One Directions Social networking

One direction have used various social networking sites as a marketing tool in order to promote their tour. In the social network dominated society that we are in today, an effective way of marketing is through social networks such as Facebook and Twitter.

One Directions Facebook page has promoted the group continuously on the run up to the beginning tour date, posting pictures of the group practicing for the tour as a whole, as well as promoting competitions to win tickets to the shows and other day to day statuses in which would be of interest to the One Direction target audience. There was a daily countdown in the build up to their debut show of the tour, on 22nd February at the O2 arena, which received over 100,000 'likes', as well as many other promotional tools, including a new single release, and there support to comic relief. 
The tour was a sell out, with them having to add an extra date on in order to satisfy the millions of fans who support them and were unable to get any tickets. There were many statuses involving their success at the BRIT awards, where they won the 'Global Success Award.' This included a performance by the group in which they sang 'One way or another,' there single in which was released as the comic relief song. They have also started to sell items of clothing on their Facebook and Twitter accounts, in which they wore on their comic relief video. This helps as a promotional tool for their tour, as the money sold from the garments will all be going to comic relief. This shows that the young group of boys are very charitable and want to make a difference, and this when building up a fan base, defines them as a group and that there target market are supporting. When making the video to go with this song they filmed it all themselves, in order to save money although any money that was made from sales and downloads etc was all given to comic relief, again promoting them well.

The One Direction Twitter page has been posting similar things to their Facebook page, although they update it more frequently. It seems as though their Facebook page has been used for photo uploading and more descriptive updates, whereas Twitter has been used for quicker updates on the bands whereabouts and what they're up to. On this print screen  i have demonstrated an example of the added tour date being promoted by the band member Harry Styles, which has been 'retweeted' by the One direction page itself. I've also given another example of the comic relief promotion in which increased sales towards the touring dates.

The One Direction website itself updates fans on recent 'tweets' and posted 'statuses' on Facebook, as well as latest releases, recent news, events for the group and other information on the band. They have their own spotify channel on the website which also plays their songs, both old and recent. The website is set out in a modern format with lots of bright colours and playful designs being used as a visual ploy in order to attract their target market which is the younger generation. The main age group the band seem to attract is early teenagers, who will all be attracted to this layout. The website is also clearly set out and easy to read with clear large font sizes. It is clear with this website who the target market are and compared to that of the UCAS home website it is obviously a younger audience.The UCAS website however, has to capture the attention of a broader age group, as university students aren't just teens leaving college at 18 going onto higher education, there are also lots of mature students who decide to attend.