How long will this revolution last?

Is Social Media a fad? 

The semester is almost over and I feel that I have learned a lot in this class and I am very happy that I have taken it.  Even with everything I have learned, I can't help but ask myself one question...It's obvious what a power Social Media is, but will it be around in ten years?  

Personally, I do not think Social Media is a fad.  Half a billion people utilize some form of Social Media which is an insane amount of people.  However, I do not think it will be as popular or as powerful as it is now.  Lots of things will change in the next ten years, and I'm sure there will be another revolution in communication.

Be Careful what you post...

With the slow economy and the unemployment rate hovering at 9.6%, todays job market is tougher than ever.  Its more important than ever to monitor what is on your social media pages, i.e. Twitter, FaceBook, Blogs, and MySpace.  I used to think that I could just post whatever on my pages and tag myself in all sorts of pictures.  But the older I get, I fully realize how clean my pages must be, because I know that employers will be checking it out.

Most potential employers and employers check out their employee's social media pages on a regular basis.  In fact, according to CNN, a girl was fired from her job a few weeks ago for talking trash about her boss.  Honestly i'm not sure what to think about this.  On one hand I think that freedom of speech should be respected, but on the other hand, if you are stupid enough to post negative things about your boss on FaceBook then you probably deserve to be fired.  Listed below are some tips that I found online to keep yourself protected at work:

1.) Think before you post.
2.) Be picky about who you friend.
3.) Use social media on your own time, not at work.
4.) Be careful what you post at home.
5.) Use Privacy settings
6.) Utilize employee rights.
7.) Keep the dialogue positive.

Article on Social Media and Work
Another article on Social Media and Work

Spredfast: A company that offers Social Media Management

I'd say on average I spend between 15-30 minutes a day managing or just looking at my Face Book account, my favorite message board, Linkedin account, or my Blog.  I think this is way too much time, and I can't even begin to imagine how much time some people must spend if they are really into Twitter and location based networking on top of the others I listed.  I've realized that it just takes a lot of time to manage all your accounts and to keep them from being static.  I figured there must be some company that offers a social media management product that can streamline all your pages....

Thats when I stumbled accross Spredfast.  Spredfast is just what I was looking for, a company that will take care of all your social media platforms, and to streamline the communication that comes from it.  According to their website, "Spredfast is an enterprise-class solution that empowers your company or organization to communicate across all of your social media channels, measure the effectiveness of each conversation, and prove the value of social media." .  They also offer ways to assign adminstrators to each platform and to manage multiple product initiatives at once. 

I think this is a great idea that more companies should look at.  However, I do think that if all companies used a service like that, then perhaps they will not hire as many social media type workers, which doesn't help the job market.  Does anyone really see any cons to using a service like this if you owned business that has multiple social media platforms? 

Example of the Spredfast Interface

Example of managing different platforms using Spredfast....

Is there too much Social Media?

Today it seems like almost everyone is using some sort of Social Media platform.  FaceBook has over 500 million users and there are millions of "tweets" sent everyday.  One thing that confuses me is why every business thinks they need to have a FaceBook page.  It seems like every resturant or business I walk into, there is a sign in the place that says "Friend Us" or "Find us on FaceBook".  I just don't see the benefit in some companies having social media as part of their marketing strategy.  Sure its cheap and all, but why would I want to friend State Farm insurance on FaceBook which is what many signs told me to do the other day when I was in there office?

I think too many companies are just using social media because it is the popular thing to do.  They make their pages, and then the employees forget to upkeep them and they become static pages very quickly that are worthless.  For example, the other day in Mr. Hall's class we took a field trip to Southern Foods.  Southern Foods is a regional food distributor and they talked at lenght about their new FaceBook page and their quest to find more followers.  Why would a company such as this, who claims only 20% of their business comes from online orders, need a FaceBook page?  Can anyone give me examples of companies in Bowling Green who have greatly benefited from a FaceBook page?

Presentation on Social Media

Yesterday in my Entreprenuerial Marketing class we had a guess speaker.  His name was Steve Chandler and he owns a social media marketing agency that is based out of Nashville, TN.  I think he gave a great presentation and it was cool to hear about social media outside of our social media class.  Steve brought up a great point in the power that social media has.  He based his argument on the fact that we had 40 people in the class and on average they each had 700 friends on Facebook.  That is 28,000 people that we could reach with one Facebook push.  This number made me realize just how big Facebook had become and the power that social media has.

I think that Steve gave a great presentation on the power of social media.  I can tell he has a good company but I am unsure about the longevity of the company.  I do not think media is a fad, but i'm not convinced that the push for this will be around for the rest of time.  Do you all think that the "Social Media Buzz" will still be going on in five years?

Best Advergame Ever

So for past two days I have been addicted to ESPN U College Town.  This is an advergame application that is hosted by FaceBook.  I'm not a big game player, never played much growing up, and I have never played FarmVille.  But I have to say this game is pretty cool. ESPN U College Town can be found by searching for it on Facebook.  It has almost 3 million fans so far, and has an average rating of 4.9/5 stars

The game lets you build your own university from the ground up.  Kind of like a Sims University game or something like that.  It lets you construct anything from stadiums, to dorms, to classrooms, as long as you have money of course.  I just think this is a great example of a social media tool because it lets you have fun and be entertained, while being blanketed by ESPN's brand the entire time.

More about the best game ever!

How to Build a Successful Facebook Business Page

Today in class we talked about how to increase your video views on YouTube.  I thought these were some interesting and good tips, but I wanted to learn how to build a great facebook business page.  I feel like this is especially helpful since Shennigans will have to do the same soon.  Here are some tips that I found online.  While the article is a little outdated, I feel like the advice is still very relevant.

1.)  Develop Custom Tabs for Custom Ads

Developing custom tabs can make it possible to create links on your facebook page to other sites. 

2.) Develop applications.  This will make your users stay on the page longer.  These applications can be in the form of pop up ads, or even interactive games.  Games are a great way to showcase your product, and let users have some fun at the same time.

3.) Start Conversations.  It's good to interact with your users. Whether its in the form of a discussion board, or a wall discussion after a recent video post, discussion is good when it's about your product or company.

4.) Publish Relevant and Interesting Content.  Post stuff that is relevant to your product field.  Customer's want to learn about new happenings in your business world.  Repeatedly flooding your facebook wall with advertisemtents and coupons about your business will get old after a while.

5.) Update Regulary!  This is pretty self explanatory because old pages loose followers quick.

6.) Create Facebook events.  These don't always have to be actually physical events, but they can be an event where everyone uses one of your products one day, or wheres a shirt promoting your company.