Blog #7: Personal Reflection

Photo Credit: cohdra

The digital environment serves as such an incredible and powerful resource, with a limitless supply of information. However, due to the sheer volume of information available, especially when thanks to social media and blogs, everyone becomes a content creator, standing out can become difficult. Storytelling, a tradition practiced throughout the years, dating back to cavemen days, becomes the optimal solution to creating content in the digital realm. Storytelling enables content to stand out, cutting through digital noise and clutter through its ability to travel through both time and space, transmitting information instantaneously. Storytelling allows an individual or brand to develop and create an online voice, with storytelling enabling a brand to become “human” in a space where tone and personality can often be difficult to express otherwise.

The content I create will be guided by story in the unique way I choose to capture and relay an experience or piece of information — doing so in a way that encourages interaction between myself, the content creator, and the content consumer. My story will work to connect with my audience, aiming to create real and genuine relationships. The content I create will utilize a wide angle view to ensure the entire topic is accurately captured and portrayed allowing the audience to receive a full picture of the topic in discussion.

I want to tell stories that not only convey a message about my personal brand, but convey a message in a way that universally inspires, captivates, and motivates my target audience. I want to tell stories that infuse humour and lightheartedness into subject matters, and are so completely and irresistibly memorable that they will not easily be forgotten. I want the stories I tell to be heavily rooted within the brand that encompasses myself — my passion for personal finance, my love for the simplicity and beauty in nature, and my drive for maintaining a lifestyle rooted in health and well-balanced nutrition. I want my stories to capture my deep rooted visions, dreams and goals and the essence of what makes me, me, in a captivating, influential way.

Blog #4: Let’s Tacobout It

Taco Bell has quickly become a Twitter icon, making a digital name for themselves with their entertaining tweets and top-notch customer service. One article, from the Huffington Post, refers to Taco Bells’ tweets as a “clever combination of retweets, sassy comebacks, hashtags and whimsical life advice” (Boboltz, 2014).

Taco Bell maintains two Twitter accounts. Their primary account, @TacoBell, launched in July 2007, is maintained primarily for marketing purposes, promoting new product developments, promotions and community outreach. Their most recent Twitter account, @TacoBellTeam, established in February of 2012, serves as the “Official Customer Care for Taco Bell”. Taco Bell uses this twitter account to respond to customer complaints and inquiries, listing their hours of availability in their bio — Monday to Friday, 7:00am to 7:00pm.

Utilization of Social Media

Taco Bell successfully forms positive relationships with their customers by maintaining an active presence on the platforms their customers maintain a presence on. Through the utilization of Twitter as a full customer service solution, Taco Bell is able to act in a proactive manner, responding to customer comments as soon as they are posted.

Content from @TacoBellTeam Twitter account.

Personable Tone

A major element that has caused Taco Bell’s Twitter to garner the respect and admiration it has is through their human, down-to-earth tone. Taco Bell understands the importance of maximizing every opportunity to form and develop positive relationships with their customers, utilizing a traditionally more B2B approach, through the creation of marketing that is relationship driven as opposed to product driven (Algonquin College, n.d.).

The Best Of Taco Bell’s Twitter Account (Stopera, 2012).

With tweets like this, Taco Bell is not afraid to utilize humour and sarcasm to make light of situations and diffuse tension.

Dependable Customer Service

Earning a gold-star for customer service, Taco Bell is relentless in their ability to timely and appropriately respond to customer complaints, going to great lengths to make sure their customers feel valued and listened to.

Content from @TacoBellTeam Tweets & Replies.

Taco Bell, through their appropriate selection of tools and creative execution, is able to capture the attention of online users, empathize with their customers need to be heard, engage in witty, yet heart-felt, two-way dialogue, and provide value to their Taco Bell community (Algonquin College, n.d.).

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References

Algonquin College. (n.d.b). Lesson 4: Choosing the Correct Storytelling Tools for Your   Audience [Webpage]. Retrieved from Lesson Content: http://ccol.algonquincollege.com/com0014/lesson-4/lesson-content/

Boboltz, S. (2014). Whoever Runs Taco Bell’s Twitter Account Deserves A Raise. Retrieved from  https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/taco-bell-tweets_n_4856259

Stopera, D. (2012). The Best Of Taco Bell’s Twitter Account. Retrieved from https://www.buzzfeed.com/daves4/the-best-of-taco-bells-twitter?utm_term=.xg68yE3w7L#.sbWb2LneK5

Blog #2: Are You Writing For Your Reader?

 

Photo by Alvimann

When beginning to write any creative piece, making sure to put your reader in the driver’s seat is an important part to capturing and holding the reader’s attention. You can optimize your writing for your reader in four easy ways.

Put Important Information First

As outlined by Dempoulous (2009), utilizing the “inverted pyramid structure” will ensure that you lead your writing off with the most important pieces of information in order to grab your reader’s attention.

Keep It Clear and Concise

According to Clark (2008), individuals in general don’t tend to read well online. By ‘read well’, Clark (2018) is referring to how we have become a collective culture of individuals who scan writing for important, valuable pieces of information without carefully and thoughtfully reading through. Therefore, using headings, being concise, and writing with purpose will work to entice and captivate readers (Clark, 2018).

Tell Your Reader a Story Worth Sharing

Dating back thousands of years, stories were recorded on cave walls in order to be easily shareable with others, generations to come. That same philosophy lies in our desire to create pieces that move a reader to action ﹣ to share the content we create. Brogan (2009) suggests that this is accomplished through incorporating elements such as links to outside resources, using a captivating title, writing in a human voice and creating posts that include information that might require readers to revisit your piece of writing.

Be Mindful of Grammar and Spelling

Often overlooked in writing is the fundamental basics of grammar and spelling (Algonquin College, 2018). Even if the ideas and thought processes behind a creative writing piece are ingenious, if littered with misused punctuation or poor spelling, it quickly diminishes the credibility and professionalism of your creative writing piece (Algonquin College, 2018).

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References

Brogan, C. (2009, June 08). 23 Essential Elements of Shareable Blog Posts. Retrieved February 15, 2017, from http://chrisbrogan.com/23-essential-elements-of-sharable-blog-posts/

Clark, B. (2008, August 27). How to Read. Retrieved February 15, 2017, from http://www.copyblogger.com/how-to-read/

Dempoulous, T. (2009, February 13). Blog Writing: Don’t Bury the Lead! Retrieved February 15, 2017, from http://teddemopoulos.articlealley.com/blog-writing-dont-bury-the-lead-783743.html

Algonquin College. (n.d.). Lesson 2: Becoming a Digital Storyteller. Retrieved March 12, 2018, from http://ccol.algonquincollege.com/com0014/lesson-2/lesson-content/

COM0014 – Blog #1: Backyard Adventuring

When I Google searched the word “vacation”, the three top search results consisted of “vacation packages”, “all-inclusive vacations”, and “cheap last minute vacations”.  However, when I pursued the definition of “vacation”, the phrase that resonated with me the most was freedom or release from duty, business, or activity.

It’s miraculous how seemingly polar opposite the connotative and denotative definitions of the word “vacation” are. However, upon closer examination, you’ll notice that deeply nestled within the cognitive association of “vacation” is a glimpse at what the denotive definition is trying to convey, at its very core. Within our thirst for vacations we crave the simplicity, freedom, stress-free, pressure-free time spent with individuals we value most, that generally come along with vacations.

For me, a vacation resonates deeply with the simplicity of the denotive definition. For, me a vacation involves stepping outside of my everyday world and into one that offers excitement and the unknown. For me, that involves stepping into what I like to call ‘my own backyard’.

My own backyard isn’t even my backyard at all. It’s a piece of the forest that exists within my city. My most recent trip to the woods just last week, involved fresh snow and crisp air. Stepping into the forest, surrounded by the sweet smell of trees and clean air free of city pollution, was like breathing in a much-needed breath of fresh air. Being in nature, surrounded by nothing but the crackling of a fire and the distant rush of a freshly thawed river was so indescribably serene. The silence of the empty forest was deafening in the most calming way possible and for the first time that week, I truly felt alone and at peace with my thoughts. In my meditative state, I was able to be fully and completely present and appreciative of the beauty and serenity around me.

That day trip, consisting of an afternoon in the wilderness, was a vacation. I booked a day off work using accrued vacation time and spent that day accordingly. I achieved freedom from the duty of work to find a release from the stress that often encounters the day-to-day whirlwind.

I find that when you simplify the cost, time and energy involved to take a vacation you’ll be able to take more frequent vacations, and truly appreciate the time that you do get to spend with the ones you love, doing the things you love to do.