Bringing Ice Cream & Social Media Together

When it comes to blogging and Instagram, the two platforms are both effective in different ways. Instagram is more for the artistic eye, people who enjoy viewing photographs and browsing through visuals. Whereas, blogging is more for people who enjoy reading articles and learning about causes or events.

Ben and Jerry's use both of the platforms for their specified purposes. Their Instagram page promotes their new flavors, as well as their occasional free cone day which is used to get more people into their stores in the Northeast. It also appears that they post photos taken by fans holding a Ben and Jerry's cone or one of their signature designed pint containers. This gets fans more involved and excited because they’re able to see the product, or the social object being ice cream, as well as participate in sharing their experiences with the brand. However, they also do keep up with current events on their Instagram, like the election as well as earth day are some recent ones. I think this shows that they're targeting young people and millennials because these are a majority of the people using Instagram and use it as a method of following news and keeping up with brands that interest them.

As for their blog, they do talk about new products coming out but it's use more for what the company is doing outside of the creation of their product. One thing that I noticed they do on their blog frequently is showing how to use their ice cream to make different recipes or put a fun twist on just the traditional ice cream cone. While browsing their blog I noticed too that they discussed about how they participated in events and scooped ice cream for people, they even openly wrote an article about their founders recently getting arrested for protesting. I think this shows honesty and gives the company credibility to show where they screwed up but are able to come back from it. The blog definitely serves its purpose in showing the company from many different angles.

Reebok Marketing Strategies

Reebok and its partners

Through hearing the talk with Matt Somma, we were able to learn a lot about how Reebok runs its social media and how it is effective. Reebok is on almost every important social network, Instagram, Facebook and twitter. They find success with their presence through this by interacting with customers, answering questions and offering help or incentives if there's an issue with a product. Reebok would fall under the social commerce zone of marketing because they are looking to sell their product and make revenue off of it. However, the sites they use to social network would be under other zones like Facebook, Twitter or Instagram

One social media campaign that was done by Reebok where they partnered with another company/application was with Spotify. I found this interesting because I just did my spotlight report on Spotify and I thought it was a good example. The problem they were looking to solve was people not being motivated to work out because they didn't have good music to listen to. Their solution was to create an app within Spotify that helped users find songs and playlists based upon what they were doing for fitness, as well as create their own playlists to share with other users. 

They called it Fitlist sponsored by Reebok. This particular campaign inspired over 160 news articles, twice the downloads and visits that Spotify was receiving and brought people to the launch video for the campaign earning it over 200,000 views. This helped gain brand recognition for people especially because Spotify is one of the most popular music applications that people use daily.

Being a Digital Native In the New Millenium

When technology and human become one... 

I'll admit it, on a day to day, hour to hour basis, I'm using some sort of technology. If I don't have my phone or computer with me at all times, I start to get withdrawals or I feel bored more easily. This is obviously a negative control that it's had over my life.

My most used apps are probably Spotify, Facebook, and Twitter. I enjoy using these apps as a method of following news via tweets, as well as keeping up with promotional posts by varying advertisers. They help me keep up with the updated on what's new and important.

Some applications that I do not like include Linkedin and pinterest. I thought I would like Pinterest simply because of the concept but I find it's slow and the functioning is not as good. As for Linkedin, I get constant notifications via email as well as on my phone that are obnoxious or simply unnecessary. It has no real privacy settings that keep from avoiding spam. This is one of my biggest pet peeves particularly when it comes to online advertising. Too many companies nowadays use email as a method to reach their consumers about their products and promotions. This is a fine concept, however, it's annoying when overdone and according to a study done by the Pew Research Center, people are by no means ready to give up personal information in order to receive advertisements that cater to their interests. Privacy is an essential thing that is still unresolved in the world of technology.

Coming from having a background of computer science with both my dad and my brother, I know a decent amount about technology. I have a lot of experience with programming, different software, as well as how to use use varying multimedia. I contribute this to a large part of the reason I decided to study communications because I enjoy all of the different elements that go into the internet, social media and the technology we use to access these things.