SUSTAINABLE NETWORKING ACTIVITY - UBER PUSH NOTIFICATIONS

For this project, our group decided to brainstorm and create an attempted solution to prevent drunk driving. We decided that using Uber would be the most creative idea. Our idea was that Uber would send push notifications to a user's phone when they were 10-15 feet away from their car, Fri - Sun between 10pm-3am. Also, your phone would detect when you were performing irregular movements between these times as well. It would send you a push notification to your phone, enabling an Uber request.

I participated by initially bringing Uber into the discussion and also helping develop the powerpoint with one of my team mates assisted me with. I also helped present our idea alongside with the rest of my group.

Social Media Campaign

The reason I made this page was to draw attention to my at home jewelry business called Kara’s Crystals. I created the page in late November, but paid more attention to the insights once joining this class. Here’s some insight into my posts, reaches and thoughts looking back on my journey.

4. Your campaign plan posted on your blog shows an execution of your tactics, screenshots of status updates, media, polls, Facebook ad, anything you've done according to plan to encourage Likes and Shares

I decided to make a couple of "boomerang" videos. These are really popular with today's social media as far as pictures and videos go. Basically, they act as a GIF. A short video that's able to show off the sparkle in my crystals. Not a long video (about 5 seconds), but enough to give viewers a glimpse of what the pieces looks like. These were far more popular on Instagram than they were Facebook. I noticed pictures did a lot better opposed to videos. 

 

In comparing these two ads, the one on the bottom did significantly better. Of course, because it was about a sale. I didn't post anything about a sale on the first one, but with the 25% off, I noticed a lot more traffic on my website following. 

5. Your posted Facebook Insights data are analyzed in terms of Likes, Reach, Visits, Posts and People. Your analysis shows what worked, what didn't and why

Okay, first off, the biggest thing I learned: the more money you spend, the larger audience you will reach. Here's a few posts of my most recent Facebook posts. Can you tell the difference? I experimented with the $2, $10, and paying no money at all. Obviously the $10 post hit the most viewers by a landslide. I can't imagine what paying $20-$50 will do. When I start gaining more popularity, I do anticipate spending more money on ads. I came into this assignment with the mindset that online marketing is free... but no, it's not free, and if you want it to be free, you won't be as successful marketing wise. Unless of course, you have some major secret important people on your side. In my case, I don't, and spending money on ads is the most efficient and prodcutive way to go. 

6. A posted summary is written regarding the campaign plan and how it increased traffic on your FB page and other channels used in cross-promotion, indicating trends in goals set for the campaign

I cross posted mainly between Instagram and Facebook. It's easier for me to navigate Instagram, and I feel like a have a large platform on my personal Instagram which helped my business Instagram (when I would promote it on  my personal one in the beginning). I got less likes when I posted on Insta and shared it on FB. My inclusive posts specifically to Facebook got more likes opposed to the Instagram shared posts. When I did a promotion on Instagram to LIKE my Facebook post for a giveaway, I definitely saw more traffic. I'm going to be doing that more. 

7. Your post includes a self-evaluation of the execution of your campaign, what worked to increase impressions and what you would do differently

To increase traffic, I definitely would have posted a lot more. That was probably my biggest flaw that I noticed. With 15 credits and 50 hour work weeks, I can now see how easy it is to veer away from online marketing unless you’re completely dedicated to it. Also, I can see how online marketing can have such a huge impact on your business. After looking at my sales, they were decreased dramatically once I slowed down on posting via social media. Although word of mouth is strong, visuals online is stronger (in today’s marketing age at least). Also, if I could go back (and what I will continue to do in the future) is to take more pictures. I took a ton of pictures in the beginning and used them throughout the past couple of months, but I feel like people want to see fresh and new material. What worked the best was the few giveaways I did. When I did giveaways, a noticeably large amount of people were drawn to my page. That’s when I got the most likes and impressions. I’m grateful for this assignment because now I know how to better my business marketing skills online better. I look forward to applying them in the future.

OTM 3 - How the Press Gets Seduced By War

A couple weeks ago, President Donald Trump ordered a large amount (59) of missile attacks on a Syrian airbase for revenge on a chemical attack on their own people. They killed dozens of people including children. Being an heavily talked about debate whether this was good or bad, this has been all over the news. Stephen Kinzier, Senior Fellow at the Watson Institute for International and Public affairs and Brown University, accompanied alongside with a columnist from the Boston Globe, argue that "The public is being presented with a deceptively simple version of reality because the media aren't asking the right questions."

First off, I think your viewpoint on this really settles on if you think war is necessary or not. I, for one, believe military weapon use is necessary, but only at a last resort. Whether or not this was demonstrated as a last resort, I'm not sure. The reporter in the audio clip mentioned that the missiles were meant to send a message to Asad (and the world) that there's a "new sheriff in town," that we are going to take a tougher line and will be taken seriously as a military. I for one would have to agree with this in the idea that, well, I don't feel like Obama did this. And if he did, he definitely didn't publicize it (or gain a lot of media attention).

As far as the news "romanticizing" these events, I do agree that yes, the news should be strictly informative and objective. This is true. But, really, can we expect anything less? That's how news are these days. Everything is tied with subjectiveness and opinions. I would love to live in a world where I can turn on the news and it's strictly FACTS, but that's not how it is anymore. In fact, most of our news outlets are so incredibly biased, it's hard to know what's true (which is sad, considering the news is the one source where we are supposed to go to with information).


http://www.wnyc.org/story/press-seduced-war

Automatic Attitudinal Response

Reading back on my first OTM and WI's, I do have similar feelings now about Trump as I did back then. I still don't agree with some of his decisions and way of going about things. Although, one thing I will say I noticed while reading back, is that I have failed to do research on both sides of my argument. I notice a lot of the things that I've said, in ALL my blog posts, are very one-sided research. I've spent countless hours trying to finds things against Trump, but can't say I've read or went out of my way to read anything thats for Trump.

I absolutely find a fault in this. I think it's a biased way of thinking. Not just about politics (although politics is a huge one) but rather any thing in life that we must decide on. I truly think the only way to know that if something is right and in a good decision, that you must know both sides of the argument before coming to a conclusion. You can't make a genuinely knowledgable decision if you have only seen one half, no matter how obvious something might seem.This is something that I have failed to do, but hope to do in the future with my other posts/arguments in life in general.

From this point forward, before writing about something or getting into a debate with someone, I'm going to attempt to do my proper research on both sides. I think this will be difficult, considering the amount of biased material on the internet, but not impossible.