Meeting Saline Chamber

     Last Tuesday I got the chance to visit my neighbors at the Saline Chamber of Commerce meeting. I had a great time meeting new people and getting to know some of the local businesses. Most of the attendees already knew each other, and it seemed beneficial for everyone. The first presentation was about Cleary University, and the discount programs offered for employers to have employees finishing up their degrees. I think it is smart for these businesses to work together, because schooling is becoming too expensive for employers to fund.
     The next presentation was from the Rentchler Farm Museum. She talked briefly about the great summer programs offered, and how the farm does a lot for the children of the community. I think it is easy for people to get wrapped up in the big business world, but it is important to look at what is in our own community. It is good to continue to listen to community discussions like this so that we can remember what our clients are looking for. Most of our non profits have a similar mindset that these historical establishments do.

Post Practically

     This is a topic I have been discussing at my own work in that social media needs to be specific to your business. It is more than just posting about articles, or writing things you think consumers want to know. Posts need to be a mesh of what your business is about and what your consumers are looking for. I think great advice would be to look at how a business is different from its competitors and use that as a platform for the type of posts it is trying to send.
     Businesses need to research their consumer’s interests and utilize the social media correctly. Another way a business could stand out is to offer content specific for their clients. When consumers are offered something useful and relevant, they are more likely to take notice of your company and recommend it to others. Depending on the type of business a person has could totally change how posts are designed and updated. A pizza joint may not be looking to post business articles from the Wall Street Journal. The better the collaboration, the more effective a social media campaign would be.

http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/how-to-find-great-content-to-share-on-twitter/

Don't Just Find It, Talk About It

     It is great that the Map apps are finally getting the right idea of what consumers are looking for in location services. No one generally wants the option of only looking at where a store is, but what kind of reviews it received. I agree with Bohret that the business review sites like Yelp could be in trouble, and should look into other expansion possibilities.
     Having the capability to see what restaurants your circles have visited allows for so much more connectedness which social media is all about. This is also a great opportunity for businesses to see what areas of people are talking about them and have better access to the reviews from social media. Something to be concerned about in these upgrades to mapping is that it could potentially cause too much distraction on the road

http://on.wsj.com/17wDT6V

Buy it Anywhere

     Apparently if you can get a customer to purchase in the bathroom, you have them hooked. This is a prime reason as to why the enhanced ad campaigns are essential for company products. People with smart phones generally have more disposable income. Depending on the product, when looking through a phone consumers are more relaxed sitting in the bedroom, living room, or even the bathroom. 

     Wohlson discussed how more research is coming out about the different uses depending on screen size. Less people are buying laptops and trading it for tablets or phones that have all-in-one features. Statistics about a websites mobile usage is becoming increasingly important to pay attention to. Businesses need to follow their clients online behavior to make sure their ads are correctly targeted.

http://www.wired.com/business/2013/07/bathroom-buying/

Classes in the Chatrooms

    It is hard to argue with the statistics for millennials having such a high rate of mobile work activity. However I think it is still a stretch to think that online education could somehow take over the traditional University setup. There are a lot of different courses available, but there has to be some kind of interaction. Everything cannot be taught by online text alone. The classroom offers a lot more experience and example opportunities.
     A good point Wells makes in this article is that online options would significantly reduce costs. Unfortunately choices about a person's education cannot totally rely on the most cost effective decision. If societal trends are starting to lean towards more online choices, I think a better option would be to utilize online video sessions for more class participation. Universities could fund their own video programs and in this way stay more credible with employers. With more Google Hangout or Skype options available, students could potentially cut a lot of costs while having a credible degree. If there was no way of contacting students outside of email, I think there would be a big downturn in the educational system. I have not seen this topic a lot, but I believe it is something to look out for.

http://www.wired.com/insights/2013/07/moocs-on-the-move-from-colleges-to-companies/

Use Your Strengths

     Although we are not going to see Facebook as the top search engine, I think they have the right idea for the capabilities they have. If in social media the top searches are other users and their photographs, why not continue to work on those queries to make people searches easier. Google may be able to give you a list of information, but Facebook has its own specific strengths at finding people.

     In a way the idea of graph search ability seems similar to LinkedIn. They want to create a social graph that could better allow for users to search their friends by activities and photos. In the end I think it is a right choice for Facebook to expand what they are doing without going underwater trying to compete with Google.
http://bit.ly/12aw0ps

Phrases Change

     This article is a great example of how online businesses need to stay up to date on searches for advertisements. Facebook had faced a problem with businesses being categorized incorrectly. In this example a new American restaurant was mistaken for Chinese simply because of the word choice by the American business. 

     With the new formatting change in Facebook, it offers a more honed in targeting for consumers.A good lesson from this is to keep in mind the way people search changes. Various phrases and keywords are constantly coming in and out. Businesses need to look out for these changes and update accounts accordingly.

http://www.wired.com/wiredenterprise/2013/07/entities-graph/

Enhanced Explanation

     All AdWords accounts will be upgraded to include new customization on July 22nd. This upgrade will not change campaign content; it will assist the marketer to locate potential customers more efficiently.

Key changes to the campaign will involve smarter ads for mobile devices. This upgrade is intended to find out what the user’s intent and context is for looking up keywords, and fitting the right ad with that situation. Google is trying to make the advertiser’s life easier by automatically making these changes. Ultimately this system will attempt to provide customers with more purchase opportunities using mobile marketing.

     With this format, marketers do not have to juggle separate campaigns for different devices. Now, they are all included on one campaign across all devices. The disadvantage of this change will be that clients will have to keep track of different budgets for different devices. However, it is easy to make changes to the budget between mobile devices and computers.This is a great change for campaigns, and is better strategy to locate potential customers.  

Don't Forget to Listen

     Going into this seminar, I wasn't sure how much content I would get from it. To my surprise I found Sean Combs had some amazing insights about how he looks for the current trends. He said "I listen to my kids" which I think is something people tend to overlook. Most businesses put a lot of time and dedication to market trends and surveys, but they need to remember to pay attention to those immediately around them. Sometimes the answer is as easy as listening to what people are really looking for. Social media is a good way to start to see the most up to date trends, but I would caution people not to forget to be social outside of the cell phone.

What posts are made of

     Daniel Lammare had the right idea that experiences are what the public is looking for. Cirque Du Soleil had a presentation talking about how online experiences could not trump live experiences. We would not have any pictures to post or friends to tag if we did not have a life outside of our mobile devices. Facebook would be a very boring place to go if it was not filled with pictures of vacations or reviews about the best local restaurants. With all the personal life content in these sites, I believe there is something to learn for businesses. Live events need to be integrated with social media and mobile campaigns.
     In South Korea for example, the Palaces offer an amazing application that allows visitors to see a 3-D replication on their phone of what the inside of a Palace would look like. The physical experience is being in front of a beautiful palace, and the mobile device is capable of sharing that experience with others. So as companies are trying to think of way to expand, they should look at how to better integrate the in person experience with the online experience. In this way there is a perfect collaboration leading to more effective campaigns.