Internet Townsquare

In Real Time Marketing and PR by David Meerman Scott he talks about the internet being like a town square. This is a great way of explaining the internet and social media. I have grown up mostly in a generation that has information at their fingertips. Anything I need to find is just a few clicks away. If there is a song that I haven't heard in ten years I can find it on YouTube or download it from iTunes. The same goes for television shows that have been cancelled for a long time. I know there will be at least one site that will allow me to watch that television show. So I agree that the internet is a virtual town square. I get on my computer and I can see what my friends are doing on Facebook, on Twitter I can see what celebrities and companies are saying. On Instagram I can see pictures of my friends and celebrities. This seems normal and sometimes necessary to me because I grew up with technology and social media. I don't know how things are going to evolve in the future but I think social media, in one way or another will always be around.

Company Facebook Pages

In this article from Technorati it talks about why people like brands and companies on Facebook. Most people are liking the page because they are hoping to get something free or a discount on whatever product that company produces.

I personally don't have a lot of companies as Facebook friends. I would have to be really interested in a company for me to find them on Facebook. I have followed companies in the past and I felt like they posted too frequently. I get annoyed when I log on to Facebook and all I see are posts from one person or organization. For me to stick with someone they would have to post frequently but not so much that I could get tired of hearing from them. And most importantly I want their posts to be useful or funny or intelligent. I want to take something from the post. They don't have to be giving me free or discounted things for me to want to read their posts. They could even just be a little funny blurb or comic strip. For companies I just feel like it is a fine line between reaching your customers effectively and really just annoying them and having them ignore your posts and possibly even stop following you.

Knowing your media

In the book Real Time Marketing and PR by David Meerman Scott he talks about getting to know your local reporters. I think this is an easy step to becoming credible that most professionals often overlook. It makes sense to me that as soon as you need something and run to a reporter who has never heard of you may be skeptical about helping you out. Plus it could leave the reporter feeling used if he/she only hears from you when you need something. So stay involved. Get to know them.

The following are some easy steps you can take to be a credible source for your local reporters:

Follow their publication: It's a lot easier to market your idea to someone if you know what interests the person and you have a feel for what type of story or news that certain reporter likes to write about.

Comment on stories and blog posts: Get your name out there! If you post on their blog or stories and you are intelligent about your posts they will start to recognize your name. If they recognize your name you are no longer someone they have never heard from before.

Send an email introduction: Send them an email telling them who you are working for and what your job is with that company. Tell them what your specialties are and be friendly!

Follow the reporter on Twitter: This is a super easy step. They will see you have followed them. You can retweet and comment when necessary. This is just another way to get your name recognized.

With these easy steps that won't take you very long at all there should be no reason that your local media isn't familiar with you. The more familiar they are with you the likelier you are to have your story  or press release recognized.

Where are you fall?

Fall is my favorite season. It has gotten unusually cold pretty quickly this month and I'm not sure I like it. I like when it gradually turns to sweatshirt and jeans weather. I'm hoping that Fall is hiding somewhere close by and will show itself after this cold front moves on.

Some reasons that Fall is my favorite season:

The leaves change colors and there are piles of them everywhere to jump and play in. I also love those bags that look like jack-o-lantern faces when you stuff them with leaves.

Like I mentioned before the temperature changes and everyone starts wearing hoodies and jeans. You can go outside and be comfortable and not sweat to death.

Fall also includes two of my favorite holidays: Halloween and Thanksgiving. My Mom and I love Halloween. We pass out candy to all the little trick-or-treaters and the best part of all we go to the pumpkin patch in Toledo and pick the perfect pumpkin out right from the pumpkin patch to take home and carve. Thanksgiving is my other favorite holiday because everyone comes home to be together and my family spends the whole day cooking together and listening to Christmas music. And we all eat a delicious meal together.

Last but not least I love lattes and other special coffee drinks and in the Fall everyone goes crazy on specialty coffee drinks!

Fake Friends

An article on Technorati says that Facebook is finding that some users are using fake names or pseudonyms for their usernames. This is costing advertisers a lot of money because they are spending money marketing to, essentially fake people who aren't going to buy anything. The blog was asking if people would be willing to report their friends if they were using fake names. Or if anyone could think of a good reason that someone would have to use a fake name.

I don't think I would have a problem reporting someone with a fake name. I have gotten friend requests from users that I have never heard of before and their names don't seem like real names. I don't know why someone would be using a fake name unless they were up to no good. Facebook is a social network site. People use it to stay connected and find old friends or distant family. Using your real name is the first step to successfully staying connected. So if you get a friend request from someone who you think may not be real report it to Facebook!

Riding the Buzz

In The New Rules of Marketing and PR by David Meerman Scott he talks about riding the buzz. There is no formula to make a video go viral or popular. But when there is a video that contains your companies product or brand and it happens to go viral you have to ride the buzz. What does this mean exactly? The company has to first be listening to what is going on in the public with their company. You won't be able to do anything with your company's buzz if you don't know about it. Then you just need to capitalize on all the free publicity that your company is getting. It's a fine line between supporting the publicity and over supporting it. This kind of free attention is going to happen very often so the company should be thankful.

Scott uses the example of the Coke and Mentos video. Mentos did the right thing and supported the video while Coke said it wasn't their style of publicity. I don't think it should matter what style of publicity your company or brand is going for. Here is a huge free marketing tool thrown at you that your customers think is a pretty cool concept so I say go with it!

iPhone 5 Confusion

The iPhone 5 was announced last week. I'm sure this isn't news to anyone because whenever there is a new Apple product announced most everyone I know is talking about it. Apple is great at getting the public and other companies in their field excited about what they are doing with their new products. Everyone wants to have a look at what the new phone or gadget will look like and what new improvements Apple has made. Even non Apple users want to be in on the action. The iPhone 5 was no exception. 

When I saw what the new phone looked like I was surprised to find that it didn't really look that different from the iPhone 4 that I have now. It supposedly runs faster and has a bigger screen and other various improvements but I was surprised how unexciting it was for the most part. With as much hype as their was I really thought there would be more improvments. Don't get me wrong it's still great. I love my iPhone and wouldn't trade it for any other phone in the world. But I think overall people were just expecting something more. One of the biggest things I was happy to hear they changed was the navigation app. The navigation on the iPhone 4 is terrible. There are no voice directions and you have to manually change the directions yourself. But the biggest upset is the new charger. I have the old charger obviously, actually I have two or three of them which is nice because I can only ever manage to find one at a time. I have an ihome of sorts that is also a radio. I also have a MacBook Pro. I know what a challenge it must have been for Apple to change all of this. All the companies that sell iPhone accessories are now going to have to completely remanufacture them. My only hope is that iPhone 4 accessories don't become scarce just because of the new charger and design. I have read some articles that say Apple is going to include a free adapter with the new phone but I have also heard that they will make all of their customers purchase it. I think it would be a smoother transition if the first one was free. This is a big change and I think Apple customers are some of the most loyal customers around. If the company is going to present this much of a change Apple needs to give their customers something to help them acclimate to this change smoothly. 

Productiveness

During the week I am always looking forward to the weekend. I always think it will be a time for me to catch up with all the things I need to do. All the piles of homework, laundry and picking up my room. And then the weekend arrives and passes in what feels like the blink of an eye. And I usually end up starting the week with even more work than I ended with. This weekend was very different. I made a list of all the things I NEEDED to get done. Its only Saturday evening and I already have gotten so many things done. I have cleaned my room. Not just the normal pick up of clothes. I dusted and swept. I did all of my laundry and my bedding and I already vacuumed my car out. And now I'm starting in on my homework. There is nothing better then starting a week with a clean room, car and fresh sheets. Plus the weekend always seems to go so much smoother when I get my homework done and I'm already ahead of the game when classes start on monday. Cleaning gives me great satisfaction. It's such a rewarding feeling to know that all the things around you are clean and organized. I hope that I can be just as productive tomorrow because there is still so much to be done. But either way today was very productive and unexpected.

Brands

In the book Groundswell by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff the authors talk about brands.  A lot of companies believe that they determine what their brand is but in Groundswell they say that may not be the case.  The authors introduce the idea that a companies public determines the brand of their product or company.  I think that this wasn't always the case.  In the days before social media the company wasn't as inclined to listen to what the public was saying about their product.  But with the birth of social media comes new responsibilities.  Now a company is expected to be in tune with all the different channels that could be discussing them or their product.  They need to be aware of Facebook, Twitter, various blogs and a ton of other mediums.  With all of this new media around the public has an easier way of communicating with the company.  So the brand really is no longer their own.  The people are talking and listening to what others have to say.  And as a consumer I know that I am more likely to listen to what other customers have to say than I am to listen to the company themselves.  Of course the company is going to say all good things.  But as a consumer I want to hear the truth, good or bad.  So I think that the authors of Groundswell are spot on companies need to start getting involved with the conversation and learn from their customers what their brand really is and the best way to market to their consumers.

Unexpected Weekend

On Friday I was in the library during my break from classes. I was doing homework and wishing that the time would speed up and I got a text from one of my best friends.  Her name is Megan and she is the one on the right in my picture.  Megan, Jenna (left) and me (middle) were randomly selected as roommates our freshman year.  So for the last 4 years we were inseparable.  We got really lucky being placed together. We continued to live together for another two years. Megan graduated last spring and now goes to OU medical school and Jenna is still at ONU, she is a P5 this year.  This is the first year since we have known each other that we haven't been living in the same house/village. We have drifted a little.  Just because growing up and life gets busy and things get in the way.  But Megan text me on Friday and asked if she could come stay with me for the weekend. Totally unexpected! Which made Friday seem even that much longer as I waited for her arrival! But she finally arrived and it seemed like no time had passed at all.  We were right back to saying the same things and thinking a like.  It was so good to know we were still so connected! We drove to Ada on Saturday night to go out for Jenna's 23rd birthday! The three of us haven't been in the same place in at least 4 months.  It was a great night! So great that I'm having a hard time getting back to reality.  Its amazing how quickly college flies by.  It seems like just yesterday we were moving into our tiny dorm room and practically living on top of each other.  But we have been through so much together and we have grown so much in the past 4 years.  I can't wait to see what lies ahead for each of us.  It's so true what people say about college.  You build some of the most amazing relationships in those 4 years.  And these are two girls that I will always be able to turn to no matter how much time, distance or life may come between us.

Facebook vs. Twitter

I was searching around on Technorati and stumbled on to an article about Facebook competing with Twitter.  The article says that while Twitter is making substantially more money than Facebook but eMarketer expects Facebook to bridge the gap by next year and by 2014 be making quite a bit more money than Twitter.

I found this article very interesting because I honestly thought that Facebook was pretty much on its way out. I feel like I know a lot of people that have stopped using it a lot more than they used to and I have limited my use by at least half within the last year.  I didn't think Facebook would just disappear because I still use it for some classes and getting ahold of people that  I'm not able to text or call but I was starting to see it as a slowly dying fad.  Twitter, however I use constantly.  I'm always checking it or responding to tweets from friends.  I love to use Twitter when there is a big event happening like the VMA's last week.  I like that you can look up a hash-tag or event and read tweets from people all around the world watching the same thing you are watching.  It's like a giant conversation.

I'm really interested to see what in store for Facebook in the future.  I think if they intend to hold on and be on top of the social media ladder they are going to have to constantly be improving.  I'm also looking forward to watching Twitter evolve and gain new followers.  I think that Facebook is in for some real competition. Let the race begin!

Facebook Events

I have a love/hate relationship with Facebook events.  I think they are useful for some things and should have no part in other events.  I think the biggest problem I have with them is that I will get a Facebook invitation to lets say a cookout but the cookout isn't for another 2 months.  So I read the description and the guest list and decide to RSVP that I'm going.  But the only problem is I'll forget pretty much within the next week about this event.  2 months fly by and I miss the cook out.  I know that whoever is throwing the event needs to get the invitation out to people with enough time to have them schedule off work and make sure they are available but I think that Facebook should do a better job at reminding.  I don't get on Facebook on my computer very often.  I know that the computer version of Facebook usually has a list of your events on the top right but Facebook mobile has nothing. I have to actively search for my events which isn't going to happen most of the time.  I need some sort of alert.  If they alerted me that the event was in the next 3 days it would be perfect because I do like the Facebook event capability because I never have everyone's address or phone number to get ahold of them.  

The events that I think Facebook should have nothing to do with are more traditional, formal events.  For example my family has our reunion every summer in July for longer than I can remember.  This year some of the younger family members were in charge of the reunion.  They sent out a Facebook invitation.  NO.  This annoys me for several reasons. First being that they have every single family members address and phone number.  The invitations haven't magically been arriving every year in the mail for my whole life so some one has all the information.  Another reason is that some people in my family don't have Facebook.  My grandparents don't have it and neither does my mom.  So they had to hear about the reunion from others that are on Facebook.  It just seemed lazy and impersonal.  I'm sure it was easier but I think for an event including your whole family you should take the extra time to send them all something in the mail.  It would also help avoid a lot of confusion that went on this summer.

New Rules

In the book New Rules of Marketing and PR by David Meerman Scott it talks about blogs and how a lot of PR people aren't blogging or reading blogs.  There is a quote saying "In five years, I can count on one hand the number of PR people who have commented on my blog or reached out to me as a result of a blog post or story I've written in a magazine."

I understand that blogs are important and PR professionals should be monitoring them, especially in regards to their company or product but if you aren't really a blogger or someone very comfortable or familiar with social media it is harder than it sounds to check different blogs everyday.  I grew up with computers and social media is second nature to me at this point in my life.  I have an iPhone and the first thing I do in the morning is check my email, Twitter and Facebook.  It's like the older generation's version of reading the newspaper.  But instead of news I'm seeing more what is going on in the immediate world around me.  But for some reason blogs are still a mystery to me most of the time.  I'm not really sure how to find them, what to be looking for, and up until a few days ago I had no idea how to follow them.  If I'm having this much trouble with blogs I can't imagine how hard it must be for the older PR professionals who haven't even mastered Twitter and Facebook.  Social media is a lot to keep up with.  It is constantly changing and evolving and if you miss the changes you can really fall behind.

With social media always evolving I don't think, for me at least that I don't read blogs because I don't want to I just need to become more accustom to the ways blogs work.  When I first joined Twitter it took me a while to get a handle on things and now I love it.  I think the PR world needs to recognize that  a lot of little blogs talking about your product can have a much bigger impact than we thought and bloggers are here to stay.  They shouldn't be ignored.  And it would do us all good if we could figure out the blog world a little better! With everything else it just takes time.

New Puppy!

I'm commuting to  ONU for my last year and it has its ups and downs.  But one of the best things about being in Findlay for most of my week is that I get to see Daisy.  My best friend got a puppy about a week and a half ago and she is so adorable.  I'm her godmother. A little silly, I know but this is the first time Jessica has had a dog all on her own with no one else's help.  She lives with 4 other roommates so the dog is her sole financial and keep it alive responsibility.  Jessica and I went to Teddy's Rescue in Findlay to see them break the record for most dogs walked by a single man and there she was! The Hardin County Humane Society was there with Daisy trying to find someone to adopt her.  Jessica and I both instantly fell in love! The foster parents said that she is a lab but we think she might be mixed with something because she is all black except for her white feet and a white line down her nose.  Last week Jessica and I drove to Kenton to pick her up. Immediately we took her to Pet Smart where Jessica bought her an adorable collar and leash and other various toys and things.  She is very spoiled!  I can't wait to see what lies ahead in for Jessica and this little puppy!