Mary J. Fischer

Senior at John Carroll University. Dual Major: Marketing and Business Logistics. Expected Graduation May 2014.

[maryjfischer]

Next Level ROI (Part 2)

1) It is important to track ROI for social media for a wide array of reasons:

Network Growth: The use of your social media outlets will eventually turn into growth of sales, customers and increase network outreach. The larger your outreach, the higher the chance of your social media efforts growing. 

Content Engagement: You want as many people to share, mention, retweet, favorite your content as this will attract more people to follow your content (this is a never ending circle which is why it builds up your profile). 

Endless Opportunities: As stated earlier, the more activity that is going through your social media site, the higher the chance that activity can switch over to sales and more revenue. 

Revenue: Lastly, the entire point of you doing these social media efforts is to raise brand awareness and one of the added benefits of social media is that it is easy to track demographics, sales through that special social media venue, etc. You want to track the returns you are receiving through that media outlet to see what you are posting and if that is successful.

2) While I agree with all of Hoffman and Fodor, I stated in my first JIT 10 the changes that I believe should be made. In addition to those suggestions, I think it is very important to drive the point home that social media is easily measurable, so tracking ROI is relatively easy to do and will bring in a lot of added benefit. As a company, you want to be increasing your brand awareness as much as you can, gaining as much internet foot traffic as possible. 

3) I would tell my cousin to follow the steps below:

Make a legit website for his band. You want people to know that his band is as legit as the music he plays. On the website, it is then important to add the button tags to link to his Google+, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, etc pages to the top right of the website page. If people care enough to look up his website, they are most likely interested and would be interested in following his social media content as well.

Using the followers on your social media content and such link it to your youtube account and ask people to follow you on youtube. Youtube is a great way to exemplify what you can bring to the table and your music genre.

You should also follow those who are close to your music style and genre. This will link you to those who are interested in the style of your music and you can reach other bands followers to spread your base. 

Make Facebook campaigns for your shows. This will bring more people to your shows and increase WOM.

Link you personal social media accounts to your bands pages.

[maryjfischer]

Take Aways from Social Engagement Technologies

Jit 11

  1)  Why has social media had such a powerful impact?

Social media has such a big impact because it reaches so many people via one (or many) outlet. It makes it easier to leverage new consumers, especially with reaching out on a global level. It also helps monitor the demographics of your customers and it is easier to mine consumer data. Social media also help track what content creates hype from the customers. This in turn creates more customer loyalty and brand awareness. Interaction between the brand and the consumer is also very easy to create, which in turn makes easy word of mouth marketing. It is also a lot cheaper than sending print ads or signing up for tv ads.

  2) Is social media something that small companies and entrepreneurs can take advantage of, or is it mostly for large players only?

I had email my uncle who has his own landscaping company how he handles his marketing and advertising. His response was, “No matter what the company size is, the main concept of a business big or small is to please customers and bring in more profits than spend. The main objective of social media marketing is to spread the word about your company so bring in more potential customers. If a larger scale company implements it, it should be even easier to implement with a smaller company. I am looking to implement more social media advertising for my business as it is a cheaper and very easy to show off the work you perform so others can see it and hopefully inquire about our services.” –Mark McLoughlin, McLoughlin Lawn Services

  3) What will the Internet look like three years from now? Ten years from now?

I believe this is a hard question to answer because it is so hard to predict the future, especially within the realm of technology and the Internet. New technology is constantly being created that will change the game of marketing and advertising.  It will be interesting to see what is developed and who it will effect the most. Will it give more power to the consumer, the company, both?

[maryjfischer]

Next Level ROI

1) I agree with Hoffman and Fodor with the statement that companies should track the investments consumers make on social media in order to understand the success of a campaign. While more and more companies are expanding their integrated marketing communications platforms, it is important that companies are analyzing their return of investment with social media so you know what long and short term goals that need to meet such as sales, customer acquisitions and reducing costs.

2) While I do not think their are many new metrics that Hoffman and Fodor can implement into their table of relevant metrics, I do believe changes can be made. Just like all things marketing, we should look at the "bland, financial term" ROI from a different angle and perspective. Instead of looking at it from the marketing and investments point from the company's view, we should look at it from the consumer's view, more specifically, why consumers use social media and the investments customers make for social media to engage in brands. Returns of social media investments will not solely come in forms of money, but if you have more numbers of investments, more time spent on your site/blog/page/etc. you then receive more comments, updates and @ references on twitter and such. With this you can then increase your reach and frequencies to the consumer base in an interactive manner and in turn you increase the word-of-mouth around your brand/product and then increase sales. Consumers are the ones in charge of their online experiences and online content, it is important brands are motivating consumers to connect online and share. 

3) I would tell my cousin that it is so important to promote his act and show how unique and interesting his music is. I think using his social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Google+ in addition to Youtube helps exemplify what his band can really offer, while also connecting to millions of users. Also, you gain a strong follower base by participating in as many shows as you can. I would tell him to perform a lot to increase his word of mouth and while performing he can always throw in a "we are on Twitter, Facebook and Google+ if you want to know more about our band and upcoming shows you can "like" our page". This will allow more people to follow you, therefore making the stuff they favorite, like, retweet and share reach a larger base for your Band Profile. The more sites you are on, the more of a possibility of people who will come across you. I would also tell him to consider looking into SoundCloud, Purevolume, ReverbNation, Vimeo, LastFM, Jamlegend and Ourstage (these are more music geared social media sites). 

[maryjfischer]

1) The mobile marketing campaign I am focusing on is the partnership between Foursquare and The History Channel. Foursquare went out on deals with major media sectors such as Zagat, Warner Bros, and HBO and most importantly The History Channel. While America is “newer” on the horizon of country...

[maryjfischer]

Innovation at Your Fingertips: The Growth of Mobile Marketing Campaigns

1) The mobile marketing campaign I am focusing on is the partnership between Foursquare and The History Channel. Foursquare went out on deals with major media sectors such as Zagat, Warner Bros, and HBO and most importantly The History Channel. While America is "newer" on the horizon of country rich history, there is still a great deal that can be learned from U.S. history and experienced. This promoted campaign was labeled, "America, The Story of Us". It was a 12 hour series on the History Channel that focused upon the American people, cultures, places that made America into the country it is today, 400 years later. The campaign was set up to have Foursquare users check in when they stopped at various places. Foursquare would then spit back historical "bits" or facts about that specific place for the user to learn about at that location. Every time you checked in, you entered into the History Channel's sweepstakes that rewarded 10 randomly selected winners each week. Through this mobile campaign the History Channel was able to stay connected to those individuals who love history and the History Channel, while being connected through mobile devices. The History Channel was about to show History was popping up everywhere. See further information here: http://mashable.com/2010/04/13/history-channel-foursquare/

2) As for a unsuccessful mobile marketing campaign I came across the Crocs campaign where they had a number to text. Once you texted the number you received a text immediately back. The text back said thank you for inquiring, provided a 15% discount and gave opt out information. It was set up like this:

“What is a foot’s bestest friend? Find out and save 15 percent off today! It is as easy as one, two, three …

“1. Text ‘CROCS 1234’ to 63103 on your mobile phone.

“2. Instantly receive a 15 percent off coupon code answer.

“3. Show the mobile coupon code to the cashier at check out.”

While Crocs received a lot of hype, they could have better executed the campaign by offering more deals after this first 15% discount. While they generated a lot of hype and received a lot of attention, they did not do anything further with the hype they created and the contacts they received. For further information please follow here: http://www.mobilecommercedaily.com/crocs-gets-100k-texts-requesting-mobile-coupons-in-1-month-case-study

3) As a marketing major and a millennial consumer, I believe mobile advertising is going to be even more innovative and creative. I also believe more spend will be devoted within the budget for mobile advertising. more companies with be using mobile marketing to obtain a competitive advantage but it will be the companies that really focus on mobile marketing to stay ahead of the learning curve and economies of scope. 

[maryjfischer]

Online Gaming: Bringing Success to a Past Time

1) As for online games, I have played Family Feud through Facebook, Draw Something, Flappy Bird and Candy Crush. My activities and interest in online gaming has always been rooted in the sense it was something to do if I was bored, on a long car ride or to check it out when everyone is talking about it. Depending on the formation and basis of the game I believe a game can be more engaging. If you incorporate a more educational, social, physical or prize aspect people will enjoy a non-game context. People like engaging activities that they obtain some sort of benefit from it. As can be seen with my reasoning, i would agree with McGonigal's point that games increase social aspects, it is another way friend's can come together and connect.

2) A good example, of a gaming activity that would match with business objectives is what Domino's did with Pizza hero. A short video can be watched here to learn more about it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=QzWEeOoFMfU#t=5s. Ultimately pizza hero came in the form of an application that could be downloaded for free on an iPad, IPhone, etc and it basically was a creative and innovative way you can make a pizza you want and then it will be delivered right to your door. If Domino's was pleased with your pizza making abilities based on this app, they would then offer you to join their team. This was Domino's way of trying to bring more employees to their team that are passionate about pizza and also have the appropriate skills. While this app does not perfectly fit into any of McGonigal's 4 areas, i think it is most definitely related to social because you are in contact with a company that is interested in bringing you on. You are also competing again 300,000 other users. It also can be mental resistance because you have to follow a certain order and certain steps. http://dominospizzahero.com/

3) Anything related to competition is always fun for teenagers and young adults, when you add competition with learning you are about to have a good time and a lot of learning opportunities. From what we learned above, people will reach out to games if there is something for them. Like the example above, you are in a way making your own pizza, but you are also able to pursue a job if you so wish. Also, with this app you are learning the business objectives of Domino's pizza. You are learning the history behind their pizzas and the fresh ingredients they use every day. It just broaden's Domino's customer's knowledge about their product and their service.

[maryjfischer]

Search Engine Optimization: Individual Class Leadership

I have inserted the screenshots from my individual class leadership presentation. I decided to focus upon Search Engine Optimization (SEO). My presentations first starts off with explaining what exactly SEO is and the role it plays within the internet. I then expand into what are the major contributors to SEO and various methods used to enhance your SEO. Next, I then inserted a video from Search Engine Land and it gives a short 3:30 minute on Search Engine Optimization. I then touch upon white hat versus black hat SEO tactics and hone in on the issues that are presented with black hat methods. Lastly, I then have a brief slide that reflects upon the necessity of SEO for a company's future success. I then conclude with two discussion questions for the class. Please feel free to contact me for a copy of the powerpoint or for any further questions. 

[maryjfischer]

Not Just for Cowboys Anymore: Looking into Black Hat and White Hat SEO

1) White Hat SEO is the usage of SEO strategies, techniques and tactics that hone in on a human audience, rather than search engines. They also completely follow the policies and rules of search engines. Some techniques are:

Quality Content: Ensure your content is accurate and will best service your audience, as search engines will pull up the options that it believes will best serve the end user.

Titles and Meta Data: Titles reflect what the content is about, so it is important to make sure you are still focusing on this aspect, making it as accurate as possible.

Use Semantic Mark Ups/Separate Content from Presentation: It is crucial to make sure your headings are as accurate as possible, as search engines place the most weight on that area of your data. CONTENT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT (make sure its lean).

Effective Keyword Usage: Think in the shoes of your target audience, multiword phrases help the most. In addition, applying this concept, you will be targeting people who are actually interested in the content you are offering.

Quality Inbound Links: Good links are links from other web pages that are regarded highly by the search engines and are contextually relevant to the content of your page. Bad links are links from web pages that aren’t regarded highly or potentially banned by search engines and have no relevance to the content of your page. 

**For more information please follow this link: http://www.pushon.co.uk/articles/top-5-white-hat-and-black-hat-search-optimisation-techniques/**

2) Black hat SEO's are the use of aggressive SEO strategies, techniques and tactics that focus only on search engines and not a human audience, and usually does not obey search engines rules.

Techniques include:

Hidden Content: Content that is not visible to the end user of the site, but the content is stuffed with key words

Doorway or Gateway Pages: pages specifically designed for the search engine and have no impact on the end user, which are fake pages stuffed with content, but contain 1 to 2 highly optimized keywords that will link to a landing page. End users will never see this page because direction on the search engine takes you directly to the landing page.

Link Farming: Also known as free for all pages,just list links to pages that are irrelevant. Your site can be banned from that search engine. THIS IS SUPER RISKY.

**For more information please follow this link: http://www.pushon.co.uk/articles/top-5-white-hat-and-black-hat-search-optimisation-techniques/**

3) White Hat SEO example is Brick Marketing Firm:

http://www.brickmarketing.com/white-hat-link-building

Business is mainly across United States and Canada

They focus upon the SEO tactics of link building and link earning 

They believe through this use, it develops a product and brand quality image

Their motto, "Links are the bread and butter of SEO. As a white hat link building firm, Brick Marketing is proud to offer full service white hat link building services for our clients. Our SEO white hat link building process will help your site develop a diverse link portfolio, increase your online brand presence, establish a trust factor with the search engines, drive targeted traffic to your site and more"

Black Hat SEO example is Overstock.com

http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2049969/Overstock.com-Lands-in-Googles-Penalty-Box-Over-Links-for-Discounts-Deal

Had great rankings and people decided to look into these rankings (red flag)

Found to be doing links for discount deals, which according to Google violates their policy and renders under black hat seo

The company encouraged that the websites of colleges and universities to post links to Overstock pages so that students and faculty could receive discounts on the shopping site

Google took action after a competitor complained

Overstock has now dropped to the 5th or 6th page since this occurred

Will competitors begin to be the best police for Google with these Black Hat situations?

While Google, felt it was wrong and should be penalized, many others believed it was genius marketing

[maryjfischer]

JIT 3: Personal Branding

1) While looking at my Klout score, I had a score of 43 on my Facebook alone. While I use Facebook everyday, I usually just use it to like other people's statuses and occasionally post and share interesting articles I find. I would most definitely say I use social media as a means to stay in touch with friends and keep updated on their lives. I then tried to do a Klout score on my Twitter account, as I post from their much more often than Facebook, but that would take longer and I would have to check back later. As for Yasiv, my clusters were broken into two halves, my Pittsburgh (hometown) connections and Cleveland (college) connections and then some sparingly in the middle area with me of friends from back home that go to schools in Cleveland. A majority of my clusters were surrounded around high school, places of employment and college. I also included a picture of my friend wheel listed below.

2) While looking at my network, I was able to visualize how well social media succeeds at connecting individuals, while also showing mutual connections that you have never have even thought existed. It once again shows how small the world really is and how social media brings us all together. If I was a company, I would utilize these softwares to see which areas and people have significant influence on others and their networks, this way you can focus on the demographics for promotion of your product. It is this type of strategy I would use to promote my product keep in mind when branding my product to a specific audience.

3) On social media, I portray a typical college female. I post funny things. Many of my pictures are with friends and family, while focusing on my future and obtaining a dual degree. I always keep in mind that it is important to keep a clean image of who I am as a person. I never portray myself in a negative manner, as that lasts forever and can be detrimental in future career endeavors. As I grow older, I hope my brand develops into a more professional image as I grow into my career and life after college. My action plan to obtain this goal is through moving towards more professional networks such as LinkedIn.

[maryjfischer]

JIT 2: Social Media Marketing Strategy and Netnography

1) The following is the link to the Social Media Marketing Plan I choose:

http://lornali.com/6-steps-for-creating-a-social-media-marketing-roadmap-plan/

Lona Li constructed 6 Steps for Creating a Social Media Marketing Roadmap & Plan. She believes there is no cookie cutter approach to social media marketing because social media marketing depends heavily upon your goals, audience and resources. Her six steps are:

Understand what social media is

Understand what social media can and cannot do

Determine where conversations are happening

Divide

Conquer

Trust the Force

Tuten and Solomon focus more specifically on the content, positive imaging and adhering to areas of expertise. They also believe that companies should never use social media during crisis situations, as it is not the most professional way to handle such matters. They also value confidentiality with certain business matters, but realizing that companies should be transparent, as social media never truly fades and lying can be detrimental to a company’s profit and future. Everything is virtually engraved.

Solis on the other hand, dives deeper into the smaller detail of the subgroups of branding, I would like to think of it as him looking deeper into the ripple of effect, starting with the players and rippling out into the emotions and sentiments.

While I believe each marketing plan has it’s own main points, they all try to achieve the same objective, being creative, creating traffic and making and positive impact on their social media users. The essentials to each plan are as follows:

Figure out you social media objective

Make the goal for campaign

Always be positive

Realize there is a time and place for social media usage

  2) The social media campaign that I am focusing on is Starbucks “Tweet-A-Coffee” in 2013. Starbuck’s has consistenly been a forerunner for technology advancements in their advertising, but this campaign propelled Starbuck’s in a whole new direction by merely allowing someone to send a coffee to a friend via twitter. Starbuck’s labels this campaign as their “e-gifting platform”. It was first launched in 2011, however in two years the concept has also expanded into Facebook and other mobile applications. This social media campaign has brought in nearly $180,000 of revenue. In addition to this profit, Starbuck’s is now linked to nearly 54,000 twitter accounts, mobile phones and customer identifications. It is a truly genius campaign where sales are being made and consumer data is being gathered that can be used in quarters and years ahead.

I believe the purpose of this campaign is to bring about simplicity, while also being able to track social media usage amongst their customer base and main market share. This method brings about convenience and spreads the Starbuck’s name throughout the twitter world when coffee is sent, engaging the customer into their social media platform. What consumer does not love an application that is at their finger tips and makes their lives simpler?

  3) Netnography requires researchers to observe online communities and participate in them to collect data. This concept is very applicable to the Starbuck's example given above. I believe netnography is more beneficial to a company than online surveys and focus groups because it pulls from a larger group. You are able to visualize the positive and negative sides of your company so you know what areas you are doing well and what areas need improvement. I also believe that instead of a structured outline, social media allows for consumers to input their own ideas and critiques that a company may never even considered a positive or negative of their company. In addition, you gain more specific demographic information on users that may have not been as accurate if used in survey or focus group.

One disadvantage maybe if researchers are not accurately observing the communities, you data collection may not be as useful.

[maryjfischer]

1) I was shocked by the service and the manner in which United Airlines handled Carroll's situation. I have many family members who own their own retail stores and have always stated the customer is always right. Similar to Carroll's response, he stated that it ends up being cheaper for companies to follow this mentality up front than to make the customer feel slighted. Carroll correctly packaged his guitar in a proper case. He was not negligent and placed full trust in the airline handlers. If it was luggage that ripped, United would have covered the costs to repair that. I see that occur all the time at airline baggage claims. If United Airlines took the time to address the fact that they messed up and even offered a slight retribution would have made the situation slightly better...but to completely ignore the man, sheds absolutely no positive light on United Airlines. It is unprofessional PR for a well-known airline company and they therefore handled the incident in an improper manner.

2) Social media connects individuals together with millions of different content. Facebook, Youtube, Twitter, Tumblr, Pintrest, etc are all various venues used to spread a message all by the mere click of a button. People surround their lives around these social media sites to expand knowledge and discover new material. Sharing, liking, retweeting, reblogging all spread the messages to millions of people that may or may not have already seen that message or content previously. It is as a powerful tool that gives everyone a voice no matter which social standing. Everyone has an opportunity to share their story and have their story spread. Stories that deal with customer service and companies seem to spread like wildfire too. Carroll, having musical talent and a solid story to back his case up, only helped to spread the news about the HORRIBLE service he received from United Airlines, this therefore helped Carroll's case to get noticed and to be spread throughout the internet.

3) I believe companies need to recognize that all consumers have a voice with the use of social media. It is another adaptation that companies need to make with the revolutionizing of technology. If issues like such are taken care of upfront there will be less backlash down the road. Treating the customer as they are always right will lessen the number/rates of unhappy consumers, and will reduce negative social media backlash. However no one or company is perfect 100% of the time so by monitoring social media, it will also ensure issues do not become blown out of total proportions, like Carroll's was in the fact that it took 9+ months for United to confront Carroll's issue. Through positive customer service and constant monitoring of social media sites, less instances like Carroll's will occur in the future.

[jcuissocial]

Image via http://bit.ly/1douuCc

The case study for this week, United Breaks Guitars, examines social media tools and their effects on a brand. In the Web 2.0 era, the consumers have become active participants in their media consumption; they now can command powers of connection and...