Hey Whipple, Squeeze This, 6th Edition

12CONCEPTING FOR THE HIVE MIND: CREATING BUZZ WITH SOCIAL MARKETING.

SOCIAL MEDIA IS OUR GLOBAL VIRTUAL COFFEE SHOP and, like any coffee shop, there's a new one opening every eight minutes. Among the top platforms out there (as of this writing) are Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, Snapchat, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Reddit, Spotify, and YouTube.

We all know someone who looks down their nose at social media, and lord knows, there are things about it that truly suck. But if you want a job in advertising, you must become as close to an expert in this field as you can. Every brand in the world, large and small, is shifting much of its media budget online and into social.

As you sit down to a project, someone in the meeting is gonna ask, “What should our social campaign be?” But “Why are we doing a social campaign?” should be the first question we ask. What do we want to achieve? Do we want feedback? Awareness, word-of-mouth, sales? If the stated objective is “sales,” that's fine, but only if we remember social platforms are social gatherings first.

I liken Facebook to a backyard neighborhood barbecue, LinkedIn is work buddies at the bar, and Twitter, that's a big noisy cocktail party crowded with celebrities, news media, and digital friends. TikTok and Instagram can both be seen as stages where people perform for their tribes. Each one of these platforms has its own language, customs, and protocols.

For this short chapter, I've had to limit what I can cover. Facebook, Instagram, ...