Prepared for Director Lee Lonzo of Champions Together

Why is Social Media Such an Important Outreach for Teens?

In this day and age, the marketing tools of social media are used heavily in the advertising world. In fact, the entertainment aspects of social media are used by teens in a similar fashion as TV once was. According to a study titled “Teens, Social Media, and Technology Overview 2015” by Amanda Lenhart, “92% of teens report going online daily, including 24% of those teens who say they go online almost constantly” (Lenhart, P.1, 2015). This goes to show that teens are constantly consuming information from the internet. The internet can be considered the number one influencer for behavior in teens; therefore, creating social media ads and pages for Champions Together could increase the engagement of teens and further influence the likelihood of participation.

 

What are the Benefits of Social Media?

Social media brings a plethora of insight for businesses to see. According to an article on Forbes.com, “you can measure conversations based on different promotions posted on various social media channels and eventually find a perfect combination to generate revenue” (DeMers, P.1, 2014). Social media also allows for a better understanding of engagements. For example, Instagram shows activity on specific posts as well as overall activity on the page itself, allowing for companies to find the prime time to post for higher engagement. According to Profitworks.com, “social media harks back to what a business would have done through exhibitions, dropping flyers, holding a conference, running TV advertising, and the gamut of marketing methods of old except those same benefits of running types of campaigns are now transformed into a digital format" (Keller, P.1) Social media is the new wave of marketing and should be implemented in order to bring awareness to Champions Together.

 

What is the Effect of Social Media Strategies on Adolescents?

In 2014,  Hubner Barcelos and Alberto Vargas Rossi created an exploratory study composed of focus groups and in-depth interviews of 50 Brazilian adolescents between the ages of 13 and 17 years old. Many of the respondents feedback emphasized the importance of self-expression, pleasure with friends, and social connection with their social media. Marketing initiatives with more attractive content were held to a higher esteem and more successful. The results demonstrated the active role adolescents play is critical in how the worth of various medias are perceived amongst one-another.  While this study was conducted in Brazil, 5 years later the similar demographics were seen in South Africa through means of a survey created by Rodney Graeme Duffett. Duffett (2017) created a survey of three different self-administered questionnaires focusing on social media marketing communications. He targeted 13-18 year olds in high school or college who have or regularly use social media. His results demonstrated that over three-fourths of the social media users comprised of older Generation Z or 15-18 year olds.

Both Duffett and Hubner Barcelos and Alberto Vargas Rossi would agree that in order for an organization or business to build a strong marketing communication strategy that they must understand how to effectively campaign to their audience.

 

Specifc Media Platforms:

With the differences in social media platforms, comes the difference in online users. 96% of surveyed students indicated that they have used social media in the past. Facebook (81%) dominates their favorite social media, followed by Twitter (6.5%), and blogs (1.8%). 19% of students indicated that they have used social media for 2 or more years (Kwon, P. 36, 2013). The surveyed top two social media sites are Facebook and Twitter; therefore, these two sites would be the best form of outreach.

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In recent years, digital and social media have impacted the growth of sports in an unprecedented way. Mahan stated "sport organizations are constantly employing new methods to promote their brand or communicate with fans, and technological innovations are often at the centre of such strategy” (2011). For a relatively new sports organization in the modern age, the best way to increase visibility and popularity with fans and participants is to have an excellent social media presence.

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Similarly, another article states “the emergence of social media has profoundly impacted the delivery and consumption of sport” (Filo, Lock, & Karg, 2015). They identify and highlight three different types of social media marketing and research, and how each one plays a different role in generating relationships between sports organizations and the public.

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What is the Impact of Social Media Usage in Brand Marketing?

Researchers claim that the use of social media in marketing is extremely important and organizations and municipalities recognize the many advantages to expanding their virtual presence. Dr. Evan Cleave at the University of Ontario, along with co-authors, writes that social media is, “a way to ‘get on the radar screens’ of the audience”. (p. 1021) Cleaves explains that having a strong social media presence ensures that the target audience is aware and knowledgeable about the organization and its innerworkings. In agreement with this statement, Elzbieta Lepkowska-White, a management and business professor at Skidmore College, emphasizes “…social media allows businesses to provide vast amounts of timely information quickly, reach new customers, generate word of mouth, build relationships, engage customers, gather information about customers and competitors…”. (p. 323-342) White also urges the effectiveness of social media in marketing brands and businesses. Both these professionals agree that social media plays a vital role in attracting more customers and consumers.

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Why is it Important to Identify Which Social Media Platform to Use?

Choosing the most appropriate social media platforms to market goods and services can be imperative for organizations and there are a few factors they must consider before marketing for their designated audience. Founder and CEO of Fitzroy, Stefanie Botelho, states that identifying where their audiences’ conversations are happening, “saves time, allowing faculty to focus on the development and maintenance of profiles only on the most relevant social sites" (2014). She claims that a marketer must know where their audience is most prevalent so as to post quality content on those sites. Author and journalist, Shawna de la Rosa, going even further in depth upon the effective use of social media says, “a good Facebook post includes a clear message or call to action, as well as a link to more information and an image that will grab readers’ attention.” Here, she speaks of which networks would best attract students and how. Both authors maintain that social media platforms should be used in a smart way, taking into consideration the audience that needs to be attracted and where that audience is active.

 

What is the Importance of Engaging the Viewer?

Kunz and Hackworth in 2011 investigated the advertisement of 18 retailers on 5 different social media networks: Facebook, Kaboodle, Myspace, Twitter, and Youtube. Each week from September 2009 to January 2010, consumer involvement was measured including number of fans, discussions, friends, comments, etc. The results demonstrated that Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube were most ideal social media platforms for advertising. However, the importance of implementing social media marketing programs with an emphasis on engaging the consumer was obvious; 6 years later, the importance of engaging the consumer or viewer is still an important key to grasping the attention of the audience. In 2017, Han and Kim composed a study to closely examine two aspects of a social media user: their activity and gratification levels and their effects. These were further defined as information gratification, self-expression, communication gratification, and entertainment gratification, time spent on the platform, and number of interactions. The results demonstrate that in order to appeal to adolescents, marketers should orient their entertainment and information to be attractive to social media users. Ultimately, if one is able to thoroughly engage the viewer, he or she should receive the most attention.