Sample Solution

Social media has many ways of aiding brands with advertisement and one way would be through the involvement of the audience. This is referred to as audience labour which is when an audience is seen as workers rather than consumers. This theory is successful because the audience will promote brands that they like through features on social media platforms like hashtags or tags. These features are a benefit for brands because it is free labour and advertising, meaning that if they produce what a market wants then it will naturally be promoted and shared to the right audience. The joy of brands and fashion houses having social media accounts is that the consumers will be able to see the behind the scenes and see what goes into making these popular brands. The effect that this has on the consumer is that they will feel a connection and a sense of loyalty to a brand because they feel as though they are included within process. Platforms like Instagram can give this kind of behind the scenes services that make the consumer feel as though they are getting exclusive news and information, allowing them to feel more connected. Austin (2013) backs up this theory by stating “when it comes to Instagram, followers want to see behind-the-scenes images from their favourite companies that they would not normally be able to through traditional media.” By having the control over the marketing process, brands can pick and choose who they want to promote the products and think about who will appeal most to a target audience. By doing this the brand are also able to control opinion and perception meaning that by showing the best parts of the brand and its products it will mean that more people will want to not only purchase the products but also support the brand. “With the consumers’ increased use of retailers’ Internet Websites for searching out product information and purchasing, the websites have become key tools for retailers to communicate with current and prospective customers and the attributes of a retailer’s website are crucial for attracting shoppers to the site and convincing them to become or remain customers” (Seock & Norton 2008).

It is important that a brand can fulfill the needs of its audience to ensure that they have returning customers. Instagram and other social media platforms are an easy way for brands to monitor what is selling, what is popular and what bloggers and influencers are in the spotlight at that mo