Holly Bardowski @bardowskiholly-blog - Tumblr Blog

Reflection

I’ve always had an interest in social media. I think it’s a great way for companies to get to know their customers on a personal basis. However, I never knew how much time and effort went into having a successful social organization. I thought that it was much simpler than it actually is. I never knew that companies put a lot of time into developing a social media strategy or even creating content calendars. Now I know that it is a big undertaking and takes a lot of collaboration between members of the organization.

I had limited understanding of what Big Data was before this class because it’s a topic that is discussed in at least one of my classes per semester. In my classes, they focus on the benefits of using Big Data. This is because I’m a marketing major and marketers use Big Data as an easy-to-access, and cheap, form of information. I never knew how much data was actually involved with Big Data and how easy it is to access it. Although Big Data can be harmful if it’s in the wrong hands, I still believe it has a lot of benefits for companies as well as customers.

Overall, I enjoyed this class. I thought the client project was a good way to get experience auditing content and learning the strengths and weaknesses of a company with respect to social media. After this class, I believe that a future career in social media would be something right up my ally. I think it’s fun to come up with ideas and strategize the best way to reach the customers and to build a successful social organization.

Principles of Effective Content Development and Sharing

It is incredibly important for a new social organization to follow the principles of effective content development and sharing. These principle are there to help organizations be successful through an online community. Ignoring these principles could lead to irrelevant content that viewers do not enjoy. This is dangerous because if viewers do not like the content, they are not going to follow those organizations. These principles include

Organizations need to put in a strategy that will help them develop content that is relevant and engaging. This also helps individuals in that company stay organized. With a content strategy, employees can develop a plan on who to target and how they’re going to target them. This also allows for a content calendar to be created. The content calendar, when used effectively, is like a content bank that can be managed and accessed by team members who are involved. This keeps all the information organized and allows for people to see when will be posted and where to avoid duplication.

These principles also ensure that the correct type of content is used on each social media platform. Each platform is designed for different forms of content. Facebook and Instagram are two platforms that would be best for visual content. Instagram would be the preferred platform if the company wanted to use a hashtag because hashtags are not common on Facebook. Hashtags can also be utilized on Twitter. If a company has a Pinterest, they should focus on making posts with good pictures that can be pinned easily.

Developing and Sharing Effective Content

To be successful through social media marketing, a company needs to develop and share effective content. To do this, they must create a content strategy. This content strategy will help the organization determine who they will be targeting through their content which will help determine what type of content to post. Organizations should also be aware of how different social media platforms have different content requirements.

Developing a target market is crucial for a company to be successful with marketing their products as well as what content they should post. With the right analysis, posts can be targeted towards the right type of person. This will lead to higher engagement as well as viewer satisfaction. Followers will be more likely to stay following the company if they post relevant content. One company that does a great job posting content relevant to their target market is Wendy’s. What they recently have begun doing is responding to customer’s tweets. They take a fun-sassy approach to people and it’s bringing in a lot of new engagement to their Twitter account. Below are examples of some of Wendy’s interactions with people on Twitter.

Organizations need to make sure they prepare their content in advance. This will help them make sure that the content is appropriate for that medium as well as fit the requirements. For example, Twitter should have rich media and relevant hashtags. Facebook posts don’t utilize hashtags as much as Twitter but Facebook can be utilized when using visual content.

It is important for companies to keep up to date on the type of content they are posting. It is possible for target markets to change so companies need to stay on top of that. If there is a shift in the target market then the company need to shift the content they post. Companies also need to post content that matches the requirements of the social media medium they are using.

LMC in an Online Community

There are a lot of steps involved with growing an online community. Growing an online community through brand advocates, engaged customers, and interested prospects can lead to success for your business. A big focus of online communities is to bring like-minded individuals together because this can lead to a bond with people in the community.

A good way to begin to grow your community is by finding ways to engage your offline community online. You can also go on social feeds of businesses similar to yours to find potential brand advocates. A company should continuously engage in the community to keep it growing and successful. Companies should be honest with their engagements and bring them private when that is most appropriate.

Companies can build strong communities through influencers and advocates because they can expand the reach of your company and help grow the community. However, companies should not just informally tag potential influencers in posts. They should build a relationship so that the influencer has a positive opinion of the brand. Along with influencers, brand ambassadors can be utilized. For brand ambassadors to work, you must provide them with as much value as they provide you.

The client I am working with for this project is Logistics Management Council (LMC). LMC is an honors logistics student organization on campus that has 21 members. LMC does not have a social media presence. The online community that LMC has is with current members as well as alumni members. Some of these principles do apply to LMC because it is an online community with like-minded people. This is an online community as well as an offline community because there are meetings every week. However, LMC does not reach out to potential future members or the community is any way. Most people do not know what LMC is. I believe that LMC could develop an online community, outside of members. They can inform the community about what LMC does so that more students know of the opportunities that come with it.

Online Community Building

It has become apparent is that companies are realizing the benefits they’ll receive by involving communities on a deeper level. To do this, companies need to develop a vision statement. A vision statement shows the community that a company values them and finds them important as well as identifies areas that the firm can utilize collaboration to add value to the organization. The opening of the chapter discusses how NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center was facing the possibility of becoming privatized. Through brainstorming sessions, they realized they would benefit from social media because it could help increase awareness of NASA and how it provides value to the world.

Community collaboration is typically better with large groups of people. These people are able to act individually and contribute information. All of this information is connected into a bigger picture and can lead to heightened performance. Community collaboration is not ideal when dealing with deep analysis. This is because this information is typically handled by experts. It is also not always useful when the information is sensitive. To overcome situations that aren’t as suitable for community collaboration, process or function controls can be put into place. The book discusses how Wikipedia was having issues with people posting inaccurate information onto the websites. To counteract this, they put rules into place to ensure that only appropriate articles were being posted. Below is a link to a page discussion the online community contributors to Wikipedia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_community

Another thing companies should be aware of are the six models of attitudes towards social media. This includes: folly, fearful, flippant, formulating, forging, and fusing. Companies should aim to have a formulating or forging attitude towards social media. Both believe that social media can play an important role and that it can be used strategically as well as integrate it into their daily work lives. Fusing is also a good attitude because it places a high importance on using community collaboration in their work; however, it’s rare. Below is a link that better summarizes the Six F Model of Attitudes Towards Social Media

https://hbr.org/2011/10/the-six-attitudes-leaders-take

Companies interested in building their online community should develop a community collaboration strategy. This strategy will define who will be in the community, how the company will support them, the desired behaviors they will exhibit, and the benefits that will come from them. A strategy will always begin with a purpose; it provides the knowledge to help companies choose their strategies wisely. You want your purpose to draw people in (magnetic), be aligned with your business goals (business aligned), have a low risk (low community risk), something that allows you to easily measure success (measurable), and something that your community can build on (facilitates evolution).

There are some companies that are doing well with developing online communities. Hudl is a website that connects coaches and players outside of practice. They’re able to share videos, look at data, and watch game plays. CrowdFlower is a company that breaks up their large data projects and distributes them to many distributors that help complete the work. Finally, GlobalGiving uses its community to raise money to help local communities. So far they have raised over $65 million in over 120 countries.

https://www.themuse.com/advice/10-companies-to-work-for-if-you-love-building-communities

Legal Side of Big Data

Throughout this course we have discussed Big Data. While Big Data can be beneficial for businesses, it also can lead to privacy risk. Businesses and consumers are both affected by Big Data. Big Data allows businesses the ability to learn more about the market and to save important company information. Consumers can utilize Big Data when they want information stored, for convince reasons, on websites.

Businesses are at risk of their information being stolen or tampered with. Companies need to be sure that all of their Big Data is protected and used appropriately. There were many scandals discussed in the video where millions of records were stolen from places such as Target, Neiman Marcus, and Home Depot. Companies should be aware of this and put in place higher security to protect that information. With the add of the chip to credit cards, this could be a way to protect Big Data from Hackers. Businesses also have to be aware of protecting their own technology since it is stored in Big Data. Other companies, or hackers, may want to steal this information to use themselves or sell for others to use. To do this, they could protect this information as a trade secret, create contracts that ensure confidentiality, and develop employee agreements.

Consumers are also affected by Big Data. Anytime someone logs onto the internet that information is being traced. Consumers need to be aware that companies have detailed information on them and that it could possibly get stolen. Consumers can take caution on websites and keep track of accounts to stay aware of their information and if it has been tampered with.

Big Data can sound like it is only negative but it does have positive aspects. Big Data is beneficial for companies to learn what the market wants and how to better service it. It also helps companies keep their own personal information on processes so they do not have to be continuously re-created. Consumers benefit from Big Data in terms of convenience on websites that remember them; this can include websites such as Facebook, Twitter, or online retailers. I believe the best way to balance the opportunities and threats with Big Data is for the government to make strict regulations on what companies are allowed to access. This way, they can get the information they need while allowing the consumer their right to privacy.

Jimmy John’s Social Media

We live in a day and age where the social media presence of a company helps shape our attitudes towards that company. One company that I believe has a great social media presence is Jimmy Johns.

One thing that Jimmy John’s does that I think adds to their social media presence is that they like to interact with potential customers/fans on Twitter. They reply to tweets and even quote tweet user’s tweets and add them to their profile. This shows that they actually care what their customers have to say about them and that they’re opinions will be heard. I’ve actually had Jimmy John’s quote tweet me before and it made me like the company better and kind of made me feel special.

Jimmy John’s also posts creative tweets. When they aren’t replying to fans, they’re posting fun pictures, gifs, and videos. This adds entertainment to their page. One reason I don’t typically follow companies is because I think their tweets are pretty boring. With Jimmy John’s, you never know what crazy or weird thing they’re going to tweet next. They also use their Twitter frequently and keep up with the latest trends. This way their tweets stay relevant and are more likely to get retweeted which spreads brand awareness.

Overall, I think Jimmy John’s has a great social media presence because they connect with fans and they post interesting content. I believe that their presence builds on their brand loyalty and creates a positive image of the company. Below are some examples of their content on Twitter.

Professional Social Media Presence

This class is a huge step for me to increase my professional social media presence. After this class I hope to keep up with this blog as well as my Twitter account. I also hope to be more active on posting on these websites outside of the blog post assignments.

So far, my largest professional social media presence is with LinkedIn. I think LinkedIn is a great website that allows for networking and finding jobs. While I was searching for internships and full time jobs I utilized LinkedIn every day because it has so many resources available. I hope to become more involved on LinkedIn. I plan to do this by joining groups and contributing to them. I think that is a great way to learn about what is going on in the business world as well as network and make connections.

Additionally, as I previously stated, I hope to continue to use this blog as well as my Twitter account. I think both are different ways to network than LinkedIn and could be beneficial for a younger audience. They also would show potential employers that I am keeping up with daily news and will be educated on what is going on in business.

Social Media Consulting

Consulting is not a new term for myself. I have spent a good portion of my time in classes learning about consulting and what it has to offer. Through LMC, Logistics Management Council, I have been able to emerge myself into real consulting for companies. I also am working on consulting with real companies in a lot of my classes this semester. That being said, I don’t have any experience with social media consulting. In all honesty, I did not know there was social media consulting. I just believed that companies hired employees who solely worked on social media.

As with all types of consulting, I believe being creative is a key quality for social media consultants to have. The lecture explained that many companies are not aware of all of the problems or opportunities that are out there. Due to this, consultants need to be able to analyze what is currently going on and come up with a creative way to fix it.

Social media consultants also need to be self-driven. They are hired in as a third-party to help a company fix their issues. They don’t have someone who is constantly holding their hand and telling them exactly what to do. Being self-driven and motivated will ensure that a project will get done in the right amount of time.

Social media consultants also have to be able to think on their feet, be responsible, and have a good temperament. The latter comes into play when you have different types of clients. Some clients are going to be a lot more appreciative than others and a consultant has to be able to react accordingly.

Finally, a social media consultant has to have knowledge in the field. I think it would be beneficial for them to have held a social media position before they move into a consultant role. This would mean that they had real world experience and can see the situation from their clients viewpoint.

The Internet with a Human Face

Both “The Internet’s Original Sin” and Maciej Ceglowski’s talk discuss how companies surveillance users posts and interactions on the internet. One of the main topics, or issues, that Ceglowski discussed was how the internet cannot forget information. While creating the internet, they wanted to ensure that the data would be there forever. I believe we all can somewhat relate to not wanting our information to go away. For example, while writing a paper or working on a project most people save it multiple times and make sure that there is a backup of it somewhere in case it somehow gets deleted. Due to this kind of worry, the internet was formed to never forget anything that’s ever posted.

Another reason all this information is gathered on the internet is because we want to continue to enhancing things. To do this, a lot of data has to be collected. Ceglowski showed a graph that discussed lawyers in North Carolina vs suicide rates. The point of this was to show with enough data we can find anything we want.

Originally, the web was created to be a sort of mess. A bunch of hyperlinks and hypertext that was random and wild so that nobody would have total control of it. Now, there is a center to the web. This has led to more surveillance and control of the internet. Now, people have the ability to spy on everything that we do on the internet. The video gave an example of an Illinois politician who saw someone tweet something negative so he subpoenaed Twitter and Comcast and got a warrant to check this individuals house and computer. I think this is completely stepping over the line. Freedom of speech is a given right to everyone in the US and I don’t believe we should have to worry about getting our possessions checked just because the government is looking over everything we post.

Investor Storytime was also discussed in both the article and the video. Basically, this tells people how rich they will be if ads are put on their website. The scary thing about this is it leads advertisers to come up with more intrusive ways to reach the audience. This means that there is more surveillance on what we search and post on the internet.

At the end of the video, Ceglowski started discussing regulations that should be put into place in respect to all this intrusive advertisements, etc. These regulations included: limited how long information can be kept, letting user opt out of a company that is acquired or bankrupt, the right to download their information, the right to delete their information, etc. I fully agree with all of the regulations. I think users should be allowed to see all the information that companies have access to and if they don’t like how private that information is, they should be allowed to delete it for good. I also think that this information should not be kept forever because it could be used in malicious ways if it’s leaked.

Overall, both the article and video were enlightening. I did not know about investor storytime advertising and how much the internet has changed since it was developed. I also did not know that everything you’ve ever posted or browsed is in some database forever. I think with the right regulations the internet will be a much better place for users.

Big Data and Information Privacy

As a marketing student, I’m used to hearing the term big data. The extent to which I have learned about it is just that it is just a lot of data that is easily accessible. I was never taught how big data was found besides hearing that it comes from existing databases. After watching the lecture and “The Data Brokers” I learned that big data impacts information privacy in a large way. This “existing data” is existing because it’s taken off profiles when people are unaware of it, through their browser history, and in other ways.

Big data is such a powerful tool because it is easily accessible for companies and it’s a much cheaper way to get information versus primary market research. The dangers of big data are that it could be seen as an infringement on people’s privacy. As discussed in “The Data Brokers” many people are not aware of the type of information that is getting taken from them by these companies. Before the video, I was aware of some of my information being tracked because ads on items you’re looking to purchase pop up on many additional websites that may have nothing to do which what you’re thinking about buying. I was shocked when I saw how many third party sites were tracking the movement on OkCupid. Another thing companies need to think about while getting this big data is how it will affect their customers’ perspectives on them if they found out how this information was retrieved. As the lecture video explained, people want to do business with companies that they can trust. Once they lose the trust of these customers they’re going to lose their business as well. As a customer, if I was informed that my personal information was being taken, such as medical information, sexual orientation, etc., I would not want to do business with that company anymore.

Although I am likely to get a job in marketing in the future and will use big data, I believe that the government should crack down on companies that misuse big data and infringe on people’s privacy. Some of the information collected I do not believe is a big issue. We are taught at a young age that everything posted on the internet will be there forever. However, I believe some information should not be accessible to companies to purchase. Companies should not know your medical history nor should they know extremely personal things about you. I also don’t think that your browser history should be accessible to companies to purchase. People may browse personal topics thinking that it will be kept private when in reality it’s being sold to companies to use to build a personal profile.

Social Media Experiment

For my experiment I went 24 hours without using any form of social media. This included Twitter, Snapchat, Facebook, and Instagram. As I previously discussed in my last blog post, it would have been ideal to give up my phone in general. However, it would have hindered me being able to contact group members to figure out meeting times and to discuss assignments.

The first thing I noticed was that my first instinct when I wake up is to check all of my social media. I do that before I even get up to brush my teeth. It made me realize that may be the reason why it’s so hard for me to get out of bed in the morning.

Not being able to check social media also made it easier to pay attention in class. Since I couldn't go on any of my apps I changed the notification settings on all of them so I wouldn’t get notified if someone liked something or snapped me. Seeing as I didn’t get those interruptions I was able to fully focus on the lectures I was in and not just think about opening up those apps when class was over.

It also gave me a reason to be more productive at home. I was able to workout, go tanning, and finish up a bunch of assignments in between my two classes. Usually, I don’t get much done in that time spread because I get distracted by what’s going on in other people’s lives on social media. I also tried to text less throughout the day which also aided in my productivity.

I think the hardest part of the day was at night when I didn’t have anything to get done. I usually spend the most time on social media in the morning and at night. I noticed myself getting extremely bored and antsy not being able to check those apps.

Overall, I learned that, yes, it is possible to go without social media. I found myself being more productive throughout my day. I also caught myself checking Twitter or Snapchat almost subconsciously. It seems that maybe I check all of my social media because I’ve used it for so long that it’s become a habit. After this experiment and watching the two videos I want to cut down on my cell phone usage so I can connect more with people in real-life not just through a screen.

Social Media Log

Snapchat:

160 snaps sent/received

Twitter:

1 hour and 30 minutes

Instagram:

35 minutes

Facebook:

25 minutes

Netflix:

5 hours

Total time spent in front of a screen (not including schoolwork)

7 hours and 30 minutes

Total texts sent/received:

Roughly 350

Logging my social media has been extremely eye-openinging. I always knew that I spent a lot of time on my phone but I never realized the extent to which I was constantly checking my phone.

Snapchat and Twitter are two social media apps that I know I use the most. I think Snapchat is really entertaining and just a fun way to communicate with some of my friends. With Twitter, my roommate and I like to send each other goofy videos to watch. I know thats the main reason I’m constantly checking Twitter. I also noticed I mindlessly scroll through Twitter when I’m bored not even paying attention to what i’m looking at.

Facebook I just solely for the purpose of finding times to meet with some of my RSO’s. I used Facebook more yesterday than I typically do because I had a few meetings I needed to get information on and to prepare for. Two of my RSO’s speak exclusively through private Facebook groups.

In terms of texting, I know I text a lot. I’m in 3 groups for classes right now so we are constantly texting to find times where we can all meet and to determine what we need to accomplish for the week. My family also has a group chat that goes on throughout the day that I don’t so much participate in but I still read the messages. I also have a roommate group chat where someone is always texting something in. Additionally, I have friends from other schools that I like to keep in contact with that I text daily.

Overall, I realized that I utilize my phone and laptop for many purposes other than calling, texting, and school work. Before I had a smartphone my phone was strictly used for calling and texting; I did not have internet capability. Now that I have internet there are endless possibilities of ways to use your cell phone. I also realized that I am somewhat addicted to my cell phone and that I always want to be in the loop and see what’s going on with my friends and in the world in general.

Louis C.K. and Sherry Turkle

Louis C.K. begins the conversation discussing how young children should not have cell phones. However, many parents will get their children cell phones because other kids have them. I agree with Louis C.K. that young children really should not have cell phones. I know of children who have cell phones before the age of 10 years old solely because other 10 year olds have cell phones.

Additionally, he believes that children need to learn how to be themselves. Along with that, we all need to learn how to be able to do nothing. What he means is that people know really don’t know how to do nothing. You can see this anywhere you go. For example, anywhere on campus you can see students waiting for class, surrounded by other students, looking at their phones.

Sherry Turkle also believes that cell phones hinder how we interact with other individuals. She states that technology promises us three things: to always be heard, to be wherever we want to be, and that we never have to be alone. She also explains that the third promise may be the most detrimental to us. This is because people don’t know how to be alone. We constantly have to be talking to someone or posting something or getting really any kind of interaction even if it’s from strangers.

This kind of thing happens even when people aren’t alone. In the Sherry Turkle interview they show a video of a group of friends that are all on their phone but one. The girl who is not on her phone tries to hold a conversation with each of her friends but is completely ignored. I think we can all think of a time that we have been with a group of friends and maybe we didn't bring our phone, or maybe our phone was dead, or we just didn't feel like looking at it, but our voice was ignored by the others. This happens a lot with some of my friends. They are constantly on their phones during conversations, some important, and will ask you to repeat yourself multiple times because what was going on on their phone was more important. I think this is interfering with real-life relationships. It seems as though people don’t know how to have friends that they can hold conversations face-to-face.

Both Sherry Turkle and Louis C.K. discuss how cell phones have made online bullying much easier. I would agree that this is true. As Louis C.K. explains, children are mean at first and then see how their words hurt others. However, if they say mean things to others online, they can’t see how the other child is affected; therefore, they don’t think what they’re doing is wrong. Sherry Turkle’s explanation is very similar. She believes that children can bully much easier online because there isn’t a face to the name.

I believe that cell phones have created a lot of innovation to our lives in many ways. I think there are many positive aspects of cell phones and of the internet in general. Cell phones allow us to say in contact with people, they allow for easier planning, you can find out about current news, etc. However, cell phones can also lead to disruptions in face-to-face conversations which could hurt relationships. They also allow for easier access to bullying. I think it would be beneficial for us to find a way to successfully balance our face-to-face interactions with our cell phones/internet interactions.

#cell phones #social media

How Social Media Can Make History - Clay Shirky

The TED Talk, How social media can make history by Clay Shirky was about how social media has changed and how it will continue to change. As a millennial, I don’t have a great memory of how the media was when I was younger. This TED Talk opened by eyes to how much it has changed. Before this new type of media, people were unable to communicate their views as easily as we can now nor were they able to communicate with one another.

The earthquake that happened in China brought to light how powerful social media can be. Instead of people following the news, they could follow Twitter to get the news in real-time. This happens all the time now. Just recently in the Fort Lauderdale incident, people were tweeting and posting about what was going on. Twitter was the way I found out something was even happening at the airport. Snapchat, although I think this crossed some sort of line, even posted a story of people who were involved in the incident. Social media platforms that used to just be about people connecting can now be almost as informative as the news. I think this is a great way to get the younger population educated on what is happening. However, it’s not always a positive thing because people believe everything they see on social media without doing their own research on the events or information.

The Obama campaign started a political social media revolution. No other presidential candidate went to social media to get their followers to group together. After this most current presidential election, it’s clear that political officials love using social media now. President Elect Trump uses Twitter to state his views more than most college students I know. I believe that this is somewhat positive because it allows the younger population to learn more about the people they may be voting for; however, as I previously stated, social media with news can be tricky. A lot of people like to bend the truth a little bit which can lead people to believe false news.

The ability for social media users to respond to businesses and each other is one of the most important aspects of this new social media. Twitter accounts such as Taco Bell use Twitter as a way to promote their brand. They also interact with many of their followers. Every once in a while they allow people to tweet suggestions of emojis which they then create and tweet back at their followers. This is a great way to create brand awareness as well as build loyalty.

Overall, the new social media platform has many positives as well as some negatives. It allows people to view news in real time but also leads to some misinformed news. It also helps individuals respond to companies as well as each other. Finally, it can help companies increase their brand awareness and loyalty.

About Me

Hi everyone my name is Holly Bardowski. I am currently a senior at CMU double majoring in marketing and logistics. I am a huge Chicago sports team because my family is from Chicago. I also like spending time outside and with my puppy, Remi.

This past summer I had an internship with Aldi as a District Manager. Through this internship I worked with store managers and associates as well as multiple District Managers to ensure that each store was running correctly. Additionally, I worked on an expenses project with two other interns where we looked at the expenses Aldi had and tried to find ways to minimize if possible. After graduation I will be working as a Materials Management Engineer at Gentex.

I’m really excited for this class and to learn more about social media in business. My dream job would be working the social media accounts for the Chicago Cubs. I hope that I utilize this blog after this class so I can grow professionally through social media.

#social media

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