jonesak47-blog

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Facebook, Advertisements, Organizations

An overview of my final project.

I explored the ways in which businesses and organizations utilized Facebook to reach their desired audience as well as interact with those they reach through Facebook.

A big key throughout my presentation was how many people use Facebook and how many of them are mobile users. Technology has progressed in a way that the mobile format fits the way we use the technology. The adaptation to trending and used tools are evolving as we do.

Nearly 2.20 billion people are on Facebook, 68% of those people access their Facebook account at least once a day, and 95.1% of those people access their account from a smartphone. 

Businesses can not afford to not have a presence on Facebook. The entirety of my project consists of graphs and examples of how businesses and brands interact and build loyalty with customers as well as make necessary moves to build their Facebook empires through likes, shares, and follows with irresistible content that grabs your attention. 

If you would like to scroll through my 30 slide powerpoint please feel free to email me in hopes you can learn something from my research and time that I dedicated to this project. 

alex.kinley.jones@gmail.com

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Hootsuite Reflection

The Hootsuite certification was a helpful tool and software that we as a class were able to take and be a part of. 

Personally, I had never heard of Hootsuite and once I started doing the certification class work I was in awe of all the cool and convenient features that it had to offer.

As a personal account user who does not produce content for a large audience, it is redundant for me to use right now. However, I am thrilled to be able to say I am certified in Hootsuite software and I think it is incredible to put on a resume. 

One of the things I found extremely helpful and intriguing was when I first began the certification. The ability to post the same message across all platforms is astounding and that type of technology can be used for businesses to mass expose their content to their followers. 

Another incredible advancement was the auto-schedule. I saw that beinf able to space and plan out your content throughout the day was not only convenient but time manageable and progressive throughout the work day.

I am hopeful that as I go forward into my career that I will have the oppurtunity to use the incredible software that is Hootsuite. 

- @jones_ak47

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Blog Review: BufferSocial

Buffer is a software that enable others to share on social media in a smarter and more progressive way. It is very similar to the software Hootsuite that we have been using, but what drew me to reading one of their blogs was their ability to decide when was the best times to Tweet to gain the most attention.

Buffer is a social software that is trending throughout the digital world today. What drew me to this blog was an article I came across while searching the web. When I initially looked into it, all the blogs that popped out looked really intriguing and relevant to all the coursework we have done. There are blogs referencing reaching a mass audience and motivating engagement with that audience. There are many others. For example, IGTV taking off with its release and the way it could take over as TV for millennial’s as well as smaller examples of a small coffee business growing their social media fan base.

The overall blog focuses on the development of social media and working along with creating communities and audiences for other businesses. There are tips as well as information on how social media is evolving and how to gain interaction within an audience. All the blogs as I scrolled through were so similar to the concepts we covered throughout Socialnomics and Groundswell and I was able to relate with the website. 

The blogs they post help me revolutionize the way I see social media exposure through businesses. It will help me in this major as well as my future career as I approach social marketing and strategic communications.

My original blog was the following paragraphs and it was skewed from the assignment. However, I could not come to delete it so here is a review of one of their blogs I found interesting...

The blog I am reviewing is, How to Schedule Tweets to Maximize Reach and Engagement. Essentially, this blog is letting the readers know how, when, and what to tweet at certain times in order to reach a large audience and implore interaction. 

The beginning is why it is a good idea to schedule tweets. I have learned about software that schedules tweets by using Hootsuite (next blog reaction) but while I was learning how to schedule, I never thought of why I would need to. The base principles for scheduling tweets is production, consistency, quality, and strategy. For businesses, they tweet constantly throughout the day to enable web traffic but in order to stay productive they could schedule tweets to continue working on other work. This blog offered this graphic to show how production and multi tasking go together.

 I thought this was a great scale for the information they were giving off. 

Now onto why I actually chose this blog.. 3 Quick Tweeting best practices.

1. The Best Time To Tweet

Depending on what it is your tweeting, experiment with when you are getting the most engagement and interaction. Tweet to your followers and adapt to when they are active. It improves web traffic and exposure.

2. How Often To Tweet

Scheduling tweets is super helpful here. Depending on how much time you have, or how much content you want out to the public throughout the day then you can schedule all your tweets around the best time for your followers to see. Don’t tweet just to tweet, but offer quality and informational content.

3. Schedule but be Aware

Although you might schedule your tweets, don’t forget about real life scenarios. Tragedies, news, natural disasters are experiences that require attention and spot on tweeting. Don’t be complacent with just tweeting your scheduled content.

Overall, I think scheduling is a great way to post tweets at intervals throughout the days, especially if you have great content to share daily then you have the ability to be flexible and express it at different times rather than all at once. If you happen to read this blog, let me know what you think in the tumblr comments!

-@jones_ak47

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tweet, tweet, Twitter

Welcome back to yet another blog from my tumblr. The next few paragraphs are a mere reflection over my experience with Twitter over the past two weeks. Throughout my Web for Mass Communications course we have covered a lot of material and tools that can be utilized in the digital world. One social platform we used more than others was Twitter.

Twitter originally came around and I’m not sure people actually knew exactly what it was. I sure didn’t. 140 character? C’mon now.. but this class has shown me how to actually use Twitter to my advantage and utilize the tools and accessibilities it offers. 

First, the lists. When I first saw the lists and subscribing to them I was lost. I had no idea what in the heck these lists things were. I was just trying to scroll through my TL freely and mindlessly. However, the Twitter list actually helps you categorize your tweets from the accounts you follow in categories. Perfect for an OCD perfectionist like myself. It could also be helpful in other groups so everyone sees everything you do, rather than hoping so. This was relevant in our class list as we were able to see all the action from our peers and colleagues within our class.

Another thing that I found helpful was the professional and verified accounts I found purely because of this class. Once I heard 45 tweets a week I thought....oh no.. but then I started digging around some professionals in the world of social marketing and socialnomics and I found a lot of really cool accounts to follow. These accounts give tips, instructions, and tools to enhance the way I might one day do my job. It was intriguing to see all the different areas that social media, marketing, and economics ultimately play in the way we go through our lives.

Twitter is cool, I love Twitter, and now that I know how to actually use I plan to take complete advantage. 

- @jones_ak47 

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What Happens on Campus Stays on YouTube: Chapter 5

Hola my avid readers. I am back yet again to shed more light and my personal viewpoints as well as some opinionated fact from my head about this chapter and what I thought as I read it. 

Chapter 5 is titled, Social Media and Your Career, At this point, 4 weeks into a Web for Mass Communications class I believe at this point that social media IS my career, my life, my driving force. I have spent more time scavenging social media for personal and student use than I have in my whole life (slight exaggeration).

In this day and age, social media is our life. And “our life” will follow us wherever we go because once that picture, or video, or post hits the internet then it can never truly be deleted forever. 

I think that social media is beneficial and helpful for so many reasons. You can easily stay in touch with family and friends, you can let everyone know what you got your dad for fathers day, you can let others know not to go to that awful restaurant on the corner. However, the negative effects balance right on with it. 

I know of an employer who actually “stalks” the people she interviews social media accounts to determine if they should be hired. As crazy as it sounds, there is truth and understanding to that. And I agree that it is an acceptable way to determine of someone should get the job. 

Now onto actually setting up a social account. This chapter focused on constructing a LinkedIn profile. I thought that the tips were very helpful once they started mentioning about posting articles, joining groups related to your career aspirations, and interacting within them. I have a LinkedIn account but never actually spent time interacting within the module. This book has influenced me to spend more time within LinkedIn to extend my network.

Another interesting piece of information was the digital portfolio tools. I have a stack of newspapers from The Colonnade, The Baldwin Bulletin, as well as an article in a magazine and some other small work. Those websites shed light onto which platform would be best used to insert my work rather than a box in my closet. 

Chapter 5 was definitely one of my favorite chapters in the book and I hope others found it as useful as I did.

-jones_ak47

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Individual Tech Exploration: Facebook, Organizations, Advertisements

Facebook: Created in 2004 by a Harvard sophomore, Mark Zuckerberg. 

Probably the most well known social media platform across the world with nearly 2.20 billion users monthly. That is an astronomical number. Businesses would be completely ignorant to not utilize the platform of Facebook to produce advertisements, content, videos etc. to reach their existing and future customers. 

According to Zephoria Digital Marketing, 42% of marketers agree that producing advertisements on Facebook is critical to success because if you are not, your competition is. The hyperlink above shows 24 other statistics regarding Facebook as well.

There are a few components that make ads successful.

- Visual Content

-Valuable Information

-Relevance to audience

-Interaction

The ability to produce a visual piece of content is key. It is what attracts the audience to the organization and to the message you are trying to present. Once a producer grabs the audience’s attention, they must make the consumer realize the information that is within is worth their time and relevant to their wants and needs. Ultimately, you grab the audience’s attention and present your information then what? 

Interact. Facebook is the gateway for interaction. While people are mindlessly scrolling through their feed they come across an ad. They love it, where should they go from there? Facebook allows people to like and share the content and if it really speaks to them they can even like the original creator’s page. It builds a community within the Facebook platform. 

If a smaller business are in the progress of building up followers, content is a big key. What better place than the most highly trafficked social media platform in the world? Larger businesses utilize it by giving their consumers the opportunity to like and share everything they post as well as a constant interaction. 

I think advertisements on Facebook are an exceptional way to reach an audience. I also think that the ability for an organization to use ads to show off their products as well as interact with their customers through comments is really evolving the companies overall output and customer service. 

Take the Otterbox page for example. (I tried to embed a specific ad but I could not get it to work).. However, if you scroll through their Facebook page you can see them sharing their newest products and releases. If you take time to look at the comments, they are interacting with their customers. This is exactly how businesses are using groundswell techniques to improve constantly. 

The interaction within advertisements by organizations through Facebook is creating countless fans and followers and I am ecstatic to dive deeper into my exploration of the technology of Facebook!

- @jones_ak47

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Mari Smith: Facebook Marketing Expert

As I prepared to write this blog on “choosing my own adventure”, I intended it to tie into my individual tech exploration, which focuses on the advertisements and strategies used by businesses within Facebook. 

Mari Smith, Forbes #4 Top Social Media Power Influencer, is a Facebook marketing expert. I came across her Twitter while searching for people to follow for the Web for Mass Comm. class. Digging deeper into her website I was able to find her blogs that are oozing with content and tactics that can be used by essentially anyone looking to broaden their social platforms. She has categories for almost anything to enlighten and enhance your Facebook social marketing techniques. The category of her blog I am focusing on right now is, Facebook Advertising.

Now, my ITE focuses on stats and why Facebook advertisements are clearly not a waste of money as well as providing examples and showcasing what other businesses are doing to attract the viewers. However, Smith paves a way and provides outlines and areas where she can express her expertise and help businesses and brands build a foundation with her proven strategies.

For example, her Top 10 Facebook Video Marketing Questions blog focuses on the important questions on how to prepare a video that will be efficient and attract viewers and keep them interested in the video. 

Then she has other blogs such as this one, 9 Tips for Better Facebook Ads, that tells the readers why video ads are so vital and important both on Facebook and in the economy. What I liked about this blog she had was she utilized some of the same techniques we have been reading about. Some key tips in this blog were reaching consumers on a personal level and showing personality. I agree that viewers like to feel like content was meant for them, and Smith follows those successful tips.

As famous as she is, she writes in a such a way that speaks directly to an audience. She has a community that consists of people who look to her for guidance and experience in creating a successful and promising future in a company through social marketing techniques on Facebook. As I continue to work in my ITE I plan to revert to the enormous content she posses in her blogs regarding stats, tactics, and successes that she has provided. 

Mari Smith website.

- @jones_ak47

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Groundswell

The groundswell is changing the way that social marketing techniques are approached. Rather than traditional means of acquiring information, the evolution of technology within the digital world is transforming the ways we determine what products, brands, and organizations are right for us.

Up to this point, I have read through six chapters of groundswell and at first I had no idea what the term groundswell even remotely meant. Ultimately, it is the way that social technologies are transforming the world.

Some key points and strategies have been implemented and discussed in the first few chapters and they have been both helpful and insightful. 

One thing that I have taken from the reading is that the advancements in technology have given a voice to people who never had the opportunity to express their opinions and experiences. Bloggers are thriving in this era. Also to go along with the avid bloggers are the people who post simple reviews and interactions within communities about relationships and products they are building within their specific audiences. 

Relationships. The groundswell is building foundations on millions of different levels. Whether you love mayonnaise, sports, or bird watching there is a community out there for you to be a part of and speak with others with similar interests. The groundswell reading has even categorized the different roles of the people who use social tools through the social technographics ladder. From inactive members to the creators there is a category that fits almost everyones use of digital networking. 

Brands, businesses, and corporations are using it as well. The mass spreading of content and the customer service assistance has influenced and progressed the ways that they interact with their consumers. Reading relevant material from blogs and customer reviews has helped mold the company into an organization that can please their consumers consistently. 

Being able to talk and listen within the groundswell is vital as well. I learned good tactics to use from the chapters but what has stood out to me the most from the two is the techniques for talking with the groundswell. Viral videos, content, blogging, are all exceptional ways to catch a audiences attention.

The groundswell is impeccable and a tool that can be utilized on so many levels. As I continue to read this book I am ecstatic to see what it has to offer.

[jonesak47-blog]

Incredible assessment of a blog Miya. First I would like to start off with how I thoroughly enjoyed how your blog review focused on the usefulness of the tips and tricks Williams used. Whenever I am bored and find myself in the deeper parts of YouTube I become a victim to click bait and find myself looking at useful tips and tools to help in certain areas as well. You took this traveling guide tips and reviewed upon it. 

Besides that, I appreciate how you mentioned the blogger does other tip posts determining how she interacts with her readers. Having a versatile blogger who understands her audience and writes towards them is one of the important concepts in the book and she practices it well.

You’re overall assessment was great. I especially liked how you used a numerical scale and did not immediately give her a 10/10 on everything. Your blog rating was honest and that is appreciated.

- @jones_ak47

Blog Review: Lucy Williams Global

Found right here on tumblr.com, @lucywilliamsglobal is a travel blogger who provides her audience with traveling tips, and photos from her travels with related stories in the description.

I found her blog to be a fun reading and viewing experience! From Tumblr I was able to find her website, lucywilliamsglobal.com, which was easy to navigate and quite interactive. Although it has the same content as her Tumblr blog, it had more information about the blogger herself, and links leading to her Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, just to name a few. Overall, I think the organization of her website was neat and user-friendly.

The specific blog entry that caught my eye was a recent one; 5 Tips How to Buy & Pack A Capsule Wardrobe. Being a person who enjoys travel myself, I thought I could pick up a few helpful tips, and indeed, I was correct. Firstly, I had never known the term for a capsule wardrobe, only the concept, so I learned new terminology today. I also learned some great tips about color-coordination (not that my wardrobe strays far from all black, with an occasional flash of color, to be honest) and keeping my wardrobe interesting, but minimal for travel’s sake.

Williams provided links to her previous, related blog posts as well as clothing brands, and it was done in a non-disruptive fashion. There were a few Amazon ads as well that were borderline obtrusive, but they didn’t take over the screen, so overall they weren’t horribly distracting; they did pertain to what was being said, so they were actually rather helpful. It was a wise business move for Williams, in my opinion, to have links going back to her other posts so that she could promote her own brand; whether or not she was sponsored by the clothing brands or simply mentioning them was unclear, but I believe she was not sponsored. Still, it boosts recognition for their brands as well, which could lead more online traffic in their direction.

Her ending was well done. She leaves room for responses, asking her readers if they have more tips to share, encouraging conversation. She also encourages readers to share the post on their own social media platforms, which could not only be helpful to readers’ friends and family, but will boost Williams’ exposure and the online traffic to her website. It’s a simple, but effective method; and she did it politely!

Overall: Lucy Williams maintains a user-friendly blog with very helpful information for new or learning travelers, and I like it. I’ll break down my ratings into sections…

Layout: 10/10 Content: 7/10 Information: 10/10 Business Skill: 10/10 Engagement: 6/10 Eloquence: 10/10 To comment on the lower scores, I only rated the content a 7 out of 10 because although there’s a lot and it’s largely helpful if that’s the sort of help you’re looking for, it does become slightly redundant. Her audience engagement is present, but not…grabbing. It’s average. It’s there though, so although it doesn’t encourage introverts like me to participate, some of the audience will still respond.

And, to comment on what I meant by eloquence, I mean that she words her posts well, and she does it concisely. It’s easy to read and understand, which is very valuable!

What do you guys think? Do you agree with my assessment, or have anything to add? Let me know!

[jonesak47-blog]

Socialnomics Reflection

Erik Qualman’s book, Socialnomics, is a fabulous book orchestrated and categorized together to help readers understand and utilize the tools to transform the way business is conducted with the incredible use of internet and social media. The book is not intended to be read in any sort of order, but instead put together in a way that readers can jump from chapter to chapter using the one that they need or intrigues them. Since I read it in order, I was able to think critically and discuss each aspect of the book in and out with fellow peers.

One thing I found interesting occurred in the first chapter. The World of Mouth concept is the basis of how the power of social media has transformed the way we use it. Businesses, brands, and personal users are able to take one idea and exclaim it to the world with one press of a button. The ability to share a thought or product to the entire world through the form of social media has progressed the culture into vast amounts of exposure to things we might have never heard of if it had not been for the power of the internet.

On top of being able to just share the products, consumers are able to make “review” blogs, vlogs, and statements about what they purchase. Rather than hoping the product is good that you are buying, a person is able to watch videos, read reviews and relate experiences with the product to determine if it is right for them. The power of social media allows others to look at a consumer who has already purchased the product and compare their lifestyles, personalities, and alikeness as to whether a certain product is right for them, rather than shooting in the dark and hoping for the best. The World of Mouth concept has transformed and progressed the convenience of the economy far beyond the old Word of Mouth action.

Another term that was in this book early was Braggadocian behavior. Before reading it, I had no idea that the ability to “flex on the gram” (a way to appear cool via social media) actually had a definite name. In the world today, people exhibit braggadocian behavior consistently. Even I do. The pursuit to get more likes than someone else, show off where you are or what you have done for shares, likes, and the ability to go viral is happening millions of times a day. There are so many individuals today who are “insta-famous” and that term is used so often everyone knows what it means. Braggadocian behavior lives and fuels everyone of us to “flex” in social media each day.

These were just a couple terms I found intriguing throughout this book, but more helpful tips include business to business strategies, ways to promote the use of social media, and even helpful blogging tips. If you as a reader are looking for a helpful book to boost your social media presence and searching for tools in a way to utilize your social media then I strongly suggest giving this book a read.

[jonesak47-blog]

KD: top athlete, top vlogger

Hard to believe, but I find quite a bit of entertainment by watching popular vlog channels on YouTube. What is so bad is that they are not very informational or promote my overall education. The vlogs that I find enjoyable are just normal individuals who try to get their viewers to laugh or do normal everyday activities. However, I enjoy them. I like looking into others lives. 

Possibly my favorite vlog to watch is Kevin Durant’s. Contradictory to my first thought, Kevin Durant is not a normal individual living a normal life. Being the sports fanatic that I am, I am drawn to the inner lives of athletes and what they do off the playing platform. With that being said, Durant is my favorite basketball player and has been since 2007. He started his vlog about a year ago, giving insight to his house, cars, what he does when he isn’t playing basketball. He has vlogs with his teammates in the parking lot of Oracle Arena after games. He even gives fans a chance to send him questions and he answers.

What I love about KD’s vlogs is that the evolution of digital media has allowed him to directly talk to his fans that tune into his YouTube channel. One-to-many. Rather than speculate the activities he likes to do, he shows us. He plays video games, eats junk food, goes to Chance the Rapper concerts. He does things even we like to do, and although he is an extraordinary athlete with multiple world championships, the vlogs make him human. 

When the new Nike KD 11 basketball shoes came out, he was able to show us the shoe and talk about what he liked and how his influence over the design shaped the overall cosmetic and tech of the shoe. I think that helps the fans see how KD shaped his product and fans tend to like the shoe more, because it is the way that Durant wanted it. They feel more inclined to purchase the product since it is the way he wanted it. 

I know not a lot of people find sports as thrilling as I do, or care enough to spend time seeing what athletes do off the competition field but I find it exciting. There are numerous athletes who vlog and if you find KD as polarizing and exceptional as I do here is a link to his YouTube channel! 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCB_4C2Gl7Zfg4uBXk_AcWwA/videos

[jonesak47-blog]

Social Influence of Fortnite

This blog post is written in a Starbucks as I drink a black coffee and eat a piece of warm banana bread.

The first line is an example of how I could influence someone to go to Starbucks and order a black coffee and eat banana bread. As unlikely as it is that this post goes viral and everyone scurries to the nearest Starbucks to follow my lead, it is not entirely impossible. Someone who has the same interests and hobbies as me could relate as to what I like to do, and think that since I like it, they would too. This post on the internet is a way that I can reach a mass amount of individuals directly, as socialnomics would call it, world of mouth.

Instead of my previous example of social influence, let me mention a more well known individual that some of you may have heard of. Tyler "Ninja" Blevins is a professional video game player and Twitch streamer. His rise to fame spiked increasingly when the game Fortnite became a trending area of popularity by people across the world. Seriously, everyone is playing it.

Twitch is a social streaming site where players can live stream the game they are playing while a camera shows their face and they are able to interact directly with the individuals who tune in to watch their gameplay. It's a mixture of video blogging and entertainment. As crazy as it sounds, it is an extremely popular and high paying gig for popular Twitch streamers. And Ninja, is the epitome of popular when it comes to Twitch.

His peak number of who tuned into his stream was a little over 635,000, when he teamed up with hip-hop megastar Drake and Travis Scott, as well as Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster. Since then, he averages nearly 100,000 viewers per night and has over eight million followers. That is quite a lot of people to reach on a social platform.

With the growing popularity of Twitch streaming as well as his sponsorship affiliations with Red Bull, Bud Light, Logitech and Amazon, Blevins makes roughly 500,000 dollars a month. His social platform is centered around the motto of "making the world a more positive place." He constantly uses his earnings to donate to numerous charities and even rescue animals from shelters on the road to be euthanized. In one day alone he raised over 100,000 dollars for Suicide Prevention charities. On another stream for charity he raised 500,000 dollars for St. Judes Children Hospital.

Just last night there was a celebrity professional x amateur tournament where over two million people tuned in. Blevins emerged victorious with three million dollars as a reward for him to donate to any charity of his choice.

In the end, his social platform and fan base allows for people to donate to his gameplay and personality just because he does something that his fans enjoy. They drink Red Bull because Ninja does, they use logitech technology because Ninja does, they donate to charity because Ninja promotes the idea.

He uses his social popularity and world of mouth social platform to progress the world as much as he can.