Fluid Media had the privilege last Thursday of participating in a class at the Art Institute of Atlanta. We were invited by Dr. Larry Stultz to speak to his students about social media marketing and how the tools are changing the way that brands are able to interact with their target audience.
We applaud Dr Larry for reaching out to many different professionals to speak to his class, since things are changing so rapidly in online marketing. We are sure that the class will gain significant insights into marketing tactics by hearing directly from the source. For reference materials, the class also uses Life After the 30 Second Spot by Joseph Jaffe as well as listening to the JaffeJuice podcast.
Facebook was a major segment of the conversation particularly as the students discussed the migration away from My Space for various reasons, most notably the intrusive nature of the advertising on My Space.
The main point that we tried to make during the conversation is that there are different types of influencers who have impact on consumers, depending upon the social network being discussed .. from anonymous influencers on Amazon to friendly influencers on Facebook, with follower/following influencers in between. Marketers need to understand how all types of influencers can have an impact on consumers and the most successful will initiate brand conversations on every social network, according to the type of relationships that are established there.
We should also point out that the class had a definite understanding of online privacy concerns and in particular how it could impact their job search should inappropriate things end up where they can be found.
A suggestion for Dr. Larry’s class is to invite a legal expert in to discuss privacy in the digital age. The class could be geared towards the responsibilities of a marketer who might be developing apps or Facebook games to promote a brand, that simultaneously gathers market research and personal information. How is a marketer obligated to handle this information without causing harm to the user?
Meanwhile, Facebook announced and then retracted their changes to the Terms of Service. The flap seems to be a big stink about something that was percieved as reality in the general public anyway .. anything that is put online is generally no longer in your control. It does however, point out a general mistrust of Facebook’s overall intentions, particularly among power users who have seen services like Beacon get launched and then withdrawn due to privacy concerns.
Facebook has to consider how their reputation is percieved, most notably among influential bloggers who criticize the company. From the initial complaints recently settled by the founders of ConnectU who claim the concept was stolen from them .. all the way through to Beacon and now TOS fiascoes, Facebook has been battered many times over. While another behemoth online, Google continues to advance apps that could directly impact a person’s privacy while setting up a major marketing windfall without too much complaint.
What do you think, should privacy become a central part of the curriculum for a marketing class?
