With social media being a transitional digital tool, it has forced society to change to a form of communication that is more advanced. It now takes less time and effort to persuade an audience which has allowed marketers to spend less money on campaign advertisements, focus more on what their target audience wants, and find appealing ways to promote products/services. This relates to rhetoric because it is a form of communication that has a goal to persuade any audience through using ethos, pathos, and logos. There is no better way to persuade an audience than through advertising, especially when the campaign relates to the targeted consumer audience. For society as a whole, we have gone from traditional print media marketing to digital marketing to social media marketing. To go more in depth, digital tools have affected our decision making process as consumers. Many companies have reevaluated their marketing tactics to appeal to their audiences by transitioning into social media marketing across all platforms. When it comes to social media marketing, there are several platforms to communicate through which more than often allows rhetoric to be overlooked due to users having more control of their opinions. Social media, especially Instagram, focuses on getting to the point when attempting to attract the consumer. Since social media is quick and easy, due to it being available at the touch of a finger, it can make it difficult to persuade an audience.
Ethos is proposed through Instagram posts by allowing marketers to be more inclusive and less aggressive with their point of view in order to keep the intended audience interested (Kucher, 2019). This is important because it allows companies to think outside the box. The questions of “how can we include this without not including this?” or “what makes our point of view stand out from the rest?” According to Matthew Grant, Aristotle’s goal was to focus on the main character to appeal to an audience but when it comes to marketers they like to focus on the main character, along with the tools it takes to attract an audience to the main character. An example of ethos in an Instagram post would be the Cleveland Cavaliers “For the Love, For the Land” campaign which promotes inclusivity amongst ethnicity and gender equality. As you can see in the Instagram post, the Cleveland Cavaliers are represented through their logo highlighted in the center of the post which builds credibility from the first glance. Since the marketers for the Cavaliers know their audience is more than likely going to be Cleveland fans, they know that having the logo in the center of the post would establish credibility amongst the audience. With rhetoric being the art of observing and persuading, I think Instagram has created an environment where any particular audience can be geared towards a difference of opinion and understand the different niche markets. Although Instagram may make it difficult to persuade an audience through a vague post, it still gives marketers the chance to attempt their audience to change their point of view.
Pathos is proposed through Instagram posts by appealing to the audience’s emotions and feelings. As consumers, we communicate with emotion through likes, comments, direct messages, and shares which is how consumers engage with businesses now (Kucher, 2019). Companies no longer need tons of views from a commercial, or sections in a newspaper spread to reach their audience. All it takes is one good Instagram story, post, or reel to get consumers to interact with a product. The “For the Love For the Land’’ campaign, attracts the emotions of the audience by showing support for the LGBTQ+ and minority group communities. The slogan attracts the audience through using a strong slogan that attracts people’s emotions. By saying “For the Love For the Land” it welcomes the intended audience and can even change the view of other audiences. As seen in the mural on the side of the building outside of the Rocket Mortgage Field House, the mural has multiple hands displayed touching the same basketball. All of these hands show different skin tones, genders, and ages which appeals to those who relate to those components of the campaign, while also appealing to others. This relates to rhetoric because just by observing this mural you can visibly see the audience the marketers are trying to attract, however, the slogan of it attracts a different audience as well. By having a keyword like “love” in there, it allows people to see this campaign as a way to accept everyone no matter the color of their skin, their sexual orientation, and so on. Although it is simple and to the point, I don’t think rhetoric is overlooked here when using pathos to appeal to an audience. A simple campaign like this can persuade an audience to be more accepting without having a full explanation. Logos are proposed through Instagram posts by using logic and reason when approaching an audience. There is a ton of research that goes behind knowing how to engage with a page’s niche market. This includes looking through the data analytics on an Instagram page, it shows the content creators the best times to post, the largest audience, and so much more that allows marketers to produce valuable posts to sway the viewers opinion.
Overall, Instagram uses ethos, pathos, and logos to create credibility, gain trust, and give reasoning. Therefore, using social media as a digital tool is a great way to reconsider how older models of rhetoric are used in the modern day. Although, traditional models of rhetoric may not be right in front of an audience’s face it definitely is portrayed through social media posts, especially on Instagram. Marketers have to be more strategic with how they are building credibility through a post in order to gain trust of the viewers because this will help them create a business to consumer relationship. Along with that, appealing to the audiences feelings will secure the emotional connection between the marketer’s creation and the consumer’s decision making process when viewing what is being put out for them. Lastly, being logical through posts is incredibly important when trying to persuade an audience. People want to see why they should change their opinion and they want proof to back that up. Rhetoric may not be as traditional as it used to be, but the modern way of using rhetoric has allowed people to interpret marketing campaigns differently. From original print media to social media, all things change and this is a great way for society to transition into a new and improved way of looking at rhetoric.