Stay closer to social media

This semester goes unexpectedly fast. I feel like that midterm just passed a couple of seconds ago, and then final project is coming in a blinking time. This my first time to get so close to social media. Before this class, I get used to keep social media at arm’s length, because it’s so overwhelming!

My mind has been changed. By tweeting, I read the news, knowing what is going on. Unlike tradition media like newspaper and TV, I can see other people’s comments on the same time. Through all these comments, reflects people’s attitude, the public opinion, what really important for pr professionals to find out and catch.

In the social media course, I have learned six principles of contagious avatar, customer asocial media metrics, etc. What inspires me the most is the social media crisis management. I wrote more than one blog about it. Crisis is the last thing anyone in the industry wants to see. Like Mark Twain said, “A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is still putting on its shoes.” So can a crisis. It can travel even faster due to the social media. Pepsi, Dove and other cases have already prove that. That makes the crisis management one of the most challenging part in the public relations’ work, but kind of most inspiring on the other hand. How to figure the sign of a crisis, how to make a plan to manage it and how to rebuild the reputation, etc. After managing a crisis successfully, everyone can learn a lot, thought majority don’t want to do it again!

Look back on all my six blogs, I can see my own improvements. At first, I feel confused about blog writing. What should I try to write and who is my audience? Uncertainty flows. My writing was not good in first two blogs. They were not well-organized, not cohesive and not visual at all! I did spend much time on the third blog. I thought before wrote, did a lot of research and put images on the blog. After finishing it, I stopped thinking writing was difficult. The gold tip is just think before write.

 

• https://georgewillardblog.wordpress.com/2017/09/13/dig-it-social-media/
• https://georgewillardblog.wordpress.com/2017/09/19/stay-strangers/
• https://georgewillardblog.wordpress.com/2017/09/27/sweep-out-the-moody-blues-and-be-confident/
• https://georgewillardblog.wordpress.com/2017/10/11/reputation-management-through-social-media/
• https://georgewillardblog.wordpress.com/2017/10/25/stuck-in-the-iphone-photo-world/
• https://georgewillardblog.wordpress.com/2017/11/08/how-could-dove-fix-up/

Last but not least, how could I forget the social media detox! It’s amazing. People live in the social media. We always have our smart phones with us and check them. More and more people realize social media take away plenty of time in our lives, when we should spend with friends and families. During this Thanksgiving, I put away my iPhone and played games and enjoyed dinner with classmates. That’s the most valuable time I had this year.

How Could Dove Fix Up

Dove released a misunderstanding advertisement on Facebook in October 7. The first frame shows a dark-skinned woman in a bathroom and a bottle of Dove body wash was in the lower right-hand corner of the frame. In following frames, the woman took off her shirt and then turned herself into a smiling white woman. This ad apparently stirred up a storm in social media as it was viewed as a racist one.

 

 

Dove made a mistake when handling it. The ad had already bring them into trouble, but at first, Dove said the video was intended to focus on the body wash to convey natural beauty to every woman rather than apologize. In a few moments, the backlash emerged in social media. The personal care brand was caught in a crisis. With racial tensions getting so high, Dove took their action. By Saturday, the racially insensitive ad had been removed from Facebook. And on Sunday, Dove had announced this apology: “This did not represent the diversity of real beauty which is something Dove is passionate about and is core to our beliefs, and it should not have happened. We apologize deeply and sincerely for the offense that it has caused and do not condone any activity or imagery that insults any audience.” They also apologized on Twitter.

 

 

Their action is kind of slow, which is not smart. Racist is sensitive and offensive. Company or brand could be ruined when involved in it. In the case of Dove, the as is misunderstanding and it could be understood as racist even it is not necessarily driven by racism. People, including their targeted audience, had already been mad, so any other excuse would make it worse.

 

Anyway, Dove’s apology is sincere when it says that the ad has nothing to do with  the company’s core values. Indeed, Dove has build up a self-esteem emotion to their targeted audience through their “Real Beauty” campaign, and the whole reputation is not totally ruined.

 

Though Dove’s efforts worked, every brand should also learn a lesson, that is, be careful when putting any message on social media because it is uncontrollable. Every ad should convey accurate message. In Dove’s case, they should think about the aesthetic idea that each woman takes or what they define real beauty. Not all women really equal whiteness as beauty or want to be white.

Stuck in The iPhone Photo World

Do you carry your smartphone everyday? Which brand is it? I bet Apple will be the winner. According to a new analyst report this year, the total number of global iPhone users is still growing, and will eventually reach incredible one billion simultaneously activated devices in the next couple of years. Apple successfully make iPhone one of the more popular smartphones in the world, and gains billions of dollars in profits on its smart phone each seasons. Concise and convenience with various function are core reasons leading people to make a continuous purchase. Once you enter the Apple room, you can never get out.

Apple has a group of professional marketers and public relations who have come up with kinds of compelling campaign in promotion, like “The Power of Having an iPhone” for iPhone5s. While “Shot on iPhone” for iPhone6 is my favorite one.

 

This campaign focus on photos, featured 53 images from 41 amateurs and professional photographers around the world. The interface of the camera is easy to use. Even younger or older doesn’t need further learning on how to operate the product. It’s open to anyone who uses a smartphone camera.

Teenagers, college students, business people and adults became target audience. The consumer insight to this campaign was this group of people loved to use their smartphone camera to take photos rather than a professional camera. They also frequently engaged in social media which could take photos or videos and share with friends directly. Apple had put the photo focus on portraits, most of them photographed in subtle, everyday moments. They also combed through social media for photos taken with iPhones, and it ended up gathering shots from 77 people in 24 countries. Many of the photos chosen were shot by people with no professional photography experience or large follower base on social media. These people simply posted photos taken by iPhones on social media with hashtag: ShotOniPhone.

Apple also created a gallery of all the photos it chose for this campaign on its website, allowing users to watch photos or videos that were taken via iPhone6. What’s more, Youtube channel was another tools to hold all of the commercial staff for the campaign, making it accessible for consumers to share on social media and other websites. Finally, up to 90% reach in the Apple website gallery, 95% have positive mentions. “ShotOniPhone” campaign totally made it.

Reputation Management through Social Media

Reputation is present through our lives. Loosing reputation is the last thing any organization is willing to see, cause reputation is fragile. But the fact is, negative situation is really hard to avoid no matter who you are or what your organization is. Today, with Internet coming to the scene and then mobile information delivery rising, people rely on social media. They will pay attention to online reviews on social media such as Yelp to choose products or services. When negative reviews show up, everybody can see it and negative information can spread in one second. This is the reason why social media become an important reputation management tool.

In April, Kendall Jenner starred in a brand new Pepsi advertising video, which she brought a giggly and harmonious end to a protest march after handing a can of Pepsi to a police officer. Within 48 hours, this video got nearly 1.6 million views on YouTube. Most people would not think this ad was creative or interesting. On the contrary, they called this “the best example of white and economic privilege”. Memes and jokes were spread all over social media immediately. Pepsi just brought themselves and Kendall Jenner to the complicated negative situation.

Under the severe circumstances, Pepsi removed the video from its official social media channels like Twitter and made a statement: “Pepsi was trying to project a global message of unity, peace, and understanding. Clearly, we missed the mark and we apologize.”What’s more, they did exactly what they said:“We did not intend to make light of any serious issue.”

Social media is uncontrollable, as everything travels so fast on it. On the other hand, it can be useful tool to manage reputation if used in the right way. If you compare Pepsi with other similar case, you will find that Pepsi apologized in the right way. They used Twitter to conclude what they have done and take responsibility. They delivered the message that they care and were really sorry for the ad misunderstanding, and their social media audience accept that.

Sometimes companies would love to appeal to social issues, as long as it can bring them to the light, whether good or bad. After catching attention, they can build reputation or make through crisis. But again, loosing reputation is the last thing any organization is willing to see, so be careful and prevent the crisis before it starts.

Sweep out The Moody Blues and Be Confident

Are you tired of working hard? Are you bored with staying the same? Are you longing for a complete change? Now, problem solved! Here comes the YSL new lip stain  Tatouage Couture, helping you to sweep out all those moody blues. With a new appearance, incredible colors the lip stain offers will make your fellows feel like never see you before.

Unlike Vinyl Cream Lip Stain and Glossy Stain, Tatouage Couture was switched to a transparent frosted glass package, making it easier to see the remain. What’s more, the spatula-like blush gives the precision of a liner for perfectly defined lips with every application. The formula is another reason make you can’t give up the lip stain. A revolutionary formula for ultra-matte, mousse-like color adorns your lips over eight hours without feeling dry. Those high impact color gives you a light, naked-lip feel. You will feel relatively nothing but hydrated ink as the pigment touches your lips.

Tatouage Couture contains 18 gorgeous colors giving you a luscious look all day, from nudes to plums. 08 Black Red Code is the coolest color. It looks like that many different color was added one by one, finally giving birth to a glamour brown red. And it presents different color under different light. Once you put this one on your lips, the subtle brown color will create an aura of confidence, turning you to a real queen without crown. Imagine you’re in a party,with the Black Red Code on your lips, everybody throws their eyes on you. Under this circumstance, you’re not a vapid book any more.

Besides, all of you must have troubles with losing color of lip makeup while eating, drinking or kissing or feeling uncomfortable dryness wearing matte lip makeup. Color deposit and flaw look take your confidence of applying lip makeup. But the revolutionary formula can prevent this lip stain from drying your lips but long-standing even when you’re eating or drinking. You’ll feel a gentle breeze kissing your lips as you apply. Within one minute, the lip stain will dry and stay the way it is. After drinking, the color won’t appear on the cup. No more awkward color deposit.

Ladies, why don’t you give yourselves a chance to show your natural beauty bravely? Joining to a party confidently, kissing or drinking without unnecessary worries wearing our YSL Tatouage Couture Lip Stain. Get ready to join the gang.

Stay strangers

 

I opened a Facebook account several months ago but never used it. Even some of my friends who lived overseas encouraged me to use it. The reason why I tend to keep away from Facebook is not I live in China that time. I check my Gmail and take a look at Youtube very often. Unlike Twitter, Facebook is like building up a kind of friendship. That is the key, friendship needs time even energy to maintain.

Now I am in America and have a new USA phone number. I decided to be active on Facebook in order to make more friends because as a foreigner, no friends around will make me feel so sad and lonesome. Anyway, I open a new account and post some photos. At the beginning, I only have 2 friends who I’ve already known for a while. Changes and challenges come to me as I post some photos. Something complete strangers keep sending me friends requests. It leads me to a confusing way. I don’t know these people and have no idea why they send friends requests. They don’t say hello to me and I have few interests in becoming friends with them.

It did happen before. As in Wechat, a popular social network in China, I received friends requests from strangers all the time. Wechat is a chatting app, friends use it  chat and share. But Wechat now is kind of in a mess. Because people can use Wechat to pay, then Wechat purchasing group are raising. Strangers can be Wechat friends. At first, when I received friends requests from strangers, I usually accepted it. I just felt a little awkward to refuse people. In most case, strangers seldom talk in Wechat. Sometimes if people make friends from some hobby group such as film, music or sports, they have chance to become close friends on Wechat. It happened to me. My friends invited me to some music group and I made some friends who I did not know but now chat everyday. Mostly , I never chat with strangers. Now, I tend to refuse friends requests from strangers. If we have no possibility to chat, why you are still on my list?

Social media like Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr do offer chance for people to enlarge their own world and convenience to make friends. But in my opinion, everyone has his or her own circle, own world. And it won’t be enlarged by any social media.

Dig it! Social Media

To be honest, my feelings about social media is complex. I used to hate everything on social media and try to keep away from it. People can’t stop posting boring things, such as having a drink in a nice place with emoji. Who cares. And many people like to fake their life through media. They post books they never read and luxuries do not belong to them. All of these is way boring.

But I do have social media accounts, I mean, I am not an island. Wechat is kind of beginning. At first, I use it to know the information from the class group. Then I start to post things on Wechat moment, just want to communicate with classmates. But I feel a little embarrassed when no one like or make comments about the stuff that I posted. My passion about moments fade away gradually, but I keep using Wechat to chat with friends.

Weibo, socalled Chinese Twitter, is another social network I familiar with. Unlike Wechat, which most for friends chatting and sharing, Weibo is a social network that you can show your ideas and experience anybody. So, it can be messy. Through this huge virtual network, people throw their negative emotions everywhere. They complain, let off steam even abuse. What shocked me is people’s attitude about one murder. A young lady was raped and killed by a deliver man. But the suspect defend ed himself of saying that the lady was try to seduce him because she wearing a night skirt when signing for the package. A lot of people on Weibo supported the suspect. Can not believe it.

I made some friends by Weibo, though. I love rock and roll, western folk music and western literature. It’s hard to find someone who have the nearly same hobbies in real life, but social media give me the chance. I do meet some fantastic friends and still keep in touch with some Weibo friends through Wechat. Why Wechat? Because I quit Weibo finally. I don’t like the atmosphere and the situation where people always complaining how awful their life is and how they want suicide.

Youtube is great social media. I can watch so many videos that I am interested in, and the system will recommend stuff I may like. My friends also share some video to me. I can watch different lectures by different professionals. I even can learn how to play guitar through videos on Youtube.

Now I start Twitter. Social media come into my life and may stay for a long time. I still feel uncomfortable about the faking and complaining, but nothing is perfect. As for me ,I just pay attention to the stuff I care about and enjoy my social media world.

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