shanzey

[shanzey]

Optimism and Hopefulness

This week’s topic was on optimism and hopefulness. A quote from my professor Dr. Diana Brecher, that really stuck with me is that hopefulness is contagious, optimism is contagious. (Brecher, Lecture 3). There seems to be a belief that optimism is for those who are fortunate. However, I digress, after watching Learned Optimism by Martin Seligman, I’ve learned that optimism is learned. It’s learned by those you keep around you, and you have the ability to gain this. This is important to me because I’m at the transitional period of my life where I can’t have pessimistic thoughts clouding my decisions. Although, it’s important to balance this with realism. 

To watch the video about learned optimism, check out: https://youtu.be/2hHNq45rEnU 

[shanzey]

Gratitude and Awe

This week’s topic for class was gratitude and awe. Rick Hanson, an American psychologist, pointed out that due to the needs of survival back before evolution, we all now have an unconscious negative bias. We focus more on the bad than we do the good. However, in class, we focused on the importance of gratitude. This resonated with me as gratitude not only helps combat the negative bias, but it helps foster cooperation and community with others (DeSteno, 2020). A good step to gratitude is to reflect on yourself and see who you are grateful for in your life.

For more info: https://behavioralscientist.org/david-desteno-gratitude-helps-cooperation/

[shanzey]

Hey everyone! Check out the video my group made to help build your personal brand!

Hope you enjoy!

All videos and images are sourced from Pixabay or created. No attribution is required.

References:

Labrecque, L. I., Markos, E., & Milne, G. R. (2011). Online personal branding: Processes, challenges, and implications. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 25(1), 37-50. doi:10.1016/j.intmar.2010.09.002

Personal Branding on Social Media in 5 Steps. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://blog.smarp.com/how-to-build-your-influence-on-social-media-your-personal-brand.

[shanzey]

Introduction to SQL

Code is something I’ve wanted to learn for a long time. This week for my Digital  Skills and Innovation Class, we’re doing just that! 

I took it upon myself to learn about SQL, the standard data management language. I believe as a marketing student it will help me with creating and analyzing data. Learning SQL is essential for any marketer!

Here, I completed all four lessons for the SQL course. 

I also took it upon myself to complete a project - I thought to create a table since this is a new program. 

The project requires to create a table of friends birthdays and emails. 

This was the end result:

Below is the entire coding for the project:

create table friends (id INTEGER, name TEXT, birthday DATE);

insert into friends (id, name, birthday) values (1, 'Jane Doe', '1990-05-30');

select * from friends;

insert into friends (id, name, birthday) values (2, 'Amanda Joe', '1999-05-01');

insert into friends (id, name, birthday) values (3, 'Jasmine Doe', '1999-11-17');

Select * from friends;

Update friends set name = 'Jane Smith' where id = 1;

Alter table friends add column email TEXT;

Update friends Set email = 'jane@codeacademy.com' where id = 1;

Update friends Set email = 'amandajoe@gmail.com' where id = 2;

Update friends Set email = 'jasminedoe@gmail.com' where id = 3;

Select * from friends;

Delete from friends where id = 1;

Select * from friends;

[shanzey]

Protect Yourself From Cybercrime

Internet privacy and cybercrime are on the rise, but there are ways to protect yourself.

Learn how to protect yourself by watching this video!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9_cQrWhl2Y&feature=youtu.be

[shanzey]

How To Create an Elevator Pitch + My Example.

October 18th, 2019

Entrepreneurs need to develop an "elevator pitch": A punchy one or two lines that encapsulate your essential qualities and 'unique value proposition.

An elevator pitch is useful as it’s a fast way to show what value you could bring to the person/company. 

From Mindtools.com, they’ve determined six steps in creating your elevator pitch:

Note: I’ve also added what I may include in the pitch. 

1.  Identify Your Goal

i.  Networking is very important to me so, my goal is to attract future employers or other associates to gain my network and have more job opportunities

2. Explain What You Do

i. I’m a third-year marketing student, mainly involved in Ryerson SOS as the social media manager, where my goal is to increase consumer engagement. I also work at the Ryerson Annual Fund where I call alumni to ask for donations for the betterment of Ryerson.

3. Communicate Your Unique Selling Proposition

i.  I may be a valuable marketer as I’m pursuing a minor in psychology, which would help me determine the mindset of certain consumers. Also, I offer a lot of communication skills from working online and on the phone.

4. Engage With a Question

I. “So, how does your organization handle the marketing aspects to attract new customers?

5. Put It All Together

i. The pitch should take about 20-30 seconds

6. Practice

i. Practice pitch regularly

With these steps, it’s easy to determine what's worth mentioning when delivering an elevator pitch.

Now, adding it all together, My pitch would sound a bit like:

“Hi, Mr/Mrs/Ms ____, My name is Shanzey Malik, I’m a third-year marketing major at Ted Rogers School of Management. I’m the social media manager for Ryerson Student’s Offering Support, in which I increase consumer engagement through social media platforms. I’ve also recently started working as a student representative for Ryerson’s Annual Fund which has strengthened my communication skills. I’m also pursuing a minor in psychology which would help me determine the mindset my target consumers would be in for certain products/services. This benefits me now as it’s easier for me to determine what consumers want to hear and I can go off from there. So, how does your organization handle the marketing aspects when attracting new consumers?”

This may seem lengthy, but I can pick and choose one or two of these sentences to vary my pitch for different people I’m trying to attract. 

References:

https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/elevator-pitch.htm

[shanzey]

My Experience With Ghostery

October 4th, 2019

This week, I tried the well-known privacy ad tracker Ghostery. It not only blocks unwanted ads, but it shows you who’s tracking your data. I really liked the extension and It was really interesting what information I found

For instance, I found that on every website I’ve visited, there was either a Google or Facebook analytics tool that tracked my information. 

In terms of online marketing practices, it's smart to track these cookies in order to personalize ads and other experiences for people. But for my own online privacy, I don't feel alright with Google and Facebook tracking my information. Especially since Google had abused its market dominance in search and lead to questioning its reliability. 

I think more adblocker/cookie tracker extensions like Ghostery are good for protecting your online privacy and could protect you from Google's sketchy ad tactics.

[shanzey]

Upcoming Video

Hey guys! My groupmates and I are going to make a video for our Digital Skills and Innovation class catered towards high school seniors who are about to graduate. We made a Prezi showing what the video will be about! 

Prezi link: https://prezi.com/2jwc5415kbmg/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy&rc=ex0share

Feedback would be much appreciated!

[shanzey]

Google Syntax

September 20th, 2019

Google, the search engine giant that millions use to search for information. You can use google to find almost everything and anything just by typing in the search bar. 

Sure, you can easily search whatever you want in any wording (that makes sense). But, there are easier and more efficient ways to search on Google. These are 10 ways to search faster on google with the right syntax:

1. How would you search for an exact word or phrase: 

Use quotation marks around the word or phrase you want. 

Ex. “Puppy Dog Sweaters” vs. Puppy Dog Sweaters

2. How would you search for something on a specific site:

Search for your word and next to it type site:(site address here). 

Ex. Cake recipes site:pinterest.com

3. How would you correctly search for a definition: 

Define:(Insert Word)

4. How would you search for a specific product available within a specific price range: 

Type in the product and add in the price range.

Ex. Watches $50...$500

5. How would you search for a specific filetype: 

Type *insert search item* filetype:pdf"

Ex. Declaration of Independence filetype:pdf

6. How would you include or ignore words in your search: 

Add a Hyphen along with the word you want to exclude next to the desired search item

Ex. Crafts Ideas -Pinterest

7. How would you find sites/pages similar to an existing one: 

Type related: existing site address

Ex. related:amazon.ca

8. How would you confirm the exact form of a quote even if you were missing some of the words: 

Type in the quote and replace the missing words with an *.

Ex. Life is like * you never know what * to get

9. How would search for pages containing two connected words: 

Type “AND” between the two words (make sure AND is capitalized)

Ex. cakes AND brownies

10. How would you search for social media content containing a specific tag: 

To search for social media type in @social media platform

Ex. @Tumblr 

Then search for the hashtag (#art), and you’ll end up with:

Ex. @Tumblr #art

References

https://www.lifehack.org/articles/technology/20-tips-use-google-search-efficiently.html

[shanzey]

Personal Branding 101

September 12th, 2019

Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, all social media platforms we’re familiar with. Whether it is sharing food pics on Instagram, retweeting news articles on Twitter, or changing relationship statuses on Facebook, people use it to showcase what they’re doing. Businesses have started to use these platforms to promote their goods and services as well. Whether its a business or a person, they’re posting on social media to build or maintain a reputable image of themselves. 

The internet wasn't always like this though. Before social media and the huge accessibility to create your own content, there was an era on the internet that only involved a mix of non-interactive websites. Now with the rise of Web 2.0, an era of social media and content creation, there’s a lot of opportunities for businesses and people to create a brand of themselves to broadcast to their audience. But there are different ways of building your personal brand compared to branding a business. 

Whether they want it or not, everyone has a personal brand if they’re active on social media. That is why building a personal brand is important because it’s how people perceive you on the internet. You don’t have to rely on others to create a personality after you, you control the narrative. This is essential if you want your brand to help you thrive into the industry you’re pursuing. 

According to CMSwire.com, some social media best practices for personal branding include 

Keeping your social media platforms in check

Understand your audience

Post consistently

Embrace Video Content

Network

Be Authentic

(Ismail, 2018)

You want to use these concepts while developing your personal brand but there are limits. You should only post content relevant to you and your brand.

 Above is a diagram from Sproutsocial that shows what actions lead to unfollows on social media, the top two actions that lead to unfollows are too many promotional and irrelevant messages (York, 2017). It’s crucial to stay on brand when posting so your followers can enjoy the content they signed up for when they first followed you. At the end of the day, you want to be real and sincere with your audience, while presenting the best side of yourself.

References

Ismail, K. (2018). 6 Tips For Building a Great Personal Brand. [online] CMSWire.com. Available at: https://www.cmswire.com/digital-workplace/6-tips-for-building-a-great-personal-brand/ [Accessed 12 Sep. 2019].

York, A. (2017). 5 Social Media Best Practices Every Marketer Must Follow. [online] Sprout Social. Available at: https://sproutsocial.com/insights/social-media-best-practices/ [Accessed 12 Sep. 2019].

Figure 1: 20 Social Media Ideas to Keep Your Brand’s Feed Fresh. (2019) Photograph. Retrieved from: https://sproutsocial.com/insights/social-media-ideas/

Figure 2: 5 Social Media Best Practices Every Marketer Must Follow. (2017) Photograph. Retrieved from: https://sproutsocial.com/insights/social-media-best-practices/