5/2 Assignment: Reflection

      This year I have gained so much from my mentorships. It gave me the opportunity to see real life marketing scenarios. At The Oaks, I had the opportunity to create personal relationships with some of the residents. They gave me advice and wisdom that I will cherish for a lifetime. I also saw that marketing was not all that amazing all the time but seeing your work and dedication makes up for that. Throughout the year, I made sure I got the most from my experience by fully emerging myself in projects. For example, rather than just planning a small event for the residents at The Oaks, I planned a full pageant and I was in charge of the whole thing, beginning to end. This not only got me noticed by all the management at the Braselton location, but I have also been offered a job by the owners because they were so impressed by my actions. Had I not fully emerged myself in my mentorships, this never would've happened. 

     This mentorship has definitely prepared me for the future. At Habitat, I have learned how to create marketing materials for the general public. At The Oaks, I have learned how to target older generations and create media appropriate for that age group. I have also learned how to interact with not only seniors but seniors with dementia and Alzheimer's. This won't directly help me in my career but it will definitely help me with interacting with people since most people don't have much experience with memory disorders. If my Disney career works out, I will have all age groups, young and old, that I will have to interact with and The Oaks has definitely prepared me for that. 

     My mentorships have definitely changed my view of marketing. I have realized that this is definitely the area I want to pursue. Even thought its not always great, it is very rewarding at the same time. Being able to see my hard work and dedication play out was an amazing experience that I will never forget. It makes up for all the days spent making copies and folding brochures. For future students, I would recommend them to fully immerse themselves in their mentorship. It may not always be fun and exciting, but hard work pays off. If you give it 110% everyday, you may have a job offer before the year is over. I promise you, it is much more enjoyable if you try to enjoy it.

Below, I have attached a picture I created for the episode of The Muppets that starred Habitat for Humanity. I created it and posted it on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook for all of our followers to see. 

3.14 Assignment

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tShavGuo0_E

     After watching this video about public speaking, I have learned the three ways to eliminate anxiety: prepare, posture, and pander your audience. Being prepared and knowing exactly what to say will make it much easier to talk about the subject. It's also easier the more knowledgeable you are in the subject. Standing too stiff and locking your knees is only setting you up to pass out while you are speaking. Standing naturally will ease your body and make it easier to breath and speak. Taking sips of water will help your voice sound natural throughout the presentation and it will clear your throat. You have to pander your audience to keep them tuned in. When the audience starts to zone out, it increases nervousness. Make sure you have things to say in case there are any silences.

2.15- Annotated Bibliography

Daley, Jason. "How Social Media Is Changing Business." Entrepreneur. 23 Nov. 2010. Web. 10 Feb.
     2016.

     This article states that every corporation has thick "walls" built between every department. The marketing department is isolated from the executive floor and the product development team is in their own space. It has been hard for the marketing team to hear opinions from clients and customers. Social media has helped chip away at these walls that divide everyone. The product development team knows exactly what the complaints are and they can address them. Customers and businesses are now able to easily communicate directly. Up until the point in time when this article was written, it was optional for businesses to use social media. Now since it is such a prevalent thing to utilize, Charlene Li, one of the world's leading thinkers on social media, predicts that if a business or company is not using social media within the next 3-5 years, they will not last. This article was written in 2010, so that time frame has now expired. Now almost all successful businesses use social media to the fullest potential. The creator of the World Wide Web, Tim Berners-Lee, always thought the internet would be used more to connect people and less for housing data. However, there is a lag with businesses to jump on the social media bandwagon. Businesses had just begun to use Facebook when this article was written. Social media has been used in ways that make things possible that would never be possible in a restaurant or store. For example, the 4food burger has allowed customers to completely customize burgers. They can add anything from edamame to the usual bacon, lettuce, and tomato. Social media is also being used to repair negative reputations. Dell has used social media to try to reverse the uproar caused by the quality control issues in 2006. There is a long list of companies that used social media early in the "race" and they have drastically expanded their marketing departments and employees are more passionate because they see results of their marketing efforts immediately.

"According to a University of Maryland Smith of Business poll, in 2009 the percentage of small businesses using social media doubled to 24 percent from 12 percent."
"Charlene Li, one of the world's leading thinkers on social media and co-founder of the Altimeter Group, a research-based advisory firm in San Mateo, Calif., predicts that companies that do not get on the social media bandwagon soon-- within three to five years-- will not survive."
"The web is more a social creation than a technical one. I designed it for a social effect-- to help people work together-- and not as a technical toy," -Tim Berners-Lee
"We have yet to really see how social media will reshape business--but we are starting to get glimpses of that future." 
"Building a new enterprise from the ground up using social media is much simpler than retrofitting it into a long-established business culture."

     While this source does not seem like a credible source due to the fact that URL is .com. However, this article was published in the Entrepreneur magazine which features articles from some of the most prevalent business gurus. It is trusted by many companies and it has aided companies to either become bigger or start up. The author, Jason Daley, has articles published in many national magazines. The source is out of date for my overall research but it helps me get a better understanding of the transition to using social media. The article was published in the mid-point of the years I'm comparing. I never would have known how slow the transition was unless I had found this article.

     This article will fit very well into my research. Since I do have such a big gap between the years I'm comparing, it gives a good idea of what happened in between the 10 years. The source was very helpful, I gained a lot of insight that I otherwise wouldn't have. This research will help me explain how businesses adapted to the idea of using social media.

2/1 Assignment

This week I have been working on finding more statistics. I have been doing research at Habitat for Humanity. It is helping me compare how they used social media 10 years ago to now but it is also helping me update the website and social media sites at Habitat for Humanity. I am closely working with the Volunteer VISTA at Habitat. She has answered interview questions for me and lead me in the right direction for my project and my assignments at Habitat.

1/25 Assignment: Annotated Bibliography

Ross, Becky, and Shannon Gorman. "Measuring The 

       Impact Of Social Media On Your Business." Forbes. 

       N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Jan. 2016.

     Only 15% of companies have proved there was a positive impact due to social media. Since social media is so new, companies are not completely educated in measuring the impact and maximizing their profit from social media. Most companies only measure based on likes or page views (engagement metrics), not actual sales. When social media metrics are used to find statistics, all categories have increased from 2010-2014, except sales levels, revenue per customer, customer retention costs, profits per customer. When marketing experts were interviewed about how to measure the impact of social media on marketing, the responses were summed up in 11 points. They include using goal- driven metrics, demonstrate validity, uncover and verify leading indicators, create dashboards, develop meaningful benchmarks, conduct experiments, allocate funds to measure, consider the cost of ignoring social media, build predictive models, guide future actions, and stick with your metrics. Many marketing experts argue how metrics should be used. This is a debate that will never be solved, each company will use metrics in different ways based on what they believe.

This article is full of quotes I can use for my project. Some of them are, "the most common metric is “hits/visits/page views” which represents the beginning of the funnel—awareness—but is not very diagnostic of purchase." Another quote I will use is, "although abandoned shopping carts also increased, in general, we observe fewer companies using actual purchase activities or financial outcomes, such as profits or revenues, as metrics to evaluate their social media programs which was discussed in a prior post." There is also a chart full of social media metrics that will be very useful in my project. 

     Even though this source might not be considered "credible" since it is composed of articles written by authors, I do believe it is. This specific article contained multiple statistics that I researched and are accurate based on what I've found. It also interviewed marketing experts and quoted Google's Director of Quantitative Research. The article is also sponsored by the American Marketing Association, Duke University's Faqua School of Business, and McKinsey, Inc. Based on the strong reputation of these sponsors, I don't think they would back up just anything.

I will use all of the statistics found in the article for my project. They compare social media in one year to social media in another, which is exactly what my project is based on. The interview responses might not fit perfectly into the topic of my project but I do believe I will be able to use the information I learned in my marketing career.

1.19 Assignment: Graphic Organizer

Source #____ Bibliography (MLA or APA) 10 pts	Ross, Becky, and Shannon Gorman. "Measuring The         Impact Of Social Media On Your Business." Forbes.         N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Jan. 2016.
Annotation: (Describe ALL info. that might be important for your paper. Explain to the reader and/or summarize what might be found in this source) 35 pts	Only 15% of companies have proved there was a positive impact due to social media. Since social media is so new, companies are not completely educated in measuring the impact and maximizing their profit from social media. Most companies only measure based on likes or page views (engagement metrics), not actual sales. When social media metrics are used to find statistics, all categories have increased from 2010-2014, except sales levels, revenue per customer, customer retention costs, profits per customer. When marketing experts were interviewed about how to measure the impact of social media on marketing, the responses were summed up in 11 points. They include using goal- driven metrics, demonstrate validity, uncover and verify leading indicators, create dashboards, develop meaningful benchmarks, conduct experiments, allocate funds to measure, consider the cost of ignoring social media, build predictive models, guide future actions, and stick with your metrics. Many marketing experts argue how metrics should be used. This is a debate that will never be solved, each company will use metrics in different ways based on what they believe.
Potential Quotes: (Are there any significant quotes you can use or paraphrase from this source?) 15 pts	-"The most common metric is “hits/visits/page views” which represents the beginning of the funnel—awareness—but is not very diagnostic of purchase." -"Although abandoned shopping carts also increased, in general, we observe fewer companies using actual purchase activities or financial outcomes, such as profits or revenues, as metrics to evaluate their social media programs which was discussed in a prior post."
Assessment: (Analyze and explain why this source is credible) 15 pts	Even though this source might not be considered "credible" since it is composed of articles written by authors, I do believe it is. This specific article contained multiple statistics that I researched and are accurate based on what I've found. It also interviewed marketing experts and quoted Google's Director of Quantitative Research. The article is also sponsored by the American MArketing Association, Duke University's Faqua School of Business, and McKinsey, Inc. Based on the strong reputation of these sponsors, I don't think they would back up just anything.
Reflection: (How will you potentially use it?) 25 pts	I will use all of the statistics found in the article for my project. They compare social media in one year to social media in another, which is exactly what my project is based on. The interview responses might not fit perfectly into the topic of my project but I do believe I will be able to use the information I learned in my marketing career.

1.11 Assignment

I interviewed Tammy Williams, the Senior Marketing Manager at AT&T

1. How much do you use social media for your company during the normal work day?
         -2 hours daily

• This does surprise me a little bit since it seems like so much of AT&T's advertising presence is on social media. I guess they use a server similar to Hootsuite so they can schedule all of their posts for the day rather than being on social media. 

2. Do you use social media for marketing or do you feel that it is not necessary?
         -Definitely, social media is part of our every day activities. It is an environment that is conducive to persuasion.

• I definitely agree with her answer. I haven't had a ton of experience on the business side of social media but I do notice this in my personal life. I am much more likely to view a business if I see them on social media rather than if I see their commercial. With social media, I am right there at their account and I don't have to do anything else to access it. However, with commercials or billboards, I might say I want to look at more of their stuff, I most likely won't do it or I will simply forget about it.

3. If you use social media, how has it helped your company? Are there any disadvantages?
          -Incredible help to my company. We are able to target demographics and reach more audiences instantaneously. Disadvantages are you cannot completely monitor responses or comments.

• My last response also applies to this answer. I am more likely to view a social media page right after I see their post rather than viewing their page after I watch a commercial or see a billboard. I understand the disadvantage as well. There are thousands of comments or replies on some posts and it would be hard to sort through it to monitor them. 

4. Have you noticed a change in the use of social media for marketing, either in your personal or work life, within the past 10 years?
          -In both. In my personal life, I'm always connected to social media. Professional, more effort and marketing dollars are applied to social media.

• I expected this answer. I too have noticed an increase in social media use just within the past couple years. Businesses definitely have much more of presence on social media. When I first joined social media, there were definitely business profiles but they did not have as large of a following as they do now. 

5. If so, what changes have you noticed?
          -I spend more time on FaceBook and professionally, budgets for social media have increased.

• I was not expecting this answer. I did not think budgets specifically for social media would change. I thought they would use the same advertising campaigns as the ones they use for billboards, magazines, and commercials. I guess since more time needs to be devoted to monitoring the accounts, it takes up more time which equals money in the business world. 

6. Have you noticed a different amount of customers depending on how much you utilize social media? Do you receive more customers the more you post on social media?
             -Definitely more customers and ROI.

• I also thought there would be more ROI (return on investment) but included in my research for the project, I have found many sources that have found the views and likes have gone way up but the actual profit aspect has not. Sales levels, revenue per customer, profits per customer have all decreased while the use of social media increased. However, customer retention costs has gone down, which is a positive change. My guess is that the statistics are different for every business, it just depends on the industry. 

7. Do you spend less money on advertisements if you just use social media rather than also using billboards, magazines, etc.?
             -No, social media can utilize big name talent, diverse campaigns. Printing costs have decreased but budgets have increased and the caliber of commercials have increased.

• This goes back to my response to question 4. It answers my questions about why and how there has been an increased budget for marketing. With competition between other companies, I guess each and every one has to put their best foot forward for every advertising campaign. The costs of social media marketing isn't necessarily the actual usage of social media but it's the campaigns that they spend the most money on. 

8. Do you think the use of social media will increase or stay the same over the next 10 years?
              -Increase.

• I agree with this answer. I think technology will always be evolving and social media will evolve with it. I remember the starting of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat. Many more apps have been created that were designed to be another social media outlet but not all of them have been successful. I think with there being so many, eventually the current social media outlets will fade out and new website's will become prevalent. 

9. Do you feel that social media gives your customers better insight to your company than other forms of advertisement do (billboards, magazine ads)?
               -Yes because you get a better and a more immediate response.

• This answer also makes sense. Like I have said in previous responses, I am much more prone to look at an account that I see on social media than looking them up after I see a commercial. We are able to find out more from a social media account than we can from a commercial alone. 

10. Do you wish social media was as popular as it is today for the purpose of marketing?
           -No, I think technology has evolved with technology.

• I agree with her, as I stated in question 8. I feel like our society thrives on social interaction and the way we get that interaction has evolved along with technology. Even since my childhood, I have noticed a huge change in the way children play with their friends. When I was in elementary school, I played outside all year long, I only played inside if the weather was bad. As I got older, we stopped playing outside as much and we were inside most of the time. Now, children mostly play video games inside. I think. as Tammy said, technology will evolve even more which will continue the change the way we interact socially.