Social Media Advertising

One of the first Facebook fan pages that I decided to take a look at was Gatorade. Gatorade has many ways of engaging with their fans on their page. Some of these ways include things such as giveaways, contests, and sometimes it is even as simple as inspirational photos, like the one depicted on the right. These photos that drive their fans to become active and stay motivated are used daily on their page and they usually are associated with a hashtag that allows them to reference the promotional campaign going on at the time. The hashtag for the most current advertising campaign is #winfromwithin. These pictures generate a great deal of buzz on their site through their fans. Fans comment on the ones that they feel are most compelling and ones that they feel drive them the most. This constant flow of picture keeps Gatorade active in their fans newsfeeds and their brand stays at the forefront of potential customers minds.

Nike follows suit in the game of adding a constant flow of pictures to keep their fans actively engaged with their fan page on Facebook. There is a wide range of pictures that flow throughout the page among the regular flow of status updates, contests, and giveaways. Breaking away from the the new craze of hashtags, Nike simply relies on their slogan to propel their pictures and call their viewers to action. Fans comment on their photos and the company listens to what is said, and sometime, they will comment to keep the active flow of communication so that users see that they are being heard by the company. The picture on the left really has a great call to action for the viewer and it is followed up by their very memorable slogan that most everybody in the world today knows. They might even be able to get away with just placing the Swoosh at the end because their logo is that strong.

Under Armour also follows along with the two previous examples given above with how they engage their viewers. Pictures are always a great way to draw in the attention of their fans. This generates buzz about the newest picture or the newest product revealed on their page. Under Armour does go a little further than the others with their pictures. They do have their hashtag to reference the new marketing campaign, but, they also have pictures, such as the one on the right, that bring the new seasonal change, ad a picture that shows that products that fit the new season, and have the ad serve as a gateway to their online store. This picture takes the fan to the fall/winter wear section of their Web site in hopes that they need to stock up for the seasonal change. This is a great way to get their viewers from the page to the actual store.

Here are two of the sites that I felt X-Scream could use as areas of advertising for their magazine. The first one that I chose is CCS, which is an action sports store. Their Web address is http://shop.ccs.com/. The second on that I chose was another actions sports website, with more of a focus on the board sports. The Web site is The-House Boardshop and their Web address is http://www.the-house.com/. I feel that both of these sites are very applicable for X-Scream to advertise on because they both are in the same area of sporting entertainment. The people who will be searching through these sites will have interest in action sports which is exactly what X-Scream needs for their magazine. Many of the viewers also do subscribe to magazines to keep up on what is happening in the world of action sports. It is more likely that they will receive more hits on their ad being on a site where people actually have interest in what is being advertised on the banner ad. If I were to design a banner ad for X-Scream, I would use a professional athlete in the action sports world as the focus. I would have a shot of them in the middle of a battle cry, which would show a great deal of emotion to draw in the viewers. Next, I would add in a phrase, such as, "Go ahead, Scream!" or something along the lines of a call to action, followed by X-Scream magazine. I feel that having an ad where you can almost feel the emotion pouring out of it is crucial to grabbing attention of viewers. This banner ad would take them to the site homepage, and from there they have the option to subscribe, but, it is not force upon them right from the get go. The choice to browse is key so that they do not feel pressured into subscribing to the magazine.