Research Can Be Such an Ugly Word.

Fads are huge in society, despite what people choose to believe for themselves. If we see Lady Gaga get on a stage in a meat dress (oh wait, we already did) we would probably search all over for a replica -- okay, probably not. But you get my drift.  Celebrities' styles jump out at us through the pages in a magazine or on our TVs, and we can't help but want what they have. How does this have any form of relevance to social media? You will soon find out.


The hottest celebrities are chosen to market certain products for name-brand companies because those companies are smart. We wouldn't want to buy a lipstick if some random "nobody" was advertising it on billboards, right? Companies want recognizable faces to catch your attention, and if you know who they are, you might be able to relate to them and want what they are selling.


This is where social media comes into play with the public eye. Celebs are taking over sites like Twitter and Facebook for their own popularity boost, but they are using this to their advantage.  Take Snooki, from the MTV reality show Jersey Shore, for example. Although most of the time she tweets about her daily activities and whereabouts, she did a lot of PR for a spray tan company called "SUNLOVE." Her fans and other people were not only reading about her personal life, but they were seeing free advertisement for a spray tan company.  Although this might be hard to believe, there are people in this world who look up to Snooki (and her pouf--literally), so this type of PR can manipulate her Twitter followers to look into this new product and find out more about it, or even perhaps buy it.


In a YouTube video that was posted on the SUNLOVE website, Snooki describes her love for the spray tan product and demonstrates how it works on a live person.


PR has a funny way of working with people's minds and the best part is that people don't even realize that they are falling right into these companies' traps.  Organizations like SUNLOVE choose certain celebrities to market their products due to their popularity in society.  The more popular and loved they are, the more likely people are to consider the product they are marketing.


As you might not have noticed, unless you previously knew the topic of my blog this evening, the word "research" was never mentioned once in the context above. Is it because there was none taking place? Often times, people don't even realize that they are conducting research through their work in PR. Well, the companies have certainly done their research when they choose which celebrities are going to be their spokes person for their next campaign.  The results of their research are used for promotion and increase in sales.  If they never did research from the get-go, how would they know who their demographics are, what to improve, what their budget will be, etc.? In this case, social media has almost become a form of free advertisement and promotion for companies without forcing them to pay a dime -- unless they hire someone else to do it for them.