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Excercise #5 - Social Media in Times of Tragedy

Lawrence Meacham

4/18/2019

It can be difficult for brands to respond via social media during times of tragedy, especially when it the tragedy may be controversial to some. Companies still try to figure out the best way to respond and if they should respond at all. The website Socialfactor developed 4 steps to be used as protocol by brands in the event of a tragedy. These 4 steps being to pause all publishing, put the crisis team in complete control, decide on an appropriate post, and strategize the next steps. 

Bad examples & don’ts of social media response to tragedies by brands:

-After the Boston Marathon, Epicurious, a food brand, encouraged customers to buy its Boston themed products. Lesson to be learned: don’’t turn an tragedy into a business promotion.

-Do not send sales pitches during an ongoing tragedy. 

-Do not state specifics as to what happened and leave the reporting to news agencies.

Good examples & do’s: 

-If you make a message, make it as broad as possible. After the Boston attacks, for example, many businesses such as coca-cola sent out messages such as “our hearts are with Boston”. This is just a friendly gesture to show that the business does care. 

-Be aware of the situation and think clearly about whether you should post anything or not. If it is a controversial police-killing, posting something on one side or the other may upset the other side. In these cases, it may be best to say nothing at all. 

-Pause automated responses and ad posting.

Sources:

https://www.adweek.com/digital/how-should-brands-respond-to-tragedy-on-social-media/

https://socialfactor.com/social-media-protocol-times-tragedy

https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2018/06/29/how-to-use-social-media-to-respond-to-a-tragedy/#78df67582715

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Excercise #4 - Influencers

Lawrence Meacham

4/12/2019

For an instagram influencer I chose Matt Karsten. Matt is a world traveler who post cities, hotels, and unique places of travel across the world. Some of the places he posts are well known, others are quite off the beaten path. Unique countries he has traveled to include Morocco, Iceland, and Afghanistan. Matt currently has 151,000 followers, most of whom have a similar interest in traveling and visiting unique cities and countries around the world. What makes Matt special are his photography skills and his ability to make places seem almost otherworldly. Matt also host a blog which includes travel tips such as places to visit by country and how to travel cheaply. Matt started off by saving money to create a small traveling business, in which he would travel somewhere and create city guides to things such as nightlife. Since he has grown and become viral, companies and governments alike pay him to travel and visit their hotel, their city, or their country. He proceeds to post pictures to his instagram and his experiences to his blog. 

Social media influencers such as Matt Karsten bring a level of third person marketing that seems much more personal. For example, obviously a social media travel advertisement produced by the Berlin local government is going to make the city look perfect. A hotel in Venice that runs its own ad is going to make itself look great - and it is expected. No hotel or city is going to run an ad saying not to come and spend money there. However, influencers such as Matt can give an outsider’s perspective that makes it seem like he is advertising for the given location just because he loves it so much. To the naked eye, Matt is just taking pictures of given locations and showing how beautiful they are. Influencers like Matt are special to businesses due to their ability to promote a business, place, or product from a seemingly neutral standpoint. Below is a link to Matt’s Instagram Profile.

https://instagram.com/expertvagabond?utm_source=ig_profile_share&igshid=i2290bcjloxc

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LinkedIn Posts

Instead of doing LinkedIn Posts, I have been posting the fake business ads to this account. In this post I will talk about what I have learned from the class as I would have done on LinkedIn. 

This class has taught me the value of Social Media Marketing today as well as its role going forward. Social media is something that has become a part of the majority of our everyday lives. I learned this first hand during our wireless day when we took a day to not use any technology involving screens. Though I recognized the value of social media before this class, this class made me realize that social media marketing was far more complex than I previously imagined. 

One thing I truly enjoyed about this class was getting hands on experience in creating our own fake business and using social media marketing across multiple websites to promote it. As I am highly interested in foreign policy, I created my business as being a consulting firm for business opportunities across Latin America. This way I could apply social media marketing to something I hope to do in the future. 

Another perk I found valuable were the Hubspot certifications I received that I would have otherwise not known about. During the class I received certifications in Inbound Marketing, Content Marketing, and Email Marketing - each of which I added to my certifications on LinkedIn. These Hubspot certifications will last through my graduation and are sure to come across as interesting to future potential employers. 

All in all, I found this class as being one of the most if not the most valuable marketing class I have taken thus far. Social media Marketing is something that shows no signs of going away but rather signs of rapid growth. I thoroughly enjoyed this class and think it would be a valuable elective to anyone- business major or not. 

Lawrence Meacham

4/12/2019

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The Colombia-FARC peace process is still hanging in the balance. Should Colombia find lasting peace, the opportunities could be endless. Message us for inquires on potential economic developments in the country. This is for a UNA class project. 

4/12/2019

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With the recent election of President Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil, US-Brazilian relations are rapidly improving. Message us for inquiries on potential economic opportunities developing in the country.

This is for a UNA class project.

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With the ongoing struggle in Venezuela, financial opportunities in the country may soon be opening. Message us to ask about pricing for an insider’s outlook on economic opportunities in Latin America.

This is for a UNA class project.

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Exercise #3 - Facebook Brand Survey

Lawrence Meacham

3/15/2019

I decided to analyze the Facebook page of the brand Smith & Wesson. Upon clicking on the page, I received a message from the brand asking if I needed help with anything. The message included a list of popular questions people have. Their profile picture was the Smith & Wesson logo and their cover photo was a video advertising their products. Also on their Facebook profile were pictures of their products with information, basic marketing advertisements, a link to their website, and a brief description of their brand. They also have an “events” section on their page which showed dates where you could, try, view, or buy their products at shows they hold across the nation. I was honestly surprised at how complete their page was considering I wasn’t even sure if they would have a page. 

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Excercise #2 - Unwired

Lawrence Meacham

2/22/2019

On the day of 2/20, I went unwired from the time I woke up (about 9:30) until bedtime, barring 3 important emails I replied to regarding class and potential internships. It was this day that I realized how truly dependent we are on technology. I started off with my phone in my pocket, but as I felt the urge to pull it out on a couple occasions I decided it was best to turn it off and put it away. Not having class on Wednesday, I had to find a way to pass time. I went to the gym for about an hour and a half, did about 3 hours of reading I had been wanting to do, and spent time playing with my cat. With that said, the day did pass extremely slowly.

During this down time I started thinking about how deeply a real life black out would effect everyday life. I remember reading about the fact that a strong solar flare could be able to wipe out electrical grids across the US (and the world for that matter) for about 6 months. I can only imagine the chaos that it would follow and how strange it would be to not be able to contact our parents, friends, and loved ones via cell. It was my first time in about 2 years going screen-less for a day and it is always a good reminder of how e-reliable the world truly is as much as we don’t like to admit it.

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MK 375 - Create a Blog

Lawrence Meacham - 2/8/2019

This blog will include marketing advertisements to my business consulting firm - Latin American Insight. Three goals I look forward to accomplishing in my social media marketing class are:

1. Learning and understanding the business side of social media. Understanding and conducting social media marketing can be the difference of success and failure for modern day businesses.

2. Mastering my personal usage of social media marketing. Social media marketing is a tool that I know I will have to use in the future, and getting an early start on conducting successfully can make me a much more competitive for jobs in the future. 

3. To gain experience in putting it to use in my desired line of work. I created my business as a Latin American consulting firm to practice for something I may potentially be doing in the future. As I plan to pursue a career in foreign service, this will be a great opportunity to take notes on how agencies such as the state department market themselves.

Looking forward to the rest of this semester!