Memes

In this age and time, most people have seen memes before. Memes have the capability of bringing in intense emotions and dramatic statements. So how exactly do memes become popular and trending? According to Dawkin’s analysis, memes that spread successfully incorporate three properties, which include longevity, fecundity and copy fidelity. All of which are enhanced by the Internet. When memes are posted online people respond in various ways as well. These include through commenting, liking, sharing, or by creating mimicry or remixes. Recreating original documents is viewed as networked individualism.

Shiffman talks about the six P’s that enhance content’s virality. These include positivity, provocation of high-arousal emotions, participation, packaging, prestige, and positioning. According to a key finding, people are more inclined in sharing stories that are positive because what they share is a reflection of themselves. Most people want to be perceived as being upbeat and entertaining. Next, provoking high arousal emotions are important in order to better catch the audience’s attention, whether it be positive or negative. Stories that created a more “wow” response has a lot more influence than other content that may be considered sad. When it comes to packaging information, it is more beneficial to create messages that are clear and simple. This type of information really sticks to people. Content that is shared by famous or influential individuals is seen as being credible and reliable. In addition, they would be able to reach more people because of their status, this is all related to prestige. Positioning is then where they decide to distribute the content. Lastly, participation relates to the engagement from viewers or stakeholders. All of these six components really aid in content gaining visibility.

In addition to just sharing entertaining and comedic memes, a lot of people share memes for political purposes. Memes shared to express political points of views is beneficial to showing personalization. As more people around the globe become Internet users, the user-generated globalization of memes becomes more relevant. Memes are not driven by high-profile commercial agencies, but instead are created by ordinary users, it does not involve commerce, and when memes are translated, sometimes a few extra key words or markers are added making some words or phrases invisible to those who view it. When memes are translated, they often include adaptations, which may alter the meaning. Although memes can mean different things dependant on the translation, the speed at which memes travel on a global scale is very impressive.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

Evaluation

The final stage in managing a social media campaign is to evaluate what worked, what didn't, and what needs improvement. When evaluating, there are two main components that need to be differentiated; counting and measurements. Counting means to add up numbers to get a total, whereas collecting measurements mean to take the total and analyze what it means. Why did we get the results we did? What swayed the decision? What impacted people? Etc. After counting and measuring the results, there are three steps in the evaluation phase, which are: preparation, implementation and impact.

In the preparation stage, research, listening and strategic designs are all evaluated. This is used to verify whether or not they received the feedback they had hoped to receive. Implementation is evaluated by looking at whether the information was delivered at the right times and whether it reached their intended audience.  This is also known as message reach and engagement. Impact looks at the specific objectives set at the beginning of the campaign and verifying if they had accomplished them at the end of their campaign.

When evaluating, it is also important to look at how preparation occurred. There are three parts to this: the formative research that was gathered in the listening phase, the program’s strategic design, and the presentation content. Formative research helps identify if the information that was collected was enough to reach the objectives made in the beginning. Next, the strategic design must be evaluated through a top-down approach. Ask questions such as were the goals appropriate for the need and purpose of the campaign? Was each objective of SMART reached? Or, were all the tactics identified correctly? It is also important to evaluate the overall tone and persona of the campaign. Lastly, looking into presentation means looking at the creativity of the content that was produced and to comment on any pieces that worked well with the overall campaign.

Since most companies use Facebook to reach their intended audience, it is important to understand their analytics or so-called, insights. There are seven main areas that are used to gather and analyze data: the overview, likes, reach, visits, posts, video and people. Each and every one has a unique purpose and understanding how they all work is important to achieving success of your campaign. When using insights, remember to set the date-range for all components except for overview to get the analysis you wish to see.

How Companies can Connect with Customers Effectively

Reaching a specific audience via. social media means learning about their social media usage patterns. If you want your posts to be seen, you have to make sure you are posting them at the right time in order to make sure that you receive the feedback you hope for. A few important questions to ask are: when and how often should I post content? When do these users interact with me more often? How interactive are the engagements with each post? The best way to get in touch with your consumers is to act as if you were the consumer yourself. This way, you are able to implement interactive ways to get the customers involved, thus bringing more attention to your social media platform.

Companies who are brand-centric seem to be without character as opposed to companies who put their customers first.  When it comes to getting customers to post on your page, or to like your page, it is important for companies to explain why you should like them as opposed to simply telling them to “like” their pages. Giving them a reason may trigger them into wanting to learn more about the company. What companies can do to attract more customers is by including stories about the company and what the company has done in the past to benef their customers.

As a company you must stay engaged with your customers which means to be genuinely interested in what your customers have to say. Creating and growing customer relationships through engagement, authenticity and loyalty is key to having a successful company. When staying engaged with customers, this includes responding to both positive and negative comments as soon as possible. It must be noted that companies should respond quickly to negative comments. The do-not-delete rule states that unless a comment is obscene, profane, or contains someone’s personal and private information, then it should never be deleted. It is important to respond respectably, then move the conversation to a private space. In addition, do not ignore negative comments. Ignoring customers is a slap in the face to them; it is a completely negative response. Make sure to always keep in mind the mannerism you use to respond to customers.

Another key component about connecting with others is by generating questions. This can help keep customers and prospective customers engaged and wanting to learn more. Asking questions creates active dialogue. As companies respond quickly, people will usually start to have a more positive outlook on the company. In addition to just asking questions, crowdsourcing is also an option.