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.

12.7 Assignment

One assumption I had about marketing that has been contradicted since I have started at my internship, was that marketing only consists of advertising. I now have 2 mentors at two different places and even though they are both very different, neither one consists of only advertisement. I have to file quite often. I have also learned that even though marketing directors aren't always associated with the volunteer coordinator or executive director, they are always communicating with them. However, even though I found this out, I still want to pursue marketing as a career.

There are many important skills for someone working in the marketing field. For example, teamwork is a necessity. The marketing director has to be informed and in contact with everyone in the office. Just so they don't miss anything and they can market what they need to for each administrative staff member. Communication is also important for the same reason. People in the marketing field also need to be able to learn new technology easily. Since I have started, I have been introduced to many new programs and I am on the computer every day. Therefore, when I go into the marketing field, I must be able to adjust to technology since it seems as though it is always changing. They also must be innovative in order to come up with unique marketing strategies so that the target market can be reached efficiently.

11.30 Assignment

My Essential Question:

     I use social media nearly everyday at my mentorship, compare and contrast how technology in marketing has changed from 2005 to 2015?

I chose this as my essential question because it seems very interesting to me. I have seen how technology and social media has emerged in the past few years but I would like to see how much it has changed in marketing. 

What excites me most about this question is being able to apply the research I do to my mentorship. Also, I will also be able to compare the information I find to be able to do the same project after I graduate from college. It will only be a 5 year difference from now, but I think social media and technology will continue to change drastically. 

I do feel like this question accurately reflects a desire/need that I have to find out more about this topic. This is the topic I did my annotated bibliography on and it was very interseting to me then, and this was only a short article. I do feel like I will learn a lot from this project and it will help me use social media and technology in both on my mentorships.

11/16 Assignment

http://growingleaders.com/blog/first-soft-skill-develop-students/

There are several challenges youth may face in the workplace One of them is that they might lack what they need in order to get the job. WE have not yet learned soft skills and how to interview well. If we do get the job, we often face the challenge of not knowing what is expected of us. We might keep a cluttered workplace, we might not show up on time, or we may not have a strong work ethic. Since we have not had a job, we think it is okay to work the same way we live: cluttered and lazily. Another challenge we may face is our sense of identity. Most of us think we know who we are but we base it on the outside qualities such as appearance and clothing style. So when asked to change this "identity," we are not open to the suggestion. Since no one has ever taught us how to act on the job and we haven't had much working experience before, we struggle regularly with things that older workers may not. I also think since technology is so prominent, my generation never learned how to communicate. We always text someone instead of calling them or talking to them in person. This is not necessarily anyone persons fault, the advance on technology is mostly to blame. However, the youth are at fault because we never put the technology on the back burner and focus on true social interaction. Our parents are also partially to blame, because they allowed us to turn to technology rather than using our imagination for play or visiting someone to talk to them.

Social intelligence is the ability to understand and manage men, women, and children, to act wisely in human interaction. The quality of a first impression and a lasting impression depends heavily on social intelligence. Social intelligence is needed in not only jobs and college, but it is needed in everyday life. We must be able to develop relationships with people in a face to face manner. Professional relationships can't be made through a phone or computer screen. My generation struggles with this because we never had to develop relationships with anyone without using technology.

Social intelligence is important everyone must be able to develop healthy social relationships. Having social intelligence and being able to develop relationships, sets a person ahead in the workplace. They show that they have the capability to be a leader and to teacher to others. It proves to employers that the person is a good candidate for the job and they will go far in the business world.

One thing about this article that spoke to me personally was the amount of youth that doesn't know how to make a strong first impression or interview well. Since I do pageants, I interview quite frequently. It is definitely a something I had to learn how to do well but I guess I never considered how well rounded or not other teens are during interviews. It never crossed my mind that they don't get the practice like I do. I was able to connect to the article because it explained me very well when I first started interviews for pageants.

11.9.15 Assignment

This month at my mentorship, I have been busy preparing promotional items, attending events and preparing for the Homeowner Orientation. I attended the Mule Camp festival where I sold tickets for Battle of the Builders, the annual raffle of playhouses built by Hall County High school students. I have also moved offices so I spent a majority of a week organizing all of the marketing materials I had. I also spent time locating all of the marketing materials that had been stored in various locations around the store due to not having a specific office or location for marketing items. Once I was settled into my new office, I was able to start attempting to list items on Ebay. I did run into some complications with our Ebay account that still haven't been completely settled so I have not yet listed any items. I do however, have everything prepared, such as the pictures and the description, so that when the issues are worked out, I will be able to immediately list items. The whole process of trying to fix the Ebay account has taught me a lot that I never thought I would experience at my mentorship. The Director of Finance is not in her office during the same ours that I have been so we have had to overcome the communication problems in order to work together to be able to list on Ebay. I have also had to contact Ebay's customer service, this showed me how to handle issues that I didn't think I would have to deal with.

The one class in all of my high school career that has helped me in my mentorship is the Marketing Principles class I am currently taking. It is hard for me to say which one helps the other more, both my mentorship and the class go hand in hand. The class has educated me on many marketing terms and techniques that I have used at my mentorship and my mentorship has presented me with opportunities to experience everything we talk about in the class. Both have increased my understanding in marketing since I am sitting in a classroom learning all about marketing during 5th period then I come directly to my mentorship for 6th and 7th period to utilize the skills and information I have learned.

11.2.15 Assignment

In regards to my mentorship site, Habitat for Humanity, I feel as though they are a partner in my education because not only have I learned many valuable life skills and job skills, I have also learned more about the career I want to pursue. They have enabled me to see most aspects of marketing, including the ones that nobody wants to do. My mentorship has also helped me in my marketing class. Rather than just learning about marketing techniques, I am actually experiencing them first hand. I have found that I do well in my marketing class and I feel it is due to what my mentorship has taught me and all the knowledge I have gained from being here. I also feel like I am one step ahead of other high school students that may want to pursue marketing but don't have and internship opportunity available to them. Since I am already experiencing the marketing pathway, I am able to definitely say this is the career I wish to go into after college. Other students may not realize what marketing entails or they might not be positive on the career they want to pursue.

My supervisor and mentor tell me often that I have made their lives easier. Since I am mentoring at a non-profit, there are not as many employees as a bigger company would have, such as Coca-cola. I have been able to do the work that was previously delegated to the employees even though it was not necessarily in their job description. One of the goals I have met so far at my mentorship has been discovering if I truly want to pursue marketing. I realized about a month into my mentorship that I definitely want to pursue marketing as a career. I am glad I have completed this goal because now I can dedicate myself to marketing the Restore rather than trying to think of another career field I would be interested in before college. Some of my goals have changed, this is only because I wasn't sure what to expect when I began my mentorship. Now, my goals are tailored to fit my duties at the Restore. I have also created weekly and monthly goals for myself, depending on what project I am working on. These goals may change from week to week, as soon as I accomplish one goal, I am moving on to the next.