The analysis of the social media advertisements in Turkey and the photographs used in these advertisements in terms of graphic design

Advertisement is a communication activity which helps the brand image to be reinforced or the brand's products and services to be purchased. The competition conditions in the market are becoming tougher day by day and the brands are taking more advantage of advertisements in order to influence their target markets and to draw away their competitors. The fact that the use of internet and smartphones became more common after the introduction of Web 2.0 into our lives, had a great influence on advertising practices and started to transform these practices. Digital media and social media as one of its aspects, gained a place in our lives and became an integral part of daily life. The social media advertisements are interactive, cost effective, easy to target and scalable, quickly publishable and editable during publishing, which make them a great opportunity for brands. The investments in social media advertisements have been increasing every day in Turkey, and the users are exposed to many social media advertisements published by hundreds of big and small scaled businesses on these platforms, like a cannon fire. These advertisements are different from the ones published on the traditional media, and they contributed to the media industry with new terms. The aim of this study is to understand the nature of Facebook and Instagram, to analyse the ads that appear on these platforms in the context of graphical design, and finally to observe how to choose and use images for these ads and to place them. Social media platforms other than Facebook and Instagram, where Turkish Airlines, Pegasus Airlines and Anadolu Jet post ads, are out of scope as this study only reviews the sponsored and organic posts of those brands. It is also targeted to look through the books, articles and dissertations that are related to this subject, and to analyse the graphical design products by characterising them in terms of colour, typography, page layout and visual elements. In this study, the first chapter is looking into the advertisement and advertising on digital media, whereas the second chapter provides deeper information on the social media and the social media platforms Facebook and Instagram, includes research about these platforms, and outlines the advertisement models and technical specifications of the advertisements published on these platforms. In the last chapter; relatively more stylistic issues have been discussed, the linguistic and visual components of Facebook and Instagram advertisements were categorised, Facebook and Instagram advertisements and the photographs used in these advertisements were analysed in terms of their compliance with the graphic design principles sampling the advertisements of Turkish Airlines, Pegasus Airlines, and Anadolu Jet brands. Some intellectual and stylistic recommendations of Facebook and Instagram regarding the photographs that are to be used in the advertisements were obtained, and the things that should be done so that the advertisements could attract more attention and create the desired behavioural change on the target market have been addressed. As a result of the analyses conducted in this study, it was identified that interesting photographs, layouts, colours, and typography should be used in order to quickly attract the viewer's attention in these advertisements which are frequently viewed on mobile devices. It was detected that those three airline companies, whose Facebook and Instagram advertisements were analysed, conduct different advertising strategies, and their advertisements differ in terms of the format, conveyed message, and its contribution to the brand image.