Companies Begin to Include Social Media Marketing in their Marketing Plans

While many businesses use traditional marketing methods to attract new business and clients, others have added or completely replaced traditional marketing with new and innovative marketing tactics. Traditional marketing was based around the marketing mix which included promotion, product, placement, and price. This type of marketing referred to any type of promotion, advertisement, or campaign that was proven successful and was used by companies. One could often see these marketing practices on billboards, in newspapers, and on flyers. As technology was improved, new practices of marketing including the use of the television and radio emerged. Traditional marketing was continuously successful in grabbing company’s attention and increasing the clientele rate.

The internet has taken on a new form of marketing, including social media sites and online ad campaigns. 


Although traditional marketing practices were very successful, many companies today are changing their own marketing style and using a new approach. With the increasing popularity of the internet, more and more companies are switching from the traditional newspaper ads to social media sites to market their products and services. Through the internet, companies can develop webpages or blogs that provide up-to-date information on their products or services. Customers can then subscribe to news feeds and receive alerts to sales or company events. Companies with an online presence can also advertise their business on other popular websites to direct unique visitors to their company's webpage. MDG Advertising states that 64% of marketers are integrating social media into their marketing plans. Using social media as a way to market to an audience allows a much more diverse clientele. People from all over the world can view the company's advertisement, as opposed to only a community being able to look through a newspaper and see the companies ad. 

Companies should use both traditional marketing techniques and the use of the internet and social media to advertise their product or service. 

While newer marketing methods do work and can increase a company's client base, completely replacing traditional marketing with the latest marketing techniques can prove dangerous. Traditional methods have a high success rate and are proven. Internet methods are subject to clients or customers having access to an online medium and being Internet savvy. With traditional marketing, anyone with a newspaper, mail service, television or radio can learn of your business or service. Rather than customers going online to find your business or service, you bring your business or service to potential customers with print advertisements and other traditional methods. While traditional media has its advantages, social media is increasingly becoming more popular for companies. Although older generations may not know how to use a computer or surf the web well, the majority of people are catching on to the new technology and are beginning to use it quite often. Generation Y is full of technologically savvy individuals and will be the new CEO's in the United States. Also, the creation of smart phones have completely changed the game of marketing in that people from all over the world can at any time view the internet. This not only creates a more diverse marketplace, but it allows companies to constantly produce marketing ads that will grab the attention of companies and clients many more times than a newspaper would. One of the most used and successful social media marketing techniques is through the popular websites known as Facebook and Twitter. Companies are now able to place advertisements on Facebook that appears when people log into their account and look at their news feed. This is a great way to advertise to people because the amount of people who not only own one of these social media websites, but also check it several times a day is monumental. Janet Wagner, a marketing professor at the University of Maryland, spoke about how she believes companies should not choose only one marketing method. When asked which approach companies should use, traditional or social media marketing, and why, Wagner says to implement a program that uses both. 

She believes it is the most successful for a company to use both traditional marketing techniques such as newspaper ads, as well as ads on social media sites and blogs, because it makes a company’s name widely known and attracts a greater quantity of potential customers. Both traditional marketing and social media marketing have its advantages and disadvantages, so it is important for companies to implement both techniques in their marketing plan. By doing this, companies will be able to accommodate all types of people and get their products or services seen and heard all over the world.  

It is important for companies to understand what goals they want to achieve before choosing how to market their product or service. 

Whether companies decide to stick to traditional marketing solely, or supplement their marketing plan with social media advertisements, the target audience, medium, and desired outcome is important to take into consideration. A marketing method may be perfectly designed, but if put on the wrong medium, the marketing pitch will be completely useless. Websites such a Facebook and Twitter are great if a company is trying to gain brand exposure and customer communication, however, a company would make a poor decision if they used StumbleUpon to achieve this. Instead, companies should use these types of sites if their goal is to get a lot of traffic to their website. The CMO's guide to social landscape has a great photo of which social media sites are best to use for certain desired outcomes. Brian Burke, student at the University of Maryland, prefers social media marketing as opposed to traditional marketing because it is more accessible and the time he spends on the internet far surpasses the amount of time he listens to the radio or reads the newspaper. However, a fifty year old person may say the opposite and think traditional marketing practices such as advertising in newspapers to be more effective because they spend every morning reading the newspaper. Burke says most of the younger generation has replaced newspapers with the internet. For this reason, companies must decide what target audience they want to hit, what the best medium of advertising is, and what their main goal is. If they can answer these questions, their marketing method will be successful. 

In the end, if a company wants to develop a marketing plan that will pay off and attract new customers, implementing a strategy that includes both traditional and social media marketing is necessary. By posting ads in newspapers or over the radio, companies will hit older folks that read the newspaper in the morning or listen to the radio on the way to work every day. However, by posting advertisements on major websites and on blogs, companies will grab the attention of youngsters who spend plenty of their days browsing the web. By accommodating to all types of people, the advertisement will hit the most amounts of customers in the greatest amount of ways. 

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The Shift from Traditional Marketing to Social Media Marketing

While many businesses use traditional marketing methods to attract new business and clients, others have added or completely replaced traditional marketing with new and innovative marketing tactics. Traditional marketing was based around the marketing mix which included promotion, product, placement, and price. This type of marketing referred to any type of promotion, advertisement, or campaign that was proven successful and was used by companies. One could often see these marketing practices on billboards, in newspapers, and on flyers. As technology was improved, came new practices of marketing including the use of the television and radio. Traditional marketing was continuously successful in grabbing companies attention and increasing the clientele rate. 

The internet has taken on a new form of marketing, including social media sites and online ad campaigns. 

Although traditional marketing practices were very successful, many companies today are changing their own marketing style and using a new approach. With the increasing popularity in the internet, more and more companies are switching from the traditional newspaper ads to social media sites. Through the internet, companies can develop webpages or blogs that provide up-to-date information on their products or services. Customers can then subscribe to news feeds and receive alerts to sales or company events. Companies with an online presence can also advertise their business on other popular websites to direct unique visitors to their company's webpage. Using social media as a way to market to an audience allows a much more diverse clientele. People from all over the world can view the companies ad, as opposed to only a community being able to look through a newspaper and see the companies ad. 

Although both have there advantages, social media marketing can offer much more than traditional marketing can. 

While newer marketing methods do work and can increase a company's client base, completely replacing traditional marketing with the latest marketing techniques can prove dangerous. Traditional methods have a high success rate and are proven. Internet methods are subject to clients or customers having access to an online medium and being Internet savvy. With traditional marketing, anyone with a newspaper, mail service, television or radio can learn of your business or service. Rather than customers going online to find your business or service, you bring your business or service to potential customers with print advertisements and other traditional methods. While traditional media has it's advantages, social media is increasingly becoming more popular for companies. Although older generations may not know how to use a computer or surf the web well, the majority of people are catching on to the new technology and are beginning to use it quite often. Generation Y is the upcoming business people and they will be the ones companies want to market to. Also, the creation of smart phones have completely changed the game of marketing in that people from all over the world can at anytime view the internet. This not only creates a more diverse marketplace, but it allows companies to constantly produce marketing ads that will grab the attention of companies and clients many more times than a newspaper would. One of the most used and successful social media marketing techniques is through the popular websites known as Facebook and Twitter. Companies are now able to place advertisements on Facebook that appears when people log into their account and look at their news feed. This is a great way to advertise to people because the amount of people who not only own one of these social media websites, but also check it several times a day is monumental.  

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Usability of iPad Apps and Websites

As new forms of technology are continuously created and enhanced comes new ways of doing activities. Whether it's taking pictures and videos, playing video games, or searching the web, these are all acts one can do on the newer devices, such as an iPad. Although there are many great improvements in these technological discoveries, problems are also inevitable.

Two methods, usability testing and expert reviews, were used to test users interaction with the iPad

As research study was done to assess the state of iPad application design and understand where the user interaction pain points are. Questions asked were: "Are there any common design mistakes that affect the users?", "What is easy and what is hard for users of iPad applications and websites?", and lastly, "After one year of using the iPad, do we know how to design more usable apps?". To answer these questions, two tests were done. The first test was usability testing which had 16 iPad users come into a lab and perform various tasks on their iPad, participate in an interview, and show some of the apps they already installed on their device. The second test was expert reviews which included observations and recommendations from conducting addition interfaces.

iPad's are used mainly for media consumption and are shared between families.

Upon conducting the usability test, it was discovered the the iPad was used mainly for media consumption. Participants said they used their iPad to play games, check emails and social media, watch movies and videos, and read the news. However, most users said they had not used their iPad for e-commerce. Another finding in this study was that those who owned an iPad and did not live alone, shared the device with their family. There were apps on users iPad that were used by one member of the family and other apps used by other members. The iPad was seen as less personal than a cell phone. Lastly, some users said they take their iPad with them wherever they go while others said they only leave it at home.

Applications are less successful than websites because they contained less content, the design was confusing  or the app made the user work more.

When a study was conducted last year on the iPad, the findings noted were the same as the new study. Full websites designed for desktop computers were readable on iPad's and users can do a variety of consumption related tasks easily. Also, the read-tap asymmetry still holds true for most websites: the content is readable but the widgets are too small to tap. When testing whether to use the web or an application, the web always was successful, but the applications failed a third of the time. Two reasons the applications were less successful when compared to the web were that the apps contained less content than the webs and the app design was confusing or the app made the user work more.

Not every company needs an app, but if a company does decide to create one, there are several things they must do to make it successful. 

Many companies are now asking the question of whether or not they should have an iPad app and the answer is no. Not everyone will use an app even if they download it and most people still search the web. However, if a company does in fact create an app, there are several things to it must do. First, it needs to be designed for repeat users. Research shows apps work best when customers are already fans of the brand and engage with it on a regular basis. Second, the app should have a secret weapon compared to it's website. The app needs to deliver extra value compared to the website. Third, do not make users work more on the iPad app than on the website. Fourth, do not design the iPad app as if it were an iPhone app. The iPad has a much bigger screen than the iPhone and the context of use is much different.

Issues such as target size, placement, affordance, and padding are all areas in which companies must perfect in order for users to be satisfied. 

Not every company needs an app or can afford one. However, there are certain things one can do to make their website look decent on an iPad. First, a company should test their site on the iPad and see what needs to be fixed. Fixes will also improve the overall usability on desktops as well. Changing the target size is very important because many small targets are too hard to accurately touch. Research has shown that the best target size for widgets is 1cm x 1cm for touch devices. Also, when targets are placed too close to each other, users can easily hit the wrong one so it's important not to crowd the targets. One way to help fix the issue of target size and placement is padding. Padding is when there is some invisible space surrounding the visible target so when people do not hit the target accurately, their tap will still count. Research with touch devices indicates that users expect padding in tubular views. Another issue is affordance  Users do not know that something is touchable unless it looks so. Also, most people do not enjoy typing on their iPad. Users must split their visual attention between finding keys and reading what they typed. Also, the keys offer no tactile feedback.

It is very important to recognize whether your brand needs an app, and then to fix the problems that may arise. If users are unsatisfied, they will not use the app and the brand will not be as successful as it could be. Customer satisfaction is one of the most important aspects for a company so perfecting it and meeting expectations is a must. To read more about the study, click this link.

The Participation Gap on the Rise

After reading Digital Divide or Participation Gap? Will Mobile Affect It? by Kevin Guidry and Mobile Phone Problems by the Pew Research Center,  it is very clear that with the rise of new and improving technology, comes new problems. Guidry wrote about two examples pertaining to the issues regarding technology, which are the digital divide and the participation gap. The digital divide is a phrase that explains the division in ownership of computers and the internet. Although many Americans have laptops, cell phones, and access to the internet, there are still those who unfortunately are unable to obtain these. The participation gap refers to the different experiences, skills, predilections, and comfort levels between students and technology. The participation gap is not so much about either having or not having these devices, but more so about the unequal access and use regarding these.

The digital divide will soon be nonexistent, but the participation gap is on the rise. 
Although the digital divide used to be a larger issue a few years ago, it is quickly decreases as technology is becoming more advanced, cheaper, and easier to gain access to. According to the Pew Research Center, 88% of Americans own cell phones. However, just because the digital divide is coming to a close does not mean the participation gap is too. In fact, the participation gap is actually increasing rapidly. Both in Guidry's and the Pew Research Center's article, African-Americans and Hispanics are at a disadvantage when it comes to computer and cell phone ownership, as well as access to the internet when compared with Caucasians. The reason for this inequality is not due to race, however, it is due to underemployment, less education, and less money. Also, it is seen that students who attend private colleges tend to have their own devices more often than public schools. The reason why there is a difference in the experiences and skills between students and even adults is because there were certain groups who were able to buy these technological devices when they were more expensive and harder to obtain, while other groups of people simply could not. Therefore, those who have had access to these devices for a longer amount of time are more comfortable and knowledgeable than those who are just recently gaining ownership and access.

The participation gap will be in existence for a long time.
With the never ending improvements of technology, the participation gap will continue to grow. Improvements, discoveries, and knowledge are always on the rise in America. There will always be new problems to solve and unknown information that people are looking to discover. With that being said, economical issues will also be prevalent for a great amount of time. No one in American has the same amount of resources, money, knowledge, and privilege, which is why the participation gap with continue to rise in the future. Although now almost all Americans have cell phones, the creation of smart phones has yet again made another gap. Once almost every American has a smart phone, a new technological advancement will have occurred that not everyone can have access to immediately. Therefore, the participation gap will continue to exist as long as technology and improvements do.