Social Media Promotion Plan
Mary G. Chamberlain Appalachian State University COM 3200 Fall 2017 1
Table of Contents
Table of Contents……………………………………………………………………………..
pg .2
Inspirational Photo…………………………………………………………………………..
pg. 3
Background ……………………………………………………………………………………..
pg. 4
Brand Perception …………………………………………………………………………….
pg. 5
Social Media Activity ………………………………………..................................
pg. 6-13
Wix, Visme, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, My Blog, YouTube…. SWOT Analysis ………………………………………………………………………………….
pg.14
Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats …………………............... • Addressed for Personal Brand
Goals and Objectives …………………………………….....................................
pg.16-17
Scheduled ROI ………….………………………………………………………………………… pg. 18 Promotional letter introducing magazine to potential employer
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Family Christmas 2016
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Background After many years working in pharmacy practice I took a leap of faith and went back to school. Appalachian was my first choice, a Health Promotion degree would be my next step. Communication class is a requirement in my program of study. I took COM 1200 and discovered that it was by far more interesting than any of my health classes. I asked permission to be in COM 3200 and delightfully was granted entrance. Prior to this class I had no idea what building a brand consisted of, much less the opportunity to build ‘my personal brand.� I chose the building block of leading by example which truly exemplifies my approach to life. I am married with children. I work full time and go to school. My life would appear to many a balancing act. With the intent of building a network to propel me in both my career and academic pursuits I chose to promote myself. This has been an amazing semester! I have found both the courage and confidence to share myself within the limitless boundaries of social media. Talk about stepping out of my comfort zone, I truly have. The rewards have quickly manifested themselves. I have recently been approached by two different entities making reference to interest in me coming to work for them. This is now a challenge that I am taking on to continue to promote myself long after our class session is complete. 4
Brand Perception Prior to COM 3200
During/After COM 3200
Facebook was a way to keep up with my children and what they were up to. LinkedIn was my professional platform to stay abreast of where colleagues would transfer to. Wix, Visme, Twitter, Instagram and Blogging were noninteractive in my world. I didn’t consider their potential in helping me promote myself. They weren’t tools I would have considered. YouTube was a place I went to seek how to videos to help me accomplish a task.
It’s a way to connect with colleagues, potential employers and keep up with my kids. Today it is a way to branch out and increase my personal range of presence in the work force. Twitter and Instagram are now tools that I will use weekly if not daily going forward. Wix, I intend to continue to build and improve my website. Visme was educational. I am still a little intimidated but am not resistant to the idea of making another video.
To summarize my brand perception would be to say I see immense value in using the social media platforms I have practiced in to grow my brand. I have seen it work, I understand how to navigate them and I genuinely am grateful for the exposure. I will demonstrate these skills going forward to aid in potential job promotion. 5
My Social Media Journey
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Wix Welcome to my website. Feel free to explore. https://chamberlainmg.wixsite.com/mysite
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Visme • Infographics are the visuals that draw you in and keep your attention. • Visual cues help us to better retrieve and remember information. • Visme was an excellent first resource to start building my brand.
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Facebook My family has a huge role in my continued success. I feature them in my post because their support and encouragement means so much to me. This is an appropriate site for me to gain followers and share more of my personal life.
I want perspective employers to have a well rounded view of who I am and what I am into. https://www.facebook.com/mary. chamberlain.3958 9
Instagram • Not only is Instagram a photo sharing app but it is also another way to network.
• You can place hashtags on the photos you share. People in turn can search using hashtags, say #snow for example. • A solid way to build your presence would be by sharing hot links back to your other accounts. One links to another and another…
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Twitter, make a message of 140 characters or less, doable and flourishing, known as tweets. Consisting of two-way conversations with individuals, businesses, employers, and employees, both internal and external, people are encouraged to follow and interact with others. https://twitter.com/appstatedoodlum 11
LinkedIn My associated groups include but are not limited to: Novant Health Medical Group Forsyth Technical Community College Davidson County Community College Appalachian State University https://www.linkedin.com/in/marychamberlain-65799b67/ 12
My Blog
Creating a blog and sharing this was perhaps the hardest for me of all the assignments. Having said that, it was also one of the most rewarding. The feedback I received from the people encouraged me to continue to share. https://www.wix.com/myaccount/sites/d3574f54-8a2d-40bc-b5352383b0420acb/simple-app?app=blog 13
YouTube • Making a YouTube video was the scariest of all the assignments. I tried repeatedly to get it right. I finally decided that I was being honest, my own authentic self and that it was the very best I could do. My approach is and has been for a very long time to “lead by example.” It isn’t hard to sell something you believe in. Take a minute and watch my first attempt. Thank you • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z699lj9Eyao&feature=y outu.be 14
SWOT Analysis • Strengths I have become acquainted with social media platforms and have access to many outlets to promote my brand. I have used Hootsuite to coordinate my approach and can multitask in order to collectively reach more people.
• Weaknesses Practice makes perfect. I need to apply more time and attention to repeating steps so that I can become more efficient at networking across all platforms.
• Opportunities The opportunities are virtually limitless. It is up to me to seek out ways to continue my efforts to position myself in front of potential employers. There are as I understand it some platforms that we have yet to exercise.
• Threats It would be fair to say that competition for positions could be considered a threat. I will continue to strive for excellence and do my best to perform better than my competition. 15
Setting Goals and Objectives • My over-arching goal is to promote myself, my brand and skills, to translate into a new job. I will apply for a promotion within Health Technologies, where I currently work, within the next three years. The time line will start with where I am today, weeks away from finishing my bachelor’s degree in Health Promotion, December 16th, 2017. I will then continue to graduate school, beginning in the fall of 2018, set to graduate in the summer of 2020 with a degree in higher education. When applying for a position within the college there is an interview committee assigned and an open forum for discussion held with the interviewees and colleagues. • My primary goal is to increase awareness of my presence (my personal brand) across three social media platforms. Those being Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. Amy Jo Martin, author of Renegades Write the Rules, offers seven tips to get more social media followers. One of which we already talked about in this class is that we surround ourselves with people who “value your brand and expertise”. (Martin, 2017) I will generate conversations with people who are looking for leadership and commitment skills such as I possess on each of the above-mentioned platforms. 16
Setting Goals and Objectives, con’t • The way I will measure success for increasing my presence for each will be as follows over the course of the next 30 days. • For Facebook, I have been and will continue to track my reach and engagement using tools provided in Insight/Overview. The benchmark is currently 208 reaches. I will increase that number to 250 by the 10th of January by engagement of posting my second blog and subsequently building by increments of 25 each month thereafter with follow-up postings. • For LinkedIn: Following the same principle from our reading by Russel, I will identify with healthcare and higher education colleagues where my prospects/clients, in my case future employers are and join their groups. My benchmark here is 405 contacts, I will grow this number by 15 contacts by the 10th of January and each month thereafter, utilizing my blog function across platforms. • For Twitter: This is currently my weak link, my starting point of four followers. In our reading by Michael Russel, Social Media Marketing, I learned to include a prominent hashtag, and that individuals are likely to discover my tweet, thereby increasing my following and allowing me to be seen by a greater group. “You ought to be splendid and direct with your hashtag.” (Russel, 2017) I will increase my followers by 25 each month beginning January 10th, by intentionally leveraging the person(s) business that I am writing about to get into their traffic stream.
• I will use Hootsuite to send out messages to each of the above mentioned platforms. Each incorporated into our social media portfolios can be integrated to work together. I didn’t realize at the time we created the accounts that they could so easily form a cohesion to promote my presence until this assignment. I will use these benchmarks defined herein as my building blocks and continue to interface my work across social media outlets to increase growth of my personal brand. Increasing the depth of professional relationships and using that growth as a springboard to showcase my work related skills. • Works Cited
• Martin, A. J. (2017, October 30). How To Build a Social Following. Retrieved from Forbes Entrepreneurs: https://www.forbes.com/pictures/ekij45gldk/how-to-build-a-social-following/#6bc796d440d1 • Russel, M. (2017, July) Social Media Marketing
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ROI
The return on my investment will manifest with my job promotion. This class, these platforms and my graduation are all strategic steps for me to reach my goal. The social media marketing will showcase my attributes, my interest in leading others and my commitment to building partnerships internally and externally of my field. I intend to apply for the Directors position of Allied Health at Forsyth Technical Community College in March of 2018. 18
Digital Magazine Letter to Employer Dear Mrs. Latham, I hope this letter finds you well. I am writing today to share my portfolio in the form of a digital magazine. You will find within this work that I am committed to building bridges across all platforms to demonstrate my personal best. As a health care professional, I recognize the importance of presenting oneself in a manner to compliment the position they hold for their company. Several highlights of my magazine showcase my abilities and energy that I demonstrate in leading by example. My first attempt at the YouTube video included is a prime example of willingness to think outside the box to communicate a message. Forsyth Technical Community College (FT) is a solid hub of education for our community, our students, our employers. You need people who are willing to go the extra mile to learn and grow with the company. The technological advances that we are faced with today will compound exponentially over the course of time. Have you considered using Instagram and Twitter within the classroom? I have personally taught classes within our fine institution and see value in encouraging students to interact outside of the classroom. Social media can be used for promotion of education in different modalities. Imagine if you would for a moment, the advantage the introverted student would have if they could incorporate the social media they spend time on everyday to socialize with fellow students. Perhaps they won’t raise their hand or participate in class for fear of being embarrassed. You see them on their phones before, after and sometimes during class. Could that social media be interfaced with a class project, so the playing field would feel more even? They would have some comfort and history with their classmates. We look to promote/grow our program numbers and retain students. I am aware that we have a Facebook page, we are on Twitter, have billboards and television advertisements as well. The interactions I have seen on the social media for our school is very limited. If we encouraged each employee to like and or post upcoming events or classes at Forsyth Tech on each of their platforms, how much free advertising would that be? We do so many wonderful things at work and there are so many opportunities for students I don’t understand why we can’t use more of this to our benefit. I would improve our levels of engagement with the students, the staff and our community based on what I have learned this semester in communication class. There are analytics that I can provide to support the return of investment that I feel strongly my effort will produce. This is one additional facet of my commitment to our school of leading by example. I want to initiate a pilot program beginning with two classes and develop ways to improve our relationship within the classroom with our students and faculty. A paired t-test if you will, statistically to support the difference I believe this effort can make. Once you have had the opportunity to review my magazine I would like to meet with you to discuss possibilities. I appreciate your time and consideration in advance. Kind regards,
Mary Chamberlain
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