Companies Advertise on Social Media Networks and Search for Customers Online


Walk down any street in the world and you will probably see young people holding smartphones to their ears, sending text messages or logging on to Facebook to find out what their friends are doing. Companies around the world are reacting to the daily habits of young people and sending their ads where their customers are: online.

Levi Strauss, American jeans maker, has found out a new way to bring advertisements to its Asian customers. Instead of presenting new clothes by models at a fashion show they have chosen a handful of 20-year olds from Singapore, Hongkong, Korea and India and are using them to spread the word about their new products.

 


One of those ad carriers is a girl called Bright, a writer and blogger from India.  Levi Strauss picked her to talk about clothes on the internet and answer questions from her friends. According to Bright, they want to know more about the product and trust her judgement more than a commercial on television. She gets free clothes in exchange for writing one post a day.

Levi Strauss, however, has not forgotten about traditional TV and magazine ads. But compared to them, investing in social media is cheap and could pay off in the end.

A study on the use of the Internet claims that people rely more and more on word of mouth and the opinion of others rather than ads on traditional media. As technology is becoming better smartphones are turning into mobile computers that people have with them all the time.

 


Social media advertising has been adopted by other US-based firms too. Procter and Gamble, producer of consumer goods, launched an interactive ad campaign over the Internet. The company invites consumers to ask questions about a product. Answers are then broadcast on YouTube.

Although internet advertising is catching on very fast, advertising experts say that companies still must be careful with these new methods. When they go online they must understand cultural differences that exist from country to country.

 

 

 

Related Topics

 

Words

  • according to = as said by ….
  • adopt = take on, accept
  • advertisement, ad = a picture, short film or group of words that are intended to make people buy a product
  • although = while
  • blog = a person who writes about certain subjects on the internet
  • broadcast = show, present
  • campaign = movement , operation
  • carrier = here: a person who brings information to other people
  • catch on = spread
  • claim = to say that something is true
  • commercial = ad on television
  • consumer goods = products that people buy for everyday use
  • customer = person who buys and sells things
  • daily habit = things that you do regularly, all the time
  • firm = company
  • however= but
  • instead of = in something’s place
  • judgement = opinion
  • launch = start
  • log on = connect to
  • media = newspapers, radio, TV etc..
  • mobile = portable
  • opinion = what you think about something
  • react = to do something about
  • rely = depend on
  • smartphone = a mobile phone that is like a small computer
  • spread the word= to tell people about something
  • trust = believe
  • US-based = with headquarters in the United States
  • word of mouth = information you get by someone telling you