Social Media Takes the Gold.

It's been a long wait, 4 years exactly, but the Olympics are finally here. Well, almost.

I personally do not feel like they have done enough to hype the event - I rarely heard anything about the Olympic Stadium, and I feel like more commercials should be out in support of any Olympian representing team America. But watching the Swimming Qualifiers take place signified that the games are that much closer.

Since the Summer 2008 Olympics, much has changed in the social media world. Twitter and Facebook have grown tremendously, Facebook has gone public and YouTube continues to dominate well, life.

The summer Olympics are going to have a major effect on social media this summer, and we're all going to be a little part of that.

Facebook.

In 2008, Facebook had about 100 million users worldwide, and had just surpassed MySpace as the number one social media entity. Most of us were at the end of our high school years, and some at the beginning of our College years, so AIM might have been the go-to thing. But now with over 900 million users to date, Facebook continues to grow in popularity, despite the success of Twitter. Facebook will be major for our generation because it is a way to keep updated with who exactly captured the gold medal or whether Ryan Lochte beat Michael Phelps in the 200 meter freestyle. For many people, Facebook is the News.

Twitter.

In 2008, Twitter had a wee 6 million users. Now? Just multiply that by like 80ish... they now have over 500 million users who send about 400 million tweets a day. It's not hard to imagine the stuff that will be said during the games. One person will probably tweet one thing 10 times, but in different ways. Twitter is that source we go to to vent, regardless of how pointless what we have to say is, it's our freedom source. But not only for our sanity, there are so many sources of News be it ABC, ESPN, sports analysts - we will always have our share of information regarding the games.

YouTube.

Has always been big. Let's face it, it's one of a kind. No matter how much any website tries to duplicate or mimic YouTube, YouTube will always finish in number one. The stats have steadily gone up with YouTube, and obviously every event will be posted on here. Official Videos, or video's taken by someone's cell phone recording the television, we will be able to find pretty much every event on YouTube. There honestly isn't much to say about YouTube. It's YouTube.

For those of us who are busy this summer working, chillin', sleeping, eating, whatever, and do not have the chance to watch the games when they air, Social Media is our resource.

It's crazy to think how much it's changed in the past 4 years, and how important it's become in each of our lives, directly or indirectly.

I actually just found out when the games air today, but for those of you who still do not know, the Olympics air Friday, July 27, 2012, and end Sunday, August 12, 2012.

And here's the schedule for the games.

Happy Monday :)

Creativity, the key to success?

        At terpAMA, we believe that marketing is the art of business. As marketers, we’re never going to be expected to simply plug in numbers or play by the book. Instead, we’re going to need to be innovative and creative in order to succeed. I recently came across Fast Company’s list of the 100 most creative people in business for 2012, and was inspired. The list spans a wide range of people, and highlights some of their most innovative ideas and accomplishments. It stresses the need to take risks and think differently, not only in business, but also in order to make a change in the world.
    There are people from companies that are constantly applauded for their creativity like Facebook, Starbucks, and Nike, but the list also includes musicians, artists, non-profit business owners, and even government institutes. The diversity of industries that Fast Company recognizes adds so much more value to this article. Even though Nike may be a lot more flashy and fun, there are many people thinking outside the box to solve problems, really important problems, in other industries as well. One of my favorites was number twelve, the founders of Voto Latino, Rosario Dawson and Maria Teresa Kumar. They recognized that very low numbers of Latinos we’re voting in elections, and so they engaged Latinos with a mobile marketing strategy that simply reminded young Latinos to vote via text. Through this use of tech in politics, they have been able to reach this demographic of young Latino voters. Not only is it a great marketing strategy, but it is also for a great cause. Other highlights from the list include Ceelo Green, Steven Zeitels (the surgeon who restored Adele’s voice!) and even Shaquielle O’Neal and his social media strategy.

Check out the article and explore it a bit. Learn how they have achieved such great success. Keep it in mind for when you need a bit of inspiration to fix a problem.There is so much we can learn from these leaders in business and so much we can contribute if we continue to search for new solutions and fresher ideas.

Who was your favorite? Are there any you would add to the list? Leave a comment below- we’d love to hear about it!

GM Going 'Hipster'

First Facebook, now the Super Bowl? In case you haven’t heard yet, GM has made some serious changes to its marketing efforts over the past few days. First, the well-known automotive company cut its ties to Facebookadvertising just days before the social media sites IPO. Then a few days later GM declared that it would no longer sponsor the 2013 Super Bowl. So what’s going on here? Has the marketing department decided to go ‘hipster’ and cut out any sort of advertising that’s mainstream? Why would GM cut its two marketing campaigns that reach the most viewers? One word: Price.

Let’s first start with Facebook. The social media site warnedcompanies a few months ago that just having a Facebook page would not be enough to become relevant in the social media world. GM, like many companies, decided at this point or beforehand that they agreed with the statement from Facebook and purchased advertising on the site. However, now GM is pulling all of its paid advertisements from the site but will continue to operate is free page. Why the sudden change of heart? According to its internal research, the automotive company discovered that the Facebook advertisements were not quite as effective per dollar as they had thought. There are many companies and competitors, however, that still believe that Facebook advertisements are worth, including Ford (which recently decided to increase its Facebook ads).

A more interesting and shocking cut that GM made is its sponsorship of the 2013 Super Bowl. While Facebook reaches many viewers, how many of them ACTUALLY read look at the ads (don’t lie…you know you ignore them). The Super Bowl, however, is the Nation’s Biggest Stage not for the game that is being played, but for something almost as entertaining: THE COMMERICALS! Why on Earth anyone could decide that advertising in the Super Bowl was just not worth the cash anymore is beyond me. Yes, the prices have risen over the past few years and are projected to increase yet again this year (2012: 3.5 million per 30-second spot; 2013 – projected: 4 million per 30-second spot). But it’s THE SUPER BOWL, almost every American watches it! How is 4 million dollars not worth reaching roughly 300 million potential customers at once? We are talking about the nation’s third largest advertiser that spent about 2.8 BILLION dollars last year on domestic advertising. Does a half million dollar-per-commercial really effect the budget THAT much? I doubt it.

While I can easily justify in my mind the cutting of Facebook advertisements, I am having great difficulty in wrapping my head around GM’s reasons for cutting its sponsorship to the Super Bowl. What are your thoughts? Have the marketers at GM lost it? Is Facebook (or Super Bowl) advertisements that effective/ineffective? Comment below!