Organizational Uses

I have always thought that Facebook could be a useful way to communicate between an organizations hierarchy and its lower level employees. The problem arises with concerns about privacy. Your Facebook profile is out there for the world to see, but of course there are people that you don’t want to allow access to that window into your life. The idea of using Facebook as a communication tool is valid. However, I would never want to be friends with my current boss. Luckily there are other avenues that are more for a professional setting.

One of my favorite and most useful sites that I have found is Dropbox.com. “Dropbox, a free service that lets people bring their documents, photos and videos everywhere and share them easily. More than 45 million people already depend on Dropbox” (http://www.dropbox.com/press/20111027). One of the companies I work for uses drop box to share every document needed to run and organize a branch of the business from anywhere. Our Dropbox contains documents, contracts, tutorials, pictures and training materials. I have found it incredibly useful to have all of that information at my fingertips. Dropbox saves a lot of the hassle of forwarding and sharing documents and provides more privacy than using Gmail. Dropbox is easy to use and if you have an iPad, you can carry your whole document library wherever you go.

Dropbox was created by Drew Houston. He has an interesting story. Houston created one of the fastest growing websites out there. When the website first started gaining popularity, it caught the attention of Steve Jobs who offered to buy the website for an obscene amount of money. I admire Houston for not selling out. He was determined to create a large business out of Dropbox. Dropbox has around 50 million users and another joins every second. (http://www.forbes.com/sites/victoriabarret/2011/10/18/dropbox-the-inside-story-of-techs-hottest-startup/)

Social Media: Apps, QR Codes.

Mobile devices are quickly becoming an intricate part of the way we live our lives. Smart phone users have any basic information that they might require at their fingertips. These phones provide news, weather updates, social media connection, navigation system and the possibilities are endless. The new Siri program for the iPhone 4S is the coolest thing I have ever seen. I remember when I left the country for two years thinking that my flip camera phone was as good as it gets. Upon return I held my first iPhone and it gave me a headache.

Quick Response Codes have always been something that interest me. I have never personally taken the time to download a QR reader for my phone or used my camera to scan one. But I can see the benefit they could have and I have seen a lot of businesses jump on the band wagon. I have seen QR codes on billboards, in restaurants, on flyers. They are everywhere. However, most people I have talked to are in my same boat. Not often do we take the time to scan them. I did a little research and found this article that gave me a little more faith in QR codes. http://beqrious.com/show/the-power-to-mobilize-your-life-qr-codes
QR codes have been used in Japan for over a decade now and the rest of the world is just catching on. QR codes do not only embed URLs, which I originally thought. "It can encode telephone numbers, text messages, commands and contact information." Knowing they can do that, I think that QR codes will only get more popular.

I am probably less informed than a lot of people my age when it comes to new apps and smart phone functions. I promised myself that I wouldn't become a slave to technology, but it's just so damn convenient. People in high level math classes would usually need to spend a few hundred dollars to get a nice calculator, now you can get an app for $50 that performs the exact same functions. I love that apps make it so you can personalize your phone. If there is something irrelevant to you on there, it is easy to delete and replace it. I've seen apps that can do amazing things to keep me informed or entertained, but nothing had made my jaw drop in a while, until Siri came out.

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/mobile-news/iphone-4s-getting-along-well-with-siri/5338

This article was pretty cool. It talks about the main uses for Siri that the writer uses on a daily basis. He uses the reminders app constantly to remind him to change the laundry or turn down the temperature on the oven. Siri helps to remind us of the simple things we tend to forget. Siri makes it easy to set alarms as well. I feel like the road is a safer place with Siri as well. No longer will people have to uses their hands or take their eyes away from the road to text or make a call, it is simply a command away.

I can't wait to see what the future has in store. Things are changing so fast, it will be hard to keep up. But for all of us in the Public Relations profession, we have to stay up to date on all of this stuff. The more informed we are on the uses of technology, the more useful we will be to a company.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNsrl86inpo

Social Media: Viral Videos

I feel like there are two different types of viral videos: those that are created and those that just happen. The thing with trying to create a viral video is that it’s impossible. All you can do is set yourself up in the best way possible and hope that you can catch the wave. The videos that tend to catch focus on real life, emotion and creativity. A company that wants to create a promotional video to go viral has to rely mostly on humor and creativity, unless they use the real experiences of others to apply concepts to their businesses.

Red Bull is the company that has stood out to me the most recently. It is obvious that they have a huge viral video campaign going on right now. Not many companies have the budget that Red Bull has. But despite the budget, Red Bull has done some amazing things.

They have one of the best helicopter pilots out there, and a helicopter that can do flips and barrel rolls.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2qvZH79gwA

They have their own stunt plane.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4aVggpwrbc

My favorite is their recent snowboard movie that recently came out called "The Art of Flight."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4CUNVYxxZM

If Red Bull keeps coming up with videos like this and sponsoring the people that they do, they will have cemented themselves as the drink for extreme people.

In an article I read, trying to create new viral video is like "dropping a grain of sand on the beach." There is so much video content existing online that it makes getting discovered difficult. The author gives some advice. She says that people need to feel a sense of discovery when they come across a video so that it is something they want to share with friends. According to her the main things to focus on are having great content, building a fan base and search engine optimization. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123481783053894227.html

I was also a big fan of this one. http://www.reelseo.com/viral-video-lessons-2010/

Everyone enjoys watching a creative video, but it's the ones that depict real life and real emotions that tend to get the most views. There have been multiple nights where my roommates and I will sit and home watching YouTube videos and be completely entertained. Viral videos are my favorite form of social media. They inspire people to be more creative. They are going to define this generation.

Social Media: Location Based Programs

This is why I love Social Media class. I had no idea about Foursquare or how to utilize other location based systems. The only one that I knew about was Facebook Places. I researched an article that gives a short breakdown of five of the top location based programs. They are Foursquare (and from what I hear it’s the best), Facebook Places (fun to check in and let the world know where you are), Groupon (which allows you to see business that are close and what deals they are offering), Blippy and Loopst (I still need to find out a little more about the last two). http://www.studio1c.com/seo-and-internet-marketing/419-top-5-location-based-social-media-sites.html

The article at http://socialmediatoday.com/trevorjonas/287597/3-tangible-ways-utilize-foursquare-event-marketing, that gives great advise on how to incorporate Foursquare in to event marketing strategies. Foursquare is something that I am definitely going to have to play around with. As someone that will probably be working in some way with social media for the rest of my life, I feel like I am slightly behind the curve.

I work for a company called CityGro and I’m trying to create a social media plan where I can incorporate all of these new things in to our website. Foursquare might be beneficial as far as utilizing the “check in” tool to allow people to show when and where they use a specific deal. If anyone has any ideas on how I can make that work, let me know.

Social Media: Traditional Views

Finding a way to branch out from traditional views of advertising can be difficult. There is so much information available about potential returns through newspaper ads, commercials and the radio. Utilizing these new avenues of social media requires a much more innovative approach. Everyone is tired of hearing gimmicks, sales pitches and clever slogans. While there will always be a place for those, no one wants to see an ad for a new shampoo appear on their Facebook wall. What people want out of a business that is using social media is to be a part of a community. As we learned in class, the most successful business locally that uses social media is Bear River Health Department. That is because they actively take part in conversations that are relevant to their business.

Companies create a Facebook profile with the goal to generate as many “Likes” as they can, but to what end? The only businesses that I have liked on Facebook are the ones that I have a personal connection to, or someone I know does. This is where new ideas are needed. Some companies spend upwards of 20 percent on their annual revenue in advertising. Social media is so popular because it is free. But imagine if a business took some of their advertising budget and poured it into Facebook to create incentives for people “Liking” them. It could go a long way.

It is a fact that people respond to incentives. Everyone enjoys getting something for free, but that isn’t the only way to draw a crowd. There are tons of niches that business harness to help spread awareness or grow their business. People respond to humor, creativity, causes, exceptional people, and the environment to name a few. I like this Old Spice video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owGykVbfgUE

They were transparent that they wanted you to buy their product but they did it in a humorous way.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/ciocentral/2011/09/01/how-social-media-can-mesh-with-traditional-corporate-it/

This article spoke of the impact that social media will have on the IT landscape. Social media sites are saving businesses money. Instead of hiring a whole team of people to keep all of their employees informed about what is going on, employees do it themselves through Facebook.

http://www.jeffbullas.com/2011/01/24/why-social-and-traditional-media-marketers-should-stop-acting-like-fighting-lovers/

This one is awesome, it goes over some of the pros and cons of both traditional marketing and social media marketing.

Blogging

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,650732-1,00.html

I did not realize how important blogs had become until I started reading articles about them. I may still be a bit old fashioned. I didn’t have an email address until I was 19, I never made a MySpace account and I was the last of my friends to create a Facebook. My first blog was created last year, and that was because it was a requirement for my class. Taking a class on social media has really helped me realize how out of date I am.

It is hard for me to understand how influential blogs have become because I don’t really follow anyone’s. But apparently bloggers have become a valued and trusted source of news and other information. They have become the Rottweiler of current media watchdogs. It is a little scary to think that an average ordinary person can have the power that they do through their online presence.

The reason why blogs are so effective is because they are free. People see them while they are going about their everyday lives. Blogs are a way that people can find others with similar interests that relate to their problems. It’s an interesting phenomenon that people will take time out of their days to read about a stranger. I obviously need to start reading blogs to fully understand the potential that they have.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/07/fashion/07blogs.html

This article was also very interesting; it followed the story of a mommy blogger who had developed a large following, then because of one post lost her entire following. I can’t imagine how many incredible journalists or writers there are out there. It is nice that everyone has a chance to be heard. Blogs make it easy to get started; the trouble is developing a following. They say that the people that do have a large audience do so out of sheer luck. It is just nice to know that dreams can still be reached for all those people who want to reach out through their writing.

Social Media: The Big 7

http://thenextweb.com/socialmedia/2011/05/14/the-7-social-media-marketing-essentials-for-brands/

As I was researching articles on the “Big 7” of social media, I came across an interesting article about 7 practical uses for social media for businesses. As I have worked with various businesses to assist in advertising, the one thing they never say no to is, social media support. Every business owner knows that social media is important, it affects the way that their business is viewed by others. However, not many know how to utilize social media. I am excited for this class so that I might have a few more answers for them by the time this class is over.

One of the ways stated in this article that social media could be beneficial to a company was through internal communications. They listed a few websites apart from the Big 7, but also talked about how companies could use Facebook groups to help organize and keep employees in the know about things happening in the work place. The article also spoke of utilizing sites such as YouTube so help promote branded content.

Customer service can become outstanding through social media. Companies can use it to receive instant feedback about products and services. This can go good or bad for a company. The article talked about how the world is becoming more transparent through social media. If a company is lying or hiding something, it is easy for the world to catch wind of it through a simple Facebook or Twitter update.

People seem to be concerned that Facebook membership is slowing, they are taking it as a sign that the world is moving on to the next great thing. However, I feel that as people are becoming more competent with computers, there is only room for more growth. The article compared Facebook to MySpace. ” Many think Facebook will have a similar fall from grace one day and that we will move on to the next big thing but to think like that would be foolish. You need to think of Facebook not as a website but as a platform which will become as important as the internet or Google itself. Facebook is starting to force it’s way on to websites, it’s being built in to the core of mobile phones and soon you’ll be buying stuff through there and it will influence search results. Facebook is not going away any time soon.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/04/opinion/sunday/if-im-on-facebook-it-must-be-over.html?_r=1&ref=socialnetworking

This article was not related at all to the other one. I just thought it was interesting to see that even the people who were originally against Facebook and finally making a profile. Facebook and social media are becoming a way of life. Those who do not get on board will be left behind.