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Archive for the ‘Class Blog Posts’ Category

I think what I’m taking away from this class is that in order to have a significant social media/blog presence in the ever expanding Internet, you need to be consistent with your content and be aware of new tools that you can use. I think one of main learning points of the class is that you have a better blog when you add new content on a consistent basis. Additionally, I’ve also learned the importance of using open source tools on my blog to generate and monitor traffic, as well as for content generation.

Social media is different from traditional media in the sense that traditional media relied on simply putting out a message and hoping that it will be accepted by the masses, while social media relies on brands asking customers or potential customers what the brand can do to maintain customer satisfaction. It basically means that social media is putting a larger focus on the consumer when it mainly focused on the brand with traditional media. Now, a brand wants to know from a customer or potential customer what that brand does right for the customer and what it needs to improve on. Social media is helping consumers to gain more power and as long as brands can interact on a strong level with consumers, they can harness that power.

However, this isn’t new in many ways. Companies have always asked customers about their business or brand and what they can improve. This could be found in suggestion boxes or the numbers that people could call with questions or comments. Social media has evolved this into something that is more communal and offers a direct connection to the company with a name and a face.

Organizations need to prepare for social media by refining some of their skills. Communication skills need to be kept in mind as communication with consumers is key to the social media experience. Learning from the stats and how many people are asking for something is another skill set that would benefit a company. However, the most important skill is to be flexible and have a keen eye for developing trends and how to take advantage of them.

I decided that there are two promotion activities that I wanted to do in order to increase traffic to my blog. The two things I decided to do are: developing QR codes to direct mobile traffic to my blog and submitting blog links on StumbleUpon and Digg.

QR Codes:
a) For this activity all I would need to do is go to a site that generates QR codes, such as Kaywa.   The site allows you to make QR codes for URLs, so I would just make one that contained the URL for my blog. After getting the QR code, I would paste the QR code into a document and make a flyer to post around campus. People with barcode scanners on their smartphones would be able to scan the QR code and upon scanning, would be directed to my site.

b) The reason for doing this would be to generate traffic from mobile devices. Additionally, it is a marketing technique that many companies use nowadays as well.

c) I hope it will generate interest in my site and will increase traffic to it from people that scan it.

d) I will measure how successful it is by examining how much mobile traffic I get on my Google Analytics page.

StumbleUpon:
a) For this activity, I would submit an article from my blog to StumbleUpon. After submitting, people using the site could find a link to my blog article.

b) My rationale for doing this is to diversify where traffic to my site is coming from.

c) I hope that people from different areas of the country and world will come to my site if they find it on StumbleUpon. As it stands, most of the traffic to my site comes from the Philadelphia area. Hopefully with this technique, more people in different areas can find my site.

d) I will measure how successful this is by examining my Google Analytics. Google Analytics tell you where your site is being referred from. With that said, Analytics will show my how many people are coming from StumbleUpon.

The first brand that I examined was Google. I visited Google’s website and found the ‘Press Center‘ section. On the left-hand side of the ‘Press Center’ page, they contain links to directories for the Facebook and Twitter accounts for Google and its products. They clearly have a presence on both sites, with accounts made for Google in general as well as accounts for their specific products, such as Google Chrome. From my research, the purpose for this is to have accounts where the specific product teams can interact with users.

The second company that I chose to examine was Yards Brewing Company. I chose to examine Yards because it is a much smaller company located in Philadelphia. I visited their website and noticed that they had icons at the bottom-right side of their website that linked to their Facebook and Twitter pages. The social media pages didn’t have as much ‘likes’ or followers, but they were still updated pretty frequently. For a local brewery, they had good social media presence.

My impressions:

Both of the companies are doing a great job of promoting themselves through social media. They are completely different companies in terms of size and reach, but they are doing well at promoting themselves to their audiences. They both update pretty frequently and they are clearly doing much to engage the fans of their products. In regards to what they are trying to achieve with social media promotion, I believe they are just trying to inform fans of new developments and products, while also informing fans of upcoming events related to the company. In short, they are looking to engage their fans with their brands on a consistent basis.

If I was in charge of a company’s social media initiative, I would measure success by how involved our fans are with the social media page. I wouldn’t measure success by the number of page ‘likes’ or followers, but rather by the number of people that ‘like’, comment, or re-tweet specific news posts. To me, that means that the company is doing a good job because it keeps the fans engaged beyond the initial ‘like’ or follow. Additionally, it proves that the audience has chosen to follow the specific pages because they want to kept up to date with the developments of the company.

One organization that I am proud to be a part of is the TECH Center crew here at Temple University. I have been working at the TECH Center for close to two years now and I’ve had a first-hand experience in seeing how it operates as an organization. From my experience there, I have come to the conclusion that the organization can best be described as a hybrid organization, consisting of elements from both centralized and decentralized organizations.

The TECH Center’s centralized elements come from the organization’s management. The TECH Center is managed by Temple University Computer Services. Computer Services is responsible for employing the managers of the TECH Center that hire and oversee the consultants such as myself. This shows a clear hierarchy with the executives of Computer Services on top, the lab managers of the TECH Center in the middle, and the student consultants at the bottom. All organizational rules are formed by the executives and are sent down throughout the department. These rules will then be enforced by the lab managers, who have to power to discipline or even fire students consultants that do not enforce the rules at the TECH Center.

The decentralized elements at the TECH Center are found with the  students consultants. There are no consultants with any special duties given to them and there are no “leaders” amongst the consultants. Everybody is on the same level and as such, we are expected to work together as a team to solve problems and enforce the rules of the general lab. Since everybody is on the same level, a consultant can not tell an0ther consultant what to do. Instead, it is recommended that we simply suggest things to our fellow consultants and to lead by example so that new members can learn the tricks of the trade from experienced consultants.

1.) In regards to Christine’s discussion on “fellow believers”, I do not think she means the same thing as ideology. The reason that I think this is because people can believe in somebody or something, but not share the same overarching ideology as others that believe in that specific thing. However, I do understand that many “fellow believers” will share the same ideology, but it is important to recognize that some people on an individual level will not always believe in the ideology of their peers. It is also important to understand that sometimes it is the collective action of individuals that drives a group, rather than the ideology that many in the group hold.

2.) Support makes the most sense to me out of all of the 3S approaches. The reason that I believe this is because support forces you to go beyond saying “Hey, I have a product and I want to sell it to you!” It means that companies and individuals must interact with believers on a personal level. This means answering questions that people ask or asking your believers questions on how you can make your interaction with them a better experience.

3.) I really enjoyed Christine’s article. The focus on “believers” rather than customers is a testament to the changing landscape brought on by social media. Businesses with a social media presence are aware that they have to be focused on aspects that are not necessarily involved with selling a product, but rather interacting with the people that believe in the company or product.

Social media, and Facebook in particular, have revolutionized journalism. That’s something that everybody is aware of nowadays. It’s the reason the newspaper industry is dying and it is the reason that most people turn to Twitter and Facebook to find out what’s happening in the world. I would go as far as to say that almost everybody with a Facebook account will use Facebook as a news source. Whether it is news within your social circle, your local community, or even on a broader scale, Facebook is the place to go to for news. With that being said, I think the notion of a Facebook-only news portal is viable, although it still needs time to develop. As mentioned earlier, most people get news and info from Facebook, so it makes a lot of sense to just have a Facebook-only news portal. The obvious advantage to a Facebook-only news portal is that it has massive reach, while giving people the ability to re-post news. However, the main disadvantage to a Facebook-only news portal is that it is exclusive to only Facebook. This means that anybody without a Facebook account will not know what’s going on in their world. Furthermore, a Facebook-only news portal is extremely disadvantageous to people that live in countries where Facebook is banned or censored.

If I created my own online news organization, I would just have my own website and social media accounts. I wouldn’t rely on one over the other, but would utilize both of them for the journalistic experience. To me, the social media sites and my websites would be seen as two halves to the whole, rather than separate entities.

I think social media gives people the best chance to understand what’s really happening in the world and gives them a great opportunity to get word out during a crisis. In an emergency situation, social media should act as a news aggregator, where many different sources or people can contribute what they see and know to the understanding of the current emergency. There are three different social media tools that would be ideal for emergency situations. Facebook would be good if something happened and you want to inform those within your social circle of the news. Twitter is similar to Facebook, but with Twitter trends, it gets the word out to more people, including local media outlets that follow Twitter trends to learn of news stories. Reddit would be an excellent tool to get the word out to people that aren’t in your social circle or even your area.

If I was in a emergency situation, I would utilize all three of the social media websites that I mentioned. Facebook would be good if I needed to inform my friends and family of the situation. Twitter would be good if I wanted to get details out that weren’t being covered in the local media. I would use Reddit if the situation was something that not many people outside of the local area knew about. This would be good to use if I needed advice or assistance as well as many Redditors are willing to help out during emergency situations, no matter how small or large.

In his article, Craig Donato discusses how people put a lot of value into the opinions of friends and peers while purchasing something. I must say that I completely agree with Craig, especially on how people approach local businesses nowadays. With social media, people are able to broadcast their opinions to their friends, which will influence how their peers buy things. Local businesses are starting to put much value in social media now that sites, such as Yelp, can help attract customers to their businesses.

In my own personal experience, I have always relied on other people to tell me about new things to buy and new stores to shop at. It allows me to learn about a product through a trusted source and a source that will have much influence over me. For instance, if I am in a new area and I am hungry, I will always ask friends that live around there for recommendations on where to eat. With social media, this process has been made even easier.

In my opinion, whether or not Facebook should be banned depends on the type of company and what kind of work that company does. I think that it is perfectly fine for companies that deal with very important things, such as money or health, to ban Facebook at their workplace. My reasoning behind that is that if an employee is expected to work at a company that deals with very important, and often private, information, they should not be allowed access to a site that unnecessarily consume their attention. In addition to that, if they are working with very private information, they should not be allowed to access a site that easily allows people to share information with others. It is because of this that I agree with Goldman-Sachs’ decision to deny Facebook access to its employees.

On the other hand, there are certain companies that have no need to ban Facebook. Certain industries, such as the media and entertainment industries, have realized how much social media actually benefits their work. For these industries, it is almost even necessary for them to hire an employee, and sometimes even entire teams, that focuses on the company’s social media presence. These types of industries truly benefit by having the direct connection to their fans that Facebook provides. It would not make sense at all for these companies to ban Facebook.

For me, what it boils down to is if you’re spending time on Facebook at work, you should not be working in a position that requires much responsibility. If you’re working in a position that would not be negatively impacted by Facebook usage, that’s fine. Moderation and self-control will always be the two factors that will really stop somebody from spending too much on Facebook at work. In response to the second question, I most likely would not work at a company that banned Facebook. For what I want to do for a career, I would not want to be in a position where Facebook usage could negatively impact others and their personal information. If anything, I would probably be working in a position that required me to do social media tasks at work.