Rising Above the Clutter

Thoughts and quotes of a 22 year old UP Organizational Communication graduate.

[thoughtkatalog]

The One with the Facebook paid ad

To advertise on Facebook, or not to advertise on Facebook?

  Tracing back during the early periods of Facebook from its ad-free existence, to offering some of the most innovative digital marketing channels, I think all of us would agree that Facebook has made it easier and more convenient for businesses and digital marketers to reach out and connect with their targeted customers. I’ve seen how Facebook grow as a marketing haven and I like how they recognize that selling products and services right into people’s faces is a big no and turn off in social media.

  Last month, I tried for the first time, placing a paid ad using Facebook. I’m not allowed to disclose what the ad is all about, but I would share to you my thoughts, the results, and my verdict if it is really worth it.

  STEP 1: CREATE YOUR CAMPAIGN. The first thing that you must know before you start using Facebook’s paid advertising is to know what kind of results you want to generate. Choose the paid advertising model that’s right for you. Facebook’s objectives for your campaigns are: boost your posts, promote your page, send people to your website, increase conversions on your website, get installs of your app, increase engagement in your app, raise attendance at your event, get people to claim your offer, and get video views, name it, Facebook paid ad got it.

  STEP 2: CREATE YOUR ADVERT SET. Once you already chose which objective best suits your campaign, you can now identify your target audience. Here, you can be able to set locations, enter one or more countries, cities, or postcodes to narrow your potential audience. You can also set the minimum and maximum age of the people who will find your advert relevant as well as gender, languages, relationship, education, and work. Aside from that, Facebook can also help you reach specific audiences by looking at their interests, activities, the pages they have liked, and closely related topics. Facebook combines interests to expand your advert’s reach.

  The second part of step two is about setting your budget. In my case, I used my paypal account to pay for my ads and I set the maximum amount I wanted to spend was P300. This is called lifetime budget, meaning the amount is the maximum I will spend during the lifetime of my advertisement. You might also want to set your budget on a daily basis, meaning the maximum amount you are willing to spend each day. You will also be able to set the schedule of your advert, here you can choose either run continuously starting a particular date or within a date range that you select.

  STEP 3: CREATE YOUR ADVERT. This is the last step of setting up your Facebook paid ad, wherein you will select the images you want to use. You are allowed to upload up to six (6) images, and each image you add will create a different advert in your set. After your campaign starts, you can monitor how audiences respond to the different images.

  Before placing your ad, Facebook will show you how your ad will look like in desktop, mobile, and right column news feed. Facebook will also let you review your ad placement first before you confirm your advertisement. Once you acknowledge your ads, Facebook will then first check it before allowing your ad to run.

  By the way, here’s the result of my Facebook paid ad (which ran for 24hrs):

In my opinion, paying Facebook a total of P197.38 is not bad for a first time ad placer like me.

[thoughtkatalog]

The One with the Viral Video

Have you guys heard about using viral video marketing to help grow your business?

  One of our requirements in our OrCom152 class is a viral video experiment wherein we will come up and upload a 1 minute video on Youtube. Content is up to us and here’s our group’s video:

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJYihYCnMVM

  Before our group decided to have a Kakaibabe Parody as our viral video, we first watched a lot of successful viral videos to get an idea of what makes a video popular. After that, we identify the demographics and psychographics of our target audience. We also checked with the new trends, social networks, and various sites our target audience loves. We made a list of characteristics we recognized in the viral videos that might have a potential for our target audience to pick up.

  After shooting and uploading our viral video, we tracked results every day, both quantitatively and qualitatively. Although we understand that the number of views of our video is important, we also take into consideration the engagement with our target audience. Here are some of the funny “engagements” that we had:

y,

[thoughtkatalog]

The One with ManilArt2014

Painting relates to both art and life. I try to act in the gap.

Last October 18, I went to the ManilArt2014 at SMX Aura Convention Center because I am a fan of art fairs and I want to immerse myself more in the world of art. Manila Art’s theme this year is “Crossing Borders,” referring to the diversity of art forms, and artists. I must say that the theme is adapting to the variety of buyers and collectors, and I think that it is a brilliant move from the organizers of this event. Aside from that, the theme is also pertaining to the artists, on how these artists are “Crossing Boarders” just to make their statements. I also noticed that in this art fair, all artists are welcomed because in this exhibit, aside from the world-class artists, younger artists were also given a chance to showcase their talents. Indeed, I can say that Manila Art 2014: borders crossed, elevated the standards and celebrated the Philippine art scene via exhibitions that connected world-class artists, institutions, and the community by making art as a communication tool not just to inspire the public but also to touch their lives. Here are some photos of my favorite art works:

  Painting, Photography, Sculpture, and Installation are some of the art forms that were presented in the event. One of my favorites is the Painting (Oil on canvas) by Bryan Teves’ Trusting Too Much Kills You because of its photographic quality as well as the sudden pain it made me feel, and as I saw the title of the painting, I know that I was struck by the same red arrow upon seeing the artwork. Aside from that, Alab Pagarigan’s sculptures (Copper and brass wire) are also my favorites because those were really extraordinary. Pagarigan perfectly expressed himself through copper and brass wire, brass sheet, and cast rasin. I can say that man’s hollowness has never been depicted as those sculptures had showed me.

  Aside from the all of the amazing art forms present in the event, I realized that the organizers of the event anticipated that people would post on their twitter, facebook, and instagram some of their favorite paintings, sculptures, or installations. Kudos to the organizers for coming up and providing a hashtag (#ManilArt2014) as well as accounts for the social networking sites.

[thoughtkatalog]

The One with the Best Third Wheel in the World

  Have you thought about creating videos to promote your brand or business?

  During my internship at LG, I gave a suggestion to my supervisor to sponsor the most influential YouTube director in the Philippines and their show: Tales from the friend zone. It would be a different marketing effort for the LG’s flagship phone, LG G3 for it is somewhat a soft-selling of the product. My initial plan was for the main actor and actress to simply just use the phone, that’s it. No hard-selling stunt, just the actors normally using a phone either texting or taking a selfie would be fine. My supervisor loved the idea, however after a week; the LG team in California sort of already did it and partnered with my (OMG) favorite YouTube film makers! – The Wong Fu Productions!

  The Wong Fu Productions are known to be the best short film makers in YouTube. As of now, they have 2.3 million subscribers (I’m actually one of them), and a total of almost 300 million views from their fans. I got an email from Wong Fu that they uploaded a new video and since the title of the video kind of struck me, I watched it and I was surprised when the actors on the short film used LG G3 on the entire video. (WHOA!).

  A lot of digital market measurement service available on the internet would say how effective YouTube as a platform is. Video engages people in a way that photos and text alone can't. Video is a fun and effective marketing tool that's accessible to entrepreneurs -- even those who are on a budget. If a picture says 1,000 words, a video can say it bigger, brighter and better.

[thoughtkatalog]

The One with the Dog Whisperer

"Communications majors are people who deserve the highest level of respect, because we may not curing cancer, or creating laws, but we are the people that will make sure that everyone knows about them." – Thought Catalog

  Bilingual speakers have this common phenomenon known as code-switching. It happens when a bilingual speaker uses two or more language varieties in the same conversation. It is a proof that bilingual speakers reverts back to their native language especially when they are aware that they are talking to someone who has the same native language as they have. For some minority groups, code-switching is viewed as an ethnic marker or an element of their identity. Code-switching is a positive feature of bilingualism because it tells a lot about the speaker’s competence of languages. In psycholinguistic perspective, a person is multilingual even though the proficiency of the speaker is both in languages and dialects. Language contact phenomenon on the other hand is strictly must be of different languages and not different dialects of one language. Language contact phenomenon is the use of more than one language in the same place and at the same time that does not require fluent multilingualism or bilingualism.

  The excerpt of Tony Shalhoub and Stanley Tucci movie and the story of Bam-bam, the pitbull in Dog Whisperer season 4 episode 35 have shown different instances that code-switching is a language-contact phenomenon. In the two-minute excerpt, both of the casts have two different native languages, Spanish is the native language of the man while the native language of the other man is English. The first man said one to three words in Spanish but the whole sentence is almost composed in English. The hearer/another man who is fluent in Spanish did not understand what the speaker is trying to say so he told him to just speak in English. I think the hearer, although fluent in Spanish and not in English, is a passive bilingual because he had the ability to understand English in spoken form but had the difficulty in speaking it or he is not that familiar to some English words that is why he had a hard time accessing the word hotdog.

  The dog whisperer’s episode about Bam-bam, the pitbull illustrates that code-switching is a language contact phenomenon when Raul’s mother joins the conversation of Raul and the Dog whisperer-Cesar Milan. Raul’s mother doesn’t speak English but understands it. I think Raul and her mother both have Spanish as their first language and they just migrated to California because Raul’s mother cannot speak English but she can only understand it. Cesar Milan kept on code-switching when he talked to Raul’s mother and she responds to Cesar in Spanish. There is also an instance when Cesar said "por que nobody is claiming the space" when he is having a conversation to Raul. Cesar also used “gracias” when he bided goodbye to Raul’s family.  It clearly illustrates that not only we switch to native language when we are engaged in discourse with native language speakers because of inadequacy in second language, but also we code-switch to our second language when we are engaged in discourse with native language speakers because we want to sort of connect with them.

  The spread of religions like Christianity, Buddhism and Islam are one of the examples that code-switching supports cognitive development. It shows that languages can influence others because the religions mentioned are spread of Latin and Greek, Pali language and Arabic.

[thoughtkatalog]

The One with being timely and witty

“Real-time is the key here. Real-time current events are definitely showing PR people a new way to work; yet, nearly all PR people are in campaign mode rather than real-time mode, so those like us who understand newsjacking have an advantage.” — David Meerman Scott

Have you guys heard about newsjacking? I know it sounds bad but it’s really great. It is the newest and coolest way to get your content in the market. It is a new method of marketing wherein it involves companies or brands maximizing the buzz of current news stories and events to raise awareness about their own company or brand. So basically, it makes brands or companies become part of the story/breaking news story.

  Good thing about newsjacking is, it is affordable or even free and when it is done effectively, the results can create a considerable amount of interest in the brand. Here’s the life of a news story and where you can newsjack for your brands:

  Newsjacking, however is all about being timely and witty. People must look at you as a contributor to the big news story. Marketers should also not see newsjacking as being the first one to react to the latest trending story. Newsjacking is not about being the fastest to respond, marketers should know when the best time to take action because they should also take into consideration if it will make sense to their brand and if they have something relevant, witty, or entertaining to contribute.

  Brands must first identify their audience before trying to engage in the discussion and before trying to newsjack. Understanding their audience and knowing what will appeal to their sense of humor will define the success of the brand. Marketers have to give the people what they want. Some brands who tried newsjacking had committed crimes you shouldn’t even consider on repeating. Always remember that there is a fine line between clever and offensive. Forcing a news story to your brand might create twitter failure instead of having a good connection with your brand. Also, be wary of potential insensitivity to others.

  Here are other examples of successful newsjacking made by some brands:

  Bottom line: newsjacking can, and has, been used with positive results. When used appropriately, it helps brands gain exposure and connect more deeply to customers. When used incorrectly and off-topic, however, brands will hear about it from angry customers and bloggers.

[thoughtkatalog]

The One where an Instagram addict tells

7 Problems of an Instagram Addict

  Here are the top 7 things an instagram addict asks him/herself before posting a photo.

  1. Do I look fat in this photo?

Instagram photo is all about the angle! If you are a guy with a girlfriend who is addicted on instagram, I’m sure you've heard this question a million times before. No, you look fat not because the camera adds ten pounds. You look fat because you are fat, sweetie.

  2. Should I put a border?

I can’t square the picture; my 2 friends will be cropped. Time to open another photography app and put on some border so no one would be cropped. Sometimes this problem could also lead to having too many photos taken last night and all of the pictures are good. It’s time to open another photography app and make a collage so I can post all the great pictures last night once, my followers might think I’m annoying if I have 5 posts today.

  3. What filter should I use?

Some use different applications to choose what filter looks best. Some just use instagram’s filter and just adjust the brightness, highlights, contrasts, and the like. This is actually one of the hardest parts before uploading a photo. I bet it gives the biggest headaches to fellow instagram addicts out there and the reason it takes you hours to edit before uploading.

  4. It has been 3 hours and I only have 100 likes. I usually get 200 by now. Should I delete it?

OMG what is wrong with the picture? Why did I get only few likes? Isn’t it too artistic for instagram? But...it’s so instagram worthy!!! You guys didn't appreciate my effort in taking this picture. Oh well, maybe because it’s not yet primetime or maybe because it’s the picture. This actually leads to “Should I delete it and repost it another time?”

  5. What caption should I use?

I want it to be witty. They said that instagram posts are just all about the picture, but they are wrong. Caption also plays a major part in your posts. It adds value to your photo. I understand that it is your anniversary, the birthday of your friend, sister, brother, mother, father, whoever, and, whatever celebration you have for today, but you should not...I repeat, YOU SHOULD NOT USE MORE THAN 100 CHARACTERS for your captions. Who will read it? #SkipAd #TooLongDidntRead

  6. What hashtags should I use?

No words just hashtags? #Fine #ThoughtKatalog #ThereAreNoWords #Blessed #Blog #InstagramAddict #Selfie #100happydays

  7. AND FINALLY, what time should I post it?

Okay, this is really a great picture, but what time is it? Oh no. It’s already 11pm. If I post it now, it won’t get as many likes. People are already either asleep or out. I should wait for the instagram primetime.

  Did I miss any? Comment it below and let me know! :)

  For those of you who aren't my friends on Instagram, add me up! :)

[thoughtkatalog]

The One with the misunderstanding

Many people are confusing PR with advertising, marketing and sales promotion. Some are also using these terms interchangeably even if it should not be because they are in fact, different. Are you one of those people who often misunderstood these terms? Worry no more for I would shed some light on this mystery!

  PR vs. Advertising: First the nail, then the hammer

  Both PR and advertising are often misunderstood most likely because of the use of media. Just like advertising, PR also helps in increasing sales but its focus is to maintain the company’s positive image and its relationship to its stakeholders. In advertising, “you pay for it” while in PR “you pray for it”. Advertising products or services is paid access because the company is paying for the space (print) and time (TV/video) to promote. However, it doesn’t mean that PR is always free. PR specialist’s expertise and time are not free including costly materials used in PR.

  Al and Laura Ries say that in order to have a chance in the marketplace, one of the most important things to consider is to generate a positive PR image. PR is the nail while advertising is the hammer.

  PR vs. Marketing: PR lights the fire, Marketing fans the flames

  Marketing orchestra consists of PR along with advertising. However, marketing starts from the product development to pricing then distribution, promotion and market research. The difference lies on the goals of marketing and PR. Marketing creates and brings a product or service that people will buy while PR, creates and builds relationships not just to current and potential customers but to all of its stakeholders.

  PR vs. Sales Promotion: Long-term loyalty or immediate reaction

  Sales promotions stimulate consumers’ immediate reactions while PR focuses on building long-term loyalty, maintaining goodwill and mutual understanding between its stakeholders. Programs such as contests, coupons, displays, trade shows, product demonstrations, premiums, samples and other incentives are sales promotions. These programs are tools used to encourage purchase of products or services in a specified time period.

  Although there are some distinctions between PR, advertising, marketing and sales promotion we can see them as related to each other. Advertisers, marketers and sales people often forgot PR specialists in the mix but the best way to engage and build audience is to use them altogether.

[thoughtkatalog]

The One with PANA+FAO’s Gen Ad Seminar

“Sorry advertising, I say things.” – Me

  When I was a kid, I really hate advertising. For me, all those billboards and TV ads are annoying and they just interrupt you in everything that you do. They crave for your attention even though you have no plans of buying their products, and you know that no matter what they do, you won’t even really consider changing your mind.

  Things changed when I decided to go with the path of marketing, PR, and advertising. During the Gen Ad seminar, I learned a lot about brand activation, bringing the brand closer to the consumer, and mobile advertising.

  Internet advertising is one of the most effective ways of letting your consumers be aware of your products. There are a lot of platforms available for advertisers, however brands should not go digital just for the sake of it. Digital marketing should be planned carefully for it is very crucial.

  I think mobile marketing is the most promising platform because of the statistics that shows that ownership of smartphones is steadily increasing. According to Nelsen, there are more mobile devices on earth than people, aside from that, ownership of tablets are also increasing. As more people bypass desktops and laptops and go to their mobile devices to access information. Advertisers need to consider new ways to accurately target advertisements to specific demographics.

  5 Breakout Mobile Innovations that will Change Marketing

  1. Mobile Messaging – advertisers/marketers can use apps like WeChat, Viber, Line, and the like to reach out to their customers. These apps can also be used to buy products, buy airplane tickets, rent cars, sell properties, etc. Brands today can use it for mobile coupons and sales.

  2. Location-based Marketing – these are geo-targeted SMS to customers who are near to your store/branch. Some apps developed are used to help customers while shopping for their clothes.

  3. Mobile CRM (customer relationship management) – this has something to do with setting up a database and segmenting the customers based on geography, purchase history, social sharing, users with specific interests, etc. Segmenting the customers will be used for one-to-one communication.

  4. Social = Mobile – Facebook, Instagram, Twitter are some of the tools used in advertising through social media. One example is using a hashtag in instagram to search for a food menu in a restaurant.

  5. Mobilizing Traditional Media – traditional media should not be forgotten just because digital media is emerging. I think it is best to use both for better results.

  Here are some of the mobile advertisements that I received/encounter:

[thoughtkatalog]

The One with Ate Nov’s touching recognition

  Stranger/friend/relative: What course are you taking up in UP?

My parents/Me: Organizational Communication

Stranger/friend/relative: WHAT DATTTTT?

My parents/Me: *explains*

Stranger/friend/relative: *what?!* OHHHHHHHHHH *pretends to understand/know*

  #Relate #EveryFtime #GoogleNyoKaya

I guess every Organizational Communication (OrCom) student has their own interesting stories on how they ended up in OrCom. Although I know very few people who really wanted to take up OrCom, there are still more people who actually have no idea what they are up to when they got in the course.

  My “OrCom story” will always be my favorite memory during my college days, it will be one of the best stories where I can say that: there are really moments in your life that you just have to trust the one above because He always has a better plan. Transferring in UP Manila, and choosing OrCom is still one of the best decisions I had in my life.

  My beloved course, UP Manila’s Organizational Communication celebrated its 30th anniversary last September 30, 2014 at the Bayleaf Hotel with its current students, alumni, and faculty. It was a night where you can see smiles, people taking selfies, and having chitchats with their friends everywhere.

  The first part of the event was a seminar from notable speakers. There are also performances from the OrCom students, raffles, and of course, the recognition of the pillars of OrCom.

  I will not forget the recognition of Ate Nov’s, the go-to person for every OrCom student. We did not expect that she will be recognized in the event. That was really one of the most touching moment not only for Ate Nov’s but also for all the OrCom students, Alumni, and faculty.

One of the best nights of my college life!

With our SPCOM133 professor, Atty. Yga Antonio

with OrCom Batch 2015 :)

[thoughtkatalog]

The One with the Twitter Trending

The not-so organic twitter trending?

  In the world of social networking sites, there is an arithmetic that is really hard to understand. Although there are a lot of free and paid analytics available for digital marketers, there are still questions left unanswered. In twitter, for example, how many unique tweets must produce in order for that certain topic or word to be part of the trending topics? Does a word with an additional hashtag make it to the trending topics faster than just a simple word without a hashtag?

  Digital agencies are now either buying twitter accounts (that have a big number of active followers) or sponsoring the twitter account holders in exchange for their brands to be promoted.  They are sometimes called “digital influencers” because they literally influence their huge followers to talk about a certain topic (that has usually a connection with a brand and sometimes even directly has the brand name in it). They also give exciting prizes to the top influencer or to the wittiest answer to their twitter promo.

  It is actually a good idea to make a digital influencer team for PR and marketing of your brand however, I think if a brand or a company has plans of doing it for a long time, they should not let other people know that they are doing it for PR or marketing.

  //Sooner or later, people will notice how you do things and they will know that you are doing it not to organically talk about your brand but to get paid. My point is, do not settle in doing things that you do today. They might be successful now, but don’t forget that the world is spinning. You have to consider new things that you have to do to be always three steps ahead of everybody.//

[thoughtkatalog]

The One with the Goal Setting

So you already proved to the top management that entering into the Digital Media landscape is a must for your brand/s. You have a couple of great strategies in mind and you can’t wait for your ideas to be implemented, you know that this campaign will have a positive impact in your organization. Great! But w-wait... before you begin running that awesome campaign, there are few important things that you should do. Digital Marketing campaigns begin with careful planning of goals and objectives to identify what strategies and platforms you are going to use.

  Regardless of the industry or size of your company, the following is a set of tips that can help your organization:

  1. Set up realistic goals

Be clear and specific in setting up your goals. Identify what defines success in your organization and start from there. People who are not familiar in the digital media landscape often commit the mistake of starting to come up with what strategies and platforms to use rather than setting up clear, specific, and realistic goals. Just imagine that your boss is opening a bottle of champagne for you success. What success would that be?

  Ex. We want to generate 5,000 more visits a week from social media channels.

  2. Line up specific objectives for each goal

You will likely to have more than one specific objective for each goal. Make sure you set SMART objectives!

  S - Specific

M - Measurable

A - Achievable

R - Relevant

T – time-based

  3. Do your research (Get out there and dig in!)

Do some research and find out if your customers or potential customers are engaging in social media. Are they participating in the platform that you want to use? What do they want and need to see in these platforms?

  Also, find out what your competitors are doing (Benchmarking). Look at what they are doing right so you know what can also work for you, but don't mimic them, be different. Aside from that, it is also important to take note of the things that your competitors are falling short.

  But don't limit yourself with the competition. Also find out some companies in other industries that you think are doing great in digital media/social media.

4. Identify your strategies, tactics, and platforms

Always remember to put your customers’ needs and desired actions at the center of your strategies. Before making a list of your specific strategies, tactics, and platforms, you have to put in mind the audience that you will be communicating to. How do they prefer to interact with the brand?

  5. Measure and make some slow steady pushes (And keep measuring!)

The only way to know if you’ve met the goals you set is to measure them. Being able to measure you success and progress can also motivate your employees/the team handling the campaign. You can use some of the free analytics available online like SocialBakers and Google Analytics.

  If you follow these tips, your employees will be more motivated, your corporate strategy will be more understandable, and most importantly the direction of your business will move in the right path.

  Do you have other tips to share? Comment it below and let’s have a discussion! :)

[thoughtkatalog]

The Pilot

Old but new. What. Oh the irony.

As far as I can remember, I started "blogging" since the Friendster era, then I shifted to Multiply, then I tried Blogspot, also gave it a shot in Wordpress, occasionally posted random thoughts on my Facebook notes and on my Tumblr, but certain things stopped me from updating my blogs. I don’t really know what exactly. Maybe I was too busy with school or I had fun micro-blogging on Twitter. This is, by the way, my third url blog in tumblr. I decided to have a second account (my personal blog) because my first account is getting really trashy (there are too many people in tumblr that I feel uncomfortable pouring my thoughts and feelings out to) and I am just using it to reblog random things on the internet.

Anyway, I am no pro writer but I like sharing my stories, ideas, opinions, and reflections about life, love and everything in between. However this will be a communication blog made for and by an Organizational Communication student.

I had several failed attempts in keeping a blog, I hope this time it will be different.