MTV: Questionable Morals, Exceptional Social

       

       MTV: A former station for the latest music and news about popular artists, a current station for not so classy reality televisions shows and too many pregnant teen moms. However, once every year MTV travels back to its original roots and hosts the MTV Movie Awards which just occurred this past Sunday. Although MTV's morals can be skeptical, they excel in capturing audiences through social media during this event and other events such as the VMA's. Via Twitter, MTV has discovered the major increase in activity a brand can gain if the platform is used effectively. The network listed three keys to success: 1. Work with Twitter to create customized experiences 2. Engage followers with integrative techniques 3. Boost engagement throughout your event. Throughout Awards shows MTV has adopted several innovative concepts that have boosted numbers for the network. For example, during the Video Music Awards MTV used Twitter to post Buzz, Paparazzi, and Hotseat. Buzz included tweeting about the latest things going on at the show, Paparazzi posted pictures of stars as they arrived and backstage photos, and Hotseat included a seating chart of the event and where stars were tweeting from. MTV saw a drastic increase in engagement through these platform promotions.

         

       With the Awards show this past Sunday, MTV engaged through Tumblr, a different move than most networks take. The network worked with Tumblr to promote engagement and keep the audience updated. MTV also used GIF's as a promotion for the Awards show by posting different GIF's and also allowing the audience to create their own. Although some of the content MTV generates may sometimes be seen as questionable, when it comes to social media, the network is doing it right.

More Twitter informtation:
https://business.twitter.com/success-stories/mtv

ACM's Bring New Ideas for Social Fan Involvement

                      
The Academy of Country Music just hosted it's 49th Annual ACM Awards this past Sunday in Las Vegas, Nevada. The awards were hosted by two of country music's biggest stars right now, Luke Bryan and Blake Shelton, who delivered quite the entertaining monologue. Artists Miranda Lambert and George Strait came out on top for the night, while band Rascal Flatts seemed to suffer from lipsyncing during their performance. Aside from these high and low points, the ACM's made sure to remain involved through social media. In terms of who is in charge for the Academy's social responsibilities, Jamie Lynn Spears has been named the social media correspondent. Aside from the thousands of tweets being made by fans throughout the show, fans were able to look to Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for behind-the-scenes photos, interviews, red carpet arrivals, and other events going on during the week prior to the show. Another cool concept the show took on was through Vine, in which they posted "Vine 360's," where stars were videoed from a 360 view to capture their entire outfit for fans to see. A third thing done by the Academy was the "Flat Luke" and "Flat Blake" concept in which fans were able to incorporate flat Luke and flat Blake into their photos and post them to social media accounts. The ACM's did an excellent job at incorporating new ideas and ways for fans to get involved socially throughout not only the show but the entire week leading up to the event. It is these kinds of actions that organizations must take in order to make an impact socially and influence their fans to get involved.

Check out these links to learn more,

http://blog.gactv.com/blog/2014/04/04/acm-awards-invite-fans-to-engage-through-social-media/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/style-blog/wp/2014/04/07/acm-awards-big-winners-best-and-worst-performances-most-awkward-moments/

March Madness- A Breeding Ground for Marketing?

       I think it's safe to say the 2014 March Madness season has been anything but expected. Upsets range from Mercer defeating Duke, Dayton taking down Syracuse, Kansas losing to Stanford, and one of the biggest upsets yet, undefeated Wichita State being sent home by Kentucky. And stemming from these upsets came many upset bracket competitors. However, aside from these upsets,  for some businesses branding has been a success through this annual basketball tournament, and for most of these brands at the root of their marketing lies some kind of social media interaction. For example, Steiner Sports has been using the hashtag #steninerbracket to select a winner for their prize, the opportunity to meet and talk with basketball coach Bob Knight. Buffalo Wild Wings is calling itself "The Official Hangout for March Madness." The food chain is offering several prizes including a trip to the 2015 tournament and thousands of dollars in gift cards. To win these prizes you can do things like check into their locations and tweet about their challenge. Kwinn Media is offering chances to win $200 prize packets which you can be entered to win by retweeting their bracket link. Many other companies are offering prizes through Facebook comments and tweeting as well. 

       This is a great way for businesses to market themselves and increase customer's awareness about their products. By offering incentives like these, people are more likely to research the product and adjust their purchasing patterns toward these companies. When people are retweeting and sharing companies products on Facebook, that also reaches people who may be unfamiliar with the business and increases their knowledge about the company. Annual events in which thousands of people are invested in are key opportunities for businesses to connect with people, and these companies were smart to take advantage of such opportunities.

Use Social to Your Advantage

 

       I'm taking a different direction with this post and talking about something more personal as opposed to what the latest news is. I'm currently in the process of applying and interviewing for internships for this upcoming summer. I am exploring many marketing opportunities ranging from insurance to ad agencies to healthcare systems. However, through all of these different career routes I have found one thing in common. When preparing for an interview I instinctively find myself researching all social media accounts for a company. I obviously visit the company's website; however, I have found you are more likely to get a feel for a company's work environment through a Facebook page, a Twitter account, or an Instagram. For example, I am traveling to Atlanta this Thursday for an internship open house with an ad agency. I already knew the agency's internship is supposed to be one of the best, but when I looked further into their social media accounts I realized this is the internship that I want most. I was able to get a feel for the agency in greater depth than through their website, and see that they have a lot of fun while working. Because of this research into their social accounts, I am extremely motivated to stand out in this open house, probably more so than if I had not researched their social accounts. The social media aspect is also used by employers when accepting applications for internships. Several companies have included a link to add your Facebook page and Linkedin at the bottom of the application. This allows employers to do further research on you as a potential candidate for their internship.
        Lastly, I would like to discuss an instance at my job in which social media made a presence. I am a part-time sales associate at Pier 1 Imports and we are currently interviewing people for two open positions. Yesterday during my shifts two people were interviewed by our General Manager. When the first girl came in and went back to the office, the sales leader on duty began explaining how he and my assistant manager had looked her up on Facebook and checked out her page. Social media is increasingly becoming more significant when job searching; so I would suggest everyone take advantage of looking into potential employer's accounts, and scan your current accounts to be sure they are safe for employers to view.

It's All About the Hashtag #RichKids

#selfie

          E!'s latest hit revolves around a group of outrageously wealthy young adults and their extravagant lifestyles. "#RichKids of Beverly Hills" is currently in its first season and has made quite the impact thus far. Throughout the season we have seen how these young men and women spend tens and thousands of dollars daily on Rodeo Drive, take luxurious anniversary trips to Cabo, plan the most over-the-top parties imaginable, and say some of the most ridiculous yet enticing things you will ever hear. I must say, I am indeed one of the millions of people who have become intrigued with the new show.
         Throughout every episode, viewers are shown clips of texting and hashtags on an Iphone, depicting what the stars are tweeting or instagramming at the moment. These hashtags include things sayings like #funemoployed and #yachtlife. Dorothy and Morgan, the show's leading female stars, are constantly concerned with how many likes they are getting on their latest selfie post to Instagram or how many favorites they are getting per tweet. The entire show revolves around these young people, their money, and their concern for social media popularity. An article from the Huffington Post states, "Aside from the title, hashtags are used throughout the show as a plot device. The hashtag is woven into the narrative of the story, popping up during scene breaks, before commercial breaks, and during dramatic moments. It is a brand new look and feel for a television series, reaffirming the ever-growing importance of social media in pop culture" (Whipple). This new series is about as good of an example as we're going to get about how important social media has become in young people's lives. If you haven't yet seen the show, I encourage you to watch it. It will not only show you that people like this actually exist, but also how social media has truly become one of the most significant factors in our everyday lives.



http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-whipple/the-importance-of-richkid_b_4621614.html
  

Fallon Takes on "Tonight Show"

        Jimmy Fallon. TV's hottest man in late night television has been handed the reins of the 'Tonight Show,' in which he debuted last night. Fallon has proven himself worthy of Jay Leno's position, and the show is expected to remain at the top of late night ratings. However, these expectations did not put his social media team at ease. Fallon's team has been working around the clock to ensure that the show goes off without a hitch and that the audience and viewers are more engaged than ever. And his team succeeded as Fallon soared past rivals Jimmy Kimmel and David Letterman in ratings last night. His team worked to compare activity before Leno's exit to after Leno's exit and found extremely pleasing results.  

        Aside from his social media team, Fallon himself has been working around the clock with social media to build the excitement for his new role. Some of his tweets have included "Tomorrow is the day!!! #FallonTonight," "See you guys tomorrow. Get a good night sleep. This is so exciting #FallonTonight," and "Set you DVR's, TiVos, VCRs etc. We are on after the Olympics!! #FallonTonight." And his hard work has paid off considering that the top three trends on Twitter right now are the Olympics, #FallonTonight and #TonightShow. I think it's safe to say Jimmy Fallon knows what he is doing, and is certainly expected to lead late night television in the future. As an avid Fallon fan, it's sad to see Late Night go, but it's thrilling to see what he has in store for the Tonight Show.

Hunger Games or Olympic Games?

Yum?

       The Sochi Winter Olympics have been much anticipated and are finally underway. However, the controversy of the living conditions and safety of the journalists and athletes has seemed to be a much bigger news story than any of the Olympic events. It seems that the water is yellow, most things are broken, food is scarce, hotel rooms aren't finished, and lobby's don't exist. These conditions have led to an uproar in the social media world. Journalists have been tweeting things like "My hotel has no water. If restored, the front desk says, 'do not use on your face because it contains something very dangerous" and "Ok, so my hotel doesn't have a lobby yet." There have also been new Twitter accounts created such as the one titled "Sochi Problems," tweeting things like "Bad water, no food, threats of killing. Not sure if this is the Olympic Games of the Hunger Games #sochiproblems" with 1,501 retweets and 1,415 favorites. Meanwhile, the Olympic events are taking place every day and we are hearing just as much about the Sochi living conditions as we are about updates on athletes due to social media. These tweets have been quite entertaining to the public, and once again, prove the power social media can have on one of the most anticipated events this year. So if you're looking for a good laugh, go follow "@SochiProb" and keep up with latest Olympic news.

Bieber: Mugshot of the Year

       "And I was like baby, baby, baby ohhhh, Thought you'd always be mine." Many people today are wondering what has happened to the pop star that once sang these innocent lyrics. When searching Justin Bieber on Google pictures of a young sweet kid used to pop up along with his most recent concert updates and fan pages from teenagers across the world. If you type in his name today, mugshots are the first thing we see along with titles like "drug possession" or "fight last night." Bieber's most recent incident occurred two weeks ago when he was pulled over for drag racing a yellow Lamborghini after a night of drinking. Not only was Bieber arrested fro DUI, it is believed that tests will soon show marijuana and xanax in his system. This story took social media by storm. Several twitter parody accounts enjoyed a laugh over the situation. 

A Daniel Tosh parody account tweets this              A Will Ferrell parody account tweets this picture  

picture stating "Justin Bieber be like...."                  stating "on the next episode of MTV cribs, justin bieber"

       1,318 retweets, 1,104 favorties                                         512 retweets, 415 favorites

                                                   

       Images like these went viral as Justin Bieber became the biggest topic in news and social media. This arrest followed several other crude behaviors from Bieber which ultimately led to a petition to have the star deported entitled "We the People." The petition is currently being looked over at the White House as it has obtained over 113,000 signatures. Actor Drake Bell encourages people to sign the petition and calls the star "talentless." Social media has opened the gates for the amount of information we can gain access to. Bieber's story has blown up due to the tweets, facebook posts, blog posts, and other social networking comments made about his latest. His story shows the power social media has and just how fast the news can spread.

At least he's happy?

                           

The 56th Grammy Awards, #thebiggame

       Beyonce and Jay-Z prove their dominance once again, Imagine Dragons and Kendrick Lamar are the latest duo, Pink is quite the acrobat, Taylor Swift loses (for once), Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr make a comeback, Lorde sets a new nail trend, Daft Punk remains silent, and Queen Latifah weds 33 couples in an emotional performance from Macklemore and Ryan Lewis. But the most important topic of the night, Pharrell's hat.

        The 56th Grammy Awards proved to be an epic night in performances and music awards this past Sunday night. It was impossible not to know every detail that happened on that stage as social media reigned superior throughout the anticipated ceremony. Tweets were being posted by friends, parents, celebrities, businesses, even my local news station at home in Macon, GA: 13WMAZ Straight From the Heart. But who's in charge of the social networking behind one of the biggest annual nights in Hollywood?One woman. Her name? Lindsay Gabler.


     
       Gabler is the Social Media Specialist for the Recording Academy, and responsible for promoting one of the most special nights in music every year. Gabler uses a wide variety of social media accounts to sponsor this night and works on its promotion around the clock, 365 days a year. In an interview, Gabler stated that the Grammy's is like her big game, what she has been preparing for all year. Her accounts not only bring excitement to people in the preceding months, but during the show she is live tweeting and posting about all the details. Most people don't realize that there are dozens of other Grammy's awarded but not aired that night, so it is up to Gabler to make sure the public is updated on each of these awards. The Grammy's currently has 1.35 million followers on Twitter, 195,461 followers on Instagram, and 1.8 million likes on Facebook. Gabler is an excellent example of how social media truly is a job in the promotion of a brand. Because of her work, people are beaming over the Grammy's and buzzing about the ceremony both months before and months after.

So go check her out, she's an inspiration in the social media world!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SiwjuYag8Ig

LEGO: From Childhood Toy to Movie Connoisseur

LEGO's. A reminder of the past and what it was like to be creative as a child. Our imagination could run wild as we were able to construct whatever we desired with these small attachable pieces of plastic. The LEGO brand began to develop nearly a century ago, and has become quite the empire today. Recently, Americans have become ecstatic for the newest LEGO creation, The LEGO Movie. Warner Brothers is expected to have an extraordinary turnout at the box office February 7 when the movie premiers, as they have utilized social media and its marketing strategy's to lure people into the cartoon world of LEGO's.  The LEGO Movie currently has nearly 20,000 followers on Twitter, 280,000 likes on Facebook, and 2,000 followers on Instagram. The film has been utilizing all of these social media accounts in order to build a stronger fan base, specifically Twitter and Facebook. An example of one of these strategy's would be the "Fan of the Week" awarded through Facebook and Twitter weekly to a fan or group of fans who have posted outstanding examples of their devotion to the brand. Stars of the film, such as Elizabeth Banks, Chris Pratt and Nick Offerman, have consistently tweeted about the movie and expressed their excitement for its release. The movie has also used Twitter to promote a gaming system in which you can create your own LEGO character and join online games with the characters from the movie. The LEGO Movie began exploiting the benefits social media can bring to a brand and has successfully made Americans aware of the film and captured their excitement. With two weeks to go until the premiere, I suspect the movie will be quite successful and I know I personally can't wait to sit in the theater and see what Warner Brothers has created.