Sunday, September 23, 2012

Week #4 Assignment #4

Slide ShareSource:


 http://www.slideshare.net/stevelatham/social-media-strategy-spur-interactive

This presentation pretty much goes along with the presentations posted. The same general techniques are used for a good social media marketing strategy. In all the items reviewed, the planning has a pretty straightforward format.

Changes I would make to the Project Marketing Plan Format


I've read through the project several times and I honestly can't really see three things  that I would change. I think that in the project you address all of the things a company would look for in a good social media marketing plan.

You address the need to identify the audience and their needs.
You address the need for company goals.
You address similar business market research.
You address choosing the proper medium.

The only thing I would suggest in the project is the need to discuss with the client about realistic goals and how these goals will be achieved. A client may go into social media marketing thinking that all their business dreams are going to come true. I believe that there has to be a sense of grounding that needs to come along with the goal setting. That would protect that client and yourself from any unmet expectations.

Is it a good idea for an instructor to solicit changes to an assignment from his students?


I think it's a fantastic idea. I love the idea that we are learning together in some way. It's like you are admitting that this is new class and we can learn from each other. It's almost like you aren't implementing a system of hierarchy in the process. In some ways it's a lot like social media. You have many people offering advice and you are actually listening. It's a very cool idea.

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Week #3 Assignment #3

Marshall McLuhan tetrad asks these four question of a an object of the media.

  1. What does the medium enhance?
  2. What does the medium make obsolete?
  3. What does the medium retrieve that had been obsolesced earlier?
  4. What does the medium flip into when pushed to extremes?
1. What does the medium enhance?

I am going to use Facebook as my medium. We have to ask, what does this enhance? I believe it enhances communication. to many different people in one place.

What does the medium make obsolete?

I believe it makes having to contact many people individually obsolete. 

What does the medium retrieve that had been obsolesced earlier?

The difficulty of connecting with family and friends. You can connect with people at the touch of a button.

What does the medium flip into when pushed to extremes?

I believe it flips into a device to for people to access your information and intimate details about your life and family. You could involve people into your life you may not have wanted to.



Marshall McLuhan's theories really come down to market analysis to me. There are people that do this in every industry. They ask the questions: What's the next big thing? How can we utilize it? How will people accept this medium? It's really simple evolution. First people would write letters, then they called eachother, then they e-mailed,  and now people can text message. It seems like it's really just trend prediction. 

The mediums used and how people respond to them, may just be what is most popular. For example, if you were watching TV and the news said that a famous singer died, you would want to check the facts on the internet. Years ago people would rely on the news of their local papers and news. Now we have access to millions of articles. If a year from now something greater than the internet came out and began to evolve into what people use as their main resource for information, we would use that rather than the internet, because that is how the technology has evolved. I think in social media marketing, you have to try to predict what would be the best media for getting a message across and if it will still useful months from now.

Sunday, September 9, 2012

Assignment #2 Week #2

Things that make for effective social media marketing are:

Time and Dedication
From what I have read, social media marketing takes time and dedication from the business or persons trying to use it. You cannot do it half way!

Using the proper Social Media Outlet
Do not use the wrong social media outlet if you know your consumers will not come to that specific place.

Engaging Your Audience
Ask questions and make your posts fun. Make people feel like they are a part of something.

Do Not Ignore Comments or Questions
Don't ignore anyone. This is harmful to your business. People want to know that you care!

Realize That It's Called SOCIAL For A Reason
This goes hand in hand with the previous statement. You must interact with your audience.



Sources:
http://www.bizjournals.com/southflorida/print-edition/2011/11/18/social-media-marketing-builds-brand.html?page=all

Sunday, September 2, 2012

Assignment Week #1

Summary:

What I found about social media marketing is that it's a good way to network your business or anything you want. The good thing about social media marketing is that you have the potential to reach a lot of people. SMM can be used effectively to promote your business or personal endeavors. I do blog and web design. I also work with a lot of independent authors. Their main source of getting their books out to the public is through use of blogs and social networking sites such as Facebook. For them specifically, this is a great way to promote their works because they can network with other authors, who have authors and fans on their social networking sites. This creates a web of people that could potentially buy, read their book, and review it for others to read.

Some examples of how organizations use social media for marketing - your thoughts on the examples - Do you the organizations are effective in their use of Social Media? not effective? why?:

A prime example I can personally use is a company based in Texas that I did a business logo for. The company uses Facebook to promote their business(http://www.facebook.com/BarBSkew. When they first started using their Facebook, they were hardly updating it and they weren't promoting themselves enough on there. They saw it as secondary to traditional marketing. Once they started updating more and posting more about their business, they got more likes. I believe that if they updated more and offered coupons and discounts on their Facebook, they would be able to have people come back rather than just stopping in once because they were asked to. I think that is power of social networking. It's not just word of mouth anymore. Many people can access information about your business at the click of a button.


Sources:

http://mashable.com/2009/10/28/small-business-marketing/
http://www.socialquickstarter.com/content/1-why_social_media_marketing