The Power of Social Media

While checking out websites online, I came across an article by Michael Sebastian titled Mobile Marketing. This article contained several interesting statistics regarding social media and other forms of communication.

I discovered there are 4 billion mobile phones currently used in the World today. More than likely, this number will only continue to grow. Out of these 4 billion cellphones worldwide, 1.08 billion are smartphones, which means the users phone contains Internet.

This number is so significant because it shows how easily getting to different forms of social media is!

Americans spend 2.7 hours a day socializing on their phones. That’s twice the amount of time Americans spend eating!

Over 1/3 of Facebook’s 600 million users use Facebook Mobile, and out of Twitter’s 165 million users, 50% use Twitter mobile. These statistics show PR professionals how important it is to have some form of social media for their business!

This article is proof that today people world wide are constantly using social media to get their news and communicate so get out there and join!

Photo from The Nonprofit Quarterly

Brian Solis Engage Chapters 3-6

In chapters 3-6 of Engage Brian Solis defines social media as a “great equalizer,” in reference to online relationships with customers.

Public relations, marketing, and advertising professionals interact with their clients or potential customers in a different way today than ever before. They have had to transform after what Solis calls our “societal renaissance” occurred.

In chapter 3 Brian Solis explains the importance of interacting with customers. He says it’s “important for every company to proactively and personally recognize other bloggers.” Without doing so, having a social media outlet is pointless for a business.

I see this as a very important piece of information because so many businesses create some form of social media, but have no idea why they are doing so. The reason should be for interacting!

Brian Solis warns to “serve not only our own needs, but others as well.” If you do not do so no one will ever be inclined to check out your social media outlet.

It makes sense to me that for a business, in order to get the reaction they want from their customers online, they must show them the same courtesy by being involved on their social media pages as well! 

Everyone LOVES Their Cellphone

Every time I leave anywhere I always make sure I have my cell phone it's almost like I can’t function without it. I will admit I have a slight addiction to my cell phone it's habit for me to just hold it or look at it. Needless to say it is almost impossible to imagine what life would be like without cell phones.

I happened to read a story by Alan Pearcy in Reagan’s PR Daily news about the evolution of the cell phone. So in appreciation to our beloved cell phones, I thought I would share some of Pearcy’s key points and reminisce on some key stages of the cell phone.

In 1983-84 before I was born, the Motorola DynaTAC was created. To me it looks like a child’s play phone that has been installed into a kids playhouse.

1989 is not only the year I was born, but it is also the year the first flip phone Motorola MicroTAC was born.

Now lets jump to 2000.  With this mysterious year came a mysterious invention the Nokia 3310 that had no antenna!

Oh this phone brings back so many teenage memories. In 2004 the Motorola Razr came out! My hot pink Razr was so important for calling my first boyfriends and getting into trouble. If you didn’t have a Razr in 04 you were not cool!

And now today lives our 2006 Blackberry Pearl, which I own and love, and if your more of a touch screen kind of person a 2007 Apple i Phone.

I wonder what the next newest cell phone inventions will be like!

Images from Reagan's PR Daily 

Engage or Die/Socializing Media by the Number

In chapters one and two of Engage Brian Solis discusses issues relating to how big social media has grown and how much of an influence it has over society today.

"Social media has created and magnified a new layer of influencers across all industries." Not just one but "multiple" influencers are affecting how we gather and process our information.

The most important topic to consider is that social media is powered by conversations, and no conversation can be complete without listening (equally as important). We can change negative and positive situations into what we want to make it because we are the ones talking. 

Solis insures us that social media tools are not the reason for the change we are experiencing, it is actually the people who are making the change happen! Keep in mind there are ALOT of influencers on the web today. For example, social media spending will increase to $3,113 in millions in 2014 from the past $716 in 2009, which is incredible. 

Solis reminds us that these tools are exciting and seductive because it allows us to easily connect with people we choose to connect with daily.

Watch a Movie on Your Facebook

What's one of the first things you do after coming home from a long day at work/school, or the last thing you do before you go to bed? Is it check your Facebook? Well it is for me! 

I often find myself checking my Facebook during these two specific times of the day, and find myself pointlessly "stalking" my friends pages for fun when I am bored, but what if you could check your Facebook AND watch a movie at the same time?

Seems impossible right? Well I have got news for you, its not! AllThingsDigital reported Tuesday that Facebook will be adding a feature to their site that allows users to rent movies from their Facebook. Facebookers can rent movies or shows digitally from their Facebook page by using credits to pay for the transaction. 

The first movie that will be offered is The Dark Night by Warner Bros. It will cost 30 credits or 3 dollars to rent through an application the studio built within the website. 

Thomas Gewecke the president of Warner Bros. says "making our films available through Facebook is a natural extension of our digital distribution efforts. It gives consumers a simple, convenient way to access and enjoy our films through the world's largest social network."

 I think this is a genius idea and I am excited! What do you think? Would you rent movies on your Facebook?

Photo from Bay Area Bites

Engaging and Helping the Groundswell Support Itself

Chapters 7 and 8 in Groundswell had to do with engaging your customers with each other, and your business. “Engaging the groundswell is a powerful way to boost your business.” Engaging customers is letting them influence each other by word of mouth. This is important because it’s “the most honest form of marketing, that builds upon people’s natural desire to share experiences.” You’re basically creating a community to energize customers within your social media.

Josh Bernoff explains starting a community requires a lot of work, because an energized community expects responses. It is important to be interacting with the community you developed in order to keep it energized. When people follow a company’s social media outlet, they are looking for some inside information they would not have known had they not been following the company online.

 Chapter 8 also explains how the groundswell is a support system. Whether it’s people commenting on each other’s social media pages, or starting a Wiki page, they are communicating with one another in a special way. Bernoff explains, support makes people comfortable and people need to feel comfortable to spend money on your product.

Bernoff stresses how important it is to dedicate time to your company’s forum, “company participation is crucial in the beginning.”  Let customers support each other!  Groundswell explains, by owning or participating in a community you are getting a front row seat, because you are collaborating with customers to create better products!

Photo from Unbound Technologies

Who am I?

During PLN presentations in class on Wednesday, I couldn’t help but notice like the rest of the class how many people were doing their project over personal branding.  Ironically this weekend I found an article over this topic. 

So what exactly is personal branding, and is there even such a thing (is it just a reputation). Are you in control of it, or are the people you interact with, can you have two different types of brands, a corporate and a personal one?

In this article Becky Johns explains it all. She says if you want to know what people think of your personal brand have them be the ones who write your social media bios, or have them write a quick sentence about you.

This makes a lot of sense when thinking about it in-depth. You can try to explain what your personal brand is yourself, but the people in your life who know you are the ones who actually define what your personal brand is with out you even realizing it.

 Johns explains everyone you know is going to have a different point of view of what defines your personal brand. It is important to be yourself and stick up for what you believe in.

She says that the key to personal branding is let your passions and interests guide how you interact with others. People will have opinions about you so do something interesting to make that opinion part of your personal brand!