I LOVE HOME DEPOT MORE THAN THE MALL......AND THAT IS SAYING SOMETHING!

 Hello Everyone! In class on Tuesday we discussed sharing technologies. One of the sharing technologies that was discussed was YouTube. YouTube is a website where user can load and share video and media clips and viewers can comment on them. As spoken about in class it is a great tool for Organizations, Celebrities and everyday Joe's and Jane's to use.

One company that I think does an extraordinary job of utilizing all of the functions YouTube has to offer is ..........

Can I just say that I freaking love Home Depot! My Home Depot Credit Card gets so much use it's not even funny! Seriously though, it's not funny.

Part of what helps to fuel my Hope Depot addiction is that they offer so much information of their YouTube channel. And a great channel it is!

The Home Depot channel follows all of the basic principles that we have been talking about in class.

1. Listen: It listens to the consumer and provides the information that the consumer is looking for.
2. Objectives : The objectives are to establish the Home Depot as a trusted expert, promote it's products and humanize a faceless corporation 
3. Content: The content is clear and useful, there is also a large amount of content the channel has to offer. Also, all of the content they publish is relevant to the brand.
4. Integration: The YouTube Channel is also integrated with the Home Depot website and other social media outlets, making it easy for Home Depot to satisfy all of your home and garden needs.
5. Endurance: They endure by staying relevant and addressing the consumers needs. Also, by being on YouTube they are showing that they are willing to go where the consumer goes!
6. Tone: The tone on the Home Depot channel is great. The voice and tone is that of a trusty neighbor who give great advice. This tone keeps people interested and avoids making them feel like the incompetent DIYers they may, in fact, be.
7. Honesty: They don't lie! What else can I say?!

One video that came in handy for me from the Home Depot channel was their "How to Prime Walls for Painting a Room" video. I referred to this video, and many others before I tackled the fun, yet stressful task of redecorating my room. Here is the video I used.....

This video was very useful to me, as you can see by the images below the room turned out great! The painting went without a hitch because of the lesson from Home Depot!

Thank you for looking at my blog! See you in class!

- Meredith Rolen

ONE BIRD, TWO BIRD.......

ONE BIRD, TWO BIRD.......

RED BIRD

 BLUE BIRD

If it is not obvious what brands twitter account I am going to talk about today, then you should probably leave this blog page, and Saint Louis. You know what, maybe you better steer clear of the whole midwest just in case!

One brand that I felt had a great hold on what twitter was for and how to use it was the Saint Louis Cardinals. And yes, I mean the one and only real Saint Louis Cardinal twitter page, blue check and all!

The Saint Louis Cardinals offer a very well designed Twitter page and offers information such as live "tweeting" during the spring training games, info about players and current injuries, were they are headed next and what they are doing, and all within the 140 character limit boundaries. They use their page to "tweet" to the general public, the public "tweets" expressing their love of the team and asking questions and even some celebrities are "tweeting" to the cardinals. When I was just on Twitter, Ozzie Smith was "tweeting" to the Cardinals, commenting on how well they were doing in Jupiter right now! Check it out if you are a fan! If you are not, please refer to comment above! 

Thank you for visiting my blog! 

-Meredith Rolen

I Didn't Realize I Was Addicted to a Blog....But Then I Remembered This!!

So, this past week we dug our hands into the world of different social media outlets (and it came out like this, even the boys, ha ha!)

(Just thought that the picture was cool, and oddly relevant in an irrelevant kind of way!)

Ok. Something you should know about me........... I like my Wine

 I like My Chocolate...........

and I like extremely trashy celebrity gossip in the form of Evil Beet Gossip Blog!

(I give myself bonus points if I do all three at once!)

I didn't even realize that I had been a fan of a blog for such a long time until we discussed some of the rules that make a blog a blog. 

This site features:

1. A team of bloggers relaying celebrity gossip and giving their thoughts and opinions in a comical and enjoyable tone.
2. It showcases information that is important to the blogger and would be important to the reader.
3. The blog invites viewers to read and relate and find interest in the material presented.
4. This website has developed a searchable log of material to help direct readers. You can search old blogs by date, topic, order posted and by celebrity.
5. Posts are made regularly and frequently.
6. The information provided is a lengthier form than you would find on Facebook or twitter.

It is a great site! I believe the posts are done by multiple people now since the site is so big, but when it started it was just one woman (likely with her wine and chocolate) who had an affinity for the "mis-goings-on in the celebrity world! (Clearly a woman after my own heart!)

The authors are fearless and they don't hesitate to voice their opinion, call a celebrity out on doing something stupid or even yell at a celebrity. On this blog to topic goes unturned, and I enjoy every minute! Did you know that Justin Beiber's mom hates his tattoos? Did you know that Pete Wentz is annoyed with Ashley Simpson's drinking and lesbian flings? Cause I do!  Please! Go and explore all the trashy unnecessary gossip evil beet has to offer! And don't forget to enjoy yourself!

Honesty Saved the Cat? No...that's not right...

So as we all know we all missed what I am sure was a fabulous lecture on honesty, rather, the need for it in social media, especially when trying to avoid, or dealing with crisis. Many of the websites that I found online stress the importance of being honest with the public when salvaging your brands reputation. One such website is the Economic Times.

One such company that could have benefited from the use of honesty, both to its employees and to the public was HMV, a very large music juggernaut of a company. Lacking in honesty, preparation and common sense, HMV was at the heart of a "Twitter Disaster" as Iliyana's Blog refers to it. HMV, struggling in the economy, laid off 60 workers all at one time. I guess they didn't expect any backlash because they were shocked when all of the fired employees started tweeting on HMV's twitter account! HMV, instead of being honest and trying to control the situation, instead focused on how to shut down the account, rather than address the issue at at hand. I would say that the move they made wasn't the right one, this is evident by the current HMV website, which hardly even exists now!

KEEP CALM & GO WITH THE FLOW

HELLO! It's me, Meredith again! On Tuesday in class we talked about the control (or lack there of) when it comes to social media. Overall the general consensus with dealing with these crisis seemed to be comprised of three steps.

Step 1:

Step 2:

Step 3:

Are you catching my drift? Essentially, you can not control the media, at least not without violating the rights of your users (and trust me, they will not like that). The most that you can do is go with the flow. Just like Walmart with the Pitbull concert, or even like the Burger King situation recently. You can't reverse anything and you can't stop it, so you may as well make the most of it! If you want an update on the Burger and Jeep hacking situation, I think you will be happy to know that not only did they both come out on top, but there is another social media class this semester at another school blogging too!

I also found a great website titled Controlling the Uncontrollable where several social media experts discuss the various fraudulent issues that can occur online and their various ways to manage the social media content after a crisis has happened.You should check it out!

Thanks again for visiting my site! - Meredith Rolen

AWKWARD HUG TIME!!!!!

In class last Thursday, the positively marvelous Professor Abel taught us that it is important for social media sites to have a clear, relevant, interesting tone. Social media outlets that can engage their customers through tone are often times the most successful.

What do I mean by TONE? I mean the voice...

No! Not those voices!

I mean social media outlets should replace jargon, they shouldn’t seem like they are speaking above your level of understanding, however, they also shouldn’t dumb anything down for you. They also shouldn’t be too formal, social media should talk to you like they would a distant relative. Not too formal, but also not too informal, a happy medium.

A good metaphor for TONE in social media is the infamous:

Not to formal…..

Not to informal……

Just Right!!!!

You should speak like your audience speaks and think like your audience thinks. What do you think about the tone of my blog? I think I do a fairly good job at this, considering we are all in the same general age range. However, I do try to add a bit of comedic interest. Although, I am sure I am not as funny as I think I am! (Feel free to disagree with that one!)

While wandering the internet I found a great article that talk about  How 5 Top Brands Crafted Their Social Media Voices. The article showcased 5 different brands including Tory Burch and Kate Spade, but the one that was the most interesting to me was the DKNY website. The tone of the website is fashion girl-centric. Even though the genius behind the tone is an executive at Donna Karen global, she speaks with a young, enthusiastic voice, much like the beloved Gossip Girl from the hit series of the same name. Like Gossip Girl, DKNY PR Girl is charming, witty and fashion savvy. A voice that perfectly suits the DKNY demographic. You can view examples at her Tumblr Page.

Thanks Again for viewing my page!

- Meredith Rolen

Little Blue Pill?? Wait...No that's not right?

In class on 02/12/13 we learned about : ENDURANCE

No! Get your heads out of the gutter! Not that kind of endurance!

When it comes to social media, the first post- engagement step is endurance! This means they should be constantly and consistently be engaging the people with whom they are conversating, regardless of if they are saying negative or positive things.

They should address the GOOD!

They should address the BAD!

They should address the UGLY!

(….and everything else in between for that matter)

This takes dedication, practice, patience, and open-mindedness. And if you are smarter than the “you know who’s”  (*cough *cough Republicans *cough *cough) then you will invest in a dictionary!

But enough small talk, I found this web page that lists the Most Shining Examples of Excellent Social Media Crisis Management I thought this was relevant because even though keeping up with your social media outlet and keeping your customers engaged is difficult, it is even more difficult if your company or your customers are going through a bad time and dealing with a crisis. I thought that the above mentioned website was a good way to show the importance of ENDURING through the bad times as well as the good in social media.

Two on the list that seemed to pop out to me were the Oreo and Burger King example. The Oreo example stood out to me because we spent time on Tuesday talking about how Oreo used social media to take advantage of a golden Super Bowl opportunity, but in this article, they use it to do damage control and gain support. The issue was that they got a lot of feedback, both negative and positive about their oreo images that were stuffed with rainbow filling in honor of gay pride. They were under a lot of scrutiny, and getting a lot of bad feedback about it, they also got a lot of praise. Through social media they were able to address the concerns of and engage the customers. 

The Burger King part stood out because it's hilarious to me that an employee stood in the lettuce!

After this photo was released to the public, Burger King endured a lot of scrutiny and used social media to combat the Burger King Naysayers!

Thank you for reading my blog! Have a great day! See you in class! 

- Meredith Rolen