A few other team discussion leaders had the great idea to share links to teammates' blogs. Members of Team 5 rocked this week’s discussion on Security in
Social Media. I encourage everyone to take a few minutes to visit Team 5 Blogs. You'll find a preview and link for each team member
below!
Damaris Colon shares some advice for how to outsmart the “bad guys” and keep your information secure on her discussion this week Securely, Social Media
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) provided recommended social media
policy guidelines based on a review of legal cases, along with a proposed
template. Click here and click here (or open attachments in iLearn) to read reviews of
the NLRB policy and its rulings. Also, click here to read about the NLRB's recommended social media
policy template (or open the attachment).
Various military and
government agencies provided guidelines and training resources to protect
operational security (OPSEC) and privacy of our information online. After you
read and review this week's materials, click the caption for the following image to complete an
official U.S. government social networking training module, which is designed
for military members, civilians, and family members.
At the conclusion of
this module, go to your blog and publish a post of appropriate length that
represents your recommended social media (networking) checklist for the readers
of your blog. Write this blog post as if you were training or teaching your
readers about policy, security, and privacy.
Begin each item with a bullet point and short descriptive phrase (e.g. o Update
Antivirus Software), followed by a brief description of
action required for that point. Choose as many points as you deem reasonable
for your checklist (within reason), but include the following items at a
minimum:
Introduction: Briefly define the concepts of of 1) social media (network) security and b) social media policy.
Checklist: Your security and privacy checklist, in bullet points. Include at least one bullet with your recommendations about social media training, and at least one bullet with your recommendations about social media policy.
Conclusion: Explain what you learned from the readings and training module that have affected your point of view about social media policy, security, and privacy.
Be sure to review Week 6 in our Source Book for a full list of
material and readings.
Check your social media security.
Before posting this week, open the following links and use the
security guidelines to ensure you have applied the appropriate settings to your
social media sites to protect your privacy and security:
Remember, to optimize your blog
post, insert a combination of images, hyperlinks, videos, and key words into
your post. Integrate your work by also publishing a tweet(s) and pin(s) with
links that drive traffic to your blog.
I'm excited to be leading this important discussion! If you have any questions this week, you can either use the comment section below or send an email to bobbi.s.tellitocci@marist.edu.
Have
you ever polled your social media “friends” for suggestions on movies, cars,
vacations, or restaurants? You probably see this happen daily in your Facebook
newsfeed; people asking where to stay on their next trip to Cancun or what
movie to see over the weekend. This is an idea that is explored in chapter five
of Erik Qualman’s (2013) book Socialnomics.
Retrieved from
thesocialskinny.com
In
this chapter, Qualman discusses the idea of “social search” in which people use
social media to see what their peers and friends think about various products
and services. He takes this idea a step further with the introduction of social
commerce. Social commerce is a term Qualman (2013) uses to describe the
transactional, search, and marketing components of social media (p. 72). Qualman
(2013) describes social commerce as “a referral program on steroids” (p. 76).
People
value the opinions and experiences of others, especially those in their social
networks. The reviews and suggestions of these people in particular have more
weight because we often know them intimately and can compare our own situations
to theirs. For example, if you are in the market for a car seat, you are more
likely to take the advice of a “friend” with a small child than the review of a
complete stranger. We look to people in our networks to provide recommendations
on products and services. While this desire for peer recommendations isn’t a new
concept, social media has drastically increased the ease of sharing, making
social commerce an important tool for brands and businesses (Qualman, 2013).
Retrieved from digitalintelligencetoday.com
In order for organizations to capitalize
on social searching, they must come to terms with the fact that “consumers are
taking ownership of brands, and their referral power is priceless” (Qualman,
2013, p. 78). The first step in getting a business or brand involved in social
media sharing is by having a great product or service (Qualman, 2013).
Obviously a company lacking in this area is destined to fail. Another important
way to become a part of the social media conversation is to provide consumers
with opportunities to offer reviews and share experiences. In addition,
organizations can reward the consumers that do share feedback or reviews. For
example, an organization might consider a small incentive such as a future
discount for feedback or public reviews. Private reviews shared in a personal
network can be equally as effective as a public review, provided the right
audience receives the message. While not all consumers are willing to share,
those that are see sharing as an opportunity to be seen as a subject matter
expert within their social circle (Qualman, 2013, p.75). Some consumers also
see it as an opportunity to give back to a group if they benefited from someone
else’s sharing. A great example of this would be TripAdvisor and consumers
sharing resort reviews because they found the sight so helpful when planning
their own trip.
Overall
this chapter teaches us that people are increasingly looking to social media
for advice and recommendations on products and services. Marketers need to do
everything possible to ensure they are included among peer and friend
suggestions (Qualman, 2013, p. 78). Any company that wants to thrive in today’s
social media age must accept that their brand is partially owned by consumers. It is consumer stories that will resonate with
future prospects and “companies need to shore up their products and
services so that when social search is commonplace their brand is positioned to
win a World of Mouth world” (Qualman, 2013, p. 75). I've included a video of Eric Qualman discussing Social Commerce if you would like to learn more! The section on Social Commerce begins at 07:30.
Reference
Qualman,
E. (2013). Socialnomics: How social media transforms the way we live
and do business (2nd ed.). John Wiley & Sons, Inc.: Hoboken,
NJ.
In this week’s reading, Argenti et al.
(2005) discuss the importance of developing a long-term and strategic approach
to communicating with key constituencies. In addition to the sender, receiver,
and channel used to share messages, this approach must be integrated and take
into consideration the markets served, products and/or services offered, plans
to develop and deliver those products and/or services, finances, and more (Argenti
et al., 2005). I agree with the authors that open, honest, and frequent communication
with key constituents is critical to the success of any organization. A strategic communication plan that
incorporates thoughtful and consistent messaging increases organizational
transparency and credibility and in doing so puts the organization in a better
position to achieve desired financial and behavioral outcomes.
The idea that communication should be
strategic and integrated applies to all
internal and external messages. This includes marketing, advertising, public
relations, and social media messages. Kotler and Keller (2012) argue that “marketing
communications activities must be integrated to deliver a consistent message
and achieve the strategic position” (Kotler & Keller, p. 501). It is
important to consider that each constituency is impacted or influenced by different
messages. Marketers must take this into consideration in every step of the
communication process - from identifying the target audience and communication
objective to designing the message and selecting the appropriate channel for
the target audience. This allows marketers to judge each type of communication
based on their ability to affect experiences and impressions, build customer
loyaltyand brand equity, and drive sales (Kotler & Keller, 2012, p 501).
Social media should be an important part of every
organization’s communication strategy. One of the most important reasons for
this is its accessibility. Social media is a quick and affordable way for
organizations to share information. In addition, social media platforms in
general provide audiences with opportunities to share feedback. As we learned
in this week’s reading, “feedback from constituents determines the overall success
of a communication and, more critically, the successful implementation of
strategy in general” (Argenti et al., 2005, p. 87). Overall, an effective IMC plan should improve an
organization’s ability to reach the right audience with the right message at the
right time and in the right place (Kotler and Keller, 2012).
References
Argenti,
P.A., Howell, R.A., & Beck, K.A. (2005). The strategic communication
imperative. MIT Sloan Management Review,
46 (3).
Kotler, P. & Keller, K. L. (2012). Marketing management. (14th ed.). Essex, England: Pearson.
