I've seen the power of social media!!

Before I tell you about how social media has impacted my life recently, I have to give you the back story. About a week ago I ordered from a local place I like to eat at in Bowling Green, Kentucky. I was SO EXCITED to hear that they delivered! I placed my order for my favorite meal, a chicken salad sandwich and a salad with their mango pineapple vinaigrette. I was especially excited about the salad because this was a dressing I had never tried before and it sounded amazing! When I ordered my food they said it would take 60+ minutes for it to arrive, and I was okay with this. When I had gotten my food, I began to unpack the bag after the delivery guy left (first mistake) and I realized that he had forgotten my dressing! Oh no! I quickly called the restaurant and told them what had happened and they said they would "send it right out." Well about and hour later and still dressing-less I called back. They then passed me through the phone system and then rudely assured me that it was on its way. I gave up hope at 10pm when they close. 

I told my friends what had happened, but how can you get your friends to not eat at one of the best restaurants in town? It didn't hit me until today in my Social Media Marketing class what I had to do. Facebook! I would write on their wall and see what they do, either way a lot more people are going to see what I say on Facebook than if I talk to them. This is what happened:

They answered my wall post the same day! I did take Jodi up on this offer. I emailed her and told her what happened and then, like she asked, I gave her my campus address. Quickly after I read this I clicked onto their wall to see if this was visible to the public and was disappointed it was not. They could have taken this opportunity to put a positive spin on the situation, but little do they know that I am a marketing major with a concentration in social media. If they do keep their promise of the gift card I promise to re-post on their wall about the positive experience I received with their customer service. This just shows that if companies do have pages on social media sites, they do need to check them multiple times everyday so that problems like these can be resolved. Good Job to Mariah's for being prompt!!

Even as I am finishing up this blog post I got another comment on my Facebook comment from Jodi:

and yes, I am the one that liked her post.

I will keep you all up to date on the situation. : )

Facebook crashes!!

Okay, this is really weird!! My last post was about how a Northeastern school was going to block social media to see the impact on the students life. Thursday September, 23rd around 3pm Facebook was experiencing problems and I could not log on!! I first thought it was some joke, haha Facebook. Good one! It did not hit me until I got to work that day that I realized this was no joke!  I sat down at my desk and tried to load Facebook like I normally do. (I am just going to share my nerdness with you and admit that I am in love with Facebook games and if I don't get to play them at work I am not happy and I sit there and pout.)

I had just started this new game and I was about to level up and I had been waiting all day to play it at work and Facebook was officially not working!! So I tweeted about it, "Why is Facebook not working?!?!?!!!!!" (yes those were my exact words). As I sat there on twitter I decided that maybe I could follow Facebook to see what the deal was. Well, much to my amazement, the server was down and they were fixing the problem. I love how all social media works together for the common good!

This made me think about what I did before Facebook. I really can't remember, which is kind of sad. Facebook from a marketing standpoint is a goldmine!! It links ads to your particular interests and because of this feature alone I have learned about so many more products and have become a more informed consumer. I think all of this knowledge about products can be a double edged sword, but as long as companies positively endorse their brand without bashing anyone else I will still be looking at what they have to say. That is unless Facebook crashes again! 

University bans social media? What are they thinking?!

University bans Facebook, Twitter for a week (CNN)

In the link above you will find an article about how a Northeastern university is banning social media for a week. They are doing this because they want to teach their students about how much of an impact social media has on their lives. This made me think....."How much do I use social media in my life?" When I thought about the answer to the previous question, I was kind of disgusted with myself.

       

I come to work at the campus library about 3 times a week for about 5 hours a shift. Once I am at work, I sign into my computer and immediately check my Facebook. I then leave it up the ENTIRE time I am at the desk, which is the whole shift. I sit on Facebook for at least 15 hours a week, and this doesn't include the times I check it before class and while I am at home. The real total is probably around 20 hours a week.

I use Facebook for email, seeing what is going on around campus, if I lose my phone I can message someone to call me, I can instant message people, I can play games, I can look at pictures of an event I didn't go to, and the list can go on and on. If college students were forced to get off the social media sites, they would actually have to go outside and figure out what was going on for themselves. I remember when I was younger and I wanted something to do. I had to go outside, go to my friend's house and see what was going on. Now, I feel like today's youth is just getting on Facebook and seeing what is up before they move off the couch.

I would be completely lost and bored without social media in my life, especially Facebook. When I asked one of my friends what would happen if Facebook or any other social media was taken away from her, her response was one of horror. She said that she would be totally disconnected from the world and would not know what was going on or what had gone on in the past. She also brought up the point about not know what other people were doing and where they were in their lives. Why have we become so involved in other people's lives that we need to know what they are doing 24 hours of the day? What happened to privacy?

Now think about how this relates to product pages and marketing. We become so involved in people, is it true that we also become involved with product pages? I know it is for me and other people that I know. I wouldn't know half of what I do about new and existing products if it wasn't for Facebook and other forms of social media. Product pages allow you to learn more about a brand and compare it to other brands. I like how you can like different things and it will suggest new products for you to like. I think this is an amazing marketing tool because if someone likes your competitor you can get them on your page and try to hit them with your competitive advantage. I think since everyone is becoming more involved with social media, its only smart for other companies to create a fan page to get their customers more involved with their brand.

I just hope they don't start their Facebook fan page or Twitter accounts when campus' around the country start having social media blackouts.

Facebook in schools?

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/tech/2010/09/08/dnt.facebook.in.class.ketv

This video on CNN (in the link above) is a report about how a school is using Facebook to update parents about what is going on with their children. The teachers update their class's page with things they are teaching, and in some of the older classes the teachers let the children update the status. Their reasoning behind this is to help them learn sentence structure, as well as let their students know that social media can be a positive tool. But how positive is having Facebook in your classroom?

One may argue that this could be a very positive thing to have social media tools, such as Facebook, in schools because it lets the parents know what all is happening inside the classroom. Also, since teachers are letting their students use the status feature, many agree that they are learning correct punctuation and spelling. Being up on current trends could also make certain schools more marketable. Since parents always want to know what their children are up to, schools could use this to their advantage to attract more students. Facebook is giving schools a competitive advantage over other schools if they are willing to take it. Parents are willing to pay more for a safe environment, and in the future, status updates on how well their kids are doing in class.

On the other hand this could be a very negative influence on today's impressionable youth. One may pose the question, "Why spend time on Facebook updating the parents, when you could be teaching the children?" Whenever I am sitting in my 300 and 400 level college classes, my professors always tell us you can go an hour without Facebook. By updating Facebook pages in the middle of class, it is sending the message that you really cannot live without Facebook for a few hours every day. It may even send the message that this one website may be more important than your education.

My opinion about this is simple. From a marketing standpoint, this idea is genius! Some traditional schools are going to be harder to convince on the Facebook issue, but that just makes the schools that are willing to use social media more competitive in their market. Although people don't normally think about marketing schools, it happens a lot within the private school sector. Private schools could use this as something to have over the public schools. I think that although using Facebook in the classroom has some disadvantages, it definitely is a smart marketing move if used correctly.