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. 

1.5 Assignment

I want to know how social media has affected marketing because I will be able to answer the question in 10 more years and compare to the current answer. It seems like a very interesting subject, since social media has personally changed my life in 10 years, I'm sure it also changed the way marketing techniques are used.

My essential question is, I use social media nearly everyday at my mentorship, compare and contrast how technology in marketing has changed from 2005 to 2015? The question has not yet changed and I do believe the question will remain the same throughout my research.

In addition to the website, I will create a brochure and set up an exhibit. I do believe this will present my research in a good way. For the real inquiry, I will interview multiple people within the marketing field about the essential question. This will give me an abundance of primary research. I will also fulfill the requirement of secondary research by using books and websites to further my knowledge of my essential question.