Management Platforms and Tools

By Mikala Lindhardt

            I will be completely honest and admit I never had even heard the word aggregators or knew what it even meant. Nor did I know a lot about analytics and how important it could be to analyze information you could receive from social media sites. So, this article will focus a lot on the important of analyzing. I did some research on social media analytics, in regards to aggregators, and found ‘the social media analytics compass’. I’m sure there are many different ways to look at analytics, but this is something I would like to expand upon. After some research I was able to learn more about how advertisements work and why I get the ‘pop-ups’ I get when I am on the internet.

            Computers practically have a real brain. I believe that pretty soon we will be able to replace ourselves completely with computers because the technology they process and the things they can do are simply amazing. Tracking and analyzing data are just a few of thing services computers can do.

            That being said, let’s talk about analytics for social media. In an article I read, author Ian Cleary introduces a Social Media Analytics Compass to help us better understand what we are able track and what would be important to track in order to improve our social media profiles and followers.

           

            As you can see, there are eight sections of the compass and in the article it breaks up each one. This compass and the information is based on Google Analytics. In a different article written by the same Razor Social site, a method used by companies is email subscribers. If the company or organization can get you to put in your email to continue to their website, then then can advertise directly to you. It is also a way to track how many people have used the site.

            Tracking followers and frequency of visits to a website it also possible on blogs such as this one. I will use this blog as an example. For those with a blogspot.com website, go check out your stats that are automatically analyzed. To do this, go to ‘design’ and then click on ‘stats’ on the left-hand side of the page. From this page you can see how many people have viewed your blog and from what countries. Not only that but you can see with what internet browsers were used to view your page. You are also able to see what blog posts were the most popular. There are graphs and charts in order to better see your progress.

            Information like this can be helpful and useful if you are trying to be a professional blogger or advertise something. You are able to see who viewed your page, when they viewed it and how popular that certain post was to others.

            Thanks for reading!

Organizational Uses

By Mikala Lindhardt

            Now a day it is rare to find a company without a social media website. From clothing boutiques to restaurants to cupcake bakeries it seems as though everyone has a social media profile. This is so the public can ‘like’, ‘share’, and/or ‘follow’ to see the best deals and what is new and exciting.

            There are some important things to remember if you plan to market using social media (and you should plan to market using social media.)

            According to an article written by ‘The Content Factory’ there are ‘9 reasons social media marketing should top your to-do list’. I would like to talk about just a few of them. However, feel free to clink the link above to learn more.

            One of the points The Content Factory gave to the public was ‘your competition is facebooking and tweeting like crazy’. Following this statement, the article read, “The early bird gets the worm, and the sooner you start up Facebook and Twitter pages, the sooner you can start amassing a ton of fans and followers. This isn’t something you want to fall behind the competition on, because it’s much harder (and more expensive) to play catch up than it is to get in on the game early. Truth be told, your competition is probably already marketing with Facebook, and maybe even Twitter and LinkedIn, too.”

            I recently had the opportunity to interview someone who was in charge of social media for a company in Utah. She said that social media was a big deal in her industry. She mentioned they updated their Instagram news feed more than once a day because there is so much traffic in social media marketing. Social media is how this particular company does a lot of their sales and promotions.

            Another point mentioned by ‘The Content Factory’ as a reason to have a social media profile is ‘you get to see your target market, up close and personal.’ Those who follow you, you can follow them back. Remember that. You can quickly learn about someone and their interests based on their social media profiles. This can be a great advantage to you.

            The third, and final point I would like to bring up is ‘It’s free’! Seriously, who doesn’t love free marketing and advertising? The Content Factory reminds us, “If you handle your own social media management, running a social networking campaign is as cheap as it gets. If you hire a social media management or online PR agency, it will cost around $3,000-$7,000 per month, but it’ll be an investment that you’ll be likely to see a return on. If you’re intimidated by interacting with people online or your writing skills leave something to be desired, hiring an online PR agency is definitely the way to go. Posting poorly written content or conveying the wrong kind of messages on social networking sites can seriously affect your digital PR presence.”

            Remember there are student just like me taking social media classes and learning about social media (all the ins and outs) so we can be professionals at social media and marketing. We are interviewing and researching the best ways and the most effective methods of social media. Just keep that in mind.

            In conclusion, I would just like to share a quote from Business 2 Community. In February 2014, when social media wasn’t as big as it is now, Business 2 Community said, “Social Media is the Game Changer. This is a game changer for businesses engaging in marketing, sales, customer service and other business activities.”

            Depending on how you want your business to go and what game you’re playing is a decision of whether your social media is up to par with everyone else and you are competitive.

Thanks for reading.   

Social media case reflection #2

By Mikala Lindhardt

When you call the police to report a complaint the police will show up and assess the situation, but may not always do what you hope they would.

            My blog post today are my thoughts and ideas regarding the Florida police officer, Officer Bobby White, who answered a call of someone complaining of kids playing basketball in the street and being ‘loudly’. When the officer assessed the situation he ended up just playing ball with them and giving them something they will remember for a lifetime.

            You could argue the officer is not trustworthy and should have been more concerned about the individual who called dispatch because the kids were being loud, but just as an article from CNN said quoting the police department, “we are going to let kids be kids.” The police department acknowledged the fact that they weren’t there when the kids were supposedly being too noisy. “To be fair, we can't say definitively whether the person who deemed the situation worthy of a noise complaint was in the right. We weren't there when it all went down,” the police department said in an article written by Today.

            You could also argue, and see some people upset, because the officer didn’t punish the kids for being too loud. I’m sure whoever made the initial call to the police was upset and possibly felt the police department cares more about kids than the public as a whole. However, more good than bad came of out this experience and that is where we need to shift our focus.

            Not only did this story send a positive message to the community about the care and concern Officer White has for kids who are just having a good time and making good use of their lives by being with friends and playing ball, but it is a great message to the kids. They now have someone else they can trust. That someone else being an officer in their community. I think a lot of times at a young teenage age police and officers are looked on as high authorities who don’t care or who aren’t human. This story is a great example of how an officer changed the perspective of a few people and not just because he played ball with them, but because of what he did later that week.

            An article written on this case was written by abc13 about the officer and said, “as he was leaving, he told the boys he might be back to play the next day, and he may bring more officers with him.”

            He did just that, but not only did he bring other officers with him, but NBA basketball star Shaq O’Neal jumped out of an SUV in the neighborhood.

            I can only imagine the look at the excitement on the teenager’s faces. When O’Neil got out of the car the kids new exactly who he was. Probably an idol some of the kids.

            This story is popular and well known because of social media. The police department put up this video on its Facebook page and it went viral, both with positive and negative comments (as you would expect). Officer White’s reaction to this situation was caught on his dash cam. When we use social media, we are to be responsible, trustworthy, transparent, respectful and open. This is exactly how White and his department handled this situation. They were open and respectful about this call and in turn were given positive feedback from the public and news agencies.

            Just as we need to switch our focus to the positive outcome of this story, the officers switched their focus to be more concerned and aggressive toward those who commit crimes in the city. The viral video put out by the Gainseville Police Department said, “So if you call GPD to complain about kids being kids, this is how Officer White is going to handle it. We're going to let kids be kids. We are going to focus on the ones that commit crimes. #HoopsNotCrime."

Click here to see the video put out by the GPD.