Social Media Marketing Class - Week 1 - Spring 2012

Welcome

Welcome to the class. Here is a short video describing some aspects of the class. The volume is low - my apologies.

It is very likely that all of us are at least somewhat familiar with some aspects of Social Media. This first week, our focus will be on examining Social Media in more detail. It is important for us though, to have a solid understanding of the technical and social factors at work that have given rise to Social Media.

Person of the Year

Since 1927, Time Magazine has selected the Person of the Year (formerly titled Man of the Year.)

"TIME's Person of the Year is bestowed by the editors on the person or persons who most affected the news and our lives, for good or ill, and embodied what was important about the year. Source

The winners are a prestigious group that includes: Winston Churchill, Franklin Roosevelt, Ronald Reagan, Martin Luther King Jr., and Mohandas Gandhi. Source

Two of recent winners are quite curious:

• Time Person of the Year - 2006
• Time Person of the Year - 2010

These awards are emblematic of the power and potential of Social Media in many aspects of life. Read through the articles about the awards to get a greater sense of just what the power of Social Media is. While different Social Media platforms were created for different reasons, as the use of Social Media has grown, organizations have sought to use it as a marketing tool to promote their efforts. In this course, we will explore the use of Social Media in Marketing.

Background

The following provide some background information on the technologies and social factors at work in Social Media.

A great starting point is to read this article about Web 2.0. Web 2.0 is sort of an umbrella term that describes how the web has evolved. It deals with both the evolving technology and the changing mindset.

Here are some videos, which discuss Social Media, and its influence, in an entertaining manner. One focuses on blogs which is relevant to the first Homework Assignment.

 

Assignment

Create a blog using any of the sites available including blogger, wordpress, tumblr or any other blogging platform. You will be using this blog in your Homework Assignments this week and in future weeks. Creating a blog is fairly straightforward; please ask if you have any questions. Be aware, your blog will be available to the general public on the internet, be careful with your privacy. My suggestion is that you use your first name and last initial on the blog.
After you create your blog, I want you to research on the web and find resources about Social Media Marketing. Then, create a post to your blog similar to this post, except focused on Social Media Marketing. I do not expect you to create a video as I have done - though you are welcome to if you wish. I do expect you to have identified a few reliable resources on the subject, and create an entry that combines a summary of what you have found, your own thoughts and links to these links. When you have completed the entry, post the url of your blog to the drop box in Angel (our CMS).

Your blog entry should include:

• Links to sources about Social Media Marketing
• A summary in your own words about what you found
• Some examples of how organizations use social media for marketing - your thoughts on the examples - Do you the organizations are effective in their use of Social Media? not effective? why?