Assignment for 9/10/12

  

Stories always have played a distinct role in people’s lives. Whether it is in movies, books, or by word of mouth, stories can always impact people’s emotions; positively or negatively. In chapter six of Heath and Heath’s Made to Stick, stories are presented in ways that lead people to make distinct decisions; whether right or wrong. According to Heath and Heath, stories not only lead people to make decisions, they “provide simulation, knowledge about how to act, and inspiration, motivation to act” (206). What Heath and Heath really emphasized about both of these things is that they both lead to action; stories lead people to act.

I can believe that stories ultimately lead people to act in some type of way. For instance, if a friend was telling me a story about someone who was saying bad things about me, I would initially listen to that story and react in some type of way. I would be receiving the knowledge to act, which would be the fact that someone was talking about me, and then would be motivated to act because of the knowledge I just received. I believe Simulation and motivation can be used when it comes to marketing.  The story about Jared and Subway is a great example of simulation and motivation and how it can be used within the marketing world.

When Heath and Heath refer to stories as simulations, they are essentially presenting the idea that simulating stories mentally, is the next best thing to actually doing something physically. I agree with this to an extent. In order for a story to be as good as actually doing something, it must be told in a way that allows people to mentally simulate the story in a way that is just as good as being there physically. According to Heath and Heath, stories, “put knowledge into a framework that is more lifelike, more true to our day-to-day existence” ( 214).  If Subway told the story about Jared in a way that didn’t resonate to other people, wasn’t relatable, and didn’t evoke some type of emotion, they would not have successfully marketed the story in a way that drew in more clients. 

Assignment for 09/3/12

Social media engagement is one of the most important parts of several social media sites today. Facebook, Twitter, and other social media sites use social media engagement to stay connected with their target audiences. According to chapter three of Secrets of Social Media Marketing, learning what people are saying about your business or products, is the first step to achieving social media engagement. Knowing what people are thinking and saying about your company allows for a better understanding of where, according to Gillin, to put in more effort.

The point Gillin made about social media hierarchies seems to be an important part of this chapter. Every social medium does have some sort of chain of command. The social media sites that are more popular will be, more than likely, ranked at the top of this chain. These hierarchies, according to Gillin, tend to create levels of influence. People who have more of “presence” within social media probably have a greater influence.

In chapter three of Design to Thrive, Howard explains why social networks and online communities are a good investment for a business or company. He introduces ten reasons why businesses should build social networks and online communities; to enhance and sustain intellectual capital, to increase creativity and cross-fertilization, to improve decision-making processes with “epistemic communities”, to preserve institutional knowledge, to provide a higher quality interaction with an organization, to improve intention and loyalty, to reduce training and support costs, to identify customer needs and new product opportunities, to reduce travel costs and addressing problems, and to flatten organizational hierarchies.

Enhancing intellectual capital and providing a quality interaction with an organization are the two that grabbed my attention. I like the point that Howard made about intellectual capital being just as important to a business’s success as financial capital. Making sure that a company, and those that work for that company, know and use all the informational resources they have, can lead to several things, including financial capital.

Providing a quality interaction with an organization can lead to a potential relationship with customers or users. These Quality interactions can lead to stronger connections with a user or customer that can in turn produce a better profit or allow for an increase within a company’s user or customer base. 

Assignment for 08/27/2012

Chapter 2 of Secrets of Social Media Marketing, starts off by making a very interesting and rather important point about social media marketing; tools are secondary when it comes to applying social media marketing. What comes first is the business goal; what needs to be accomplished. Without this, social media marketing will not be as successful as it has the potential to be.

One of the most important things the chapter suggests companies need to do in order to be successful is to listen to the needs and concerns of their customers. Listening, according Gillin, is a form of showing the customer that you care. In order to achieve this, companies must open up the lines of communication and learn to take themselves less seriously.

Chapter 6 outlines the different categories social networks fall in to, and how these social networks are similar. One thing that social networks have in common is how they allow people to connect with one another and build personal relationships. While this is easy when it comes to the interactions between one social networker and another, it is not as easy for marketers within the social networking realm. It is essential, to a social media marketer’s success, that they learn how to make personal connections and build relationships as “partners rather than sellers” (Gillin, 104). Instead of building a strict business relationship with potential customers in the social media world, it is better to build personal relationships that can potentially lead to a better business relationship.

Chapter 1 and two of Howards, Design to Thrive, begins with the types of online communities clients tend to seek out, and the difference between social networks and online communities. Social Networks tend to put the individual at the center of the relationship, while communities deem the focus on the individual as secondary to the “user’s commitment to a core set of interests, values, and communication practices” (Howard 15). The most important part of this chapter was the introduction to RIBS, or “the four elements for long-term success” (Howard, 7). Remuneration, influence, belonging, and significance, are the four elements that make up RIBS. Remuneration represents “what is necessary in order to build a successful online community and social network” (Howard 7). In order for people to want to become members of social networking sites, there must be something to be gained. This is essentially the essence of remuneration.

Influence, as described by the chapter, is allowing the community to have a voice and giving them control over that voice.

To me, an important part or goal of social networks is giving people a place to “belong” or to fit in. This is what the Belonging in RIBS signifies. Significance, the last part of RIBS, is what allows a community or a social networking site to be successful. 

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