TEAM 5, WEEK 7 STORIFY SUMMARY

Week 7 has come and gone.  As we venture forth into our final week of class, I would like to say to TEAM 5, it has been both an honor and a privilege to have been your discussion leader for this week.  Looking back, it seems we have all come such a long way in a short amount of time in relation to our social media skills and ability's.  When this course first started, there was so much information to take in, it seemed pretty  OVERWHELMING!  But here we are staring our final week of class in the face;  much more confident than we were in week one, of our social media skills and prowess.  It is evident that such a learning growth took place in all of us, based on our week 7 Storify assignment.  You all did a bang up job, and made my week as discussion leader, fun, and informative.  Here is a recap of some of my take away's from each of your Storify submissions.

Damaris did a great job on her Storify this week.  One thing Damaris pointed out, which we can all use as a take away, is that she discovered that her websites have seen the most traffic when the content on her blog and micro-blogs (especially Instagram) have a daily does of fresh content being produced.  By keeping things fresh, especially conducting weekly updates and submissions to your blogs, people will want to keep coming back to see all the new things you've posted.  If you lack in your updates, people will get bored of you, and move on.  Nice work Damaris!

Ian did a super job on his Storify this week, and also came up with some helpful ways on how to keep your followers intrigued by posting teasers on your micro-blogs, in order to get them to come to your blog to discover the full story.  Here is an example of one of Ian's tweets from week 4:  "Learn how #bigdata contributes to #analytics & join the conversation at ianlarson5.blogspot.com #Marist610"  By incorporating hashtags into his message, Ian was able to raise the potential of his tweet being seen by both his followers and potential followers.  Nice work Ian!


Lindsey brought her "A" game AGAIN for this week's blog entry.  Lindsey's Storify contained a good balance of text and images.  One thing about her blog that stood out for me, is that she helped break up some areas of her Storify that could have seemed a bit wordy, by inserting hyperlinks that readers can click on, which would bring them to additional information they could view that relates to Lindsey's topic for that week in some way.  By adding hyperlinks and other forms of media to your Storify, you help bring the story to life through more than just words.  Here is a nice little tie in to that from something I experienced this week.  In his lecture about IMC, Dr. Don Schultz, "The Father of IMC" stated that moving forward, in regard to communication, less emphasis will be given to words, and more emphasis will be put on pictures and sounds.  Something to think about...Nice work Lindsey!

One thing that stood out for me about Pat's Storify paper is that it moved quickly.  Pat used bullets to make a list of his goals and objectives.  I think this was a good use of writing technique, that helped to avoid wordy or blocky text.  Coupled with the use of images and media, Pat successfully delivered!  One thing I found very interesting, is that one of Pat's tweets on building a Marketing and PR plan was FAVORITED by @socially, this is a twitter account with more than 10,000 followers.  Talk about a way to gain maximum exposure, Nice job Pat!

Bobbie Sue did an awesome job on her Storify this week.  Bobbie Sue is no stranger to the use of social media.  She states in her paper that she manages six personal social media accounts, and contributes to ten social media accounts for work.  That is a lot of social media!  One thing that stood out for me in relation to Bobbie Sue's social media usage, is that even with all her past history of interacting with social media, she was still able to listen to the advice of the instructor and classmates and learn something new.  As she states in her paper, this occurred during week 4 when she added search words and a link to her blog through her micro-blogs.  As a result she garnered 118 page view on her blog, which was the most she has had to date.  Great going Bobbie Sue, keep up the good work!

Again, I am very happy to have had the opportunity to be TEAM 5's discussion leader for this week.  You guys did an awesome job, and I learned a lot from each of you as a result of being the discussion leader, and having to slave through all of your paper's (Just Kidding).  I found them all to be very interesting, and all perhaps a reflection of who each of you are as individuals.  You all successfully brought something different to the table, and as a result, I think we are all better IMC students, and individuals, having had the opportunity to learn from each other.  Thank you again, and good luck to all of us as we move forward in our professional careers. 

-  Dan

The Wild West of Social Media: How network security and policy are establishing control

As my daughter Charlotte would say, "What the heck social media, what the heck"?  Being that she is almost 3, she speaks wonderfully for her age, but probably is not questioning the lack of control and order of social media and comparing its environment to that of what the wild west was once known for. If she was, THAT would be impressive, and kind of odd.  She's probably just repeating what she hears from me, Charlotte's dad.  Why social media?  And why the wild west?  This week we are dealing with Social Media security and policy.  As I'm sure many of you know, we are still in the very early stages of this Social Media phenomenon.  We are in the infancy of a new THING that is taking the world by storm.  Considering the fact that this is a new playing field, everyone is basically learning how to play the game as they go along.  as that happens, mistakes will be made along the way.  A certain chaos might break out, much the way it did in the infancy of the west when a certain law and order ceased to exist.  It was every man for himself.  Every man...not very "PC", but neither was the west!  Anyway, check out the video below.  It's about 5 years old, but it talks about how social media is like the wild west, and how there is a need for order and government control:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-oMw4TUpXQ 

DISCLAIMER:  Unbeknownst to me, the one video I really wanted to use, which compares social media to the wild west, does not want to upload into the blog.  So I posted a direct link above to Youtube.  It's not as pretty or cool as an actual embedded video, but moving on...

 The picture to your right is very representative of social media.  You just have to look closely.  Sacred Valley is representative of Twitter.  The Gold Mine is obviously Facebook, but only if you're Mark Zuckerberg.  To everyone else it's merely a copper mine.  The fertile prairies of Pinterest, and for good measure, the Texas ranch can be Blogs everywhere.  Then you have the cowboys which of course are all the users of social media, and the horses (Search Engines) how we navigate the web, and in the middle, you have two dueling guns, representative of chaos and instability; an unstable environment. 

Obviously history has showed us that order eventually came to be in the west.  How was this done?  By implementing laws and policy in order to create a harmonious environment where people can thrive.  And the same can be said for social media and implementing security and policy in order to, in some cases, take back, and in other cases create control and a harmonious environment where again, people can....

Social Media Network Security:

When you are using sites like Facebook and Twitter, any information you share can be compromised, and is vulnerable to outside forces that might be looking to take advantage of you in some way.  Network Security was implemented into these sites as a way for you to protect your personal information, while still being able to have a user profile, and allow those people who you want to interact with, to be able to interact with you in return.  The following three tips can be useful when securing your social identity:

• Be sure to change your settings, in regard to your information, from public access to friends only access.  This will allow only your friends to see your information.  
• Never accept a friend request from someone you don't know.  Even if they are friends with your friend, if you do not know who they are, it is not worth leaving yourself open to risk
• Do not use a "close up" picture of yourself to represent who you are in the social world.  Use a picture that will make it hard for someone to copy your image and create a fake identity

Here is a video with some additonal tips, for your viewing pleasure:

Social Media Policy:

Social media policy is a set of standards implemented by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), in order to better translate to companies and organizations, what is acceptable social media behavior in the work place.  Three examples of those policies are:

• Be respectful.  In a work place environment, this includes all of your constituents.  According to (Herrin, 2012), "Always be fair and courteous".  It also suggests that you will want to avoid posting things that could be harmful to the company such as inappropriate pictures, videos, or informational content.  
• Be honest and accurate.  If you are an employee representing the voice of the company through social media channels, you must be honest and accurate in everything you say and do.  And if you make a mistake, own up to it and correct it quickly.  Being able to remain transparent with your customers is what helps to build trust, and strengthening that relationship moving forward.
• Using social media at work.  Unless using social media is related to your job function, and you are using it acting as the voice of the company, then that is fine.  However, all personal social accounts should not be used during normal work hours.  

Based on this week's blog posting, I am able to clearly see the relationship between Social network security and policy, and why it is necessary to incorporate both into a social environment in order to uphold peace and control in an already very voliile environement with many particpants and uncontrollable variables.  

To close out this week's posting, here is a funny video from Kimmel.  It's a random video, but good for a laugh.  

References:

Herrin, Barry ( June, 2012) National Labor Relations Board Post & Template Social Media Policy. Legalhimformation Retrieved from: http://www.legalhimformation.com/articles/pdfs/HIM2012-06.pdf

Strategery: Implementing your plan of attack W4

Welcome back to my blog and week 4:  Social Media Plans.

The first thing you need to keep in mind when developing a social media agenda, is that you need to be sure to formulate a strategic plan of attack.  What does this mean, you must be asking yourself?  A strategic plan of attack?  Who are we attacking? I'm glad you asked.  YOU'RE ATTACKING YOUR CONSTITUENTS!  But in a super non-violent way.  You will be connecting with them, through your messaging, and seeking out their company to come and engage with you, your product, or your service.  To do this effectively, order must ensue.  Well Charlotte's dad, how can we ensue this order you speak of?  I will tell you.  This order can be achieved through a few simple steps involving a strategic approach:  identify your audience, develop your plans, and select your tactics.  If your messaging is well thought out, and well distributed, targeting the right audience at the right time, you will be successful 92% of the time (that figure is completely fictitious).  Moving forward, this week we will explore some key points from four different chapters from the readings which delve deeper into a more strategic approach to your overall plan. 

Scott, Chapter 4: Social Media and Your Targeted Audience

In this chapter Scott covers the social media landscape, and likens the realm of social media, to that of a city. I thought this was a great way to describe what social media is, to someone who might not be familiar with the land scape.  And for those of us who are, its a good way to keep ourselves in check as we navigate through this city, and engage in our social networking.  According to (Scott, p. 54), social networking happens when users create a profile and engage to become part of a bigger community of people who can be seen as like minded individuals, to share information.  As a business professional who engages consumers through the use of social media, or even individuals out to market themselves, we must keep a strategy in mind of which groups we choose to be a part of and what kind of information we choose to share. 

Scott, Chapter 11:  You Are What You Publish: Building Your Marketing and PR Plan

Remember how we were all taught the 4 P's of Marketing?  Product, Place, Price and Promotion.  Well in this chapter Scott basically says:

That right, FORGET THAT STUFF...

Scott goes on to point out that if you want to be a successful marketer, you need to draw focus away from everything always being about your product, and put more emphasis on the consumer;  those people who buy your product and engage with your company.  When talking about companies that write successful blogs, Scott (P. 169), states that companies that do this write for their buyers, in regard to direct-to-consumer news releases.  The blogs that are most successful about achieving organizational goals don't talk about the company, or product, but rather focus on their customers and their needs.

Qualman, Chapter 4: Obama's Success Driven by Social Media

Did anyone watch Jeopardy last night.  The final question was:  The most re-tweeted tweet of all time happened on November, 6th, 2012, and started with the word Four and ended with these two words...that;s right, "More Years" as in Four More Years, as tweeted by Obama himself after winning the election.  Ah, the power of social media.  Qualman discusses in this chapter how pivotal a part social media played in Obama winning the presidency.  Why or how was it so successful?  As found in (Qualman, p. 62), Obama embraced social media from the beginning.  He knew he had a chance to dominate this medium over his democratic opponents.   Qualman goes on to point out on (p. 64), how Obama's team stuck to a grass roots campaign by providing behind the scene's footage that networks would have loved to have.  They were smart enough to keep the production value low, in order for it to look more authentic.  Hat's off to you Obama team, hat's off to you. 

Qualman, Chapter 5:  I Care More About What My Neighbor Thinks than What Google Thinks

This chapter focuses on the term "socialommerce".  What socialommerce means is that we as a people, put a very high value on the opinions of our peers.  Qualman states very early on in the chapter, which I found to be very interesting, on (p. 89), that in the future, because of socialommerce, we will no longer seek out ANY products, rather those products, will come and find us.  Sounds kind of creepy.  But fascinating at the same time.  Keep in mind, the idea of socialommerce is not new.  So why then are we tying some old idea, into a new form of communicating, such as social media?  The idea behind that is that social media, through micro-blogging, as found on (p.90), enable users to inform their friends what they are doing every minute of every single day.  This new tool then basically perpetuates the idea of socialommerce, into something that is living and breathing, and happening in real time. 

References:

Scott, D. (2013). The New Rules of Marketing and PR.  Hoboken, NJ.  John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 
Qualman, E. (2013). Socialnomics:  how social media transforms the way we live and do business. 2nd Edition. Hoboken, NJ. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Strategic Communication - Week 3 Post

Communication:  Does strategic communication directly affect a company’s corporate strategy? 

The answer is yes;  the way a company chooses to communicate with all of its constituencies directly affects  the way that company will not only be perceived in the public eye, but also how successful that company will be, financially, moving forward.  I focus on the word “financially” because really, in the end, from a business perspective, everything is dependent upon the almighty:

 

That image represents a dollar…with muscles

In many ways, communication and how a company chooses to interact with its many publics, should be the very first thing they focus on, using that as a foundation to build all other strategic maneuvers upon.  The reasoning behind this is because communication is part of all aspects of your business, from your brand, to your core values.  A good example of this can be found in Robert, Howell, and Beck (2005, p.84):

“The communication function supports the business and brand building efforts.  It moves the organization.  The messages articulate the strategic direction of the company and motivate people to move behind it” - Tod MacKenzie, Senior Vice President of Corporate Communications at Pepsico.

 

Something to note in relation to communication, is that, as a company, when communicating and interacting with a multi-faceted landscape; one that reflects many different players, it is not that a company just need to communicate in order to be successful.  They must learn how to communicate effectively.  Effective communication is also another key element to a strategic communication plan.  As an organization, when you deal with all of your publics on a daily basis, including your employees, share holders, and customers, you must be aware of all of their different wants and needs, and how what you communicate as an organization, will directly affect those wants and those needs.  To be effective, you must be able to deliver consistent messaging, that will benefit your different publics in a way that feels unique to them, while spreading that communication across many different channels.  This of course is no easy task, and one reason why many people underestimate the value of a well executed, strategic communication plan or agenda.  You must also be aware, as found in (Robert, et al., p. 85), that the overall function of communication, breaks strategy into pieces, and to be effective, you must know which piece of strategy to communicate to which constituent. 

Here is a link to a video that illustrates the effectiveness of good communication strategy:  Communicating the right message, to the right receiver, at the right time

 How can social media play a role in an organization's overall strategy? And how can we "align" each of IMC's elements and many social media channels to "enhance [our company's] strategic positioning"? 

I have always viewed IMC as the glue that holds all of the different departments in a corporation, such as Marketing, Advertising, Sales and Public Relations, together.  I feel the integration brought forth by an IMC methodology demands consistent messaging across all channels and departments, and holds a strong relevance for that reason, in relation to strategic communication.  IMC brings forth a demand for consistency in an organization in regard to its messaging.  As for how social media channels can enhance, and strengthen a company’s strategic positioning, social media gives companies the ability to receive an immediate response or reaction from their constituents.  It is this incoming information, which helps to strengthen strategic positioning from a communication standpoint, in that, if a company utilizes these social media tools in their favor, should be able to tweak their messaging based on this immediate response, in order to be more effective overall in their communication.  

References 

Argenti, P., Howell, R. & Beck, K. (2005). The strategic communication imperative. MIT Sloan Management Review, 46(3), pp. 83-89. Cambridge, MA: Massachusetts Institute of Technology