Group Post

Our group's recommendation for how to develop the ORCO major/minor presence and community on Facebook:

As you may or may not know, our ORCO department has already attempted to connect with their students/faculty through this page.

We aren't sure who exactly started this page, but they set it up as an open group. The group currently has 107 members, only 1 past event, and 8 photos. For the few students that are actually in the group, it is a great resource and several of them (included Porsche and Madison) have posted on the wall within the past month about internship opportunities, questions, and important announcements. Because the purpose of this particular group is to create a space for ORCO majors to communicate with each other, this open group seems to be the best format for this because students can invite others to join, and anyone can see what is being posted.

After a discussion about the differences between groups and fan pages, we collectively agreed that ORCO should continue to use their group, but make it a more interactive page and encourage all ORCO majors/minors to join. Because it is important for ORCO students to be able to communicate with each other, the group serves a special purpose. At the same time, however, it is important for funding purposes (as well as for the growth of the program), that more people become aware of the opportunities that ORCO offers. A great way to spread the word about the program would be to create a Fan page that everyone on campus can like, and even people from across the country like other ORCO students/faculty. They could use this page to feature ORCO students and what they are currently working on, talk about developments within the program and recruit new majors, and interact with the MTSU community at large so that when we tell someone that we are "ORCO Majors", they will hopefully know what that means!

To further develop their online presence, they could create and post events, highlight student projects, have student/faculty contributors, and even post fun facts or ORCO tips, just to keep their page updated and active.

((((((Porsche, Madison, Sadi, and Jonny))))))

Facebook Fan Page Resources

1) 21 Resources for Effective Facebook Fan Pages
2) ADVANCED Resources for Customizing Your Fan Page
3) 20 Ways to Promote Your Fan Page

Facebook's Top Brands

According to Facebook's new "Pages" page, some of the top brands that recommend as examples include Ben and Jerry's, Starbucks, and Verizon.

Because I'm already obsessed with Starbucks, this is the example I'll use for this assignment.

Starbucks successfully uses Facebook by actively engaging their customers on a variety of levels. They interact with their followers by responding to their posts and even posting questions that encourage followers to respond. They consistently update their page and post a variety of things from videos, pictures, quotes, stories, and even coupons! All of these combined help to further create and establish their brand. They make it easy for fans to "share" their content, and even encourage customers to post their own experiences on the main page. They seem to genuinely care about the dialogue they create with their customers by listening to their feedback, they partner with other large organizations and use their power for good (example: Red Cross Relief Efforts), and they encourage the use of social media by offering special deals for their followers.

This article was especially interesting to me, and (although it's from 2009) it talks about what specifically makes Starbucks a top Facebook brand, as well as hosting a short video that addresses their unique take on social media.

I really enjoyed this infographic about Facebook's Top Brands

Fan Page or Group Page

While I have experience creating and managing personal, group, and fan pages on Facebook, I took some time to actually research the difference between all of them. This site seemed to offer the most information in a format that was easy to understand and compare.

Obviously all three of these designs offer unique pros and cons, and the advantages/disadvantages for each should be considered before deciding how to brand your business or organization.

Sharing Options and Visibility

Your profile, fan page and group all have privacy settings that enable you to control sharing permissions and visibility. Here is how these differ among the three:

	Facebook profile	Facebook fan page	Facebook group
Set who can update the wall	yes	yes	yes
The differences	You can set the update visibility globally AND on case-to-case basis.	You can only choose who can update the page wall: admins only or all members	You can set global settings separately for links, videos and photos
How?	Account tab -> Privacy settings	Edit page -> Wall settings	Group settings

Note: There’s one weird thing about sharing for admins within the page: when you (as admin) are trying to post something at you page wall, you get “non-personalized” – posting as a page (not as yourself).

Promotion Tools

Facebook Pages are known to have more visibility and (viral) marketing potential than groups due to these important features:

• They are displayed in each fan’s profile “Info” tab
• They are public and can be linked to externally
• They have various widgets that allow for external promotion (e.g. from a company blog)
• They can be added added as your “Page favorites”

To make a long story short, here’s a quick recap of page versus group versus profile (viral) marketing-friendliness:

	Facebook profile	Facebook fan page	Facebook group
Private? (seen after you register and become fan/friend)	Yes	No	Yes (BUT: discussions are public and crawled)
Usernames? (facebook.com/username/)	Yes (Should be verified via mobile phone)	Yes	No
Visible within fan / friend profile?	Yes (Friends box)	Yes (Info tab)	No
Promoting to friends	“Suggest friends to…” (one by one)	“Suggest to friends” (one by one)	“Invite people to join” (one by one)
			“Import from email”

Overall, if you are a small organization or club that needs to rely a small amount of info to a smaller amount of people, a group is your best best. It allows more control of who is allowed in the group, who can see things and post things, etc, and is really the most customizable.

Pages are a better option if you are a larger organization or brand that wants to get more publicity, and you also have more of an anonymous option because you don't have to put your name or any information on there. It's easy for people to simply click the "like" button, and they aren't bombarded with a million updates, so I think this is the best option for brands and big companies.

Want to know how to create a page? Click here!
To learn more about groups, go here. 

The Social Graph

According to this article at WhatIs.Com,

Speaking at the Facebook f8 event in May 2007, CEO Mark Zuckerberg used the term "social graph" to refer to the network of connections and relationships between site users. Zuckerberg said that "it's the reason Facebook works. "He went on to say the social graph is "changing the way the world works... As Facebook adds more and more people with more and more connections it continues growing and becomes more useful at a faster rate. We are going to use it spread information through the social graph."

Although this term is relatively new, the concept is not. The idea of this sort of web that connects people within societies, countries, and even across the world, is one that has been around and has been studied for hundreds of years. With the development and rapid growth of social media sites in the past 5-10 years, it has made it even easier to track these connections and analyze what we consider to a "social graph"

Since presenting this idea (in terms that everyone can understand), it has drastically changed the way people approach business, marketing, and connecting with their customers. Social media marketing strategies now embrace trends new web technology, focus on customer research and analysis, and customized content. In this especially helpful article, I found that

At the recent Web 2.0 Summit, Mark Zuckerberg said, “Over the next five years every industry will have to redesign itself around social.”

This idea will change businesses because it challenges them, and individuals on a personal level, to be more future-oriented, flexible and adaptable, and content-focused. 

About.Me

So I've only just started my About.me page, and I've linked it to my Twitter and Facebook profiles. It's really a great site, and I'm looking forward to spending some more time playing around with it and making it more my own. I think it will be a great tool for job hunting, as well.

Facebook

Porsche Kristina

24 January 2012

ORCO 4000

Facebook

            I remember the day clearly – I had been waiting for my MTSU acceptance letter and roommate assignments to come in the mail for weeks, and I couldn’t contain my excitement when it finally got there. I ripped open the envelope and immediately after reading my roommates name, I went to look her up on MySpace. When I couldn’t easily find her profile, I started to get worried. “Surely any normal person my age would have a MySpace, right?,” I began to wonder to myself.  So I did the next best thing besides stalking her online, I called her. One of her questions to me was if I had a Facebook profile, because she couldn’t seem to find me online. Come to find out she was just as worried as I was at the apparent lack of social media skills of her future roommate.  I’m not sure if Facebook was originally limited to certain regions, or perhaps it caught on differently throughout the country based on culture, but I had never heard of this website (and I was friends with a LOT of college students)! Thankfully she explained it to me and told me that anybody who’s anybody is on there, and I needed to immediately sign up with my newly-assigned MTSU email address. You can guess what I spent my next week doing.

            Since then, I’ve seen Facebook change and grow throughout the years and adapt to the progressing social media trends. I remember when you couldn’t post a status, when your only photo was your profile picture, and when you could start joining groups. It quickly became a staple in my life, and more honestly, an addiction. My roommate was right; it was THE way of communicating with people. Especially since I’m from out of state and my fiancé was back home in CO, it made it much easier to keep in touch with everyone and stay connected. Since joining Facebook in 2005, it has gone through a variety of makeovers, and my needs and reasons to use it changed as well. Once they opened it to everyone, it became a way to connect with my family. As an activitist and a student leader, I was very interested in the Facebook Groups and constantly created groups, invited friends, and joined as many groups as I could. As an event planner, I created and RSVP’d to an unbelievable amount of Facebook Events. And now as a professional I use my Facebook to keep tabs on all of my friends, but mostly to connect with people in my industry and keep up with any important news.

            I am a big fan of keeping personal and business accounts completely separate, but I also recognize the fact that it is almost impossible to divide them entirely. Because of this, I think it is highly important to maintain a professional Facebook page and make sure that I’d be willing to show anyone in the world what’s on my page without worrying that it might be inappropriate.

            I’ve recently had a neat opportunity to help The Nashville Wedding Planners Group as we create our entire online persona from scratch. There are challenges that come along with managing a Facebook Page for a a business/organization because every move made from that page represents the group as a whole, and not just me. It has been interesting, however, to see the impact that social media plays on group formation as we’ve had lots of our members and vendors find out about us from our Facebook page.

My Tweeps

I've recently reached my limit of people I'm allowed to follow (ridiculous, right?!), so I can't add anymore at the moment. But for now, these are the people that I'm following:

10 Professionals in My Field of Study:
@PerfectWedding
@TerriUtecht
@MusicCityEvents
@TCreativeDesign
@SouthernEvents1
@TheWhiteRoomTN
@FeteNashville
@ILoveSWMag
@OnceWed
@PinkChicEvents

10 Non-MTSU Students in My Field of Study
@MichaelaMaskell
@Rebecca_Danehy
@RAElt
@DavidWallace
@Soderstrom
@RossTyner
@ILYJennaay
@NatalieJoyA
@MarcTheJerc

10 ORCO Professionals
@AllenFuller
@RWrasse
@KenRobinson52
@PikeDreamGirl02
@NickSPalmer
@AmSam16
@WedCandy
@TravisRose554
@LizMichels
@Seth_Tidwell

10 Social Media Blogs
@PRNews
@TodaySocial
@TweetSmarter
@WebGreek
@HootSuite
@DanielZeevi
@LindseyC_work
@SocialSavvyGreek
@Mashable
@SocialMediaToday
@SocialGuide


10 Local Entrepreneurs
@NashvilleFlower
@BinksOutfitters
@PaintYourEvent
@ImageTrickPhoto
@Gionni_Carr
@MainStreetMurf <a great one to follow to find other local entrepreneurs
@InTheBoro
@DNJ_com
@BoroPulse
@TootsBoro
@HobNobMboro
@NashChamber
@SmoothieKing
@NashWeddingGuy
@BlueRaiderStore


10 MTSU Orgs
@MTSU
@MTSU_raiders
@MTSUHighFive
@MTSocialNetwork
@MTSUNews
@MTSULibrary
@Boro_Life
@MTSULeadServe
@MTSUStudProg
@MTSUGreeks
@MTSUAlert
@MTSUBaseball
@MTAthletics
@UpTilDawnMTSU
@MTCareerCenter
@MTSUSGA
@YALibertyMTSU
@ZTAMTSU <<<(my personal favorite)

Local Entrepreneur

For this assignment I chose to follow Emily Lester Photography, a local photographer who is just getting started in the world of pictures. I admire her work and respect her as a person, so I will continue to follow her various social media pages and communicate with her.

The Heart Bandits

Okay, as corny as this sounds, I want to be a proposal planner. I love everything about engagements and romantic stories about how men propose, but every time I hear one of these stories I think about how much better it would be if I planned it for them. Cocky? Perhaps. But that's why I think it should be my job! Believe it or not, proposal planning is actually a legitimate career - and a competitive field to enter, at that!

The Heart Bandits are the #1 Proposal Planners IN THE WORLD and have been featured in a variety of national papers, TV Shows, etc. I already follow their blog (and their FB, Twitter), but I will keep a better eye on it and analyze it for the rest of the semester.

Social Media and Wedding Planning

In my area of professional communication, wedding and event planning, social media is a very useful tool that ultimately determines the success or failure of your company (whether you're a planner, vendor, venue, etc.). The first place brides go when they get engaged is online, and if your online presence is minimal, so is the chance that they will even give you or your company a second thought. As far as planning goes, I've learned quickly that Nashville is a VERY small town when it comes to the network of all wedding industry professionals, and there is a lot to be said to their online relationships.

More specifically, the organization I work for is using social media outlets in a variety of ways. Nashville Wedding Planners Group is an organization that is focused on creating a closer network of Nashville's finest wedding planners and featuring the best of Nashville's local vendors and venues.

1) We have a Facebook page (well, we have a fan page, a group, as well as a personal page). But check out our fan page!

2) We also have a very active Twitter account where we communicate daily with our members as well as give shout outs to our featured vendors of the weeks. Follow us!

3) In order to highlight all of the cool things that our group does, as well as spotlighting our members and their real weddings, we have a daily blog. It's pretty cool, you know you want to at least LOOK! :)

An example of another organization that I believe does a good job of connecting with their audience via social media is Billy Bob's Texas, a concert venue in Dallas. They are constantly updating their FB and Twitter, and they interact with their followers by commenting back, and even posing questions for their followers to answer. I'll follow them for the rest of the semester, as I've applied for an event planning internship with them that would be AMAZING!

Blogging 101

If, like me, you're a beginner in the world of blogging, here are some helpful tips:

1) Don't be afraid to ask for help.
2) Get involved with your readers and those who comment on your site; be an interactive blogger so you can adapt to your audience and learn from them as well.
3) To get more traffic and readers, incorporate your blog into all of your other social media outlets including Facebook, Twitter, and other websites.

Check out these websites for other useful tips and tricks about getting started with your blog:
1) Beginner Blogger Tips
2) 50 Blogging Tips for Beginners

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It is important to note that social media writing is different than traditional web writing. To better develop your blog/social media writing skills, check out:
1) Traditional vs. Social Media Writing
2) 100 Twitter Feeds to Sharpen Your Writing Skills

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The reason I chose Blogger as my platform for this class is because it is an easy option for beginners and makes the process of starting a blog very simple. I also have had some experience using WordPress, so I wanted to branch out and try something new to expand my web knowledge.

Mashable

Mashable.com is a website and blog that focuses on social media news, and has been referred to as a "one-stop shop" for all things social media. Their coverage includes news stories, features, reviews, guides, resources, and other analysis of web trends.

I constantly rely on this website for information to help me understand and learn more about specific sites.  Some articles that I've discovered that have helped me "get up to speed" with professional social media communication include:

1) A recent article was especially interesting to me because it describes a situation where a couple's wedding event company folded just weeks before their wedding, and Twitter helped save their day! I enjoyed this because it applied to my field of study.

2) This article was surprising to me, but also very exciting, because it explains how Pinterest can actually be used to help you in your job search. As a Pinterest-aholic, this makes me especially happy, and it was easy to apply the information to my future career plans.

3) In this article, I learned a lot about 7 different ways businesses can get more social with slideshare. In the event planning industry, pictures are so important because you have to be able to explain and show your potential clients what you're capable of doing, and slideshare enables you to incorporate pictures and text into an easily-presented format to share with them.

I <3 Mashable

:)

Infograph

This infograph, found here, examines the top responses to marketing among the most popular social media platforms. This demonstrates the importance of social media communication for organizations and individuals because it shows how far-reaching a message can be to consumers and potential customers.

It's All About ME!

Who am I??

Well, I'm a senior ORCO Major at MTSU, with an emphasis in event planning/non-profit work, and a minor in Leadership Studies. I was really excited when I saw that this class was being offered because I believe that social media is an essential part of organizations, and it will only continue to grow. By taking a class and being competent in Facebook, Twitter, and Blogging, I think that I will be more prepared to enter the workforce with a competitive edge, and be able to successfully use those tools to promote myself to future companies.

Goals that I have for this course include:

1) Creating a complete Social Media Profile/Resume that includes links to all pertinent websites for employers to see examples of my competence in these areas. I plan on updating it consistently throughout the semester, and even after graduation, to make sure it is up to date and a positive representation of my skills related to social media.

2) Besides this one for class, I would like to establish both a personal and professional blog. I believe that by the end of this blog assignment I will have had the chance to practice blog entries, try different styles of writing, experiment with importing images and HTML coding, and learn more about analyzing the data of my blogs as far as visitor numbers, references, hits, etc.

3) While this is a smaller goal, I am interested in updating my LinkedIn account to include more accurate and current information, connect with others on there, and establish links/references to be able to use during my job hunt.