Social Media Advertising

we just had a meeting at the agency i work at and they really want us all to focus on social media. i have been an art director / designer for over a decade and this is now becoming scary to me. i do not have a facebook acct. i do not want a facebook acct. i do not think that liking a company on facebook or having followers on twitter has anything to do with selling product. to me, it feels like this is the beginning of the web when if you weren't "online" you were considered a loser. so now, if you dont have a zillion fans or likes, it is the same thing. I am having a hard time understanding how to implement a new way of thinking as an art director. my job has always been to make things look pretty and now i have to learn mobile advertising and how to take a brand to the next level by tweeting something?

to me, twitter is nothing more than opening your window and screaming out about whatever you want to talk about. eventually someone is going to say "shut the fuck up!" how does pepsi having 1,000,000 likes any different than the megatron baby having 1,000,000 likes? i am hoping some of you young bucks can enlighten me or i am frightened i am going to have to begin a new career in my mid-30s...

My friend does tech evangelizing for LG as part of his work, he tweets all kinds of shit about product releases and what they're offering up at things like CES. I don't know what your company provides/produces, so it's difficult to tell what you might need to do. Look at competing companies and see how they use social media? Your artwork would probably be easiest to translate to tumblr I guess? Remember - the accounts for facebook/twitter/tumblr/linkedin/youtube don't have to be your real name.

http://www.hubmagazine.com/ is an interesting site with lots of marketers hanging out.

http://tracker.moosylvania.com/ is a place that's dedicated to social media marketing strategies.

Good luck!

A ton of people use social media sites. People like me that don't watch tv or buy stuff from billboard advertisements. I'm more likely to be interested in a product if I see it on twitter or facebook.

The real thing is that it doesn't cost any money to set up these accounts, and it can only improve sales.

  On 6/27/2011 at 8:31 PM, jules said:

i have been an art director / designer for over a decade and this is now becoming scary to me. i do not have a facebook acct. i do not want a facebook acct. i do not think that liking a company on facebook or having followers on twitter has anything to do with selling product.

two things:

1. social media is literally the focus in marketing right now, you simply can't avoid it. if you're working in digital marketing, this is what you do. simple as that.

2. but why are you worried about marketing if you're in AD/design? that doesn't make sense. do they not have a marketing department to spearhead this? you shouldn't have to worry about changing careers in your mid-thirties because you shouldn't be doing marketing work as a designer/art director.

  On 6/27/2011 at 9:07 PM, xxx said:

My friend is an account manager for a successful graphic design firm out of St. Louis. They hired a person to leverage social media for them and it has added around 300K a year in revenue for the past couple of years--dunno about da future. It's a new reality and while these things look like total shit-talking to internet pros like you and WATMM, people are increasingly making purchasing decisions/doing business based on this stuff. FACT

  On 6/27/2011 at 9:46 PM, Braintree said:

A ton of people use social media sites. People like me that don't watch tv or buy stuff from billboard advertisements. I'm more likely to be interested in a product if I see it on twitter or facebook.

 

The real thing is that it doesn't cost any money to set up these accounts, and it can only improve sales.

Both points makes much sense. I'm all for the extra boost of help that social media has to offer. I have two possible clients in line from my FB and tumblr accounts.

Jules: you use Behance right? That's kind of like social networking for designers isn't it?

  On 6/27/2011 at 10:25 PM, KY said:

  On 6/27/2011 at 8:31 PM, jules said:

i have been an art director / designer for over a decade and this is now becoming scary to me. i do not have a facebook acct. i do not want a facebook acct. i do not think that liking a company on facebook or having followers on twitter has anything to do with selling product.

 

two things:

1. social media is literally the focus in marketing right now, you simply can't avoid it. if you're working in digital marketing, this is what you do. simple as that.

2. but why are you worried about marketing if you're in AD/design? that doesn't make sense. do they not have a marketing department to spearhead this? you shouldn't have to worry about changing careers in your mid-thirties because you shouldn't be doing marketing work as a designer/art director.

well that's just it. i am being told if an art director doesn't know mobile applications, they will be out of a job in 5 years. makes no sense to me, that's an entirely different career. I do need to learn and understand these technologies though. Thanks for the links chen, i bookmarked them.

  On 6/27/2011 at 10:43 PM, jules said:

  On 6/27/2011 at 10:25 PM, KY said:

  On 6/27/2011 at 8:31 PM, jules said:

i have been an art director / designer for over a decade and this is now becoming scary to me. i do not have a facebook acct. i do not want a facebook acct. i do not think that liking a company on facebook or having followers on twitter has anything to do with selling product.

 

two things:

1. social media is literally the focus in marketing right now, you simply can't avoid it. if you're working in digital marketing, this is what you do. simple as that.

2. but why are you worried about marketing if you're in AD/design? that doesn't make sense. do they not have a marketing department to spearhead this? you shouldn't have to worry about changing careers in your mid-thirties because you shouldn't be doing marketing work as a designer/art director.

 

 

well that's just it. i am being told if an art director doesn't know mobile applications, they will be out of a job in 5 years. makes no sense to me, that's an entirely different career. I do need to learn and understand these technologies though. Thanks for the links chen, i bookmarked them.

hm didn't see you worked at an agency. from my understanding (i only freelanced at one agency, half the time remotely), ad agencies provide solutions for a hell of a lot of applications, which means you probably should just get some experience designing for mobile applications. then again, not all ADs necessarily need to cover both bases—i don't see the majority of designers/ADs covering both print and broadcast design, and my girlfriend's company employs separate print and web ADs, so it might be worth considering whether you:

A. should just learn the skillset (and whether you're afraid of being a jack of all trades, or don't believe in that shit)

B. or look for work elsewhere. not all places require an art director to fulfill all those roles, but at the same time, you'd need to decide whether it's a skillset you'd simply be better off knowing.

or is this just a general "wtf does social media advertising exist for" thread, in which case, it exists because social media exists.

haha, well ky, i work at a small agency. i have designed for web, mobile, etc. but now im being told i need to know how to implement that stuff. to me, that is like going to an html programmer and asking for an ad concept thought of and executed in indesign. they are totally different fields.

it is also somewhat of a social media, how does it work thread. i see facebook as a personal thing. of course businesses are going to jump in on it and try to capitalize, i just dont understand how having x number of likes makes you more successful company and that's what being driven at.

if i make good lasagna and start a facebook fanpage for it, will i get rich by having 10,000 likes? no. so how does it impact business. it is not measurable yet so i'm just not buying it as the new world order when it comes to advertising.

edit: and yea asym, i do have a behance page but that was just for me to get some samples up online. i dont use it to find fellow designers. i was going to use it for freelance or just in case i was searching for a job.

  On 6/27/2011 at 11:04 PM, jules said:

i just dont understand how having x number of likes makes you more successful company and that's what being driven at.

 

isn't every "like" basically free advertising (minus the cost of what it took to get that "like", that is)

and doesn't that explain the benefit of having tons of people "like" ur shit?

  On 6/27/2011 at 11:04 PM, jules said:

haha, well ky, i work at a small agency. i have designed for web, mobile, etc. but now im being told i need to know how to implement that stuff. to me, that is like going to an html programmer and asking for an ad concept thought of and executed in indesign. they are totally different fields.

 

it is also somewhat of a social media, how does it work thread. i see facebook as a personal thing. of course businesses are going to jump in on it and try to capitalize, i just dont understand how having x number of likes makes you more successful company and that's what being driven at.

 

if i make good lasagna and start a facebook fanpage for it, will i get rich by having 10,000 likes? no. so how does it impact business. it is not measurable yet so i'm just not buying it as the new world order when it comes to advertising.

 

edit: and yea asym, i do have a behance page but that was just for me to get some samples up online. i dont use it to find fellow designers. i was going to use it for freelance or just in case i was searching for a job.

it's like everyone is wearing a pepsi shirt when they "like" the company. it's not directly measurable but you can't deny the addictive trendiness of consumerism.

  On 6/27/2011 at 10:43 PM, jules said:

  On 6/27/2011 at 10:25 PM, KY said:

  On 6/27/2011 at 8:31 PM, jules said:

i have been an art director / designer for over a decade and this is now becoming scary to me. i do not have a facebook acct. i do not want a facebook acct. i do not think that liking a company on facebook or having followers on twitter has anything to do with selling product.

 

two things:

1. social media is literally the focus in marketing right now, you simply can't avoid it. if you're working in digital marketing, this is what you do. simple as that.

2. but why are you worried about marketing if you're in AD/design? that doesn't make sense. do they not have a marketing department to spearhead this? you shouldn't have to worry about changing careers in your mid-thirties because you shouldn't be doing marketing work as a designer/art director.

 

 

well that's just it. i am being told if an art director doesn't know mobile applications, they will be out of a job in 5 years. makes no sense to me, that's an entirely different career. I do need to learn and understand these technologies though. Thanks for the links chen, i bookmarked them.

they're trying to trick you into learning that shit and doing two jobs at once.

  On 6/27/2011 at 11:22 PM, theSun said:

  On 6/27/2011 at 11:04 PM, jules said:

haha, well ky, i work at a small agency. i have designed for web, mobile, etc. but now im being told i need to know how to implement that stuff. to me, that is like going to an html programmer and asking for an ad concept thought of and executed in indesign. they are totally different fields.

 

it is also somewhat of a social media, how does it work thread. i see facebook as a personal thing. of course businesses are going to jump in on it and try to capitalize, i just dont understand how having x number of likes makes you more successful company and that's what being driven at.

 

if i make good lasagna and start a facebook fanpage for it, will i get rich by having 10,000 likes? no. so how does it impact business. it is not measurable yet so i'm just not buying it as the new world order when it comes to advertising.

 

edit: and yea asym, i do have a behance page but that was just for me to get some samples up online. i dont use it to find fellow designers. i was going to use it for freelance or just in case i was searching for a job.

 

it's like everyone is wearing a pepsi shirt when they "like" the company. it's not directly measurable but you can't deny the addictive trendiness of consumerism.

this, except the shirt shouts out any future advertisement you want. "WIN BIG WITH PEPSI. SEE SIDE OF PACK FOR DETAILS" "WHAT DO Y'ALL NIGGAZ THINK O OUR NEW PACKAGE!!?!" etc

basically when somebody has 'liked' pepsico or what the hell ever, every time they want to post something what they post will pop up on anybody who has 'liked' that page. (facebook example, but the rest do similar things)

  On 6/27/2011 at 11:25 PM, hahathhat said:

  On 6/27/2011 at 10:43 PM, jules said:

  On 6/27/2011 at 10:25 PM, KY said:

  On 6/27/2011 at 8:31 PM, jules said:

i have been an art director / designer for over a decade and this is now becoming scary to me. i do not have a facebook acct. i do not want a facebook acct. i do not think that liking a company on facebook or having followers on twitter has anything to do with selling product.

 

two things:

1. social media is literally the focus in marketing right now, you simply can't avoid it. if you're working in digital marketing, this is what you do. simple as that.

2. but why are you worried about marketing if you're in AD/design? that doesn't make sense. do they not have a marketing department to spearhead this? you shouldn't have to worry about changing careers in your mid-thirties because you shouldn't be doing marketing work as a designer/art director.

 

 

well that's just it. i am being told if an art director doesn't know mobile applications, they will be out of a job in 5 years. makes no sense to me, that's an entirely different career. I do need to learn and understand these technologies though. Thanks for the links chen, i bookmarked them.

 

they're trying to trick you into learning that shit and doing two jobs at once.

dude, fucking QUIT. that is exactly what they're doing to you. that is bullshit. i can understand something like designing for other mediums, even though in somecases, even that is shitty, but for your company to tell you to play in both design and marketing sandboxes...fuck that, kick sand in their eyes and go to another playground.

btw i want to see how far i can take this playground analogy

and not to discredit you at all, but how nice a product do they think they'll get if they ask a designer to code/develop? the answer is a very not nice product. very not nice at all.

granted, as an art director, you should be pretty familiar with the possibilities in each medium, even a barebones understanding of the inner workings of the medium (not back-end coding per sé) but it sounds like they're asking a bit much of you.

What scares me is that I majored in Marketing, graduated 2 years ago, and we were taught nothing... NOTHING about social media or how to use it within a marketing campaign. Like it didn't exist.

  On 6/27/2011 at 8:31 PM, jules said:

we just had a meeting at the agency i work at and they really want us all to focus on social media. i have been an art director / designer for over a decade and this is now becoming scary to me. i do not have a facebook acct. i do not want a facebook acct. i do not think that liking a company on facebook or having followers on twitter has anything to do with selling product. to me, it feels like this is the beginning of the web when if you weren't "online" you were considered a loser. so now, if you dont have a zillion fans or likes, it is the same thing. I am having a hard time understanding how to implement a new way of thinking as an art director. my job has always been to make things look pretty and now i have to learn mobile advertising and how to take a brand to the next level by tweeting something?

 

to me, twitter is nothing more than opening your window and screaming out about whatever you want to talk about. eventually someone is going to say "shut the fuck up!" how does pepsi having 1,000,000 likes any different than the megatron baby having 1,000,000 likes? i am hoping some of you young bucks can enlighten me or i am frightened i am going to have to begin a new career in my mid-30s...

haha you sound like an old man

i do agree with you to an extent though. it makes me cringe when i see an advert of tv and instead of promoting their own website they say "visit us facebook.com/vitamin-water"

I didnt understand twitter until i started using it. its just like having google reader or whatever rss feed you want but everyone creates an rss feed and some people shout nonsense and you ignore them and some people give links/jokes/information/etc.

I work in marketing as a developer at the moment. I do the implementation of social media features.

Twitter is easy, just paste the HTML of one of their widgets and you're done. I doubt the added value of these things unless your campaign can grow on it's own, but then again, I don't believe any of our clients get a great return on investment. I don't really understand marketing.

For Facebook, like buttons and such are pretty much the same, adding widgets to the a page is a simple copy-paste. But we have some clients that want Facebook Connect a bit more integrated. For example, we create quizzes for newspapers. If you use Facebook Connect, it fetches your avatar, it can show a ranking of friends that also played the quiz, it allows you to post your score on your profile etc. This is all stuff that's implemented by developers though.

The hype will blow over a bit, already has at our office. I've often seen the social media features barely used and not worth the development time/money. Facebook recently banned a lot of apps that incentiviced people for sharing their crap. This had a negative influence on the demand. (thank god)

Also, Facebook is a bitch to work with. They are invisible, you cannot talk to them, they'll (well, their automated bots) take drastic decisions and leave you in a pile of shit.

  On 6/28/2011 at 12:01 AM, Benedict Cumberbatch said:

i do agree with you to an extent though. it makes me cringe when i see an advert of tv and instead of promoting their own website they say "visit us facebook.com/vitamin-water"

but it makes perfect sense—instead of the self-guided navigation of the internet, facebook is a basically a pre-fab market of audience demographics, already able to send one another links and see one anothers' "likes".

/secretly thinks facebook is the hyperdream of an autistic ad exec

i just think that once facebook gets fully exploited with ads or advertising, it will be sitting next to friendster and myspace.

  On 6/28/2011 at 2:46 AM, jules said:

i just think that once facebook gets fully exploited with ads or advertising, it will be sitting next to friendster and myspace.

I don't know if it will or not. It has definitely become a defining factor for an entire generation. The thing with ads on facebook is that they're so tailored for the individuals taste because of all the info they have on you. I get ads for Ableton Live classes and other music related stuff, things that are actually relevant to me. When you see an ad on facebook it will most likely appeal to your interests if you've spent any time on the site and given it information. I think facebook ads are good in that way, that they're able to so tightly focus in on people, but at the same time I don't understand it myself when I see something like Pepsi having 1,000,000 likes. It doesn't inherently mean anything other than they have direct advertisement to 1,000,000 people that ALREADY LIKE PEPSI. Why does that matter? I could never be in marketing though so

I'm beginning to question why I am at this point. being a designer used to be fun. now when I think about what my job us going to be like when I'm 45 and that I'll be competing with 22 year old kids who have grown up with the Internet, I get an empty feeling in my stomach.

  On 6/28/2011 at 2:58 AM, hautlle said:

  On 6/28/2011 at 2:46 AM, jules said:

i just think that once facebook gets fully exploited with ads or advertising, it will be sitting next to friendster and myspace.

 

I don't know if it will or not. It has definitely become a defining factor for an entire generation.

yeah, i wouldn't count out facebook just yet.

Facebook has certainly penetrated more into other markets than myspace, friendster, etc. ever did. However, the penetration is personal as well. I know several people who have completely removed themselves from Facebook because of how much advertisers and other people (friends, work colleagues) could peer into their lives. Yes, there are privacy measures you can take but isn't it easier to opt out instead of wondering if your work buddy who is also friends with your boss might comment on something you posted thus revealing to the boss what you posted etc.

here's to opting out of the personal penetration program