Social media is something totally new that is moving fast and is taking over many of the advertising strategies, especially within the internet. Ten years ago, I was not involved in any social network or had never seen or pictured anything like it. I don’t think it was even considered a media to advertise in or maybe there was nothing developed yet that would give so much exposure to a brand.
I’m from Mexicali, Mexico and I joined Facebook in 2004. Since then I have been sharing pictures, comments and messages with many friends that live far away. At the beginning I guess I was rejecting Facebook because I was a member of hi5.com, which is another social network and it was the first one that showed me how I could interact with many friends without seeing them every day. Hi5 was a network with many Hispanic members and all of my friends joined that site. When I went to study to Pittsburgh, PA at the University of Pittsburgh, I learned about Facebook through an ex-girlfriend. She was the one that showed me this site and told me that everyone was joining it. I opened my account with my Mexican university email because everyone was using school emails and I didn’t know if I could use something different. After going back to Mexico, I used to go into Facebook once in a while but not every day, I think I wasn’t a huge fan of it because I was “betraying” hi5. Like three years ago, I realized that Facebook was the only website I wanted to share my life information and events in. Now, that I’m studying my MBA at UT I check my Facebook account probably two or three times per day. I has become like an obsession because there is always something new to see, discuss or laugh about. I also joined LinkedIn in 2007 but I have not been really involved with that site, I guess it takes time for me to adopt new technologies because I don’t see the purpose and I feel like I’m wasting a lot of time in that. I’m also not in twitter or myspace, so I’ll talk from my personal experience with Facebook.
These websites are definitely about “relationships” more than anything else. As the groundswell article mentions it “concentrate on the relationships, not the technologies”. I agree that relationships are everything and websites like Facebook, Twitter or Myspace discovered that people want to have a relationship with friends, classmates or work colleagues, but also they like to be involved with companies and their efforts to attract new customers or publish new events, product lines and promotions. I’m a fan of sunglasses, I like to buy new sunglasses once in a while and I’m really interested in seeing what is new or what people are talking about. Therefore, I’m a fan of Sunglass Hut in Facebook because they have good information on the page, pictures of new sunglasses, links to other websites and they post forums about what people think of new kind/brand of sunglasses. I think this is a good way for Sunglass Hut to promote their upcoming styles and increase purchasing habits among customers by giving them more information in a website they visit often and building a relationship with them by keeping them informed on “what’s new”. Unfortunately, they have to be careful on what people post and comment. I have read comments of people being negative about new sunglasses and even from store clerks. I have seen comments where people express how they were mistreated or how some sunglasses were of bad quality. This type of “negative” advertising is dangerous and can hurt brand recognition and prestige. I think Sunglass Hut probably has someone checking the Facebook site every second of the day just to avoid bad publicity and delete any message that is harmful to the brand or a specific store.
Basically, I think Sunglass Hut uses Facebook to gain insight on what people are buying but also are trying to create experiences for customers and make them repeat a purchase or increase the frequency and amount of purchase. Gaining insight is really important to a retail store like Sunglass Hut because you can increase product lines or brands if you see a need or want among your customers. Also, it helps them understand if the store needs changes in the layout or the way they treat people. Additionally, the experiences they are trying to create are positive images that remind you that buying at Sunglass Hut is both affordable and convenient.
In general, I think Facebook and all other social media marketing sites are a good advantage for companies as long as they pay attention to what people are saying, as long as they use the websites as tools to create good relationships with customers these will be beneficial. Unfortunately, these kind of sites are sometimes a waste of time, especially among teenagers who spend a big proportion of their time checking Facebook or twitter.
