Social Media and Network

People have said it looks:

Fake

Good 

Bad

Cave man like

natural but needs grooming

Un-human like 

Hey everyone,

This is highlights of my brother Hamza Chaudhry when he was in grade 12.

He played for Western's Varsity Volleyball program the following year and also played for Team Ontario!

    Google Alerts is a web content monitoring tool. You can type in a keyword related to what you want to search up and it emails you relevant results. You can choose what kind of results it returns like Blogs, News, Video, Names etc. You can even use it to keep track of competition!

1)   Check Content Indexing You can check if your blogs are being indexed, every time a blog is published and indexed, you will get an alert

2)   Find Blogs for Commenting Find the keywords you want to read or reply to and Google alerts will alert you when that keyword is being used, then you can go read about that topic and comment accordingly

3)   Get News Updates You can set up Google alerts to alert you about news that you are interested in.

4)   Monitor or Brand Name

You will know if someone links to your blog or mentions it on their posts and determine the value it adds. This was you know where the blog is getting exposure and also monitor traffic.

  But lately Google alerts is becoming unpredictable and unreliable tool Here is an article by Mashable that explains why:

SO, to deal with this,

I have found a couple of free alternatives to use.

  1.)  Topsy 

2.)  Social Mention 

3.)  If This Then That 

4.)  Notification Control 

Hey everyone,

So I think this is a pretty accurate description of how girls get ready...

Absolutely out of this world!

Cuban opposite Michael Sanchez scored 31 POINTS in just 1 set during the record breaking and longest set ever played in volleyball! The set score was 56-54! ZOMG! Watch the VIDEOS!

Here

For those that like cars, Mercedes has sent out their newest generation of their poshest flagship Mercedes S class...

I will now be posting things that are specific to Tumblr and that are specific only to WordPress. So be sure to check BOTH platforms to check out whats new and what I am interested in.

So, since I am brown (even though totally different country and religion lol) I can relate to some things in this video.

“A virtual world or massively multiplayer online world (MMOW) is acomputer-based simulated environment.[1] The term has become largely synonymous with interactive 3D virtual environments, where the users take the form of avatars visible to others.[2] These avatars usually appear textual, two-dimensional, or three-dimensional representations, although other forms, such as live video avatars, are possible, with auditory and touch sensations.[3][4] In general, virtual worlds allow for multiple users.[5]” ß<-- Wikipedia definition of a Virtual World

 Luminosity may be classified as one of those “serious games” that Ms Ward outlined in lecture. Luminosity is perhaps the most advanced online website for brain training and mental fitness. The programming of the games is fantastic. You'll see images, work on your memory and more. I have actually tried the games myself because they offer a trial period for you to test it out. The games are fun, interactive and make it seem like its just a game. And then when I think about it, that’s what it really is… a game. I don’t see how that actually improves brain function it probably does , just not as much as I was hoping for I guess... does, but does it help you as much as they advertise? I personally don’t think so. 

That all being said, who knew gaming could be used to improve brain function? As outlined in the readings, I thought games are too violent, they distract kids from homework, are bad for eyes… etc.

Many organizations have turned to games. Their intention is to build a relationship with their consumers and to generate conversations by this they hope to get more repeat customers and generate stimulus discrimination.  Coke is an example of an organization that has used games for their marketing purposes.

Lipton has combined their forces with Star Wars, the goal is to help launch Episode I: The Phantom Menace in 3-D. The story line allows fans to unlock new details of the products as they advance in the game. A great way to not only advertise new products, but to also engage consumers into the products their selling.

I have a friend, who is taking a course that is actually possible because of second life. The lectures are given as you are playing the game, there are tasks that you need to do to earn participation marks etc. Apparently it is a very interactive way to hold lecture. Companies can use these techniques for recruitment or training purposes. If an employer can have a casual conversation on the gaming platform, it may give them an opportunity to get to know the individual that they have considered without seeing them in person, this can work especially good when it is difficult for the employer to meet the employee. It gives them an opportunity to engage with them. An employer can use this in training purposes to have more employee engagement so that the employees can better learn the new information as I think a major problem for training is the lack of enthusiasm that some employees may have. Lastly games are an awesome way for companies to have consumer engagement. Mashable has an article related to this topic called “Why 5 Big Brand Marketing Campaigns Are Betting Big on Social Gaming”. In the article, they list five brands that are successfully using social gamin tin their  marketing campaign.

1.    Century 21

2.    Mastercard

3.    Psych

4.    New York public library

5.    Expedia 

The article gives a good insight into understanding these games.

“Decide, as specifically as possible, in which social spaces the audience you want to reach is spending their time. Then design a game that reaches them there and allows them to behave the way they do naturally. Great social games begin with an obsessive understanding of how people are socializing. The marketers' task is to translate everyday socializing behaviours into meaningful actions for their brands."

Stay tuned to my Facebook and Twitter integrations!

  http://www.lumosity.com/

http://www.mycoke.com/downloads

Lipton and star wars game --> http://thenextweb.com/socialmedia/2012/01/04/lipton-brisk-gets-a-mobile-game-to-help-launch-the-the-phantom-menace-in-3d/

http://secondlife.com/

This is a player who plays for Brazil.

#4 Wallace Souza (Wallace)

Born 26 June 1987

1.98 m (6 ft 6 in)

103 kg (227 lb)

Spike touch --> 344 cm (135 in)

Block touch --> 318 cm (125 in)

 Sada Cruzeiro

  I am attempting to have similar types of material and integrate the different platforms I use. 

I have all this information on 

1.) Tumblr —>   You’re here already 

2.) WordPress —> http://zc5zee.wordpress.com/

Also I will have related material on 

Twitter —-> coming soon!

Facebook —-> coming soon!

  ALSO,

  Look forward to my personal posts, podcasts and other extra things about me!

I currently use mobile web for social media platforms, to look up reviews or ratings for products I am about to buy and to look up music. I agreed with the “The Mobile Movement: Understanding Smartphone Consumers” video. Smartphones area always with us which makes them a device that marketers should use to their advantage by making mobile ads or for management and monitoring purposes.  Many of us may not know that there is a Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA) which is the official trade association dedicated to word of mouth and social media marketing. It helps us keep conversations and for marketing purposes is a great way to get people to talk about their products.

The QR code system was invented in 1994 by Toyota's subsidiary, Denso Wave. Its purpose was to track vehicles during manufacture; it was designed to allow high-speed component scanning. It’s a great way to get people connected to whatever you as a marketer want them to see. Tesco or Home plus has used the these QR codes increase their online sales to become a number one online seller and a very close offline number 2 seller, a great way to use QR codes to sell products, make more profit and to make peoples life easier. 

Who knew marketers will use the gaming world to get consumers engaged into their products?  Well Lipton has done just that by combining forces with Star Wars. The goal is to help launch Episode I: The Phantom Menace in 3-D. The story line allows fans to unlock new details of the products as they advance in the game. Roll up the rim, that Tim Horton’s offers can be thought of as a game as well, where people compete to see how many free products they can win. Even Coca Cola has tried this technique!

  Where do virtual worlds and gaming fit into the Cavazza’s social media landscape?

Well that’s a toughie, initially I think that these games fit into three different categories, Networking, Discussing Sharing. These games could allow you to meet someone else that’s gaming in the online environment, which may cause you to build a relationship with them and further discuss the products etc. These games could also be connected to other social media platforms; if you win a certain amount of points then they may publish your scores on other social media platforms like Facebook. 

The readings began with the article: “Should Your Company Have a Social Media Policy?”

Right at the beginning of the readings the following statement pops up; “Employers reserve the right to monitor employee use of social media regardless of location (i.e. at work on a company computer or on personal time with a home computer).” My thoughts on this are that if the employer should not have the right to monitor someone’s personal social networking account if the employee is at home. If the employee is mentioning company  related things then the company may have the right to monitor that conversation but not every personal conversation. There should be a midline between surveillance and privacy. The quote used immediately after, I completely agree with; “employees should be made aware that company policies on anti-harassment, ethics and company loyalty extend to all forms of communication (including social media) both inside and outside the workplace.” It only makes sense that the employees do what is in the best interest of the company; this is where HR comes in to align shareholders goals/objectives with employee commitment. (Its funny that I say this because after writing the HR bit, the next point I read is about aligning employee objectives with company goals)

  The article says that social media is changing organizations as email did when they first came out and then it brings up an important point, “You wouldn’t take the phone or email away from your employees, so why take social media away from them.” I agree with this statement and believe that in the near future all companies will be connected in social media platforms as the conversations have moved to the online world. Proper training is required to achieve this, not only so that the policies and expectation are clear, but also so that all employees have a basic understanding of these policies.

  When making social media guidelines, things to consider are guidelines for the different social media interfaces, awareness about protecting confidential business and customer information, strategies for interacting with customers, how to resolve problems as they occur and policies for using social media for personal use. These policies need to be reviewed and changed accordingly on a regular basis.

  When developing a social media training program, one should build it with the mindset that "Social media training shouldn't be separated from existing corporate education."

  A good summary of who should take specific roles are:

Marketing: To keep company messaging consistent

Legal: To review social media policies and guidelines

Product: To integrate current company offerings into the training

Web Development: To create an online portal for training assets

It may help to hire some experts on social media practices to help the organization in the initial steps, this will save time and direct the needed personnel’s to the right directions.

When setting goals there are a few questions that "How to build a Social Media Education Program for Your Company" recommends: 

What is our overall social media strategy, and where does the education program fit within it?

Where does social media training fit within our current education offerings?

How can we make this program scalable globally and across business units?

Which employees and business units should we focus on training?

Will courses be mandatory for some or all employees, or will all courses be optional to everyone?

Will we offer in-person or online courses, or both? And who will teach them?

How will we develop the curriculum? And what skills do we want employees to hone?

What types of materials should we develop for the program?

Where will the training assets be housed?

How will we build a collaborative community among social media trainees?

  Training for the employees should be standardized so that there is an equal understanding between the employees about the knowledge of social media, that each individual has furthermore, higher level of training should be offered to those that want it and those that are going to have a higher role in social media. Chatter is a great way for employees to stay connected with each other and social media.

When making/designing your policy, one should also consider giving employees ideas on what they can do rather then making restrictive policies. Employees should understand where their limits lie, “people tend to interpret having the ‘right’ to express themselves online as implying a lack of consequences when they say stupid things.” I found this statement to be funny and true at the same time! Employees should practice on being authentic online by providing their name, company they work for etc. Employees should also abide by rules and focus on aiming to provide their company with productivity when using social media.

  Once you have everything in place, there will be a need to continually assess and evaluate the progress that social media is having on your organization. This is done by observing what the audience does, there are several ways this can be done; surveys, focus groups, email etc. These will all be primary data collected so therefore very credible. Most policies should be tailored towards supporting data, for example if there is more response coming from Facebook when compared with twitter then maybe the employees should be spending that much more time on Facebook.

Ontology - the goal of ontology according to Clay Shirky is to categorize and arrange information. Looking at the possible relations that information can have with one another. A library for example assumes that any piece of writing that will come out in the near future will be categorized and grouped into a section, this is what Clay wants to erase from the readers mind he says that “The idea of a perfect scheme is simply a Platonic ideal”. 

The periodic table classifies elements according to their protons and electrons, it is as close to perfection one can get in terms of classifying information, but even helium which is a noble gas has properties a gas doesn’t. To achieve a perfect categorization of information is impossible and to categorizes things that aren’t as solely related such as the case of libraries causes problems.

When a book is being categorized, a librarian needs to put it in a specific category even if the book in its entirety is about two or more different topics. Yahoo took a librarian type of approach but google on the other hand understood that there is a better way then having a bookshelf of categorization, and that there is no file system. “Google can decide what goes with what after hearing from the user, rather than trying to predict in advance what it is you need to know.” This being said, there are a number of places where categorization is good but there are scenarios that don't need categorization. Categorization needs two important yet very difficult things, mind reading and fortune telling. There are direct and indirect links that help us point to webpages and specific things inside webpages while tags help group URL’s together. “Tags are important mainly for what they leave out. By forgoing formal classification, tags enable a huge amount of user-produced organizational value, at vanishingly small cost.” The benefit of tagging is that anyone is free to use the words they want to without having to disagree with someone as how tagging should be done. Tagging allows people to see information that is being viewed more this makes it more more relevant. With tagging also comes merges, where tags can be merged with URL’s or key words for example; “Mac” also gets tagged with “OSX”.

Popular tagging terms grow organically out of social settings. A website that allows us to use bookmarks, while also taking it a step farther by using tags is a website called delicious (https://delicious.com/). It makes bookmarking more fun and useful. Tags allows bookmarks to be better organized for later retrieval. Conventionally, when you bookmark websites, the bookmark menu usually becomes overly cluttered with lots of bookmarks. This makes the bookmark you are looking for very difficult to find, but with tags you input key tag words to better categorize your information. Delicious bookmarks can be accessed from any computer and they are also public (social bookmarking), this means that you can share your bookmarks with others which enables you to see and share relevant information with your peers. “The lesson is that social bookmarking cites take a role of chaos and make it orderly.”

You can also use social media to increase your SEO (search engine optimization) rank.

The 4 steps are 

1. Define your brand - The key here is that everyone on your team needs to be on the same page. A unified brand message needs to be displayed across all content and channel.

2. Find Your Keyword - do this by figuring out how you want your brand to be perceived, ask critical questions and come up with keywords that define your organization. 

3. Create a Plan of Action - The strategy must contain: content types and frequency, such as a weekly webinar production and planned outreach per social channel and media (social) buys/ads with effective messaging and resulting goals.

4. Don't Forget SEO Basics - The basics of SEO will help you understand how it works and will guide you in the right direction. “Once that has been completed, rein in your social and search teams to determine your custom strategy and measurable plan. Remember that, just like traditional SEO practices, social media optimization work must be consistent, authentic, managed daily and measured for success.”

  A focus of this week has been on analytics and focusing on content that initiates conversation with your community. I found this article labeled “How To Use Google Analytics To Create Killer Content” which ties in with this weeks topic quite nicely.

Technology has made it fairly easy for us to figure out which conversations spark interest and which don’t by using data-driven tools at our disposal, tools such as Twitter Counter, Tweetreach, Twitteronomy, Klout, Google Analytics and Youtube Analytics which were all listed in week 5’s ppt attachment. The insight we can get from the data collected can guide us to achieve the goals we are looking for. The best news is that most of the data we need is free (minus the time it takes for you to get it of course).

  Using Google analytics, you can figure out which keywords attract the most amount of attention and which keywords don’t, using this information, you as a presenter are more aware of what word in particular attract attention. With Google analytics, one can also get the age, sex, browsing preference (ie mobile or desktop), location, content shared, content explored etc. With all this information you can organize your advertising campaign to target the content that the audience likes.

  It’s great that companies and organizations have made it easy and free for users to get analytics about the content they share on social media platforms. It enables users to change their content and strategy on a timely basis to meet the demand of the ever changing online environment.

  Below is the link to the Google analytics article. 

In this age and era, consumers have become very active in the marketing process, gone are the passive consumers that had little knowledge or interest in what they were buying. Consumers these days use the digital media not just to get information on products and services, but also to interact with companies they buy from.

  Social media platforms provide an experience to the users, these experiences are magnified when markets are able to incorporate the companies overall integrated marketing communication strategy through the online social marketing ecosystem. Unfortunately, many companies fail to realize the interconnected network of the online social media, they think of media as separate platforms independent of one another. This is simply not true, social media platforms are in fact a set of interconnected systems which companies can/must use to market the products they want to sell.

   When working within the ecosystems, many questions need to be considered such as:

Who is/are the targets?

On which traditional and social media platform do the consumers live?

What marketing content story does the company want to tell?

How can marketers propagate or feed this content throughout the ecosystem?

Companies should start by making a website because this is the only permanent and/or long term building block of the online media. It has the facts and figures for the products the company wants to sell.

The ecosystem can be visualized as owned, paid and earned. This allows marketers to develop a clear idea as to what extent each platform (Facebook, twitter etc) interact with one another. The company should conceptualize and develop its own version of social media ecosystem. The company needs to get information through related metrics to be better informed on where to implement the ecosystem. Then, the company should begin with a story. This story may be about a new product, a new service or theme. This theme can carry the whole company in this online market so therefore a lot of thought needs to be put in. Companies should keep in mind that a lot of budget allocation is not needed for the online market. Social media is about users being connected to other users; its not about significant investments in expensive production media. That being said, social media platforms allow the users to really customize and build the way the user wants to, companies should use this to their advantage and thus try to be unique. Being unique and genuine will allow consumers to get away from their boredom and get hooked on to the company in a good way. 

It is not enough to encompass social media platforms as a standalone option.

“Word of Web offers people the pure sound of the human voice, not the elevated, empty speech of the corporate hierarchy. Further, these voices are telling one another the truth based on their real experiences, unlike the corporate messages that aim at presenting what we can generously call a best-case scenario.” – The cluetrain manifesto Chapter 4

For me this pretty much sums up the main message of the chapter, as it states that conversations is one of the best ways to market products and will in most cases trump other methods of marketing.

  Social media has allowed conversation to look past the BS that the PR want you to hear. To learn from experiences of customers like yourself. Conversations in which one can ask anything, “Does the battery life actually last as long as the company claims?” “How reliable is this car?”.  All this information in the form of conversation can be acquired by consumers in a relatively short period of time.

  “What’s more, networked markets get smart fast. Metcalfe’s Law*, a famous axiom of the computer industry, states that the value of a network increases as the square of the number of users connected to it -- connections multiply value exponentially. This is also true for conversations on networked markets. In fact, as the network gets larger it also gets smarter. The Cluetrain Corollary: the level of knowledge on a network increases as the square of the number of users times the volume of conversation”. – The cluetrain manifesto Chapter 4.

  In a connected world of social media, nothing is hidden from the consumers, the truth about the product and about the promises being made is always uncovered.  As the consumers have more conversations,  they become exponentially more aware and this tells marketers that the consumers are much faster, smarter and well equipped to read the BS if there’s any being told.

  This chapter even farther points out that “Market conversations can make -- and unmake and remake -- entire industries.”. The example of Linux is provided of how it needed no marketing but rather just conversation to flourish which changed companies like Microsoft. If such a thing can happen to a company as big as Microsoft, then it should be noted that conversations are a very powerful tool for marketers. He points out that he is not hinting to put just facts and figures on the companies website, although he recommends that they do be put, he goes on to say that the website should have a voice, to express a point of view and to talk to people inside the corporation. “To replace brochures as ways to ignite dialogue”. Customers want to talk to the employees and the employees want to tell the truth about the company.

  The theses that stuck with me the most is a combination of:

 Theses 14 Corporations do not speak in the same voice as these new networked conversations. To their intended online audiences, companies sound hollow, flat, literally inhuman.

Theses 12 There are no secrets. The networked market knows more than companies do about their own products. And whether the news is good or bad, they tell everyone.