Marketing and Networking
Part 1: Try to remember the billboards on your commute to work or school. How many do you think there are? Explain why you remembered any of them. Next time you are on that route, note how many billboards there actually are. Are they effective?
Part 2–You’ve been asked to create a new social media networking site. What would you name the site and what would you suggest to make it better than existing sites?
Note: Please review my expectations for the assignment. I expect your response to include 2 or more references from the APUS Library system (failure to include such references will detract from your grade on the assignment), and be presented in APA Format. Deliverable length is a minimum of 2 body pages.
Solution
There are quite some billboards that are between my place of residence and this learning institution. As for a numerical estimate, I would approximate three to be the total number of billboards that I pass on my way to and from school. The primary and most apparent reason that I remember any of those billboards is due to their size. Billboards, as compared to other forms of outdoor advertisements, have an extra compelling advantage in their size; hence, the probability that someone will see the advert, as well as any information on it, is heightened. Thus, it is due to their large size that I was able to remember any of them.
Secondly, the fact that I pass the billboards almost every day also accounts for why I remember the content. Two of the billboards also have creative and attractive content which is another reason why I particularly remember two of those billboards. One of them stands out because it was a digital billboard. Studies have shown that the majority of the American public favor digital billboards as they find them informative and equally attractive and exciting (Okazaki, 2011, p. 389). I consider the digital advert an innovative approach to advertising as a variety of advertisers may use the same space. Digital billboards may further be used in times of emergencies or public awareness campaigns to inform and sensitize people regarding certain issues. The other billboard stands out because, on top of the rectangular billboard paper, there is a metallic protrusion painted on the front surface that completes the image of a soda bottle on the billboard.
On later observation, I confirmed that indeed there are three billboards that I pass on my way to and from school. I consider those billboards as effective advertising tools for multiple reasons. The first has to do with their size as mentioned earlier, hence their wider reach and easy visibility. The second concerns the content of the billboards themselves. Since putting up a billboard may be considered a somewhat costly venture, advertisers often try to get the best possible imagery, text or other content on the billboard so to increase their efficacy.
Part 2
Social networks work on the idea of building social relations and social networks among people who share similar backgrounds, activities, interests, or real-life connections. Most social media Marketing and Networking sites have been shown to attract majorly and bring together either people who have real-life connections or people bound by similar circumstances or environmental factors such as geographical region. My idea for a social media Marketing and Networking site will be suitable for this globalized world as its main essence will be to connect strangers from different parts of the world based on their emotions. It is a fact that emotions are a major part of our lives as human beings and play a significant role in our day to day lives. One may range from feeling one to over twenty different emotions within the same day.
Emotions have great power over humans signified by their effect on thoughts, feelings, and behavior (Hall & Goetz, 2013). Due to this fact, I suggest Emo, a social media networking site that connects users through the emotions that they are feeling at they time that they post. The application will function simply: a user will post an emotion that they are feeling and will additionally post the emotion of the person(s) they wish to connect with. In this regard, a sad person may want to connect with a happy person who can cheer them up. In the same breadth, they may want to be connected with a fellow person experiencing sadness, or grief or any other emotion listed, which will be represented by various animated emoticons.
References
Hall, N. C. & Goetz, T. (2013). Emotion, motivation, and self-regulation: A handbook for teachers. Emerald Group Publishing.
Okazaki, S. (2011). Advances in advertising research (Vol. 2): Breaking ground in theory and practice. Heidelberg, Germany: Gabler Verlag.