Friday March 28

You know what time it is…

This week I will start off critiquing J. Cole Facebook page, since J. Cole is still slacking on his personal twitter but like I said last week he has been a bit busy touring/having concerts.  I chose this Facebook post because it demonstrates the convenience of using social media by putting up the flyer for all to see. What I mean is why go grab tape and print hundreds of flyers when you can just post the picture online, duh.  J. Cole is hosting a celebrity invitational event created by Michael Jordan, the legend. This post shows signs of using ethos to gain hype. By making someone as Famous as J.Cole host an event, that is also an event by someone as valued as MJ, definitely has an effect on the audience.

On the Jay Z side of Facebook, the post I decided to comment upon is also quite promotional. The page is trying to get its fans to for so Jay Z may win an iHeart Music Award for the year 2014. This post exemplifies logos by directly including the link within the post so fans may vote. Why may people calla landline or send something through the internet to cast a vote? The internet/social media is so useful ain't it?  A simple but very strategic post for the Jay Z campaign. May jesus be forever on your side master hov.

Roc Nation once again is hyping up its label artist. Of course they had to rep my main man Cole, doing his lyrical thing for the youth. This tweet supports the caring ethos found within this J. Cole right when it says celebration to empower youth. This day and age it is important to have rappers such as J. Cole who make songs revenant to social issues. The tweet also exemplifies logos by using the @ sign to promote the artist as well as the location, it also does so by putting the direct link to the J. Cole performing crooked smile to the young crowd so viewers can see the work he is doing with their own two eyes. 

This week, I think Roc Nation did have the best promotional post, although the other social media sites did an effective job as well. Not much really happening the past few weeks with my big three, hopefully things start heating up soon.

-DeBritto

Time for the Call of DeBritto battle royale!

In the first corner, weighing in at 27 retweets and 31 favorites, last weeks champion, Roc Nation! This heavy hitting hashtag pro used #RocFam as pathos. It emotionally relates to anyone who feels they are part of the roc nation family, to those who have been strong fans and supporters from the beginning. The tweet also includes @ signs to further promote the athlete who proudly work under their label. It also placed the direct link to the charity of Kevin Durant's charity Strong and Kind, promoting the charity and trying to help get donations.

Jay Z's heavy hitting Facebook page posted the simple, yet boasting statement "numbers don't lie, check the scoreboard." A strong right punch to the competitors, anyways, without a doubt the numbers do not lie. The page put up a picture of some of Jay Z's hits, from Hard Knock Life to Holy Grail Jay Z  has always been atop of the scoreboard producing hit after hit, year after year. This statement is power packed with intense ethos which comes from Jay Z's experience. To top it off, they put #TBT, which has become one of the most popular hashtags by far, emulating that of pathos, because as I have said in previous blogs, nothing brings back good old emotional memories like a good ol' #TBT.

J. Cole is still lacking on his twitter, but his Facebook fan page is still bumping with news about him. Here we have a picture of our hero spitting some knowledge upon the youth. Although it is a simple tweet, the picture exemplifiies the kindness of J. Cole. This post probably increased the amount of fans he has because it shows how real he truly is. So, simple, but effective, well done. 

And the winner is…. Roc Nation, once again, for its use of pathos, hashtags, and @ signs. The other two did alright this week, but they'll need to step up their game if they want to beat the social media Champ.

The Audience

-DeBritto in the house y'all-

The Question is...

What type of audience do my brands strive to reach?

Without a doubt, the bands I follow (J. Cole, Jay Z, and Roc Nation for those who don't know) reach, for the most part, a teenage audience. Unfortunately my topics have had to deal with the "rap/hip hop is bad for kids" problem, because of the explicit lyrics sometimes found within their music.  An article from the New York Times stated, " The average adolescent is exposed to approximately 84 references to explicit substance use per day and 591 references per week, or 30,732 references per year." That's a lot… But that argument is besides the point (I just wanted a reference to prove how much teens do listen).

Now allow me to be specific and answer this question! As for J. Cole, his music definitely reaches adolescents, although as an artist of course he wants to sell his art to everyone. But because of the "generation gap," that is the music biases the older generation has for rap this day and age, J. Coles audience is mostly teens that relate to his story telling lyrics. Unlike like other artist who only rap about drugs, money, and sex, Cole decided to rap about relative issues that most normal people can relate to, such as love, heartbreak, hard times, etc… On J. Cole's own site (jcolemusic.com) someone answered the question "what does J. Cole music mean to you?" The anonymous person said, "when I listen to J. Cole music its like poetry, something a little more than rap. His words teach me about life and everything in it, like women, fake friends, real friends and love.." To the whoever said that, we need to have a cup of coffee together, because that's how I feel about J. Cole's music. But don't get me wrong, Cole definitely also has those songs that go hard.

Jay Z targets a wider audience than J. Cole. Why you ask? Because Jay Z has been in the game longer. You can argue its about lyrics or style but since Jay Z is a father of rap, he also reaches out to an older  audience. It's quiet hard to put a title on the way he raps. He doesn't rap about sex, drugs, and money  too much either, but Jay Z has the talent to switch up his flow and still be hot fire on the mic. There is an audience out there who just appreciate the beats or music produces Jay Z brings to the table as well. He also does more than just rap, for example, JZ has his own clothing line Rocawear which targets the younger generation as well (T shirts, hoodies). Anyways, Jay Z is a genius when its comes to making good music especially because he really feels for his art.

"Artists can have greater access to reality; they can see patterns and details and connections that other people, distracted by the blur of life, might miss. Just sharing the truth can be a very powerful thing."
-Jay Z (I just couldn't not use this quote.. words from the wise)

Last but not least Roc Nation… Where do I begin… Roc Nation reaches an abundance of people. The company produces music from almost each music genre as well as representing some professional sports player such as Dwight Howard. Jay Z didn't hold back on his company, it's like he threw everything into the mix. If I had to choose a specific audience, I would still say the younger generation since the company is most known as a music label. It's big use of social media is more wide spread for adolescents, considering much of the older generations do not use new technology as much.

But that's it for today y'all,
be breezy.

March 7

Hey Folks, You know what it is! Let's jump right into some analysis

J. Cole has been M.I.A. this month on twitter, the man must have a lot on his plate  So, I am just going to go over one his more recent tweets (February 14....) J. Cole tweeted "She Knows, Video .dreamvillain.net/sheknows/  YES."  He tweeted "She Knows," because it is the title of one of his beloved songs off his latest album Born Sinner. In the tweet he embedded a direct link to the new video exemplifying his art. A seemingly simple tweet... it is very simple... Again in J. Cole's tweets he is relying on his music artist ethos. His all cap YES definitely demonstrates pathos because it shows the emotional excitement about the new release, which his fans must have felt as well (I know I did). 

Jay Z posted from his life and times page "It's a Hard Knock Life," along with putting a post to the trailer of the remake of Annie. I don’t think Jay Z had anything to do with directing the movie, I'm pretty sure it's just because it is a ghetto remix of the movie, plus Hard Knock Life was the title of one of his legendary songs which included song clips from the original  Annie. The emotional appeal/ethos found because he is reminiscing about the past. Anything that reminds someone of a past event usually brings up strong feelings. For Jay Z, it was the years B.B. (Before Beyoncé... funny? A little bit? Naw?)

Roc Nation Tweeted "@JColeNC kicks of the third annual dreamville Weekend in Fayetteville this weekend. smarturl.it/JColeDW," earlier (at least now we know why J Cole has been M.I.A.).The past tweets from Roc Nation have just been informational. Multiple people must send tweets out for Roc Nation because some days the tweets seem to be weak. There aren’t too many forms of logos or pathos within this tweet. For my big 3, having ethos is unquestionable because how famous each topic is, because obviously the news is valid. I just thought it was appropriate to share some info about Cole.

I was quiet disappointed in each of my big three posting wise the past few days. They could do better... None of them win the post of the week. Smh. Get your stuff together guys.

Week of March 3-7

-Why J. Cole has the most ineffective post overall-

J. Cole needs to step up his Twitter Game Maybe?… here is an example of one of his tweets.

Don't take this the wrong way folks, I actually enjoy the chill tweets Cole post every now and then on his tweet, but in terms of effectively advertising himself, he could use some work. The purpose of this tweet is to share what he is doing with his fans through this type of pathos post. Pathos because it has the power to emotionally appeal to others. It emotionally appeals to others because we all have that realization of how large this world is and even a star who travels a lot can feel a the same emotions, which allows his fans to have something in common with Cole. It is a tweet almost saying, "Hey, I may  be a famous artist, but I'm down to earth and a normal guy."  Which is why so many people continue to retweet J. Cole, out of the big three, he continually gets the most retweets and favorites/likes even though he does not advertise as much. Unlike other artist who are too into themselves such as Nicki or Kanye, Cole is seen by his fan base just as a normal man, who happens to rap, which creates a very positive image for Cole. Its perplexing that the man who tries less, actually gets more love, so to conclude, Cole is definitely the weakest when it comes to tweeting, mostly because he really doesn't tweet too much and when he does tweet, its usually a quick statement. But! Ultimately his twitter is effective because it exemplifies the relaxed personality of Cole, who is known to be a very friendly dude. We love you Cole. #ColeWorld

Week of March 3-7

You may wonder, "why is social media important for  musicians and what guidelines do they follow?" Well ladies and gentlemen, Blog Post Number 8!

Social Media: The Benefits of the Modern Day

       Today the internet is the main resource to multiple organizations and industries because it is undoubtably the easiest way to share information. Social Media began once people started developing small hubs and nodes and then one day (long story short….) someone said, "Hey, why don't we use these to share our interest and ideas to others? Maybe we can meet new people too?" Anyways.. Social Media became a great tool for artists and organizations such as J. Cole, Jay Z, and Roc Nation because of "effective sharing." By "effective sharing," I mean by advertising their product and then putting the product online for other people who enjoy the same music genre. For example if I here a new song from J Cole, and that piece is bumping, I will quickly post it on twitter or Facebook for my other friends to here, who will probably end up sharing it to their friends… and so on.. (catch my drift? yes? okay lets continue.) This domino effect allows artist, new and old, to get their voices heard and hopefully create a strong fan base. As for record labels such as Roc Nation, tweeting and Facebook posting is the quickest way to tell fans about new releases or information on those within the label. No more seeing people on the streets holding CD's screaming "YO! Check my mixtape," because nowadays, it is easier to just create a social media page, follow/friend people who share the same interest and show them what you got on the mic. Jen Foster of NSAI wrote "the advantages of social network marketing for musicians are: It removes geographical boundaries, empowers fans to be the musicians greatest promoters, and its free to use!" I feel you on that Jen, right on. Like I say over, and over, its all about that sharing. But know, artist don't make it unless they emotionally connect as well. The Stanford General Atlantic Professor of Marketing at the Graduate School of Business, Jennifer Aaker said, "You can't use social media effectively unless you know how to capture people's emotions… People only advance the message about something they care about." J. Cole is known for his poetic ability to reach the hearts of millions of his fans. Crooked Smile, Lost Ones, Dollar and a Dream, Nobody's Perfect, these are types of songs that build up his fan base because of the emotion and reality found within his lyrics that increase his ethos. His ethos as a real person, not just a rap artist, which is very important for his image. He's too real and down to earth. But if he were to lose that spark, that lyrical pathos, his career would stop short. William Arruda of Forbes.com stated that the three elements of an effective social media strategy are 1. Be real  2 .Be Focused and 3. Be Consistent. My two artist have no doubt followed these three guidelines, which is why they don't lose there fan base. Look at Miley Cyrus… now look at J. Cole and Jay Z… now back at Miley… Do you need any more explanation?

Sorry, I rambled on a little in this post, DeBritto out. Peace, Love, and Blogging.

What Ads I've seen in 48 hours

miadidas@ - Customize, adidas.com, create your own shoes, Facebook

-didn't Click-

Up to 80% off, Shop Now! Plndr.com, get your fav street wear brands, FB

-clicked-

verizon wireless, get more data, cloud storage, and more, 45$ a month, Verizonwireless.com, FB

-nope-

Jordan Flash Sale, Finishline.com , Tumblr, 24 hour last chance sale

-no, but I was close to

SneakerFiesta.com, Cheap jordans for sale, 40% off, with free shipping and easy return, tumblr

-nope-

Fashion Clothes at AE, www.ae.com/clothing, tumblr

-also didn't click-

trendy clothes at American Eagle Extended sizes and in store returns, tumblr

-nope-

Shop at mace's, macys.com, tumblr

-nope, didn't click-

adidas.com, leave a legacy in adidas apparel, Facebook

-no clicky-

MD/VA leagues, LifeTimeFitness.com/basketballGyms

Adult Basketball leagues & Open Gym, Free 7 day club membership, tumblr

-nope-

Basketballs, www.eastbay.com, brand new styles of balls at east bay, tumblr

-didn't click-

History of Olympics, www.amazon.com/history of Olympics, tumblr

free 2day shipping, low prices on millions of books

-didn't click-

Grubhub. Search. order. eat., Facebook

www.grubhub.com

-didn't click, but made me hungry.-

So, here we have it, the ads that popped up on my pages earlier. I only clicked one, the one that said deals up to 80% off on plndr. It appeared to me on Facebook because I was just looking on my plndr account looking for some new  spring swagger. It may it seem like the most ads I saw were on tumblr, but Facebook continually shows the same ad and I didn't feel like posting the customize your own adidas ad over and over.  The only ones I even thought about clicking were the one's related to shoes or clothing I find interesting or nice, but on the other hand I usually decide not to use the ad links simply because I usually pay them no mind at all.