#immt712

Social Media has become a big part of most internet users’ lives, wether they like it or not. Even if you are not a big fan of Twitter or Facebook, you most likely have watched a video, from Youtube, sometime in your life, or have seen yourself on Linkedin searching for jobs. Of course, it is possible to stay totally away from social media, but for me this is completely out of question. 

As a young professional, currently looking to reposition myself in the job market, social media is essential for my networking and development of skills. In this post, I want to tackle effective ways to brand myself using social media, as part of one assignment from my Emerging Trends class, at Centennial College. 

The class was challenged to choose four social media websites (at least) that we would use as an interactive media professional and the best practices for it. So I decided to divide my options in four areas that I think are important to achieve my goal: networking, content production, expertise and popularity.

   My choices are: - Networking: Linkedin - Content production: Tumblr and Youtube - Expertise: Storify - Popularity: Facebook  

Note that all this should be tied to one main website where I can feature my work with more length and detail.  Social media for professionals, in my opinion, is about small bites that will leave your followers wanting more. 

After some research about the best ways to use those social media websites, I will try to summarize why they are good for me as a brand and make recommedations.

Linkedin 1) Organization: I am able to summarize everything that I have done in my professional and student life, with an online version of my curriculum. Easy to read, with links and references. 2) Connections: I can follow and connect with people that I worked with, that I admire or a potential co-worker/boss. Because it is professional driven space, I won’t be afraid these people see some embarrassing picture I was tagged.   3) Showing off: It is the place to show off my skills and abilities to other people. Give a lengthy description to some cool project can be good. Also get people to recommend me for some specific skill can be a plus when hunting for jobs. 4) Exchange: It’s not only about looking for jobs and making a good impression. Linkedin can also be a place to learn with what your peers are posting on industry related groups. In summary, Linkedin is for every professional. No matter which area they are located.  

Tumblr and Youtube 1) Content creation: Since I want to pursue a content strategist role, Tumblr and Youtube work well to produce content. Tumblr gives me the space to write longer texts. And Youtube is a platform to share videos produced by me. 2) Browsing: Since I can follow people on both websites, I can get inspired by other people’s concepts and see what is new out there, so I can always have new ideas. 3) Tagging: Tumblr has the tagging feature which makes it easier to pump up my texts. Using the correct hashtags will put my posts on a better position to be read by strangers. 4) Reblogging: Tumblr has also the feature of rebblogging other user’s posts. I think it is possible to make use of this by adding something insightful to some else's work and rebblogging, because it shows that you thought about it. And Youtube videos can be inserted on the posts of Tumblr, making everything work together.

Storify 1) Expertise: Storify can be used to show a little bit of my background in journalism. I worked in a newsroom for four years and know the value of adding different sources to your story. By using storify, it is possible to create content in a fun new way (How to use: You drag and drop elements collected via sources like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Google search or even an embedded URL. Then add headline, description and body text as needed to flesh out your story) 2) Different stories: I can make lists, using different sources, create tutorials, cover an event. It is possible to go to an event, yourself, write about your experience and have other people’s impression of the same thing in the middle of your story, by collecting their thoughts on social media 3) Keep track: If I am lauching a new product campaign or website, I can keep track of all that has been said on the web about it and make a story using all this easily. This can be used for my portfolio or website for example as success stories. 4) SEO: It also helps build SEO. When you create posts on Storify that are unique, content and keyword rich, your posts might show high in search rankings.

1)  Popularity: location is important for any business and is not different on social media. Facebook is still the number one social media (source Ink magazine), with 52% of marketers choosing this website for their business efforts. So I believe it is important to be there and check what is new, what is not being used anymore.   2) Page: By creating a page for my business I can separate my personal life from my professional life. There will be only job related subjects. According to Facebook,  pages give insights on how many people like, comment on and share your posts. You'll also see how people found your Page, what time of day they visit, demographics for Page visitors like age and gender, and much more. These insights help you understand your audience better, so you can make your Page more engaging and keep connecting with customers.   3) Ads: using Facebook Ads can be a strategy to reach more people who may be interested in my business.  The platform also lets me engage with followers, creating a more human communication, responding comments, liking and following them. 4) Video production: Facebook videos are increasing each day and there are some who believe the social network might overtake Youtube in direct downloads. Since I am looking forward to produce videos, I should be watching this closely.

SOURCES 

Here is a list of links I used to produce this post Social media in general http://www.inc.com/larry-kim/the-best-social-media-networks-for-marketers-in-2015.html http://www.socialmediatoday.com/content/how-use-social-media-professional-development

Storify https://storify.com/ http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2014/02/fuel-curated-content-marketing-storify/ http://blog.crazyegg.com/2012/08/09/5-ways-to-use-storify/ http://blog.raventools.com/5-ways-to-use-storify-in-your-social-media-marketing/ http://www.adweek.com/socialtimes/storify-launches-open-social-media-tool-for-journalists/60487

Tumblr https://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/advisor/tumblr-business-best-practices-004912582.html http://mashable.com/2012/02/18/tumblr-small-biz-guide/#MG.rIgpnJkkA

Linkedin http://www.forbes.com/sites/kenkrogue/2012/06/29/27-linkedin-tips-linkedin-best-practices-for-entrepreneurs/ https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20140918074208-255445305-the-role-of-social-media-in-professional-development-a-job-seeker-s-perspective

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/business/products/pages/# https://www.brandwatch.com/2014/12/win-at-social-media-in-2015/ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/02/facebook-tips-tricks-best-practices_n_1316272.html

Until next time, 

see ya, 

The Toronto Transit Commission or the TTC is used by millions of people flowing in and out the city every day and night. Executive or student, shopper or tourist, the TTC is the best mode of transportation when navigating the congested streets of Toronto. But does the TTC know how to satisfy users off the track in the digital sphere? A recent review of their webpage regarding the new wave of streetcars begs me to claim otherwise.  In an era of exponential technological development and integration, it is verging on irresponsible for entities to neglect the digital component of the services they offer.  Today, the web is an extension of a business’ customer service model placing users at the center of their business practices and the digital sphere – remember, the customer is always right!  Poor user experiences reflect negatively on the overall brand. When consumers feel frustrated or overwhelmed with poorly structured content on a site cluttered by poor content and visual design, information discovery is usually short-lived and unsuccessful.  

In 1995, Jakob Nielson defined 10 usability heuristics for interaction design that are more than relevant over two decades later in the digital workspace. Applied to content planning, these rules of thumb not only ensure that visual design is user centric, but also the content as well.  Of Nielson’s 10 principles, I extracted several that I believe should be among the digital standards of an entity as immense as the TTC.  

Our Criteria  

o Visibility of content purpose 

o Match between content and the real world 

o Content makes it obvious for users to choose what they need/want 

o Consistency and standards in words, structures 

o Content structures and sections visible to assist in recognition, chunking of content into recognizable pieces 

o Clean, uncluttered content design 

o Plain language in all content 

o A way for users to get help and for that help to make sense   

The Good News (with a grain of salt)…   

 Right off the bat, visibility of content purpose is evident through the information on the page. Short paragraphs in point form, nicely chunked into logical groupings make it easy to scan the page – another asset for screen readers and a point towards their accessibility standards. However, the page titled TTC, The Future Is … is vague and underwhelming. This means its “googlability” is already (not) taking a hit. Interestingly, if you want to find the page, you should not expect the site map to give you a link. On the other hand, there is a match between the language of the content and that of the real world.  Users can comprehend the information without compromising their confidence or exhausting their mental.  Standards in words and content structures are consistent with real life and with the tone of the site. The content utilizes plain language, again one of the site’s assets creating a great platform for a great user experience. Although content makes it obvious for users the purpose of the page, they offer little choice regarding their wants and needs.  Users are forced to scroll through the entire document in order to find information. This means that if I wanted information about how to pay for my fare on the new streetcars, I must scroll through the entire document, hoping that the information is provided. An obvious solution would be to include a hyperlinked table of contents at the top of the page that gives users direct access to a specific section of the page.  Nevertheless, good on them… I was able to successfully click the hyperlink for POP Information (Proof of Payment) to ensure I don’t get fined for not being able to prove I paid for a service.

 Another compliment to the page is a clean, simple and easy-to-understand design.  Consistent with the TTC brand, it embodies great use of white space, simple font, and bold colors for a pleasant visual experience.  The images included in the document are also beautiful and creative, however, one picture reference for each section is insufficient. For example, accessibility features are clearly defined in written language but instead of offering a picture zoomed into the feature, it is a profile shot of the streetcar. A solution could take the form of including a virtual tour of the new streetcar, or at least use one image for every feature defined.  

Finally, a site that aligns with our interpretation of Nielson’s heuristics would make a way for users to get help and for that help to make sense.  The contact information on this page is poorly placed and limited. They offer an email on the sidebar. This gives the user the notion that they are low on the priority list in terms of customer service.

Ultimately, the TTC needs to reflect on the purpose of their content in order to meet the needs of its users.  That is the defining characteristic in today’s interactive user-centric world.

So here I am, new to Toronto, and I found out about this cool event that transforms part of the city into an art installation. I wanna go to that! I first saw something on Facebook, on suggested events, since now I like a lot of things about Toronto on my newsfeed, social media starts to tell me “what I should do” also.

I could remember that the name was Nuit Blanche and I went on google to find out more information. So my idea was to find some basic information, like schedule, how to get there, can I use the subway with my monthly pass, what am I going to see. And all this should be done quickly, because I was just browsing to see if I really wanted to go to this event.  Simple thing.

After some digging through the website, I got a bit disappointed. For a visual/arts event, I think the design of the website is really poor, not to say ugly. The content is inside blocks, but not all blocks are clickable. There is service information, which is good. But the map made me confused, maybe because I am not used to this kind of event or to the city.

I could only get a sense of what it is really like when I watched the video. And that gave me a sensation of: ”wow! I wanna go to that!”. But if you don’t stop and watch the video, I don’t know…

First, let’s go by steps.

Step 1 – Main page - http://www.scotiabanknuitblanche.ca/

They have a block in red saying "october 3, 2015 - sunset to sunrise - A free all-night contemporary art event". But there is nothing to click. For an user experience, I think this should not be inside a red block. Because it makes confusing. The other gray block is clickable. But I didn’t click on the gray, because I thought they were just headlines.

Step 2 pictures

I saw they have 2015 highlights. Cool pictures, I could see them in the main page, no need to change pages. But there wasn’t much information, like, "you'll see this around Spadina and Bloor", or something to engage more the viewer to the event.

Step 3 video

Right next to the pictures, I noticed there is a video. I usually am lazy to stop and watch videos on websites, because they take too long and I just want basic information. So I skiped it.

Step 4 TTC service details

I also need to go by subway and I need to know how to get there and if I need to pay extra. Cool, they tell me in the website that I will have subway working all night for line 1 and 2. But I am not sure if I need to pay a special subway ticket for this. There is a special event day pass. Since I am not seeing anything "screaming" at me saying that I HAVE to buy the special event day pass, I ASSUME that I don’t have to pay anything extra.

But I shouldn't be assuming anything on a service website.

 Step 5 Map

I still needed to understand better how does this event work, so I went back to the main page e looked for maps. Then I realized that the gray block is actually clickable. and it tooke me to the map.

At first I didn’t understand anything. A lot of letters, like HTUOS, 10 of 10th - memory lane. I thought about getting out of the page. But I started clicking and understood that each number is one art piece and if I click over I will see more info. But, again, not really intuitive from my point of view. Maybe a title explaining: 'click over the number to find out more about each art piece you will see" would help me.

Step 6 Video (again!)

I went back to the main page, still thinking: "god! is this worth it?" Then I decide to give the video a chance. Its the highlight of the 2014 event and I got it. The music is kind of boring in some moments, but the images are really nice.

In summary

So, what I wanted to highlight about all this is that the content exists in this website, but it is not being presented in the nicest way. Especially when you talk about some super cool art event. The idea of making simple and minimalist made it actually look poor and ugly in my opinion. Some more attention to visuals would help more.  

I found my info. It is useful, but not enjoyable. Something on my experience was missing here. :/

See ya,

One of the things that attracted me when I was considering moving to Toronto was that I always heard the public transportation works up there. I love cities that I can move from one place to another quickly, just by using subway or buses. And, yes, so far, for the three weeks that I live here, I’ve been getting along well with the “system”.   I had a surprise, though, I didn’t know about the streetcars and I think they are pretty amusing. Old school and kind of tricky to use (they stop in the middle lane for you to get on!), I like hopping on them. So when I was assigned, by my Content Planning class, at Centennial College, to critique the Toronto Transit Comission (TTC) website about their new cable cars I was intrigued.

First of all, I decided to define my usability criteria. What are the things I expect to find in an article about the new streetcars? Or what would I look for as a reader and avid user of public transport? Well, for my disappointment, I found out that the TTC website lacks interactive content and basic information. And the silly part of all this is that the page is called “the future is”. They are still some years behind.

What I wanted What I want to know? Very simple things:

- What is new about streetcar? Is it bigger? Faster? 

- Do we get more number of cars? (Which means less time waiting for them) - What hours are the trains leaving? Does it change? If not, can you link me to the time chart.   - How do I buy a pass? Do they get more expensive? - I would love to see some maps, showing me the connections to subways and busses - And tips for new users, like a how to use section (I am new in town, I didn’t know I could use my subway pass for streetcars in the first days)

And here is the link: http://www.ttc.ca/About_the_TTC/Projects/New_Vehicles/New_Streetcars/The_Future_Is/index.jsp

What I found

So what I actually found was some very poor content, not very deep into what is new and service information. No video, few pictures. When you think about a public transportation website, I believe the customer wants mostly service info. The idea for the pictures, placing the new ones over the old ones was nice, but the design of the page was very ugly. It gave me an overall impression that this was made last minute just to have something about it, and it was not really thought for a long period.

I divided some notes in sections so I could learn from them and do it better when its my turn ;) 

Section 1 – “comfortable”:  

- “All door boarding” is one of the main features of the website and its lacking a good picture, or size reference - “Climate-controlled with air conditioning” could explain a bit more since you are highlighting it. During winter will be warmer inside? - “Double passenger capacity” – It is a pretty important information that is left aside in the end of the section and it doesn’t say new max capacity x old max capacity - And I am still missing my first questions… Is it faster? Do we have more number of cars?

Section 2: “accommodating”

- “Biking space”: Why so much attention to this feature if it can be used by one person and not on rush hours? I believe there are more things to say in the beginning of the text, before you lose the reader’s attention

Section 3: “accessible”

- “Ramp deploys quickly and low floor” – ok, they give me this information, but can you tell me a bit more, like how quickly in comparison to the other one? Or how many more accessible seats do we have? This is an important matter for public transportation. - One good thing: I think the picture is good.  

Section 4: “giving you choices”

- The section explains how to pay. It is a bunch of text, with no links to buy anything. I would suggest that they make this more interactive, explaining for different users.  For example, I am new in town and I didn’t know how to do this. - Could have been done as a “how to use” section. With pictures along to help understand. Where do you buy the ticket in the station and where do you tap or show your metro pass.

I saw later that they have other pages related to the content of new streetcars. And I was wondering, why not create hyperlinks to it inside the main page? Because then while I am reading I can go dig more information. In summary, I would say that my user experience was very bad for this subject, most of my questions remain unsolved. They should think a bit more on how to make the content enjoyable and useful for customers. Not only throw some information (that I can’t even call data, because it’s not even much relevant) over the screen and expect that to be good.

Any thoughts about this? Or do you think TTC is closer to the future than I do? :)

Being relatively new in the city, I use the TTC streetcars on and off. It’s not something I look forward to.  The streetcars are infamous for their lack of weather-controlled interiors, shocking non-existence of accessible features and the stuffiness one feels when riding these beasts of (slow) motion.

Since I was given an assignment in my Content Planning course - IMMT712, to evaluate the usability criteria of TTC content describing the new streetcars; I thought it would be a good idea to learn more about them to see if thy have improved.

Before the ‘first look’, I made a list of information that I would need as a streetcar user.  Based on this list, I will determine if the online TTC content is usable. Below are my usability criteria along with an evaluation of how the content measured up.

Webpage: http://www.ttc.ca/About_the_TTC/Projects/New_Vehicles/New_Streetcars/The_Future_Is/index.jsp

1. What are the distinct features of the new streetcars? I found this information easily on the main content page. It was well placed with images above headlines that described Accessibility features, Comfort, etc. The information was in bullet points, making it easy and concise to read.  

2. I would like to know which routes are going to get the new streetcars and when? This information is missing on the main content page. I found it only after doing a search.

3. Frequency of the streetcars: I wondered if the frequency of the streetcars would change? I had heard the new streetcars have double the capacity compared to the current ones.

Again, information is not available in the main content area. Even after doing a search, I couldn’t find it. At this point, I started looking around the main page to see if I could find a link. I saw a ‘Frequently Asked Questions’ link. This didn’t immediately catch my eye as the acronym ‘FAQ’ that normally stands out is missing.  

The FAQ page is not effectively planned out. The page has a list of clickable links with generic titles such as General Information, Service Area, Entry and Exit. Moreover, the links are not expandable! They open on the next page. By now, I am getting a little frustrated… I don’t know exactly where I will find this information. But I don’t give up, and finally find it under the General Information link!

4. Why are there ticket vending machines on the streetcar stops? Does this mean I can’t get a token on the bus?

This is one piece of information that is readily available in the main content area. Though, the heading could have been more informative like ‘Additional avenues to buy fares’ rather than ‘Giving you choices’. The latter makes me wonder what choices are they referring to...it isn’t clear until I read the content.

5. Is the information usable? Not all the information is usable. It seems that TTC has paid attention to what they think or want the readers to know about the new streetcars and have paid attention to the voice, tone and language on the main page. However, when I was clicking on other pages while looking for more information, the language was not understandable after a first read and it was too generalized.   It didn’t really answer my questions.

6. Given that many users including myself go to the search engine to look up information, does the search engine spit out accurate results?

Well, I am divided on this one, as out of 2 searches, only 1 was successful in finding accurate information.

It was my first time trying to raise funds for a charity through the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon.  If I had been in Vancouver, I would’ve had a large base of friends and work colleagues to ask for money for my charity.  But I was now in Toronto where I had a smaller group of friends who I could call on to donate.   Luckily, I had just joined Facebook late last year and reconnected with a group Toronto friends from back in the day.   And it just so happened that the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon added a “Social” component to their website which included Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.  Here’s how ‘going social’ helped me reach my fundraising goal.

As a fundraiser for a charity I registered on the Scotiabank website where money that I raised was tracked and as soon as I received a donation I was sent an email.  On my registration page Scotiabank had direct links for social media platforms that allowed me to link directly from my fundraising page and send an appeal to all of my Facebook friends.  I could’ve done the same thing for my Twitter and my Instagram accounts but I focused on Facebook instead because that’s where I had most of my contacts that I knew could support my fundraising efforts. 

Going Social for the marathon caught on because the Public Group had 1,214 members.  This group also used FB for fundraising and talking about which charities they were running for.  But they used the Facebook page as a community of runners.  They asked questions about the race and shared blog posts.  On race day many shared pictures from the run, told stories about whether they ran the whole marathon, the half marathon or the 5K.   One woman posted that her husband ran the marathon and that she ran the 5K.  She thought it was a great event, so much so that she was going to do the half marathon next year!   Despite the fact that the weather for the 2014 marathon was chilly and windy, people were so pumped that some were asking about signing up for the 2015 run.  In fact registration for next year’s marathon is already open. 

Social media has become an integral part of modern society. It is one of the most excellent and cost effective way to attract positive attention to your company or product. Social media is also an excellent medium to get creative with your business strategy. Many businesses have incorporated social media to reach out to their customers and have received amazing results and feedback.  

Over the past few years, social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube etc., have become increasingly powerful communication and marketing tools. In the year 2013 digital marketers of several brands have created  innovative social media campaigns across multiple platforms to promote their brand. Let's take a look at a few of them.

Oreo – Superbowl ‘Blackout’ Tweet

During the Superbowl when there was a power outage at the Super-dome for 34 minutes, oreo's social media team jumped on the cultural moment, tweeting an ad that read “Power Out? No problem” with a starkly-lit image of a single Oreo and the caption, “You can still dunk in the dark.” The message caught on almost immediately. They got around 15,000 retweets and more than 20,000 likes on Facebook within a short span of time. It is hailed as “the best ad of the game” and “the most powerful bit of marketing during the advertising industry’s most expensive day”. Oreo’s real-time social media marketing stunt won a prestigious Clio award and had lasting effects around the advertising industry.

Lay's - Do us a flavor

Lay’s created its first social media campaign in its 75-year history. This campaign let fans create a new flavor of chip for Lay's. This was a great marketing campaign because the contest made it interactive on the social media platform. Lay's went all out in attracting their fans to participate in the contest. They had 3.8 million submission between July 20 and October 6 in the year 2012. They finally tested and narrowed it down to three flavors  which the fans were able to purchase in 2013 and then vote on Facebook or Twitter  for their favorite flavor and decide the million dollar winner. They had a 12% increase in their sales soon after the campaign.

Dove- Real beauty sketches

Dove created one of the most talked about social media experiments of the year 2013. Dove created a video of a professional forensic artist draw women’s’ faces as they described themselves without him being able to see them, and then compared that photo to one of a stranger describing the same woman. This video became an immediate sensation . It had over 114 million views, it was the third most shared ad of all time and there were about 1800 blog posts written about this campaign.

When social media first hit, all it took to succeed was a cross-platform presence with novel images that encouraged ‘likes’ and ‘shares.’ Fast-forward to today and the bar is much higher. We now apply evidence-based strategies with varied tactics, platforms and even partners to produce success.

Some early tactics like flash mobs and shock experiment videos (e.g. ‘Will it Blend?’) have faded. They’ve been replaced by new options, such as animated GIFs, selfies and six-second videos. Storytelling, is still however at the core of most social media successes, along with often a mix of:

User-generated Content

Personalization

Crowdsourcing

Contests

Hewlett Packard (HP) combined storytelling with these other tactics to creatively launch its HP Pavilion x360 computer globally to 'Millennials' (those aged 16 to 25) heavily via social media, as well as traditional print and broadcast media. The campaign was titled: Bend the Rules to describe the new PC, which could easily 'bend' or convert from notebook, to stand, to tent, to tablet mode. 

The launch also demonstrated a 'think globally, act locally' mindset that unified the campaign and effectively built its profile via social media channels. Specifically, the same hashtag (#BendTheRules) was used globally but varied tactics were tailored to each country.

For example, in India HP invited Millennials to submit a video, image or text to tell how they 'bent the rules' to achieve success -- with the promise of the winning submission to become a TV film. HP established a microsite featuring Bollywood actress Deepika Padukone as a celebrity spokesperson to build profile and several short videos about career transformations to stimulate initial ideas. Stories feature a custom bike designer and a banker who left financial services to pursue baking, among others. Youth could submit stories directly to the microsite or via Twitter, facebook or You Tube with the hashtag. HP took a similar approach in the UK but added Vine videos made by Vine experts.

In Canada, HP invited young 'rule benders' to submit their stories via various social media platforms to win a $25k grant. It also asked the public visiting its social sites to vote for their favourite submissions. To further build engagement, HP entered voters names in a draw to win an HP Pavilion.

In the US, the campaign took a different angle again with an interactive video featuring U.S. pro surfer Ian Walsh on You Tube. The video invited people to 'tweet' the campaign hashtag and in return, have their twitter handle embedded on Ian's surf board. The video also featured HP's rule bender stories from around the world.

To further extend the campaign's reach, HP partnered with other organizations to offer other contests on the overall theme. This included one of social media's leading resources: Mashable, which imbedded a transformation theme with #BendTheRules in its weekly Vine challenge.

As the campaign is still running, the full results aren't in. However the quantity of #BendTheRules hashtag mentions, engagement on various social media platforms, including a new record for the most looped branded Vine video, suggest it’s making an impact.

Combined with a unified global theme, global hashtag, proven tactics and partnerships, I think its success can be credited to the following measures:

Promoting and offering engagement opportunities on social media channels where Millennials reside, versus relying on traditional media

Leveraging local celebrities, like Deepika and Ian, who attracted their own social media influencers

Creating a contest that invited clever interpretations of a concept beyond HP, versus just images of people bending its product

Providing a base of ideas to help people create entries, versus just a 'blank slate' invitation

This multifaceted, strategic approach created unique, click-worthy content to raise awareness of HP's unique product. Hopefully this is the start of other new and creative twists as HP's social success evolves.