Is Social Media Advertising a Good Fit for Your Brand? In 2021, everyone’s social and commercial experience is connected virtually. That’s why social media has become an invaluable tool for companies to set up new “store fronts” in busy “avenues” that customers frequent, such as with Facebook ads on a local Facebook newsfeed. Here’s what you need to know to get started for your brand. FACEBOOK (2.8 BILLION MONTHLY ACTIVE USERS) Pros: Facebook Ads are self-service and very affordable — you can spend as much or as little as you’d like, according to your budget. You can also micro-target consumers, adjusting your ads’ exposure to demographic information like age, gender, location, and language, or even detailed interests or behavior. You can retarget people who interact with your ad or even design a “lookalike” audience with current valued customers so Facebook can try to replicate those results. Cons: Facebook’s Newsfeed algorithm is always changing, and you may experience less organic reach. Reaching your audience may eventually require more and more ad spending, and less attention to organic page post engagement. Also, Facebook advertising requires constant monitoring, ad refreshes, and video and mobile optimization to give your business the best shot at success, making it reliant on your creativity and attention. INSTAGRAM (1 BILLION MONTHLY ACTIVE USERS) Pros: High-quality photos and videos are key to grabbing attention and promoting positive brand awareness. If you have an attractive product that serves a very specific type of audience, you’ll love Instagram’s hyper-focused targeting capabilities. Instagram is very effective for e-commerce and allows you to group products together. Also, Instagram has higher engagement rates — over 10 times higher than Facebook, 54 times higher than Pinterest, and 84 times higher than Twitter. Cons: About 90% of users are younger than 35. This could be a “pro” for your business! But it does limit your available audience. Also, text-heavy images or lengthy copy won’t do well on Instagram, while requiring a lot of time and effort to maintain your following. LINKEDIN (260 MILLION MONTHLY ACTIVE USERS) Pros: If you’re B2B, marketing on LinkedIn will be one of the most attractive options for you. Not only will you get higher quality leads by marketing directly to top decision-makers, but, like with Facebook, you’ll be able to specifically target your ads based on salary, job title, employer, and company size. It’s also self-serve and you’ll be able to utilize text ads, display ads, lead-generation forms, and video ads. Cons: Compared to other platforms, LinkedIn is more expensive and is generally considered more difficult to use. You won’t find as many educational resources about LinkedIn marketing as you will Facebook marketing.
LEGALLY SPEAKING, WHAT IS CENSORSHIP?
The First Amendment has been the centerpiece of a contentious debate about what can legally be posted (and deleted) on social media like Twitter and Facebook. But before we can define “censorship,” we need to know what is defined as “free speech.” What exactly does the First Amendment say about free speech? What are the boundaries for what people can and cannot do? THE FREEDOM TO SPEAK — WITHOUT OBSCENITY OR INCITING VIOLENCE The First Amendment covers the freedom of speech, press, and religion. It’s arguably one of the most fundamental amendments in American democracy, but its interpretations can vary significantly. This is how the full First Amendment reads: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” Why is it that the Ku Klux Klan and Westboro Baptist Church have gotten into legal trouble for expressing their opinions? Their groups often promote acts of violence against another group, which violates the “peaceably” qualifier to the people’s right to assemble. However, more restrictions have come up. In Miller v. California (1973), the U.S. Supreme Court found that the First Amendment’s freedom of speech doesn’t apply to obscenity.
How does the court define obscenity? There are three things they’ll take into account:
1. Will the average person (applying contemporary “community standards”) find the work appealing to the overly sexual interests? 2. Does the work depict or describe, in an offensive way, sexual conduct or excretory functions as defined by state law? 3. Does the work, when taken as a whole, lack serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value? Certain types of hate speech are legal, so long as they don’t incite violence and cannot be categorized as obscenity as described above. But what about more ordinary political opinions? Can those be legally censored? THE FIRST AMENDMENT’S BOUNDARY Corporate censorship and censorship by private entities are legal because the First Amendment only applies to government censorship. That’s why when Twitter bans an account or Facebook deletes a post, these actions don’t count as violations of free speech. Could that change? According to legal experts, the big question now is how to treat large social media platforms. Clay Calvert, professor of law at the Levin College of Law, asks, “Should we treat them differently and regulate them more closely? Have we reached that stage where we need antitrust litigation, perhaps, and say they have such powerful platforms, they’re like near- monopolies that we should do some trust-busting and break them up?”
Thanks for joining us! From everyone at Reardon Anderson, we hope these tips give you a hand. Happy advertising!
Would it be a good idea for the First Amendment to apply to private entities? We’ll leave that to the future debates that are sure to come.
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