Am I an engaging individual online?

As you may have noticed, several of my blog posts this semester had to do with my current public relations class, which focuses on digital and online public relations.

For this final post of the semester, I will answer 5 questions from my professor to evaluate my digital engagement this semester.

Question 1:   Reflecting on the assignment to identify a firm, key influencers, a job and skills needed to be a successful candidate, do you feel more or less prepared to succeed after taking this class?

Let me start by clarifying that I took this professor’s content development class this summer, and am also working as a social media intern for Texas Tech University’s Office of Communication & Marketing.

I’ve encountered the majority of ideas discussed in this class before, whether from a previous class or through my job. I started this semester with a blog, unified social media profiles, a Klout score above 55, and a pretty thorough understanding of how to use Hootsuite and the features that accompany it.

That being said, this class did require me to polish my accounts and profiles a bit more and create content for this blog on a consistent schedule. In that way, I think this class will contribute to future success in the digital sphere.

Question 2:   Discuss how your blog and the information you are sharing with others through social media is enhancing your online reputation – both personally and professionally.

What would be the point of having a blog if I didn't post anything?

I am not the most consistent blogger, almost constantly putting other things first like class, work, friends, sleep, and so on. Even when I am blogging, my blog’s content is generally more for my friends and not relating to the fields of public relations or content development.

By writing and sharing about these fields more this semester, I have been engaging more with other people and letting them know that I have opinions and input to add (which is good).

Question 3:   Discuss the characteristics that have helped build your online reputation (ex. personality characteristics, information sharing behavior, engaging consistently and professionally with followers and others through social media, etc).

I act a little differently on various social media platforms.

My personal brand on Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat are all about interacting and engaging with friends on a consistent basis, taking pictures of new things I try and with people I engage with.

On Twitter and LinkedIn, I follow a lot of high-powered professionals who focus on public relations, content and social media, and I interact with their posts by liking, commenting, and sharing. I don’t have many engaged followers to interact with, although I’m sure that will change eventually.

Question 4:   Which Hootsuite report did you choose to run? Discuss results.

I ran the detailed twitter engagement report. It seemed like a good way to visualize how I’ve actually been doing on Twitter, and the results were both disappointing and eye-opening.

My growth in number of followers on Twitter has been pretty sporadic. While I definitely have more now than I used to, there have been large periods of time when people unfollowed me. It also appears that my content is not popular enough to be retweeted or for my personal brand to be mentioned. These are some things to work on in the future.

Question 5:   What were your perceptions before and after this assignment in regards to online reputation management (AKA Digital Footprint)?

I knew that it was important to have an influential digital footprint, and I’ve built up a pretty decent Klout score this year (which shows that I influence a good number of people).

While working on Texas Tech’s social media, I analyze the university’s influence and the influence of its competitors on a monthly basis. I understand how to present a unified brand tone with specific hashtags and keywords, while posting engaging content and interacting with followers and potential followers.

In that regard, my perceptions of online reputation management haven’t really changed, although I’ve come to understand more of the nuanced differences in managing a large brand’s digital footprint and managing my own personal digital footprint.

Avocado Pockets

As I've mentioned before, I'm all about that avocado.

I normally eat the avocado straight from its skin or as guacamole, but I wanted to do something a little more creative and new this time.

The result? I'm calling them Avocado Pockets!

Not only are these little pockets surprisingly quick and easy, but they're simply delicious!


They can serve as a snack, an appetizer or a meal, be eaten with your hands or with a fork.


While they have plenty of flavor on their own, they also pair well with salsa and barbeque sauce, and will probably work with just about any sauce you want to try.

So, what do you need to make them?

The cool thing is that you could add just about any ingredients you like, and it would probably turn out great. 

This time around, I used:

-> 1 avocado
-> 4 mini sweet peppers
-> a bit of cheese
-> 1 tube of crescent rolls

How did I make them?

1. I rolled out the crescent dough. Instead of dividing the dough into their triangles, I kept them in rectangles, so I could fit more filling into them.

2. Into each of the four rectangles I put even amounts of cheese, avocado and peppers on one side.

3. I then folded over the other sides of the rectangles, and pressed down the edges.

4. I put them in the oven at 350 for about 12 minutes. The baking time may change slightly based on your particular oven. 

* I used a toaster oven because I was only making four avocado pockets, but its temperature is on par with my regular oven, so that doesn't make a noticeable difference.

Now, before I close out, I want to tell you about this cheese that I used. While I normally use sharp (or extra sharp) cheddar cheese, I am hooked on this champagne cheddar that I buy from Costco.

Yes, you read correctly: champagne cheddar.

It is fantastic.


It tastes like cheddar (because it is), but it also tastes like champagne. I don't know how it works, but I greatly appreciate whoever came up with the idea.


Not only is it classy, but it pairs excellently with anything I would add barbeque with, and it's just great.


You should just try it for yourself.




Enjoying my delicious avocado dinner,
The Purple Writer

What do James Bond films earn on opening weekend?

The James Bond film SPECTRE came out this past weekend (Nov. 8). I loved it so much that I watched it twice.

My James Bond class got free shirts from Sony and went to see SPECTRE at Alamo Drafthouse on Nov. 9

I was curious and looked up what SPECTRE and previous James Bond films have earned during their opening weekends.


I was interested in the changes in early viewership and reception between the movies and also wanted to see how SPECTRE stacked up against the other recent films.


I found some websites with useful information, but they featured long lists on numbers and data which played tricks with my eyes.


There was a graph with squiggly lines which helped a little but was still confusing and didn't really help me comprehend what I was looking for.

Recently in my Online & Digital PR class, we've been talking about the importance of data visualization.

Not only do colorful pictures draw our eyes and keep our attention for longer, but it is easier for us to distinguish trends, patterns and possible anomalies when looking at visual data.

Therefore, I decided to make my own infographic interpreting this data.

The gauge chart focuses on which month each film was released, while showing how much they earned in their opening weekends in comparison with the other films.

The blue/green sections represent summer months while the purple sections represent winter months.

The move from summer to winter months appears to have significantly impacted the James Bond franchise.


The bar graph focuses on how much each of the films earned on opening weekend.

I color-coded this graph by the actors who played Bond to differentiate the eras of the films.

While The Spy Who Loved Me ($1,347,927) does not appear on the chart, the other films range from $6,834,967 (For Your Eyes Only) to $88,364,714 (Skyfall).

The source of information I used only had opening weekend box office information for the James Bond films made from 1977 to 2015.

Although the numbers for SPECTRE are estimated rather than definite because it released so recently, I went ahead and included its weekend performance at $73,000,000.


I think it is interesting to note the increase in the immediate earnings when Pierce Brosnan entered the world of Bond in 1995, after six years with no James Bond films. This contrasts with the decrease when Daniel Craig premiered as Bond, although his films have gone on to be big earners.

While the James Bond films have always been popular, they have been becomingly increasingly large productions which generally results in larger returns. I would like to go on to compare production budgets with the films' earnings and look at overall box office results for the James Bond films.

However, this train of thought will probably have to wait until I finish finals and end-of-semester projects.


Looking forward to my James Bond class' discussion on SPECTRE this evening,
The Purple Writer

What do I look like online?

First: Why am I online?

1. I want my social media accounts to show that I know what I am doing as a hopeful social media coordinator. 

2. I want to highlight that I have a healthy social life while balancing it with responsible studies and work.

3. I want to have engaging and relevant content posted on a semi-regular basis for my audience.

However, I have two main audiences that I am split between on social media.

-> Professional connections and potential employers

I want to appear well-rounded but mainly want to highlight my professional content and tone. For this audience, I don’t want to appear superfluous or easily distracted, so I try to put a lot of thought into what I post and how I want it to appear.

-> My friends

The majority of my friends don't care about public relations and I don’t want to bore them with unnecessary content. The things I create and share for this audience include fun posts about my life and showing how I interact with my friends in real life.

Second: What do I post?

I am active on several social media platforms.

My Twitter account is geared toward my professional connections and potential employers. 

On this platform, I almost never post anything about my life, instead posting semi-regularly with a professional tone about relevant content to my spheres of influence: social media, Texas Tech, digital marketing, public relations, etc.

My Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat accounts are geared almost entirely toward my friends. 

The majority of posts on these platforms deal with my life and engage with my friends, having barely any content dealing with public relations on these platforms.

My Pinterest account and my blog are split between my two audiences. 

On Pinterest, about half the pins I choose relate to public relations, content development and social media while the other half of my pins relate to my fandoms and hobbies. My followers on Pinterest can easily opt out of seeing the boards they do not care to see, and will then be presented with a steady stream of content that interests them. 

At the same time, my blog alternates between posts for and relating to class and posts dealing with current movies, projects, recipes, etc. My blog leans more heavily toward engaging with my friends except when I am blogging for a class, in which case the opposite is true.

I am not active on Google+ or YouTube.
I mainly use those platforms to see other content and not to share my own content.

Third: How do I appear?

When I search my name in Google, Bing and Yahoo, I immediately appear. 

All of the posts and pictures on the front page of those searches, and the majority of the following two or three pages, are content that I have posted on the internet.

If someone searched for me, they would be able to easily find my social media accounts, and no compromising or embarrassing content, which I do not post to begin with.  

Although the image results from these searches quickly devolve into images that I have pinned or that aren’t related to me, the first few images are consistently my profile pictures.

Among other Google Alerts I have set up, I have alerts set for “lydia clinkscales” and “lydiaclink.” Although the only notifications I receive from these alerts are of content that I have recently shared, it is reassuring  to know that I would quickly find out if something else was posted about me.

My Klout score has consistently stayed in the 55 to 57 range throughout this semester.

Before this semester, my score was consistently in the 53 to 55 range during the summer. 

There was a clear improvement in engagement when my friends returned from summer break.

The majority of my engagement and influence takes place on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

As this pie graph from Klout shows, over a third of my engagement takes place on Facebook. 

Instagram and Twitter are the second and third platforms that I am most influential on.

I have tiny slivers of influence on LinkedIn and Klout, and none on Google+ and YouTube, which makes sense as I am not active on those accounts.

My blog is not very popular, as I am still trying to solidify the main goal of my blog. I am currently building up the amount of content I have on the blog, and once I find my actual niche, I will increase my promotion.

Page views of my blog were at an all-time high in March 2015, with the inconsistency of my posting reflected in the inconsistency of page views.

While I tend to cross-post content across platforms well, there are not many calls to action. 

(Why is that important? Check out my blog about it).

Because most platforms have space for one website link, my accounts direct traffic toward my blog of my website.

My website hosts my blog and directs people out to my social media accounts, but if people do not take the extra step of looking at my website, they may need to use google search to find my other accounts.

Fourth: What should I focus on?

Here are six goals I want to focus on and how I plan on accomplishing them

1. Establish my blog as a credible source of information

-> Create a bank of content that I can work from to share content at consistent times

-> Narrow down the topics I cover on my blog, so the content itself will be more consistent

-> Interact with other bloggers with curated content and guest posts

2. Present a more consistent image of myself across platforms

-> Update information on all accounts at the same time

-> Blend the tones I use to interact with my two audiences, to present a consistent tone

-> Use more calls to action that connect my social media accounts

3. Engage both of my audiences more equally across social media platforms

-> Engage with content that is both fun and professional at the same time

-> Cross-post across all platforms when the format is applicable

 4. Be able to present my social media accounts as my resume when applying for a job

-> Consistently update my bio and about sections on all platforms

-> Curate my older content to remove broken links and incorrect information

5. Have a more influential voice on Twitter

-> Engage with brands on a consistent basis

-> Look for relevant conversations that I can engage with

6. Increase my engagement with followers

-> Post more interesting content across my social media accounts

-> Use calls to action in the majority of my posts to guide audience interaction

Off to check my social media accounts,
The Purple Writer

DAM, let's talk about that.

I mean the other kind of DAM.

D igital
A sset
M anagement

Digital:

There are multiple forms of creating, storing, and using content. 

The digital space is generally the best medium for most content today. 

It is easy for multiple people to access and translates across different devices, regardless of where you are (as long as you can access the internet).

Asset:

Whether it's your personal art or content owned by the brand you work for, there are all kinds of assets you want to be able to access again.

Management:

Having access to your assets in the digital sphere makes it easier to produce consistent content across platforms and time periods. 

You want to keep track of what assets you are using and check through them on a regular basis to keep them relevant and up to date.

Conclusion:

Whether you are working on maintaining your personal brand or overseeing several teams of social media teams, its important to curate a good portfolio of assets in the digital sphere.

It will make your life much easier.

United Breaks Guitars

It's back!

Here's another post about the "United Breaks Guitars" case study.

I know I've written about or mentioned it a few times, but this is a new take, looking at other aspects of United Airlines and this viral video.

First: a quick and informal audit of United Airline's social media.

@United has a conversational and entertaining tone on its social media platforms, specifically Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.


As an example, the brand's recent posts have featured their new first class seats.                                                                                                                                                      
The brand tries to be funny and engaging while explaining how the new seats have been improved, and why these features are important.


United is most active on Twitter but does a good job of cross-posting the same content on Facebook and Instagram as well. 

The major campaign images and posts appear on all three platforms, while extra details and more posts will be seen on Facebook as compared to Instagram, and on Twitter as compared to Facebook.

United also does a pretty good job of listening to their audiences and followers on social media.                                                                                                        

Their responses are not generic or boring but are instead tailored to individuals, with the same caring and fun tone as their posts, and are signed by the team member responding.


They respond to comments, posts, tweets, and mentions, with usually only a few hours delay.

Now: what if this video was made today?

If Dave had flown on United Airlines today and complained about his guitar being mishandled, United would probably respond quickly and tried to help him in any way they could.

United's customer support has obviously come a long way in seven years and provides much better customer service today than they did when this video was created. 

Hopefully, the initial complaint would not be ignored or overlooked so he would not feel driven to create the video at all.

But if he did create this video today, in our digital age, I believe it would have received a different response.

The Hispanic imagery might be considered mildly offensive to some people, but that would not affect its popularity to a big degree, as the internet is filled with various degrees of offensive content that is popular.

No, the big thing that would affect this video's popularity is the fact that there have already been so many viral videos.

This video was revolutionary in its time, becoming essentially the first truly viral video.

But today, it could easily be just another funny video.

YouTube is filled with music videos, comedians, social commentary, and mixtures of all three. So while this video would probably garner some good attention today, it would likely not be a viral sensation.

Important takeaways:

Thinkers: Don't be afraid to try something new. 

You never know when your brain child might become huge and inspire multitudes of people, so don't be afraid to be the first.

Brands: Be ready to respond to anything.

Whether or not you believe claims or complaints, it's important to react quickly with a prepared team and a unified front. Even if you're facing a false claim, little things can have a big impact.



Planning to look at other case studies now,

The Purple Writer