Let's take a deep look

In my last blog post, I spoke about the importance of  making your best "first" impression online. People will judge one's post based on the content ,aesthetics, music and more. This can be tricky but it is important to have it right. Knowing your audience is key in order to hit the "money" on this one.I want to go further and elaborate what it takes to make that great first impression and see how other people have done it.

Claire, who is a kindergarten teacher in Seoul, South Korea by trade is also a blogger on the side. As you can see with the image above she has captivated her viewer with a scenic picture that takes up almost the whole screen. The image is clean and sleek and gives you an image in your head about what she will be speaking about. "She uses Moka to great effect. The theme offers the option of adding a splashy post slider to the homepage, enticing visitors to click on Claire’s striking landscape images and read her posts, while still maintaining the easy navigation and streamlined look of a fixed front page "(Huberman,2014). You can figure out how to go through her page without feeling intimidated or overwhelmed by her website page. 

Alexandra's blog opens up with an introduction and and is has a straightforward and clean look for her blog. Having her biography listed on the side made it easy or the reader to get to know her. Her blog is personable and relatable in having people feel like they know who she is.  "The focus here is on her content, and her homepage is a distraction-free zone — visitors will only find an author’s portrait, along with a short bio tucked into a Text Widget in the sidebar. "(Huberman, 2014). 

It is important to portray who you are and be transparent with your audience.  These bloggers have done so in their works. Displaying authenticity and a successful media following because of it.

Reference

Huberman, B. (2014, February 12). Make a Great First Impression with a Homepage. Retrieved from 

       https://en.blog.wordpress.com/2014/02/12/static-homepage/

Keeping it Real

    When someone meets you for the first time, you want to give your best impression. When it comes to social media it can be the same thing. It is important to give your best impression. It could be with the aesthetics of your webpage and attracting your website visitors when the first see your website.  It is the idea that people are attracted to what they see. 

      People use videos, layouts, gifts, music and more to make it more appealing to the audience that they are trying to cater to. It is important to have your own photos that display your style and your lens of thinking. It is important to show your style of things of how things are done. It is also critical to express your passion in means that are personal and relatable. You don't want to be deemed as not genuine. "Share newsworthy information related to your brand that interests the community, keeping community members updated about the brand’s activities "(Breakenridge,2016). It is good to consider what information you are displaying. When posting have a balance of sharing personal information and comical, useful and interesting. 

       This will all be around who you are talking to. The sad truth is that only 44% of businesses have created buyer personas. Knowing your buyer is essential to making strategic decisions regarding sales and marketing. Ask yourself who will be viewing your social media and who will care about what you  share. Then, start crafting a social media plan that focuses directly on those individuals, teams, or businesses. If your audience feels  like you know them well enough, they’ll be more inclined to find out who you are.(Segal,2016). Knowing your audience and who you are targeting is key to having a successful, blog or following on your social media channels. 

References

Breakenridge, D. (2012). Social media and public relations: eight new practices for the PR professional. Upper Saddle River, NJ: FT Press.

Segal, S. (2016, September 15). 7 Habits to Make Your Brand More Authentic on Social Media. Retrieved from https://www.oktopost.com/blog/7-habits-make-brand-authentic-on-social-media/

Keeping it Short and Sweet

In the power of social media, it is nearly impossible to not mention speed. With that being said, most social media users do not have span over a few minutes to be generous but more than 60 seconds preferably. The motto the shorter the better is best in this case.  How long should a video should be? The answer is stated on NewWeb.Com states  "Truth is, there are two answers for this question 1.As short as possible 2.It depends. Obviously, both are right. we are in an era in which attention spans are getting shorter as we’re flooded with all sorts of content; text ads, Buzzfeed lists, photos, banners and more videos." (Hornung,2016). 

Image& Video From (NewsWeb)    & Buzzfeed.com/Tasty

 Buzzfeed has swept the nation and the world with their Tasty videos. Creating meals before our eyes in 15 or 30 second clips. Making it look so easy, attainable and engaging. It is important to be able to spread and share your message quickly to your followers and keep them engaged.  They now have Tasty video versions in Brazil, Japan, England, and other parts of the world creating dishes that you can make from another part of your world right in your kitchen. Buzzfeed has maximized and learned the meaning of creating and keeping everyone connected through the power of the internet. "Identify what topics of interest drive the influencers in these communities and how focusing on the critical issues work to your benefit "(Breakenridge, 102). Buzzfeed has learned to connect with millennials, those who don't connect well with cook or want to advance their cooking skills, and those who have a busy lifestyle and need quick meals on the go. Buzzfeed has led the way to this innovation of speedy videos and has sweeping the internet by storm. 
References

Breakenridge, D. (2012). Social media and public relations: eight new practices for 

     the PR professional. Upper Saddle River, NJ: FT Press.

Hornung, Y. (2016, March 10). The Optimal Length For Video Marketing Content. Retrieved from 
     https://thenextweb.com/socialmedia/2014/05/02/optimal-length-video-marketing-content-short-possible/#.tnw_P2HPVC7d

How do you create an engaged audience?

        It is important to know who the audience that you are trying to engage is. You can truly gain access to anyone via social media but to truly grab the attention of those is to research your audience. What is the demographic of your current audience? Is that demographic the same for the target audience that you want to attain? These are important measures to be aware of and make note of.

       Creating a plan and knowing the proper tools is imperative to know the important ways to know how to reach your audiences. Many local businesses claim their business page on Yelp and that can be a great way to get a local business the attention that they may need in the community. Having a strategic plan, for a social media campaign is imperative. "After you have determined this overarching set of goals, then it will be easier to determine [which] metrics make the most sense. "| (Breakenridge, 2012). For example, having a hashtag or promoting a account or company for a like or a follow could give an individual an entry into a contest.  This can create major productivity.

         The ice bucket challenge that was done a few years back that truly went viral was a huge success. “Using our media intelligence platform, we see that the ice bucket challenge was mentioned 170,000 times in news media in the second half of 2014. Slacktivism was mentioned in conjunction with it 3,000 times. Though this number represents a small portion of total mentions, it nonetheless reveals a trending association.” (Vance, 2017). It was a low touch but high engagement. It didn’t require much except water, ice, some clothes you didn’t mind getting wet in, water bucket and camera to capture it all. This contest stole the hearts of millions and even got many celebrities not only to participate but to donate. This social media video campaign brought awareness to ALS and brought in tons of money that has been contributing to finding a cure.  The organization had a clear goal and mission and it was accomplished!

References

Breakenridge, D. (2012). Social media and public relations: eight new practices for the PR

professional. Upper Saddle River, NJ: FT Press.

Vance, J. (2017, February 22). Social Media and PR: Insights from the Ice Bucket 

        Challenge on Creating Lasting Impact — Meltwater. Retrieved from      

        https://www.meltwater.com/blog/social-media-and-pr-insights-from-the-ice-

        bucket-challenge-on-creating-lasting-impact/

Who Can Tell the Best Version of the Story?

Sharing our stories and days has truly been a phenomenon and keeping us afloat. Snapchat has helped pioneered the storytelling of social media. You are able to stay in touch real time no matter where they are in the world. Snapchat has let storytelling be brought to a whole new level. Snapchat has been revolutionary in one sense like twitter. It makes you tell your story within the realms of a 10 second span.

It makes us keep the storytelling engaging with filters, geofilters to share where you are at.It creates an engagement piece that paints a clearer picture in the storytelling. Recently,Instagram and this week Facebook have decided to follow suit. They have created their own snapchat story telling like feature. You can share with your followers what is going on in your day but as PR professional can even grasp more attention on their target audience. As a real estate professional, you can show “snaps” of a property to promote and show to potential clients. You  can also use the story to promote a particular campaign. Nike could decide to expand their “Just Do It” campaign by featuring snippets of videos displaying their product.

Sharing our stories seems to be a popular trend that isn’t going anywhere. "Yes, this is something that was pioneered by Snapchat," Connor Hayes, a product manager at Facebook, said during a press briefing in San Francisco on Monday. "We think they did a great job of uncovering that Stories as a format is the way that people really want to share photos and videos in social apps"(Nieva, 2017). “This may be the newest form of journaling. This can show one day an aspect of history that can be recorded only to tell a side of a tale. Sharing of stories use to be somewhat of a private practice is one that is streamlining into almost every media channel.  “Strategically, it’s hard to argue with Instagram’s introduction of stories. It’s a ruthless effort to increase sharing on its own platform at the expense of Snapchat’s future growth, using the very tools that Snapchat invented “(Newton,2016). Now, Facebook does own Instagram and started Instagram Stories only right after Snapchat turned down a deal to be bought out by Facebook. Now that Facebook has now done Facebook stories as well, will this mean war between Snapchat and Facebook? Only time will tell.

To be continued….

References

Newton, C. (2016, August 02). Instagram's new stories are a near-perfect copy of

Snapchat stories. Retrieved from http://www.theverge.com/2016/8/2/12348354/instagram-stories-announced-snapchat-kevin-systrom-interview

Nieva, R. (2017, March 28). Facebook Stories makes big move in war against

Snapchat. Retrieved from https://www.cnet.com/news/facebook-stories-snapchat-snap-main-
app/

Keeping It All Streamlined

Some of the funniest things I may see during my day is on Twitter. Twitter tends to be filled with puns, jokes, memes, but can also be quite serious. For some Twitter may be where the news broke out first to them.Twitter can be used to set a platform or precedence of your ordinary person, corporation or public figure. I was fortunate enough this past Tuesday March 21st to catch the NBA game of the Dallas Mavericks and Golden State Warriors play live. I thoroughly enjoyed it, thanks to the generosity of my husband.

Nowadays, it is very important to capture a moment in real time.  “Metrics from Hootsuite have provided us with tangible and quantifiable insights to measure content that is shared with leadership teams. These Metrics illustrate the success of content and how we can reach new and existing audiences better.”(HS)It builds credibility from your followers and can grow the followers that you have.  “Communications and technology go together. But, this hasn’t always been the case for PR professionals integrating technology into their daily roles. “(Breakenridge, 2012, pg. 37). Great sites like Hootsuite can sync it together and make you feel that everything comes together and plan one’s posts so that they come in real time.

References

Breakenridge, D. (2012). Social media and public relations: eight new practices for the PR

professional. Upper Saddle River, NJ: FT Press.

Inc., H. M. (n.d.). Social Media Analytics. Retrieved from

https://hootsuite.com/products/social-media-analytics

Sharing is Caring

                                            Photo Credit: www.turnto23.com

There have been so many PR campaigns that have emerged over the years and even more so since social media arose. Social Media has helped companies expand their platform and help gather more of a following. Social Media can help virtually any PR campaign in the spreading the mission and goals of that particular campaign.  There are many types of social media channels and they each have their own specialization.

            Hashtags are a great way to utilize and expand the platform that is trying to be spread and made known. Hashtags can be effective on any social media platform such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, etc. There have been many effective and successful social media campaigns but one that stood out was the #ShareYourEars campaign. This campaign was a partnership with Walt Disney and Make a Wish Foundation and had their audience share their pictures onto the hashtag #ShareYourWars.  

                     

                                                                             Photo Credit: www.tint.com

                                                                    

With each share Disney donated $5 when someone posted a pictures with their Mickey Mouse ears with the hashtag #ShareYourEars. The campaign was utilized on twitter and Instagram and was streamlined through TINT. TINT was a marketing tool being able to use and showcase content from multiple sources. They can use their hands, bows, or any creative means to create their ears. The goal was $1,000,000 but it was so successful and had doubled to $2,000,000 in donation in Make A Wish Foundation. It was successful being able to surpass it’s original goal and being able to attain the goal that it was trying to achieve. 

Creating an Audience via Social Media

              In a world that gives many messages, it is imperative to be distinct and stand out in a sea of other people. The same goes for a social media, in order to gain engagement and a true voice. It is important to have a pull over your target audience and that your signature stands out especially if you are in a competitive market or industry. Creating a voice that expresses passion and authenticity creates more engagement with your target audience versus a automatic message.


           It is important to understand the assets and use of Pinterest, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and etc. One should know the demographics that typically use those application and use phrases, hashtags that can create a conversation with your audience. 
"Social media is a communications tool,like the telephone and email,that serves the purposes of critical business functions,including public relations,marketing,lead generation,customer service,and market research"(Blanchard, 2011, pg.16). It should be a natural communication piece of your business and have a distinct purpose of existence, that is not only apparent to you but to those who are following you. "Social media requires you to shift your mindset to unite communications and collaborative technology. When you adopt a new attitude and expand your knowledge and skills, the result leads to successfully incorporating new practices into your daily responsibilities, personally and professionally"(Breakenridge, 2012, pg. 2).  Social Media is a way to take your business or corporation to new heights and levels. 

References

Breakenridge, D. (2012). Social media and public relations: eight new practices for the PR

professional. Upper Saddle River, NJ: FT Press.

Blanchard, O. (2011). Social media ROI: managing and measuring social media efforts in your

organization. Indianapolis, IN: Que.