the official BP account, causing
further condemnation of the company (Long, 2011. 156pp). In addition
to the official accounts lack of numbers and the poor quality of
information released, BP also neglected to respond to this false
account. It was only after Twitter requested that it be made clear
that it was a fake account, according to Twitters own impersonation
policy, that the account made a change to it's profile picture
indicating it was a fake..
The failure to engage
appropriately with social media allowed a terrible crisis to become
all the worse for the company. The failure of BP to respond
appropriately to social media shows how important it has become for
businesses to be vigilant and active in it's relations with online
communities, as Long explains '… companies must be aware of what is
occurring on social networking sites, even if they are not fully
engaged with the sites themselves.' (Long, 2011. 157pp). It is no
longer possible to simply ignore social media; the negative exposure
to vast communities of consumers makes it imperative to be proactive
in their management of their online presence.
The rise of the corporate
population on social media in recent years has been prodigious. A
company may seek to engage the consumer in an interactive
relationship, however poor judgement in managing social media
initiatives can expose them to a very public depreciation of the
brand image. There are risks for the consumer also; with issues of
privacy, data mining and ownership of personal data still to be
addressed by government and industry regulations. Of particular
concern is the transparency of whom has access to consumer data, and
future ownership concerns if a company merges or is taken over by
another company, and what will happen to the consumer data they have
acquired.
Although there are
potential problems relating to issues of data mining and privacy with
this new form of advertising, it could be argued that by volunteering
personal information consumers will receive advertisements more
geared to them personally and less 'clutter'.There are great
opportunities for companies and advertisers to find new profits and
for consumers to get advertising content that is personalised and
more relevant to the user. At this early stage, in an online
environment that moves much faster than regulation and policy
generation, the future of social media, it's relationship with
traditional advertising practices and consumers remains promising,
but uncertain.
Bibliography
Dwyer,
T. (2010) Media Convergence,
McGraw Hill, Berkshire.
Guardian
research. (2010) BP Oil Spill
Timeline.
guardian.co.uk,
22 July 2010.
accessed
30 August
2012.<http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/29/bp-oil-spill-timeline-deepwater-horizon>
Al-Deen, N. Long, M. Guo, M, et al.. 2011., Social
Media: Usage and Impact. [online]. Rowman & Littlefield
Publishing Group, Inc.. Available
from:<http://lib.myilibrary.com?ID=332048> accessed 23 August
2012.
