COM0015: Assignment 5 – Event Participation

Humans are constantly learning and absorbing new information from their environments, peers, family, etc. Due to the current situation, I took the opportunity to learn about connecting social strategies to business goals. The live event is called “How to connect social strategy with business goals: Yvonne Chow https://hootsuite.com/webinars/how-to-connect-social-strategy-with-business-goals

I chose this live event because social media marketing is a career I hope to pursue in the future. The speaker Yvonne Chow is the senior product marketing manager at Hootsuite. Moreover, learning about the importance of social media strategy is crucial in today’s age with everyone using mobile devices. Digital advertisements are the most efficient way to reach wider audiences. A quotable quote from the event is “ Digital ads will rise internationally, only 25% of CMOs can prove that social media quantitatively impacts company performance.’ (Yvone Chow)

The event is targeted at those interested in social media marketing or have careers in the social media industry. The event did not have a traditional chat log, to communicate with other participants. However, there was a text box available for individuals who were interested in asking questions to the main guest speakers. I believe the event to be very informational and interesting with interactive live slides with figures and statistics. 

The key ideas I learned from this event is to establish objectives to specific business outcomes. For example, if a company wanted to increase brand awareness and customer experience with their audience, the business must establish key goals. Through analyzing specific metrics such as, followers, comments, likes can help the company with their social media presence. The business can target specific kinds of content that resonates well with their audiences and decides business tools and tactics to achieve these goals.

Picture at the online event (04/14/20)

In the future, I would like to attend more informational events like these to learn about the social media industry. It’s free and available for beginners or experts in the social media field. Also, with the current pandemic situation it is a great opportunity to learn new valuable skills.

Blog #4 – Out of the Box

One of the most unexpected applications I found on social media was the removal of likes on Instagram. The platform was measured by the number of likes received on the post. At one point, it seem like everyone on Instagram was in a competition to receive the most likes with hashtags such as #likeforlike or #followforfollow being displayed under photos. In November 2019, Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri announced to the world that likes would be hidden, only the user would be able to access the number of likes their OWN posts had received. ‘As previously stated, Instagram’s CEO Adam Mosseri has said that removing likes was the platform’s way to “depressurize” Instagram for young people.

However, a recent report from CNBC claims that the growth and data science teams at Facebook (which owns Instagram), believe that hiding likes might motivate people to post more frequently.’ (Blackwood, 2020) I believe the removal of likes was a great idea for Instagram users to focus on connecting with others on social media and less on whose profile is more popular. However, by removing likes influencers had to find other means to receive sponsorships from brands. In brief, Instagram users are more likely to connect with their followers and be more engaged without the pressure of ‘likes.’

Source

Blackwood, E. (2020, February 28). Instagram removing likes. Retrieved from https://macpaw.com/how-to/instagram-removing-likes

Blog # 3 – Professional Networking Now and in the Future

My strategy for developing my professional network is to research opportunities to gain experience in social media marketing. Currently, I am checking for job postings on Indeed, LinkedIn and Jooble. In addition, I am polishing my resume with relevant skills and experience. This is the key to setting a good impression of who you are as an employee. Also, I am researching the core values and skills needed for desired jobs and tailoring my cover letter to fit the criteria. I have been actively reaching out to current instructors, bloggers and possible employers for learning opportunities to develop further experience in the social media field.

Networking can help you get hired and grow your career. LinkedIn reports:

• 80% of professionals consider professional networking to be important to career success. 
• 35% of surveyed professional say that a casual conversation on LinkedIn Messaging has led to a new opportunity. 
• (Doyle, 2020)

The activities and commitments I plan on making in the next 6-12 months is to get certification for Google Adwords, Twitter flight school, and Facebook blueprint. Through receiving my certifications, I believe it will be easier to connect with professionals in social media, when I already have knowledge about essential social media tools and terminology.  In addition, I plan to take free courses on Hubspot and build up my portfolio with relevant projects. I believe by networking myself on social networks and reaching out to small businesses, by offering to promote their social media for free will help me build my professional network and learn valuable skills.

Source

Doyle, A. (2020, February 27). The Importance of Career Networking in Job Searching. Retrieved from https://www.thebalancecareers.com/top-career-networking-tips-2062604

Blog #7 – Personal Reflection

Storytelling in digital media is a great way to connect with consumers. An audience is able to relate to the company through relatable experiences. ‘Storytelling activates the part of the brain responsible for feelings; as buyers, those emotions influence how we perceive the brand.’ (Castillo, 2020) Consumers are more likely to gravitate towards companies that they have the ability to connect with. Moreover, storytelling allows the brand to present themselves as authentic, more than a big company and actual people behind the organization. Stories influence readers to emotionally bond with the business. Also, storytelling allows messages to be conveyed creatively. Audiences will be more captivated through emotional marketing. My content will be guided by well structured stories.I believe incorporating clear messages in my stories will attract readers. In addition, I want to tell stories that readers can learn lessons from. For example, Dove ‘self-esteem campaign shared stories of women’s success and accomplishments, teaching readers that self-esteem can be found from our successes. 

In brief, I learned a lot from my digital communication course. I learned the importance of storytelling and various communication styles, how to target audiences, differences and similarities between personal brand and corporate brand. Digital communication is important for building trust with consumers and creating effective communication.

Source

Castillo, A. A. (2020, March 31). The Merits of Storytelling in Digital Marketing. Retrieved from https://www.abtasty.com/blog/storytelling-in-digital-marketing/

Blog #6 – Do you know your story?

Who am I? What do I do?

Marketing has evolved from billboards, magazines and newspapers to digital advertisements. ‘There are now 3.484 billion social media users across the globe, which is a 9% increase compared to last year. This equates to 45% of the world’s population being on social media.’ (Chaffey, 2020) Social media has transformed from staying in touch with relatives and friends on social platforms, to marketers connecting with consumers online through valuable data. Furthermore, marketers can create meaningful relationships with their audience through interactive content and communication.

Moreover, social media marketing is a career I would like to pursue in the future. Currently, I am learning valuable skills about social media terminology, types of social media tools, creating personal presence, identifying risks and advantages, analyzing trends, etc. When I was younger, social media was aimed at networking and connecting with others. I remembered watching my older friends browse on Myspace when I was in elementary school. I would have never imagined social media evolving into the market we know of today. I hope to make interesting content for businesses and help gain brand exposure, In addition, I enjoy analyzing social media trends that are constantly changing. For example, the increase of video content is allowing for brands to communicate through Instagram/Snapchat stories or vlogging. In brief,  social media marketing is becoming a big industry and I would like to be part of it.

Source

Chaffey, D. (2020, March 30). Social media marketing trends 2020. Retrieved from https://www.smartinsights.com/social-media-marketing/social-media-strategy/social-media-marketing-trends-2020/

Blog #2 – Strong & Weak Organizations

Coca-Cola

As social media continues to dominate the internet, Coca-Cola is one brand that continuously impresses their audience with interesting social media strategies. I believe colour has a huge impact with marketing on social platforms. Consumers can gain insight about the brand’s personality. Primary colours like red stand out, the colour is associated with urgency and power. For example, users that scroll through Coca Cola’s instagram page take notice of the same vibrant red colour adorned on their pop cans. Thus, consumers are able to connect the intended colour on Instagram posts straight back to the brand. In addition, Coca-cola released personalized Coke bottles on social media which was an immediate success. ‘Within six months of its launch, Coca-Cola reported 330 million impressions on Twitter, with nearly 170,000 tweets from 160,000 fans.’ (econsultancy.com) Also, in popular media Coke worked with Netflix’s ‘Stranger Things’ and many fans of the show were excited to share pictures with the ‘classic’ Coke from the show. Coca-Cola does an excellent job promoting fun ideas that interests consumers.

Image from https://www.marketingweek.com/coke-extends-names-on-bottles-to-everyone/

Dove

Dove is an excellent company that markets their campaigns on social media to invoke emotion in their audience. Their ‘true beauty’ and self-esteem campaigns inspired many of their female consumers. Moreover, Dove used Instagram and Twitter to share inspirational women and their success stories. This moved users on social media to share #selfesteem and #truebeauty in response to Dove’s campaigns. In addition, Dove’s ‘real beauty sketches’ on Youtube gained 9.7 million views gaining lots of exposure for consumers worldwide. Dove successfully became one of the top leading soap brands.

Image from https://workingnotworking.com/projects/172652-dove-self-esteem-project

Prodigy

Prodigy is an online learning platform that specializes in their math games. The company has no social media accounts, which gives consumers the only option to contact representatives of the company. I believe incorporating social accounts will allow the company more exposure and popularity with new audiences. For example, if the company posted Instagram stories demonstrating one of their games. This would allow parents on social media to introduce this educational company to their younger children. There are many successful opportunities if a company promotes themselves on social platforms.

Source

Facebook. (2019, November 28). Three keys to Coca-Cola’s success on social media. Retrieved from https://econsultancy.com/coca-cola-social-media-success-case-study/

Blog #5 – Personal Branding

Image from refinery29.com

 Personal branding helps accomplish goals by building customer loyalty or differentiating itself out from competitors. To begin with, my area of specialization is psychology. I studied psychology for 5 years and focused my learnings around how social and cultural influences affect behavior as well as the benefits of leveraging psychology in social media and exploring their interdependencies. My strengths involve relating to others and understanding interpersonal relationships. My friends and family often come to me for advice about their issues. In addition, understanding psychology is helpful in social media because recognizing how consumers think and behave is crucial in the formulation of strategy and creation of content. An informed approach is always multitudes better than going in blind. For example, posting engaging content to your target audiences will help identify themselves with the brand. The unique selling point of my brand is my expertise and authenticity.

I have tried to stand out by being vibrant and fun. For example, in my writing I try to be creative and interesting. I believe my colleagues would say my best trait is my adaptability and flexibility. When I learn something new, I am able to grasp onto the task quickly. For instance, I had taken an earth science course as an elective. This course was challenging because it was a new field of study I had little knowledge of, however, I was able to excel in the course. In brief, personal branding is essential for setting yourself apart from others.

What is your personal brand? How do you stand out? Let me know in the comments!

Blog #4 – B2C Case Study

Image from nike.com

Nike is the leading sportswear brand, holding a global market share of approximately 37%. (referenceforbusiness.com) Nike sells products that range from athletic footwear, sports equipment and sports apparel. The company’s success is maintained with the brand’s excellent social media strategy, strong engagement with consumers and Nike’s sponsorships with influential and professional athletes. In addition, Nike is popular on all major social platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest and Instagram. ‘Nike Football with 44 million fans is one of the top ten most followed brand pages on Facebook, while the brand’s primary Instagram account is the most followed brand with 92 million followers.’ (Unmetric, 2019) 

Image from socialchamp.io

The success of Nike has allowed the brand to acquire a huge following, 8.1 million followers on Twitter. The brand maintains success through engaging with their users to address customer queries with 96.8% of the brand’s tweets being replies. (Unmetric, 2019) Furthermore, Nike’s partnerships with famous athletes for example, Cristiano Renaldo and Serena Williams allows the brand more exposure through mentions and likes from these top following celebrities on Twitter. The brand does an excellent job on social media with trending hashtags and selling their image as a lifestyle. Professional athletes trust Nike products for their quality and fashionable athletic wear. As a result, consumers see famous athletes promoting Nike on social platforms and this influences consumers to choose Nike merchandise over other competitors. In brief, Nike’s social media strategy is effective and this is proven with their mass following on their social networks.

 Sources

(n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.referenceforbusiness.com/history2/99/NIKE-Inc.html

Unmetric. (2019, October 10). How Nike became a Leader on Social Media. Retrieved from https://blog.unmetric.com/nike-social-media

Blog # 3 – Target Audiences

Image from https://www.ilearnlot.com/discuss-case-study-for-doves-campaign-for-real-beauty/

When I think about a marketing campaign that stood out to me, Dove’s ‘Real Beauty’ campaign is the first one that comes to mind. Dove’s ‘Real Beauty’ campaign was a massive success and helped the brand win a handful of awards. The ‘Real Beauty’ campaign is centered towards the female demographic and predominantly focused on women ages 18-35 that take value in natural skin care products. As a result, women in this age group are interested in reputable and affordable skin care. Many Dove advertisements featured mature models and products that prevents wrinkles and age spots, garnering attention from an older audience as well. Moreover, the ‘Real Beauty’ campaign strived to broadcast the message that Dove is “an agent of change to educate and inspire girls on a wider definition of beauty and to make them feel more confident about themselves”. (dove.com)

Image from https://strategyonline.ca/2014/05/13/beauty-at-any-age/

The brand incorporated successful social media strategies for example, #realbeauty was being circulated on Twitter and Instagram and Dove would go on to share real women’s stories about how they struggled and overcame body image issue. This would spark a plethora of online conversation with women coming out and sharing their own experiences within their social circles as well. Dove’s instagram page further enhanced this messaging around body positivity by writing inspiring captions, for example, ‘unfollow all accounts that don’t provide value or inspiration in your life. You are beautiful.’ In brief, Dove benefited from using their social media platforms to promote brand awareness and defeat society’s unrealistic body ideals.

What do you think about the success of Dove’s ‘Real Beauty’ campaign? Do you think they targeted their audience correctly? Let me know in the comments!

Our mission. (2016, January 11). Retrieved from https://www.dove.com/ca/en/dove-self-esteem-project/our-mission.html

Blog #2 – Storytelling

Good storytelling has always encouraged interaction and engagement with an audience. Stories help build a bigger picture and evoke emotion. The most important lesson is to understand your communication style and how you can clearly deliver that story. Marketers have benefitted through incorporating storytelling in their marketing campaigns. For example, Dove endorsed a real beauty campaign with women sharing stories of overcoming body image issues and selling products that aimed at making women feel comfortable in their own skin. The campaign was a success, the real beauty advertisement went viral and empowered women globally.

Image from http://theinspirationroom.com/daily/2004/dove-campaign-for-real-beauty/

Moreover, the first step to communicating an interesting story is the tone of the story. Readers don’t want to read an article that lacks personality, they may not end up finishing the post. Asking questions and relating past experiences throughout the text helps create a fun and enjoyable read. In my opinion, I have enjoyed articles where the author wrote relatable experiences or tips. I am reminded in the future about the tip and it makes the article more memorable in my mind. Also, writers should always proofread their writing because posts with mistakes are viewed as unprofessional and negligent. In brief, good storytellings takes practice, but with practice storytelling can become simple.

What are your thoughts? How do you tell a good story? Let me know in the comments below!