Sunday, March 19, 2017

Up Your Game

Hello peeps -
This week is about taking your social media presence to a new level. You have been creating your social media, and hopefully getting the hang of it, for about six weeks.  Now that you've gotten your feet wet, it's time to focus on increasing your quality.

 Instead of a lecture this week, I've curated a series of blog posts for you to read. These focus on different ares of social media and how to improve them. So please read through all of these and think about how you can apply these ideas to your own social media.

Preparing Content
http://www.abeautifulmess.com/2017/01/blog-qa-how-long-does-it-take-to-draft-content.html

https://coschedule.com/blog/plan-a-blog-schedule/

http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2016/11/9-lessons-learned-through-nine-years-of.html



Photography

http://rowanmade.com/tips-for-curatingyour-instagram-feed/

https://later.com/blog/how-to-take-good-instagram-photo-with-your-phone/

http://besottedblog.com/photographer-finder


Vlogs
What are they -
http://socialnetworking.lovetoknow.com/What_is_Video_Blogging

Why do them -
https://www.impactbnd.com/blog/tips-for-a-successful-video-blog
https://www.business.com/articles/say-hello-to-vlogging-why-you-should-be-video-blogging/

How to improve your vlogs -
http://www.convinceandconvert.com/guest-posts/video-4-mistakes-you-make-when-posting-video-on-your-blog/

Thursday, March 16, 2017

Give your readers a reason to come back

In class, we discussed ways to increase the traffic and loyalty or connection with your audience. One of those ways is through giveaways and incentives. Here are links to some blogs who are doing just that.  And they are all using different kinds.  So there are lots of ideas!


Giveaways And Incentives

https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/apollo-personalized-learning/

http://www.designlovefest.com/2017/03/iphone-dlf-case-giveaway/

http://www.marcandangel.com/2017/03/12/one-thing-real-love-never-does-to-you/

http://tatertotsandjello.com/2017/03/easter-bunny-spring-printable-tags-signs.html

http://thebloggess.com/2017/03/02/its-world-book-day/

Thursday, March 9, 2017

What makes your social media good?

Hello my bloggers -
So we have finished the section of the class where we examine how social media works with other areas of communications like P.R. and journalism.  Next we are going to take a look at ways to make our social media even better.  We will start with exploring what constitutes "best practices" in social media. So, please read chapter 11 in the book thus week.

Monday, March 6, 2017

Going a little crazy??

A bonus post! 

I’ve read through all the responses to the course and the most common challenge facing people is time management.  I totally understand.  I am facing the same challenge. Social Media is time consuming.  If you learn nothing else in this class, you will have learned how much time social media takes up and why it is a full time job at some companies!

That being said, there are some things you can do to make it easier.

One is utilize some social media tool to help streamline your process.
1.     If you can use an RSS feed like Feedly for reading blogs (most of them anyway), that make following the blogs a little easier.
2.     Using the hash tag #4Dracam should also help us follow one another more easily.
3.     Using a tool such as HootSuite to manage your posting can also help.
4.     We will be covering some approaches to your posts that can help save time in the next week or so as we discuss quality posting (and moneymaking J)

Your organizational approach to your social media can also make a big difference.  Be sure you are organized. Have a place, either digital on your phone or pad or physical on a notebook you have with you, and write down ideas for posts when they come to you.  You should also keep you posting schedule here. Plan ahead on your posts so you are not creating them at the same time you are posting them. Try to plan your posts at least a month at a time. There are some tools that will let you write them up and then publish them when you say to! 

Finally, mental attitude can be a major help or hindrance.  If you feel overwhelmed and out of control with your social media or the course assignments, that is going to stress you out, make it harder, and make it less fun. This isn’t really that hard.
Each week
1.     You follow the posting schedule YOU created.  If it’s too much (many people underestimate how much time it takes which is why there are scheduled times to reassess your schedule), change it!
2.     You have a reading, which you read and write up a short report on.
3.     You follow other people media and make some comments. (You do not have to comment on every dingle one).
4.     You let me know when you did these things.
5.     You create plans to put what we are studying into practice.

Keep in mind you do not have to do all of the assignments!!!!!  There are more assignments than there are points needed. This is intentional so you can pick the ones that appeal the most to you. Don’t freak yourself out thinking you have to do every single thing. Do the math. Be strategic.

Remember that this is a blended class. That means you get a class period a week, at a time of your choosing, to do all the social media following.  You should be spending two hours per week per hour in class on homework. So that’s 4 hours a week on homework.  With the added “Wednesday class,” that’s 5 hours a week to do this and it is totally doable in that time.  But not if you just try to squeeze it in here and there. You need a planner and a schedule.


I know this can be a lot of work but communications is hard and time consuming.  It’s also fun.  Don’t lose the fun in the stress.

Wednesday, February 22, 2017

Social Media & Journalism

Hello class - This week we continue with our exploration of how social media is used in other aspects of our culture. We've read about PR and Marketing, now let's take a look at how social media works with journalism. Read ch. 3. The WRR is due 3/8.  And let's shake things up a bit.  Rather than writing about how this can be applied to your own social media in the second half of the report, instead, write about how social media and journalism effect your own life.  We will be having a guest speaker on the 6th who will talk to us about using social media for journalism. Enjoy your spring break!

Wednesday, February 15, 2017

Social Media and Public Relations

Hello social media peeps -  
We learned about social media and business last week. This week, we are exploring  another aspect of that. Social media and public relations. So this week read chapter 4. The WRR is due 2/22.

There is an additional assignment option. I am going to call these assignments "Putting It Into Practice."

Assignment - Social media for a good cause. Research an instance (news, intl news, humanitarian) where social media played a crucial role in a social or political context. Write three pages. Describe the cause, and what role social  media played in the outcome. How do you think a similar situation would've been handled prior to the existence of social media.  This assignment is due 2/22 

Thursday, February 9, 2017

Social Media and Marketing

Hello, hello.

Hopefully you are all getting the hang of the class schedule now.

Adina came in to talk about how social media is used as part of a business endeavor and we will continue to explore this idea. This week, read chapter 5.  The WRR on chapter 5 will be due on 2/15. We will discuss Adina's information and the two chapters 5 & 6 on Monday.

There is also an additional assignment you can do to earn points.

Create a mock-up of a web-based business, either selling a tangible product, services or a professional blog. Create a little plan, as to what digital assets you want to use to promote your business and how you would use them. Describe what social media, why those choices and how you would use them. 

The deadline for this assignment is 2/15 and it is worth 20 points.