Reality is wrong. Dreams are for real.

A place to visit. A place to enjoy.

[markpatritto]

Implementing Social Media Suggestions

Like anything else, there are some challenges that arise when trying to implement new social media strategies for a company. 

For a medical device sales company like MedKinect, the main challenge is growing the social media presence beyond just clients. If the followers of the company on social media are just current clients, there will not be much growth or increase in new sales. 

On Instagram, following people first and hoping for followbacks will be essential. They will need to post more often and use ads through their story option. They will face the challenge of being see as an “advertisement” only, which they do not want. They want to be seen as an interesting account that interacts with its’ followers, not advertises to them. 

On Twitter, posting too often could become a challenge. By posting too often, the company account may lose followers and the value of each tweet diminishes. 

On Facebook, the company will be assumed as an ad when trying to make connections. They want to advertise themselves as a lending friend that can help rather than a business. 

LinkedIn is where the business can show. This is the site to truly try to advertise, make connections to new clients, and really talk sales and business. This will be the easiest site for the company to grow its’ image/brand on. 

MedKinect is an awesome company run by hard-working, dedicated employees that create a wonderful environment everywhere they go. The ultimate challenge they face is to help the rest of the world see that through how they use their social media. If they can have their social media reflect how they truly are in reality, they will grow at phenomenal rates online. 

[markpatritto]

Creativity in Content

In the social media world, creativity is everything. People, businesses, and companies are constantly competing in social media marketing. In order to succeed in the business field, you must separate from the competition. Being creative on social media is an essential way to do this. Below I will give some creativity tactics to use on different social media sites: 

Instagram- Use instagram stories with filters, captions, polls, hashtags, or stickers. Stickers help make viewers want to engage with the story more than just looking at it. It is proven that people will look at stories longer if stickers are used. You can also use Instagram Live and Instagram Reels (TV). Instagram Live allows the user to livestream whatever they are doing. Instagram TV allows video posts longer than the standard minute limit that Instagram has. 

Twitter- Tweet photos, videos, gifs, and use hashtags. Hashtags will allow people to find tweets on the trending page and/or through the search option. Using photos, videos, or gifs are more flashy to the eyes of the viewer. 

FaceBook- Use hashtags and the Facebook Live option. Hashtags allow content to be searched for and found much easier. FaceBook live allows users to share where they are and what they are currently doing. 

YouTube- Be consistent and creative in video style, length, and topics. Be descriptive in the video description and use many hashtags in the tag option. 

When you become a social organization, creativity is what separates one organization from another. In order to remain relevant, organizations must be creative and effective in content development across social media. Sharing interesting content is essential for social media accounts. You want content to draw interest from the viewers. Social organizations need to share content regularly and using a content calendar will help with this strategy. Consistent posts and always keeping up with trends and of course, remaining creative will benefit a social organization greatly. 

[markpatritto]

Online Community

There are many ways for a company to grow its’ online community. A company can simply create a social media presence by creating and using media accounts. With these accounts, companies can created a detailed plan that will help keep up with new trends and new information. Companies want these accounts to be a smaller representation of their own goal and culture.Every company has a vision and their social media use should help mirror this vision. The collaboration must provide value to both the community members and the company. “The Social Organization” explains how each organization must take a different approach based on factors specific to that firm, those are: industry, target audience, source of business value, business use, and the type of mass collaboration. The book also goes into detail about the “Six F’s” of attitudes companies typically have towards social media. The six F’s are: folly, fearful, flippant, formulating, forging, and fusing. Before starting a community, an organization must determine how beneficial it will be for the business and how to successfully build a community with the least amount of resources spent on it. 

In Chapter 4 of the Hootsuite Academy, I learned a lot about online communities and how to grow them. A company needs to understand the goal for using social media and know what they want to accomplish with it. When used correctly, social media can be a very effective marketing tool. One thing companies can do is use influencers to help grow their online community. For example, the company I am auditing, MedKinect, could use former famous athletes who have a large social media following to share posts encouraging support towards the company. They can also pay for tools like Hootsuite and Google Analytics to monitor statistics that can help the company market the company better and grow their online community. All in all, I learned a great deal about the best ways to grow an online community and learned why having a strong online community is so important for company success. 

[markpatritto]

Big Data

After watching "The Legal Side of Big Data," I learned how dangerous big data can be. Using big data has advantages but also has some dangers. 

What should businesses be aware of when using big data?  

I think companies need to be careful when using big data. Why? Companies can be hacked very easily. For businesses, security is a top priority. In today’s world, hacking happens far too often. So, storing all the important data in one place can be very risky. 

Companies need to prepare for security issues with strong passwords, distributed data, and consistent security tests. If you’re going to use big data, you’d better be prepared for security breaches.  

What should consumers be aware of?

Big data can help consumers shop more conveniently and can help us find our wants easier. However, there is a sacrifice. We risk our own safety and security as consumers to shop with these perks. 

What is the best way to balance the opportunities and threats presented by the development of big data?  

Although big data can help reduce costs and help direct our shopping, the risks are there and are scary. As we continue making advancements in big data, we need to match each advantage with security advantages. Security needs to be improved in order to balance out the dangers of big data. 

[markpatritto]

Junk News Junkies

Why is it that junk news travels faster than real news? Why are people so quick to share a story without having any idea if there is truth to it or not? 

Algorithms constantly are working to keep us on social media apps as much as possible. Calculations are always being made to lock users in and keep us interested. What better way to do this than to fill our pages with junk news that we are surely going to be interested in? 

Advertising also plays a large role in why junk news is so common in social media. The social media companies are paid to gather information about their users’ interests and sell this information/data to different companies. So, in posting junk news, they can see what news we click on and look at to help better understand us as potential customers. 

Exposure to junk news is another part of the problem. People show what they want to see by searching, liking, and clicking on different posts/articles. People are drawn to politics and sports and they believe what they want to. For example, if you like the President, you will look for and share positive posts about him/her. If you do not like the President, you will search for and repost negative things. All actions we do on social media is recorded and saved to help improve the social media’s understanding of who we are. 

We need to be aware of what we post, how we post, and who sees our posts. We are all just sounds of money to social media companies. They are not our friends. They are taking advantage of us daily for their own benefits. Be careful what you believe when you are on social media. Businesses need to be aware of how these apps works and how they sell their users’ information and data. 

Junk news works and is so relevant because we as humans are simply junk news #junkies. 

[markpatritto]

Social Media Consultant

What qualities would I want in a social media consultant? A social media consultant absolutely needs to be honest. I need to be able to trust anyone that is going to work on improving my social media. They need to have solid communication skills so that they can be clear in what ideas they have to improve my social presence. 

If I were acting as a social media consultant to myself, I would have some cool ideas and strategies to improve my presence. I would begin unfollowing anyone who does not follow me back (enhancing my ratio). I would also begin following people who I think I would be followed back by (to increase followers). I would also advise myself to post more on my stories and check who is viewing them so I have an idea of who is keeping up with me. I have tried to unfollowing spree before and it worked well, but I have not ever tried to just follow lots of people in hopes for more followers. I also could try to post more relatable content so that people will be more likely to interact with my posts. 

[markpatritto]

The Social Dilemma

Wow. The Social Dilemma on Netflix was an amazing watch. What makes it so impactful and lasting? Fear.

The Social Dilemma provides an in-depth explanation of why and how social media has taken over humanity. People from inside the companies explain how they use big data and algorithms to capture our attention and never let us go. Big data considers and tracks everything we do within our social media accounts. They store every click, every like, how long we look at certain posts, etc. Everything we do is stored in this big data. Then, these companies use algorithms to keep us on our phones as much as they can. When we are off our phone, they create ways to tempt us to get back on our phones. Because of this, we are incredibly addicted to social media. They can alter what/how we see different things within the world using what they know will affect us through data and algorithms. 

So, what can we do? On a personal level, the only thing we can do to stop this is to delete our social media accounts and delete the apps. Professionally, it is more complicated because a lot of companies/people rely on social media as an integral part of their success. To solve this problem in society, we face our greatest challenge. All people within this society will have to unite against the very companies we are all addicted to their apps. I do not think we will ever solve this problem we have created for our world. 

We, as humanity, have finally created our own demise. This demise is social media. 

[markpatritto]

24 Hour Social Media Experiment

As I found out in my social media log earlier this week, I spend way too much time on social media. So, what did I try to do to solve this problem? I did a full 24-hour experiment in which I used no social media. 

In this experiment, I went a full day without opening a single social media app on my phone. Yes, that includes Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, FaceBook, and even LinkedIn! 

Early in the morning, I had some downtime before my football meetings started, so I was tempted early on. I wanted to check Twitter for election updates (Biden had not been announced as winner yet). I had several notifications from Snapchat that tempted me to respond as well. 

Throughout the day, I received notifications that made me want to open up the apps. I was tagged in an Instagram post and that really tempted me badly. As the day went on, I found myself texting a lot more. I also became more productive. I worked on a few different homework assignments that I wouldn’t normally do until later in the week. I made a call to my grandma and grandpa that I don’t do often enough. I called my mom and my dad as well. 

I watched more TV with my roommates and spent more time off my phone in general later in the day. At the end of the day, I fell asleep easier than I normally do too. The next morning though, I gave in. I instantly found myself slipping back into social media as I opened all the apps in the next morning.  I am addicted, what can I say? 

All in all, the 24-hour period was a refreshing change of pace for me and I feel it helped my live a fuller day. 

[markpatritto]

Am I living through social media or reality?

What is social media in my daily life? Well, after completing my 24-hour log of my social media use and screen time, I would say social media runs my daily life. One post or picture can alter my mood for the day. One video can completely change my opinion of a topic or a person. The problem isn’t just having social media, it’s how easily we can access it. In my log, I checked my phone screen over 30 times in just a two-hour span. To be honest, I thought it would be even higher than that. We can use it on the toilet, in class, while driving, while on a date, or even on a damn airplane. It is with us everywhere we go. All of our followers and friends in our pockets, with us wherever we go. 

We don’t always have access though I guess. One time when I was 15, my dad and brothers took me on a fishing trip in Canada. We were in the middle of nowhere and in a different country, so we had no cell service or wifi. At the time, I was talking to a girl name Halle, and going a week without being able to text or snapchat her ended up ending the relationship.. Yeah, crazy right? I had major FOMO (Fear of Missing Out). I couldn’t help but think about all my friends and wonder what they were up to. I realized that for that week, I was completely out of the social loop. It drove me crazy with curiosity. 

In all honesty, we need to be better about technology use. Studies are showing that it isn’t good for our mental health. Living through a screen isn’t how God planned our lives to go. I hope to slowly work on how much I am on my phone or watching TV so I can start to enjoy the real moments in life. 

[markpatritto]

Hello there. My name is Mark Patritto. I am from Rochester Hills, MI. I am a General Business Administration major here at CMU with hopes of diving into medical device sales when I graduated in the spring. With this blog, I hope to share stories, spark conversation, and inspire positive thoughts. I believe the Clemson football team uses their social media very effectively to help with recruiting and profits. 

Here’s their twitter account link: https://twitter.com/ClemsonFB

I believe this organization does a great job or putting out daily posts and content to keep their following entertained. They also make great use of photography and video editing to ensure the best quality shots are used. They make relatable content so that people will want to share it with their friends.