Blog Post #5

5 Mistakes to Avoid on your Linkedin Profile

As we grow up, social media is constantly changing and we have to continue to adapt to these changes. The platforms are not necessarily changing but rather the ones we use and how we are supposed to use them. One of the main changes that comes to mind is the switch from facebook to linkedin. While facebook is for social media and social interactions with family and friends, we have to remember that linkedin is for professional interactions and we have to be careful about how to use it. Here are 3 common mistakes to avoid on your linkedin profile.

            First, get a professional headshot. This is likely to be the first thing that people see when they look at your profile so you don’t want to have some random unofficial picture that you could use on facebook that could cause a questionable first impression. Instead, you want an official professional headshot that will cause people to have a positive first impression and make them want to trust you and think highly of you.

            Next, unlike facebook, on linkedin you don’t need your life story, but you do need details. These details should be kept professional. Any type of experience, travel, and personal skills are good to include however getting too personal or unnecessary details can clutter up your linkedin page and discourage people from reaching out to you.

            Lastly, make sure you leave your contact information. On facebook, most people don’t include their contact information so that people will not contact them. However, that is the purpose of linkedin. This is sometimes the initial source of how people get to know about you and your skills. For this reason, it is crucial for you to include this on your linkedin. Your phone number, email address, and any other information you would like people to know so they can reach you.

Blog Post 4

Brand Attachment

            We have all heard about brand loyalty through many years of our college lives and in pretty much every marketing class. Put simply, brand loyalty is when you consistently buy one specific brand no matter what the condition or location where you need to buy it. Now, taking it one step further, not many people know about the concept of brand attachment. I know I didn’t.

            This new concept is very interesting to me. I am still trying to decide if I am sold on the idea of it or not. Brand Attachment is defined as “the emotional connection between humans and brands.” This means that they become not just loyal, but actually attached to the brand. This often happens when companies like Ben & Jerry’s come up with unique flavors and names that can make a deeper connection with consumers. The three elements that were highlighted specifically were affection, connection, and passion. These elements put together bring the audience to a deeper connection with the brand itself and not just compared to the other brands in its industry.

            Now, do you agree that this is possible? I am not fully convinced but I believe I do have a deeper connection with specific brands in different industries because of their advertisements or what their company stands for. If it is actually an attachment I am still deciding and doing more research but for now I think it is more and more convincing and a very interesting concept.

6 Word of Mouth Marketing Tips

6 Word of Mouth Marketing Tips

We all know that one of the strongest marketing techniques is through word of mouth. If your friend tells you they like something you are probably more likely to look it up or try it over seeing a random ad or having companies constantly talking to you, I know I am. But how do we get people talking? Social Media Today recently outlined 6 Tips....

1.     Promote Word of Mouth by Providing Above Average Service

2.     Connect with Industry Influencers

3.     Create a Core Group of Insiders

4.     Incentivize Word of Mouth to Get People Talking

5.     Use Social Media to Create Personal Connections

6.     Publish Quality Content

These are all awesome ideas but how do you do this? I think it really depends on the specific market you are targeting. With our generation, the three of these that I think would be most efficient and a lot of companies are doing nicely are Connecting with Influencers, Incentivize Word of Mouth to Get People Talking, and Use of Social Media to Create Personal Connections.

Connecting with Influencers of our generation gets the company the first look. If we see a celebrity we like in a commercial or promoting a specific product I think we are more likely to stop and check it out or look at what they are promoting rather that just a random ad that we may glance over.

Incentivize Word of Mouth to Get People Talking is another big one. Just the other day I was looking for a place to get my haircut and my friend immediately recommended a place because she really liked the service and if she recommends someone, both she and I would get $10 off our haircut. Just by giving this little incentive of $10 now the company has both me and my friend coming back for a visit we otherwise may not have had.

Lastly, Use of Social Media to Create Personal Connections. I wrote in my first blog about the difference between social media “likes” and “shares” If companies can successfully use facebook and other kings of social media and make personal connections that lead to people “sharing” the post with their friends I think it would greatly help their companies.

All of these 6 mentioned I believe are important in general but Thinking about this before I read the article and matching my ideas with the ones listed, the 3 I just explained seemed to stand out the most to me and are most powerful to our generation.

Social Media; Good vs. Bad

Social Media; Good vs. Bad

With every change in everyday life, people always debate about the good and the bad. Is it worth the change? How is this affecting other aspects in my life? Do the pros out weigh the cons? Just as we ask ourselves these questions about many personal decisions, we can ask the same questions about international changes too; like social media.

Some of the good things about social media that people recognize include immediate access to information, constant connectivity to others and globalized voices. These help us keep up to date with nationwide news and information while also staying connected personally with friends and family if they are right down the street or half way across the world. Another arguable plus side to social media is the concept of a hashtag. This one simple tool can now connect millions of people’s ideas into a common space for them to share. It also allows businesses to market to specific people and spread powerful messages to the right market of people in a couple seconds.

On the other hand, there are many downsides to social media that we don’t always acknowledge right away. One of the biggest in my opinion is hiding behind anonymity. People tend to say whatever they want when they are hiding behind a computer screen. Many of the things these types of people are saying are often naïve have very little to back up their opinions. This can be hurtful to both specific people who they are targeting or a much larger cause.  Another downside is a lot of people are all talk and no action. They can say all the want and advocate for a million causes online but they are not really doing anything to help unless they take action and social media is drastically hindering that. Lastly, ignorance. It is amazing the comments some people make after hearing one comment or story that they think is true. People are so often misinformed or just blatantly ignorant and go on ranting on social media with no legs to stand on.  People are so quick to state their opinion to everyone when they often don’t even know what they are talking about.

Good vs. bad. Pros vs. cons. It is a very fine line between the pros outweighing the cons. Is social media worth it? I think it is solely because the idea of being able to stay connected with people and news around the world is so strong and beneficial. However it is very hard to cancel out and ignore the many people who cause the down side to social media.

Blog Post 1

Too Many Advertisers Are Talking, Not Enough Are Listening

All of us are on some type of social media, if its facebook, twitter, instagram, or one of the many others out there. When on these different sites we all see tend to see a lot of ads, but how many do we actually look at? Personally, very few catch my attention enough to actually look at it, or watch it if it is a video, and see what they are advertising. This is the problem a lot of companies are having today. The switch from print marketing to “social” marketing has proven to be a great challenge for many big companies because they don’t tend to realize the difference between someone liking their post and someone sharing their post. When someone likes a post they personally looked at it, but when someone shares the post they are spreading it to all their friends and more people are likely to see it. The “sharing” is the main basis of social marketing.

So what can companies do to change their marketing and advertisements in favor of this “social” marketing? In my opinion, they should try to better engage with their audiences, make the consumer want to look at the clip or watch the video. If they stop just telling you about their product and focus on a little bit of what the consumer wants to hear or what they like to see they have a better chance of getting these “shares” rather than just likes. This way it wont be advertisers telling consumers what their brand it, it will be consumers telling each other what the brand is. This should lead to better social marketing success.