Social Media-Social Change

There are a lot of ways in which social media affects our society’s everyday life and one of the main things social media has changed is how we receive our news. Social media allows users to access many different types of news in one area. Social media platforms allow users to be able to follow, read, and share news on different sites. This allows friends or followers of these users to be able to see news stories they might not have seen before. Instead of accessing the news on television or through the news stations website people are able to get ahold of news breaking stories through social media sites. Not only through Facebook and Twitter, but other websites such as Reddit. News is also able to spread a lot faster due to social media websites. By sharing news stories on social media it also gives people an insight into the emotions and beliefs of the people sharing the stories. The rise in popularity of social media is at an all time high and more and more people are sharing the news stories through their social media websites. Social media has become the norm of communicating any type of story, whether its newsworthy or personal. 

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Twitter Science

The webinar I watched is “The Science of Twitter” which is created by Dan Zarrella. Dan Zarrella is an award-winning social, search, and viral marketing scientist and teaches marketers the best ways of marketing scientifically. In his webinar Zarrella discusses what makes content engaging on Twitter, how to get more followers, retweets and clicks, what not to tweet, the importance of timing and tweet frequency, and what myths about Twitter marketing you need to bust. It is really interesting to understand how there is a scientific process behind creating a successful social media website.

An interesting slide I came across what how important it is to have a profile picture on Twitter. The difference between having a profile picture versus having no picture is drastically important. Those who have a profile picture have up to hundreds of followers versus those with no profile picture.

I also found it really interesting that highly followed accounts have an abundance of tweets with links attached to them. There is a significant amount of retweets that occur when a popular account incudes a link in his or her tweet. By sharing interesting links it allows information to reach all over the world.

Lastly, the information that goes out on Twitter is a lot more important than it seems to be. It is extremely important to take caution in what you post because it can seriously affect your followers in the Twitter world. It is important that you do not post all about yourself, be a Debbie downer, to tweet slower and not all at once and most importantly do not be boring. It is also known that if you post later in the day your twitter account will receive more clicks.

There is a lot more that goes in to Twitter than most people on Twitter probably know. I did not think about the scientific aspect of a Twitter account until I looked at this webinar by Dan Zarrella. There is a lot to learn about how to make your profile more successful and popular within very easy steps. 

Corporate Videos

A video that really caught my attention was done by the company SAP, which is a software solutions company. It markets the company because it shows customers that SAP will not make mistakes or miss the obvious problems. It incorporates the audience because it has them pay attention to how many times the team wearing white passes the rubber band ball. While focusing on the passing of the ball the audience does not realize that a dancing gorilla joins the team. It is not able to be noticed until it is mentioned and it highlights the company‘s motto of, “do not miss the obvious”, which is a great motto for a company to have and achieve. I did not consider it a normal television commercial because it would be complicated to get an audience to pay attention if they did not see it from the beginning and is too long to be broadcasted in between programs.

Another video I found is created by the cleaning company, Clorox. This video is about recognizing Clorox and how far the company has come over the past 100 years and how much more it intends to improve over the years. It recognizes the accomplishments Clorox has received as well as what the CEO, Don Knauss, plans to accomplish in the future. I thought it was really interesting to watch because it shows how Clorox started off and what it has become now. Even though it is just a cleaning company it is interesting to see the accomplishments and to think about what life would be like without these products.

The third corporate video I found is created by the fast food chain, Burger King. Even though it is a short clip I am glad I stumbled upon it because it shows a customers reaction to the name change from Burger King to Fries King. Burger King tried changing the name of the nationally known business to Fries King, which ultimately just confused customers. I think it was smart for Burger King to upload a video of a bad customer reaction to show they recognized the confusion for customers.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vU_gDKQyQlo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2I8zg7OblbQ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERR66d4Xomc&feature=c4-overview&list=UU23ZqC2LTzl7dfOi6EmwJhg

New Hampshire Business Facebook Pages

The first New Hampshire business Facebook page I examined is the Red Arrow Diner. I thought the Red Arrow Diner has a really well put together page. There are updates almost daily which allows customers to interact and share their opinions. I also liked how the page provides entertainment and fun trivia questions in some of the status updates. I also enjoyed how the menu is located on the Facebook page too so it can be easily found and looked at. The profile picture of the Red Arrow Diner page represents the diner extremely well however I think the cover photo should be changed. It only shows one item the diner has to offer and the menu is too big and delicious to only show one dessert!

Another New Hampshire business Facebook page I looked at was Sunbodies Spa, which is located in Hooksett, NH. Sunbodies Spa offers hair styling, manicures, pedicures, and tanning booths. The Facebook page is awesome because the staff has uploaded pictures of hairstyles, manicures, and pedicures that have been done at the spa to give customers an idea of what services they offer. There are also posts offering deals for customers who contribute to the Facebook page allowing them to receive a free tan! There are also posts that offer different specials for the month, which is great because customers will be able to save money! I really enjoy the cover photo the Sunbodies Spa Facebook page has because it shows the relaxation and tranquility the spa offers. The profile picture is of a hair station, which represents a part of the company as well. It works well because it is updated daily and shows customers what they can expect at the spa.

Lastly, I looked at is the Portland Pie Company located in downtown Manchester. The local restaurant has a good profile picture of the building and the cover photo shows servers interacting with customers, which I thought was really creative because it gives new viewers a feel for the restaurant. There are status updates about different specials on specific nights, which is really important for customers because it can make them more interested because they are getting a deal. However, the Facebook page was only created on June 18^th and there are not many posts or customers engaging on the page, which shows customers’, are not devoted to the page.

https://www.facebook.com/PortlandPieManchester?rf=107686165955234

https://www.facebook.com/redarrowdiner

https://www.facebook.com/SUNBODIESSPAandHAIRSALON?fref=ts

Successful Facebook Business Pages

In order to increase a business Facebook page visibility and “likers” there is certain features each page should project. It is really important that businesses put relevant in order to engage customers. Another element to a successful business page is to respond to customers’ comments, questions, or concerns. Lastly it is critical for the business owners to understand how to navigate and use the site correctly.

In order to get the business page up and running it is very important that the owners know how to use the site correctly in order to give customers the most information that they can. When the owners know how to use the site to its full potential they are able to share photos, videos, links, or other important media. By being able to share outside information owners can give their customers a better insight into their products.

When the business page is up and running it is crucial that the page is full of relevant posts to keep their customers coming back. These posts should be updated on a daily basis so customers know the latest updates. It is important to keep the posts fun, not every post needs to be sales pitch. This is important not only for the business but for the customers as well.

Customers are what keep the business alive and therefore it is of upmost importance to respond to customers’ comments, questions, and concerns. By giving customers feedback it shows them that their opinion is noticed and can even improve the business’ products. When customers get recognition it shows that they are important and will continue using your business because they know that they matter.  It will also create a wider range of customers because customers will tell their family and friends about the business because they are happy with the customer service.

There are more aspects behind making a business’ Facebook page more visible and receive more likers, however these three elements seem the most important to me. It allows the page to be ran correctly, give out information, and respect customer’s needs and wants.


References: 
https://bb.snhu.edu/bbcswebdav/pid-1275142-dt-content-rid-1847076_1/courses/COM-310-04576_13FADAY/MasterFacebookin10days.pdf

https://bb.snhu.edu/bbcswebdav/pid-1275142-dt-content-rid-1847073_1/courses/COM-310-04576_13FADAY/Mari%20Smith%20Facebook%20Summit%202012.pdf

Internet & Social Media Use Statistics

These articles are very interesting to read and have a lot of surprising and thought-provoking statistics that caught my attention. The most shocking statistic in these three reports is how half of American adults over the age of 65 use the Internet as a daily part of their lives. Although I have known that the Internet has become more popular in different age groups I did not know the Internet played that significant of a role in older generations.

There are a lot of interesting facts throughout these three articles but there were several statistics that were extremely eye catching. It was really shocking to read that 70% of adults over the age of 65 use the Internet on a typical day. I thought this was extremely interesting because even though I know older generations use the Internet I did not think it was a daily activity. It also is not that much lower of a percentage than younger generations who use the Internet on a daily basis. Another interesting fact that I read was how many people over the age of 65 owned different types of technology gadgets. “Seven in ten seniors own a cell phone, up from 57% two years ago” (Zickuhr & Madden, 2012). I am really shocked by this statistic also because my grandparents do not own cell phones and never caught on to the rise in technology. An additional interesting fact I read is that “20% of online adults say they use LinkedIn as of August 2012” (Brenner, 2013). I thought the percentage of adults on LinkedIn would be significantly higher than 20%.

A significant amount of my friends parents and grandparents use social media sites but my parents or grandparents have never joined in with the popular trend. There was a substantial difference in how my parents felt when I joined social media websites versus my younger sister. I also noticed that my younger sister joined Twitter, Instagram, and Tumblr before I joined so sometimes I feel like I find out about social media trends later than younger generations.

References:

Brenner, Joanna. (August 5, 2013). Pew Internet: Social Networking. Pew Internet.

Zickuhr, Kathryn., & Madden Mary. Other Adults and Internet Use. Pew Internet.