Revised Storify

Please see my updated Storify and feel free to leave your feedback and comments. It has been a pleasure getting to know all of you better and working with you throughout this course. Thanks for all of your help! 



http://storify.com/nvalerioIMC/social-media-using-it-strategically?utm_content=storify-pingback&utm_source=t.co&utm_campaign=&awesm=sfy.co_gdPm&utm_medium=sfy.co-twitter

Social Media: Using it Strategically - A Rough Draft of My Storify

Social Media: Using it Strategically

This is a review of how I've learned and used social media media platforms as beneficial tools in Integrated Marketing Communications. By Nicole Valerio


*Please see my Storify Post with correct images, for some reason I could not get them to transfer over with my blog post. Any help you can offer me on this would be fantastic!

BACKGROUND:
In completing my Master's Degree in Integrated Marketing Communcations at Marist College, one of the most interesting courses thus far has been Social Media Strategies and Tactics. Throughout this course we learned how to create a Blog, manage a Twitter accounts, "pin" on Pinterest, and had the opportunity to participate in an interactive Facebook Group. I will be sharing my overall learnings and experiences from this course in this Storify paper. Posted below is a link to my blog, which will be referenced throughout this Storify.

Social Media Strategies & Tactics

This blog was created as a learning tool for interaction between students studying Social Media Strategies and Tactics as part of the Marist College IMC program. All comments, feedback, and constructive criticism are welcome and discussion is encouraged. I retain the right to remove offensive content if necessary. Ie.

Nicole Valerio

INTRODUCTION:Being somewhat familiar with social media for personal use prior to this class, I was excited to learn more about how to use social media as a professional tool that can benefit one's own career, business, and/or organization. I am about halfway through the IMC program at Marist and have really enjoyed the program so far. I received my Bachelor's Degree at Marist and thought completing my Master's Degree online through my alma mater. Throughout my experience professionally, social media has been present and I found that it has become not only important, but essential to know how to use tools such as Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn in a manner that comes across as professional and informative.

PLANS & POLICIES

David Meerman Scott stated that blog have a become a popular way to create content "because the technology is such an easy and efficient way to get personal (or organizational) viewpoints out into the market." (Scott, 2013) I found that creating a blog was not all that difficult, and it was an effective way to communicate topics and start discussions with my fellow classmates in Marist Com610. My Site Policies can be viewed by clicking here.

"Comments from readers offering different viewpoints from the original post are actually a good thing on a blog, because they add credibility to your viewpoint by showing two sides of an issue and by highlighting that your readership is passionate enough to want to contribute to a debate on your blog." (Scott, 2013) My plan was to share my blog posts each week using Twitter and Pinterest as promotional tools to attract users and encourage interaction on my blog posts. When posting my blogs, I tagged key words such as "social media," "twitter," "marketing," "Marist," etc. to help promote search. Below is an example of how I used Twitter to promote my posts. I always made sure to hashtag the topics we were discussing, along with our course hashtag "#marist610" to make it easy for students to locate.
 

ACTIVITIES
At the start of each week, I made sure to post my blogs by the Wednesday deadline to enable students to start their comments and discussions by mid week. I made sure to follow up with each student who commented on my blog, offering answers, new topics, and personal insight to whatever they contributed to the discussion.

In order to keep my blog posts interesting, I took Eric Qualman's advice and included photos and video links. Qualman quite simply put that "photos can drive a tremendous amount of traffic by people looking for images via search engines. Also, they make the article more enjoyable for your readers." (Qualman, 2013)

I also used  Qualman's advice and added my posts to Pinterest with the image I used to generate traffic to my blogs. "If you have a particularly great image you've posted, make sure that you post and pin the image on places like Pinterest." (Qualman, 2013) Below is an example of one of my 'Pins' on February 25th.

Pin by Nicole Valerio on My Social Media Class Board | Pinterest

ANALYSIS
In order to analyze how successful my blog was throughout the course, I measured it by how many page views and comments I received each week. Although one of my goals was to increase comments, I maintained a steady average of 17-18 views each week. My post in Week 6, received 74 page views and 17 comments, in comparison to my post from Week 5 which received 61 page views and 18 comments, and then lastly in comparison to my post from Week 4, which received 69 views and 19 comments. I was satisfied to have increased my page views in Week 6 to the highest I've seen.
Below is a recap of the views and comments I received. (Actually, if someone could help explain to me how I can correctly display these statistics from Blogger, that would be really helpful. I'd like to transfer the visuals over to Storify so everyone can actually see them on here rather than having to click an outside link.)

Below is another example of how my page views increased, each time I participated in another classmate's discussion, or used a promotional tool.

CONCLUSION

"Blogs are free like a puppy, not free like a beer. In order for them to grow strong and healthy, they require time and care." (Qualman, 2013) To make sure your blog successfully runs, you have to keep up with it. I learned that comments should not be left unanswered for more than one day, otherwise users will lose interest on the topic and could even forget that they were interested in what you were writing about. It's important to interact with those who are commenting on your blog. As I quoted Scott above, comments from other readers "add credibility to your viewpoint by showing tow sides of an issue and by highlighting that your reader is passionate enough to want to contribute to your blog." (Scott, 2013) Make sure to keep your users and followers engaged by using social media to promote yourself and draw the reader in. Supportive content, such as video links and interesting images help to keep the blog more appealing.

Not only did I learn how to successfully maintain a professional blog, twitter, and pinterest account, I learned that its important to manage these accounts with responsibly and security. “When you’re doing stuff online, you should behave as if you’re doing it in public — because increasingly, it is.” (Lohr, 2010)
Also, by integrating your social media accounts together, you reach a wider audience than if you only relied on one social media platform.
  

WORKS CITED

1. Lohr, S. (2010, March 16). How Privacy Vanishes Online. Retrieved February 26, 2014, from The New York Times website:  http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/17/technology/17privacy.html?_r=1&
   
   Qualman, E. (2013). Socialnomics: How social media transforms the way we live and do business, 2nd edition. Hoboken, N.J: John Wiley & Sons.
   
   Scott, D. (2013). The new rules of marketing & PR:How to use social media, online video, mobile applications, blogs, news releases & viral marketing to reach buyers directly (4th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Secure Your Privacy On Social Media

Secure Your Privacy On Social Media

This week’s theme on social media privacy especially hits home for me because I learned about how to secure the information I share online the hard way. While I was a sophomore at Marist College, my roommate and I decided to take a weekend trip to Boston. Both extremely excited about our trip, and my first time visiting Boston, we didn’t hesitate sharing photos and status updates on our Facebook pages about being away all weekend.  Wouldn’t you know, the Sunday night we returned, our room had been burglarized and all our jewelry, Dvds, and loose change was stolen. Thankfully, they left our laptops, but I felt completed violated and the first thing I thought of was how I told everyone on Facebook I went to Boston. 

Boston, MA

            I learned a valuable lesson about social media that weekend, and since then I’ve been pretty restrictive about what I post, and who I’m posting to. Here are some tips and valuable tools when it comes to using social media:

1.     Secure your Friends

• Ask yourself, do I really have 400+ friends? Do all of these people NEED to know my profile information? If not, get rid of them.
• Make sure the people you accept as friends, and the people you allow to “follow” you are real and relevant.
• If you don’t know who some of your 400+ Facebook friends are, it may be wise to go through and de-friend some of them. The same goes for other social media accounts. If you don’t know who these people are, they why should they know personal information about you? 

2.     How are you going to be using this tool?

•  Once you develop a social media account, decide how you’re going to be utilizing it to your advantage. Find a balance and/or difference between personal use, and professional use.
• “Facebook is nonetheless the most significant one to higher education because of its original focus on the college/university market.” (Mitrano, 2006) That being said, use it wisely.
•  Many tools are being used to network professionally, so it is important that any information you share publicly, is information you really think the public should see.
• Sites like LinkedIn and even Twitter can be used to get a job if you use them correctly.

3.     Site Policy

• Read and educate yourself on the site policy for each social media tool
• Make sure you know how much information your account has on you and what they’re doing with it.
• “In social networks, people can increase their defenses against identification by adopting tight privacy controls on information in personal profiles.” (Lohr, 2010)

4.     Know what you’re posting

• While you might want to let everyone know you’re going on a fabulous vacation, tell them when you get back.  The only people that should know are the people you don’t need to speak to using social media. The last thing you want to do is risk the information of your absence being in the wrong hands.
• Don’t put your birthday, email, and phone number out there for all to see. If people need this information, they can ask you. This information is useful to thieves and hackers.
• “When you’re doing stuff online, you should behave as if you’re doing it in public — because increasingly, it is.” (Lohr, 2010)

      Speaking from personal experience, it is very important that each user of social media take into consideration how much information they really want to be revealing to their so-called "friends" on Facebook, and "followers" on Twitter. It is very important that users take advantage of the security settings on social media accounts and utilize them to the fullest. Below is a video that helps to capture the themes for this week:

Social Media Privacy

Lohr, S. (2010, March 16). How Privacy Vanishes Online. Retrieved February 26, 2014, from The New York Times website: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/17/technology/17privacy.html?_r=1&

Mitrano, T. (2006, January 1). A Wider World: Youth, Privacy, and Social Networking Technologies. Retrieved February 26, 2014, from Educause website: http://www.educause.edu/ero/article/ wider-world-youth-privacy-and-social-networking-technologies 

Sandawala, J. (2011, October 24). Social Media Privacy. Retrieved from You Tube website:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9pFMSKPXSk

What is Social Commerce?

"Consumers are taking ownership of brands, and their referral power is priceless." 

- Erik Qualman 

     I chose to discuss a chapter by Erik Qualman this week, because I find his work to be particularly enjoyable to read and on point with current events. Qualman's Chapter, "I Care More about What My Neighbor Thinks Than What Google Thinks" addresses many different ways that consumers today use social media to make purchases. Whether it be buying something online, or doing research for making a purchase, such as a car, consumers rely on the internet. To be more specific, Qualman talks about how consumers rely on each other on the internet. (Qualman, 2013)

     

     I'd like to restate the point I believe is the most important from this chapter, "consumers are taking ownership of brands, and their referral power is priceless." (Qualman, 2013) This statement is supported through several scenarios given by Qualman in Chapter 5. Here are two I felt were important to discuss:

1. "The main threat to Google inthe search wars is social search (seeing what one's peers and friends think about products, services, movies, etc.) More and more, products and services will find us via our peer networks." (Qualman, 2013)

         - Qualman discusses a scenario where Steven and his wife decide to buy a new family car. Rather than use Google to find out more information on buying a car, Steven decides to use social search. When typing in "buying a car" on his favorite social network, Steven's results yield information about his friends. He sees through search that 9 people have purchased the vehicle he's interested in so he clicks to learn more. Because he "respects the opinions of the nine people who purchased the same vehicle," he reads on and trusts their opinions. (Qualman, 2013) These people aren't trying to advertise or sell to him. They're simply sharing their own information about the product. "Today, over 90 percent rely on what peers say, while 14 percent rely on advertising." (Qualman, 2013)

2. Companies use Social Media as a marketing tool to gain information about their consumers. Because more users see what their friends and family members are doing on Facebook, they're more inclined to trust an Application through Facebook.

           - TripAdvisor copied the idea of the Facebook Application "Where I've Been" and turned it into their own "Cities I've Visted." This gave TripAdivsor the ability to access data and information for public relation efforts. For example, "If TripAdvisor sees in October that 80 percent of males 60 to 65 are putting Machu Picchu as a place they desire to visit when historically only 20 percent have been selecting that destination, then it would make intuitive sense to change the TripAdvisor home page to have a callout for a Machu Picchu Seniors special." (Qualman, 2013)

     To conclude, it is impossible to avoid using social media as tool, whether you are a consumer or a business owner. Social media has made a huge impact on the way business and marketing is conducted today. Consumers now trust more what their friends are talking about on social media, than what a business is trying to advertise and market them.

Fun Term Learned from Chapter 5

"Jumped Shark: recognized in the Internet community as the moment that something goes past its prime." ie. "Most MP3 players had a 'jumpt the shark' moment when the iPod was first released." (Qualman, 2013)

Works Cited

        Qualman, E. (2013). Socialnomics (2nd ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. 

Communication: An Essential Part of Organizational Strategy

Hi everyone! Please read and comment on my response below to our Week 3 Discussion for COMI610.

Please respond to Argenti, Howell, and Beck's (2005) characterization of communication as part of an organization's overall strategy. Do you agree or disagree? Please explain.

    I agree with Argenti, Howell, and Beck’s characterization of communication as an essential part of any organization’s overall strategy because of their use of excellent supporting details and scenarios that stemmed from their research. Throughout the reading, the experience of several companies that relied on strong communication in order to continue growing as successful businesses without jeopardizing their reputations and relationships with their employees and consumers.

Also, how does this characterization apply to marketing, advertising, and other elements of IMC -- and even social media?

    I think that this can best be answered using a quote directly from the text, that "the need for a consistent communications strategy becomes even more critical because it must communicate to a diverse and rapidly expanding array of constituents while remaining relevant to all." (Argenti, 2005) A company must learn to grow with its consumers, and by doing so they must adapt and communicate through the networks and channels that their consumers are using.

How can social media play a role in an organization's overall strategy?
 
    Social media has the potential to play a vital role in an organization's overall communication strategy. By utilizing social media, the organization has the ability to reach consumers through communication channels other than the traditional advertising, marketing, and media channels that have been used throughout the years. Social media enables organizations to reach groups of consumers across the world.

And how can we "align" each of IMC's elements and many social media channels to "enhance [our company's] strategic positioning"?
 
    I think that one of the most important lessons from the text is that "[We integrate] because we’re concerned with maintaining the integrity of the brand. The brand means different things to different people, and we don’t want counterproductive moves or multiple divisions pitching to the same media.” (Argenti, 2005) As long as the company stays focused on its strategic positioning throughout each channel of communication, including social media, the best way to align each of the elements is to make sure they communicate the same message across all boards.

Works Cited

Argenti, P. A., Howell, R. A., & Beck, K. A. (n.d.). The Strategic Communication Imperative.
      In MIT Sloan Management Review. (Reprinted from MIT Sloan Management Review, 46(3),     2005)

Hi Everyone,

       I'm reposting this as my new blog page because I was having issues accessing my other one. I hope you all can find me now! I'm excited about doing my first blog as a part of our Social Media Studies course in the Integrated Marketing Communications Program at Marist College. Though I'm familiar with Twitter, Pinterest, and Facebook, blogging was not one of my specialties prior to taking this course so please bare with me! I look forward to getting to know everyone in this course and plan on taking away as much useful information that I can!

-Nicole