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Advertisements have advanced throughout history, from word-of-mouth to posters, and from posters to radio and television— now, anyone who uses social media is no stranger to seeing ads and sponsored posts on popular platforms. With easy access to today’s internet, this form of advertising has become extremely popular with the use of media platforms and can also be seen everywhere in the form of ads for games and apps, on YouTube videos, and even on the sides of websites. Most popularly, small organizations have benefited greatly from the power of social media and social media accounts. Despite the evolution of different mediums, the essentials stay the same; pathos, ethos, and logos are the foundations for advertising an organization and their products.
Recall the toys and gadgets commercials shown on TV when you were younger— what made these commercials memorable? Pathos describes the emotional appeal aspect shown within commercials. Whether it is heartwarming, emotional, or humorous, knowing a business’ target audience is the first step to incorporate pathos. For example, silly mascots and dances are great strategies to appeal to younger audiences, just like how using a repeated theme song or catch phrase will help them to remember the product well and for long periods of time. Along with this, commercials that are targeted towards children are most likely shown on children’s programming rather than on a news channel for older audiences.
Ethos covers the aspect of credibility. To set a good impression, most businesses use endorsements and reviews from previous customers or even popular influencers in their promotional videos to persuade customers to buy their product. Interacting with audiences through replies, texts, and even lives on Instagram or Facebook are great ways to build connections as well. The path to gaining credibility also ties in with logos, which uses facts and logic to appeal to audiences. Providing unbiased sources and data also establishes integrity for organizations, making them a platform audiences are more likely to refer back to.
Creating social media accounts and promoting products through likes, shares, and hashtags are fantastic ways for small organizations to gain publicity and followers— going one step further, promoting posts through ads and sponsors can help organizations reach an even larger audience. However, this comes at price. Most platforms charge sponsored posts based on a “cost-per-click” (CPC) or “cost-per-1000 views” (CPM) system, as well as the target audience of the ad and the content. To advertise to the billions of users on Instagram or Facebook, the cost ranges anywhere from fifty cents to three dollars. Twitter also provides a budget-like system where organizations can set a limit to how much they want to spend daily or even overall— they also provide a “billable action” system where organizations will only be charged based on the amount of clicks received on their ad. Alternatively, TikTok uses a slightly different approach to let creators market creatively through trends, with their prices beginning at $10 per CPM.
In today’s modern world, advertisements run differently; television commercials are not the most popular way to reach audiences anymore. Instead, ads are more effective when shown on YouTube, Twitter, Google, Instagram, and many more platforms— with a click or a tap, the consumer can be easily taken to a business’ website, a feature that TV commercials can’t provide. Many small businesses have even gone viral with the help of Instagram and TikTok and their community. Despite the different mediums, the essentials stay the same: appeal to the audience.