Assignment 1 Blog Post #4 Out of the Box

Social media can be used for sharing all kinds of information with others from current events to personal accomplishments and family memories. Some even used this method of communication to announce the loss of a loved one and find support.

A few years ago, the passing of a loved one was announced through word of mouth and in written obituaries but today, many use Facebook for these types of announcements. Sending a group text or a message through social media is a much simpler way to announce the passing and funeral arrangements of a family member than to spend several hours making telephone calls. It can even be a part of the grieving process as memories and condolences can be shared within seconds.

There are also groups that have been created to offer support to those who are grieving the loss of a loved one like the Bereavement/ Grieving Support Group and others that offer assistance for specific losses like the loss of a mother, a child or a pet. For many, these groups help to foster conversations about death and grief that for some, might not be possible otherwise. To be able to share with someone in writing can sometimes make it a lot easier to be transparent and to find someone who has shared a similar experience can be very relieving. Since today, Canadians spend an average of 9 hours and 50 minutes per day on social media (Time Spent With Media 2019), it makes sense that these types of groups have been created and that those who are grieving turn to social media for help and comfort.

A Facebook page can also be converted into a memorial page. According to the Facebook Help Community, once an account is memorialized, friends and family can go there to share memories. The word “Remembering” is placed next to the person’s name on these accounts, the memorialized profile no longer appears in public spaces like suggestions for people you may know or birthday reminders and no one can log into these accounts.

Photo by rawpixel.com on Pexels.com

Social media has become such a big part of the way we interact and search for information today. It is also a quick and useful way to share information and find the support that may not be available otherwise.

 

 

Resources:

https://www.alivehospice.org/magazine/articles/spring-2019/grief-in-the-age-of-social-media

https://www.emarketer.com/content/time-spent-with-media-2019

https://www.facebook.com/help/150486848354038

COM0015 – Blog Post #3 – Professional Networking Now and in the Future

Building a network is one of the most important things you can do to advance your career. Your network can share insights and best demonstrated practices with you as well as introduce you to new contacts and help you find that next opportunity.

I first realized how important my network was when I was laid off from a marketing job in a financial institution. I had worked there for eighteen years. Everything I knew, I had learned on the job. My network at the time included people I had met at work and old school friends. I didn’t have a strategy for maintaining it. Since then I have learned the importance of having a professional network and keeping it alive by meeting up with them regularly (in person or online).

Since then, I have updated my LinkedIn profile and ensure that it is always up to date with my most recent work experience. I also highlight the most important skills that I want to promote. LinkedIn is after all, the most important professional networking tool available! When I make a new professional acquaintance I always ask if I can connect with them on LinkedIn.

My networking has paid off in so many ways! First by all of the information I have learned through my contacts and secondly in advancing my career. I recently was promoted to a new role in the federal government thanks to a tip from someone in my network!

 

I am going to continue developing my network by looking for people with similar work interests on Facebook and Twitter. I’m also going to try and find different professional events and meetups that are occurring in my neighborhood and online that are of interest to me. These will be a great opportunity for me to build my network and expand my knowledge.

Any extra tips? I’d love to learn about them!

 

 

 

COM0015 – Assignment #1 Blog Post #1 – Tools and Sources

My two favorite social media listening and monitoring tools and the two best sources of news and updates of interest to me.

Although I do not use social media monitoring tools in my current line of work I do realize their importance for many businesses. They are often the fastest way to know whether a product being sold or opinions being shared are valued by the type of people that an organization is trying to attract. They are also the fastest way to know if consumers are reacting negatively to something a company has said or done, allowing an opportunity to quickly respond.

Two social media monitoring tools that I have learned about and would use to monitor what consumers are saying about my products and services and how they are reacting to my marketing campaigns are Mention and BuzzSumo. Mention can be used to track when people are mentioning your company or products on social media or those of competitors and analyse if the sentiment of the remark is positive, negative or neutral. It even provides the ability to reply to conversations that are happening on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram from your Mention dashboard. There is also the option of building custom reports and analytics to show what is working and create market research. For a small fee, a company can monitor their brand as well as their competitors. Mention can even find brand mentions in Facebook conversations, which is a useful tool for finding unhappy customers. (10 Tools to Monitor Brand Mentions and Social Media Monitoring Tools)

BuzzSumo is also a great tool for keyword, competitor and influencer alerts and producing content analysis reports that include data on what is being shared. The company is known for analyzing which types of content perform best in different marketing segments. It can provide results on data from the previous day or month to up to a year ago. It also helps to find key influencers that are promoting a product or domain. BuzzSumo allows its customers to understand the content that resonates best with influencers and competitors by showing the content, topics and domains that they are sharing the most. It also provides competitor comparison reports.

The two best sources for news and updates in my opinion are Twitter and Facebook. While I have to admit that I mostly visit the CNN or Global News sites for daily news, Twitter is an easy to use micro-blogging service where I can follow the sites and people that I choose. It is also a reliable source for breaking news. It has even been used to provide emergency data analysis in real-time. A news site may not have had the chance to report on the latest flood damage or a sudden change in election polls but someone is probably already tweeting about it! Researchers are even using tweets to gather information on the spread of disease and potentially reducing its impact by helping to prepare for an increase in health clinic visits in specific areas or the greater demand for vaccinations. (https://www.socialmediatoday.com/social-networks/heres-why-twitter-so-important-everyone) Twitter is even useful for finding out last minute snow conditions on ski hills in the area in March! I just tweet the question and someone at the hill I am considering going to will let me know if it’s worth the trip.

 

The second source that I use for news and updates is Facebook. It’s a quick and easy spot to get updates on many friends and from many of the other sites that I have recently visited. Facebook’s ad technology uses key words from my Google searches to better target ads to me on Facebook. This makes the advertisements that I see more relevant and beneficial to me. Facebook also stores what it thinks I might be interested in based on my likes and the things that my friends and I chat about. So if I searched for breaking news from the Global News, I will find links to that information on my Facebook feed as well as information about my up-coming trip to Costa Rica since I have been chatting about that with my friends on Facebook. I find that this is very useful since it means that I will have to spend less time going to additional sites for that information.  While it might be a little scary to know how much Facebook actually knows about me because of all of its tracking mechanisms, I do enjoy that it keeps the information that it offers me relevant to my interests and I know that I can change the privacy setting on my Windows 10 account at any time to keep my information private.

COM0015 Blog Post #2 – Strong and Weak Organizations

The organizations that I have chosen as the ones with the most impressive social media strategies are Spotify and Airbnb. The one that needs to adopt a social media strategy is the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA).

Spotify is a music streaming service that launched in Sweden is 2008. I chose Spotify as a company with a good social media strategy because of the way it creates content for its listeners that cause them to market through social media.

Spotify`s social media strategy focuses on using data analytics to collect listener information from its platform and anonymously release the more comedic portions on billboards that they have created. Since they were funny and consumers could relate to them, they often took pictures of themselves with the billboards and posted them to social media which created additional free marketing for the company.  For example, in their 2018 cross-channel campaign called “2018 Goals”, Spotify playfully highlighted some of its user’s habits alongside the picture Spotify`s social media strategy focuses on using data analytics to collect listener information from its platform and anonymously release the more comedic portions on billboards that they have created. Since they were funny and consumers could relate to them, they often took pictures of themselves with the billboards and posted them to social media which created additional free marketing for the company.  For example, in their 2018 cross-channel campaign called “2018 Goals”, Spotify playfully highlighted some of its user’s habits alongside the picture

Spotify also created the “Wrapped” campaign which enticed listeners to share their listening history with others. It included a shareable social graphic that listed the listeners’ top artists of the year. They also created a graphic for musicians to share with their fans that showed how many listeners they had in each country and how many hours they had spent streaming their music. While disguised as a tool for sharing music preferences and successes each graphic also marketed the Spotify brand and started conversations about the company on social media.

The second organization with an impressive social media strategy is Airbnb. They are a very successful in the online arena where people go to find short and long term rental accommodations. According to Stastista.com, their current value is close to 40 billion U.S.  dollars and they have listings for over 4 million properties in over 65,000 cities around the world. Their social media strategy similarly uses the positive shares of their customers to market their value and to position themselves as a rental company that offers a little more of a personal touch than a hotel can offer.

Airbnb uses videos and pictures that depict renters in different locations enjoying a variety of rental properties in various locals. They also ask satisfied customers, especially travel influencers, to post pictures of their stay on Instagram and to include #airbnb. The company then shares these photos showing the beautiful parts of the world that others could experience with an Airbnb rental and include a link to make it easier for viewers to book that exact location.   There are over 1.8 million photos using #airbnb on Instagram.

Airbnb uses Instagram Stories to market “Experiences on Airbnb”. They show the unique and exciting experiences that are offered by Airbnb hosts like hiking and canoeing or exploring catacombs through 15-second videos. This was a successful venture for Airbnb. They achieved a 13-point lift in ad recall and caused more people to select Airbnb as the platform for their next travel experience according to Instagram Business.

Airbnb uses Twitter to engage with customers who shared their Airbnb experiences. They use the network to respond to customer service inquiries quickly. Customers can reach out to the company at airbnbhelp and get assistance no matter where they are. Airbnb uses social media to their advantage by using video marketing on YouTube and pictures of their clients great vacations and experiences on Instagram to define themselves as a great company that offers excellent accommodations and experiences. They also use Twitter to speak with customers and complete customer service inquiries.

The organization that needs to adopt a social media strategy is the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA).  One of its mandates is to quickly and efficiently inform the public of new initiatives and respond to queries. While Social Media is a great tool for this, it is hardly being used today. The team at the CRA prides itself in supporting innovation and pushing boundaries in order to offer the best service for the Canadian public. However, achieving the goal of going digital has been more cumbersome because of the regulatory steps that must be followed and the levels of approvals that must be adhered to when responding to a query. At a time where social media allows for questions to be posed and opinions to be shared within seconds, the lack of flexibility in speeding up approvals or reducing the sheer volume of endorsements that are required makes this challenging.

 

Resources:

https://blog.hootsuite.com/how-to-create-a-social-media-marketing-plan/

https://www.brafton.com/blog/social-media/3-brands-with-the-best-social-media-campaigns-in-2016/

https://www.smartinsights.com/digital-marketing-strategy/online-business-revenue-models/spotify-case-study/

https://econsultancy.com/spotify-2018-wrapped-personalised-data/

https://www.statista.com/statistics/339845/company-value-and-equity-funding-of-airbnb/

https://business.instagram.com/success/trips-by-airbnb/

https://www.stunningstrategy.com/social-media-highlight-airbnb/

 

COM 0014 – Assignment 1 Blog 7 – Personal Reflection

Digital communication relies on good storytelling. The key to creating a story that captivates readers and keeps them engaged requires research into who your audience is and listening to what they are interested in. Many aspects of who you are writing for need to be considered when choosing your words. All demographics including age, gender, education, income and personal interests among others must be considered. It is also important to write in the positive voice, keep it simple and use your own personality to give life to your story rather than trying to write in a way that you think someone else would have.

Listening is also very important. Monitoring what conversations are taking place on social media and filtering out the noise is important in order to know what to write about and to be prepared for the responses to your story. Knowing that a topic is important to a specific community is not enough. You need to know how they are responding to it and what their point of view is otherwise, you could alienate the group that you were trying to connect with.

Storytelling is so important when creating great digital content because it creates a bond between the audience and the brand (storyteller). It helps to create a connection and keeps us coming back for more. I hope to create stories that cause people to reflect and create conversations. What kind of stories do you want to tell?

COM0014 Blog #6 – Do People Know Your Story?

What is your industry’s greatest flaw?

Since 2007, Airbnb’s have become a popular option for travelers who don’t want to spend all of their get away budget on accommodations and for those who may want a little more of a personal touch than a hotel can offer. The idea of offering the personal touches that only a private home can offer has become very popular and very well accepted by travelers.

However, legislation has recently been introduced in many cities worldwide that prevents homeowners from turning their properties into full-time vacation rentals. They must register with their city and pay a fee in order to be hosts and can only rent out their property for a maximum of 90 nights a year when they are not living in it. The issue is that Airbnb hosts can still advertise their properties as available even thought their registration has not yet been approved. This creates the risk that customers who have not only paid for their rental but potential also other travel expenses, will receive notification that their rental has been cancelled only days before their vacation is to begin.

As stated in an article by  The Guardian, a couple rented a home in San Francisco through Airbnb and paid for their travel. Days before their vacation was about to begin, they received an email from Airbnb that their booking had been cancelled due to a change in legislation. While their booking was refunded, the transportation costs were not and they had to either find other accommodations last-minute or suffer the penalties of changing their flight.

The Airbnb industry relies on its customers to repeat their business and to share their great experiences with potential customers. Airbnb’s greatest flaw is communication and it is an issue that could cost them dearly. Customers should be aware that the property they are considering still needs to qualify for licensing. Transparency is so important in customer service! It could also put a little pressure on owners to work harder to complete their application. Additionally, in the hopes of promoting return customers, Airbnb should give the full story and offer other rental listings in the area when one must suddenly be cancelled.

Customer service should always be a primary concern for businesses; especially at a time when opinions can be shared so easily and instantaneously on social media; don’t you think?

COM0014 – Blog 5: Personal Brand

I am an entrepreneurial mom, project manager and believer in working hard. The personal qualities that set me apart from the others include my project planning skills, my competitive nature and my team spirit.

When a task needs to be completed, I like nothing better than to plan out all of the steps needed to have it done as properly and efficiently as possible. My current work as a project control manager in the federal government gives me a lot of opportunity to practice this skill. I believe that the easiest way to understand any new task or project is to spell it out all of the required steps with subject matter experts. Why reinvent something when it’s been done before!

I am a competitive person although I’ve never really competed in a sport. I do like to complete tasks as proficiently and accurately as possible though and I’d prefer to be known as the subject matter expert than one of the many. When I graduated from university I was so pleased that I was finally done with school and could move on to the next chapter of my life, the business world. I was sure that the only time that I would step into a school again would be for the kids that I planned to have. Well that was almost 30 years ago! I tried to deny it and pretend that I would learn on the job but soon enough I realized that that’s just not reality anymore. The competition is fierce and they are going to school! It’s not enough to get one degree anymore. In order to be the best you must constantly be updating your skills! The Social Media program that I am currently taking and the Project Management certification that I will get next are what will help me stand out for now.

Team spirit is so important when working with others. Even if you don’t need constant help from others to reach your goals, you do need assistance at some point. Why not create the alliance from the start. I believe in building relationships and being true to my word so that when I need help, I have an alliance to draw from and if I need to go to someone I’ve never met before, my reputation stands for itself.

I am always trying to do my best and build on my reputation. I once receive 360 degrees feedback and was surprised to hear that people found me very strong-willed. Since then, I have worked hard to put myself in other people’s shoes and foster positive relationships. I make sure to always look people in the eye, speak with a positive tone, remember that I am part of a team and strive for results!

Today, my colleague would say that my best trait is my drive to get things done. Some might say that I am stubborn but I prefer to think of it as a quality. I work really hard to make each aspect of a project work and have each task completed as efficiently and accurately as possible. I work with others to find creative solutions when necessary. I have been told and agree that there is no I in “team” and without a group of people working together to achieve success, it is often very hard to find don`t you think?

COM0014, Assignment 1, Blog 4: B2C Case Study – Airbnb on Social Media

Airbnb has become a popular option for travelers who don’t want to spend all of their get away budget on accommodations and may want a little more of a personal touch than a hotel can offer. The concept was born in 2007 when roommates Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia offered travelers three air mattresses and a homemade breakfast in the living room of their San Francisco apartment. According to Stastista.com, it has since then grown to a value of 38 billion U.S. dollars and has listings for over four million properties in over 65,000 cities around the world.

This great success is partially due to Airbnb’s great use of social media for marketing. They use video marketing to tell their brand and product story. They have created approximately 500 videos on YouTube with over 100 million views. The videos show some of their customers enjoying different rental properties in a variety of locations. Some are even narrated by customers who explain how wonderful their stay was.

Airbnb uses Instagram to share photos. They ask satisfied customers, especially travel influencers, to post pictures of their stay on Instagram and to include #airbnb. The company then shares these photos showing the beautiful parts of the world that others could experience with an Airbnb rental.  They also include a link to make it easy for viewers to book that exact location for their next vacation. There are over 1.8 million photos using #airbnb on Instagram. The company uses Instagram Stories to market “Experiences on Airbnb”. They use 15-second videos to show the unique and exciting experiences that are being offered by some of their hosts like hiking and canoeing or exploring catacombs. The videos were shot in a vertical format so that they are easy to view on a phone. This was a successful venture for Airbnb. They achieved a 13-point lift in ad recall and caused more people to select Airbnb as the platform for their next travel experience according to Instagram Business.

Airbnb also uses Twitter to engage with customers who shared their Airbnb experiences. They use the network to respond to customer service inquiries quickly. Customers can reach our to the company at airbnbhelp and get assistance no matter where they are.

Airbnb is a company that is using social media to their advantage by using video marketing on YouTube and pictures of their clients great vacations and experiences on Instagram to define themselves as a great company that offers excellent accommodations and experiences. They also use Twitter to speak with customers and complete customer service inquiries.

 

Resources:

https://www.statista.com/statistics/339845/company-value-and-equity-funding-of-airbnb/

https://business.instagram.com/success/trips-by-airbnb/

https://www.stunningstrategy.com/social-media-highlight-airbnb/

COM0014 – Blog #3, Becoming An AirBnB Owner

Airbnb’s have become a popular option for travelers who don’t want to spend all of their get away budget on accommodations and for those who may want a little more of a personal touch than a hotel can offer. I am new to the Airbnb rental world. I currently rent out residential properties but am interested in merging into this type of a venture. First though, I need to do a little research. I am going to start a blog about operating an Airbnb. It will include information about the types of units to consider, location, financial requirements and how to get started. I will also ask for tips on how to become an Airbnb Super-host.

 

My blog should attract the interest of Airbnb owners and others who are interested in learning about the business. Based on my research on Twitter Search and on Facebook, most owners are 50+ years of age and according to @AirbnbCitizen, 58% of Canadian owners are female. This seems to be true as less than 20% of the target audience that I found in my research were male. Most of them appear to be white and even though this is an international business, most of those that I found are American. Some are married but the majority did not provide this information even after searching on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. In previous research, I have found that a portion of the Airbnb operator demographic includes young adults hoping to rent the couch in their living room or a room in their house but I did not find any of their posts.

They are all entrepreneurs who often run more than one business and have a passion for travel. They have visited many parts of the world and want to offer the opportunity for others to see their hometown. They appear to be at least middle class with some disposable income since they travel. 

I will attract the correct demographic by providing research on the value of owning and operating an Airbnb business. I will also use Facebook and LinkedIn to promote my blog since according to Statistica.com, the 50+ age group is predominantly on these platforms and they are also the most popular networks for entrepreneurs and the self-employed in Canada. 

 

Resources:

https://canadiansinternet.com/2018-report-canadian-social-media-use-statistics/

https://www.statista.com/statistics/468476/selected-social-media-user-age-share-canada/

Assignment 1, Blog #2 Story Telling and Communication Styles

Do you have best practices for writing stories? A few that I think are important include pre-planning, prioritizing, using an active voice, reviewing and practice.

It is important for an author to first know what their goal is. Are they informing the audience of something new or trying to convince them to complete an action? The tone chosen is very different when they are trying to convince someone to vote for them versus describing a favorite vacation spot. Once they have decided, they can clearly convey it in their composition. The author should also decide how the story will end before composing it so that they are clear and concise. People are busy. Many often just skim a story looking for the important parts. If they have to stop everything else that they are doing to find the most important part, they will likely give up and move on to something else. For that reason, it is important to use the inverted triangle approach and put the most important part of a story in the first paragraph. The other paragraphs can contained the details that compliment the story.

Using an active voice with proper spelling and grammar makes the story clearer and more interesting not to mention more accepting to most audiences. It is much harder to believe in the value of an article and for it to be considered professional or useful when it is full of spelling and grammar mistakes. Many are very common mistakes that can be avoided. There are several articles that can be referred to for a list of them. The one shared in our class reading was by ZDnet: 20 more writing mistakes that make you look stupid. Sometimes when reviewing quietly a person might read what they want to see instead of what is actually there so it is also a good idea to have someone else review the piece before publishing it.

The only way for anyone to get better at doing something is through practice.  Just like a gymnast has to spend hours at the gym repeating their routine over and over again, an author has to practice writing stories and review each one several times before deciding that it is ready to publish. What are your thoughts?