Workshop Time

Last week I had the opportunity to attend PRSSA’s 2023 Social Media Workshop! I’ll be honest, going into this I was not in the least bit excited. I’m a commuter so this workshop equated to being at school longer than I had to be, without me even thinking of the opportunity that was ahead of me. I couldn’t have been more wrong of my initial impressions that this would be some sort of “waste of time.”

 

I arrived late. It was very embarrassing. It had completely slipped my mind that I had a quiz for another one of my classes at ten in the morning, so before going to the workshop I took the quiz as fast as I possibly could. After that, I rushed over to Mac, ran up into the ballroom and got to the sign-in desk. Dr. Aggie was there, and she seemed happy to see me. She gave me my materials for the day, and I then was left to finding a seat in the packed room which was already listening intently to the seminar that I was late to. Naturally, I went to the nearest table which was full of women I didn’t know, asked if I could sit, and sat after being greeted kindly. The speaker was phenomenal. He was a big PR guy at Disney and explained to us what his journey had consisted of to get to where he was. He had many wise words, so many that I actually took notes on what he had to say. After this, I went downstairs to attend two more seminars, one being on podcasting and the other being on social media audits. Both of these were incredibly informative and really showcased the speakers’ expertise of their subject matters. This is where I did my live tweet assignment for my Social Media class, which actually served well in helping me remember the information that I had been listening to. Unfortunately, I couldn’t stay for long because I had work in the afternoon, but I was very happy that I had went and I learned a lot in my time there.

Snapchat: A Secret Treasure

To the younger generations, many social media platforms of old have grown stale. They’re unused, undervalued, and are on their way to a grave that is dug by new generations. Snapchat is not one of these. Snapchat, though viewed as a platform that is unprofessional, is one of the most effective marketing tools on the internet.

I was at one point unaware of the success that digital marketers have had on Snapchat. I always have used the app as more of a chatroom of sorts, only to answer DM’s and text with people I’m not comfortable enough with to give my number to. Never did I bat an eye at the multitude of ads that are quite literally sneaked into my viewing. My mind is seriously boggled at the statistics I saw on the successes of Snapchat marketing. Ads are 2x more viewed than that of Facebook, they have an astronomically low cost, and they’re extremely effective in sales due to the fast-paced nature of the network.

 Not only this, but marketing with Snapchat plays into the role that I personally have lent it. I don’t like giving out my phone number, but Snapchat is a more comfortable medium for communication. The same goes for marketing. Snapchat is a very accessible, comforting platform for one on one interaction with a potential customer. This can make advertising much more personal, and can provide for blossoming relationships that are not seen on other social networking platforms. I’ve been a big fan of Snapchat for a long time, and this adds onto that respect. Snapchat is a fantastic network for advertising and their statistics shocked me to say the least.

Interviewing a Social Media Expert

 For my Social Media Marketing class I was asked to interview a social media expert and make a podcast of that interview. This was a completely new experience to me that brought about a lot of questions initially. What exactly is a social media expert? Who would I ask? How does one go about editing and producing a podcast? Luckily for me, the first two of these questions were easily answered. I quickly figured out what an “expert,” in social media would be someone who makes a living off of it. Someone who actually knows about social media enough to make it their livelihood. I was lucky enough to actually have someone like this in my family. That being my cousin-in-law Emily Brock, an accomplished marketer who currently is working in pharmaceutical marketing at a company in New York. She works remotely so I was able to go to her house in Lima to interview her. Talk about an opportunity to learn!

 I went to Emily’s house at about 8 P.M to get started, and I wasn’t even fully aware of her immense experience in social media marketing specifically until I began the interview. As it turned out, Emily prior to working in pharmaceutical actually was a social media coordinator for most of the fast food industry of Lima, Ohio. Big names like Arby’s, Burger King, and others reached out to her hoping to gain some ground in the quickly evolving social media landscape. Needless to say, these credentials made me excited for what I was about to learn.

 And learn I did. I asked Emily a series of questions regarding her experiences with issues in social media, and for every single one it was as if she had a script that she was reading from. It was all so detailed for it being on the spot, it was truly remarkable to see her talk about these things for minutes at a time without stopping for a second thought. She told me the details of how Meta makes marketing with social much easier, such as how bots work to produce immediate responses to customers on social media. Another question I asked her was over the threat of negative feedback via social media and she had a great deal to comment on surrounding that. She told me that a good marketer never shuts off their comments and responses to social media posts because shutting down criticism is just as bad as it being there to see. To see a company’s social media shut off comments takes away a lot of credibility due to the fact that rather than rectifying issues with customers in the comments they choose to simply put them out of view. I agreed from a consumer perspective completely, as I have seen this kind of behavior on social media before and I also found it very shady.

I wish that I had more time than 5 minutes to let her continue talking about her experiences in social media, because her knowledge of the field was truly remarkable.  The show notes were as follows: Introduce Emily and allow her to explain her credibility to the audience, ask Emily two or three questions concerning issues in social media, asking her the positives of social media marketing, and also a constant reminder to put my feedback in from the consumer perspective. It is no wonder why she is considered an expert in her field. That concluded the interview and I drove home, left in awe of all I had just learned.