Class Reflection

Looking back now I appreciate this class even more now that I've learned about the different job opportunities available such as social media consulting. I have learned different business techniques through the different readings we had and really enjoyed some of the abstract ideas presented such as the science fiction scenarios that are now turning into possibilities. Some future goals created by this class involve learning how to better use social media platforms and analyze data provided such as numbers of hits or traffic in a day. I plan to learn more about the consulting world as well and explore new technologies or sites that may be the next big trend and could gain an advantage for those interested in consulting. It's always important to keep up with trends and stay ahead of the curve if possible.

Final Project Video

http://youtu.be/7It9m9a04dk Here's my video on Social Media Consulting, Enjoy!

Final Post on Technology Dependence

All semester I've discussed the dependence my generation has on technology. All day, every day is spent staring at screens for a typical teenager or college student. The sad part about technology is that its only expanding and becoming an even bigger part of our lives, with things like Google Glasses and Samsung Galaxy Gear Watch being developed. Don't get me wrong, these gadgets seem pretty cool to me as well, however I can't help but take a step away from all the technology and really realize how much of our days are spent wasted on these gadgets. People no longer have real life conversations because its easier to just text or instant message them, children are growing up with Iphones by the age of 5 so their social skills are nonexistent, but hey, they'll be able to use Facebook and Instagram in no time so isn't it worth it? For those that didn't pick up on my sarcasm, I really don't like how the future looks with so much tech around, sometimes it honestly worries me. Science fiction scenarios where robotics soon control the world are honestly a real possibility with the way things are going along with the lazy mindset we live in that would rather a gadget or device as long as it simplifies their life. Everyone is in search of these helpful gadgets but they don't realize what they are giving up to acquire them and I fear they won't until it is too late. Its just became easier to accept the device dependent world than it is to try and make a change, which is rather unfortunate.

Final Consulting Project

As I have an interest in consulting and different aspects of building a social media strategy I decided to focus my final project presentation on the different aspects of social media consulting. The recent work with the CMMA really made me notice how important social media platforms can be and how useful it is to have a general understanding of social medias. Utilizing different analytics and statistics that sites such as Facebook offers on traffic and user interaction can be very useful to not only understand how many people are looking at your pages, but also be able to then make changes and adjust postings based on research from the data. Being able to understand different markets and then being able to consult on different topics such as marketing, research & development, or social media can be the important deciding factor that determines if a business chooses you over another consultant. This seems like a possible job opportunity that I would enjoy especially starting off out of college so I plan to research more on consulting jobs  thanks in part to this project for expanding my thinking and maybe further down the line i would even acquire a consulting internship.

Final CMMA Presentation

So our group recently completed our Social Media analysis of the CMMA and gave our final presentation on Tuesday, December 2nd to the board members of the Central Michigan Manufacturers Association and I feel it went great. They really seemed to appreciate our input and were open to any suggestions we had for them such as how to improve their different social media platforms or changes that could be made to their website to increase traffic and interested users. My sub-groups main focus was the website, which we then broke down into the 3 most important parts that the CMMA could improve. Adding an updating the calendar page on their website is a real simple step to increasing traffic to the site just based on people wanting to know upcoming events of the CMMA. The next improvement suggested was getting more exposure or search engine optimization through putting more links on different social medias and having more click-able links that link the CMMA to their actual website. The main suggestion I researched involved implementing a blog or newsletter to reach a younger generation that wants to read a different aspect of the CMMA whether that be from one of the board members each week or even CEO's of different CMMA corporations that may not be board members themselves. Together these suggestions, along with Facebook and LinkedIn suggestions, led to a great presentation that I feel like will really make an impact now on how the CMMA goes about creating a social media strategy.

Tracking Use of Social Media

You never really notice the impact something has until its removed completely. This goes the same with social media, especially in our lives where it seems social media is now the easiest way to communicate and stay in touch with friends and family. I decided to try my social media reprieve over thanksgiving break as I figured it wouldn't interfere with my schoolwork. It really becomes apparent how dependent people are to their devices when you take a minute to notice. Thankfully I was around family for the first part of the day which I miss by being away at college so it wasn't hard at all to just unplug from technology and social media but I did notice everyone else always having to check their phones or refresh their screens for the latest updates. I feel like social media almost dehumanizes people from actually experiencing emotions; instead they would rather Facebook status or tweet it. The second half of my day I spent with my friends which is when I really started to notice differences in time spent checking phones instead of actually communicating. It really opened my eyes to do this social media experiment and made me realize how much extra time I would have.

Social Media in my Career Interest

Social Media is expanding into almost all aspects of our lives nowadays and seems to be more important than reality for some people. This relates to my career interest because Entrepreneurship is expanding in our world as well and becoming a bigger part in both the business and consulting markets. This is important because it creates new opportunities and jobs because of social media such as having a social media consultant for digital and marketing within the business. Also, companies have designated employees whose sole jobs are to be in charge of and monitor social media platforms for that company. Entrepreneurs are now taking advantage of more use of social media by creating businesses that solely depend on social media like facebook and twitter to gain customers and keep them satisfied by answering questions and requests. Food truck entrepreneurs are also now using social media to their advantage by finding and posting the best locations on any given night for their food trucks to gain more customers as well as letting them then suggest the best spots around town for a food truck. These are just a few examples of the opportunities social media offers due to society's increasing dependence on it.