Cassidy's Blog

[cassidyphilo-blog1]

Suicide in Social Media

For my final project, I decided to focus on Suicide and Mental Health issues in Social Media. My main goal was to see if the increase in social media has had any effect on suicide and mental health issues. Furthermore, I wanted to find out if those effects (if any) were positive or negative. Through examination of various articles, I found that Social Media does have an effect on Suicide and Mental Health issues. I found that there were pros and cons about Social Media in the discussion of Mental Health. This is what I found:

Pros: 

Social media, when used in the right way, can ultimately be a prevention mechanism for suicide victims.

Social media can be used to promote mental health to a large audience.

Online help centers where people can go to get help if they are suicidal.

Groups are being formed where people can find others who are going through the same struggles as them (such as LGBTQ groups).

Cons:

Social Media has played a big role in Suicide.

People only see the “good” happening in people's lives.

Cyber Bullying is a huge problem on social media now and is not being stopped.

People hide behind a keyboard now and say all the mean things they want.

Social Media Companies can only do so much to stop people from sending mean and hateful comments to each other.

Overall, I found a lot of deaths that were inspired through cyber bullying on social media. I did not find that many things were being done in order to prevent this, but I did find that people are taking social media platforms and turning them into a safe haven where people can turn to if they are ever feeling along or depressed. I think people have realized that nothing was getting done about the negative side to social media, so they began starting up “communities” where people can go to to find people they relate with. They have also began using social media as a way to prevent suicides in the future. 

When social media is used for good it is GREAT, but when it’s bad, it can be terrible. 

[cassidyphilo-blog1]

Nuts About Southwest

An airplane company blogging? How interesting could that possibly get? I know, I know...I asked the same question when I saw that Southwest Airlines had jumped into the blogosphere! Interestingly enough, they have one of the best airline blogs today and my personal favorite airline blog that I’ve seen so far! It’s not only entertaining, but it provides customers with a platform to go to for answers to any questions or concerns they may have. 

Southwest airlines have a lot of things going for their blog. The biggest and most important thing they are achieving in my opinion is building relationships. The Nuts About Southwest blog is precisely using that platform as a way to build relationships between the brand and their consumers. They use their blog to comment and interact with their customers, which they are very successful at doing.

Southwest also is successful at mixing up the media they use. Southwest doesn’t just use plane old text in their blogs. They make sure to incorporate videos, pictures, polls, articles, etc. which makes it that much more appealing and fun to read. By using articles, they incorporate a “news” section to their blog which makes their content more well rounded and interesting. By using polls, they are playing into the interacting role that every company should be doing. This is also a great way for them to get feedback.  

Another great thing they do on their blog is allow their consumers to make their own content. The way they do this is they allow their consumers to create an account on their website where they can then customize their own profile, and interact with fellow Southwest consumers. This was a very innovative thing for Southwest to do in my opinion because it gives consumers a way to connect with their brand on a deeper level.

One thing I adore about this blog is the title of it, “Nuts about Southwest”. Southwest is known (sometimes negatively) for the fact that it gives out peanuts   on the airplane. One things Southwest does is make light of the jokes about “peanuts being cheap” and the backlash they have got about it in the past. I love that they are incorporating that same humor on their blog! As far as the design of the blog goes, it honestly isn’t my favorite. But it definitely has an “airplane” feeling to it, if that makes sense. I normally appeal to blogs that are a little “trendier” looking with a minimalistic vibe. But I think they are one of the first of its kind to have a blog like this, so they are doing successful in that! What do you think about the look? Do you think they are meaning for it to be plane or do you think they could spruce it up a little? 

Check out their blog today! www.blogsouthwest.com

[cassidyphilo-blog1]

How To: Start a Blog (In 5 simple steps)

Over the past month, I have had to learn how to blog, what is successful, and what is unsuccessful, what works, and what doesn’t. Now, I don’t consider myself the best blogger, in fact I think I have a long way to go. But I personally feel that if I were to get a job that required me to blog, I would have a good idea of how to execute the task successfully. In my blog today, I wanted to share my tips on how to start a blog (beginner style)!

Step 1: Decide what you want to blog about. Try to keep your blog channel as consistent as possible. Make sure you have a target audience in mind, and you keep your blogging topics within that audience age. For example, if you are wanting to target college males, doing blogs about beauty tips wouldn’t be the best idea!

Step 2: Choose your blogging platform. This step is key, because you want to chose a platform that is easy for you to use and that readers will want to view. I enjoyed using Tumblr to start my blog up, because there are so many other things that you can use Tumblr for! Tumblr is also very user friendly and is easy to navigate. WordPress and Weebly are other popular and user friendly websites that allow you to create your own blogging platform. I also enjoy reading blogs on WordPress and Weebly because any one can comment on your blog!

Step 3: Design your blog by using a simple theme. In today’s society, minimalism is KEY! The generation who reads blogs the most, LOVE the minimalistic design approach, so using a simple theme in your blog design will boost your readers. People don’t want to o to a blog page that have a lot going on and are uneasy to navigate through; they want aesthetically pleasing content & SIMPLE. 

Step 4: Engage with your audience. Don’t just talk about yourself, use words like “we” and “us” to make your readers feel inclusive. Doing this is important because it makes people feel welcomed to your blogging channel and makes you more personable as a person. 

Step 5: Write Compelling Content & Be Original. The truth is, there are going to be other people out there who are blogging about the same thing you are. The difference about your blog is YOU. Put out original content that deciphers you from other people. Be honest and authentic because that is what will make people trust you. And most of all, write EPIC content. This can be stories about your life, personal experiences, reviews, “how to’s”, the world is YOURS and the opportunities are LIMITLESS!

I really hope you enjoyed today’s blog and can use these steps to start up your own blog, if you don’t have one already! See you guys next time! 

Check out these awesome blogging platforms and start your blog today:

https://wordpress.com

https://www.weebly.com/

[cassidyphilo-blog1]

Hootsuite for Beginners

Hootsuite is a social media management system that helps you keep track and manage all of your social network channels through one place. It allows you to schedule posts in advance, monitor what people are saying about your brand, and interact with consumers instantly. 

I’ve  been using Hootsuite for the past month now and I can honestly say it has taught me A LOT. In my opinion, Hootsuite is the best place for beginners to learn how to manage social media accounts. It takes a bunch of social networks and places them into one location in which you can do everything from! You can go onto your dashboard and literally look at all of your social networks at the same time and see how they’re doing, how simple is that?! 

I find that applications like Hootsuite can get a little overwhelming for people. When I first signed up for it, I to wasn’t exactly sure what to do or where to start. Through out the modules I watched, I got to learn how to navigate on Hootsuite along with new tips and tricks to try out! Here are some tips and suggestions for beginners to use when starting Hootsuite:

Get Organized! Add your different networks and their streams onto your dashboard so you can view them all at the same time. This will give you a central location to go to when posting, liking, commenting, etc. Here is a screenshot of what my dashboard looks like:

Post to your networks. Hootsuite allows you to compose messages in the most simplistic way. You can create a new post to send to one or all of your connected accounts. Scheduling posts to send out is also super easy; you just type the content you want to post, select the date and time, and click “schedule” and the post is ready to go! Do a couple trial runs off Hootsuite and make sure this is working. 

Add extra Apps & Extensions. While Hootsuite does directly support a lot of great social networks, it has its limitations. But with the “Apps” feature, it lets you connect networks such as Gmail, YouTube, Tumblr, etc. I added my Tumblr to Hootsuite and it lets me view all of my blogs which is very helpful when getting feedback!

Download the mobile app. Hootsuite has a super user friendly mobile app that is a great way to check on all of your accounts on the go. The mobile app gives you all of the same functions and uses you would get on a laptop, so it allows you to use it all the time wherever you go!

I hope you guys found these suggestions helpful! If you haven’t ever used Hootsuite but are interested, go to https://signup.hootsuite.com/ and start your free trial today!

[cassidyphilo-blog1]

My Reconciliation with Twitter

I don’t know about you, but Twitter for me has been a thing of the past for a while now. About 4 years ago, when i was still in high school, it was by far my #1 social media app that I used, and I was constantly using it and scrolling through my feed. When I got to college, I began not caring for it as much, which turned into me deleting my account forever. Fast forward 3 years and Web for Mass Communications has got be on it!

Before using it again, I didn’t even know how or why people used it anymore. I’ve now come to realize that over those 3 years that I was absent from the Twitter world, it has turned into one of the best and most used platforms for Social Media Marketing! Here are some strategies I developed over the past month of how to be successful on twitter, moving forward:

#1 Quality over Quantity. Obviously this doesn’t mean to limit the amount of tweets you make, but when deciding what to tweet about make sure you are choosing to tweet high-quality content that is helpful to your followers. Putting out content with no added value in it won’t attract many followers.  

#2 With that being said, Engage with your audience. Through out the past month, one thing I noticed immensely was how often successful brands interacted with their followers. Using polls and asking questions is a great way to do this, while also getting customer feedback at the same time!                   

#3 Use Visual Content. Using attention grabbing graphics, GIFs, and videos is a very important strategy to use on Twitter because it attracts more people. Statistics have shown that using visuals in your tweets attracts up to 5 times the amount of views as a tweet with text only. Visual content is what the up and coming generation appeal to, rather tan just plane old copy text. 

#4 Share relevant content from other brands pages. Sharing content that is relevant to your page is important because it shows how active you are on Twitter and also strengthen’s your credibility. Furthermore, tagging the content source will most likely increase shares, retweets, and favorites because it will attract that companies audience to your tweet. 

Overall, I feel that I have really gotten back into the swing of things with Twitter. I have seen the business side to it and think its a great platform for companies to use in their marketing. I’m grateful to have learned more about it now since I am close to being in the business/marketing world! What is your favorite thing to use Twitter for?

If you have any other tips on how to be successful on Twitter I’d love to hear them! I am always open to learning something new. Here are some tips I found useful on how to be successful on Twitter (for beginners)! https://sproutsocial.com/insights/twitter-tips/

[cassidyphilo-blog1]

Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook

This week I got to read the book Jab, Jab, Jab Right Hook: How to tell your story in a noisy world, which exemplifies how brands can cut through the clutter on social media with creative and powerful content! The chapters I got to assess in this book were chapter’s 7: Get Animated on Tumblr and 8: Opportunities in Emerging Networks. 

My biggest takeaway from chapter 7 was to Get Animated. Now, I know that those words are in the title of the chapter, but the idea to get animated really is what people need to focus in on, and Tumblr is the perfect place to do it! Something I loved about this chapter was how right they were in all the different aspects about Tumblr! I kept finding myself wanting to quote them on things they said. So, in honor of that, I thought I would share the top 3 quotes/key takeaways from this chapter:

1. “Animated GIFs are becoming a whole new cultural movement and vehicle for self-expression, and the best place to find them is on Tumblr” I found this quote to be so true because even as I am typing this I am going back and forth with my mom via text with different GIFs! GIFs are one of the purest forms for people to express themselves with. Rather than a picture with a story behind it, a GIF brings an incredibly new and entertaining way to tell a story. 

2. “Make use of content originally posted by a fan” This is especially for companies, because it is one of the best ways to interact with their consumers. In this context, if companies were to find a GIF on Tumblr about their company that a consumer made, they should repost it and use it on their page. This makes consumers feel that you are paying attention to them. 

3. “Produce the right eye candy for your audience, and they will find you” This is important to keep in mind when deciding what type of audience you are pertaining to because you want to make sure to have content that will appeal to them! The content on your Tumblr page needs to represent your brand and the target audience you have chosen, otherwise the whole mission will be lost. The book suggests that the best way to do this on Tumblr is the animated GIF, since it is the only (now, one of the only) places to use GIFs. The animated GIF definitely put Tumblr in its own playing ground. 

The biggest takeaway from this chapter is to USE GIFS ON TUMBLR. It is one of the best platforms to use this on. Which of these 3 quotes do you find most useful?

Chapter 8 was all about 4 social networks that companies needed to begin focusing on because they have potential opportunities for the future. This chapter was interesting for me to read because back in 2013 when this book was written, some of these social networks that they mentioned were not nearly as big as they were now. Here are the four social networks that were presented in this chapter, that Vaynerchuck believed were growing opportunities in the marketing world:

LinkedIn: 

Students and recent college graduates are the site’s fastest-growing demographic.

Mirrors everything that can be done on Facebook, in a more professional setting.

People coming to the site are hungry for information, looking for a job, and wanting to meet professionally like-minded people.

Google+:

It’s main page consists of a “stream” of updates, similar to those of Facebook and Twitter. 

Google Glass: Make to conceivable replace mobile devices. Will allow users to record every thing they see, and stream it live.

Won’t require markets to reinvent their content strategy, since it is so similar to Facebook.

Vine:

In a week following Vine’s launch, almost half of the videos posted on Twitter had originated from Vine. 

Many people appealed to Vine because of the time constriction of 6 seconds. 

Represented a great opportunity for the marketer with the right skill set. 

Snapchat: 

Made for a world that can’t stand one minute of boredom 

Knowing that content will disappear in seconds is incentive for consumers to make sure they don’t miss it

As of 2013, 60 million “snaps” were sent per day (It has since increased to 3.5 BILLION)

Which of these company predictions did you find to be the most true? 

Thanks for reading today’s book review! Hope to see you guys again here soon!

If you are interested in reading this book, you can find it on Amazon at: https://www.amazon.com/Jab-Right-Hook-Story-Social/dp/006227306X

If you are interested in learning more, you should check out this other awesome blog review of a couple more chapters by my friend, Rhett! https://therhettreivew.weebly.com

[mbanks0805]

Reflection on “Groundswell”

(Image: Promotional picture from Surf Canaries Surf School)

Throughout this week’s reading of Groundswell, I started to imagine the groundswell movement like an ocean. It’s organic and it moves when and how it pleases, granted, movement is influenced by environmental factors. It’s not a tamable beast…but, as all oceans, it has waves, and waves can be ridden by those courageous enough to try.

That’s how I visualize the groundswell movement. If businesses want to succeed, they have to be brave enough to ride the waves–and by that, I mean tap into the groundswell.

Before we started this book, I had no idea what the groundswell was. I participated as a member of it everyday and had no idea what I was doing; the brands I know and love reached out and tapped the groundswell in their various ways, and while I recognized a new way of doing business, I couldn’t put my finger on what exactly was happening. Having read over half of Groundswell, I see now what’s going on.

Having no idea what it was, I can’t rightly say my opinion of the groundswell has changed. I can say that I’ve learned about a topic completely new to me, and it has broadened my understanding of why many businesses now operate the way they do–and why some are failing.

So far, my favorite parts of the book are where the authors break down the methods of tapping into the groundswell. They expertly provide tips, advice, and support from case studies that can help companies understand how to harness the power of the groundswell.

Although there is a place for all methods, my favorite is listening. Chapter five is all about listening to the groundswell. As a consumer, I can’t express enough how much I value when companies reach out and listen to their customers; what are we, the customers saying? How is it affecting the brand? How can this information be used to improve the brand? Granted, this isn’t as direct as, say, embracing the groundswell. It’s direct enough for me for customer opinions to be heard and taken into consideration so that, hopefully, the product is improved.

What have been your biggest takeaways so far? What is your favorite method for tapping the groundswell as a consumer? What about as a businessman? Or, let’s get hypothetical: If you were to market a product, what would it be and how would you tap the groundswell?

Let me know in the comments, and please, add your own observations! Tell me what you think of the book so far.

Signing off for the evening!

-miyabanks0805

Follow me on Twitter! Check out my other Blogs! Talk to me!

[cassidyphilo-blog1]

Following what Sydney said, I thought your personal description of the groundswell movement being like an ocean was so unique and spot on at the same time. I wish the authors could hear that comparison! 

I also really enjoyed when the authors would break down the various methods they used to tap into the groundswell! 

Was there any method that you admired the most?? 

For me, I think listening is such a HUGE and important component to the groundswell. It is one of the most accurate forms of feed back that a company could get and one of the easiest ways for them to know how they can improve! I think one of the biggest problems that companies come in contact with is not listening to their consumers well enough. I think you need to take constructive criticism in order to grow and know what you are doing right and what needs to be done better, and listening is the best way to do that. I really enjoyed reading this and think that you had a pretty good grasp on what the book was even though you wrote this before we had even finished reading! @cassidy_philo

[cassidyphilo-blog1]

Brands who are SLAYING Social Media

I really appreciate brands that when I follow their accounts they make me want to use their products. So in honor of my appreciation, these are the top 10 brands who are, in my opinion, slaying the social media game!

1. Wendy’s- I think most people will agree with this one! Wendy’s Interacts with their consumers, specifically on twitter, while bringing attention to their feed by being entertaining. They are constantly roasting their followers. Their twitter headline is “We like our tweets the same way we like to make hamburgers, better than anyone expects from a fast food joint”. 

2. Oreo- Oreo’s social media pages are loved my post people because of how entertaining it is. They always come up with super relevant and entertaining posts that sell their brand at the same time. 

3. Netflix- Netflix is super interactive with their followers on various social media platforms such as Twitter and Instagram. They also make a lot of content that is relevant to their brand while also being entertaining and funny. 

4. Airbnb- They have an awesome Instagram page. The content they post captures the followers attention instantly and make them want to travel ASAP. It’s very #trendy and #inspirational!  

5. Dove- Dove’s social media presence is intended to inspire people, which I think they are very successful at. They have the ora about their pages where it makes people feel as they belong and are loved. They also do a lot of successful campaigns such as #speakbeautiful which was a campaign about loving each other and not being negative and judgmental. 

6. Bleacher Report- This is a sports account for all your sports needs. They not only keep you updated on everything you need to know about sports but they are super trendy and funny with the content they post. This is any sports person’s favorite account!

7. Dennys- I personally have never eaten at a Denny’s, but I follow a couple of their social media accounts because of how entertaining they are! Similar to Wendy’s, they do a lot of roasts back to people on Twitter. They also post a lot of popular Twitter memes that entertain their followers. One of my favorite types of posts they do are trick their viewers into repeatedly zooming in on their picture to read “hidden messages”. They are very entertaining. 

8. Adobe- Adobe, specifically their Instagram, has been very successful of interacting with their followers by publishing user generated content that has been made by using their app. This has made them more personable as a brand and can be used as a source of inspiration. 

9. Tasty- Rather than using a cooking book, Tasty is where many millennial get their recipes from. Tasty’s recipe videos get a lot of attention because they are quick, easy, and give you recipes at the click of a button! 

10. Starbucks- Starbucks’ social media accounts are very good at interacting with their followers as well as producing content that is informative and entertaining! They are always keeping up with the latest trends which I think adds to their success. 

What are some of your favorite brands on social media? 

[cassidyphilo-blog1]

Evolution of Twitter, 280 characters at a time

I am sure just about everyone and their mother know about the social media app called Twitter. When deciding how I wanted to set up this blog, I realized that just about anything I have to say about Twitter will most often than not be known already by anyone reading this. But Twitter is much more than an app that lets you tweet about your day, Twitter has revolutionized the way we market, the way we attain information, and the way we do. 

What is Twitter? Twitter is an online news and social networking site where people can communicate in short messages called tweets (Gil, Lifewire). Although this definition is absolutely correct, Twitter is a massive blend of instant messaging, blogging, and texting, but instead of long messages or blogs it includes brief content to a very broad audience.

Twitter was created in March of 2006, only 2 years after Facebook was born. Known back then as Twittr, it was used as an SMS aimed to help users keep in touch with their friends at all times. Here is what the original homepage looked like:  

Funny, right? Now lets take a look at a homepage from 2018, just to compare. 

The difference in years between those two screens is 12, just imagine how it will look in 10 more years! By 2010, about 4 years later, Twitter began revamping their website, starting with changing the default avatar to a picture of a bird. 

Twitter then went on to change the media, politics and business industry. Twitter is much more than just your friends telling you about how their day went. Today many people use twitter as the source from where they get their news from. In 2012, before President Barack Obama publicly affirmed his second presidential win, he tweeted a picture of him hugging his wife with the caption “Four more years.” I will post a screen shot of the picture here: 

President Obama was always known as one of the first presidents to use social media successfully through out his presidency, and I really think this was one of those moments where people realized that Twitter had become a platform to share news on.

Right around 2013 was when Twitter really began moving from social interaction between friends to a news source where corporations and general news media began tweeting their articles and news. I remember when I used twitter in high school it mainly a place where people would interact with each other and comment back on each other’s tweets. Now in 2018, the content that is put out on twitter has completely changed. Twitter has now transformed into a marketing tool, and has transformed the marketing world. 

In November of 2017, Twitter announced that they were changing the 140 character limit, and doubling that to 280. The change was very controversial, some agreed that it was a long road coming, and that the extra characters were a must, while others said that the extra characters would make it less pleasing to read a timeline since the posts would become longer.

What do you think of the new character limit? Do you find it useful in your posts? 

By 2018, Twitter is mainly used by marketers, politicians, and news organizations as a way to create content that appeals to their consumers. Companies have even figured out how they can begin using computer “bots” to post the content for them, so they remain relevant and consistent. Attached below is a graph from April of this year, illustrating that 66% of tweets made by popular websites are made by automated bots! Does this statistic shock anyone else? 

I hope you enjoyed this post as much as I enjoyed researching about it! I can’t wait to see what Twitter comes up with next. 

[cassidyphilo-blog1]

Groundswell Reaction Post

Groundswell is only the second book that I have read that revolves around technology and social media and the impact that they have on our world. 

With the advancements we have made in technology over just the past couple of years, I didn’t think that I could find information in this book that can still be used today. You wouldn’t image that this would be the case, because it isn’t most of the time. People normally don’t write books regarding technology for that exact reason; it is out dated by the time it hits stores. In Groundswells case, this book gives us insights and tips that have remained relevant from the time it was written until now. 

Before reading this I, (as well as many others I’d assume) had no idea what groundswell was. Now I understand that it is a social trend that people use in order to get things they need from each other, rather than traditional institutions. This concept has been going on before social media was even big. Here are a couple of examples of ways that people used the groundswell from before the social media era:

Craigslist: People used Craigslist to find things (like furniture items for example) rather than searching through newspaper ads. 

eBay: People used eBay to buy things from other people rather than buying them from a traditional store.

Although I am only through chapter 7 at the moment, my biggest take away thus far would have to be from chapter 4, where they outline the four-step process & questions that is used as the foundation of groundswell thinking, they call this POST. 

People. What are the people you want to engage with ready for? How will they engage?

Objectives. What are your girls? (Listening, Talking, Energizing, Supporting, or Embracing). 

Strategy. How do you want relationships with your customers to change? 

Technology. What applications should you build? This is the final step in which you decide the right technology for your business. 

These four questions are essential when you are planning your strategies. You need to be sure to take a step back and ask yourself “What are my customers ready for?”. If you do not take time to do this step, you may find yourself in a pickle where you are coming out with a product either too late or too early. 

When discussing this topic, one of my classmates gave a great example, saying that Snapchat was guilty of this when they invented the snapcash feature. This was a feature similar to venmo, where users can send their friends money over their phone. I remember when snapcash came out, I didn’t think for a second that I would ever use it. I was already familiar with the cash app and venmo, but didn’t even use those applications a lot. I think if snapchat were to have tried out the feature now, with people already knowing that applications like this are safe and friendly, they would have had a more successful response rate.

Did anyone else not use snapcash for the reason that they weren’t sure how safe of effective it could be? Or maybe had a similar experience with another application that came out “too soon”?

[cassidyphilo-blog1]

Socialnomics Reaction Post

If you are looking for a book to read to improve on your social media presence and change the way you are developing and marketing products, than “Socialnomics, How Social Media Transforms the Way We Live and Do business” is the book for you.

Before reading this book, I was very skeptical about whether or not this book would just be a repeat on what I already know about social media. I mean think about it, we live in a world where social media is dominating, where Generation Z is literally being called the “digital nation”, is there much more to learn from a book that was written in 2009? The answer I found to this was yes, there is much more to learn. Qualman digs deeper and shares information with us that benefits the way we market not only products, but ourselves. He shows us the bigger picture of how great an impact social media can have on us, if we do it right. 

Here are a few key take aways that I found most helpful while reading this book:

1. Spending time on social media makes you MORE productive. This idea caught my attention because normally people say that social media distracts you from the world, which can still be true in some cases. In this case, however, social media is being used to actually help you attain information that you may never come across otherwise. It’s our way of using this platform to find “how to’s”, reviews, feedback, etc. Social search drives social commerce. 

2. Social Media is the new inbox. For this book to have been written almost a decade ago, Qualman was so ahead of his time. Rather than using email, which only gives you one option: to send letters, we now use social media for most everything we do. Social media gives us the options to follow each other, post pictures, videos, lifestream, send messages, etc. Companies have really picked up not this aspect and have begun to truly embrace their presence online.

3.  90 percent of people rely on what peers say, while 14 percent rely on advertising. I’m sure the percentage of people who rely on what peers say has only increased over the past decade, but this is something that is so important to keep in mind when using social media for your company. This statistic is the key reason to why companies should make their products and services the best that they can be. Because now, rather than making advertisements that persuade the consumer to purchase your product, you must persuade the consumer to purchase your product through other consumers. 

4. Infographics, videos, and images are what people crave. CREATE THEM. In a world where reading books come second to watching videos and looking at images, creating content that appeals to people is key. One again, Qualman was ahead of his time. Ten years later, and infographics have only become more popular. Infographics are successful because rather than reading boring information about a product (which lets be honest doesn’t happen a lot!) companies have began to use infographics for a more entertaining way to get their information out as well as interest the consumer into purchasing their product or service. 

5. It’s better to live a life using social media and making mistakes than living a social media life doing nothing. Let your presence be known on social media. If you find yourself making a mistake, at least you can learn from that mistake. Social media is so prevalent in our world today and as inhumane as this may sound, you might not ever be known if you are inexistent in the digital world of social media. 

6. Always use odd numbers. I really only included this one because we are ending on number 6 (because no one ever makes lists using the number 6) but it is a good tip to do when you are providing facts or information about something! Using odd numbers (like 6, 11, 17, etc.) grabs peoples attention and makes them more intrigued to read what you have to offer. 

If you’ve made it with me this far, I really hope you enjoyed what I had to say about this book! I think if you ever feel like you aren’t knowledgable enough for social media, this book is definitely worth the read! 

Be sure to check Erik Qualman out on twitter! 

[cassidyphilo-blog1]

My favorite blogger...

I think a popular thing (especially amongst women) to research about right now is all things lifestyle. From home decor, to fitness and health, I am constantly reading and watching videos that inspire the lifestyle I would like to have. 

Someone who I aspire to be like in her every day life style is blogger, Sivan Ayla. Sivan is a social media influencer who blogs about her lifestyle, beauty tips, health, etc. Her entire ora of her blog site is minimalistic, chic, and clean, which is all right up my ally. She goes the extra mile to include ways that we can get a luxurious lifestyle and not have to spend a fortune on it. She also includes on her blog website, her own blogging tips, and what she uses to edit her content. 

My favorite topic of blogs that she does is Traveling. I mean, who doesn’t like to travel, right? Sivan is constantly going on fun, adventurous, and exotic trips with either some girlfriends, or the more consistent travel buddy; her husband. One place she recently has gone to that I followed along the whole way was Italy.

Italy is one of those places that I have ALWAYS wanted to go. I love everything about it. It’s beauty, the food, the architecture, the history, I’m fascinated by it all. So, as many people use social media to do, I followed along her Instagram, snapchat, twitter, and Vlog channel so I could vicariously live my dream trip through her. I mean, I can’t be the only person who lays in bed for most of the day while pretending I'm touring Italy! From Sivan’s ootd’s, to the places she ate, to the views she saw, everything about her trip was perfect. 

Something I love about her channel is that she continues to portray her style in everything she does and every where she goes, and is so consistent in her channel and content. She has very “minimalistic” taste, and although that is a term that many use for decoration purposes, she somehow portrays that term in all of her pictures and videos. I go to her website and read her blogs constantly for inspiration of trips that I want to take in the future! 

Does anyone else LOVE reading/watching travel blogs/vlogs in their spare time? If you do you have to check out her channel, its great! https://www.sivanayla.com/

[cassidyphilo-blog1]

Socialnomics 1

What is Social Media?

When researching different definitions of social media, I realized that I was always drawn to the definitions that were very broad, because Social Media is a very broad term to grasp. One definition that really stood out to me was by techopedia, which stated that social media is “a catch-all term for a variety of internet applications that allow users to create and interact with each other.” Techopedia also included a list some of the many forms that it included, some of which were: 

Sharing photos, videos, and posts

Commenting on the photos, posts, updates, videos and links shared by others

Public updates to a profile, including information on current activities and even location data. 

 I think social media is, but not limited to, a way to connect people together. Social Media is used in so many ways; A place to share new ideas, a place to go to for new ideas, a place to research information, a place to connect with an old friend, a place to make new friends, the list goes on and on. The ultimate goal of social media seems to be the connection. Although before social media people were still able to connect with each other, social media has transformed the idea of connecting into something that is digital and fast. We now can contact each other instantly, with no waiting time at all. 

https://www.techopedia.com/definition/4837/social-media

The first step to addiction, Is admitting you have a problem...

I like to think I am one of those people who are not heavily influenced by other peoples recommendations and reviews of a product, but I should probably just let the recites do the talking for me.

The major influence that other people’s opinions can have on their viewers dawned on me a couple months ago, when I realized just how easily convinced I am. I follow several reality TV stars closely on social media, because I am a Reality TV Show junky (I mean, who doesn’t love a bunch of people arguing with each other)! One of the reality stars that I follow began posting her reviews about a teeth whitening kit. Now, before these posts I had NEVER even considered buying a teeth whitening kit, but who wouldn’t want their teeth whiter, right? 

Well, when I first saw this product It definitely grabbed my attention, but not enough to go ahead and buy it. She then started posting before and after pictures that people had sent into her to show her how much they loved their kit, which got my attention a little more, but once again not enough to buy it. She THEN gave her viewers a code that gave you money off of a kit, so of course I decided I had to have it. Well the kit came in and one of my roommates saw it and said “WAIT, you bought one too?!”. We both realized that we had both been influenced by the same person and both gave in to try out the product!

When I realized how easily influenced two broke college students were to buy an un-needed teeth whitening kit I decided to sit back and look at other purchases I had made due to someones influence on me. The list was longer than I thought: I had bought jewelry products, food subscriptions, work out clothing, water bottles, purses, etc. All because peoples (especially celebrities) opinions influenced me enough to do it and made me believe that I needed these products.  

When I was reading about World of Mouth, I immediately connected it with how easily people, specifically myself, can learn about products now with social media. Companies have decided to target celebrities to use them as spokespersons for their brands, which I think is a very successful way to do it, because so many people look up to celebrities and strive to live lives similar to theirs. I think World of Mouth has made product consumption bigger as well because it can appeal to such a larger audience in a shorter amount of time. 

Anyone else have similar experiences where a celebrity has used world of mouth to influence things you have bought? Do you think world of mouth is more successful than word of mouth is? 

(P.S. if anyone were wondering, the whitening kit actually worked!)