Companies and Social Media Communication

How should companies communicate with there internal audience, employees and others working on the inside, on social media? Rachel Miller, author of Share This Chapter 22, discusses multiple ways to a company can use social media to communicate and improve the ways already set.

She began by saying that those looking to start communicating with social media, should ask themselvess the following questions:

1. What are you trying to achieve?
2. Whose your audience?
3. What do you want people to think, feel or do differently as a result of your communication?
4. What action or behavior are you driving?
5. What your message?
6. How will the conversation start?
7. How can it be two way?
8. What tools and channels will be used?
1. The focus is on the input and action being driven.
1. once you know the answers to previous questions, a channel should be easier to decide on
9. How will feedback be captured?
10. What will be measured?
1. A company can and should measure social media
1. The focus should be on measuring outputs in order to demonstrate effectiveness

Miller believes that social media enhances employee engagement by opening up new feedback channels, encouraging collaboration, breaks down hierarchies with horizontal networking, being all encompassing and interactive, approachability because employees pick and choose what and who to engage with. 

She also says you should ask IT for advice on what channel to use and work with business partners to identify what you can do within your company, based on the understanding of communication and culture as well as technical possibilities. 

I know our Social Media class is not a company or organization, but think about it in the context of internal communication. We are all on Facebook (and many other social networks) and Aggie uses that to her advantage by using our group page to get us announcements and grade our assignments. We can also ask each other questions and communicate within ourselves about what's going on in class. 

But sticking with the idea of companies, they can use them to their advantage internally because social media can change along with the culture and some of the same things it allows us to do as a class.

Issues in Nairobi, Kenya

It's scary to think that a place you've visited is splashed all over the news for something horrifying. The faces of fear you see were only images of a dream that you had after hearing stories describing past struggles of stability and violence. The safety of those friendly and loving people you met is a concern as you remember the connections you made.

The nightmare started at Nairobi's Westgate Mall on Saturday when 10 to 15 gunmen began shooting at random as they went through different stores and took hostages. The attack  has left 60+ dead, caused 170+ injuries and 60+ hospitalized. CNN is considering this the "bloodiest terrorist attack" since the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi was attacked in 1998 and the death toll may still rise as there are 65 people who haven't been accounted for and floors have collapsed leaving some trapped. It is said that five of the terrorists have been killed and 11 others have been arrested as possible connections. President Uhuru Kenyatta told CNN that forensic teams believe the attacks are the doing of the Somalia-based Al-Shabaab terror group.

According to US Today, Al-Shabaab tweeted about the attacks throughout the weekend. One tweet read, "The Mujahideen entered #Westgate Mall today at around noon and are still inside the mall, fighting #Kenyan Kuffar inside their own turf." Another tweet made by the group gave some insight into the reason for the attacks by saying, " What Kenyans are witnessing at #Westgate is retributive justice for crimes committed by their military." The group members weren't the only ones tweeting about the incidents. CBS News showed a tweet on their website from the Kenya Defense* Forces page that said, "We hail the efforts  of the brave and selfless men and women who are putting their lives on the line in the Defence of our country." That  was not the only tweets the Defense Forces posted, below are some other tweets.

Both news outlets and tweets are still keeping up with the story.

Cites used: CNN article #1
                  USA Today
                  CBS News
               
*-denotes that groups page is spelled with a "C" and not an "S"            

Woah! When did I become a big kid?

I think it's finally hit me that I only have 3 more semesters of college left before I walk across the stage and have to be a grown up.

The time left hit me over the weekend. My roommate from freshman year came by with one of our friends and we started talking about some of the crazy things that happened over our first year. We were wondered where the time went because we felt like we just awkwardly met each other on the basketball courts by Founders hall at the freshmen pizza party.

It also hit me over the summer since it was my first summer away for an internship, working with Tiffin University's football team. I also met with someone to talk about a future internship working in athletic fundraising. In talking with this person, I learned that his old assistant is now the assistant for the athletic director and a year ago she was a waitress. Hearing and experience that put things in perspective and I'm honestly wondering when it became time for me to think about what I really wanted to do after graduation.

But, I am glad that I have had the different opportunities presented to me. Now, it is time to put all of it to use.

Networking: Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, Oh My!

Friends, followers, and connections are some of the ways we connect with our social networks today. However,  each social network has their own way of allowing us to connect or network with others.

Robin Wilson, author of chapter 7, describes Facebook as a way for "people to share stuff with their friends," by allowing them to share thinks in many different ways. Those different ways being a personal profile, brand pages/profiles, groups, and places. He also goes into how brands can use Facebook to build themselves up.

Wilson says that Facebook can enable brands to do the following:

1.  Build Communities: can use 'Likes' to gain fans based on interests and demographics 
2.  Engage with Fans: brands can publish interesting things to gain their communities attention and engage in two-way communication 
3. Amplify your Message: Engagement with fans is more powerful than regular advertising 
4. Socially Enable your Business: Companies can enable people to share actions they take on their website directly with their Facebook
5. Sell your Products and Services: Companies can connect their website or Facebook page with a site like Payvment for online shopping 

Now let's talk about Twitter. According to Twitter it is "a real-time information network that connects you to the latest information about what you find interesting."

Twitter, like Facebook, has different ways to connect or socialize with people. In a journalism light, Twitter can be used in place of newswires and for those of us who are celebrity junkies it allows us to follow what is going on with them. It also allows us, access to up-to-date news and another way to communicate with friends. Businesses can use Twitter to see what consumers are saying and gives companies the chance to interact with them.

Lastly, LinkedIn is often seen as the professional of the three. It encourages members to engage with companies and "sells itself as a platform to connect and reconnect." This network also allows users to belong to networks like your school, employers, professional bodies, etc. For example, I am connected with the mayor of my hometown, who is also an ONU alum and a few of the people I worked with in the past. In having these connections, I have have a support system on what I am sharing with the business world because they can endorse the skills I have listed.

In short all three allow businesses and individuals to promote themselves. I think Aggie gave us the perfect example of how to use the sites in our favor when she told us she has a personal and professional Facebook page. We just have to learn the correct way to use them.

Be smart in promoting yourselves online my friends.
-Kaila

Road Trip!

This weekend was my first time making the trip to an away football game. I made the trip with a new group of friends, Becca, Cassie, and Precious, to watch our team play nationally ranked Heidelberg.

It was an hour long trip of changing CDs, eating doughnuts, and hoping the guys did well.

When we finally got to the game, the struggle began to find seats and find some that was easy to get to since Cassie was on crutches. That took us awhile since this was a big game for us. But, we finally found seats right behind the ONU bench.

We spent the game yelling for our boyfriends and friends as they made big plays. But, it didn't seem to help because the guys were struggling to keep up with Heidelberg. We were on the board first, but nothing other than that was going in our favor. We had a few guys that had to come out because of injuries and we even had one guy taken to the hospital.

The girls and I ended up heading toward the exit with two minutes left to go because the score was not in our favor. We were down 55-27 and most of our friends were out and seemed as though they'd given up. But, before we got back on the road we waited to say hi to our friends before they headed to the locker room. Becca's boyfriend, Matt, was his usual goofy and fun-loving self as he kissed her and thanked her for coming before hugged the rest of us to thank us for coming and apologized for the loss. Then, my boyfriend, Will, came off the field and he was more quiet than usual brushed off my hug before heading back to the locker room.

With our hugs and hi's out the way the girls, myself, and Ryan Reid (senior Defensive Back) began our trip back to Ada. Becca and I joked about just locking the boys in one of our rooms, so they could cheer up while us and the rest of the girls went out. That was about all of the talking we did until we got back in town, when we were making decisions on what to do. The girls dropped me and Ryan off at our rooms before heading to Padrone's for dinner. My first road trip was definitely a roller coaster of emotions, but I'm glad I went. I had the chance to hang out with new people and even though the game did not end well for ONU, I can say I have been to an ONU away game. 

Are We Paying Young Celebrities too Much Attention?

As a country do we focus too much on the outlandish things young stars do? Let's think about recent stories about young stars:

1. Miley Cyrus twerking on Robin Thicke at the VMA's
1. One video has over 9,000,000 views on YouTube
2. Amanda Bynes life is a train wreck
3. Lindsey Lohan in general 
4. Willow Smith says she's bisexual at 11 years old

The list could go on and on, but the most recent story is Jaden Smith's, Will Smith's son,  tweets about school. 

The tweets caused enough commotion to receive enough attention to get an HLN Segment. My question is at the age of 15, how many of us really were that thrilled about school. That's around the time most of us were sophomores in high school and if I remember correctly, I was awkward and not a fan of school. So why is it that HLN, Time, and the Huffington Post counting this as news? 

If you or I tweeted this, many adults would say that we were just being a teenager. Yet, when you have a little celebrity backing it seems as though what you say and do gets more attention. The funnier thing to me is that, Smith's celebrity status is mostly because of who his parents are rather than his own performances. 

Jaden's most notable and recent appearances are Pursuit of Happiness, The Karate Kid, and After Earth. The first two movies were his breakthrough into show business and did well, but After Earth was a flop when it came out. So, again his career has not made his celebrity status big enough to stand on its own, yet we give him attention for saying something that would be seen as him just being a teenager if it wasn't for who he has as parents. 

As a country, I think we need to really look at what we give our attention, especially when it concerns young stars. 

One Game Down, Nine Games to Go: ONU Football

2013 ONU Preview (YouTube)

Are you ready for some football? Well, ONU's season is underway and our boys are 1-0 after a blowout win against Alfred State (NY) last week by a score of 55-0. Alfred is a former junior college team making its NCAA Division III debut against our Polar Bears.

I was very ecstatic for this game. The reason being is it means we are one step closer to getting our new turf and just hearing the excitement of our guys in classes, on our way in and out of class, and as I pick up my boyfriend from practice everyday made it contagious. Then even though the team we were playing this past week was not up to par with us, the win seemed to give them a boost of confidence to jump start them into this season.

I guess I was also excited about the game because my boyfriend, Will,  is the starting running back this season. He had 2 touchdowns, 102 yards, and 12 carries at eight and half yards per carry. I am pretty sure the marching band was glad when his teammate went in for him after his second touchdown because I yelled every time he had the ball.

But, I was also a nervous reck on the inside every time he got the ball. I understand this is football, but Will is not the tallest or biggest guy on the field and when he gets hit my heart stops. I told my roommate, that I will not sit down until he gets up after a tackle. Then, the scariest thing happen. Will was one of the guys on the very bottom of the dog pile and knowing what happens in those piles from my neighbor, a former NFL player, never helps. Luckily, he was not     the one hurt. The player responsible for tackling Will, was the guy on the bottom of the pile, and had a season ending injury. Alfred's player, had a severely broken ankle and it dangled as the training staff helped him to the side line. Although, I am glad it was not my football player that was hurt, I would never wish that on anyone.

But with a bye week this weekend, our guys got some rest on Saturday and went right back to work tonight to prepare for next Saturday at Heidelberg. However, the game the guys need all of us at the most is October 5th against Mt. Union.

Hope to see you guys at the next game!
-Kaila

NFL Week 1 Record: Is Race Important?

Well, the first week of the NFL has come to a close and it set a record for having nine African Americans starting at the quarterback position and many of them have been drafted within the last three years.

Now, one reason this has been brought to our attention is because recently our country celebrated the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington and 50 years ago there were not many black quarterbacks (Milwaukee Community Journal).

This past week the following QB's started

1. Josh Freeman, Tampa Bay Buccaneers,  5 Years in the NFL
2. Robert Griffin III, Washington Redskins, 2 Years in the NFL
3. Colin Kaepernick, San Fransisco 49ers, 3 Years in the NFL*
4. Russell Wilson, Seattle Seahawks, 2 Years in the NFL*
5. EJ Manuel, Buffalo Bills, Rookie 
6. Cam Newton, Carolina Panthers, 3 Years in the NFL 
7. Terrelle Pryor, Oakland Raiders, 3 Years in the NFL 
8. Geno Smith, New York Jets, Rookie 
9. Mike Vick, Philadelphia Eagles, 12 years in the NFL

I do think it is important to say that I am glad the NFL recognizes that it has "moved forward" because early on most African American players were moved to other positions such as running back and wide receiver. But, something that caught my attention this week is the distinction that Stephan A. Smith made on First Take during the middle of the week, when asked about this topic. He kept pointing out the run game and athleticism of these athletes compared to their white counterparts. When referring to Tom Brady and Peyton Manning, Stephan A. talked more to their arm and their drop back style of play and how they were not known for being running quarterbacks.

Smith's comments then began to remind me of a conversation I had in a class last semester, Sociology and Psychology in Sport, when we talked about this topic as well. When asked why were there not more black quarterbacks early on, most responded by saying racism. Two of the main reasons were that whites were still seen as the superior race and had the decision making skills that were better suited for the job of leading the team.

Now back to the question in the title: Is race important? The fact that I received a notification on this from ESPN, that Stephan A. Smith was discussed it, and I'm blogging about it, it must be important. Right? Personally, I do not understand why anyone's race, ethnicity, or background should determine how well they do at their job. These nine players are paid to go out and play every week and they should not be seen primarily as AFRICAN AMERICAN quarterbacks. If Aaron Rodgers, quarterback of the Green Bay Packers, is just a quarterback then let these nine as well as any quarterback in their position should just be looked at as a quarterback. Let their talent speak for them and not their skin color.




Websites used: http://www.communityjournal.net/nfl-season-opens-with-9-starting-black-quarterbacks/
                         NFL specific team pages for players experience in the league

If you fail to plan then you plan to fail: Share This, Pt. 2

Part Two of Share This looks at how businesses can get started with social media, which many companies are starting to do. The author(s) gives a list of six things to think about when starting out in social media:

1. Select your squad
2. Choose a goal
3. Start Listening
4. Think about character and content
5. Integrate your outpost
6. Measure what you treasure


All six "instructions" are good ideas for any part of business that you go into, but when thinking of getting into social media, I think that businesses really need to understand these to know what they are getting into. If you look at the way businesses are set up each department is set up to deal with different issues or topics which can come in handy with social media because not one department can always respond to the target audience or competitors in the way it may need to be taken care of and that's where listening becomes important. Businesses also need to think about what Tom Hsieh, CEO of Zappos, says in the chapter, "people relate to people, not companies." Treat your customers like people and not just a way to get money. Once you work all that out you also need to choose your platform. What are your audiences using the most. Lastly, you need to evaluate how this whole social media idea is working out. Is it really producing the ROI's that you were expecting?

For awhile after reading this I thought about the businesses in Ada and even a few of the things we have on campus that may or may not use these principles when they started their social media pages. One that came to mind is Jalepeño's because they currently have a promotion going on where if you buy a t-shirt and go on to their Facebook page and follow them, customers are given the opportunity to wear their t-shirts on posted days for a discount when they come in. I feel like this follows the six "instructions" above. They have students working there and a lot of us go there often, so somewhere along the lines they probably heard about our money struggles and how much we all like to eat. So they decided to use that to benefit them.


And there's my nerd moment of the week.
-Kaila

Share This: Part I- Changing Media, Changing PR

In reading  Share This, it brought to my attention how much time and energy is spent on the Internet. Yes, I understand that the numbers maybe outdated but if you simply look around when you are out in public how many people are on their phone. There's a good chance that they are making some kind of update whether it be Twitter talking about what they see around them, posting a picture on Instagram of what they saw, and expressing it in greater detail on Facebook. The feeling of being connected is taking over.

On a personal note, if you are an outsider looking in at the Lewis' family dinner table whether it be at home or at a restaurant there's a good chance 3/4 of us are on our phones. My dad would most likely be on LinkedIn, my little brother on Instagram, and I'm most likely tweeting. That scenario shows that social networks have a widespread audience making connections in some way and that we aren't just connecting from our computers anymore.

For me it brings up the question, "Are we too connected via the Internet to make connections in person?". Share This brings up the stats that 95 million Tweets are sent a day and 57% of people talk more online than they do in real life (pg.4). Then also think about how many people probably uploaded a video, tweeted, or read about Miley Cyrus twerking on the VMA's awhile ago. However, the connections we make and are fond of maybe a necessary evil. For example, my boss from my internship this summer is a friend of mine on Facebook and we are also connected on LinkedIn. That connection can allow me to use her as a resource for a recommendation letter and also let her know if I need tickets for an upcoming football game at Tiffin University.

Share This also takes a look at the fact that it isn't just Facebook, Twitter, and other related sites that are getting people connected. People are blogging about it, making communities and forums to have group discussions.

PR-wise I do agree greatly with how Share This expresses networks can effect practitioners, "Social networks present a complex, but rich landscape of opportunities and risks." (pg.11) I agree because how many celebrities or others in the spotlight wish they wouldn't have posted something or have something posted about them. For example, since the NFL was in full swing today and this past Thursday, I'm sure teams PR and Communications departments were monitoring what players posted to insure they didn't start off on the wrong page.

Tim Tebow, Done in the NFL?

Tebow's  Leaving Remarks on Twitter

The NFL regular season started this week and prior to the start, players fought for their positions during the preseason. They were fighting for a spot on the 53 man rosters of one of the 32 teams in the league. One major person that didn't get to keep his spot this season was New England Patriots' quarterback, Tim Tebow, who they picked up from the New York Jets.

During one of his last preseason performances, he completed 6 of 11 passes, threw 2 touchdowns and 1 interception. Those stats did not make for a bad night, but not necessarily the best when your fighting  another player for the #2 spot behind Tom Brady.

He had ESPN and all other major sports networks buzzing about what could come of him being cut, not picked up by another team shortly after, and not even considering the thought of switching his position (based on his size, 6ft 3in tall at 245).  (Mixed clips of ESPN analysts opinions)

Tebow has also had the Twitter-sphere in a frenzy. Some football fans are getting down right nasty about the cut with their comments while others are offering up words of encouragement.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/31/tim-tebow-released-patriots-roster-cut_n_3848876.html

I think people need to keep in mind that he was going to be and has been back up for two future Hall of Fame QB's, Tom Brady (NE) and Peyton Manning (DEN). He was also back up to Mark Sanchez, who is not even an elite QB, so his playing time would have been a complaint for some even if he wasn't cut. But, hopefully within the next few weeks or so we can hear more from Tebow outside of social media and analysts on how he feels about his current situation or even get picked up by a team.

Junior Year, Big Decisions

Flashback Friday ---> Freshman Year

           First two weeks down and 14 left to go this semester! So far it has been an interesting two weeks and it's had some similarities to my past two years already. One major similarity is that a few of my classes have overlapping material as a Sport Management Major with a minor in PR.  So with the similarities hitting me in the face for three years, I'm finally giving into Dr. Fleck's plea of making Public Relations my second major in the next few days. 

            The decision to do so has been a back and forth conversation since I signed up for the minor my freshman year. Although, a double major might not be the easiest thing to do, I know in the end it’ll be beneficial as far as careers go. I mean, yes I do love my sports, but Sport Management alone may not open as many doors as I would like it to. 

          I think me having the second major helps me move more toward what I want to do after graduation. It may not be set in stone yet, but Community Relations is looking really nice right now. I want to change the way some people look at athletes and also get athletes more involved with the community. Think about it, there's a good chance whatever major (or minor) sports teams play in your area are using your families tax dollars go to keeping their place of work open, so I want to ensure they give back to those helping them out. 

        So here's to a new year, new opportunities, and new beginnings! 

                    -Kaila