Week 8: Proximity channels and industry-specific social networking sites

Proximity Marketing Channels: bringing deals to you as well
as powerful word-of-mouth reviews.

This week we talked about both proximity channels and industry-specific social networking sites.

I encourage you to read the discussion boards and see how your classmates have utilized various proximity marketing channels both personally as well as for some ideas on how you can incorporate these channels into your own businesses. Due to the time constraints for this accelerated course, I would have loved to dive deeper into mobile communications, but I think you got a good taste of it through proximity marketing channels.

The assignment to review industry-specific social networking sites was very interesting, and I learned about a lot of new ones I had never heard of. That's why I am listing some of your classmates' blogs below for you to also review. I see some new faves I may be bookmarking later on.

Check out these blogs to learn more about a variety of industry-related social sites:

• Active Rain by Janis Butkevics  (real estate)
• BakeSpace by Casey Goldstein (food)
• Biznik by Amanda Cavanaugh  (small business)
• Biznik by Stacy Shanks (small business)
• eduClipper by Jake Stresen-Reuter (education)
• FanIQ by Gavin Saul (sports)
• FICPA Connect by Dave Cone  (Membership-based association platform)
• Fitocracy by Lisa Hope (fitness)
• Flixster by Alexis Willey (entertainment)
• FohBoh by Alexandra Rich (dining industry)
• FoodSpotting by Erin Tracy (food)
• getGlue by Emily Rios (entertainment)
• govLoop by Victoria Betz (government/service)
• It's Hospitality by Casey Grenet  (hospitality)
• The Knot by Lauren Roberts (wedding)
• Learnist by Blythe Duckworth  (education)
• Learnist by Julie McKinney   (education)
• Learnist by Kristin Rizzo (education)
• My Yoga Online by Jason Belo (fitness)
• NaNoWriMo by Amanda Winkle (self)
• Sermo by Laura Markowski (medical)
• StyleHive by Lesley Geyer  (fashion)
• Untappd by Sean Burke (beverage industry)
• WeddingWire by Lacee Utt (wedding)

We are into Week 9 as we talk about planning! Social media, emails, and website content don't just magically appear. The best companies have a strategy behind every touchpoint, and that means having an integrated plan for all channels. I look forward to your discussions on the resources you would use to begin to plan your posts, and then actually showcasing a hypothetical plan for Disney's Animal Kingdom in the Week 9 assignment.

Week 7 Recap: Social Media Channels and IMC

Another great week guys! I think you can now call yourselves IMC experts. It was very interesting to see how some brands are hitting it out of the ballpark with social media and are utilizing it fully with hashtags, an IMC approach, cross-channel promotion etc. It was even more interesting to see how many of them weren't quite up to par!

Some tidbits to take away from this week:

•  IMC is more than just logo and imagery -- it's about the overall content and campaign (and much, much more, but that would be a whole other course!). For example, although Target may be currently running Halloween specials, they still have other mini campaigns they have to maintain the marketing for to keep all aspects of their business going (i.e. Target Baby or perhaps they could have an October pink campaign for breast cancer awareness). Even if the main campaign is Halloween, a post about Going Pink on Facebook, a tweet reminding you to donate, a Pin board with Pink ideas, or a YouTube video on how Target donates to research should be part of the Pink campaign's IMC plan.


• On the majority of your analyses, Google+ was the winner when it came to being pushed aside. Sadly, if brands had a Google+ page, they barely interacted with it. There is DEFINITELY room for improvement on this channel for some major brands. I think your understanding of how beneficial a Google+ page is for a business when it comes to a presence on Google, SEO, etc. will set you apart from other job candidates.
  
  Search Social Media and IMC on Google, and guess what comes up! Google Plus posts -- an example of how Google Plus does help with SEO!:
  

  Oreo, Fiat, and the Jaguars: How they do with IMC and social media ...

  

  https://plus.google.com/.../posts/1ui5EYoMgHv‎

  Blythe Duckworth

  3 days ago - Oreo, Fiat, and the Jaguars: How they do with IMC and social media #fiat #oreo #standunited #socialmediamarketing Cookies, Cars, & Football: Taking a Deeper Look at IMC and Social ...

  NBC, ULTA and Pottery Barn demonstrate IMC: Consistency is key ...

  
  https://plus.google.com/.../posts/bP3irCKppxc‎

  Julie McKinney

  3 days ago - NBC, ULTA and Pottery Barn demonstrate IMC: Consistency is key for social-media-hopping customers. I've picked three brands that use an integrated marketing ... NBC, ULTA and Pottery Barn demonstrate IMC: Consistency is key ...
  
  
  
• Several of you chose brands that have different accounts for varying countries or sub-brands (i.e. Nike). This is an important item to consider whether your brand is as large as Nike or much smaller. On a smaller scale, it may relate to two store locations, two businesses within one location etc... Is it better to maintain one page, or have separate ones for each location? It all depends on your brand and there isn't one right answer. However, the majority of larger brands have one main account as to not dilute fans over several different pages.
  
• When planning to launch your brand on a social channel, definitely consider scalability and long-term plans. Will you expand in the future? If you do, would the business name be the same? It's a lot easier to plan your strategy in the beginning than try to encourage your fans to "Like" your new re-branded page. I ran into this issue at my previous job. Each location of the business had a completely different name, thus the branding was all over the place. Because of this what user/page name could I go with as I launched social channels?! It was one of the reasons my boss hired me --- to bring the branding under control!

Highlights

There were some great entries this week. And everyone received either an A or B! I encourage you to check out your classmates' blogs this week to see what your fave brands are up to.


This week, we are continuing to look at social media channels, but specifically ones created for specific industries. I am looking forward to your mid-term projects on your assigned social media channel as well - reminder: they are due this Sunday at 11:59 p.m.

Week 6 Recap: Content Communities

As you now know, content communities have crossed over into the social realm whether themselves as a platform, or through their features that allow you to share back to your social networks.

Jimmy Fallon and JT going hashtag crazy.
Save it for the Content Communities, boys!

I loved last week's bonus point assignment on Instagram and from your feedback, you did too! It was so easy to click #UFSocial to see all the pics in one place. Newsflash: That's what hashtags are for! They shouldn't be used verbally. (I'm looking at you Jimmy Fallon and JT)!

I really enjoyed reading everyone's posts this week! You all have some great goals ahead of you. I encourage you to tweet your post or even send it to the companies... you never know!

Interestingly enough, everyone chose Pinterest as their Content Community board to post to. Shows you the popularity and ease of that platform! You have inspired me and I will definitely be getting back onto Pinterest and updating my boards, and creating one of my portfolio work! Now if Lily will just nap a bit longer so I can get that done!

There were so many blogs this week I would love to highlight! These are just a few!

• Lesley Geyer's Blog
• Clorox, I have faith in your products, but your content needs a little help
• Why I Would Love to Work for Michaels Wedding Section
• Selling Myself as a Critic

And... the Creativity Award goes to.....

• Dear Conan O'Brien
• Dear Harper Reed

Week 6 and all bonus activities are fully graded. Have an awesome week, and Go Gators! I am looking forward to a night game in the Swamp... the energy is electric!  

Week 7
We are well underway into Week 7 as we dive into Social Media. We'll be looking at how social media channels are additional platforms/multimedia communication tools to spread IMC messages in addition to some of their features.

Deadlines

Discussion post is due Thursday at midnight, assignment post is due Sunday at midnight. Mid-term projects are due on October 13!