Week 05 Blog Post

Honestly, I find that technology has made advertising both more streamlined and more annoying. For example, being advertised to through Facebook based on recent internet searches gets to be obnoxious and a little bit creepy. Granted, I like the idea of buying items for a bargain price; however, I would rather seek them out than have my computer keep track of what I look for on search engines and advertise to me accordingly. 
In any case, advertising via social media must be done with care. There is a fine line between appealing to customers and violating their privacy, especially given recent credit card scams and identity theft. Businesses can profit greatly from social media advertising if done without intruding on media users' regular use of their social media. On Twitter, for example, sponsored links and advertisements can sometimes hit the mark on reeling in a new customer; more often, however, these sponsored links get in the way of what users are looking for and end up being neglected and looked over. Facebook is the same way - blatantly throwing a huge advertisement (for a website in which the user might not even be interested) into the user's newsfeed might actually turn users off from that brand entirely. However, if spaced out well enough and worded in a way that will not make users feel as though they are being "bought out," advertisements will be successful. 
Rather than placing any old advertisement out on the web, business should lean more toward drawing in customers with witty comments and consumer engagement. As discussed in class, one of the main benefits of social media is the conversational aspect which it provides, and it is through this aspect that advertising becomes more streamlined. Engaging customers through tweets to which they can respond and retweet allows the customers to feel a more personal relationship with an otherwise faceless company. Taco Bell is an example of one business that actively engages with its followers; in fact, it is often used as an example of one business that effectively streamlines its advertising through the use of technology. 
A point made by the article, "Advertising Turns to Tech to Engage Consumers," states that advertising needs to evoke emotion in addition to the loyalty it is trying to gather from viewers. For the most part, consumers want to feel a personal connection with a brand and product in order to be interested in investing their time in it. With social media advertising just taking off, it might take a while before people can be effectively marketed. Again, as stated in the given article, "It's all part of how advertisers will need to be present, aware and plugged in." To me, this means that businesses will have to pay special attention to what its followers are buying, if they are shopping online or in-store, and if they are directed to such products via social media advertising. In short, the future of social media advertising lies in businesses' abilities to streamline their marketing.

This article basically states that, in order to keep up with the use of social media, businesses and their brands should be keeping up with social media advertising. 
http://www.brandwatch.com/2014/01/why-2014-is-the-year-of-social-media-advertising/