Millennial Marketing

Welcome to ‘The World of Marketing’ blog, where this week I discuss the use of social media as a modern day marketing tool. Whilst we can all agree that social media is beneficial in terms of marketing and is only getting bigger and bigger, it is by no means the only form of marketing we should put all our energy into. In fact, it has often had negative effects.

Before we begin, it is important that it is understood what is meant by ‘social media’. According to the Cambridge Dictionary, ‘social media’ is defined as “websites and computer programs that allow people to communicate and share information on the internet using a computer or mobile phone”. Going off of this, it is no wonder that its use is increasing, as most people have a personal computer and mobile phone with internet access in this day and age.

As a 20-year-old myself, and have multiple social media accounts, I do see the benefits of utilising social media for marketing purposes. It is affordable, companies can reach a large volume of people to advertise their products and services to, and it is relatively simple for businesses to manage and for users to navigate. It is also a great way to gain exposure and publicity for a new brand, product or event.

Social media is extremely popular, and is continuing to grow. In Australia alone, in Jan 2020, there was a recorded presence of ’18 million social media users’, and between Apr 2019 and Jan 2020, social media users ‘increased in Australia by 4.3%’, as stated by SMPerth, the full report can be found Here.

Even though social media’s benefits are undeniable, it is hard to ignore some of the extreme negativity that can come out of using social media platforms, due to issues such as overexposure, exaggerations and dramatisations of current issues, as well as misinterpretations and false arguments.

I myself work in the retail industry, and the evidence of panic over the current COVID-19 pandemic, was clear well from the beginning of February, as every store in my local shopping centre was sold out of hand sanitisers. This craze was all over my own Facebook and Instagram accounts. And the thing is, I wasn’t the only one seeing these posts. Everybody’s feeds were full of rage and panic about lack of sanitisers, toilet paper, and face masks in stores. The reality of this, is that there was no reason to panic and bulk buy. There was enough supplies on our supermarket shelves to cater for us all, as we needed, but the panic (fuelled by posts on social media) meant that we were buying unnecessary amounts of these items. WE were the reason for the ‘shortage’, NOT the pandemic.

So I ask you this, Have you ever felt that social media has caused more harm than good in certain situations?

Please feel free to share your experiences in the comments section