Public Relations and Using Technology

• Many businesses are re-allocating advertising expenditure to new technological methods, such as online businesses, mobile devices, and social media platforms.

Online Targeted Advertising

• Traditional advertising methods often directed adverts at many people who would never buy the product, resulting in wasted money.
• New technology allows adverts to be more targeted, directing them only at people likely to be interested in the product.
• Businesses use browsing habits and data collected from online users to personalize adverts.
• Marketing companies compile records of users' browsing habits and sell them to businesses for tailored advertising.
• This avoids wasting money on misdirected adverts.
• Someone browsing websites to book a flight from Mumbai to Colombo might later see adverts for such flights on unrelated websites.

Viral Advertising

• Internet advertising has provided the opportunity for viral advertising.
• Viral advertising involves encouraging people to pass on messages about a product or business electronically.
• This creates the potential for exponential growth in message exposure.
• These strategies exploit rapid multiplication as people send messages to family, friends, and colleagues, who in turn send them on again.
• People can send text, images, photographs and video clips relating to a marketing message
• A successful example is Disney's film clip showing Disney characters interacting with shoppers in the USA.

Social Media

• The use of social media platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Tumblr, in advertising is growing rapidly.
• In 2015, the internet had 3170 million users.
• There are 2300 million active social media users and 91% of retail brands use two or more social media channels.
• Internet users have an average of 5.54 social media accounts.
• Social media users have risen by 176 million in the last year.
• The amount spent by businesses on digital advertising will soon be greater than the amount spent on television advertising.
• Social networks gather lots of information about users, allowing businesses to target their adverts more effectively.
• Every click, view, and sign-up is recorded when people use the Internet.

Advantages of Using Social Media in Advertising

• Relatively cheap compared with other methods.
• Businesses can respond immediately to developments in the industry.
• Improves quality of customer service due to instant communication with customers.
• Has a huge reach - billions of people.
• Adverts can be accurately targeted.
• Links can be used to draw traffic into company websites.

E-Newsletters

• Some businesses send customers e-newsletters, which are documents sent electronically to interested parties.
• These contain a range of content not just related to shopping, such as industry news, statistics, and lifestyle tips.
• They are only sent to customers who have already purchased goods or services or expressed interest.
• E-newsletters may also be personalized, making them less likely to be treated as spam.
• Provided they are not too long and contain interesting information, they can help develop customer relationships and bring attention to new buying opportunities.

Explore online targeted and viral advertising methods. Learn how businesses leverage browsing habits and data for personalized adverts, and how viral advertising encourages audience sharing to amplify reach.