This will be the last blog post I will write for my Intro to Social Media Principles class. This class was definitely not what I was expecting, but as a mechanical engineer jumping into the world of public relations I don't know if there was much I really could know to expect. To be honest I took this class because it was the last semester of my senior year in college and I was hoping to take a class that wouldn't require to much thinking, especially compared to the last three and a half years of engineering school.
I may have been looking for an easier class but I think as an engineering I got more out of the class than I thought I would. In the world of engineering being able to communicate with other people is a trait that is sought after because the stereotypical engineer generally isn't very good in social situations. It is important to be able to communicate your thoughts in ways that people around you who did not go to school for engineering will understand. When you go to school for engineering you are essentially learning a new language and for those who are not around it all the time they will not necessarily understand what you are saying because the terms you use are not common outside of the world of engineering.
This class has helped me work on my communication skills for when I am not writing a technical engineering report and instead may be writing an email to a customer. Although I do not use social media very often I think their are other skills you gain from this class in terms with being able to communicate with your coworkers and other people around you. The class also forced me to be a little creative sometimes, having to write three blogs a week was pretty difficult to come up with new things to talk about each week. I would find I spend more time sitting in front of the computer trying to figure out what to write than I would actually writing the blog post.
I would say that in the end I actually enjoyed the class, and I think my time spent for the class was well spent. Not to say it did not annoy me at times, but I learned a lot of things from this class that I would not have learned in the engineering college. The class itself was very light hearted and as an engineer in an unfamiliar world it made it a lot less stressful to be out of my comfort zone.
Tuesday, May 1, 2018
Monday, April 23, 2018
The Revitalization of the Restaurant Menu
Restaurant menus could soon be getting a major upgrade thanks to social media technology. Social media has already become a major part of restaurant business. People will often go to a restaurant and take a Snapchat of their food or post a picture of their food on Instagram. If you are a restaurant and people are posting pictures of your food on social media, you are getting free marketing to all of the persons followers. I think the customers benefit from this too, a restaurant is going to want to consistently give their customers quality food so they will recommend it to their friends.
A company called Kabaq is looking to change up the formula again using alternative reality and social media platfroms like Snapchat to show the customers food items on the menu before they order. An article on Digital Trends explains the burger chain Bareburger will be one of the first restaurants to implement this new technology. Pictures are taken of each dish on a menu from a bunch of different angles to create a 3D model of the food. Using an app like Snapchat or the Facebook camera you can display an image of the dish on your phone in front of you and look at it from any direction to see if it is something you want to eat.
I think this would be a great way to promote the consistent quality of food being brought to the customers. If they have an augmented reality image that looks like food does in commercials and the food you bring out does not look as good as the image then the restaurant runs some risk of bad press. The customer could take a picture of the augmented reality food next to the actual food they received and the marketing they could be benefiting from is now hurting their business. The inverse of this is also true, if the actual food looks like the augmented reality image, the customer could post the same picture and the restaurant would receive positive marketing.
I think this is a really cool opportunity for restaurants, as of right now most of the food items on menus are described in words with a few items that can be seen as images. Plus, if people are trying to be adventurous and try new food, if they don't know what something is on the menu but they can see a picture of it they may be more likely to try the new food.
A company called Kabaq is looking to change up the formula again using alternative reality and social media platfroms like Snapchat to show the customers food items on the menu before they order. An article on Digital Trends explains the burger chain Bareburger will be one of the first restaurants to implement this new technology. Pictures are taken of each dish on a menu from a bunch of different angles to create a 3D model of the food. Using an app like Snapchat or the Facebook camera you can display an image of the dish on your phone in front of you and look at it from any direction to see if it is something you want to eat.
I think this would be a great way to promote the consistent quality of food being brought to the customers. If they have an augmented reality image that looks like food does in commercials and the food you bring out does not look as good as the image then the restaurant runs some risk of bad press. The customer could take a picture of the augmented reality food next to the actual food they received and the marketing they could be benefiting from is now hurting their business. The inverse of this is also true, if the actual food looks like the augmented reality image, the customer could post the same picture and the restaurant would receive positive marketing.
I think this is a really cool opportunity for restaurants, as of right now most of the food items on menus are described in words with a few items that can be seen as images. Plus, if people are trying to be adventurous and try new food, if they don't know what something is on the menu but they can see a picture of it they may be more likely to try the new food.
Sunday, April 22, 2018
Why you Should Share the Road with Cyclists
I am currently training for an Ironman in Arizona and I have been an avid cyclist for many years and as the weather starts to get nicer you will start to see more cyclists on the road each day. As a cyclists you are generally not allowed to be on sidewalks, so unless you have a good trail near you the road is your domain. When you are being taught to drive you are generally taught to drive defensively, it is even more important as a cyclist to ride defensively because when it is you versus a vehicle the vehicle will always win.
When you are riding a bike there are a lot of different things you have to pay attention to. For me personally, one of the biggest challenges I face on the roads is dealing with the winds, they can change direction and speed at a moments notice. I ride a bike which has a larger side profile because it is designed to be aerodynamic, this means when there is a cross wind it pushes me over more than on a normal bike. Driving a vehicle down the highway in heavy winds you can notice this effect at times but the amount it throws you off of the direction you are travelling is magnified when you are on a very lightweight bike compared to a vehicle which is much more stable because it has four wheel instead of two. Having to deal with changing winds is the main concern I have when a vehicle passes to close next to me, if the wind were to suddenly gust I could be blown into your car. So give cyclists the little bit of extra room, although it may not be convenient for you, it will be much less convenient if something bad does happen. Also, if you pass very close to a biker the biker has to deal with the turbulent airflow your car is always creating as it drives, this is very disruptive to cyclists and it can make the bike more difficult to control.
Most of the things I do as a cyclists are intended to keep me safe. Road systems are often designed for vehicles and cyclists and pedestrians are an afterthought. This makes the roads even more dangerous for cyclists. We are exposed to the elements which means the wind rushing passed our ears can make it difficult for us to hear a car behind us, especially now as cars are becoming more quiet on the roads everyday. We also can not be constantly checking behind us to see if you are there because we need to see the road in front of us for the same reasons a driver needs to see the road in front of them. While riding on the roads there are many things a biker could run into that could cause them to potentially wreck, being from the Midwest there are often large potholes in the roads which could puncture a tire or cause other problems. I also tend to do most of my bike rides out in the country, often there are dogs not on leashes in the country and I have had some run out in the road and nearly knock me over. These are all things I have to be worried about which could cause me to deviate from the line I am riding, if something like this happens while a vehicle is passing to close it could cause a very dangerous crash.
In light of this there are steps I take as a cyclist to limit the chances of a horrible wreck happening, I will often ride a little bit out into the road instead of sticking as far to the right of the road as possible. I do this to force vehicles to go around me as well as give me a place to go that is not in the middle of the road if something suddenly comes out and I need to avoid it. I also do this when I am approaching a stop sign or stop light so people do not try to pass me while going through an intersection, it is important as a cyclist to own your space on the road and it is important for drivers to respect the space for cyclists on the road. I am not just a cyclist, I am also a driver so I understand how getting briefly stuck behind a bike can be frustrating but it makes the roads much safer for everyone.
When you are riding a bike there are a lot of different things you have to pay attention to. For me personally, one of the biggest challenges I face on the roads is dealing with the winds, they can change direction and speed at a moments notice. I ride a bike which has a larger side profile because it is designed to be aerodynamic, this means when there is a cross wind it pushes me over more than on a normal bike. Driving a vehicle down the highway in heavy winds you can notice this effect at times but the amount it throws you off of the direction you are travelling is magnified when you are on a very lightweight bike compared to a vehicle which is much more stable because it has four wheel instead of two. Having to deal with changing winds is the main concern I have when a vehicle passes to close next to me, if the wind were to suddenly gust I could be blown into your car. So give cyclists the little bit of extra room, although it may not be convenient for you, it will be much less convenient if something bad does happen. Also, if you pass very close to a biker the biker has to deal with the turbulent airflow your car is always creating as it drives, this is very disruptive to cyclists and it can make the bike more difficult to control.
Most of the things I do as a cyclists are intended to keep me safe. Road systems are often designed for vehicles and cyclists and pedestrians are an afterthought. This makes the roads even more dangerous for cyclists. We are exposed to the elements which means the wind rushing passed our ears can make it difficult for us to hear a car behind us, especially now as cars are becoming more quiet on the roads everyday. We also can not be constantly checking behind us to see if you are there because we need to see the road in front of us for the same reasons a driver needs to see the road in front of them. While riding on the roads there are many things a biker could run into that could cause them to potentially wreck, being from the Midwest there are often large potholes in the roads which could puncture a tire or cause other problems. I also tend to do most of my bike rides out in the country, often there are dogs not on leashes in the country and I have had some run out in the road and nearly knock me over. These are all things I have to be worried about which could cause me to deviate from the line I am riding, if something like this happens while a vehicle is passing to close it could cause a very dangerous crash.
In light of this there are steps I take as a cyclist to limit the chances of a horrible wreck happening, I will often ride a little bit out into the road instead of sticking as far to the right of the road as possible. I do this to force vehicles to go around me as well as give me a place to go that is not in the middle of the road if something suddenly comes out and I need to avoid it. I also do this when I am approaching a stop sign or stop light so people do not try to pass me while going through an intersection, it is important as a cyclist to own your space on the road and it is important for drivers to respect the space for cyclists on the road. I am not just a cyclist, I am also a driver so I understand how getting briefly stuck behind a bike can be frustrating but it makes the roads much safer for everyone.
Tuesday, April 17, 2018
How to Measure Crises
Your reputation as an organization is extremely important to the success of your business. People do not want to by from or be associated with a company or organization that has a bad reputation because the things people choose to associate themselves with in a way represent themselves. By associating with an organization who has a bad reputation they then hinder their own reputation. Stakeholders also have a key interest in the reputation of your company, a bad reputation is going to lead to a drop in the stock market. Ideally you have a good reputation already because it is something that takes time and effort to change for the better. Recent events with Facebook and its privacy scandal demonstrate how quickly your reputation can change from good to bad.
Crises management is important and a well managed crisis is one that deals with all of the bad press up front, right away. If the crisis is not handled well it can cause damage for a much larger amount of time and will make it more difficult to gain back a good reputation. An overnight poll is one method Paine brings up, in her book "Measure what Matters", to find out what people believe about you especially just after a crisis in order to determine if anything you have been doing is working to relieve the situation. Having a good reputation involves having trust, trust will also be a great defense mechanism in the event a crisis does arise. Trust cultivates many positive things throughout an organization so trust is necessary not only between an organization and its consumers but also within the organization. An organization whose employees trust their employer are more likely to do a better job as well as support the goals the organization has in place. A good relationship with the media can help when dealing with a crisis as they are the ones who have a large impact on how information is released to the public during a crisis.
Clearly it is important to be able to measure a crisis and the trust you have with the all those who can support your organization. The first step is to define how what it means to survive the crisis. The goal should be something you can measure, this can be setting goals based on limiting the drop in stock prices or sales among other things. The next step is to define your audience, this is who you are looking to improve or build your relationship with in order to improve your reputation. Next you need to define your benchmark, during a crisis the focus will generally be on your own organization, however monitoring media outlets and how they cover your crisis can also be a useful tool. Once you have determined your benchmarks you have to define your measurement criteria. This often has to do with the amount of containing messages relating to the crisis and how desirable or undesirable the messages may be. You then need to determine what tool you are going to use to measure your progress toward your goals. Finally, based on the data gathered you need to analyze the results and make reasonable recommendations toward actions to further improve your organizations reputation.
Crises management is important and a well managed crisis is one that deals with all of the bad press up front, right away. If the crisis is not handled well it can cause damage for a much larger amount of time and will make it more difficult to gain back a good reputation. An overnight poll is one method Paine brings up, in her book "Measure what Matters", to find out what people believe about you especially just after a crisis in order to determine if anything you have been doing is working to relieve the situation. Having a good reputation involves having trust, trust will also be a great defense mechanism in the event a crisis does arise. Trust cultivates many positive things throughout an organization so trust is necessary not only between an organization and its consumers but also within the organization. An organization whose employees trust their employer are more likely to do a better job as well as support the goals the organization has in place. A good relationship with the media can help when dealing with a crisis as they are the ones who have a large impact on how information is released to the public during a crisis.
Clearly it is important to be able to measure a crisis and the trust you have with the all those who can support your organization. The first step is to define how what it means to survive the crisis. The goal should be something you can measure, this can be setting goals based on limiting the drop in stock prices or sales among other things. The next step is to define your audience, this is who you are looking to improve or build your relationship with in order to improve your reputation. Next you need to define your benchmark, during a crisis the focus will generally be on your own organization, however monitoring media outlets and how they cover your crisis can also be a useful tool. Once you have determined your benchmarks you have to define your measurement criteria. This often has to do with the amount of containing messages relating to the crisis and how desirable or undesirable the messages may be. You then need to determine what tool you are going to use to measure your progress toward your goals. Finally, based on the data gathered you need to analyze the results and make reasonable recommendations toward actions to further improve your organizations reputation.
Monday, April 16, 2018
Making Exciting Announcements
The boring press release is becoming a thing of the past, now it is important to make announcements exciting in an attempt to generate extra buzz. With an exciting press release, it is more likely people will actually view the press release and learn about whatever it is you are announcing. An article from entrepreneur points out, the medium a message is sent is almost as important as the message itself. One of the most important things to do is determine what medium you are going to use to send out your announcement. The medium you get the most engagement on is obviously one you want to use to send out your announcement, and I don't think you should necessarily limit yourself to one medium although it can work.
The article by entrepreneur discusses some methods you can use to help your next announcement generate buzz and get people excited about whatever you are releasing. The first item they discuss is about the timing of your announcement. In regards to timing the main idea is to make sure you are ready for an announcement. If your product is not ready then you should not be worrying about making some super awesome announcement, doing so will generate hype and then you will let your fan-base down. The announcement also needs to be thought through, releasing your announcement means the media will begin to critique your product. The announcement should also be working to meet goals you have previously defined and already have benchmarks set.
Your next tip is to pick the right platform to deliver your announcement, the platform picked should naturally be the one that will distribute your message in the most effective manner. Your announcement does not need to be done on social media, it can be performed in person at a tradeshow or some other event. The next tip is to think out of the box when making deciding how to make your announcement. Out of the box ideas can make your announcement more memorable and may help viewers do a double take at your message getting them intrigued in what you are trying to sell. This doesn't necessarily mean your announcement needs to be silly but it should incorporate some component that is buzzworthy. The article by entrepreneur points out a very important question to ask yourself before you decide how to make your announcement, "If you saw it, would you be tempted to share it with others? And is it directly relatable to your product or service?" I think these are important questions to consider whenever you are dealing with public relations, it is essentially the golden rule but for marketing.
The last two tips are to generate a conversation and to build on the momentum of your announcement as opposed to letting the press release stand alone. To generate a conversation work should be done prior to the announcement to start getting people excited about what is coming in the future. Having a buzz started before your announcement can help get more people talking sooner.
The article by entrepreneur discusses some methods you can use to help your next announcement generate buzz and get people excited about whatever you are releasing. The first item they discuss is about the timing of your announcement. In regards to timing the main idea is to make sure you are ready for an announcement. If your product is not ready then you should not be worrying about making some super awesome announcement, doing so will generate hype and then you will let your fan-base down. The announcement also needs to be thought through, releasing your announcement means the media will begin to critique your product. The announcement should also be working to meet goals you have previously defined and already have benchmarks set.
Your next tip is to pick the right platform to deliver your announcement, the platform picked should naturally be the one that will distribute your message in the most effective manner. Your announcement does not need to be done on social media, it can be performed in person at a tradeshow or some other event. The next tip is to think out of the box when making deciding how to make your announcement. Out of the box ideas can make your announcement more memorable and may help viewers do a double take at your message getting them intrigued in what you are trying to sell. This doesn't necessarily mean your announcement needs to be silly but it should incorporate some component that is buzzworthy. The article by entrepreneur points out a very important question to ask yourself before you decide how to make your announcement, "If you saw it, would you be tempted to share it with others? And is it directly relatable to your product or service?" I think these are important questions to consider whenever you are dealing with public relations, it is essentially the golden rule but for marketing.
The last two tips are to generate a conversation and to build on the momentum of your announcement as opposed to letting the press release stand alone. To generate a conversation work should be done prior to the announcement to start getting people excited about what is coming in the future. Having a buzz started before your announcement can help get more people talking sooner.
Sunday, April 15, 2018
My First Haunted House
Although it is not October and the Halloween season, I just went to my first haunted house for Friday the 13th. I am not a person who enjoys being scared, you will not find me seeking out a horror movie to watch or looking for other ways to frighten myself. I tend to stick with comedies or action movies, and if I want an adrenaline rush I will go mountain biking or do some other athletic activity instead of finding a way to scare myself. So, why did I decide to go to a haunted house when doing so seems hypocritical? Well, I am in my final few weeks of school before I graduate and I didn't have any plans for the weekend other than sit in my room and watch something on Netflix or Hulu. So, when one of my friends texted me and asked if I wanted to go to a haunted house I figured I might as well make some new memories and try to do something out of my comfort zone. The haunted house was called the Haunted Town Hall and was located in Lafayette Ohio.
As someone who is not normally into the whole finding ways to scare myself thing, I had a really good time at the haunted house. If you are wondering if I yelled or not the answer is yes, and I yelled loud. In between the short moments of horror I would find myself laughing once I realized I was safe and it was fake, but as I went through I would still get scared and it just made it all the more enjoyable. It was a really weird feeling for me to go through the haunted house and leave with a feeling of having a good time as opposed to trying to figure our how I was going to sleep that night. This doesn't mean I am about to start watching a bunch of horror movies or go to more haunted houses in the near future but I will be a bit more willing to go with friends to a haunted house in the future. I am still indifferent about the scary movies I think they are something I will have to tackle at another point in my life.
One of the first spots in the haunted house to really get my heart racing was when we walked through this "hallway" which was pitch black and had tilted walls that were very close together. The path took lots of sharp turns so it made you claustrophobic and disoriented, the entire time I was walking through it I was afraid something was just going to jump out at me. At one point the path had pressurized blasts of air, the blasts of air were really loud and sudden which was scary. The other thing to really scare me at the haunted house was when we would enter a room full of different doors and you had to pick which door you thought was the exit. If you chose the wrong door you would open it up to some scary creature and a jump scare. When we went through we actually chose the correct door but one of the creatures came out of one of the doors and walked up behind me, I almost jumped out of my skin. There was a lot the haunted house had to offer and the next time it is open I would highly recommend checking it out.
As someone who is not normally into the whole finding ways to scare myself thing, I had a really good time at the haunted house. If you are wondering if I yelled or not the answer is yes, and I yelled loud. In between the short moments of horror I would find myself laughing once I realized I was safe and it was fake, but as I went through I would still get scared and it just made it all the more enjoyable. It was a really weird feeling for me to go through the haunted house and leave with a feeling of having a good time as opposed to trying to figure our how I was going to sleep that night. This doesn't mean I am about to start watching a bunch of horror movies or go to more haunted houses in the near future but I will be a bit more willing to go with friends to a haunted house in the future. I am still indifferent about the scary movies I think they are something I will have to tackle at another point in my life.
One of the first spots in the haunted house to really get my heart racing was when we walked through this "hallway" which was pitch black and had tilted walls that were very close together. The path took lots of sharp turns so it made you claustrophobic and disoriented, the entire time I was walking through it I was afraid something was just going to jump out at me. At one point the path had pressurized blasts of air, the blasts of air were really loud and sudden which was scary. The other thing to really scare me at the haunted house was when we would enter a room full of different doors and you had to pick which door you thought was the exit. If you chose the wrong door you would open it up to some scary creature and a jump scare. When we went through we actually chose the correct door but one of the creatures came out of one of the doors and walked up behind me, I almost jumped out of my skin. There was a lot the haunted house had to offer and the next time it is open I would highly recommend checking it out.
Tuesday, April 10, 2018
Infuencers Influencing
Influencers play a very important part in the public relations world. It is important to understand an influencer doesn't have to be someone famous or other high powered individual in the industry. Now, with internet accessible to most people in the world which has brought groups of people together forming many different organizations within many different niche communities. An influencer can now be anyone in the world, as long as they recommend your product or service they are an influencer. This means there are a lot more influencers available to help spread your brand and give you a better relationship with your consumers.
Determining who your influencers are, is largely dependent on who your target audience is, if your influencers don't hold any weight in your market space then they are not going to be a good influencer for you. The first step in finding out who your influencers is to search for blogs and other places on the internet that mention you, your competition, or are relevant to your market place. This is a process that takes time to gather data and information, you cannot gather accurate data in a short period of time. After finding these influencers it is important to verify the sites you found are actually important in your marketplace.
Once you have the influencers it is important to build relationships with your influencers and be able to measure your relationship with them. You not only want to measure your relationship with your influencers but checking the health of the relationship is important. You want to understand not only what people are saying about you, but why they say what they do. As with any form of working to improve your public relations, the first step is to define your goals, and make sure they are measurable. The next step is defining your audience, in this case your audience is the influencers for your product. Once you know your audience you will need to determine your benchmarks, this often is compared to your competitors. The key performance indicators will often deal with what your influencers are saying about you and how much engagement they are receiving on their posts. The final step is to determine your measurement tool, their are applications that can help with this but you can also use a spread sheet and do it yourself, it will just take more work.
Your influencers will help spread your brand beyond people who already know about you and follow you on different social media platforms. The influencers will reach groups in different niches throughout your market space, so develop a relationship and keep it healthy. A healthy relationship with your influencers will aid in the public image of your business or organization.
Determining who your influencers are, is largely dependent on who your target audience is, if your influencers don't hold any weight in your market space then they are not going to be a good influencer for you. The first step in finding out who your influencers is to search for blogs and other places on the internet that mention you, your competition, or are relevant to your market place. This is a process that takes time to gather data and information, you cannot gather accurate data in a short period of time. After finding these influencers it is important to verify the sites you found are actually important in your marketplace.
Once you have the influencers it is important to build relationships with your influencers and be able to measure your relationship with them. You not only want to measure your relationship with your influencers but checking the health of the relationship is important. You want to understand not only what people are saying about you, but why they say what they do. As with any form of working to improve your public relations, the first step is to define your goals, and make sure they are measurable. The next step is defining your audience, in this case your audience is the influencers for your product. Once you know your audience you will need to determine your benchmarks, this often is compared to your competitors. The key performance indicators will often deal with what your influencers are saying about you and how much engagement they are receiving on their posts. The final step is to determine your measurement tool, their are applications that can help with this but you can also use a spread sheet and do it yourself, it will just take more work.
Your influencers will help spread your brand beyond people who already know about you and follow you on different social media platforms. The influencers will reach groups in different niches throughout your market space, so develop a relationship and keep it healthy. A healthy relationship with your influencers will aid in the public image of your business or organization.
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