Facebook Metrics

My Facebook page started off with a bang!  Unfortunately, that trend ended quickly and I was not able to obtain more likes from customers.  I only ended up with a total of 79 likes, and my current user reach is at four.

I found that the hardest wall for me to breach was that I am not actively involved in the business.  The business is located in Beaver, and where I don't often travel there or even work there anymore, I had a hard time getting those that do currently work there involved in getting this going.  I did have stickers printed for the counter and doors that say "Like our page" but they were obviously unsuccessful in attracting new 'fans'. The bulk of people that liked my page were people that live in Beaver.  I think that there may have been a few travelers, but for the most part they are locals. Also I wish that I would have been more on top of the game on posts.  The frequency of my posts was not as high as I had hoped.  This is another factor I believe that effected the interest of people in my page.

The owner did say that he did notice an improvement in sales after the start-up of the Facebook page, especially after I posted the sales on Facebook.  He noticed a return in the store, but unfortunately people were not being actively engaged on the page itself.  In this sense, I guess that I was posting compelling content, but I wasn't able to see that through Facebook because no one was being engaged in the posts.

As I experimented, the type of post that got the most interaction was when I specifically asked a question to be answered.  That is how I was able to get comments and likes so it seemed to be more effective, but it never actually achieved a goal for the business like posting a sale item did.  We just got feedback.  Yes, it benefited the Facebook page itself, but the business was unaffected by it.  I feel like that was not quite what I wanted to achieve in my posts.

With that being said, I am happy with how the Facebook page went because even though you cannot see the success in it through the Facebook metrics because people were not engaged in the content, it actually did benefit the business because overall it did have an effect on the sales of the product.  In my eyes this page was still a success just for that reason.

Contextual Media Assignment

            First of all, don’t judge me for my topic. I have chosen to do my analysis on the integration of social media and the show Pretty Little Liars.  Their team has implemented the idea of interactivity in social media very well.  

Social media essentially breaks the physical boundaries itself.  It creates and interactive cloud that is accessible to anyone who chooses to become involved in it, and they can access it from anywhere they can find wireless access.  It groups people of the same interest there and allows them to interact.  With Pretty Little Liars, they have a Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram account. Through these platforms, fans are able to interact with actors and people involved with the show as well as other fans.  They can create groups and be able to share their thoughts and guesses about what will happen in the show with one another. 

Here is the PLL twitter page

By letting the viewers involve themselves in what is happening, they can determine how involved they want to be in the series.  And then move to online discussion rooms whether they be forums, Facebook groups or chat, or even just tweeting about it and hash tagging, placing them in those groups.  This inherently brings in psychological context. What the viewers think about what is happening.  This promotes them to develop their own theories, gives them research tools to help, and online discussion and chat boards where they can share and discuss them.

It almost creates a sort of virtual world for people to become involved in.  This provides an opportunity for fans to be able to tap into their human instinct of curiosity, critical thinking, and problem solving. In this sense, cultural and social contexts could come into play because people are going to do what is acceptable in their culture or rules they have to try and figure out this sort of mystery as if it were real.  That’s why the interactivity of the show is so effective. 

The discussion board for the "Pretty Dirty Secrets" episodes

Pretty Little Liars has covered all of their bases as far as social media.  They have an interactive web page that connects everything together.  From there you can access whatever you find to find that is Pretty Little Liars.  They have a Facebook page where they allow fans to interact as well as keeping information about the show, upcoming episodes, and events updated.  They even update when the season is not currently playing.  This has a great impact because it keeps the show at the front of everyone’s minds even though they can’t watch new shows.

Here you can see the Pretty Little Liars web page and how they display everything you would look for.  There are links to everything here.

            

          This campaign also actively involves the viewers and fans in interacting with one another.  They have a mini program found on abcfamily.go.com where viewers can watch mini episodes of a series that will help them solve the mystery that is ongoing in the show.  This mini series gives fans clues as to who the notorious villain “A” is.  They can watch and gather clues to try and figure out themselves who “A” is.  This is another way of getting fans involved because they have to want to be involved in this.  The series is called "Pretty Dirty Secrets." A new program comes on every Tuesday on the Pretty Little Liars website, bringing new clues for viewers to gather.  Viewers must actively seek out this program and, in a way, become a form of citizen journalist for the program.

It is known, that the stars of Pretty Little Liars are fashion icons for many young girls so they have created a Pinterest account where fans can see boards such as PLL fashion.  Fans can see where and how to get their clothes seen on the cast.  They also have photos of press events, videos, etc.  It is the ultimate base for fan information.

I believe that this where they have done everything right.  PLL's social media department has realized that this is where our generation is headed.  Everything circulates around social media.  They have made easily accessible and appealing for fans of all ages to be involved in this program.  Fans can essentially find whatever they want as far as Pretty Little Liars between all of their social media resources. 

Hanging Gardens

http://hilarydmc24.wix.com/vertical-farms#!home/mainPage

Vertical Farm Sustainablilty-Education

Sustainable education can take many forms.  With the way our world is changing and evolving, I believe that there will be a shift in education away from people having degrees to prove that they are qualified.  We will be pushed into a new realm of learning and people will be judged by their skill rather than a piece of paper.  Education will move to providing more hands on learning where you learn by actually doing things rather than being forced to sit in a classroom taking notes. The realm of learning will be broadened and diversified.

Every kind of education will become available to you through social media and the Internet.  Progression towards students being able to take classes from across the country will become available.  Me, being a student in St. George, UT at Dixie will be able to enroll in a class offered at Harvard, Princeton, or even as far as Oxford University. This transition in education will open up so many doors for students and give them ore opportunities to gain the knowledge that they desire.  The thing about this kind of education is it is self motivated.  Students will be able to learn what they want to learn and push themselves as far as they want to go.  Being actively engaged in learning will provide them with more knowledge.

Students will be able to utilize apps such as iTunes U, podcasts, etc. to further extend their knowledge and it will mean something and be recognized.  In our education system now, if a student were to use iTunes U, those classes taken would not go towards a degree and would go unrecognized, but students would be able to use the applications and use them to their advantage.  In the future these will mean something.

Another factor to take into consideration is the money that will be saved by implementing sustainability into an institution.  It cuts down on costs to have cost-effcient energy and self sustaining gardens for food.  At the time there is a lot of money invested to get these things going, but once they are implemented, the long term effects are when you will be gaining the most profit.  This could potentially lead to higher teacher salaries, higher quality education and research resources and so forth.  It is worth the long term goal.

With the vertical farm, we want people to continue to have access to public education, but we also are going to implement the importance of hands on learning.  Residents there will be able to learn how each element of sustainability works.  They will learn about growing gardens and the science therein. They will learn how the energy powering the development works and how it is beneficial.  They will gain hands on experience in the wide variety of fields and gain a deeper knowledge and understanding of why this is important and how it will help the environment around the world.  If these people gain this knowledge and understand and are able to share and teach others about it.

With people learning by doing and implementing that knowledge into helping others, we will be able to share and teach others of its importance.  We hope this hsouing development and community will be a place of learning.  Students will be able to come here as a form of continuing education and use it for internships.  By learning through these techniques and making the students have the initiative to learn these things and push themselves into learning these new technologies. This will ultimately promote the change that we wish to make in our education system.  We realize that this is not something that will happen over night, but if this were taken even on a smaller scale, we will still be taking one step forward, rather than three steps back.

Facebook Advertisement

In my Facebook Advertisement, I chose to target my ad to particular regions and states.  Most of the travelers that we get are traveling north-bound on I-15.  I targeted my audience to people from Utah, California, Nevada, Colorado, and Idaho.  These are the places that most of our travelers come from.  I also targeted specific audiences that like Shell Oil, or shell products in the ad.  I am still trying to talk the business owner into trying this out.  I hope that he will try, and I hope that we can create an effective ad that will draw people to the page.

2012 Presidential Debate

There were many ongoing interactions during the presidential debate.  It is a great way for people from all over the country to be able to join together either for or against a specific cause.  There were many posts on Facebook as well as many tweets with different hashtags on twitter.  These groupings of people were able to interact and discuss topics brought up during the debate.

I took a screenshot of each candidates Facebook page.  By doing this I was able to see side by side the topics being discussed by both sides.

On Obama's page people were commenting both ways.  They were either rooting for him, or writing something against him.  This really displays diversity and brings both perspectives to the table.  The same things were happening on Romney's page.  There were people that were bashing his policies as well as him as a person, and there were people that were applauding his speech.  They were displaying both support and disinterest.

 The hashtag #debates brought about some interesting tweets.  You can read through these and see the diversity for the candidates.

 Many tweeters brought up when Lehrer interrupted Obama when he had "5 seconds left."

 There are many tweets supporting both sides of the campaign.

The hashtag #2012PresidentialDebate also represented both candidates and the topics that were discussed.  Many of the tweets were directed at the candidates personally.

There were many forms of encouragement for both candidates displayed.

















The social media aspect of this discussion and campaign did and will continue to play a huge role.  The topics are constantly discussed and debated by the people.  This is a good way for the campaigns to see what is being discussed and what topics are generating the most response from the people.  This is a great way for people to be able to connect with the candidates and express their opinions.

Facebook Strategy and Mission Statement

Facebook Strategy:

My plans for the Facebook account are first, to keep it local. Many of the current followers of the page are local people from Beaver.  For this reason, I will keep posting merchandise and gas discount deals that locals will be able to collect on.  I want to keep them interested in the page.  At the same time, I am working to expand my audience.  I have been asking the people who already follow the page to suggest it to their friends.  Hopefully word of mouth will play a big factor in expanding the audience.  We also are doing some advertising for the Facebook page in the store itself.  There will be "like our Facebook page" stickers on both of the front doors to the station, on the counter, and on the front door of the tire shop that is connected to the station.    As well as the Facebook stickers, we will also be getting stickers to promote the use of the app Foursquare.  That is taking a bit longer to get up and running so those wont go up in the windows till we finish setting it up.  I'm predicting that these advertisements will promote more people to like our page, and begin to offer feedback for their experience at our station.

By the customers utilizing the check in applications, like Foursquare and Yelp, and liking the Facebook page, more and more people will be exposed to the South Creek Shell.  This will hopefully bring in more regular customers who will travel and tell their friends about the Shell station in Beaver.  As I get a larger audience exposed to the Facebook page, I will start posting things that are more relevant to the traveling customer.  I will post things like: how to maintain healthy eating habits on the road, tips for checking or changing your oil, continuing deals and rewards programs that come into the station, etc.  By doing this to a larger audience it will draw them to the page, but also give them practical, helpful information that can use anywhere, not just specifically at the South Creek Shell.


Mission Statement:

Our mission, at the South Creek Shell, is to provide you with all of the necessities you might need while traveling.  We want our station to have the convenience and speed you ned during your travels. Our staff is always willing to help you out with any of your needs or questions.  We pride ourselves on our customer service and our integrity as a business.