mark-cox60

[mark-cox60]

Ｗｅｅｋ　８　Ｂｌｏｇ

We just spent the past 8 weeks gathering tools and gaining knowledge on these social networks, now it’s time for us to use them. Now we can apply these tools to our social media pages, whether for business or for personal. The Hootsuite modules were a very beneficial tool, showing us the ins and outs of these platforms.  

For my Client Project, I chose Grindline Training and Fitness. Grindline is owned by me and 2 others. Before this class, I was very uneducated when it came to social media. I didn’t post often myself, and hardly had posted for on the business pages. I saw this class as a great opportunity to increase my social media skills for my business.  

I personally liked writing memos to the client. When addressing “The client”, essentially, I was addressing myself. Writing these memos really helped me put my thoughts into words, and in a professional manner. With the spring/summer seasons around the corner, I fully intend to implement my plans in the upcoming months. Now is an essential time to gain exposure due to the summer sports season coming. I hope everyone was able to gain something from this class like I did. Have a great rest of the semester.

Ｐｅａｃｅ　苛ッ奥

[mark-cox60]

Ｗｅｅｋ　７　Ｂｌｏｇ

I liked implementing Chapter 3 and 4 modules because each section of these modules had their own select effectiveness. The first effective tactic is to create a strong content strategy. This acts as a game plan for coordinating, creating, and distributing content. One key point that I have pushed throughout my project was the importance of content, both the quality and quantity aspects of it. It is important to keep the quality of your content high, while keeping a consistent and steady upload schedule.

The next effective tactic is to create a detailed content calendar. This can be beneficial in multiple ways. The first way is to allow cross-coordination between all members of your team. With the appropriate programs and information, your team will be able to tackle and maintain a proper calendar. Creating a detailed content calendar will also reduce the amount of confusion throughout the team. If there is a calendar with set criteria for set dates, then that lowers the margin for small, avoidable errors.  

Becoming a social organization is crucial in today’s world. With so much information and advertising out on the world wide web, it is important to have a strong and supportive audience around you to help build your business. When my partners and I first started the gym, we had no social recognition in our community. Now, we have built not only the business, but have also built our audience. In this process called business, I find that it is more important to fail and learn, then to never have tried at all.

[mark-cox60]

Howdy. Although this isn’t class work, I still think it’s interesting to share. Watching the algorithm work right in front of me kind of shocked me. While watching this video, pay attention to the original next video. New posts just appear in front of your eyes. Also: that was the first time I’ve ever watched a “Friends” clip on Facebook. So how it just fed me video after video of it is eerie.

[mark-cox60]

Ｗｅｅｋ　６　Ｂｌｏｇ

Chapters 4 and 5 of “The Social Organization” were focused on building online communities. I know from experience that building an online community can be beneficial to a business. I would say that the strength of the community is more important than the size of the community. Having your advocates like/share posts on your social media is highly effective. When it posts to their page, their audience will be able to see that post too. I have found that the “Check-In” feature on Facebook is especially useful.  

While reading Chapter 5, I found this portion interesting. On p.60, the author describes how one can determine the power and potential of a purpose by assessing it by a set of characteristics. At first glance, I did not think It was possible to measure such things. After reading it, I realized that you could measure them with a set of characteristics. A good, solid purpose should meet all of these requirements.  The characteristics are:

Magnetic: Your purpose should naturally draw people to participate

Business- aligned: The purpose should be aligned with your goals  

Choose minimal risk over high rewards

You should be able to measure the success of your goal

Select a purpose that both you and your community can build on

I plan to use this list for the goals and purposes of those at the gym. I am hoping that this checklist can save a lot of time and effort and maximize efficiency. Remember, #supportlocalbusiness, because you can be the strong community for a small business. 

[mark-cox60]

Ｗｅｅｋ　４　Ｐｏｓｔ　２

Relating back to last week's topics, algorithms can be tricky. In “Three reasons junk news spreads so quickly across social media,” they present the censorship issue with algorithms. Censorship and filters are, in my mind, a huge issue. The big corporations have the ability to block whoever and whatever goes through their platform. Being proved over the past couple of years, this powerful tool can have an impact on society. “The speed and scale at which content “goes viral” grows exponentially, regardless of whether or not the information it contains is true.” Like I stated in last week’s post, we moved from the Information Age to the Disinformation Age.  

Again, relating back to last week’s discussion, we don’t pay money for these apps, we pay with our time and information. It collects our information and interests and uses it to prepare our news feed. Along with this, another issue has arisen, clickbait. Clickbait has ruined today’s news articles and entertainment videos. The content creators of today would rather bait someone into viewing a video than just giving an accurate title to it. To me, this is extremely annoying.  

Today’s big corporate have the power to control what goes and what doesn’t go into the algorithm. This proof is blatantly shown in the most recent election. Selective exposure is just as big of an issue as clickbait is. With the combination of both, media content can become twisted. A sad truth of today is that people become so dependent on this biased and filtered news that they wouldn’t even know if it was right or wrong.  

[mark-cox60]

Ｗｅｅｋ　４　Ｐｏｓｔ　１

The most important quality for a social media consultant, in my mind, is proof. If a consultant shows me what they can bring to the table, that will drastically affect my decision. For example, would you ever buy a car without any description or pictures of it? I would want my consultant to give me a map of the future, showing me where I am now and where I will be in 3 months.  

Working for myself, I know that I would have to create a schedule/ calendar to be truly successful. Currently, the consistency of uploading is one of my biggest issues when it comes to dealing with social media. Along with creating a schedule, I would need to gather some research. I would research how other similar businesses run their pages, what kind of material people are interested in, and take note of how successful businesses run their page.  

I am dedicating my client project to Grindline Training and Fitness. Grindline is a gym located in Romulus, MI that is owned by me and 2 others. I started the social media pages back in 2018, but never really took advantage of them until roughly a year ago. So far, I have grown our Facebook page to 367 followers and our Instagram to 153 followers. First, I would like to figure out a good, solid upload schedule. Then I plan to learn how to edit pictures and make them more visually appealing.  

[mark-cox60]

Ｔｈｅ　Ｓｏｃｉａｌ　Ｄｉｌｅｍｍａ

This. Shit. Is. Scary. Within the first 10 minutes of watching The Social Dilemma, I realized how big of an issue technology has become. It amazed me that when asked “What is the problem”, the interviewees just became wide-eyed, and didn’t know really what to say. The ironic, or even sad, part is that these workers felt that when they started these platforms, they would be used for the greater good. These workers even admit that the technology industry has lost its way. The new “normal” of today’s world is a problem in itself. We as a civilization have moved from the Information Age to the Disinformation Age. Our societies are built solely on manipulation and misconception. I believe that technology has sinched its teeth into our minds, causing addiction and abuse. It was confirmed multiple times throughout the documentary that these big companies use Growth Hacking to hack into our minds.

“If you’re not paying for the product, then you are the product” – Jaron Lanier. The big corps have invested vast amounts of money and time to study and learn how to sink that hook just right, drawing us into their app. In my opinion, the big bad Facebook is the worst of them all. With the more recent purchase of Instagram, and the rollout of the Metaverse, I think Facebook will be the king within next 10 years. “They sell certainty”- Shoshana Zuboff. If a said business places an ad, whether it’s   on a social media site or a search engine, and the ad generates revenue, then the company calls it a success. All these companies need is around 10 or 15 seconds of our time to set the said hook.

They. Know. Everything. With the extremely advanced algorithms, these big corps know everything about us. I would say that our phones know more about us than we do ourselves. To me, this is terrifying. I have heard through the grapevine that some algorithms are able to predict the future, and even death. One interviewee said, “to have great predictions, you need a lot of data.” Unfortunately, this is leading to surveillance capitalism. This essentially means that the government and higher-ups always know where you are, who you are, and what you are. Sadly, we are all lab rats in this maze of a society.

[mark-cox60]

Ｗｅｅｋ　２　Ｐｏｓｔ　２

I tracked my social media and phone usage on Thursday, January 20th.

Time spent on apps:

Snapchat- 2 hr 21 min, Facebook- 31 min, Spotify- 3 min, YouTube- 48 min

It was hard to track my Spotify usage. I listen to music all throughout the day

Time viewing:

Phone- 9 hr 3 min, TV- On throughout the day, Laptop- 2 hr 20 min, Desktop- 4 hr. 

Number of:

Snaps- 161, Texts- 17, Notifications total- 291, Number of pickups throughout the day- 181  

Number of face-to-face contacts- I had roughly 15 face-to-face contacts yesterday. Most of the contacts were with friends, and about 3/4 of them all checked their phones during the conversation.  

For my social media experiment, I chose to do no social media for 24 hours. I started at 12 pm on 1/22 and ended at 12 pm on 1/23. I found this challenge very interesting to say the least. I realized how much more time I had to do other things. I found myself being the odd one out in groups, not checking my phone constantly. I also found myself being more productive, thinking what else I can check off my list for the day. This experiment was rather refreshing, and it made me realize that I should do this more often. 

[mark-cox60]

Ｗｅｅｋ　２　Ｐｏｓｔ　１

Here I am, staring at yet another screen. Minute after minute, hour after hour, it’s something that has taken over my life. Nowadays, all types of work, whether it’s personal, for business, or for school, deals with some type of screen. This issue has really come forth since the start of the pandemic. Now you can go grocery shopping, go to class, and watch the newest Marvel movie right from your own room. The convenience of technology in today’s world is mind-blowing, for both good and bad reasons. Unfortunately, technology has consumed everyone’s life.  

After listening to Max’s presentation, I realized how easy it is to fall for the tactics that these big companies use. The big corporation’s use the variable effect. The variable effect is the motion of swiping up and down, thinking “What am I going to get?” We associate this action with a sort of lottery, hoping to get the best-case scenario. Social media companies use this motion for their apps, that way it is easy to zone out. I know I’ve said before “I’ll only be on Facebook for 20 minutes”, and suddenly 2 hours have passed by. The algorithms that these companies use are incredibly precise. They track and use your data to pick the posts on your feed.  

On a brighter note, I thoroughly enjoyed Emma Rathbone’s “Before the Internet”. I have always wondered what life would be like without today’s technology. I feel that the generation of people that grew up without technology were more physically connected than they are today. People were happier, and that nobody based their lives on people they see on a screen.  

[mark-cox60]

Week 1 Blog

Howdy. My name is Mark Cox. I am a Senior here at Central Michigan University. I am a Marketing major with a minor in Information Systems. I am from a small town called Romulus, just 30 minutes south of Detroit. There I own Grindline Training and Fitness, a small private gym. I have managed our gym for the past 5 years. I am excited to take this class because I feel that I can learn more about social media, which can help with both personal and business profiles. In my future, I either see myself working in marketing for a big company or owning my own business. 

For people into streetwear, you know about Supreme. For those who don’t, it’s a streetwear brand that was founded in New York. The word “Supreme” itself is what makes the company their money. They slap a Supreme box logo on a hoodie and sell it for hundreds. Supreme makes clothing, footwear, and other miscellaneous items, such as a Supreme crowbar, a Supreme guitar, and even Supreme tooth brushes. For some reason, the public and social media influencers love them. One big factor of the Supreme brand is that they release merchandise in low quantities, so they deem rare. Their online auctions can sell out in just minutes. 

Supreme uses social media to their advantage. They release pictures of some items releasing in the next drop, creating excitement and hype from the followers. Influencers and fans see the post and think “Those are cool, I want those”. This then in turn draws a huge crowd to their auctions. 

Supreme’s IG: https://www.instagram.com/supremenewyork/

Supreme’s Website: https://www.supremenewyork.com/

P.s. this is my first time using Tumblr, so the platform is completely new to me. And I also don’t own any Supreme, I’m not going to spend $400 on a sweatshirt haha.