Social Media Marketing & The Importance of Evolving Advertising

Much like the ongoing argument in Hollywood regarding the transition from film to digital, advertising has been evolving recently and social media marketing is becoming more prominent. Television commercial, radio ads, print ads, and billboards are slowly fading out and social media is connecting advertisers with their target audience. Today it is easier to reach our target audience through smartphones, websites, apps, Facebook, and Twitter. Our generation is more focused on web content, what are friends like on Facebook, and what is currently trending on Twitter and more and more this is how we are determining what movies to watch or what songs and artists we like.

Social Media defines our generation and allows us to access information and opinions from hundreds of millions of people almost instantaneously. It is important to realize that this does not only benefit the consumer but also the advertiser. It is a platform that can reach millions of people and best of all it is little to no cost. However, according to a recent article on IndieWire by Sherri Chandler, “The relationship must be natural, reciprocal, and built on respect” in order to successfully advertise through social media. Do your research and know your audience before building a marketing campaign. You have to know who you are advertising to and what their likes and dislikes are. You also have to stay active with your ads and keep people informed and interested.

In Filmmaker Magazine, Lance Weiler states, “Today everyone is his or her own media company. With the push of a button they can publish, shoot or record and moments later it can be online for the world to see." This can cause the everyday audience to undervalue true filmmaking and the process and teamwork it takes to create a great product. There are many benefits to embracing Social Media as a means of advertising. Whether you are a big corporation or a small start-up company, it allows you to reach the masses and tell them about your product and hopefully get people interested. There are also many success stories of up and coming filmmakers and musical artists being discovered thanks to the power of social media.

Utilizing social media for marketing and advertising allows individuals and companies to have almost an infinite amount of ways to reach our audiences. “Professional” opinions and “knowledgeable” sources have almost become a thing of the past and our friends, family, and even strangers our now influencing our decisions through social media. In conclusion I believe Social media is the future of marketing and its not going anywhere, therefore, as the next generation of entertainment industry professionals we must learn to embrace it and utilize it to our advantage.