Social Media Presentation

In my entrepreneurial marketing class the other day, we had a guest speaker. His name was Steve Chandler and he runs his own online ad agency called Chandlerthink.com. He gave a very cleaver and informative social media presentation with some eye popping statistics.  The most interesting things in my opinion were his catchy sayings. For example, with social media and advertising in general, Chandler states that you must “fish where the fish are.” Today, there are many skeptics out there, thinking social media is a fad and is not worth the time or effort to use efficiently. However, the numbers do not lie. With over 400 million people on Facebook, over 50 million tweets per day, and roughly 100,000 YouTube video uploads per day, it is clear that the fish are swimming in the social media stream of today’s society.  Advertisers must recognize this and adapt.  Chandler explained that being successful at social media is not a simple thing though. Advertisers must be real with people. Chandlers discussed how profiles on Facebook are like people’s personal “me time” and that time should not be interrupted by annoying scheme’s and ploys by advertisers. He recommends being interactive. Chandler stated that he lives by posing the question, “WWBRD?” That stands for “What Would Bonnie rate Do?” Bonnie Rait sings the song, “Let’s give them something to talk about.” Chandler says that is exactly what advertisers need to do when trying to connect to consumers using social media tools. Chandlers gave a personal example of a client his company has. They created a Facebook page for the client and initially posted bland non-interactive comments. This got the Facebook page hardly any additional followers. For the first six months, their new followers looked like this: 1) low 90s 2) low 90s 3) 0 4) 500s 5) over 1,000 6) over 14,000. Clearly Steve Chandler and his colleagues figured out something around month 4. They began interacting with their followers more by posing questions regarding favorite personal memories and opinions on various topics. The followers soon started flooding in. This is just another example of how advertising today is moving toward non-traditional media and today’s consumers are much more educated when it comes to a company’s attempts to be real with them.

A Technologically Savvy Resume could mean a leg up

Although the job market may be a bit scarce these days, it is certainly not for lack of opportunities for recognition by job searchers. Today there are more opportunities than ever to get your name and resume in front of businesses looking to hire. With such great resources like monster.com and theladders.com among others it is essential that people understand their resumes are no longer just a piece of paper. For a leg up, resumes should incorporate today's multimedia and social networking capabilities such ones blog or LinkedIn account. Another recommendation is to post videos of mock interviews or audio testimonials of references like a former boss. You can easily do this on your blogs or YouTube.  Incorporating these things in to a state of the art technologically savvy resume not only shows that you are cutting edge, but it also allows recruiters to emotionally connect with you on a level they would not otherwise be able to. 

Now, it is important to note that if you are to create a social media resume, you must thoroughly inspect all your social media sites (Twitter, Facebook, Blogger etc.) and make sure they represent you in a professional manner that is appropriate for hire.

Here is a link on how to build the Ultimate Resume !

Disney Takes a Social Media Approach to Recruiting College Campuses

The other day in my entrepreneurial marketing class, we had a recruiter from Disney come in and talk to us about Disney as a brand. We talked about the history of the company, its significance in today's society and what makes Disney so successful. A big reason Disney is so successful is because 75% of its customers are repeat customers. It is Disney’s extreme attention to detail that helps create a magical fairy tale experience for each Guest. I do say Guest, not customer. Disney calls each customer a guest because that is how they should be treated. Disney is all about the fairy tale and incredible memories that last a lifetime. Their new marketing campaign "Let the Memories Begin", fits right in with utilizing social media in a correct manner. Disney admits they were late getting in to the social media game and still are hesitant in aspects because their brand is so delightful and distinct that they have a fear of hurting it when allowing the user to control content. But their new campaign allows guests to still be interactive with Disney and be original all while allowing Disney to have ultimate control. Another cool thing the recruiter showed was how they have changed their marketing plan towards recruiting students. Disney’s advertising and recruiting efforts are no longer just a poster up on college campus that students walk by. The Disney recruitment posters have a 2D barcode on them that can be scanned with a smart phone. Once the code is scanned a roughly two minute long interactive advertisement video plays right on your phone. This new way of advertising avoids having to type in long URL’s or search for content that may be hard to find. The 2D bar codes can also easily be uploaded to a Twitter account, making them even more viral through user interaction. The Disney video does a great job of bringing the poster and overall marketing campaign to life. The campaign is more unique and makes the prospective employee or guest feel like the message is directed specifically at them, which in turn makes them want to be a part of the magical Disney family.