EXAM QUESTION:
What techniques do your chosen texts use to effectively target and maximise their
online audiences? (30 marks) Refer to both Zoella and Attitude.
Zoella’s
target audience is female, this is shown as she uses emotive content and this
appeals and engages a female audience. As Zoe discusses her problems and how
she feels about them. Her fans may relate and therefore build special relationship with Zoe as they are experiencing the same issues. Zoe stereotypically is seen a female - as she talks about
fashion, relationship, and makeup this is seen as very feminine. She constructs
a positive representation as she is very stylish, wears lots of makeup and
looks very feminine! Her activities and interests of fashion, beauty and makeup
show she is feminine in ‘female based activities and interests’. This builds her fan base as she does regular activities that a young teen/ young adult would do and does vlogs about it.
Zoella
targets 13 to 24 years old, Zoella uses a lot of social media to engage with
her audience via Instagram, Snapchat & YouTube as these social media platforms
fit in with the current generation and technology. She aims to maximise her online
audience through social media, content by creating videos that interest her fans and uses popular topics to talk about. Everyday activities also shape her
target audience as Zoe enjoys shopping and eating at restaurants this interests
young teens and young adults, which reinforces her target audience.
She has
made partnerships with companies for the same target audience e.g. ASOS &
H&M these are companies whop have a similar target audience and who
represent high street fashion at reasonable prices. Zoe will partner up with different
brands, so she gets the attention of wearing the outfit and the company will
get attention for the clothing. It is win win situation for the model and brand. It shows that Zoe's audience is the socio economic group of BC1C2 because these shops sell their clothing/products at a reasonable price.
Attitude
targets gay males, this is shown by writing factually and not in long paragraphs
as males don’t tend to read long paragraphs as they lose focus and attention quickly.
There is a lot of high image to text ratio and has a lot of short paragraphs to
be quite snappy and look at details visually rather than massive long paragraphs.
The
age range for this magazine is 26 to 55 year olds, this can be identified as
Attitude uses/shares a lot of content to their social media platforms such as: Facebook
and twitter as there age range is most likely to use Facebook and twitter as an
older generation compared to Zoella’s younger generation audience. Most of the
26 to 55 age range wouldn’t know how to use snapchat or Instagram. Most of the
magazine articles/new stories show celebrities which are in an older generation
and they are referenced to engage their audience who they grew up with in the
media. There is a lot of retro culture stories in the 1990s and there is a lot of
political stories which would portray a more mature audience!
Partnerships
and sponsorships have been built with companies which advertise premium products
on their website e.g. Jaguar and Calvin Klein this shows the socio-economic group
to be ABC1. The interests and activities that accompany this socio-economic group
is art and cultural events, theatre visits and five-star holidaying.
Some narratives
focus on social issues such as LGBT and women’s rights etc. These can very
mature and complex articles which reinforces the age range. The magazine
constructs an aspirational feel as the magazine refers to premium brands,
looking good and brand awareness.
Gauntlett
refers to how we use the internet and other media texts help us to create our identify.
We now have more of a variety of representations to identify with e.g. LBGT, masculine
and feminine etc. Zoella and Attitude use their techniques to engage and target
their audience and they both show the range of representations we can identify
with!
Shirky
says we are now more likely to use the internet to respond to texts e.g. Zoella
uses YouTube, Instagram etc to like, comment, subscribe and share their
content/posts. Zoella and Attitude can reply to their target audience, this
maximises their online audience due to them interacting and engaging with Zoe
or others and etc.
