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A quick post from #aejmc2013 via my tablet.
Though there have been many highlights such as seeing old colleagues and seeing creative and innovative scholarship, I want to take a quick second to share one thing that I have really enjoyed.
I came across this great infographic summarizing a study by Alhabash, Quilliam and Zeldes from Michigan State at my high density session Thursday on Social Media, Attitudes, and Behaviors (I apologize for the poor photo quality). At high density sessions, presenters are supposed to provide a summary handout of their article. This is a visually engaging way of presenting complex info – making me realize yet another great use of infographics I hadn’t considered.
I plan to keep a hard copy to show my social media class as an example for their infographic assignment. Note to self for future conferences: An article summary is a perfect candidate for an infographic. Though I haven’t seen any yet, I imagine an infographic would make for a great poster at a scholar-to-scholar session.
This is why I love conferences.
As an aside, I am getting no service on my phone at the conference. My apologies for the lack of tweeting! Got to run.
Off to the scholar-to-scholar Advertising session at the grand ballroom south. Saw some interesting social media and advertising studies listed in the program!
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Quick Update: The NCA conference is also in Washington, DC this year. The below information is applicable to folks visiting DC for that conference, or any other conference too! Enjoy! – Matt
You may not know it, but I grew up in Suburban Washington (near the Dulles airport) and have spent a good amount of time in that wonderful city. So I thought I’d mention a few great things to help you get the most of your visit to my favorite city!
Getting To the Conference!
Flying into Dulles?
Many people think the Dulles Airport (IAD) is in the city. It is not. In fact, it is a good 45 minute drive from downtown Washington in Dulles, Virginia. If you are not getting a rental car or catching a ride from a colleague, your best bet (that is, your least expensive option) is probably the Metro bus system. That is because there is no Metro train from the airport to the city. Instead, you need to ride the Metro bus to the Metro train (aka, subway) station. Then, board the Metro train to get to the conference hotel. Fortunately, the bus system is pretty great and it isn’t too hard. Here is all the info you should need to get from IAD to a DC metro train stop.
Flying into Reagan National Airport?
You can take the Metro train right into Washington DC. No, you are not in DC yet! You are actually in Virginia across the Potomac river. There are great views of the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument from this side of the river.
Getting Around the City
Cycling
First off, DC has a great bicycle program called Capital Bikeshare. You can rent a bike for as little as 1 day! Kiosks for picking up and dropping off bikes are located throughout the city.
Demystifying the DC Metro Transportation System
The DC Metro train is your best bet for getting around DC. In my opinion, the DC Metro is 1 of the best, cleanest subway systems in the US. (tip: You wont’ find any bathrooms in the Metro stations). Here are a few things to help you maximize your use of the DC Metro:
Purchasing a fare card – When you enter the train station, there are kiosks where you buy your ticket. You can buy a paper card or a Smart card (discussed below). Fees are based on the time of day and distance traveled – that is, you buy a ticket with enough $ on it to get you where you are going. A chart above the kiosk will show you how much your ticket is ONE WAY. Peek hours cost more – so check the time of day. The kiosks accept cash, debit, and credit cards. Each person must have their own fare card.
After purchasing your fare, slide your fare card / or swipe your Smart Trip card to gain access to the station. (Just watch what others are doing, it is straightforward). Keep your fare card/ Smart trip card. You will need it to swipe when you get off the Metro to exit the station!
Smart Card versus Fare Card
Tip: DO NOT put your paper card or your smart trip card near a credit card in your wallet. The magnetic strip on the credit card often “erases” your fare card, causing you hassle because the exit station will not read it. It will think your card is empty. If this does happen, talk to the workers at the exit station and they usually are kind and understanding. This happens all the time. If you are unlucky, they may make you buy a new fare card for the distance you have traveled.
Paper Fare Card – When you buy a paper fare card you can put as much money on it as you like, up to a limit. When you exit the station, the amount you used for that trip will be reduced. And the leftover money can be used to ride the metro again. This saves you from having to buy a paper fare card every time you travel. This cute video shows you how to use a paper fare card, and ride the metro!
Smart Trip Card – Smart trip cards are plastic cards that cost $10 – that covers the $5 for the card, and $5 balance on the card to be used for riding the metro. You can add up to $300. However, each ride with a Smart Trip Card costs $1 less ($2 roundtrip) than a paper fare card. If you plan to ride the metro more than 5 times ONE WAY, it is worth it to buy a Smart Trip card. Here’s a great video on how to buy a Smart Trip card and what you will need to do! Here’s another great video on using Smart Trip.
Planning Your Trip on Metro
The metro system contains multiple lines, each indicated by a color. So changing from one line to another is sometimes necessary at interchange stations. Also, in rare cases you may need to ride a Metro bus to get where your going as the Metro train system is somewhat limited. The great news is, you can use the online Trip Planner to calculate the time, cost, and route needed to get from here to there including transfers between train lines and busses.
Maps and Apps
Like any subway system, maps are easy to find in the stations and on the trains. The Metro offers a great “Visitors Kit” with a PDF with maps, fare prices, etc. But if you own a smart phone, there’s a better way to get around the DC metro.
The best thing about DC is that you don’t have to spend much money to truly enjoy it.
The National Mall and Memorial Park Iconic Monuments and Buildings – If there is one thing I recommend, it is to spend the day on the National Mall seeing the icons of DC: The Capitol, the White House, the Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln Monuments, the World War 2, Vietnam, and Korean War memorials, and the new Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial. The National Park Service offers this great map of the area. It is a bit of a walk from one end to the other (the Capitol to the Lincoln Memorial). But well worth it! Bring water as there is little shade on a hot day!
Smithsonian Museums – These museums are FREE!! and are located near the national mall (not a shopping mall, but a big field between the Washington Monument and the Capitol) There are a lot to choose from (19 in total!), each with its own focus such as the American History Museam, Natural History Museam, etc. My favorite growing up was always the Air and Space Museum!
Other Great Things to See and Do!
The Newseum – Any media scholar or fan should see this!
Night Life? Georgetown is great for nightlife. Adams Morgan is another area with a lot of night life and has a bit more of a party scene. But there are bars, clubs, etc., here. If you are looking for something more low key, I would avoid Adams Morgan.
Music – The 9:30 club is a famous club for all sorts of music!
I hope you found this post helpful in making the most out of Washington DC! If you did, please share it on Twitter, Facebook, etc. Got advice, tips, or places you suggest people see? Please drop a comment below!
Masahiro Yamamoto, Francis Dalisay, and I are presenting our paper titled “Social Media and Mobiles: Examining the Moderating Role of Online Political Expression in Political Participation” Thursday, August 8th 1:30-3pm in room 071. This will be my first time participating in a “high-density session!” The theme is “social media, attitudes, and behaviors.” Hope to see you at AEJMC!
Note: This post is NOT affiliated with AEJMC in any way.
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for details.
This week flew by! Today’s Web Roundup contains a variety of articles.
Search:
This week’s subject has been search, as on Monday I published a post on Snickers use of search in a very creative campaign – if you haven’t seen it, check it out! In an article “Why search is much bigger than you can measure,” Chris Penn talks about some of the ways in which web traffic from search is being masked, preventing us from realizing the true volume of people who are being referred to our site from search.
Social Media and Education:
Recently, Karen Freberg (@kfreberg) Tweeted a great article with Infographics from MediaBistro on social media and education. Of course I agree with the article that: “Social media has revolutionised many industries, but it’s perhaps its impact on the classroom, and the education system as a whole, that is the most striking.” There is a lot of interesting data here. A few things that stuck out to me:
59% of students who use social networks talk about education topics online
50% of those who talk about education online talk specifically about schoolwork.
Also, there is a great infographic exploring just some of the benefits of using social media in school for teachers, students, and parents. There is also another infographic showing the uses of a variety of social media tools to enhance the classroom.
Current Events and Social Media
“Twitter user swiftly sabotages Zimmerman juror’s book deal“ on Yahoo news – With the outpouring of emotion and opinion regarding the verdict in the George Zimmerman case, one person turned to Twitter in an attempt to block a juror in the case from getting the book deal. She succeeded. Here again we see the power of social media to rally support for/against an event. I’m not so sure such the effort could have succeeded in the pre-social media age, or at least so quickly (The article claims she succeeded in 6 hours!) The decision by the Martin Literary Agency to seek to publish a book on the controversial trial has certainly left many people shaking their head. The agency was forced to respond to social pressure and did so quickly, releasing a statement. What do you think about how the Martin Literary Agency responded to this situation?
If you’re an old school Internet nerd like me, you’ll appreciate this list of “Things that will make you miss the old days of the Internet” from the masters of the web list, BuzzFeed Rewind. Take a walk down memory lane with classic screen savers, AOL, the comforting sounds of dialup, and much more!
Dr. K Roundup
In personal news, my wife Kelin and I will be getting our very first puppy later this month, a bergamasco! My wife grew up with dogs but this is all new to me! I’ve been reading a lot of Cesar Millan books! I’m considering joining Instagram or another photo-sharing social site to share photos of our new dog experience. My Instagram knowledge is rather limited, so this may be a fun way to get up to date on this burgeoning social network. If you’ve got any thoughts on what the best photo apps are, or have any tips and tools, I’d love your input.
Hope to see you at #AEJMC next week! Have a great weekend.
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for details.
Snickers used search engines to target customers who were making misspellings during search. This cost-effective campaign reached over 500,000 people in 2 days.
How did it work? As explained on a Google article, “Each time someone misspelled a word, they were given a tailored message to “Grab yourself a Snikkers” as “Yu cant spel properlie wen hungrie.” Clicking the ad brought the customer to YoureNotYouWhenYoureHungry.com.
This is the most brilliant example of search engine marketing I’ve seen in quite a while. And the lessons here extend beyond search engine marketing to search generally, and understanding audience and opportunity. What makes this campaign so great?
Integration across mediums – Integrated Marketing is not new, but this is clever integration of an offline campaign that many of us already know to the online world: Snickers’ “You’re Not You When You’re Hungry.” You’ve probably seen the “diva” commercials of someone being hungry and acting moody, then returning to themselves after being given a Snickers. With that familiarity, I know what Snickers is referring to when the campaign ad comes up in search.
Seizing Opportunity– This year, a big trend has been ‘real-time marketing‘ on Twitter. We saw it with Oreo and Audi in the Super Bowl when the lights went out.This week, we saw it with the birth of the royal baby. What is real-time marketing other than taking advantage of an OPPORTUNITY to reach out to an audience and connect with them on a common event or cultural experience? Of course, this type of strategy has been around for ages. Find someone when they’re in need of your product and they’re more likely to buy. But this is a particularly clever way of engaging an audience in that situation and frame of mind.
The search campaign here comes off as an almost secret finding for the searcher, like a treasure hunt they didn’t know they were a part of. There you are browsing for something – like business -, you make a misspelling, are probably frustrated by it, and out of left field comes this funny little find. Hence, an OPPORTUNITY for the target audience to interact with Snickers is created. Who wouldn’t chuckle at someone joking that “Yu cant spel properlie wen hungrie.” at a time like this? It feels like the ad was targeted specifically to you. That’s what I mean when I mention the ‘situation’ and ‘frame of mind’ below.
The video below quickly gives a sense of how Snickers identified an opportunity to target an audience (in this case, young adults who are likely bored, hungry for a snack, and appreciate creativity and humor from a brand), and used search as a creative way of connecting. Though I’m not sure what level of competition they had for the misspelled words, I imagine it wasn’t too great when compared to trying to bid on real spellings for a targeted keyword.
Understanding search behavior – Snickers identified common misspellings of key words. As the video claims, people ‘make spelling mistakes when they’re hungry.’ Though I don’t know about the research on that, I can say that people make spelling mistakes all the time in search. And aren’t we all always hungry for a snack, particularly something sweet?
Meeting Your target demographic on their turf – Snickers targets their audience WHERE their audience is, in the situation and frame of mind that makes them ready to purchase. Let me explain. Who eats Snickers? Well, just about everybody (though I’m a Charleston Chew guy myself). But the campaign uses an odd sense of humor to appeal to younger folks and that busy lifestyle we all experience that makes quick snacks like candy bars an easy option. The video indicates the real target is the bored person at work who is stuck at a computer. And what office doesn’t have a vending machine nearby, or a convenient store around the corner? We’ve seen this sort of targeting in other chocolate bar ads, a la “Gimmie a break” indicating the snack as a quick escape from the drudgery of everyday life.
The resulting experience for the searcher? I didn’t mean to show up at this misspelled search result but, behold, I’m not here alone… Snickers is here too, they’ve made this mistake, and they understand WHY I’m here.
Bringing this all together, I love this example because it shows how one brand cleverly reached an audience on a small budget using something we often talk about, search engines, but don’t always quite realize their full potential.
This is a great example I plan to show in my class to emphasize the importance of search engines, and how they can be used to target audiences (I introduce targeting via search in Writing Across Platforms). I’m sure it will spark discussion and some creativity!
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for details.
Current Events and Social Media
What were those Chipotle Tweets all about? – That’s the question some are asking after a series of bizarre Tweets by the restaurant chain. In a boldly titled article, “How to alienate your Twitter followers: Chipotle staged hack falls flat,” Hayley Tsukayama indicates that Chipotle was trying to ride the tide of other brands that found surprising success (i.e., increases in followers – if #s = success on social media) after being hacked. According to the article, a spokesperson for Chipotle claimed the Tweets were related to a treasure hunt promo the company was working on. To see some of the Tweets, check out this post by BuzzFeed jokingly titled “Either Chipotle doesn’t know how to use Twitter, or they know exactly how to use Twitter” in reference to the 3700 RTs the brand received.
What was the true motive for the Tweets? We’ll never know. The larger question is, was it good for Chipotle? I’m not as critical of Chipotle here as others may be. Clearly, awareness of Chipotle’s treasure hunt promo is lacking and cross-media tie in was ineffective. The “stunt,” executed differently, could have worked very well as part of the promo. To me, the question here is one of social media identity.
What seems to bother people here is that Chipotle acted in a way inconsistent with its brand identity, specifically its social media identity. Chiptole comes across as lighthearted and a little strange (there are talking pigs and chickens on their website) – but it was acting a bit erratic on Twitter.
Let’s keep in mind that those following your brand on Twitter are not going to be aware of what you’re doing in other spaces unless you clearly tell them. Seeing as that can be a difficult thing to do (our attention span is short and we’re not always listening when the Tweets go out) a separate Twitter account for the promo may have been another option. Though this option carries with it some serious limitations, it presents a great opportunity to explore how social media identity is tied up into this.
Remember, your identity is wrapped up in your social profile. And your identity is what others think you are. Your Twitter followers expect you to behave in a way that is consistent with how they perceive your Twitter identity. That is why building that identity – playful, serious, etc., is at the core of the success of a social account. It is easier to create a separate identity (separate Twitter account) that can behave differently than it is to acclimate existing Twitter acquaintances to an aberration or long-term change in personality. Consider your interactions with others every day. If your good friend who was mild-mannered and easy-going suddenly became the life of the party, you’d wonder if something was wrong. You might say, “I like the old Sally.” It is not to say you don’t like having a friend who is the life of the party. But that role is something you associate with a different friend (personality). It is always much easier to introduce people to someone new than a new you. In this instance, Chipotle could have remained consistent with their existing account.
Of course, why have to try and bring followers to a new account when you’ve done the hard work of building your existing followers? And that is a serious limitation to this alternative and a very good reason why you may not want to build a separate account in a situation like this.
Separate account or no, cryptic and erratic may not be the best way to go on social. At any rate, it gives us a great opportunity to think about social media, identity, audience expectations, and that ever-growing need to stand out in our attention economy.
Experimentation and bravery are needed. And I applaud Chipotle for that. You can’t know until you try. Is the whole thing quite strange? Yes. Is it going to have any real negative impact on the brand? I doubt it. (next week I’ll have a post about another brand who did a great job of doing something different and having great success!)
What do you think about the Chipotle Twitter situation? Is it an inconsistent social media identity that has people talking about this , or is it something else?
For some time before starting Social Media Syllabus, I’d thought about blogging again the way I think about getting back in shape to play lacrosse again or making homemade bread like Kelin and I used to – as a distant and improbable ‘wouldn’t it be nice’ scenario. I had started a blog briefly in graduate school, but being too busy, I shut it down. And honestly, my first blog lacked focus and intent. I hadn’t really thought through who I was writing to and why they should read my blog. I just wanted to blog and so I began. Needless to say, it didn’t go anywhere. Isn’t that the case with so many blogs?
So when I got my hands on Born to Blog after first hearing about Schaefer’s Tao of Twitter, I was excited and anxious. Clearly I wasn’t “born to blog,” I thought, reflecting on my first blogging failure. So I wasn’t really planning on starting a blog again. But a few chapters later I found myself plotting out Social Media Syllabus and telling myself, ‘this time it will be different.’
The book Born to Blog offers readers 3 important things:
The “how to” and motivation to become a successful blogger
A clear understanding of the value of blogging
A roadmap for planning, launching, and maintaining a successful blog.
The first part of the book focuses on motivating the reader and explaining what it takes to become a successful blogger, emphasizing the 5 common types of bloggers: dreaming, storytelling, persuading, teaching, and curating.
Readers are encouraged to determine what type of blogger they are and to harness their strengths to be themselves (not surprisingly, I found myself to fit the ‘teaching’ type). The writing style makes the book approachable and friendly. The reader can tell that the authors want to help, want you to be successful, and want you to not only have the knowledge to succeed but feel that you are capable of succeeding at blogging. The authors offer a number of great examples of brave bloggers sharing their story as well as their own personal anecdotes. This book is not filled with hype or promises that your blog will be successful. There are many out there selling snake oil in the social space. There are no illusions or “get rich quick” schemes. The plan the authors put forward clearly requires a great deal of work and commitment on your behalf. Mark and Stanford are clear that blogging is a marathon, not a sprint, telling the reader they will need tenacity and encouraging them to “not give up.”
Secondly, the authors concisely explain the value of blogging for a business in clear terms. The focus of the book is primarily on the use of blogging as a tool for business, a la content marketing. (There is a brief section in the back on personal blogging that I wish was placed earlier in the book). In this section, the authors tackle many of the common questions or concerns that companies face from “How often should we blog?” to the possibility of negative comments, or maybe worse no comments at all!, to potential legal issues
While the book isn’t quite as in-depth in terms of offering advice on how to create a content plan and calendar as Content Rules, it offers a great overview and enough to get you started. The authors do a strong job in the middle section of the book tackling important issues surrounding finding and nurturing blog contributors, developing a content plan, uncovering valuable content within your own company your readers want, and more. Readers should keep in mind that this is a shorter book tackling blogging specifically. I would recommend Content Rules, a book we’ll be using in my Writing Across Platforms class, as a supplement to this book.
I appreciate the emphasis on the theme in this book that blogging is a journey of personal growth. As bloggers, the authors remind us that we cannot expect to be perfect. We are constantly growing, learning, and hopefully improving. I have used Born to Blog as a guide and have turned to the book on many occasions for help with questions I’ve had along the way.
if you’re looking to get into blogging or improving an existing blog, whether personally or for a business, I highly recommend this book. I plan on using it for my social media class this upcoming fall (see social media syllabus. You can also learn more about the class) as the text for our class semester-long blogging assignment. I hope the students will find it as approachable, motivating, and informative as I have!
Do you have any great books you recommend for bloggers? If you’ve read Born to Blog, what did you think?
I’m stoked we’ll be having some amazing speakers visiting with us this semester:
Leigh-Anne Mauk – Social Media & Public Information Specialist @ Hagerstown Community College Office of Public Information & Government Relations. Leigh-Anne is also a writer, social media consultant, and more!
Nate Bagley – An expert in social media with a wide array of experience, Nate is a graduate of my former institution Utah Valley University. He’s the creator of a great podcast that seeks to prove true love exists in the 21st century, the Loveumentary!
Mark W. Schaefer – author of our course text this fall, Born to Blog, and super-well known blogger and social media expert!
2. New Theme and Menu
I really want to do a better job of providing access to resources in social media education, including my own work as well as that of others. I get a lot of traffic to the blog from people looking for social media education syllabi, assignments, and more.
I’ve updated the theme for easier reading of articles. Readers no longer have to click on every article they want to read, they can simply scroll down. If you like the new theme, let me know! If you’d prefer the old theme, I’d like to know that too. :)
I’ve re-organized the menu on this blog, which is now permanently on the left, in an attempt to help people find what they’re looking for more easily. This includes a reorg of blog topics, pointing to teaching resources I’ve created, and I’ve added a link to all my syllabi hosted on Scribd. What do you think?
Along those lines, if you have links to social media education resources you’d like to share with our readers, please leave a comment below, or contact me via Twitter, G+ or LinkedIn. I’d love to link to them on this blog!
3. We’re Past 25!
Lastly, my last blog post marked a milestone. It was post #25 since starting this blog this past February! I’m so excited that my previous blog post on Mendeley’s new Literature Search was by far the most read blog post since I’ve started this blog. Thanks so much to everyone who shared it. I am hoping to expand the focus of the blog to include more posts like this on productivity, tips, and tricks for fellow professors. If you’ve got a topic you’d like to see a post about, please contact me or leave a comment below!
A Social Media Education Blog by Matthew J. Kushin, Ph.D.
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