Blog #14 11 Ways to Use Social Media to Advance Your Career

   The LAST article I am blogging about is titled, 11 Ways to Use Social Media to Advance Your Career written by Aliza Licht. Social media can help catapult seemingly regular people into personal brands. This article gives 11 ways that social media can be used to benefit your career. The first way is to find the platform that feels right for you, you do not need to be on every social media platform but you need to be on at least one. Plan your strategy on the kind of content you have to work with. The second way is the profile picture and bio in social media are like your résumé,you SHOULD not leave them blank. Let the employer know your a person and who you are. The third way is posting and engaging with your followers regularly will grow your following. You have to start the conversation with your followers, create interaction. It is important! The fourth way is to listen before you speak. You need to post as well as listen, read the conversations people are having before giving your two cents. The fifth way is to scratch people's backs.When you can not think of anything to post, help others get their thoughts published. Voice other peoples posts and build your follower base. The sixth way is  embrace yourself, the truer you are to yourself, the happier you will be. Providing honesty to your followers is a great tactic to get them to like you. The seventh way is don't beg. Do you beg for friends normally? You need to build great relationships not just increase numbers. How you build a follower base is the result of three things: (1) putting out great content, (2) engaging with people who speak to you, and (3) proactively reaching out to others. The eighth way is to strike up a conversation online. Ask someone a question, create conversations. Get your name out there! The ninth way is to inspire. People love motivation and people love to be inspired, by posting these not only will your followers like the content, hopefully they will share it and get more awareness for your personal brand! Quotes are pretty much a given to be retweeted, which will grow your audience exponentially. The tenth way is to curate your timeline.  Make sure it is consistent and make sure you speak your own voice, not others. You want to speak and watch yet still post original content. The last and final way is to filter what you say. Post only what you feel comfortable!

   This article relates to our social media class because not only do businesses use social media to get more of a following, regular people use it to get their name out. if you can tap into the potential that social media offers, you will be a valuable asset for any company.

http://www.cosmopolitan.com/career/advice/a39550/ways-to-use-social-media-to-advance-your-career/

Blog #13 Businesses NEED to be Active on Social Media

   The article I am blogging about is titled, Businesses Need to be Active on Social Media written by Jodie Perry. This article starts out by saying the age of social media is upon us, is your company effectively using social media? Are you with the times? The article states that each year, hundreds of millions of people are logging on to social media, that is such a huge amount that companies need to desperately tap into. Half of all online adults 65 and over use Facebook which represents 31% of all seniors. Half of the internet using young adults (18-29) use Instagram and half of all Instagram users use the site daily. Pinterest is dominated by females, 42% female to 13% male. The facts only intensify the need that companies need to be on social media. It is critical not only because it allows you to reach your target audience more effectively but it allows you to communicate with your consumers which can hugely increase your chances for exposure and sales. 
   
   The article then goes into five things you can do to help your company get started with social media. The first step is to start somewhere. It may be extremely overwhelming to see all of the platforms that are available for social media. You need to buckle down and choose the platform that is best for your company and start by creating an account. Facebook has the most users, so if you do not know where to start, Facebook is the best bet. The second step is to Be Visual.   Photos, Videos and visuals will not only capture the attention of your followers  but will help create a visual element to your companies stories. Consumers do not and will not read a post with all words, they need something to catch their eye. The third step is to block out time on your calender.You need to be consistent when posting on social media, if you are going to post each day then make sure each and every day there is a post waiting. If you schedule your postings in advance it will be easy to manage your time and most platforms can even allow you to schedule postings on their page so that you do not even have to be on the site. The fourth step is to be interactive. The whole point of social media is to create that channel to interact with your consumers. Engage with them, comment when they post something funny. Show that you are a real person and have a personality. The last and final step is to follow best practices. Follow companies that have good social  media activity to learn not only what they do, but what works and what doesn't. It gives you good recon and helps you learn what posts work best with your company. 

   This article relates to our social media marketing class because it shows how important social media is in today's growing digital market. You need to be on your A-Game and show that you are willing to go with the times. You also need to be on social media to interact with your consumers. Many customers will go to social media now if they have a positive or negative experience and it is important for you to be there for your consumers to keep them coming back. 

http://www.mansfieldnewsjournal.com/story/money/2015/04/19/businesses-need-active-social-media/25715193/

Blog #12 5 Social Media Marketing Metrics You Should Be Tracking

   The article I am blogging about is titled, 5 Social Media Marketing Metrics You Should Be Tracking written by Aaron Agius. This article beings by saying that social media can be a great tool for companies who know how to use it, while also being the kiss of death for companies that focus on the wrong priorities. Many companies know how to keep track of their followers and likes but is there other numbers they should be tracking? Agius says that there are many reasons why social shares provide very little information on the effectiveness of your campaign, the first being; many shares come from bots, social shares may not come from your target customers and social shares can be from people that are speaking negatively about your brand. However, even though shares show that people are seeing your post you need to track the metrics that really matter for your social media efforts. The goal first and foremost is to boost customer engagement and brand awareness. 

   The first metric is brand search volume. A 2009 study from GroupM found that customers that are exposed to a brand on social media are 180% more likely to search for that brand on search engines. You need to understand how many times your company is searched on major search engines. There are many tools that can show this information but Google Insights and Google Trends are the easiest and most effective. It can show you how your search numbers stand up against your competitors and give you insight on engagement. The second metric is lead growth. You need to use an attribution program to tell you whether or not your social  media campaign results in positive leads or conversion growth. Programs that can easily find this information for you are Marketo or Converto which measure social interactions such as page visits and email opens before a potential target becomes a customer. Not only will this data tell you if your social campaigns are performing the way they were Not only will this data tell you if your social campaigns are performing as forecasted, it’ll show you how to better use your resources. The third metric is brand sentiment. Not all publicity is good publicity. You need to have a program that can tell the difference. Tools such as SocialMention and Meltwater can help you measure the context of the conversations surrounding your brand online. To prepare for this possibility, create internal documents and contingency plans as far as who is responsible for responding to negative brand mentions. The fourth metric is inbound links. Inbound links are both essential ranking factors for a good measure of your content’s overall popularity. It is important yo research the engine result page rankings. After you run a contest the number of inbound links may have increased showing that the marketing strategy was a success. The fifth metric is klout score. Klout has become a popular tool for measuring social media engagement. Monitoring your Klout score will give you a good indication of how effectively you’re engaging with your social media followers which is critical. Customers need to know that your brand has a personality and will get back to them if they have an issue. 

   This relates to our social media class because it shows the back end of social media marketing. It is not all about creating content, it is about studying who your target market and how to effectively market to them. You need to understand all of this before you start marketing on social media. This article also gives great tools that companies can use to track all of these metrics which not only saves times but makes marketing more efficient. 

http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/244669

 

Blog #11 5 Essential Ellements of Any Social Media Campaign

   The article I am blogging about is titled, 5 Essential Elements of Any Social Media Campaign written by Doug Sandler. The article begins by describing what the point of a social media campaign is, which is to read, click, share, like or buy something. The article states that regardless of the size every company should focus on building a strong social media campaign to keep the consumers engaged. The article then gives  elements that are needed in a social media campaign to make it successful. The first element is The List. The list includes all of the people that you want to see your social media campaign. It is important to have this list because it gives you an outlet to promote your campaign and gives you an idea of who your target market is. It is also important to be connected to this list, you will get more positive feedback if you have a relationship with the people you are campaigning too. You NEVER want to buy followers, connections or likes, this comes off as desperate and has negative side effects on your original list. The second element is Brand. Do the consumers know what your brand is if they just saw your logo or company name? It is important to have that positive public image because it is what your consumers will think of you when they hear your company's name. On social media, the content you use, the color you choose, the image you choose and the one you use builds your brand. It is also important to respond to your consumers, not only does it benefit your brand and raise awareness but it gives you brand a personality. The third element is Content. If all you do is try to push your product down your consumers throat you will get no where. You need to blog, start conversations and get your consumers interested in what you have to say. This makes your company become an export on how and what to post. When you become an expert people will promote your products for you. Don't just stick to written content, create podcasts or videos to engage your consumers. You need to get involved. The fourth element is Call To Action. After you create your content you need to tell people what you want them to do. Don't just post a link, post it and tell them to click on the link. Tell people to act now and act often. It gives them a sense of rush which will make them act faster. The last element is Human Element. The human element is giving your company a personality and connecting with other people not jus machines. Too many companies have an automated response, give your content a human twist so that they know you are a real person. The article then says how important it is to have a good image not only on social media but off the web as well.
  
   This relates to our social media class because it shows how to run a successful social media campaign which is imperative to know in today's growing technology market. You need to stay one step ahead of technology and always make sure to adapt to these new changes. If you are consistent and post good meaningful content the followers will come.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/doug-a-sandler/5-essential-elements-of-a_b_7021572.html

Blog #10 Our Chief Executive Refusal To Use Social Media

   The article I am blogging about is titled Our Chief Executive's Refusal to Use Social Media is Holding The Charity Back  written by The Guardian. The article begins with a statistic, "Eight out of 10 people are more likely to trust and buy from an organization whose chief executive and leadership team use social media" (Page 1). It then goes into saying that Charity leaders on social media are considered digital pioneers and are praised for their social media efforts. In today's primarily digital world a charity CEO needs to be accessible to the charity's supporters. They need to be in constant contact to not only hear the voice of their followers but to see if any of their charity efforts have a negative impact. However, even with all of the good social media presence can do for organizations, some CEO's of charitable organizations won't touch social media, which can severely hold back a company's growth. The author of this article, who wishes to remain anonymous described that he has worked in charity marketing and communications for more than 15 years and understands how important it is to make yourself different and raise your presence in such a crowded environment. Stakeholders expect that leaders of such strong organizations to act as an ambassador and be easily contacted on social media platforms such as Twitter. It can be an effective tool to communicate with your stakeholders and it is virtually free. Unless you are promoting advertisements, having a company account is completely free for the organization. 
   
   The author's CEO is still adamant about not joining social media, he states that he will never, ever use social media. Senior leaders need to face the growing demands of technology regardless of their personal beliefs. To stay ahead in this crazy economical world one needs to not only understand advances in technology, but embrace it with open arms. If customers see that you are willing to "go with the flow" and create something that everyone else has, they will relate more to your product and you will have better buyer potential. 

   This relates to our social media marketing class because it is important to understand that you need to follow the path that your consumers and followers take. You need to adapt to their demands and wants if you want to stay successful. In this case the CEO needs to join social media not only because it is extremely beneficial to consumers by giving them an outlet to talk to senior management but because the employees are requesting it as well. Without a happy and stable work environment, the company will crumble as a hole regardless of their good intentions. 

http://www.theguardian.com/voluntary-sector-network/2015/apr/05/our-chief-executives-refusal-to-use-social-media-holding-charity-back

Blog #9 10 Ways to Grow Your Business Using Social Media

   The article I am blogging about is titled, 10 Ways To Grow Your Business Using Social Media by Andre Kay, CEO of Sociallybuzz. The article begins by pointing out how big of an impact social media has on our lives and that social media marketing is critical for companies to have a strategic advantage over their competition. The first way to grow your business is to stop living in denial. This step explains that social media is here to stay and that it is imperative to learn and accept it. You need to know that everyone is using it and by not using it you are severely hurting your chances at being better then your competitors. It is also important to understand that social media is constantly changing, you need to stay up to date with all the new technologies. The second way is join the conversation. You need to communicate with your customers over social media, if the post a complaint or praise on your wall it is important to interact with them in real-time. Not only does this give your company a voice but it shows that your company has a personality as well. The third way is stay true to your business. It is very important in social media to post content that is related to your company and brand image. It does not have to necessarily selling a product but it can be just a message that relates to your industry, business or target audience. Give the consumers a way to relate to your brand. The fourth way is to be in the know. As stated before, technology and social media are always changing and revamping. To help your company stay ahead of your competitors you need to be able to adapt and learn to the new changes. The fifth way is choose the right channels. When creating your social media accounts it is important to be on the social media outlet that is most consistent with your brand image. It is also smart to not waste time investing in all social media outlets and focus on a key few that will be consistent. The sixth way is create a plan. When posting on social media it is important to be consistent with your posts, if you create a weekly schedule on when you will be posting it will be easier to stay focused and ahead of your postings. The more often you post you will see the right timing and frequency that is right for your company. The seventh way is develop a crisis plan.  It is important to be prepared when it comes to social media. When a customer complains or bashes your company you need to know how to respond and control the situation. By making these plans in advance you do not need to scramble and you can have an effective response. The eighth way is develop multi touch points. To grow your  business more substantially and effective you should have multiple touch points of your social media and digital strategy to achieve specific goals. This helps grow your page with potential customers and keeps them engaged. The ninth way is make a great impression. You need to not only post great content, but great visuals as well to keep your customer interested and proud to be sharing and following your company. It not only expresses professionalism but cohesiveness. The tenth and final way is don't be afraid to delegate. If your business is expanding to rapidly it is important to know that you can hire an out of house social media team to control your social media accounts. Not only does this use less of your companies resources but it will be done by professionals that know how to handle professional social media accounts.

   This relates to our social media class because these are 10 basic rules that all companies should follow when they want to use their social media profiles effectively. Social media should not only create awareness of your company but it should also be an outlet for communication between the business and the consumer, a channel that is desperately needed to keep customer satisfaction high.

 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andre-kay/10-ways-to-grow-your-busi_b_6979470.html

Blog #8 Bosses Can't Get Even

   The article I am blogging about is titled Bosses Can't Get Even When Staffers Gripe On Social Media written by The Associated Press. This article starts out by describing a scenario where Bert Martinez's employee posted her dislike for her boss and job on Facebook, after Martinez consulted with his lawyer on firing the individual, he finds out that the employee can not be fired. Martinez, Owner of Bert Martinez Communications in Phoenix says that he learned that employees are allowed to vent, you can not fire them for saying that their job environment is unpleasant. However, the employee quit a week after Martinez found out about the post. The article then states that the government protects workers' rights to say what they want about their work environment regardless if it is insulting on Facebook or Twitter. It states that it is illegal for employees to be fired for posting about pay, hours, work assignment, supervisors, dress code or any issue regarding their employment. All companies of all sizes deal with this issues, but it is especially harder for smaller companies to deal with this properly because they do not have the resources to hire a legal team. According to the National Labor Regulation Board, employees can not be fired for venting on social media because they are involved in concerted activity, or joining with fellow employees to improve working conditions. Henry Perlowski an employment law attorney with Arnall Golden Gregory in Atlanta states, "The NLRB is effectively taking the position that commentary about working conditions on social media is completely protected".  In 2014 the NLRB said that a restaurant fired two employees illegally when firing employees for discussing how income tax was withheld from their paychecks on social media. The NLRB quickly reversed those firings. The NLRB will uphold firings if a post damages a company through revealing trade secrets, saying disparage about product or services, posting about showing up and not working, or posting information regarding clients. 

   The article states that companies should have a written social media policy saying what employees can and can not due to prevent this incident from every happening. It also says that the company should review all of these policies with a lawyer or HR specialist to make sure it does not violate laws. Also, if an employee does post negative content on social media consult an attorney before taking disciplinary action. This deals with our social media class because employers on social media is a hot topic in today's job market. Employers will see what you post on social media and it can impact hiring decisions. It is important to be smart with what you post! 

http://jobs.aol.com/articles/2015/03/25/workers-rights-on-social-media/