What have you learned thus far?

I have learned  a lot about social media can focus on business and many companies rely on social media to made profit. After doing research on my brand, I kown that key messages continue my brand is trying to communicate online, also learn my brand communicate benefits to the audiences.

In this course, I have learned that different brands use different strategies to effectively make their brand successful. These methods vary and know I know there is much is much more thats goes into this such as strategic reasons as to why companises post at certain times or the unique color scheme that a brand uses in their logo. The little subliminal messages and clues equate to something much larger. That gives off a vibe to the consumer that attracts their attention to make them more interested in the company.

Something I learned from the course so far that I found to be exciting was the ability of a brand to live and die by the sword that is social media. In the day in age we live, it is extremely easy for any company in any field to gain and lose ground very quickly with their potential consumers via their social media. A great example of this comes from the company that I am covering, Chipotle. Chipotle rose to prominence from 2010-2012 through their ability to interact/engage with their consumers on multiple social media platforms, building a solid reputation that allowed the brand to gain ground in the food industry combined with their quality product. However, Chipotle destroyed that reputation quickly in 2015 through their activity on social media during their E.Coli outbreak. During this period, they stopped doing everything on social media that made them successful originally, by ignoring their consumers and making very infrequent posts regarding the situation. This caused Chipotle's customer base to lose faith in the company as their social media following and sales, in general, saw a siginificant drop during this time. Chipotle has since recovered for the most part, but still faces backlash from the situation over 1 1/2 years later. This is not a unique situation as many popular companies have done even worse by creating their own issues through their social media actions and this isn't an issue that will end anytime soon. Actions like this have continued to emphasize the importance of putting time, money, and resources into a brand's social media. I would love to know what other students think about this situation. Are you aware of any other brand that have lost/gained support siginificantly through their actions on social media? Do you think this is a trend that will continue or will brands start to put less siginificance on their social media actions?

So far I have learned a lot about about SEO, something I didn't really know much about before this semester. I like how you mention the idea that understanding how search engines ranked pages makes you feel like you have a super power because it was, initially, really difficult for me to understand. Now that I realize how useful it is for advertisers to utilize SEO I really want more practice using it myself. I think getting Google AdWords and Analytics certified would be so great.

So far, I have learned how important a marketing plan is to making a brand successful.  We have done a lot of focus on social media platforms, and I find it very interesting how impacting these can all be.  I am very excited to dive more into my brand and the analysis that I am making on them.  Since most of the other brands within this class are retail or bigger corporations, it will be interesting to see how my network marketing brand compares.

I am really finding it interesting how brands interact with their consumers or fanbase. My brand is Nickelodeon and it is so cool how they've managed to keep audiences engaged since their inception through their framework and content-messaging. While the frame of that scope might change, the content stays the same. They're adapting to the times by using social media and It's amazing.

I've learned a lot about how a brand markets itself on social media. It makes me notice a lot more when I am exlporing new brands online and following them on social media, I've also become an even bigger fan of my brand , The Honest Co. as you can see they really try to use the benefits of each platform to reach to their customers in different ways all of the forum. I'm excited to learn more about how brands go about making the choices they do about what and when to make posts and how they go about gaining followers and customers.

After doing research on my brand, the Detroit Tigers, I realized the enormity of social media when it comes to brand marketing even in sports. Most of the Tiger's promotional deals such as ticket sales and things like "first 1,000 fans receive a Miguel Cabrera bobble head" are done through the Tiger's social media accounts. As a user of social media for mostly entertainment purposes, I was surprised to see that it is used so much for advertising and marketing. I think it is exciting that all my favorite sports teams like the Tigers are moving to platforms that I use on a daily basis, keeping me much more up to date with the players. 

So far in this class I have really learned a lot about how much companies rely on social media to make a huge impact on their marketing. Amazon primarily relies on social media marketing and SEO. From my research so far, they seem to be pretty good at these two things. I look forward to diving deeper to learn more about my brand.

I've learned that multinational, multibillion dollar brands are not above the pettiness that is exhibited by our nation's youth, and will resort to name calling to potentially attract new customers. 

So far I have learned how important social media is not only to my brand, the Chicago Cubs, but to all brands. While the Cubs aren’t in season right now, their social media keeps the fans in the loop with what is currently going on with the team and things surrounding the team. The way that companies use their social media can change their advertising world tremendously is they use it in the right way. I have realized that for large well known companies posting on social media is a very easy way for them to get their product out there. With one post this can be seen by hundreds of thousands of people.

Something new I learned from the first assignment is how important social media advertisement is for any brand of company to be successful.  This excites me because I look forward to a career in social media advertsing and I am excited to see how social media develops even more in the future.  I've learned the different uses that social media serves for a business and how crucial effective advertisement can be when it comes to growing a business.  

After attending the first lecture, choosing my brand, reading articles, and researching social media platforms I have already learned so much in this class. The most valuable thing I taken out of this course so far are the 4 best practices marketer's use when making a social media post: 1. posts should add value for your audience 2. keep in mind the restrictions of each platform 3. don't shout at your audience 4. be professional. While going through my brand's social media accounts, I will see if the posts follow these practices.

Learning about all the different ways social media can assist with the image and reputation of an organization inspired me to run for a newly created social media position within my fraternity. I'm excited to use the strategies I've learned so far in this class to help improve our social media accounts. From the readings, I developed a better understanding of how to change your approach depending on which social media site you are focused on.

Thus far, I have been working towards becoming certified in inbound marketing through HubSpot. I was not familiar with the program before this class, but I appreciate that you have provided us with an extra credit opportunity that will appeal to future employers. I have enjoyed learning more about my brand, Taco Bell. I realized it is important for the brand to be conducive across all media. 

What I have learned so far is the importance of social media to a brand and varying messages across the different sites. My brand, the Tigers, has not had games to keep fans engaged, so they've had to find different things to post about. For example, they'll post about a special fan every Friday. Little things to remind fans that they are still there. I've also seen them post the same thing across different platforms and vary the format to the site that they're posting on. This way they are engaging more of their audience, but not just copy and pasting from site to site. By specializing the format, they are creating a better change of the post being successful on that site.

I think that Social Media Marketing is a key advertising for building the business up. Maybe none of these sites will provide who is the real followers, but everyone who used social media platform is the potential customer. The large number of potential customers will cause more benefits for companies but cost less than tranditional advertising.

I have learned so much about how active Best Buy is on social media. I was surprised by the fact that they use all the major social media platforms. Before researching I had no idea Best Buy was on Pinterest and how often they actually use it. I have learned a couple important facts that have helped me decide who Best Buy’s target audience is. They are that almost 75% of American adults use Facebook and that 52% of millennials are ranked above average for early adopters of technology. Knowing this has helped me suggest Best Buy new ideas and back my ideas up. 

I have learned a lot about how the Chicago Bears run their social media accounts and home website.  Being from Chicago and being a Bears fan my whole life this is all interesting to me.  I also learned that they have their own mobile phone app which I never new before looking this deep into their different social media accounts.

I've really enjoyed learning about the brand I chose, which is TOMS. Before this class, I did know about the shoe company and that everytime someone purchases a pair they give a pair to someone in need, but there is so much more to the company that I was not aware of. For example, they give back to the community and people in need in so many more ways than just shoes. Also, in general I think it's been really interesting to learn more about social media because it's such a big part of our lives today. 

So far, I have enjoyed this class. I'm having fun researching one of my favorite companies and checking out their social media platforms. Something I learned that really excited me is that the brand I chose, Oakley, is extremely present internationally. Not only do they have a website tailored for North America and English speakers, but they have webites in other languages/styles that specifically cater to other countries. For example, the Oakley website for China features mostly pictures of Chinese athletes. Even the Thai Oakley website features pictures of mostly Thai people. Also, these various Oakley website styles include social media platforms that are most popular in that specific country. The Chinese Oakley website offers options to visit Oakley on Weibo and QQ, which are popular media platforms in China. It is nice to see a cool and successful company that properly tailors to other cultures and countries.

So far, I have learned more than I thought I would considering this is the second week of this course. I've learned a lot about how a company can use its social media platforms to further communicate with its audience. Of course, I knew that companies used social media, but for most of my other projects I just wrote down how many followers or likes the company had on what platform and moved on. I think that this may be the first time I have actually considered the strategies behind how companies use each social media website, like using Twitter as a kind of 'customer service' platform, or using Pinterest to connect with mainly a female audience. I just thought that most companies used social media to stay relevant, but I never considered using it as a way to become relevant from a business point of view.

I learn things about how social media work for enterprises via doing research and reading reference. Social medial marketing is one of the popular digital marketing activities that needs a lot of preparation. I will do more research for the further study.,

So far, I have learned a lot about the multitude of platforms that companies can use to extend their brands into unknown territory. Brands can now advertise in the form of a video on YouTube, shares on Facebook, or pictures on Instagram where they gain thousands or even millions of views reaching beyond their target audience. I have also learned so much about Patagonia and their values and mission which I really enjoy reading about! 

I've learned more about how the Lions connect to their fanbase through social media, and as a die hard Lions fan, it's pretty awesome!

Question of the Week - What form of social media do you think will die out first? (example - Myspace, Friendster)

After our first couple assignments, I have become more aware of how my digital footprint directly affects the advertisements that pop up in the side margins of majors sites that I use. I think that it is interesting how much companies prize algorithms in being able to find out what you are interested in and what you search most. When you start studying the advertizing affects social media platforms have on site members, it becomes more and more apparent how effective social media is as a promotional and branding tool used by companies and organizations. It is intersting to see if there will be a social media site that will ever become the new Instagram or Twitter. When studying these multiple platforms it seems that text, imagery, and video have all been capitalized already by social media giants, is there untapped platform potiential in an entirely new social media structure? Or will the remaining social media sites just continue to evolve.

I learned that there are companies and careers built on the idea of SEO. To me it seems like guerilla marketing and is extremely interesting. Being able to help smaller companies get their name out to people and help them compete with giant corporations is an exciting notion and thanks to ADV 420, I know it's a viable career path too. As for a fact, I learned that the paid links on Google are some of the most clicked, this surprises me as I don't think i've ever clicked on one myself.

So far, I have leared that when marketing online to people, you have to make sure to pick the correct audience for your social media platform. Because 71% of adults are on Facebook, it is essential to make sure your advertisements and your marketing platforms are targeted correctly. Twitter and Instagram are two platforms where there is a brief overlap of adults and teens, so this is where you can use most of your generalized marketing and advertisements. 

One exciting thing that I learned about is the use of user-generated content to reach your target audience. I think that it is extremely beneficial for a brand because it allows their consumers to engage with the brand in a way that is fun and exciting for both parties. This is especially effective with the increase in social media use over the years because it is now easier than ever for a brand to communicate with its customers and establish an actual relationship beyond just purchasing products. It is also very cool that most of the ways people do this is through contests because it provides the consumers with an incentive and gives the brand usable content.

So far, I learned importance about how the brand uses online marketing through social media platform to interact with their audiences. In today's society, social media is not just individual blog or communication page with their friends. It lets know people's brand preference about the product that they want to use. Also, the audiences are using social media to find pros and cons about the brand or the product.

Wow! I've learned so much after reading the assigned readings and choosing my brand. I recently discovered that articles with images receive 94% more views. I can relate to this because I'd rather read content that has an image than one without an image. I also never realized this until recently, but I am one to turn down an article if it does not have a catchy title. I'm hoping to start a blog soon, so hopefully, I can follow these steps to gain an audience.

When starting a blog, how do you get strangers to navigate towards your site? 

For starters, I was very excited to take this course. This week has been very interesting because I know how important social media is in the marketing and advertising world today. This is great information that everyone in our fields should know to help further their brands or agencies. Out of all of the social media platforms discussed, I was most interested in Facebook. This social media site stood out to me because it reaches such a wide range of people, 1.49 billion monthly users, occording to lecture. I learned that a companies page can have unlimited likes, be seen by the public all over the world, and is a great way to advertise a brand. Facebook is such an important tool because it can tell you demogrpahics and stats about people visiting your brand's page. Just like the article, "The 4 Essentials to Building Your Brand On Social Meida", from one of our readings this week it mentioned that Facebook is the best platform for a brand to use when trying to increase brand awareness because of the age of users, and the fact that is has a "very heterogeneous user base" (Aaron Agius). It is interesting to see where Facebook will take advertising in the future.

This course so far has allowed me the opportunity to learn about the other side of MSU Athletics and everything that goes into the brand itself. While already belonging to an MSU Athletic team I never really paid attention to what all goes into exposing the brand itself, I always just assumed since Michigan State University has such a large body of students, as well as alumni, it should be easy to have brand exposure. While this may be true about the football & basketball teams, because of the popularity of the 2 sports, its really important for the  athletic program to get exposure to suchs events that people might not find as appealing from less popular sports. Also creating blogs is something that is new to me as well, that I am starting to enjoy more & more which I find to be exciting for me. 

I never realized how many ads we stumble across every day while we are online and using social media. Its very interesting to me how companies use subtle, and not so subtle, ads to stick in your head even when you don't notice it happening. After picking my company to research, I learned a lot about what they do to target the group that they want and how they are working to create way more than just a clothing brand. 

So far, I've really enjoyed learning about campaign consistency across all of the different platforms. I never realized how strategic and important it is to relay the same message across all searchable platforms. I find myself often going to different places online for different reasons -- to find reviews, specs, look at pictures, etc. -- but never realized how well brands do at ensuring that this information is relevant to particular sites, in addition to the consistency of it all. As a consumer, I am appreciative of this as it makes finding the particular information I'm looking for seamless. 

What I have learned so far that is interesting to me is how essential it is for a company or brand to market themselves heavily through the digital world. Not only social media, but their website as well are places majority of customers go to nowadays to see new products, deals, or to actually make a purchase. Having that online presence is not just an option anymore, it is indispensable. Because of the internet, people can research everything beforehand and if your brand is not online, doesn't post anything on social media, or does not have a professional looking website then it could definitely hurt your business and sales. It is just truly amazing to me that we rely so heavily on how these brands portray themselves on a computer screen instead of actually going to experience them and then deciding if we like them. 

So far I have learned the importance of social media to a brand, and how social media is not being used to its full potential by all brands. Just becuase Facebook, Snapchat, and Instragram are popular does not mean that a brand should use ALL of those platforms. Brands should select the ones that reach their targer audience best and ones that fit with their brand. Also not ALL content can be shared across platforms successfully. No one wants to read lengthy text on Instagram, or watch a long video on twitter. Brands need to do what makes sense for the platform.

After analyzing PepsiCo and how they interact on their many social platforms, I never excepted to believe how important consumer interaction is to develop relevant content. In most of their posts, PepsiCo thrives to keep their followers involved with voting poles, links to videos they made and even deciding new flavors of products. In return, buyers reward the company with loyalty. 

Upon researching my company further, I realized that regardless of the country, the website and social media accounts are all basically the same. I had thought that maybe styles and trends would vary throughout different cultures and nationalities, but they are the same posts and images throughout all platforms. I also noticed that majority of their posts on their social media accounts are directed to young females. When I first looked at their platforms, I didn’t scroll and look very deeply into their content. After spending more time and taking the time to make more in-depth observations,I have learned that they are targeting females primarily; even though they do advertise for men’s clothes. At first glance, they appeared to appeal to both genders evenly, but now that I’ve extensively researched their platforms, I’ve come to the conclusion that they are more focused on reaching young females. I believe this is because of their mission, offering sustainable fashion at reasonable prices, and the higher likelihood that females would be more receptive and supportive of it.

This class has showed me how important the use of social media is in today's world regarding advertising and brand recognition. Social media allows the brand to connect to followers on a more personal level than in the past. My brand is the Los Angeles Clippers, and it's interesting to see the tactics the organization uses to create an authentic relationship between the team and its fans. Most of brand advertising also occurs online today, which allows brands to reach a larger audience of people.

I was surprised to learn that social media is becoming a very effective way to increase a companies awareness among many potential consumers. I also thought it was interesting that social media platforms provide a lot of options like CPC, and purchasing ad-words to provide the compnay with better search engine results. These options also appear to be more cost effective than traditional media, and can reach a much more targeted demographic based on the use of cookies and allowing companies to see what type of people click on their ads, search for products, or vist the website. 

While researching the Chicago Cubs, I noticed that on their social media accounts, they are being shared more than ever without posting any more or any less. On average they post less than any other organizations in the MLB yet they are still among the top teams as far as online shares, likes, and comments go. It's interesting to see that in one year, a brand can gain so much popularity and so much notoriety without changing their tactics that much.

I have learned a lot about Facebook marketing and advertising this week. This is especially useful to me for my internship because I am constantly uploading content to gain traffic to our Facebook site. The 10 Successful Facebook Marketing by Andrea Vahl article gave me the most insight on different tactics to keep your page engaging and fresh such as changing your cover photo frequently and connecting on a deeper level with your audience by telling a story instead of selling your brand with a commercial. 

When looking through all of the Detroit Red Wings media platforms, it was interesting to see just how active they are across every site. They love keeping their fans updated with everything thats going on, especially during game times. With them being so interactive with their social media and its followers, I think it keeps their audience brand loyal. This point is something that I myself never really thought too much in depth about but, after researching this brand it's obvious that its working in their favor. 

I didnt realize how much of a impact visuals make for a company. Normally I would just scroll through various posts but now that ive been analyzing a certain company, its interesting to see how much effort actually goes into each post. I recently learned about the power of a short story and a picture with a short tag line can create this short story very easily and I think the more companies that take advantage of this the better they will be. 

I was excited to learn how my brand tweaks their campaign slightly to fit each social media. Facebook is Pizza Hut's biggest following, so they focus on video. Twitter is limited to 140 characters so they choice pictures with short, witty captions. Their Instagram uses the same idea but focusses more on the pictures than the captions.

My company is Planet Blue and I have actually learned a lot about the company thus far. I have always shopped there but not done much research on it. I have realized that Planet Blue being a big clothing company in my eyes isn't as big on search engines. When you first search planet blue there is other companies that also come up. Since the wesbite is shopplanetblue.com and not just planetblue customers may not even realize that. I think that they need to make a stronger search omptimazation results. I think that they need to use ad words and such. They have a huge social media following though, with almost 500,000 followers on instagram. They are doing well on the newer social media outlets but really have to improve facebook and twitter because they don't have as big of a following on those.

I find it really interesting going behind the scenes of social media platforms I use everyday. Instead of just looking at interesting photos, im analyzing whole platforms. What time they post, how quickly they respond to questions, what color scheme do they use, etc. I didn't realize companies could target their audience so much through certain filters. I was also really impressed by my company's customer engagement. They respond quickly to questions and concerns and make it personal by always using the customer's name, which I think is crucial for a well running company.

So far, I've learned about the power of positioning in digital communications. My brand is Volvo, and they position themselves as a luxury vehicle built for adventure. It's really interesting to see how consistent this message is across all of their platforms. While copy may change slightly by medium and target audience, the look and feel of all content ties in together very nicely. I am also very impressed by how distinct Volvo's content is. The appearance, language, and feel of all communications are unique to Volvo. 

Thus far, I have realized how important it is for a brand to develop and establish a tone of voice for their presence online. My company is Net-A-Porter, and while I am familiar with the company, the State of the State assignment really helped me work to research how distinct their voice actually is across all of their platforms. I've also learned the importance of email marketing, especially paired with the reading from last week. It is such an important tool to utilize, but it is really easy to do it wrong.