Good/Bad Website Smackdown

     In the world today it is extremely important for companies to have sleek websites. With technology increasing one of the most important aspects is for technology to be user friendly. That applies to phones, computers, websites, etc. For the purposes of this smackdown I will take website trends from one of the Livebinder articlewe read for class.
   
     The first trend I will use is responsive design. It will be clear after watching my smackdown that one of the websites has a horribly simple design that is not sleek and is not fluid and the other has a more modern feel to it. Another trend is a simple one but some websites do not even utilize it; the trend is striking colors. The bad website sticks to one color scheme for every page, (orange and black). The good website has photos of multiple new age electronic devices in the background which gives it a modern feel. The last trend I'll discuss is one that I always look for in a website and that is the amount of information on a page. Instead of loading a page with paragraphs of information a website should allow you to browse through a page almost like a table of contents in a book. You can then click on which section of the website you want to explore at ease.

Link to my smackdown: https://youtu.be/mun4Nw-yQuY

Social Media Tools

For my first social media tool I chose to look at Oktopost.

The world is moving towards social media. Most, if not all, companies have people devoted solely on building a social media presence and marketing their service or product on various social media platforms. Oktopost makes it easy to balance all social media accounts at once. It helps collect data as well so you can see what your customers have looked at on your page. I chose this tool because my future career is going to be in marketing. This tool does not just apply to marketers though. In marketing, it is going to be important for me to make sure that whatever company I work for has a useful presence on social media platforms. The analytics that this tool collects will help me assess which advertisements are worth spending time on and which advertisements are not worth the time anymore. This app will automatically help a marketer improve which leads he or she should pursue and not pursue. It saves time and money, which in a professional environment are the two most important resources. 

  

                                            

For my second tool I chose Facebook audience insights.



This is an amazing tool that I had never heard of before and I am surprised that I haven't. Like I mentioned above I will become a marketer and this tool seems to be the most helpful one yet. It  uses Facebook to help gather analytics anonymously about potential customers. It supplies you with information such as page likes, demographics, and recent purchase activities. It sounds a little creepy that this information would be available but like I said it is anonymous. Facebook has the most views per month and the number is close to two billion which is an absurdly large amount of people. If any social media site could supply useful information Facebook is certainly that. This tool could influence marketing campaigns in a drastic way. It helps with leads and it helps save time. I will surely use this tool when I find myself a job because it is extremely helpful.

Story telling tools

Toondoo!

Storyboard that! 

(Sorry about the watermarks I didn't realize they were gonna be there until after I saved it.)

Make Beliefs Comix!

Social Media Etiquette

Social media is a fantastic tool that almost everyone I have met consistently uses. In this shifting world it is important for graduates to know how to maintain an acceptable reputation on various social media platforms.

For this project I chose a college football player who was unhappy with his playing time and he posted on twitter ranting about his coach. He ended up getting suspended and I am sure he ruined his relationship with his coach and teammates as well. Attached below is the link to my virtual presentation on Voicethread.

https://voicethread.com/share/12311864/

                             

Smackdown 2.0

The app that I chose for the web 2.0 smackdown is called "Smore". This app allows its users to create flyers and newsletters and upload them directly to social media. In today's world social media dominates marketing so this app helps people who are not familiar with social media easily post on various social media sites. There is a free and paid version and the paid version allows for much more customizable options as well as the ability to create and email a lot more monthly newsletters. The app itself is geared towards educators but it is useful for any and every business. It is a great way to get the word around about various services and products, as well as let people know about special events. It also creates an opportunity for people who are otherwise not skilled in graphic design partake in creating their own flyers in a user friendly way. The website is easy to navigate and it provides templates as well as examples of sample flyers for people to work off of. There are also analytics data that tell the user various stats on how and when people viewed their flyers or newsletters. In the long run it saves time while also helping create quality content for viewers to look at.

                                           

Link to my video: https://youtu.be/lPQjSYflvxQ

Chapter 4

     Chapter four is exactly as the title suggests, a chapter on building a collaborative culture. The first part of the chapter talks about relationships within an organization and how building different relationships is vital in a collaborative environment. It seems to go without saying that relationships matter but the chapter describes different types of relationships. The first being Congeniality relationships. The chapter describes them as "polite, friendly relationships." Any and every work environment I have ever worked in is filled with these types of relationships. The second type of relationship talked about is Collegiality relationships. The chapter describes this type of relationship as "a shared belief that none of us is as good as all of us." This means that everybody has to recognize that a team is what makes an environment successful not just one person. I have learned that this type of relationship is not always included in work environments. There are always people who think they are better than everyone else, that is just a part of life.

                                   

     The next part of the chapter talks about people's needs and how to deal with them in a collaborative and supportive way. The author talks about grieving and how it is usually viewed as only being relevant with the passing of a loved one. The author then goes on to explain how this is false and that there are levels to grief and many different events can trigger it. In order to make sure team members are listened to and appreciated the author suggests that group work in a professional environment can help those grieving for whatever reason.

                         

     I think the first part of this chapter and its information would help me the most in my future career as a marketer and really anybody's career in any field. In order for a team to truly function and be successful there can be no sort of Collegiality relationships. I also think that the relationships need to go beyond Congeniality relationships because people can not just be friendly with each other they should feel more of a bond. Team building exercises and even going out for drinks as a group after work or other things like that could help build relationships a lot I believe. 

Chapter 5

     The Connected Educator has taught us multiple ways in which we can improve on the building of our own personal network. Chapter 5 details the various technical tools we can use to further help us. It outlines how to connect online and utilize archiving websites and also how social media can play an integral part in our own personal networks. The chapter specifically talks about Twitter, a well known social media platform. It refers to Twitter in a way I had never even thought about, they call it a website for miniblogs. I suppose tweets are indeed just mini blogs but it is interesting to think of Twitter as a blog site after using it for a few years now and never viewing it in that sense. The chapter talks of the Twitterverse and the importance of connecting with others (after all connecting is what this book is all about). I was happy to read the social media aspect of this chapter because I, along with many others, have stressed how important social media is to businesses nowadays.

                                   

     The chapter is filled with different websites that can aid in a person's quest to expand their connection. It has multiple blog websites, social media websites, and even podcasts. I can say that I have heard of a number of the websites that were laid out but also have never heard of the others. The chapter closes by talking about an extremely important aspect of technology, and that aspect is your online reputation. Your online posts never disappear so the author cautions people on what they post. The author also tells how to build online portfolios. This chapter has proven to be extremely insightful and maybe the most useful chapter we have read yet.

     Now how does this chapter apply to my future career? As I have said, I am a marketing major here at Stockton. This chapter outlines the importance of social media and I have said before how important social media can be to a marketer. Social media is a platform that can serve marketers as a free measure to post advertisements. Also, building portfolios is important to not just marketers, but to everyone professional person.

                                    

Now I have a question for the readers: What do you think was the most useful and important technological tool that chapter 5 laid out for us and why?

Smackdown 1

Hello everybody.

For my first smackdown video I chose the app Buffer: Social Media Manager. My major here at Stockton University is business with a concentration in marketing. This app is a great tool for marketers in an age where a large portion of marketing and advertising are done over the internet, specifically social media (Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, etc.). We have all been on social media and have seen various ad campaigns. This app makes it easy to post a wide variety of posts on these social media platforms. It allows users to post on all platforms at the same time instead of having to surf from platform to platform and create different posts.

The user can create a schedule for when and where they want their ads to be posted. They can even create the ads ahead of time and the app will post days later for them. This is great for organized people because they can create and set up their posts in the beginning of the week for the whole week and not have to worry about constantly posting advertisements. As a future marketer this app is something that I will surely use and recommend to others. People respond more to visual campaigns than written ones so this app simplifies an important aspect of marketing for them. 

Link to my virtual presentation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6cJPohm_7g&t=1s

Connected Educator #2

     The second part of connected educator talks about the importance of networking. The textbook says that growing a personal network is key in any field and it is in fact essential. A personal network can help advance any person's position in a field in a comfortable way. An individual can create their network in any way that they want. They can add people they meet as well as people they are referred to. A personal network is both a great way to advance in your career as well as a proven strategy to gain information about a field. 

  

                         

     As I have mentioned in my previous post my future career choice is business marketing. Just like with any other profession, networking can help in marketing as well. People in my network could potentially refer me to open positions and put in a good word. As with any other profession, personal networks also can provide insight on the specific field and give a person like me inside knowledge that I would have not been able to figure out on my own. 

     I recently had a job interview and the hiring manager who interviewed me explained to me the importance of a personal network and how his has helped him. That information made it very clear the importance of a personal network along with the countless classes that have told me the same information. A personal network can not get stressed enough and it truly is important to teach to new graduates as much as possible. 

Connected Educatorm

Chapter 2 - Connected Educator 

     This chapter of the textbook talks about connecting teachers from many different areas and teaching them about new technology to use in the classroom. It talks about what may be the most important aspect in a professional environment, connection. This is so important because it applies to any work environment no matter what the profession is. I have personally always felt that communication and being connected with fellow employees is the most important skill to utilize. 

My future profession is in marketing and just like any field the technology is constantly improving and we will need to learn how to utilize it together to improve marketing campaigns. 

     The textbook highlights three aspects of communication and one of them is "Local Community." I feel this is the most important aspect because in the field of marketing it is important to learn about your local community so you can connect with them and make sure they buy into what you are selling. This aspect also deals with face-to-face communication but it does not literally mean face-to-face. That could also mean communicating on social media and in today's world having a social media presence for marketing is key. 

     After reading the syllabus for this class it is clear that we will have to market ourselves on linkedin. Part of linkedin is connecting with other people. It is important to connect with people who present themselves professionally so this "Local Community" connection applies to this very class as well. 

Source: The Connected Educator: Learning and Leading in a Digital Age, 2012, Nussbaum-Beach, S and Hall, L.R.

https://youtu.be/LgFtZNHtutI