The role of social media in marketing

Social media has changed and continues to change the world.
It changes how we think, how we feel, how we communicate, how we do business, who, where and how we meet. But how has it changed marketing? Better consumer insights, increased customer research and broader company reach. It almost sounds too good to be true…

What is social media?

Social media is the collective of online communications channels dedicated to community-based input, interaction, content sharing and collaboration⁽¹⁾.

Social media isn’t new

Social media is widely recognised as a modern phenomenon. However, it’s not as young as you might think. The earliest recognised social media site is Six Degrees, which was created in 1997⁽²⁾. It allowed users to create a profile and then friend other users. Fast-forward 20 years later and there is now an immeasurable amount of social media sites, apps and platforms for anything and everything.

Social media and business

It was only a matter of time before businesses started to use social media as a way to advertise and promote their product or services. To give you an idea, social media is projected to generate $11 billion in revenue by 2017. This is up from just $6.1 billion in 2013.⁽³⁾

For a market that didn’t exist until 20 years ago, this is enormous.

SHOULD I USE IT OR NOT?

Everyone uses it

Well, almost everyone.
There are now over 3 billion social media users in the world — about 40% of the global population⁽⁴⁾. Put simply, if you have the best business in the world but don’t use social media, you are ignoring a HUGE potential customer base.

Gain valuable customer insights

Social media has allowed companies to target customers more accurately – digital footprints play a major role in this (look out for this in one of our next blogs). As a very loose example: posting a photo of a donut you’ve bought on one of your social media accounts may give some donut businesses an insight in to your donut-buying behaviours (I know, the horror). Online, businesses can track what you do and where you do it – this is incredibly powerful. It can provide companies with greater understanding and forethought as to what you are interested in and what you might want to buy in future.

The pitfalls

Not everything is sunshine and rainbows. You have to be careful about what you post on social media, it’s a double-edged sword. Recently Labour suspended MP Jared O’Mara because of the abusive comments he made online over a decade ago. There have also been numerous instances of social media fails from companies, much to my amusement researching. Tesco for example, got in to trouble for this pre-scheduled tweet: “It’s sleepy time so we’re off to hit the hay. See you at 8am for more #TescoTweets⁽⁵⁾.” This seems like a perfectly acceptable tweet, right? Unfortunately it was tweeted during the alleged horse meat scandal in 2015. As you can imagine, outrage ensued. Thankfully others have learnt this lesson for us…

You can’t find the ROI

Just a quick note:– it isn’t impossible, but it’s very difficult to gage a return on investment as a direct result of your social media usage. This does not by any means make social media worthless, but unhelpful if you base your business-making decisions on this kind of information.

Ultimately, as Uncle Ben from Spiderman once said, “with great power comes great responsibility”. You have the ability to reach hundreds, thousands, millions of people when you use social media. You can increase brand awareness, engage with your audience and generate new leads, but you can also damage your reputation and business if you use it clumsily. Fad or not, social media is sticking around for a while. Considering this, it is vital that you trust the employee(s) looking after your social media accounts. No one would want their Twitter deleted by a rogue employee *cough* like the President of the United States…

If you do use social media, use it wisely.

Sources:
(1) http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/social-media
(2) http://historycooperative.org/the-history-of-social-media/
(3) https://martech.zone/brief-history-social-media-advertising/
(4) http://mashable.com/2017/08/07/3-billion-global-social-media-users/#2HKgVazlgaqJ
(5) http://www.businessinsider.com/the-top-10-corporate-social-media-disasters-2013-11?IR=T

Written by Anna Hill

Chat > Vision > Design. If you need help getting creative, please call us on 01332 417964.

Choosing the correct image to support a logo is vitally important.  Using the wrong image may appeal to the wrong market as the image backs up the logo or message of the slogan.

If you look below, the word ‘pulse’ can be applied to broad range of markets. When pictured with a heart behind the word ‘pulse’ it could make the reader perceive that the business is maybe involved with private healthcare whereas, if you place an image of someone running, it could indicate the business specialises in some form of fitness or exercise.

Picture of pulse with a heart behind it, compared to pulse with someone running with pulse on it

Images also have to be used correctly throughout a brochure or publication to convey the correct image or message. For example, to attract a young audience, bright, colourful images are used that relate to them. This can be seen in our work for Buxton Opera House.

Theatre brochures are no exception and need to attract attention according to a show’s target audience. Here at Square One Creative we understand this and use imagery to target different markets – our main aim is to communicate a message within 30 seconds of a customer glancing at the picture. The more relevant the picture is to the customer, the higher the likelihood that will attend or make a purchase.

If you need to attract a certain audience or want to attract specific people, Square One Creative can help make this happen.

If you need any help with your design please call Maggie on 01332 0417964

Different factors of a logo such as the colour, shape, font and slogan have a massive influence on how a customer or client perceives your brand.

If you take into consideration the colour of the logo, different colours give a different message. If you look below at the Fanta drinks can, it uses the colour orange to tell the customer it’s a drink with orange as the main ingredient.

If you look to the right, you can see that the can is essentially the same but the colours have changed to red. Using red leads the customer to the perception that the contents could be cherry or strawberry.

Using the correct colour is just as important as choosing the company name or slogan, as each can set the tone or feel of the company. What you also need to consider is that some colours can be interpreted differently in other cultures. For example, in China, red means money whereas in America green is considered the colour of money.

Here at Square One Creative we understand the importance of the correct use of colour. We have shown (below) in work for the NHS how the use of their corporate blue and it’s variations are used throughout a report. We work with several companies who have an in house graphic designer and the relationship works really well as we are their in house, out house studio.

The colour blue gives the feeling of calm and wellness, whereas, colours like black or grey for example, could give a totally different feeling. These colours could give the perception of death or emptiness which would not suit an organisation whose aim is to promote health and wellbeing.

If you would like a chat about how we can use colour to build your brand awareness or indeed build a new brand that can match your business goals, please get in touch.

If you need any help with your design please call Maggie on 01332 0417964

Quite often in companies they will opt to employ a graphic designer rather than outsource their graphic design, mainly as they think this will save them money if they have a regular flow of work, this however can be at a much greater cost, let me explain why.

1. No Urgency

One of the common complaints we hear is that the Designer has no urgency for their work. He/she is often fed work to produce from many individuals all saying it is urgent, it hard for the designer to prioritise so usually just makes his/her way through the pile of work. A solution to this is having one person manage/working with the designer, setting timescales for projects and prioritizing which is the most urgent for the company for it to fulfill its strategy.

2. Everything looks the same

Quite often you will find that most designers have a set style for their design and once coupled with the companies corporate branding everything has the same look and feel – boring. A solution to this is working with a local agency that can brain storm in their studio probably having a couple of their designers work on concepts/ideas, these can then be fed back to the in house designer to work up and complete. That will cost me more money I hear you say BUT if that piece of design is super creative and gets you a return on your investment it is worth every penny.

3. Sickness/Holidays

Of course this is not a problem you come across every day hopefully but when it does happen it is quite an inconvenience and can cause a bottle neck in your company. Having a friendly Graphic Design agency that you have worked with can be a great solution, they already have a feel for your product/service and a good feeling for your business, they are more than happy to step into the breach, then once your regular in house designer is back they will hand over the files so he/she can continue as was.

4. Overload

As your company grows and develops you will find that your graphic designer at times is overloaded and with the best planning in the world everything is wanted now, but only having one designer to try and cope can be frustrating. Once again your dependable Graphic Design Agency can come to the rescue, as they are well versed in turning design projects around quickly, so in times of overload this can be an instant life saver. Ensuring that your in house designer is always sent the files on completion you are always in control.

We work with several companies who have an in house graphic designer and the relationship works really well as we are their in house, out house studio.

If you need any help with your overload or planning please call Maggie on 01332 0417964

Choosing the right Graphic Designer to work with on your next project is so important, the obvious does go without saying, but I will say it anyway. You need to like them, design is a journey and your need to like your travel companion and of course be able to work with them, you must meet them, visit their studio, and know the team.

Find out what experience they have as experience is very important. A good designer can only survive is they are providing an excellent service. Checking how long they have been doing this for is equally important.

Have a look at the work they have produced this should be displayed with pride on their websites, look at the creativity in their work, attention to detail and continuity, if they have done several projects with a client this shows consistency and the fact that the client has confidence and enjoys working with them.

Testimonials are a good indication too never be afraid to ask for references on your designer we are always happy to put potential clients in touch with existing clients.

And importantly can you afford to work with them? Ask them to quote but be very careful on this one. Some designers do go in with a cheap price to win the project but then when the client (you) makes changes you get stung. I know we always quote a cost per project and stick to it. Obviously every rule has an exception, and if you change the brief or re write the copy so it has to be completely re done we will quote for this extra work, but on many small amendments we do not charge.

Making the switch is not as difficult as you think, I am sure most of you will have your logo, copies either electronically or printed that you have previously had produced and your new chosen designer can simply take it from there.

There always seems to be confusion from clients on what size of image/photograph is good enough for print. We are often emailed a selection of images which are all around the 59KB mark; these are usually images which have been lifted from websites. We have to explain that such images won’t print well because the image resolution is too low.

Here is a little more information to help explain further. The resolution of an image refers to the density of the pixels (or printed dots) of which it is made up of. When images are at a high resolution, they appear crisp and sharp. If the resolution is decreased or the image is enlarged too much, it loses detail and the blocky squares of the pixels become clear. If you remember how TVs from the ’80s looked, they would appear fuzzy and washed out today compared to HD – high resolution makes all the difference!

Web Resolution vs. Print Resolution

Screen resolution is measured in PPI (pixels per inch) and print resolution is measured in DPI (dots per inch), though the terms are often used interchangeably. Because the entire viewing area on a computer screen is made up of pixels of a fixed resolution – typically 72 to 100 dpi – any image optimised for this resolution will look detailed and natural to the human eye. Therefore, using an image size of 59KB at 72 dpi will be perfectly acceptable for web and screen use.

But if that same image is printed at full size, its inherent pixel ‘blockiness’ becomes too obvious and unacceptable for print.

Size Matters

For professional printed/exhibition images, 300 dpi is the standard. If you want to use a web image in print, you will run into problems.

For example, for a full page A4 image, you would be looking at a photo/image size of 17MB.

When you have a choice of image sizes at your disposal, such as from an in-house image library or stock photo site, it’s best to go for the largest image available. Any image can be made smaller as needed, but an image cannot be increased in size without losing quality.

When it comes to resolution, bigger really is better.