The 5 Ps of Social Media

Most people have probably heard of the four Ps of marketing that help the selling of products and services to consumers: place, price, product and promotion. It is not as likely that people have heard of the five Ps of social media, which helps users to understand what social media platforms are best for a specific goal: passions, people, pimping, pictures and perception. Understand what platforms work best with different contents and goals can help gain popularity.

Google+ is the go to platform to express passion. With Google+ communities, it’s easy to find people who share your passions or learn about new topics to be passionate. You can also use Google News to get updates worldwide to stay in touch with the things you are most interested in. You can also make comments and start discussions with those who may be interested and passionate about the same things as you. Another way Google+ can support you sharing your passions is through Ripple. Ripple shows activity of public posts based on who has publicly shared your posts. This helps you determine who to thank, as well as follow based on common interests.

When it comes to people, Facebook is the go to platform. Connecting as friends on Facebook allows you to see the things other people share and connect with them through those friends. If you dislike something someone has posted or think they post too much, it is easy to unfriend that person to remove them from your News Feed. You can join or like pages to become connected with more people, as well as connect other social media accounts to your profile to interact more with people.

Essentially when it comes to bragging about yourself, LinkedIn has you covered. LinkedIn is similar to Facebook, but is used more professionally. Professional means you shouldn’t be posting memes or your favorite cats videos, but rather share content that supports innovation, entrepreneurship, technology or anything that goes along with your desired field. Groups are great ways to meet people in your industry and a good way to “get your foot in the door” so to speak. The best way to go about pimping on LinkedIn is to keep your profile up to date and impressive.

Instagram is most likely the platform you think of first when you read the word picture. However, Pinterest is also a good platform to show off pictures. The difference between the two, is Instagram is where personalized pictures that describe your life are posted while Pinterest is a place to share ideas through photos. You are able to create boards to share with people or keep secret depending on what you are trying to gain from them. With most social media platforms, you can link your Instagram and Pinterest accounts with other platforms.

Twitter is all about perception. Tweets with graphics are more appealing to users and are more likely to get shares and go viral. Using hashtags and mentioning people in tweets is another way to raise awareness of your tweets and help them get more attention. The perception you give off through your shares and retweets influences people negatively or positively. Hint: strive to make it a positive influence.

What Not To Do

There’s a lot that can be done to enhance a social media profile to gain more followers or influence specific demographics as a mentioned in a previous post called, The “Do’s and Don’ts” of Social Media. In this post, I’m going to go more depth about the “don’ts” of social media that I’ve learned to help avoid seeming clueless on social media platforms.

First things first, don’t be ignorant. If you have nothing good to say then it’s better to say nothing at all. People don’t react well to complaining or belligerence. In addition to that, don’t tell people what to share. If someone is posting or sharing things you don’t like, the easiest solution is just to unfollow or unfriend them. People don’t like feeling controlled and don’t like being told what to do or post on their own profiles. It isn’t a smart way to gain followers or positive feedback.

Speaking of followers, don’t try to buy them. It SCREAMS desperation and because they aren’t real followers, you gain no actual feedback or results from them. Sure, it may look impressive to have that many followers, but it’s not actually benefitting you in any way. Just because you shouldn’t buy followers, doesn’t mean you should tell people to follow you instead. You need to earn followers with your personal content and the quality of that content. You can share links to other social media platforms as an “invitation”, but never just ask for followers. Along with not asking for followers, don’t ask your followers to repost your posts. Don’t call out people that have unfollowed you or announce that you’ve unfollowed someone. No one really cares and it comes off as petty. Don’t ask someone why they unfollowed you either. Remember to have some dignity in the process of increasing your social media popularity.

Moving on from followers, don’t swear on your social media platforms. It isn’t attractive in a professional sense and people won’t react all too well to it. You can cuss up a storm in your drafts or to your friends, but don’t take it any further than that. Don’t act like an expert on a subject or matter because most likely you’re not an expert on much of anything. If you are, however, an expert on something then don’t flaunt it all over your social media because you’re just going to come off as obnoxious. People like to have their own opinions on things and you being a know it all is just going to offend someone somewhere.

Most importantly, don’t put someone else in charge of your social media. The best way to not seem clueless or stupid is to monitor your social media yourself. It is best to take your social media seriously and put your best quality out there. If you do want to put someone in charge of your social media anyways you might want to take the time to monitor what’s going on it. Which, in that case, you should just oversee your own social media anyways! 

What's The Story?

Let’s be real for a minute. We were all against Instagram launching stories in 2017. Like who are they trying to kid copying Snapchat like that? I will be the first to admit to thinking Instagram stories were annoying and unnecessary. On top of Instagram trying to be Snapchat, we now have Facebook in the game just trying to catch up to the latest trend. I am also now a hypocrite as I post an Instagram story almost every day nowadays. What can I say? I like the whole Boomerang thing Instagram has going. For those of you who don’t know what the term “boomerang” refers to then you should probably look it up. The best description I can give is that it’s a repetitive little video loop that has no sound. Below is a video of one that some friends and I took at leadership conference over the past weekend. I will say, though, that I am still anti Facebook stories. I don’t have a specific reason for that, it’s just how I feel.

Let’s take a step back to realize that even though social medias platforms are just using Snapchat’s idea, they are using the idea strategically. Snapchat became the number one social media and network site used by teenagers and young adults in 2017, with Facebook and Instagram following close behind. So what would be the best way to give them a boost to impress the teenagers and young adult demographic? STORIES.

Through different project I’ve done and papers I’ve written in college so far about social media and marketing, I’ve learned that millennials have taken over the market. Companies must focus on how to persuade millennials when attempting to grow and expand their products. Another thing I’ve learned is that millennials LOVE personalization. It’s a “way of life” for them so to speak. Sure, you can post your personal photos and think of clever captions on Instagram, or make a unique post to get reactions on Facebook, but stories take that feeling of personalization one step further. Stories are also a good tool that can be used for advertisement for companies, so they reach beyond just millennials.

Snapchat allows users to capture what they are experiencing in the moment and sharing it with several “friends” at a time. It also allows users to uploading videos or pictures just like you could on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. The only catch is that they only last 24 hours rather than forever. Snapchat competitors realized it was time to step up their game and offer the same intriguing qualities to lessen Snapchat’s appeal. Therefore, Instagram and Facebook now have options to have stories on their applications. However, unlike Facebook, Instagram made their stories unique by offering Boomerang, which I explained earlier in this post.

Social media will only continue to grow in the new year and for years to come. The only way for social media platforms to compete with each other is to increase personalization and use each other’s ideas I guess. I will continue to use Snapchat and Instagram stories loyally…stay tuned to see if I can offer that kind of commitment to Facebook stories as well. Hint: I probably can’t.

Oh, For Fox Sake

For as long as I can remember, I’ve had a HUGE obsession with foxes. I’ve spent many hours of my days watching fox videos and scrolling through different profiles on Instagram. I even gave a speech about foxes my freshman year of college for my presentational speaking class and got an A, might I add. Whether this obsession of mine is healthy or out of control we will not be discussing today, but I’m sure you can make your own decision on that one.

I want to talk about my favorite part of this fox obsession I have. One day, a friend texted me to tell me that she thought I would appreciate an account called juniperfoxx on Instagram. I just had to look and see what this account was all about because the word fox was involved, duh. I was HOOKED almost immediately. I wasn’t hooked, though, just because of the cute pictures of foxes, dogs, and the occasional other crazy animal (although the pictures are very cute). Rather, I was hooked on the account because of the posts that the owner of this fox, Jessika, posts. Not only does she upload adorable pictures of her fox, Juniper, but she educates her followers on what it’s really like to own a fox as a pet.

One of the most important things I’ve learned through this account about my favorite animal is that they do not make the “perfect pet” and that they shouldn’t even be considered as a pet due to their inevitable wild nature. Most people who own a fox have rescued them from fur farms. Foxes are a lot of work to own because they need so much attention and socialization, along with needing a permit or license to even own one. Owning a fox is illegal in some states and cities. Just because a fox is legal to own in your home state, does not mean it is legal in your city. If you are able to own a fox, you must have an exotic vet nearby because normal vets will not take foxes as “patients”. On top of needing attention and socialization, foxes need their own space in a home to express their natural behaviors. They have very high energy and LOVE digging because it is part of their natural hunting habits. 

When it comes to caring for a fox, they require a very specific diet of raw meats, bone contents and taurine. The lack of the correct diet can cause series problems for a fox’s health and could lead to death. Foxes also smell horrible; Jessika claims you can smell Juniper from her driveway. There is no way to “de-scent” a fox to correct this, it’s just something you learn to live with if choosing to own a fox. To go along with that point, foxes will urinate on whatever they believe to be “theirs”, which is a habit that is almost impossible to break; their urine and feces smell even worse than foxes themselves do.

 

There are positives to owning a fox if you think you are able to commit to one. For example, they are easy to train because they pick up patterns easily and can recall those patterns. A downside to foxes is that they don’t have that great of an attention span, so training can take a while. They have keen memories though, and can become an expert in a trick within 30 minutes. Like most animals, foxes are food motivated and that is the easiest way to train them. Another downfall of foxes when it comes to training is that they will only follow commands if they are in the mood to do so. Dogs follow commands regardless because they typically aim to please. Foxes, not so much. They key with foxes is to be consistent with rewards and discipline. It works due to their intelligence.

Jessika now owns a second fox by the name of Fig. Unlike Juniper, who is a red fox, Fig is a fire and ice fox. He is slightly browner than Juniper and has a completely different personality. Fig is sweeter and more laid back than Juniper; however, he is always more distracted when it comes to training and isn’t able to be left out over night to sleep because he wants to play or go to the bathroom. Juniper is more sassy and protective of her stuff. She doesn’t warm up to other animals very easily, but can sleep through the night on Jessika’s bed. The point of this little paragraph is that no matter how different the two foxes may be, they are both still foxes nonetheless and have similar habits. One isn’t better than the other or easier to own.

I would also just like to point out that Jessika also owns the dark-coated dog she calls Moose and the lighter-coated dog she calls Chewy. She will occasionally post other animals she has on the juniperfoxx account due to her having a passion for exotic animals. She is in the process of opening a enclosure to help these kinds of animals. There is more information on not only that, but animals in general on the account as well as a link to purchase Juniper merchandise. Before you ask, yes I have made purchases is that helps you decide how healthy or crazy my obsession is.

There is so much more to learn about foxes, and I learn something new every day through this account on Instagram. I truly enjoy learning so much about foxes because I think they are just the most incredible and interesting creatures. I used to be a person who desperately wanted to own a fox and love it and cuddle it and we would live in perfect harmony and everything would be great. I no longer feel that naïve though. I understand how much time and effort goes into these animals and I’m self-aware that I probably will never truly have the time or devotion to be able to own one. I now spend my days obsessing over just getting to encounter one and play with it for a while, which I think is much more realistic.

Vine Has Vanished

Although six seconds doesn’t seem like a logical amount of time to film a video to entertain, inform or persuade an audience, the Vine application somehow made it work. Today marks five years since Vine first launched in 2013. Between January 24, 2013 and January 17, 2017 when it shut down, Vine reached up to 40 million followers and was still growing. From the help of EliteStrategies, here are some fun facts that most people didn’t know about Vine.

First of all, Vine got its name from the term “vignette”, which is the word used to describe a short, yet impressionable scene. As cool as that fun fact is, a better one is that Twitter owns Vine. This makes sense considering five Vines are tweeted every second and five tweets per second consist of Vine links. Part of the success, I think, Vine had was the ability of users to tweet Vines, and play them through several social media platforms. This made the Vines extremely accessible to users, which in turn helped the popularity of the application to grow. Even though Vine has officially shut down, links are still going viral and get passed through all sorts of social media for users of all aspects to still watch and enjoy. The application literally isn’t even a real thing anymore and it’s still being used by so many users, through different social medias. If that’s not impressive, I don’t know what is.

A downfall Vine had was being strictly a mobile application rather than being available on a desktop as well as a mobile device. Snapchat has that same issue as well. Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, are all social media platforms that are accessible through a mobile application, or simply through a URL on a laptop or desktop. This accessibility through different locations is a turn on for users who may not always have access to strictly a mobile device. Even though Vine had this problem, posts were still able to be viewed through third party websites on both mobile and non-mobile devices.

Everyone used Vine for different purposes, making it a very versatile platform. However, the most popular Vines and Vine users are based on comedy. Below are some of the most popular videos that went viral through the years that Vine was up and running, and still trend through different social medias. Viewer discretion is advised if you have a thing against bad words, they are used quite a bit.