Promoting Communication among Interns

Creating social media accounts for a group of people whose primary need is better communication that is more inclusive to the entire group seemed very easy. My choices of creating a Facebook group, Twitter and GroupMe chat options seemed like a reasonable idea. However, I learned so much from coordinating these sites over the past week. After the end of the week, I realized that the social media accounts helped TREMENDOUSLY in increasing communication between the entire, scattered group of interns. The purpose of the accounts was accurate and fulfilled by the end of the week.

First, the Facebook page was one of the most successful accounts of the three options. This allowed for the interns to post pictures, posts, or create calendar events for the group. It was apparent being able to create events that allowed ALL of the interns know through Facebook, versus only the few that used to know due to receiving information via verbal or texting communication. There was a really good response in regards to interactions with the posts and Facebook page as a whole. I myself was very impressed and satisfied that the group has 26 members, which exceeded the 25 member goal I originally had.

I created a Twitter account @DeereInterns to promote events and happenings in the intern group. As a whole, I realized this was probably my weakest social media account. The poll I originally sent out to see which sites people would be most interested in following said that Twitter was the 2^nd highest social media site that people would interact with. However, after a week, I only had 10 followers and very few likes on the tweets, and interaction with the account. One thing I could have done better given more time would have been a “takeover twitter” where an intern would tweet about their day, post pictures of what it is like to be a Deere intern. I could have also interacted with my followers a little more too to promote the twitter page. I may reevaluate the Twitter page if I were to do the account again.

Finally, the most successful social media platform was GroupMe, which allowed for a massive texting conversation amongst the intern group. Members can also “like” another intern’s post on the site. We have people planning events, getting advice from others or telling about funny things that happened throughout the day. I believe this was by far the most inclusive and effective social media site, with Facebook and the calendar invites/events coming in a close second. We had ALL the interns participate in the GroupMe, which was phenomenal and a major reason how I know that the GroupMe was a success. Businesses should implement a GroupMe feature or even a Microsoft Lync or Skype program to encourage fast and easy communication among employees, as this greatly increased communication and inclusion within the group.

                                                             

 

As far as advice I would give to the next class about the social media promotion project is:

·         It is difficult to gain followers. Be creative and know how to entice people to follow your social media account.

·         Social media accounts take a lot of time to be successful and effective if they are used for a business. Make sure you can allocate the necessary time that is required for each unique social media account.

·         Have fun with it. People usually enjoyed when I acted human more on the various sites than just reminding them of events, what the John Deere Company is currently doing, and more.

Overall, a very successful project and EXTREMELY insightful as far as how to increase communication among a group of young professionals. 

Going International

                             

I am very unfamiliar with a lot of social media sites in America, and even more so with social media sites popular in other countries. I chose to learn more about renren.com since it is a primary social networking site used in China. Renren was originally launched in 2005 by college students. Overall, the site looked very similar to Facebook in terms of color scheme, layout and purpose.

                                           

Unfortunately, this post will lack experience with the social media site because when I accessed renren.com, everything was in Chinese and I was unable to find an English button to translate. The majority of this post will unfortunately come from research regarding the social media site.

Apparently Renren is beginning to decline in popularity in China when it was once the most popular social networking site that there was in the country. Facebook was once banned in the country, however, Renren was unable to dominate in the absence of the world’s largest and most dominating social networking site. Renren blames the fierce competition for the lack of performance in climbing the ladder in the social media world back to the top. 

A major issue that Renren has which is a major contributor to its demise as the most powerful social media site in China is due to the lack of ability to capture the mobile audience. Being able to connect with your audience and keep up with the trends of people and the social networking world is crucial to success as a social networking site as a whole. I found an interesting article highlighting why Renren may not be as effective for businesses to use, and also addressing the lack of connection with mobile users at: http://sampi.co/is-chinas-renren-still-relevant-for-marketing/.

Today, businesses that have previously used Renren are still on the social networking site and still advertising. However, very rarely does the site get new businesses coming in to advertise. While opportunities may be slim for businesses on Renren, the site still has 200 million users, but is continuously becoming less popular. 

                                                    

Stumbing Through the Great Big Web

                                         

StumbleUpon was a site that I was not familiar with prior to the social media class I took. I honestly had never heard of the website until I realized I had to create an account. Apparently StumbleUpon is much larger and popular than I ever knew of. The social networking platform has over 25 million registered users of the site and also has over 25 billion stumbles or posts/findings.

Four graduate students named Garrett Camp, Geoff Smith, Justin LaFrance and Eric Boyd founded StumbleUpon in 2002 while in graduate school at the University of Calgary. The basis of StumbleUpon’s platform is to create a place for users to have a discovery engine where you can find and be recommended web content to users. On the social media site, people can “like” your websites and add them to their profile, which is then shared with their friends and using the “stumble” button placed on a user’s profile once they are registered.

When I became a member, I was surprised at how easy the site was to maneuver around. Being a major privacy bug, that was a major concern for me, and was satisfied with the security measures within the social media site. I did notice in order to get the most out of your StumbleUpon experience, you need to be an active user. This is true for businesses as well. After researching some, I learned that in order to make sure sites are credible, StumbleUpn will label a business “spam” and kick off if the business is using StumbleUpon to ONLY market your company’s website, then they will kick you off quickly.

StumbleUpon also has a program for businesses that solely wish to use the site purely for promotional purposes to appeal to those companies who wish to be a part of the site but rather not be actively participating. A business can be a part of the Paid Discovery Program, which is where StumbleUpon will place the company website in front of registered users and whenever a user clicks on the site, the company has to pay a flat fee of $.10 per click. If your site gets clicked several hundred times or even thousands of times, the bill will rack up pretty quick through this program.

Overall, it seems as though to effectively use StumbleUpon as a user and a business, being actively involved in the site seems to be a requirement. If a business can dedicate either the time or the money to be in the Paid Discovery Program, then StumbleUpon is definitely a great marketing tool to use. 

PowerPoint, No More! 

                                            

In the world of Business, people are constantly having to present to update coworkers, propose new ideas to customers or leadership, to conduct meetings, display statistics or results and the endless list continues on. Prezi was first introduced to me in the beginning of my college career when one of my professors demanded Prezi be used over Microsoft PowerPoint. I had to quickly learn how to use Prezi effectively so I could receive a decent grade.

Upon creating a profile and gaining access to the design site, Prezi was very difficult for me to understand at first. I was able to easily pick a template to work with, but editing the features and manipulating the document was challenging. I had to play around a lot with the various templates to learn to create an effective presentation.

                                            

To overcome the challenges associated with creating a Prezi, I researched and found numerous Youtube videos that help users with the challenges of manipulating the templates and also found that Prezi’s “Help” section was very helpful in these situations as well.  When faced with an issue I was able to use the search bar and find exactly what I need very quickly. Overall, the Help section of Prezi along with the outside community willing to help with issues that may arise with Prezi to be one of the best features of the site.

In terms of business, I was curious as to how Prezi related to social media since it isn’t a social networking site. However, what I discovered after researching more how companies implement Prezi in to their marketing strategies, I was quite surprised. At http://www.forbes.com/sites/work-in-progress/2011/03/23/stand-out-from-competitors-with-prezi-presentations/#7658f3f129cc, I was able to learn that the company, Geared for Imagination uses Prezi turned YouTube video with a voice overlay for a commercial. Prezi may not be a social media site itself, but it COMPLIMENTS these social media sites and can create interesting marketing pieces that entice customers.

The best feature in my mind: PREZI IS FREE. With Prezi being a free design based site that allows you to create presentations that look professional as well as advertising pieces for commercials or short videos, the possibilities are endless. Prezi also has a free support community to help through the sometimes challenging points in creating a Prezi. Ultimately, companies are missing out on a great, new and innovative way to capture customers and potential stakeholders’ attention. 

Spreading the Vine to Customers  

Vine seems to be making a comeback: but mainly in the business world. The last time I logged on to Vine was around my freshman year of high school. So accessing my Vine account was not only a way for me to discover how businesses are employing Vine within their marketing strategy, but also a trip down good ole memory lane for me.

Vine is described as being a social media platform similar to Instagram but with ultra short videos that followers can watch over and over again, and push a button to “like” a video, or leave a comment. For me, I find Vine a very easy concept to understand and to maneuver around the site. That idea could very well be because of my long time familiarity of Vine’s platform, but I don’t remember having many difficulties initially with learning the layout of the site.

Because I was previously familiar with Vine, I delved right in to learning how businesses are using Vine to promote their company, products, services or industry. One concept seemed unanimous amongst the majority of the Vines I watched: companies know their customers/audience. This aspect is crucial in all areas of marketing and advertising, as well as all areas of the industry, including production, design and implementation and the company itself. All of the Vines were very modern-based. My favorites were of Nike with sports athletes working hard on the court or area of play. Dick’s Sporting Goods also appealed to their audience by not hounding what they sell, but rather taking their viewers in to the Raven’s Stadium in Baltimore. This is a perfect example of knowing your audience because you realize that current/potential customers do not liked to be hounded with constant brand or product marketing.

Another popular way of gaining more viewers and interactions with customers is to promote a contest on the social media app. This technique is very popular across the social networking world, just as it is on Vine. Viewers will be able to see the Vine with instructions and the “prize” they win if their Vine is picked to be the best. This allows for not only the customers to learn more about the brand and engage with the business and feel important, but it also provides a significant benefit to the business itself. By using contests of Vine making, businesses are able to see EXACTLY how customers view the company and product or service offered, or gain insight to the types of commercials they should be making to entice their audience.

Businesses also have the unique opportunity to make Vines and them distribute the vines out to other affiliated social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. This is a very smart way to increase the exposure on a particular Vine that may have been popular on the website itself. Also, including short videos on other social media sites that have stagnant posts will draw viewers in to watch the quick blurb of a video and act as a refresher from reading everything on the newsfeed.

Overall, I find Vine a very useful tool in networking and connecting with customers and viewers across numerous platforms, a way to add variety to your advertisements and marketing strategy and most importantly, Vine allows for businesses to interact with their viewers and audience, which is again a very important aspect that a business should meet if they are employing social media sites in to their marketing strategy.

                                          

Tumbling Through Tumblr

                                         

If you would have asked me what blogging was prior to taking a class on social media and businesses, I would have told you Tumblr is what I think of. I was very unfamiliar with blogging as a whole and only familiar with a few social media sites, and Tumblr definitely was not on the list. I have realized that Tumblr extends beyond the norm and is a “microblog”.

Tumblr prides itself on being able to quickly share anything, whether it be photos, videos, links, music, quotes, or anything you can think of and from your mobile device, laptop, tablet or other forms.  As of today, Tumblr has 108.4 million blogs with 50.9 billion blog posts. After doing more research, I learned that a 26 year old runs the social media site, named David Karp. As a current twenty year old, I cannot even begin to imagine running a highly successful social networking site, so that fun fact blew my mind.

Another fact I came across while researching Tumblr was that the social networking site was actually acquired by Yahoo. There is a lot of negative media around the recent Yahoo acquisition and concern that Yahoo will change the platform of Tumblr and make it “uncool”. Tumblr could also be a saving grace for Yahoo in the sense that the social networking site already attracts millions of viewers and bloggers. This acquisition could very much bring Yahoo back in to the spotlight and give it some positive media attention.

Once logging on to Tumblr, I was amazed at how aesthetically pleasing the site is to the eye. It has a very modern layout and was by far the easiest way to create a profile and maneuver around from the other social media platforms I have come across. The various blogs I visited ranged from well kept, gorgeously laid out and written to literally the sloppiest, ill-kept profiles. I was surprised at how interesting the pages for businesses seemed.

Businesses that I saw actually had profiles with products, gifs, photos, company news, and more. It seemed that businesses had hired professionals because the Tumblr pages looked very professionally kept. I didn’t feel like there was a lot of opportunities to interact with viewers comparatively to other social media sites like Twitter or Facebook, which is something I would consider a flaw in the design of Tumblr in regards to business. 

I Read It on Reddit.com

                                         

I was not one of the 542 million monthly visitors of Reddit.com in 2015. However, after recently exploring and creating an account, I may now be a monthly subscriber/visitor. For those who are similar to me, Reddit is a social media platform that allows for the Reddit community to submit posts, direct links, comments, etc. to a variety of topics. As a whole, Reddit is a form of entertainment, social news, networking site and news website as well.

After doing some research, I was surprised to hear that the social media site was created by two college students at the University of Virginia: Steve Huffman and Alexis Ohanian in 2005. After a funding round to get the site and company going, Reddit raised $50 million, the investment seeing the company value at $500 million after generous donators such as Ron Conway, Snoop Dogg, and Marc Andreessen contributed to the promotional/funding round.

Once I created a profile, I had access to numerous amounts of topics and gained the ability to post, view and comment. I found interest in a variety of subreddits, or categories of topics that help organize fellow reddits comments and posts. A few of the pages I found to be most interesting were ExplainLikeImFive, LifeProTips and PersonalFinance all caught my eye. I was also able to subscribe to numerous subreddits to keep up on new posts or comments on my posts that I made. One unique aspect of Reddit is that users have the ability to “up-vote” or “down-vote” other members’ comments or posts to the social media site, which helps give credibility to a particular post writer. I also found that the app version of the social media site was very helpful and easy to maneuver, just like the actual website.

In terms of business, according to Wikipedia, Reddit experienced an “infiltration” of mass corporations posing as Reddit users to advertise and market their brand. Since Reddit is based on viewers’ responses to certain pages, or subreddits, a business’ reputation can be damaged severely. However, typically a business’ subreddit is not bombed with an overload of negative comments, since the pages usually reflect customer service type pages, so I’ve noticed. For a product, people will post their issues or post their triumphs in fixing a particular issue in their product. I noticed this trend in the Xbox subreddit.

Another way businesses can use Reddit for advertising and promotional services is to customize the sidebar on the business’ particular subreddit. The most common ways I have noticed on Reddit to customize the sidebar is to include a calendar of events, company news or a company goal with a percentage. Overall, I find Reddit to be a decent way to advertise a business. The whole social media platform seems more like a credible Wikipedia and where customer interaction is at a minimum in the site. 

I Yelp, You Yelp, we All Yelp for Business

                                             

To continue adding on to the list of social networking sites that Chelsie Schmitz is unfamiliar with, I ventured in to the world of Yelp. As someone who moved away to a completely new area for the summer, I found Yelp one of the most helpful sites. I was able to find new and exciting places to eat, quality places to get my hair trimmed during the summer months, what kind of grocery stores were available and the numerous attractions in Dubuque, Iowa for when I get off work from my internship.

 

Yelp impressed me that it was built for small businesses to gain recognition and visibility within the business world. It reminded me a lot of the yellow pages you typically find in phone books, but a more interactive version. After doing some research, a lot of Yelp’s competitors are Angie’s List, Groupon, LivingSocial and Yahoo Local. Yelp generates revenue by advertising local businesses in the area and also by facilitating restaurant, hotel and airline ticket reservations through the site.

One of the interesting aspects Yelp has are the “Yelp Deals”. Every week, Yelp organizes a collection of deals from the various local restaurants, shops and other destinations in a particular area and promotes those deals for customers to take advantage of. I found this to be a very interesting and beneficial aspect of Yelp’s platform. It makes sifting through the local businesses easier and is more enticing for customers to actually go visit a particular business.

In terms of my experience with Yelp, creating an account was very easy. I noticed that prior to creating an account, I was able to access and search a lot of the businesses in a particular area of interest that I searched. However, when I had my own account, I was then able to write reviews, message other people, and give various businesses a rating. Overall I was highly impressed with Yelp’s platform maneuverability. I found it very easy to get from one page to the next, and to find information and deals for local businesses.

After scrolling around on the social media site, I realized that it businesses could easily gain a bad reputation from receiving a negative review or a poor rating. However, I noticed that a lot of local businesses that did receive a negative comment usually commented back to the individual to try and mediate the situation. It is beneficial that businesses have the power to interact with their reviewers and have the opportunity to correct their situation, in a sense.

Another aspect relating to businesses on Yelp is that I didn’t notice much information on larger companies in the area, such as like a Walmart, or other large businesses. Yelp is truly available to help leverage small businesses and focused on getting customers to spend local. I find this to be Yelp’s best quality and purpose. Boosting the economy of the local area is very respectable from a social media site, and is why I will continue to use Yelp      
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Googling for Networking

                                                  

Prior to the social media class, I have never heard of Google+, or the fact that it is a social networking site that has amassed approximately 40 million users already. Google+ was launched in June of 2011 to act as a rival to Facebook and the project was led by Google’s Senior Vice President of Social, Vic Gundotra. The social media site is coined “Google plus” because it is viewed as an extension of Google itself. After doing some research, I found that Google+ is not the first time the company has tapped into the world of social media.

According to the website, http://mashable.com/2011/07/16/google-plus-guide/#fNFyYTR32qq2, Google actually created Orkut, another social media site that was launched in 2004. There were also other disasters of attempts like in Google Wave and Google Buzz. The most successful social media site Google has is Youtube, which was acquired in 2006. I previously was not aware that Google owned Youtube.

Upon making an account with Google+, I was glad to see that I could easily connect my profile or username with my Gmail account. I appreciate the ability to integrate other social networking sites or other emails with my social media. After logging on and beginning to create a profile, I found the privacy to be pretty top-notch within the site. Privacy is very important to me so looking at the privacy of each social media site I log on to is one of the first things I do.

                                        

Comparatively speaking, Google+ was significantly harder to navigate than other social media sites I’ve been exposed to. With that being said, I also took in to consideration that I had never been familiar with the site prior to this time.  I remember having difficulty with Facebook and Twitter as well, so I’m assuming with time, maneuvering Google+ will become easier.

The most confusing aspect was getting used to the Circles feature. I was very confused with the concept as far as being able to communicate with JUST a particular set of people. It seemed like a fancy and overcomplicated way to group message, but after I learned how to create a “circle”, it was fine, just as my earlier assumption. Similarly to Facebook, Google+ has a newsfeed, friend recommendations and a phenomenal search bar option. Hangouts or the video chat option is what defines Google+ in my mind. That ability differs greatly from the features of Facebook, which is a nice change.

In terms of business opportunities with Google+, companies are able to make “pages” similar to that of Facebook where businesses can create a page that advertises and markets their businesses. Advertisements are also popular on the newsfeed. Adding a “+” before searching for the company name shows support towards a particular brand, which a beneficial tool to help businesses decipher which people are customers and which people may be potential followers of a business. Overall, I would deem Google+ a beneficial social media site to promote a business. The only aspect I consider to be a downfall is the fact that there are more people on other social networking sites compared to Google+. 

Social Media for a Cause

When determining an organization to promote, I decided to look at my own life to see what group I was in that could use more promotion on social media. There were several organizations that I am involved in that could receive more visibility within the social networking world, however, I chose to promote the John Deere Dubuque Interns. I believe I could make the most impact with introducing social media pages to this group.

As an intern for John Deere this summer, I am living with approximately 20 other interns in Dubuque, Iowa. There are another 5 interns that live in Platteville, Wisconsin, which is about a half hour away from where the majority of the interns live all together and another 4 people in a Mainstays Hotel for the summer approximately 15 minutes away. Communication and coordination is crucial for the intern group, as some of the interns lack vehicles, or the distance separating the intern group made planning events challenging.

This class was focused on how businesses use social media, and while I have primarily focused on how businesses use social media to market and advertise, I wanted to take a fresh new approach and improve the communication and overall morale and friendships of the intern group. Initially, we had a very long email chain acting as our primary form of communication. The email chain proved to be highly inefficient and lead to people giving out numbers to certain groups of interns, which ultimately lead to people feeling left out of communication or plans.

After surveying the group of interns based on their preferred social media sites, what they would be interested in actually using to communicate and promote various plans/trips of interest, I determined that I would create a Facebook group (The John Deere Dubuque Interns), a Twitter Account (@DeereInterns), and a new platform of social media: GroupMe (members added via phone number).

To provide some background on GroupMe, it basically a mass texting app that allows several people to have a group chat that is quicker than the average texting group and is more visually appealing. You can create a new chat group by adding emails, or phone numbers. I was surprised to hear a GroupMe was a more popular option than Instagram, but after researching and identifying the needs of my audience, I decided to go with those three social media platforms to improve the communication and chemistry of the intern group.

As far as goals, I would like to see 25 or more members of the Facebook page with people actively engaging with the page in terms of liking and posting. I would like to have 15 people follow the page (a more limited number due to interns not all having access to Twitter) and likes on numerous posts I tweet. However on Groupme, I would like 20 or more people participating in the groupme discussing ideas, plans that are spontaneous or liking others’ posts.

Overall I am very optimistic about the three sites I chose since they were proposed by the interns as the most effective ways to communicate with people, specifically the ones who do not live with the majority of the interns. 

Creating Connections on Multiple Platforms

LinkedIn has been an up and coming form of social media within the past decade. I personally did not tap in to the world of LinkedIn until I was a student in the Business College, where networking and connecting with professionals in various companies was highly recommended. I quickly learned the ropes of LinkedIn once I created a profile.

To me, LinkedIn was surprisingly similar to Facebook in terms of the capabilities, features and overall theme of the site. The only major difference is the atmosphere of LinkedIn compared to Facebook. LinkedIn has a more professional atmosphere to the platform and is focused on goals, and staying up to date on people’s careers and industry news. The atmosphere makes sense since the average salary of the users is $109,000.

After using LinkedIn and becoming familiar with the site, I have found that companies generally have a page or group within LinkedIn to follow and interact with, but the best option to connect with a company is to network with individuals of all leadership from a company on LinkedIn. The social media site provides visibility within leadership of a company due to some executives having profiles.

When looking at how businesses market within LinkedIn, I found that most advertisements aren’t necessarily directed towards selling products or services, but rather selling the company itself and building a reputation. LinkedIn from my perspective is a hub where people can potentially apply for jobs. Also, companies post achievements and current news regarding business to keep followers up to date with various happenings.

I decided to do some research to figure out what is considered “effective” and “successful” business marketing on Linked In. At the URL, http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/7206-linkedin-marketing-business.html , I found that it is recommended to focus on making connections and then slowly building relationships with those connections by direct messaging, or by formal conversation. The more connections a person and business has, the greater network and greater chance of success.

Overall, I find LinkedIn a great tool to advertise a business because it is more about selling the company rather than products or services, which is a marketing strategy I find very impressive. Although it may not have the ability or precedents set to where people give feedback about products or services directly, the ability to connect with company employees and executives is truly unique. LinkedIn in my mind is a very effective tool for business marketing.

The unique aspect of Youtube is that it is similar to a “first impression” tool for businesses. The videos and advertisements a company makes give the business a “face”, allowing customers to have a visual understanding of core values, missions and products a company offers.

One thing I’ve noticed with several companies on Youtube such as Dove, Apple, Ford and insurance companies is that they create commercials with a story line that focuses on highlighting one or two aspects of their product and then showing a story that encompasses company values. While researching effective marketing strategies on the internet, I saw that the website http://lewishowes.com/linkedin/linkedin-business-marketing-tips/, encourages businesses to entertain rather than oversell the products. This kind of advertising is not only appealing to customers because it is refreshing compared to most advertisements, but is also captivating. 

The Business Side of Youtube

Youtube.com has been growing in popularity for years now. From a vast collection of music videos, to video blogs, help videos, movie trailers or even full-length movies, to a wide array of other videos imaginable to users, Youtube seems to have it all. I first became familiar with Youtube when looking up music videos to see what my middle school friends were talking about, to using Youtube to learn Excel within my internships or to figure out how to solve a complex algorithm in my Calculus class.

I find Youtube to be relatively easy to navigate and appreciate the Facebook-esque about the site in terms of being able to “like” or comment on another fellow user’s videos. By far one of the most beneficial aspect of Youtube is the little sidebar that tells you what is recommended for you to watch based on your previous choices or what is similar to what you are currently watching. This sidebar feature allows for viewers to gain access to videos they may otherwise not have clicked on. This feature is also great for businesses looking for visibility.

Initially, I thought there was a lot of business interaction on Youtube, primarily from the advertisements that play at the beginning of videos and the little pop up screens that contain advertisements. I was keenly aware that businesses placed their ads on Youtube, however, I was not aware of how many hits, or views, these advertisements got until I searched for commercials.

The unique aspect of Youtube is that it is similar to a “first impression” tool for businesses. The videos and advertisements a company makes give the business a “face”, allowing customers to have a visual understanding of core values, missions and products a company offers.

One thing I’ve noticed with several companies on Youtube such as Dove, Apple, Ford and insurance companies is that they create commercials with a story line that focuses on highlighting one or two aspects of their product and then showing a story that encompasses company values. While researching effective marketing strategies on the internet, I saw that the website http://www.business2community.com/video-marketing/8-youtube-tips-business-marketing-0946716#vXlyHWvfrAaBUCHj.97, encourages businesses to entertain rather than oversell the products. This kind of advertising is not only appealing to customers because it is refreshing compared to most advertisements, but is also captivating.

I find Youtube a highly effective tool for social media, as a “face to the business” and a “redirecting” tool for viewers for the business. It allows significant interaction with the customers and provides entertainment at the same time. 

“Snap” Shots of the Business World

In the most recent past years, a new social networking site has been added to the list of every day household terms: Snapchat. Today there are approximately 26 million users of this social networking app, and I myself am no stranger to the Snapchat world. I find myself constantly clicking on the app to see which of my friends have snapped me, or looking at my friends’ “stories” or collection of snapchats available for anyone to view. The most fascinating part of Snapchat: once the snap is gone, the snap has vanished and can no longer be viewed again.

Overall based on my experience with snapchat, I am impressed with the social media site. It makes connecting with friends simpler and better in my mind because you get little snapshots of their lives all within your hand held device. I find Snapchat easier to maneuver about, and everything makes sense in terms of the various buttons, screens and how to find the help button. Snapchat is one of my top social media platforms in terms of my time spent using the app, so I may be biased in terms of ease and personal thoughts regarding the app.

I noticed how snapchat has a section within the story screen for businesses to place Snapchat stories of their own to where users can click on the buttons and view whatever it is the company decides to share that day. These stories are typically brightly colored and aesthetically appealing since the app is designed as a fast pace viewing place, so if the business is too stuffy with  business terms and not enough color, brevity, or moving displays, the viewer will quickly switch to another snapchat screen or story.

Due to the little interaction with businesses on social media and specifically Snapchat in the business world that I’ve had, I researched “effective marketing techniques on Snapchat”. The Entrepreneur, found at https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/270663, gave several great tips on how to manage a business snapchat account. One of the very first points the article discussed is the need to be “Disney-like” or “flashy with content” due to my theory of users needing to be distracted, so their focus in captivated enough to where they stay on a particular story long enough.

One marketing strategy I was surprised about was that businesses are beginning to offer coupons within their snaps. Initially, I thought this was a poor way to market until a saw a surprising statistic. Apparently of the 77 percent of college students that use Snapchat daily, 58 percent of those students would be likely to purchase a brand’s product if they received a coupon on Snapchat. At first, I believed this statistic to not be even remotely true, but then I began to ponder the stat. I realized that a lot of my peers as well as myself as a college student are captivated by coupons, deals or even something that is free. If a student had to screenshot a snapchat to obtain a coupon, I guarantee people will do so, myself included. By requiring students to show a screenshot, this is an effective way to gauge how many people your snapchats are reaching and how many of your customers or followers are interacting with the deal (and how much potential revenue a business could be making).

Overall, I find Snapchat a decent tool for a business, particularly the fact that if a business is creative enough, then designing an appealing snap should be done regularly and also include coupons within snapchat. I don’t believe Snapchat is overly beneficial in reaching out to the older generation, since Snapchat is predominately younger users. Also, compared to Twitter or Facebook or Instagram, Snapchat allows for very little customer interaction, which is something as an entrepreneur I would wish to have the ability to do. 

Opening the “Book” for Business

Facebook was revolutionary in terms of being the catalyst that started a wave of new social networking sites. Facebook was the upgrade to myspace.com, allowing users to like pictures, post statuses, check in to locations, create events, connect with people from around the globe, instant message other “friends”, and more. As a whole, Facebook was the opening doors that brought me in to the social networking world way back in 8^th grade. Since then Facebook has undergone major changes to the interface.

Initially, Facebook was a hard concept to grasp with the variety of options and complexity of the organization. However, similar to younger kids, I was able to quickly learn about the social media site without heavy instruction or help. I found myself posting away and clicking on the various links to navigate through Facebook, despite the difficulty of learning how to move around the site initially.

Businesses seemed to have caught on to the idea of Facebook similar to a majority of the population. Once a new, and fresh way to connect and communicate with people became a standardized way of communication over time. From my perspective, Facebook seemed to be the breakthrough social networking site to begin advertising and marketing products and services.

Today, companies of all sizes can have Facebook pages that highlight their company, values, products, and are able to reach out to their customers. Also, businesses can create challenges for customers that encourage checking in to a place so many times, or posting pictures and tagging the company. All are strategies to get customers more involved with the company and promote the business as well. Another marketing opportunity businesses have is similar to other social media sites in regards to having advertisements pop up on random pages or within a user’s newsfeed, providing extensive visibility to the product or service or company being displayed.

A drawback with using Facebook to market products is that the general population of Facebook users is shifting towards the older generation. As beneficial as it is to advertise to a group of people who are more financially independent, it can also be harmful in the sense that the younger generation will not be intrigued by the advertisements or Facebook at all. Facebook seems to be cluttered with advertisements, which draws users away from the site.

Personally, over time I have begun to use Facebook less and less besides as a place to connect with family and certain friends that lack other social media platforms and accounts. The cluttered look and feel Facebook has in terms of advertisements and uninteresting information, diverts my attention elsewhere. In a brighter light, Facebook is a great resource when trying to find reviews for a business or connect with people from across the globe because due to the amount of time Facebook has been around and is so populated, finding information about a topic, business, or even people sometimes is very easy. 

Insta Famous

Every day, 3.5 million photos are liked on Instagram. I am one of 400 million users of Instagram. Every single day I log on to Instagram at least five or six times a day, checking my newsfeed or my notifications as to who liked my most recent photo. I find Instagram to be one of the most user friendly social media sites available to people. The site as a whole is aesthetically appealing with the simple but wide variety of options in editing pictures. Instagram has a very user friendly search bar and que, which I find helpful when trying to find another fellow user.

As an Instagram user, one of the highlights of Instagram is the fact that it has a “trending” or “look at these posts” tab where you can view other public profiles on the social media site to discover other people and their posts to inspire or connect with other fellow Instagrammers. This feature is also the main reason why I believe businesses are so successful on Instagram in regards to connecting and expanding their customer base.

Prior to researching various businesses, I was only familiar with the small number of posts that showed up in the search tab or the “trending” section of that tab. The advertisements were few and sparse though. Businesses also have contact with their customers by paying money to have their products or services show as a post within the user’s newsfeed. The benefit of randomly popping up in the newsfeed is greater visibility for a company. Beyond these two examples, I was unfamiliar with how businesses used Instagram to promote their company.

I found a blog post that listed 52 ways to market your company on Instagram that proved to be very insightful in regards to the Instagram business world (found at: http://blog.wishpond.com/post/59612395517/52-tips-how-to-market-on-instagram). This site told you how to effectively use Instagram for your business and how to creatively promote your company. One strategy I found very useful was to repost your followers and customers’ posts when they post about your products or services. Making shoutouts to followers will increase your popularity as well as start a trend where customers will post about products in order to make it on the company’s Instagram.

In addition to posting follower photos, Instagram makes customer interaction very easy, which is an aspect that is valued when using social media for a business. The more interaction you have with customers and followers, the more popular and reputable your company seems to be. Commenting, liking, and mentioning customers and their pages allows people to feel important or prioritized by a company. I believe in terms of rating customer interaction, Instagram is right up at the top with Twitter due to the ability to interact with customers in numerous ways.

Instagram has the unique ability to allow followers in to the mind and imagination of a company, similar to what blogs do. Instagram does not have a character count like what Twitter has, nor does it have restrictive and difficult platforms that allows for very little or more challenging strategies to interact with customers like Pinterest. The major downfall I see to using a platform such as Instagram is the lack of an older audience. The Instagram population seems to be dominated by the younger generation. However, the older generation seems to be slowly becoming interested in Instagram. Overall, I believe Instagram to be one of the best social media platforms for a business to market in (and I may be biased since Instagram is my go-to social media site).

Pinning the Business World

                Pinterest is a common social media platform in today’s world. As far as my personal use, inspiration for DIY crafts, recipes, fashion and decorating begin with pinning interesting pins. People also find the social media site beneficial in terms of planning trips, or gaining insight on exciting places to travel to while on a budget. Pinterest is an extremely stimulating social media platform that allows you to organize your thoughts, dreams, goals, and plans all within one place.

I have found that Pinterest is an overwhelming social media site based on my usage of the site. Thousands of pins clutter your feed and can take hours to scroll through if you leave the site for a few days. Luckily, Pinterest’s search que is extremely helpful and customizable to help sort your searches if you are looking for something in particular, or even if you are trying to look at a broad category. Pinterest also can connect with a wide variety of other social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook and Google to help you connect with other fellow pinners to further stimulate your imagination.

In regards to business on Pinterest, I was initially skeptical prior to doing research and fiddling around on the site. Initially, I only saw business interaction as advertisements cluttering my feed, or actual pins with clothing or websites that were linked to a picture or in the caption of a pin. A majority of the links were broken when I found something appealing in a pin. However, my research showed me that businesses have more potential in terms of marketing within Pinterest than I originally thought. The website https://oakcreektrail.com/news/pinterest-tips-market-business/ helped shed light on strategies to employ within Pinterest.

The website discusses how to make a business account “credible” since Pinterest does not currently offer verified accounts as what Twitter does with the little blue checkmark beside the username. Using professional pictures and a detailed description for the biography in the account settings, along with posting the actual company website proved to be good tactics when creating a business Pinterest account. Another major tip for a business looking to use Pinterest to leverage their market share is to not excessively promote the company itself. The general rule of thumb is to re-pin materials in addition to pinning the company’s own products. This way you are able to engage with followers as well as promote your own products or services.

The most interesting “Pinterest Marketing Tactic” that I came across was creating a Pinterest Challenge, where you encourage Pinterest users to create interesting pinboards of content relating to or more specifically, from the company webpage Winners of the most creative pinboard will receive an award, and the business will also generate new pins that are reaching new followers and stimulating interest of the company in other pinners. I found this a very creative way to implement customer interaction with the business within Pinterest.

Customer interaction and company visibility to customers is crucial to be successfully marketing on Pinterest. Initially, I didn’t think that many companies used Pinterest, or if they did, smaller businesses used the platform. After researching, I believe that Pinterest is incredibly beneficial in marketing, especially with challenges such as the one stated above. However, Pinterest does have several drawbacks as a business marketing tool. In my perspective, more females are on Pinterest than men, which limits the target market drastically. Also, customer interaction is severely limited with the fact that interaction is nothing like what businesses can engage in on other platforms, like Twitter. Most people also don’t seek out businesses on Twitter, but rather rely on their newsfeed and pins that other people pin, which could be a limiting aspect for businesses on Twitter. Overall though, I was impressed to realize how many businesses do use Pinterest and the various strategies that are able to be used within the site. 

Starting Fresh with Blogging

                Prior to this class, I had aspired to create a blog, but due to lack of knowledge, time and motivation to sit down and learn how to create one, I was unsuccessful. My first blog was created using “blogspot.com”. Initially, the set up was relatively easy because it automatically connected to the Google account I had previously had set up. However, after the initial set up, I found it rather complicated to customize my blog and rearrange the little widgets and features. As a whole, blogspot.com could be more user friendly, although, most social networking sites are not overly user friendly initially do to the user being unfamiliar to the site. Overall, blogspot could be more user friendly, but in the end, if the user has time to figure out the site, they will be fine.

While searching for business blogs to browse through, I realized that a vast majority of the blogs I came across were blogs regarding personal stories, traveling, food blogs, and inspirational collections of words, pictures and quotes. These examples I came across are the general impression I originally had of blogging prior to meddling in the world of blogs. When I finally reached some business-related blogs, I was surprisingly shocked with the results.

                After reading different blogs from the internet as well as fellow classmates’ blogs, I have determined that blogs can allow businesses to become more connected with the consumers in the sense that it allows for customers to see what companies, or executives in companies are doing. As a John Deere intern this summer, I have been consistently keeping up with Samuel Allen’s, Deere’s CEO, blog. His blog can be found at. Customers can feel as though they have more connection to a company or certain individual since blogs are essentially diaries or glimpses in to the mind(s) of people or companies.

                How to effectively employ a blog is definitely an aspect of interest for a company. In my limited experience and knowledge of blogs, I have not come across several companies that blog until I researched and found that Sweet Leaf Tea (http://sweetleafteablog.com/), Stonyfield Farm (http://www.stonyfield.com/blog) and even Disney Parks (http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/ ) are all regarded as some of the best blogs on the internet. I was impressed with the frequency and the detail these companies incorporated within the blogs. Not only were the blogs visually appealing, but the content seemed interesting as well.

                While exploring company blogs, I realized that the blogs allow customers and viewers to have a glimpse in to the culture, and the company activity. Providing this depth will ultimately allow the customers to feel closer connected to the company, or individuals within the company. Despite the massive benefit of customers being able to peer in to the company through a diary-like portal that blogs provide. With the numerous benefits and impressive aspects blogs provide for companies, blogging is not as interactive with customers as other social media platforms such as Twitter, or Facebook. Blogs also seem very hard to attract consumers too. Unless I was a John Deere intern, I most likely would not have took interest in Samuel Allen’s blog, nor would I have any knowledge that the blog exists.

Blogging can obviously be very beneficial for a company, and is intriguing for a college student who is looking to begin a personal blog regarding her experiences while traveling abroad and through internships, I don’t know if I would consider blogging to be the MOST beneficial tool for reaching out to consumers. 

Tweeting Away 

Twitter has grown to be an effective way to connect with people across the world. Personally, I have been a member of Twitter for about 3 years now. Over time, I have seen the Twitter platform take on numerous changes and find the newest version of the platform to be extremely user friendly. While I may be biased, when I initially starting using Twitter, I found the platform easier to learn than that of Facebook, which was the other social media site I was meddling in at that point.

One aspect I find handy within Twitter is the ability to link Instagram to your feed. I have found that I am able to reach out to more people based on the ability to link my Instagram posts to a tweet. In terms of business, I realized a lot of beneficial aspects that Twitter employs that makes this site a prime site for marketing purposes. Another site that was helpful in gaining a new perspective of Twitter was: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/219701. The website discussed numerous ways to leverage a business’ strategies on Twitter.

Twitter often will “sneak” promotional videos within a users’ newsfeed, which are just advertisements that a business pays to show up across millions of users’ feeds. This allows for more visibility for the business to customers that may not have otherwise clicked on the business’ profile. Another way businesses can effectively use Twitter is by tweeting often to boost search engine optimization to where the tweets and business will come up frequently when key words are used.

The most beneficial way to use twitter, in my mind is by responding to customer tweets directed at the company. Addressing these customer comments allows for the business to directly respond and gain insight in to customer opinions. By commenting back to customer feedback it makes the customers feel closer and important to the business. Satisfied customers ultimately lead to success for a business. Also, customers have the power to retweet and favorite tweets a business makes, which can lead to tremendous exposure in the market.

Overall, Twitter may be the most effective social media platform in terms of reaching out the market, however, the social media site has drawbacks that I’ve noticed. A majority of the Twitter users are of the younger generation, which can make it difficult for a business to reach an older audience. Another potential area of harm on Twitter can be the ability for viewers to share tweets or tweet a negative comment regarding a business, tarnishing the company’s reputation in a matter of seconds.