The Social Media Revolution

When it comes to social media, being able to define your audience and establish a relationship is essential. When you target your audience, you have the ability to understand and cater to their needs. As a company, being able to utilize information about various audiences will give your company the upper hand.

According to Katie Paine, there recently has been a 3-part social media revolution. The three steps are:

• Timeliness has been redefined
• Role of marketing and communications has been redefined
• Most definitions of success are irrelevant

Being aware of these three steps, gives your company the opportunity to engage and market themselves to the appropriate audiences on social media.

Thanks to the real-time aspect of social media, timeliness has been redefined. It used to be OK for companies to take days to respond to customers. Now, social media has made it unacceptable to take longer than a few hours. Social media users are in control and expect answers when they want them.

With the implementation of social media, the role of marketing and communications has also been redefined. Marketing and communications departments need to be aware of social media and the impact it can have on your company. Marketing and communications professionals need to be ready to engage and interact with their customers at any given time.

Most definitions of success are irrelevant unless you are benchmarking and creating measurable goals. You don’t know the true success of social media or any campaign unless you have the statistical data to back it up.

If your company is able to understand and implement successful social media strategies, your company will already be ahead of the game. In today’s ever changing society, it is important to understand your audience and the impact social media can have.

Becoming a Leader

Coming to Ohio Northern as a freshman, I had no idea what I was doing or what I wanted to accomplish (still don’t have it figured out, btw).  I never saw myself joining any organizations on campus, let alone taking on leadership positions. If you would have told me two years ago I would become the historian of Zeta Tau Alpha and the secretary of the Public Relations Student Society of America, I would have laughed in your face. I never thought of myself as a leader. I was always involved in organizations and clubs in high school, but I always assumed there was someone better for the job. Now, I see myself as a leader and influencer in the organizations I am involved in.

Zeta Tau Alpha’s executive board is made up of 11 members. Historian is pretty much a fancy word for the PR person. I’m in charge of maintaining the website, creating content for promotional material and social media, taking pictures at all major Zeta events, making an annual scrapbook, submitting articles to the Northern Review and our national magazine, Themis, as well as creating special content like member of the month, new member spotlight and senior spotlight.
 

Secretary of PRSSA is much different than Historian. My main duties as secretary are to take attendance at weekly meetings, send emails as needed, update the bulletin board in PAC and design T-shirts. I’m looking forward to taking on a more influential role through PRSSA in the upcoming year.

Being able to have the opportunity to join multiple organizations and hold leadership positions at Ohio Northern has developed my professional and personal skills. I have more confidence in myself and my abilities in public relations. Not to mention, students with leadership positions are greatly sought after by employers. Without the support of faculty, advisors and peers, I would have never applied for any leadership positions. I encourage all students to join at least one organization on campus. You never know what hidden talents or skills you have until you try. Don’t miss out on your opportunity to become a better leader today.

Snapchat Updates their Privacy Policy

Have you recently updated Snapchat? When you updated Snapchat to get all the cool new features like slow motion, fast forward and rewind filters, Snapchat asked if you agreed to their new terms and agreements. Did you read them? You should have. Before you send another Snapchat, check out Snapchat’s updated privacy policy.

Snapchat now has the right to “reproduce, modify and republish your photos and save those photos to Snapchat’s servers, specifically in relation to the ‘Live Story’ feature.”

Some Snapchat users are not happy about the fact their snaps may no longer be as private as they were before. People call this update “scary” and makes them want to delete their account. Is Snapchat invading user’s privacy? Personally, I don’t think anything actually disappears after you hit ‘send’. Users of Snapchat should have been aware of this aspect before even downloading the app.

With multiple rumors flying around about their new privacy policy, Snapchat set the record straight. Snapchat’s newest terms of service give the company a “broad license” to use certain public content, like snap stories and live stories so the company can show the stories around the world. If you send your snap to your story or to one of the live stories, it has the chance of being reused and modified to fit Snapchat’s needs. 

Snapchat said the main reason they updated their privacy policy was to ensure users understood their policy. Their main goal is to be upfront and clear with app users. Snapchat is walking on a very fine line and if they want to continue to be one of the top social media apps, they need to focus on their customers needs and ensure satisfaction. I’m happy to see Snapchat taking the initiative to set things straight to end rumors from circulating.