1. What about your individual brand is more clear through social media? What do people know about you that they might not learn from you in person? What insight might this give an employer who is considering hiring you?
2. I love these two sentences, "Companies need to focus on giving content or a tool with utility and purpose to consumers, which is the opposite of traditional marketing, which consumers historically hated. Instead of providing end consumers with a potentially empty promise, as was the case with traditional marketing, companies need to focus on supplying something of value." What companies give you something of value that makes you want to engage with them?
3. The author talks about marketing executives being married to email because of the database information they can use and glean through email. However, since customers are moving away from email, how will companies build their databases in the future?
4. Bill Tily, an 83 year old man, made a habit of reviewing his social media statuses and then identified what he was doing that was an "unfruitful activity". What would you find if you reviewed a month of Tweets or status updates? How might your life be more full as a result of these changes?
5. At the end of chapter 3, the author makes the claim that we all like having something to brag about, and people and companies will alter their behavior to be more interesting. Do you think people alter their behavior to be more interesting? Why or why not?
I definitely think that individuals and companies alter their "normal" behavior when it comes to what they post on social media...this doesn't mean that they aren't being themselves though. Just think, before social media if someone was to get a new job or promotion they were bound to only tell close relatives and friends and the people that they though would really care to hear the news. Now people will post that they are pregnant, moving, hanging out with their boyfriends, taking a trip to Mexico, whatever, and they are sharing it with hundreds maybe even thousands of people. Then in return they get "likes" or "comments" or tweets back in response to the news and this makes people feel good about themselves and probably boosts their confidence level. So that back and forth interaction with people (even though it is social networking) does something for people in a positive way psychologically that encourages them to "brag" about anything that they care to brag about.
ReplyDeleteI definitely believe that people alter their behavior to be more interesting. People probably don’t completely lie like the Colorado example in the book, but I’ve noticed that I only post things that I think are somewhat interesting or at least entertaining for someone else to read. However, some people do just tweet whatever comes to mind or I think blogs really fall into this category. Blogs to me are a thought out process and many people blog about food or travel adventures so they take the time to make it interesting. But when talking about tweeting or posting on Facebook, people usually think twice about what they post. It is thought out because of the interesting factor as well as is this comment safe to post factor. Just like you had mentioned in class that once you work for a company you are speaking on behalf of the company whether you want to or don’t want to. I think companies struggle with this because they want to post something that is interesting for their customer’s entertainment. Some companies succeed at this through characters or creating hashtags to let their customers do the talking and creating entertaining stories for them. But yes, I do agree with the statement the author makes and I am guilty of even doing it because I want my followers to actually read and enjoy my posts or tweets.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree that people alter their behavior in order to seem more interesting and I also believe that it is essential to do so! In the corporate world, if you don't have at least something to brag about, you are nothing in comparison to your competitors who do and therefore, you will suffer for not having the "edge" we all seek. So in that respect, I at least hope that companies are altering themselves.
ReplyDeleteFrom an individualistic standpoint, I feel that social media has boosted our desires to want to be more interesting only because in today's social media world, there are people out there watching you that you hope find you at least somewhat interesting. In other words, as humans, we all have that desire to become more interesting to our peers and since social media has broadened our span of daily "peers", we strive even harder to set ourselves apart and to entertain them. I can't speculate if this is a good or bad thing for us in the long run because only time will tell what the repercussions of this lessening of privacy will do. However, much like Bill Tilly, none of us want to look back at ourselves and see that we were the least bit "lame" or even wasteful with what parts of our personalities we exposed for the world to see.
I do think that people can change their behavior to be more interesting. Like the author said who really wants to just say they are watching TV; I mean that’s something everybody is doing, every day. I do understand why though; people want to get your attention and within so many updates coming through Twitter or Facebook it’s not easy to. I myself, really don’t have many statuses and if I do I already know they aren’t that interesting. However, you can tell when people are trying too hard to try and be interesting. I know a few people like that and their stories are way out there and it happens every day. When it comes to that I feel that people are just going to block their comments. I think it's okay to an extent, but I still want people to be who they are and not someone they think people will like.
ReplyDeleteI have always been very careful about what content is on my Facebook. Even as a sophomore in college, I was concerned about what my future employer would see on my profile. So needless I have been working on the Sarah Kruger brand years before my employer would see it. Within the past year I added Twitter to help maintain my brand. However, I have noticed the content I put on both of these sites and my interaction with others is very different.
ReplyDeleteOn Facebook it is easy to see my sense of humor, while on Twitter is very easy to see what I am passionate about. Both of these aspects of my personality do not come through on my resume, but are much more apparent on my profiles. Employers can learn more about my history, which may not come up in a conversation in person. For this reason I welcome employers checking me out online. If they know more about my personality they will be able to judge if I fit into their culture or not. I feel that when a company knows my sense of humor and my passions they will like me more. Employers will see that I am genuine when they look at my profiles.
As far as personal branding is concerned, it seems like social media has almost become a supplement to a resume. As job seekers, it seems like we're all assuming that potential employers are going to look at what kind of social media or online presence we have at some point. While a resume provides your "on paper" stats, social media profiles fill in the personality aspect of a person that was previously only judged based on interviews or face to face contact with potential employers. While censoring the content you put out there kind of goes without saying, I think employers also look for a profile that integrates personality and personal life with genuine interest in the field, whether it be marketing trends, technology news, or whatever. I like to think employers would appreciate balance over a timeline full of tweets created using "share" buttons next to industry-related articles.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, the 83-year-old man example made me, for lack of a better word, sad. On one hand, I would feel rather differently if Bill was flipping through his personal diary and re-thinking his time spent. I'd be willing to bet that most of us kept diaries when we were younger and opened them up years later wondering what we must've been thinking back then. But since the example uses social media updates, I feel like Bill should be evaluating WHAT and WHY he is sharing instead of what he is doing and how others feel about it. As someone who hasn't totally drunk the social media punch yet in terms of personal life sharing, it saddens me to think about the direction the world may be moving in: every decision, action, and thought is pre-evaluated based on what our online "friends" will think of us. A world in which no one does anything stupid, no one tries and fails miserably, and no one makes mistakes doesn't necessarily sound like a step forward as much as a step away from the world itself and behind our computer screens instead.
My individual brand... Well for myself I feel like I stay pretty true to myself. I do not try to be anyone that I am not via my Facebook page. I am not sure what other people would learn about me that they may not have known by looking at my Facebook profile but I do think employers would think I was the standard or at least not abnormal college student. I like having the transparency but at the same time too - i feel like our generations use it in a non-formal way and my parents age and older take Facebook very LITERAL. It gets quite annoying coming from a small town and hearing all the chatter about Facebook and who saw what on someones wall...
ReplyDeleteLooking back at my old status updates might seriously scare myself! Haha Kidding! But for me, Facebook isn't somewhere anymore really where I really pour out exactly how I am feeling. Atleast I don't feel like I do. I get annoyed by those people on FB that pour out every 5 steps that they take or exactly what they did. Usually for me my status updates are somewhat meaningless - which I am not sure if it is a good thing but I feel that people don't need to know every move and I know people are looking closer to my fb page and what not.
Social networks have caused a change in our personal and corporate behavior. Social media is powerful. All people need to consider what they posted could be saying something about them to potential and current employers. This also makes people aware that they can never really let their guard down and truly reply the way they want. There are consequences to what people say on social networks. Be aware of that when branding yourself. Ask yourself, is this how I want others to perceive me before posting.
ReplyDeleteCompanies like HGTV and This Old House give me insightful and useful information on how to fix things around the house or give me an opportunity to enter a sweepstakes. These are things I like to learn more about as I am currently renovating an old house. Also, the sweepstakes are important as I would love to win new items for my home. These are tools HGTV and This Old House uses to keep me engaged and also keeps them on my mind when I need advice on how to do certain projects in the home.
I do not think people or companies will alter their behavior to be more interesting. I think their behavior will be modified or tweeked to better suit the company and their consumers. This is the part of the relationship building process for a company. Making the message fit the market, the brand, the company, and the external and internal audiences is extremely vital when using social media. Not by being something the company is not. It is crucial for a company to offer transparency through the use of social media to keep their audience engaged.
For some reason I have a hard time believing that email is going to be obsolete or useless in the next few years. I believe that eventually it will no longer be the most useful communication tool and companies need to be aware of future changes, but at least for the next five years I cannot see social media replacing Facebook. When brands have contests on Facebook they usually require users to enter their email address. This is probably because as of now there is no good way to easily access information through Facebook, and I believe that it will take a while for users to be willing to share their information with the pages they like. I would keep an eye out for new database building methods, but for anyone to assume that email is dead or dying would be a fatal business mistake.
ReplyDeleteMy social sites are also run like Sarah's. I have always heard the stories of companies checking social sites, so my Facebook has a high level of privacy, while my Twitter and LinkedIn profiles are used to build my professional brand. But I have noticed a difference from what (and how) I wrote about one or two years ago. I think this is just a natural progression that occurs as we increase in knowledge and understand what to post/write about. Maturity level also has a big impact in what we post.
I agree with the author. Every company does it and is searching for something to make themselves stand out and look a cut above the rest. We do it as people as well when we are trying to build our reputation and brand ourselves. And we do it to get a buzz and hope that someone will find us interesting and latch onto our brand so we can make ourselves more profitable. I also think it is done on auto pilot. We are altering ourselves everyday when we go to class and make ourselves open to different information that we want to appear knowledgeable in. We create different things for ourselves that seem to work or set us apart, for instance our resumes. We create them in elaborate and creative ways so we can catch the attention of an perspective employers eye and companies to the same thing just in another way to get the attention of perspective customers to make the business more profitable.
ReplyDeleteI think that making your own “Brand” on social media is something good. People now more than ever have been talking about hiring people that will be a good fit for their company and by checking someone on social media you get a feel for their personality. Just by looking at what someone tweets about, what they say they “like” and their pictures you can see what kind of personality they have. I remember when Xanga first stared and blogs and posts about your self were normally for a venting or a daily calendar. Now people understand more than ever that it’s a form of expressing yourself but not because you are emo. This also goes along with how people like to brag about them selves. It’s fun to do as an individual and is a good way to tell your network about something with out calling everyone or e-mailing witch is almost too personal these days. It’s the same thing with companies. It’s a good way to show you’re a good respected company with out coming out and actually bragging. So to answer the question, yes I think people do things just so that they can take a picture of it and make it their status.
ReplyDelete3. The author talks about marketing executives being married to email because of the database information they can use and glean through email. However, since customers are moving away from email, how will companies build their databases in the future?
ReplyDeleteI believe that companies will build their databases on the information that they will buy from Facebook, Twitter, and all other social media websites. Facebook knows everything about us, our nationalities, relationship statuses, what languages we speak, what vacation spots we visit, where we take photos, and loads more. No matter how careful we are, unless we are not connected to any social network or the internet, our private and public information is up for grabs.
Companies providing consumers real value is a key increasing interaction and driving traffic to pages, often the ONLY reason people visit pages. For example, I follow every Brainjuicer does(MR firm) because of the valuable information they give out. The post webinars, articles, podcasts, etc. on a daily basis. All of this is free information, but not only that is of amazing quality. Their podcasts talk through step by step how they test product introductions, their survey scales; basically stuff many other companies wouldn't give away because it is "proprietary." However, Brainjuicer has taken the opposite approach, which has drawn in many more fans. I have to say it is a great marketing tactic as many followers probably think "if they are giving this good of info for free, imagine what I can get if I was willing to pay."
ReplyDeleteI think that social media most accurately portrays my interests and involvements. I don’t wear a sign on my back that says what music I’ve been listening to, the concert I’m attending next weekend, or my favorite meal I had this week. However those things can be determined by my Facebook, Twitter, and blog activities. I use a music program called Spotify that’s linked up with Facebook and shares literally every song I listen to with all of my friends’ news feeds. I RSVP to shows that I’m going to, and so do my friends. It’s a convenient way to know who’s going and to meet up with them there. This is the best for my out-of-town friends that I usually only see on the occasion of a concert, festival, other event, etc. I’ve been very interested in the music/entertainment industry (non-mainstream) and would eventually like a job or side gig working for a promotional company in Chicago or Denver. If a potential employer (within the industry) saw my passion and involvement with music and the scene, it could easily boost my value as a candidate for a position with their company. And I think this also relates to the claim that the author makes at the end of chapter 3. I love what I do, where I go, listen to, buy, and eat, and those are all things that I love to exploit via social media. I know that I as well as many of my friends love posting my/their activities and locations for the exact reason to brag. It’s a way of self-expression, not the bragging, but what we’re doing. I wouldn’t say it’s necessarily altering behavior other than the whole idea that we limit less of ourselves and what we say on the web rather than what we do in person. It’s just easier to brag when you can take pictures, check-in, tag your friends, and leave witty comments.
ReplyDeleteI just write this very long response and now it's completely gone. So here I go again.
ReplyDeleteIn response to the Bill Tily story in the book, I have done this and I have to agree with the point that was made. When I first started at Bradley I had posted something about Sarah Palin on Facebook, something that she said that was rather funny and contradicted everything that she had said all through the campaign trail. A friend of mine posted under the story that she hates Sarah Palin and moments later I received a message from my very social media savvy uncle to call him immediately. I can't even explain the anxiety that I experienced with that message. I had never been in trouble with my uncle before! So I called him and he explained to me the potential ramifications of my friend's posting that under my story and strongly advised me to remove the comment and if my friend didn't like it then they could post it on their own FB page. This prompted me to delete the post and go through my history and delete any other questionable posts and comments and more than that, it caused me to really evaluate what I post on Facebook. It was at that moment that I stopped posting on Facebook 5 times a day because I was just posting things like "Mmmm peanut butter oatmeal" and really... who cares. I decided that my social media accounts needed to be used purposefully and now they are. I am so much more conscientious of the interpretation of my postings and of my silences. I have made it a point not to live to post on Facebook (yes, this was becoming a problem) but instead, if something really great/cool/impactful/educational happens, I will post. And yes, I feel more in control.
Social media really allows a person to have free reign in terms of their emotions. A person can establish their individual brand more easily through avenues like Twitter and Facebook because there isn't a true "filter" in place to stop them. Someone will gain a better perception of who you truly are by just looking at what kind of statuses you post and the tweets you make/favorite. This is especially true when it comes to employers. Most people try to hide themselves from potential employers in hopes that they will assure a hiring. However, I think employers frown upon this tactic, because they can't gain an idea of what drives a person.
ReplyDeleteI would have to agree with Bill Tily and the fact that reviewing your social media is unfruitful. If I were to look at a months worth of tweets and status updates, I would essentially find the same kind of content throughout. It wouldn't be beneficial to me because it wouldn't cause me to alter my behavior in any way. I don't think I could consider my life being more fulfilled if I were to engage in such an activity due to the fact that my posts are so consistent as is.
People certainly alter their behavior with the assistance of social media. Social media is basically a tool that tells everyone "hey look at me". In order to be followed or gain friend requests, you have to provide some sort of value. Being interesting is the best way to do this, whether it's reality or fabrication. People also change their behavior because they can. Social media allows a person a bit of an escape from reality. You can really be whoever you want on Twitter or Facebook. Qualman states that companies "contribute more and more to improving society as a whole" when they alter their behavior to be more interesting. I would have to agree because the more time people take to assert their position, the more others will notice.
I think that social media adds a complimentary component to the typical resume and interview. Social media humanizes a potential employee. It also gives companies insight into how individuals represent themselves, and therefore how they might represent that company. I think employers that follow my professional twitter feed will find that I enjoy marketing and social media news, but also maintain a healthy work-life balance. I make observations about daily life, hobbies, etc. that hopefully portray that I would be someone who is knowledgeable and gets the job done AND would be someone who has a personality and would be enjoyable to work with.
ReplyDeleteFor me, I find companies valuable when I feel like my opinion is valued and I have the opportunity to truly contribute something to their company. For example, ShopRuche.com live-tweets their buying sessions and asks for customer opinions on different clothing items. It is fun to tell them “I would definitely wear that purple dress over the green one” and then see it in their online store during the next season. I also like companies that inspire me or give me interesting insight into their brand. I love behind-the-scenes looks, like Kate Spade’s campaign shoots.
Sometimes it seems like people make it a point to do something exciting in order to talk about it. Social media encourages me to look at things with a different perspective and enjoy everyday details of my life. I don’t necessarily think that people will generally change what they are doing in order to present it on social media. I think they alter the way they look at things in order to present it in a more interesting thing. For example, you could be shopping for oranges and tweet an artsy photo of the orange display. Something mundane and ordinary turns into a work of art that people respond to and share.