Personal Reflection

I was never someone who would post content and stories on social media. I didn’t really know what to say and I felt my storytelling skills weren’t good enough. I was afraid that people would have negative comments about my posts. But after taking this course I feel I now have the skills and knowledge to write better stories and can post them on social media. I learned that you should write your story, sleep on it and then check it again the next day before you post it. I also learned that it is the way you say something that brings meaning to a story. You have a simple everyday story but if you keep people on edge it will make them want to learn more about your story and then a simple story will seem more interesting. I will definitely look into Stuart Mclean’s radio program; The Vinyl Cafe. 

Storytelling is important to create great digital content because it keeps the audience engaged and entertained. People love a good story whether it’s listening to one or reading one but it needs to be exciting. There has to be plot twists and keep you on the edge to want to know more about what happened. I would like to tell funny stories. I like to make people laugh and I find people like to listen to funny stories. I would tell funny stories about my childhood or adventures I went on with my friends.

Do people know your story?

The question I am going to answer from John Jantsch’s article is: “What excites me to get out of bed every morning(related to your business)?

I work in the hospitality industry as a Sales Coordinator at The Holiday Inn. I help coordinator, conferences, large events, small meetings and weddings. I ensure that everything is ready for the event from billing to making sure everyone has a guest room booked. I communicate with all departments that they understand what the event is and any information they may need to ensure the event is a success.

I would say that I get excited to wake up and know that all my hard work and planning for an event will actually happen. It is exciting to see the event take place and know that I made that happen. It is also nice when the manager of the event appreciates and thanks me for all my hard work and the acknowledges that I helped to make their event success.

Working in the hotel industry, no day is the same. Some days you may have one event to work on and other days there may be 3 or 4 events. I get excited each morning knowing that when I walk into work I won’t know what to expect. Everyday brings on new challenges and new people to meet and talk to. I love knowing that I won’t know if my day will be busy or slow and who may call inquiring about an event they would like to have at my hotel.

Overall, the curiosity of my workday and watching events take place after months of planning brings me excitement to get out of bed each morning.

My Personal Brand

I would say that my organization skills and kindness set to apart from my competitors. I always strive to treat everyone with the same respect and I talk to them how I would like to be talked to back. Even if I am angry or mad I try my best to stay calm and collective to work out the problem.I find by being kind to everyone makes everyone feel comfortable to approach me, which is what I want. I don’t want colleagues to feel scared to ask me a question or get help with something. As well, I have very good organization skills. I always keep my work area organized and everything is always in the same spot. So then if I happen to be away and a colleague needs something from my desk then they will always know where it is. 

https://www.indoindians.com/8-quick-tips-to-organize-your-work-desk/

Recently, I was promoted from a reservations manager to a sales coordinator. This makes me stand out because I just started at the company a year ago and in six months I moved from the front desk department to the sales department; which is the department I wanted to be in. I feel pretty proud that I was promoted within 6 months. 

My colleagues would say that my best trait is how friendly I am. I am always talking to everyone at work and getting to know them. I enjoy helping out when I can as well. 

I am most proud of going into work everyday ready and willing to try my best, even when I am not having such a good day. I try to set a goal; whether little or big on a task I want to accomplish in the day or in the week. I am proud that I still try to set a goal and accomplish one task even when I am not feeling motivated or the best that day.

Grammarly

Grammarly is using social media in a numerous amount of ways. Grammarly usually posts content aimed to educate, empower and entertain (Cucu, 2022). They want to create connections with their community on social rather than promoting their business.

Their Facebook page focuses on posting advice, like productivity. On Instagram they go for more inspiration posts. They post inspiration quotes mostly. Then on Twitter they focus on the idea of time, relationships and management skills (Cucu, 2022). Grammerly even has a TikTok account where they post informational and funny posts.

I think that Grammerly is very involved in their social media platforms and they have quite a bit of them. I also like that on each platform you will find different content; they just don’t post the same thing on different social media pages.

Grammerly focuses on their fans. “For new ideas, we search for relevant inspiration everywhere, but we get a lot of great ideas from our fans. We subscribe to a daily digest of relevant content from FanPage Karma” says Kimberley Joki, Grammerlys social media manager (Acunzo, 2020).

I believe that their approach is working. They stay active on numerous social media posts and even involve their fans when thinking of new ideas. They also have numerous ads on social media; especially YouTube. The company has really made their name known just by using social media.

https://gbozhok.medium.com/grammarly-the-story-of-how-three-ukrainians-created-the-most-popular-online-grammar-checker-5c3f20a2f66a

Acunzo, J. (2020, February 28). How grammarly built a social media empire of 7 Million Grammar Geeks. Contently. Retrieved October 10, 2022, from https://contently.com/2015/04/23/how-grammarly-built-a-social-media-empire-of-7-million-grammar-geeks/

Cucu, E. (2022, April 28). Grammarly’s marketing strategy – lessons to learn: Socialinsider. Socialinsider Blog: Social media marketing insights and industry tips. Retrieved October 10, 2022, from https://www.socialinsider.io/blog/grammarly-marketing-strategy/

Target Audiences for Yoga

There are numerous target audiences for people who practice Yoga. Yoga can target people who are trying to improve their health, people who are wanting to de stress and reduce anxiety or people who want to find spiritual enlightenment, to name a few. From children to elders, anyone can practice yoga and is interested in taking up the practice.

https://www.nytimes.com/guides/well/beginner-yoga

If you own a yoga studio you can start a Facebook group where you add members of the studio. On the page you can add upcoming events and daily news. You can also start discussions that can encourage members to share their thoughts , questions, concerns and feelings regarding their needs for yoga.

An email newsletter is also an effective way to communicate with your members. In the email there can be blog posts from members of the group. This is a good way to learn about other people in the yoga community.

https://www.nytimes.com/guides/well/beginner-yoga

Lastly, yoga is for all ages. If there are some members that aren’t part of social media or emails, you can also post posters in the studio of upcoming events. This will cause in person discussion where you can talk face to face with your members on what else is happening in the studio.

Overall, yoga targets all ages, genders and anyone looking to reduce stress, anxiety or improve their health.

Storytelling and Communication Styles

After reading and reflecting on the module for this week about storytelling and communication styles I have learned numerous things that will benefit my own writing.

I learned that you need to engage your audience from the start with the most important details. Usually people just skim the article and will only want to read the most important information. If you start with not very important facts, readers will get bored and lose interest before they find the important details.

As well, I learned that there are different levels of reading. Elementary, Inspectional, Analytical, and Syntopical. The higher the level, the more you are absorb. This makes sense that there are different levels and not everything you read, you absorb the information the same way. I find when I read something of interest to me I really want to understand the content. I also tend to remember the information better than with something I do not understand fully.

Lastly, I learned that when I write I have more of a passive voice rather than an active voice. When I read a book and the author puts the subject of the sentence in an active role, I find this to be more interesting than a passive voice. I need to start practicing in my writing to have an active voice sometimes.

Overall, I found this week to be interesting and to really help me when I am writing. I will take what I learn and apply it when I am making blog posts on social media.

College Vacation

The last vacation I had was when I was in my last semester of college. As a class credit we were able to go to Jamaica for a week. To go on this trip my classmates and I hosted numerous bake sales to earn some money to help us pay for this trip. We stayed at The Iberostar Rose Resort.

https://www.iberostar.com/en/hotels/montego-bay/iberostar-rose-hall-beach/

During this trip we were not only tourists but humanitarian workers. We had the opportunity to volunteer at an orphanage; where we played with the kids and helped to get them ready for lunch. This was a sad experience because a lot of these kids had special needs. In Jamaica a lot of families are too poor to care for children with special needs so they are given to the orphanage where they spend most of their lives so some kids were above the age of 18.

Another day we gained experience working at a soup kitchen; where we cooked, prepared and served the lunch for those in need. When serving the food to the homeless it brought a sense of accomplishment and a smile to my face. I had prepared meals from scratch for strangers to enjoy and they were so grateful to have a warm meal.

A last volunteer experience we endured was making crafts at a school with young children. This was a fun experience, getting to play with the kids. We also were able to bring donations for them, so I brought them all of my old Barbie’s and they were so happy. It was a nice feeling to know that my old toys were going to kids who would appreciate them.

Of course, we did have time to be tourists. My friends and I climbed Dunn’s River and then in the afternoon we swam with dolphins.

https://gotourismguides.com/jamaica/dunns-river-falls/

This whole trip was a unique experience for me. I was able to experience everyday life in Jamaica, not just the tourist side. It brought up a lot of sad emotions when we would go to these volunteer locations and then come back to our resort. It made me feel sad that there are so many people in need in such a beautiful country.