#writ240

[writingsfromthewicked-blog]

Reebee: An App Review

[18tyc1]

Introductory Post

✿ About Me ✿

Hello, I’m Amira! I am currently 18, and this is my first year at Queen’s for English. I am pleased to join the WRIT 240 course and have the opportunity to become more in tune with the world of social media. I like to call myself a minimalist, nature enthusiast, and a translator of the visual world. Wherever I go, I always bring a sketchbook with me! Feel free to click play on the music playlist at the top of the screen. Those pieces bring me a feeling of peace whenever I am out in the wilderness.

✿ Social Media ✿

I am not an avid fan of social media, though you can find a few art and makeup posts on my Instagram (click open in new tab if it doesn’t work)! 

The reason why I joined WRIT 240 is to be able to learn how to present artistic creations in a way that reaches the rest of the world. In modern times, the internet is a wonderful open source most people can access which can accomplish just that! I would love to learn more about how to reach viewers in the most efficient ways, and present information in a way which is satisfying to both read and write. It would also be a lot of fun to collaborate with different crowdcultures I come across! Despite having grown up in the millennial generation, I don’t actually use social media that often; the most I use is Facebook, but I use it for work purposes. By taking this course, I will be able to have more exposure to social media culture and better prepare myself for using it as a tool in my future. 

✿ Hobbies ✿

reading (fantasy novels are my favourites)

writing, drawing

playing guitar, violin, flute

traveling

trying new foods

swimming

learning about people

Have a wonderful day!

[studentathleteprincess]

HI EVERYONE!

I am making my very first tumblr post. This is my first time every using this platform and I hope while enrolled in this class I can learn more about it and reaching important people!  The class that I am enrolled in is titled “WRIT 240: Writing for Social Media and the Web.” I have decided to enrol in this course in hopes of learning how to better articulate my arguments for specific audiences through social media. 

Currently, I am in my 5th year of studies at Queen's University while being an active member of our Women’s Varsity Hockey Team. In my five years I have attended two University Sport National Championships, where 8 of the Nation’s best women's hockey teams in University Sport are competing for the ultimate title of “Champions.” From my experience I began to wonder why not only these championships weren't being televised but other female hockey championships were not. These include but are not limited to championships like the U18 Women’s Hockey championships and U22 4-Nations Cup which is typically overshadowed by the World Juniors. 

I believe that there is an underrepresentation of female athletics in the media. Specifically, one of our countries most played sport ice hockey. More specifically, women’s hockey in Canada is not given enough attention given the talent that each individual brings to the game. Not only that, but there is also a misrepresentation. It is not rare for some sport broadcasters to use words towards female athletes that may categorize them based on their gender. 

Sports coverage platforms such as Rogers Sportsnet and TSN have underrepresented female ice hockey for years. While I give them credit for their acknowledgement of failure through their attempt to advertise this years 2019 Canadian Womens Hockey League (CWHL) all-star game. It is merely a trial to see if their will be enough interest to pursue full time opportunities.

I hope throughout the semester I can further expand on my belief. I wish to be pointed in the direction of someone else who believes and has a passion for the same topic. Lastly, I am hoping that my voice can be heard and appreciated for these topics. 

SIGNING OFF :) 

A PASSIONATE FEMALE HOCKEY PLAYER

[becominganerd]

Welcome All Non-Nerds

Have you ever been in a conversation with people who are talking about something that you know nothing about, being able to understand one, maybe two words and the rest just sounds gibberish? 

I hate this feeling. Call it some kind of complex if you want, but I despise not knowing something. If I’m being honest, it makes me feel small, and not in a I-work-out-and-eat-healthy kind of way. There is something about being incompetent or ignorant that does major damage to my self-esteem. I’ve decided to try and do something about that, and while maybe speaking to a professional about my potential pride issues might be one route to take, I’d rather just educate myself.

There are a lot of topics that I just do not understand, including but definitely not limited to, artificial intelligence, bitcoin, hacking, quantum physics, etc. While I could sit around and look pretty while the people around me discuss these smarty-pants subjects, I think learning a thing or two about them might be more beneficial. And why don’t I try to dumb these topics down for you as well? Not that you’re dumb. 

My biggest issue when trying to understand a new topic is the lack of knowledge of the vocabulary used. My goal with this blog is to dive into some subjects I know nothing about and then try to teach them to you. I probably wouldn’t recommend using this as a source. I repeat: I am not a professional. Think of this as a wiki page, but cuter.

I think most people turn to the internet when they don’t know something. However, it can be overwhelming with how many different websites there are that match your search. Often times I don’t understand what they are trying to tell me. I am hoping that by debunking some of these topics, I can translate and share my knowledge with others who have the same questions that I have. I can use this vast world-wide-web to try and make your day a little bit easier. Or at least that is the plan. Fingers crossed.

[trevorwithers]

Post 1; Welcome

Cryptocurrency.

One may tell you that the so-called “bubble” of cryptocurrency has popped. Others may say its just starting. I’m here to you my insight into the world of Bitcoin, Ethereum, and everything else “crypto”.

My name is Trevor. I am a first-year student at Queen’s University, and my focus on my studies will be computing. As a kid, I had been fascinated with technology. I would always play every new video game, be an avid participant in the robotics club, and chat with my friend group about every new tech innovation. As I dove further into the technology world as I grew older, I came across a digital platform that many used online – Bitcoin. I was immediately fascinated by its potential to change how the world sees money and, of course, its store of value. In the next few years after my discovery of Bitcoin, many more different types of cryptocurrencies started developing. I dove further and further into my enchantment of cryptocurrencies and the blockchain technology that came at its side.

Social media and cryptocurrencies are entangled with each other. Inseparable at conception. Each new cryptocurrency needs a strong social media platform to get its vision out to users. Unlike a typical business, most cryptocurrencies reach potential buyers through the internet, specifically various forms of social media. An “ICO” (initial coin offering) is the best example of crypto that relies on its social media to bring investors into their concept. This blog will be the perfect place to talk about the beautiful relationship between the crypto world and social media.

[alexandra-writ240]

Assignment 1- Introductory Post

Introduction 

Hi there, my name is Alexandra and welcome to my blog!

To start, I want to share a little bit about myself.

Currently, I am a third-year Sociology major at Queen’s University. Being a student tends to take up a lot of my time, however, when I'm not in class you often will find me out with my friends at the gym or scrolling through social media. Like many Gen Z’s social media and the internet has become a regular part of my everyday routine. Currently, I am active on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook and Snapchat. Feel free to check me out! 

Here are my friends and I (I'm on the right)!

Professional Experience 

My decision to take Writ240 was largely driven by my professional aspirations. Upon graduation, I want to pursue a career in the field of marketing. The past two summers I was fortunate to have the opportunity to work as a marketing intern at Peak Sales Recruiting and Saba Software. During both of my summer Internships, I was in charge of managing both company's various social media platforms as well as creating promotional content including graphics and videos. Through both of these opportunities, I learned that social media plays an essential role in marketing efforts as it allows companies to effectively communicate with their customers, increase brand awareness and boost leads and sales. Although both of these opportunities provided me with valuable work experience I quickly learned that in order to continue to be successful in this field I needed to further develop my writing skills.

Here is an example of an internal testimonial I created while working at Peak Sales Recruiting. 

Why Writ240?

With this in mind, I enrolled in Writ240 with the hopes of being able to fine-tune my ability to create engaging online content that includes captivating imagery and the use of appropriate keywords.  Alternatively, I hope that this course will teach me the skills required in order to better support my personal online presence. Over time I wish to expand my professional presence on social media (in particular LinkedIn) and hope this course will provide me with the knowledge needed to do so. Overall, I believe this course will benefit my personal and professional development as it will help me further establish writing skills that are necessary for everyday life.

That is all for now. I am excited for what is to come and hope you can join me on my digital journey!

[mindfulness-cynic-blog]

Review: Headspace App

You would think the easy, modern way to get mindful would be an app, right? There are many, many different apps available, so I decided to start with the big one: Headspace.

Short review: Did not like.

Headspace is the most-talked-about meditation app. It’s also quite expensive. Basically a series of audio recordings, Headspace guides the user through the standard mediation steps (“pay attention to your breath” etc.), along with animated videos. The free introductory meditation sessions I listened to were typical of the genre - no different from any of the many free guided meditations available online. The cutesy style of the videos was a bit infantilizing - suitable for the subsection of Kids’ meditations, but too twee for me as an adult. The meditations and videos all use the same man’s voice, which was a bit nasal and not very soothing. For an app this expensive, they should offer some different options. Users can set reminders, which seems useful for daily meditations, but the “mindful moments” notifications got on my nerves and made me feel pressured when I was already busy. Overall, after completing the free sample pack of meditations, I found myself to be even crabbier than usual. This is definitely not an app worth paying for.

The guy’s voice really got on my nerves. All of the videos and guided meditations are voiced by Andy Puddicombe, the creator of Headspace. The app is his baby, so I guess that’s why there aren’t any other options - or maybe he just loves the sound of his own voice? Listening to his narration, and then reading his bio, I imagine him as the kind of bro you meet at a party, who uses close-talking to back you into a wall so he can lean over you and look down your shirt while he goes on and on about the “really spiritual experience” he had at Burning Man.

In addition to being that cutesy, cartoony style that has been really popular for a while and is starting to feel dated now, the videos also did not make a lot of sense. The first video compared buzzing thoughts to car traffic. “Imagine sitting by a road, watching the traffic go by. You might want to run out into traffic and…” Who does that? For me, it did not work as an analogy at all. There was another one about taming wild horses, which used a seemingly made-up version of horse-taming that again, had no relation to reality. It did however lead me to look up horse-taming. I saw no evidence that the Headspace video was at all correct (although I won’t claim to have truly researched it), but I did find this lovely video on horse-taming, which was a lot more calming than the app:

[iamnidajavaid-blog]

Who? What? Wear?

Have you ever been in a situation where you only have five minutes left before you absolutely need to leave your house and you can’t think of what to wear? All of a sudden, there are more clothes on your bed and your closet looks practically empty? It seems as if a tornado just passed through your room and what you thought you wanted to wear, well... it just doesn’t look the greatest. If this is ringing a bell, you have come to the right place!

When it comes to fashion, I feel that I am tremendously blessed! Although growing up with three sisters was nothing short of battling in a World War, I realized my passion for fashion when countless articles of clothing began to mysteriously disappear from my closet. After discovering my passion, I worked for numerous fashion retail companies to obtain further knowledge. Therefore, it can be said with certainty that any fashion advice I impart to you will alleviate all your worries and prepare you to dress for plenty of Instagram worthy outfits. Additionally, it will prevent your room from looking like a crime scene. Let’s begin with the basics!

Just imagine, on a chaotic day, you have slept-in and have repeatedly hit the snooze button on your alarm. You can get away with tying your hair up in a ponytail or a bun. But, what will you do about your outfit? How will you avoid becoming a fashion victim?

Rule number one. Opt for a black shirt. Let’s face it, a black blouse or a t-shirt can transform your outfit. You can effortlessly pair a black top with any bottom of your choice. You can also accessorize with bold colours such as yellow and fuchsia to add a pop of colour to your outfit.

Rule number two. Be minimalistic! Personally, I am not a huge fan of the series “Suits”. But when I saw Meghan Markle on a date with Prince Harry at #Invictus games in a white tunic and a big brown tote, I was like WOW! She looked fabulous! Therefore, I realized simplicity is the key. You can pair any white top with blue jeans and accessorize with a brown handbag and matching flats for an effortless look.

Rule number three. Invest in a trendy blazer. For an effortless casual to formal look, having a blazer accessible can work wonders for you. Whether you are a student or an executive, a trendy blazer can elevate your overall look, especially for a big presentation or a meeting.

Rule number four. This rule I specifically adopted from the very famous reality show "America’s Next Top Model”. If you are a reality show addict, you know what I am referring to. The show portrayed the importance of carrying high heels with you at all times. High heels can not only make your outfit look well composed, but it can also make you look very classy!

Finally, rule number five. Have you ever heard the phrase “Too many cooks spoil the broth”? Similarly, too many colours can ruin your outfit. Trust me on this one! To avoid looking like a walking rainbow, keep the colours to a minimum. As a rule of thumb, you want to keep your outfit to a maximum of three colours.

Next time you find yourself skimming through your closet, keep these five rules in mind. These tips that I have compiled for you will ensure that you look chic, trendy, and comfortable without being overt.

[brendankuffner]

HBO Social Media Audit Research Report

Abstract

This report will analyze HBO’s presence on a variety of social networks via a social media audit. The audit will examine factors such as consistency across platforms, quality of content, consumer feedback, competitor comparison, and platform compatibility. HBO’s overall social media presence is broad, but is lacking in several departments. These departments will be presented and criticized throughout the report.

Introduction

The chosen brand, HBO, was analyzed and audited due to glaring deficiencies in the organization’s online presence. The lack of consistency across all channels is reason to take a deeper look into the overall synchronicity of their social media platforms. As a beloved brand, known for their subscription based model, and incredible exclusive programming, there is significant potential for a revamped, or updated social media strategy.

HBO has become a beloved platform in Mass Media/Television. By analyzing their current social media strategy, and developing their online presence via a social media audit, there is significant progress to be made for the platform.

Literature Review

The majority of the literature gathered was used to explore strong social media strategy that companies are using at this point in time. This report will be guided by previous online literature such as a great article by Ben Davis illustrates 30 brand with excellent social media strategies, “How to Create a Social Media Marketing Strategy for 2019 and Beyond” from buffer.com, and “Creating Social Media Strategy” from moz.com.

Methodology

The methodology employed in order to analyze HBO’s social media strategy was a comprehensive social media audit. The audit analyzes HBO’s online platforms individually and weighs their pros and cons. This method gives great structure to the research report. The main platforms that will be analyzed are the HBO Canada’s Website, HBO Canada’s Facebook, and HBO Canada’s Twitter. In addition of the main prompts of pros, and cons, there will be evidence provided for the claims in screenshot form just in case posts are altered, or removed from the platforms.

Results

HBO Canada’s Website

The Pros of HBO Canada’s Website:

• Access to a large variety of ad-free and original content.

• No commercials, pop-up menus, or redirects on the website

• The website is easy to use, consistent, and caters to Canadian users by providing relevant and intriguing content.

• Popular titles are prominently featured on the site, and easily navigable for users.

• First prompt on the site mentions that HBO Canada has transitioned to CRAVE in Canada. This provides users with upfront information essential to the user’s subscription needs.

The Cons of HBO Canada’s Website:

• Blocked content seems to occur depending on your region/ provider.

• Additional costs added to exclusive content, which encourages users to switch to Netflix

• The website can experience lagging at times and the large images/ font size make it difficult to properly utilize all website functions on a smartphone or iPad.

• Confusing prices (ex. “Starz” package which is not clearly explained by Crave.ca website)

• HBO Canada has transitioned from “HBO Canada” to “CRAVE” which may confuse users. The social media links provided on the homepage of the HBO Canada site directly link to CRAVE social media platforms. This is confusing to users, and will lead to less successful Search Engine Optimization

HBO Canada’s Facebook

The Pros of HBO Canada’s Facebook:

• HBO Canada has an extensive following of 24,148 people (see Appendix 1). The Facebook page is well organized and consists of an in-depth description of the site, quality graphics, external links, posts, videos, and a strong community following. Additional pros to HBO Canada’s Facebook page include: easy to access and diverse content, consistent and high-quality video, no ads and no interruptions.

• Engagement on the page is extremely high as Facebook users consistently like, and comment on content posted (see Appendix B). This is a great sign for HBO in Canada. Users are interested, and use the HBO Facebook page to communicate interest with friends.  

The Cons of HBO Canada’s Facebook:

• Although HBO Canada seems to be strong and well managed, the page doesn’t compare to the official HBO Facebook page, which has far more extensive content, and is liked by over 12 Million users. Upon analyzing both pages, it seems as though HBO Canada shares pictures, videos, and posts a few hours after the official HBO Facebook page. This is problematic due to the fact that many users want the most up-to-date and timely posts – which makes them more inclined to follow official HBO rather than HBO Canada.  Additional cons of HBO Canada’s Facebook page include: infrequent posting, poor timed posts, fails to consistently use hashtags and external links. The Facebook page also fails to explain how much the service costs + any additional costs such as the Movies + HBO option or the Starz package.

• The content on the HBO Canada Facebook page is very game of thrones centered. This may leave fans of other titles disenchanted with the page.

HBO Canada’s Twitter:

The Pros of HBO Canada’s Twitter:

• HBO Canada’s Twitter account posts frequent, up-to-date content and is well managed by the sites social media team.

• Consistently uses Twitter hashtags to encourage users to keep up with shows, content and news ex. #GoTPremiereNYC

• HBO Canada boast a following of 63.7K and receives consistent engagement from their followers.

The Cons of HBO Canada’s Twitter:

• HBO Canada’s Twitter account is not consistent with the Facebook page, thus proving that HBO Canada struggles to maintain consistency with their content across all media platforms.

• News will often be posted to the Twitter account and not the Facebook page

• Tweets from this account can sometimes be irrelevant and unnecessary, which media companies want to avoid due to the frequent posting and un-wanted spam complaints from users

• In the biography of the page, a link re-directs you to a page that wants you to sign up for Crave – failing to accurately explain what the service has to offer.

• Re-direct links can be confusing for less “tech savvy” users – this could create confusion and lead them to believe that other services are superior (ex. Netflix – which is incredibly user friendly).

Discussion

Changes as a result of the preliminary findings in the social media audit have the potential to create more buzz for upcoming release of Season 8 of HBO’s most notable title, Game of Thrones.

In the off chance you have missed the teasers for the new season, check these out:

GAME OF THRONES Season 8 Trailer 'Fire & Ice'

Game of Thrones | Season 8 | Official Tease: Crypts of Winterfell (HBO)

The results of the social media audit are very positive but point to current issues with HBO’s current social media strategy.

With many companies/organizations having such a negative or controversial presence online, all findings shown in the audit are much less dramatic than the following:

BIGGEST Social Media Fails By Companies

Conclusion

In summary, HBO Canada’s social media pages are well managed and active. Their Twitter and Facebook pages have been proven to post frequent, up-to-date and relevant content. Although high-quality content is evident, there lacks consistency across platforms. HBO Canada also fails to keep up with the competition – which was proven by comparing the user-friendliness, feedback and compatibility of Netflix up against Crave TV. In order to surpass competition from a business standpoint, HBO Canada will have to improve upon their social media strategy, potentially by reading this very report.

Recommendations

What needs to be done as a result of findings: HBO Canada needs to improve on consistency across platforms. In multiple cases, the Twitter account and Facebook account fail to post at the same time and the content is often varied slightly. In order to reach their target market effectively and consistently, Twitter posts should match Facebook posts and they should both utilize hashtags and external links. It was concluded that the webpage was user friendly, well managed and effective, but image/font size does impact mobile users. So, with this suggestion, HBO Canada needs to improve on their overall appearance and aesthetic while still maintaining consistent, well linked content throughout all three platforms. If this is effectively done, users across all platforms will avoid being confused and gain consistent, up-to-date knowledge on TV series, movies and docs.

HBO Canada is also faced with a difficult rebranding process with the incorporation of CRAVE into their social media and streaming platforms. For this reason, HBO Canada should consistently link CRAVE social media platforms across their existing HBO Canada platforms. This will aide users in finding the information they need to be fully immersed in HBO Canada’s content.

References

https://econsultancy.com/30-brands-with-excellent-social-media-strategies/

http://www.hbocanada.com/

https://www.facebook.com/HBOCanada/

https://twitter.com/HBOCanada

BIGGEST Social Media Fails By Companies

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7QQb8oMG8k

Social Media Marketing Explained in 11 Minutes - Gary Vaynerchuk | Business Talk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rSWdW2GQI4

GAME OF THRONES Season 8 Trailer 'Fire & Ice'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYWjB0kWNXk

Game of Thrones | Season 8 | Official Tease: Crypts of Winterfell (HBO)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wA38GCX4Tb0

How to Create a Social Media Marketing Strategy for 2019 and Beyond

https://buffer.com/library/social-media-marketing-strategy

Creating Social Media Strategy

https://moz.com/learn/seo/social-media-strategy-video

Appendices

Screenshots of findings sorted by platform:

Facebook:

Appendix A

HBO Canada Facebook following.

Appendix B

HBO Canada’s Facebook engagement.

HBO Canada’s Twitter:

HBO Canada’s Following.

[marleekamen]

Finalized Report Looking at United Way’s Social Media

Here is the finalized version of my social media report 

[18tyc1]

Research Report Analysis of the Canadian Red Cross’ Online Presence

Introduction

The purpose of this report is to examine whether the Canadian Red Cross is using their social media platforms efficiently to benefit their organisation, and offer where improvements can be made to reach a wider audience. The Canadian Red Cross is a humanitarian charity organisation that is funded privately and through the government. Although they have a huge presence offline through charitable acts, their online presence is very small. This report examines the amount of online presence that the Canadian Red Cross has by looking at their audience, search page ranking, and design to determine what can be improved upon.

Literature Review

The Red Cross’ biggest strength is the amount of information they provide to the public. At any given point over their different social media platforms they can give you a lot of resources that can be helpful in the case of any natural disaster. However, they do not reach a lot of people through an online medium, and seems to rely on in person campaigns, and government support/funding to reach their audience rather than having an online presence. Their major weakness is their online social media presence. They have a Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook page, but all could use a revamping. They need new, and interesting information, and they need to create a different way to get their information across. They could possibly try doing contests, or quizzes to increase everyone’s interest in all the information.  They need to try and get more of the younger generation involved with the Red Cross, and they would benefit from giving their website a section on the homepage that quickly describes who the Red Cross is and what they do, then provide all the history on another page.

Methodology

Check the Canadian Red Cross website for their content; design, purpose, and audience.

Find any social media that is listed there and analyse the design, purpose, and audience.

Analysing design: Accessibility? Easy to understand? Pleasing to the eye?

Analysing purpose: Is information clear? Easy to understand? Do people know what the organisation is about?

Analysing audience: How much traffic is on each platform? Where are they on Google search results? Who are they appealing to? Do they have collaborators?

Compile information and determine how to improve their online presence.

Results

●    Purpose

○        States purpose clearly in Twitter and Facebook.

○        Well known to the general public, so it’s not a big deal that they don’t state it up front in their website… instead they have information on the most recent problems and crisis which people can help with.

■        Website also states their mission, how they help the public, jobs they provide, how to contact them about it; very thorough.

○        “The Canadian Red Cross mission is to improve the lives of vulnerable people by mobilizing the power of humanity in Canada and around the world.”

○        They have a category at the top of their website that states all the various ways they help, and provide an in-depth list on current laws and emergency services.

●    Audience

○        Website is targeted for those who want to help with humanitarian work, volunteer, job opportunities, and donations and is easily found when searching “red cross”.

■        However, typing in “Canadian humanitarian organizations” or “Canadian relief organizations” does not bring up any information about red cross in the first three results (the Golden Triangle) of Google.

■        Searching “humanitarian aid Canada” brings Red Cross Canada up on a list of humanitarian organizations (coming in second in the list).

○        Has several social media accounts for users of different social media; Twitter, Facebook, Youtube and Instagram.

■        Some of their stories and what they do for their work is highlighted in short posts with tons of photos (great visuals).

■        They always have recent posts on all of their social media platforms (within 24h) and updates their website to show it.

○        Right now their audience would be more of the older generation, towards the 30-60 year old category.

●    Design

○        Desktop site has information available to the audience, and is easy to find because everything is accessible at the top.

○        Neat, not cluttered, everything is colour coded, and great usage of common symbols for navigators to get through easily (great design for scanning).

○        You know EXACTLY that this is the Canadian Red Cross website because of their usage of logos, colour coordination, and photos.

○        Accessible by mobile phone and is just as easy to navigate compared to their desktop site.

■        Users can easily scroll down and click on the menu to find out more about them.

■        Different social media platforms are easily found on the website at the top, or at the bottom for the mobile site.

■        It’s good that they have multiple platforms so people who prefer certain social media can read about them in their preferred design.

○        They give you the option to subscribe to a weekly email newsletter they have, which will help keep people more in touch with cause.

○        They advertise their latest tweets near the bottom of the page, and help give people a taste of their other forms of social media.

○        They give you a chance to donate any amount you’d like near the top of the website.

Discussion

●    Purpose

○        Well stated, and easy to find.

■        Since they are a well-known organization, people tend to know what the Red Cross is about.

■        Looking at the website at first people can also easily formulate what they are generally, but will have to click around into “About Us” to find out what their actual mission is… perhaps state it in one short sentence or tag line that is memorable and one of the first things people see?

■        Create a shorter, more concise mission statement.

■        Give a small explanation on the first page, of who the Red Cross is to better explain to new parties of interest.

●    Audience

○        Could use better SEO so that they turn up in the first few results or first page of Google.

■        Use more keywords containing ‘humanitarian, ‘ ’relief,’ and provide more backlinks to other news sources such as CBC, the Globe and Mail, etc.

■        Could potentially reach more people if they posted more with celebrities and well known social media influencers (Humans of New York and other individuals).

○        Good social media platforms, but there aren’t a lot of followers (10k on Instagram, 150k on Twitter, and 130k on FB).

■        Their posts have very little likes, comments, and shares (300 likes, 1 or 2 comments, and hardly any shares).

■        They don’t use hashtags or many @s at all, making it even harder for people to find them if there was no prior knowledge on the organization.

■        By mentioning other organizations and people who help them out (or collaborate), they can have a better social media presence.

■        They could make their social media platforms more interesting by following a similar strategy to “Humans of NY” Instagram account. They could share in depth stories from cases they help. It would drum up more interest in the sites.

○        They could do more contests, or quizzes to get the younger generation involved in who they are.

●    Design

●    It would be to their advantage if they linked their other forms of social media to their main website page. By allowing their visitors to click on their latest tweet or Instagram post, and directing  it straight to their other websites people are more likely to look at multiple forms of social media.

Conclusion

While the Canadian Red Cross has a strong presence in humanitarian work, their online and social media presence is very weak. They do not reach a lot of people through social media, and seems to rely on in person methods to reach their audience instead. However, in a rapidly developing world of technology, it can be crucial to have an online presence in order to stay relevant The Canadian Red Cross could benefit from having a stronger social media presenceby establishing online campaigns, reaching out to reputable people, and improving their SEO.

References

https://www.instagram.com/redcrosscanada/

https://twitter.com/redcrosscanada

https://www.facebook.com/canadianredcross

https://www.instagram.com/humansofny/

https://www.redcross.ca/

https://www.youtube.com/user/canadianredcross

[writing-for-social-media-blog]

Search Engine Optimization

Hey guys! I’m currently learning about search engine optimization, which I think would be a great thing to teach students. The following pictures are screenshots of a Twitter essay that I wrote explaining SEO (based on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqg3F-8jBec). 

You can read it from the beginning by scrolling down on this post (start at tweet 1 and read up to 8). You can also see my Twitter essay (gifs and all) here: https://twitter.com/christina_amico

[becominganerd]

Here is my Twitter Essay for WRIT 240 on Search Engine Optimization.

[trevorwithers]

Module 5: Final Post

Alma Mater Society of Queen’s University: Social Media use and Branding

 Executive Summary:

This report assesses the social media and branding effectiveness of the Alma Mater Society (AMS) of Queens University. It analyzes the AMS’ current social media practices and prescribes changes aimed at improving the total reach and engagement for the organization’s online promotions and communications.

Social Media Channels:

The AMS’ social media presence on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and their website, myams.org. was reviewed and evaluated. These four outlets are the way that AMS primarily distributes information to their target audience, however, they also use monthly email newsletters to get out key information. Assessing their use of these four primary communication channels and providing opportunities for growth and improvement, while maintaining a consistent brand will lead to improved reach and engagement. Each channel will be examined separately, pointing to strengths and weaknesses, as well as an overall analysis of the AMS brand.

Overall Brand:

The AMS has a consistent brand across all social media channels, with the AMS logo, consistent font use, and even consistent colour pallets being used for different categories of posts/pages across all platforms. The AMS has a Brand Manager (myams.org àAbout Us àMeet our team), which clearly has a great impact on visual identity standards being upheld.

General Strengths

·         Ample cross-links. Cross-links in posts from AMS to other sources was used effectively in most cases.

·         Professional page layout. Each media site has a casual business feeling to its appropriate layout (e.g. Facebook page is set up for an organization with a contact messenger.)

·         Dissemination of a vast variety of information; social, educational, resources, etc..

General Weaknesses:

·         Posts are inconsistently timed. The frequency of posts is sporadic; inconsistent amongst media platforms.

·         Post content is text heavy. Users engaging with AMS on social media are seeking quick updates and basic information.

·         Lacking platform engagement. Many posts do not receive many likes, comments or shares.

·         Overuse of Logo and similar post formats may be causing brand dilution, which will damage recognition overtime (Finkle, 2018)

 Platform Specific Comments

 Facebook

·         Many posts with heavy text

·         Inconsistent

·         A battery of posts followed by no posts

Twitter

·         Very sporadic posts

·         Mostly shared Facebook posts

·         Underutilized potential for tags and cross-links

Instagram

·         Good spacing between posts

·         Strong engagement

·         More playful and light

Webpage

·         Effective information communication

·         Good use of cross-links

·         Inconsistency with fonts and formatting between webpages

 Recommendations:

We find that while the AMS is doing many things right, there is some potential for improvement. While Twitter is underutilized, the target audience does not actually use Twitter (Kats, 2018), and is more likely to use Instagram, followed by Facebook, making these two channels far more important.

Through more regularly scheduled posts, with minimal textual information, and a more informal style, the AMS could increase its post engagement.

 AMS has a very strong, consistent identity amongst its media platforms. The use of the logo, recognizable graphics, and layout across platforms is visually appealing but lacks total consistency. Having a visually appealing presence will attract the user’s attention, (Smith, 2017) and being consistent over platforms will build trust with the audience.

The AMS is most lacking in post content. Their posts need to be lighter with less text and information on their Instagram, Facebook and Twitter platforms. These three species should have engagement-first thinking when posts are being made. The voice of the posts needs to be more oriented towards asking the audience things such as content ideas, advice, or even a general question. (Rampton, 2014)

Recommendations:

What needs to be done as a result of our findings:

-          Posts need to be done daily at the most, weekly at the least.

-          Posts should differ across platforms even if the information is the same or similar.

-          Post context amongst “lighter” platforms like Instagram and Twitter should be briefer and contain more images and titles that capture the audience’s attention. For detailed information, the user can be linked back to the main AMS webpage.

-          AMS needs to orient their posts to generate more user interactions. Posts need to have a different voice.

-          Posts that include polls, Instagram/Facebook stories and even giveaways/trivia can be effective to gather more user interaction.  

-          Use hashtags across all platforms to make content more searchable by users. Employ the use of existing hashtags and create new ones specific to AMS to tie content to other similar and relevant posts and increase appearances in searches.

-          Cross-link with other organizations within Queen’s University, for example, The Queen’s newspaper.

Works Cited

Finkle, C. (2019, January 2). What is Brand Dilution. Retrieved April 2, 2019.

Kats, R. (2018, October 22) Who's Using Instagram. Retrieved April 2, 2019

Rampton, J. (2014, September 22). 7 Free Ways for  Boosting Your Social Media Engagement. Retrieved March 30, 2019

Smith, E. (2017, November 17). The Importance of  Graphic Design in Social Media. Retrieved March 30, 2019

Bowers, J. (2017, December 6). 5 Steps to Engaging Your  Audience on Social Media. Retrieved April 4, 2019

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Original post which links to my edited version below!

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