Chapter 5

This chapter mainly discusses the multiple different types of social communities that exist in our society.  These types of social communities solely exist to create different online relationships.  These types of relationships are very important because different people in different areas are able to converse with one another to build personal and professional relationships.  Through different social media sites, people are able to communicate in many different ways.  These people use these different social media sites for different advantages, and they are very capable of benefiting businesses in multiple ways.  Consumers rely on social media sites to inform them on the updates of their businesses.  Because of this, social media sites are a main factor in today's advertisement techniques.
Throughout this chapter, I think that the only weakness was that the chapter didn't fully describe the dangers that different social media sites have to offer.  Whenever people agree to using social media accounts, I don't think that they realize the long list of risks that apply to the different accounts.  For example, whenever people use these accounts, they are exposing their names, perosnal information, photos, etc.  Not only can random people acquire this information, bu they can also acquire their personal usernames and passwords.
The five terms that stuck out in this chapter to me were: friendvertising, identity cards, social network fatigue, fandom, and gift applications.
These terms mainly stood out to me because I have never heard of them or any term pertaining to them before.  It was interesting to learn about a new phrase.
In terms of a social network owning our social data, I believe that that would be a major invasion of  privacy.  I believe that people have intentions of being mindful and considerate of posting what they do on social media.  With that being said, it is best for social media to not serve a main spot in social data.
I believe that it is okay to friend your professor in some situations.  If you are still in class with that professor and you two do not have a close relationship, I don't think that it is necessary to friend them.  If you personally converse with your professor on a regular basis, I think that it is acceptable to friend them.
Facebook friends do not always consist of people that you personally know in the real world.  Most friends on Facebook are your friend because that like to view your account or because you two are normal acquaintances.
When examining Facebook, I looked at a boutique from my hometown.  Whenever they advertise certain brands, they use poor grammar and are not very passionate about it.  Because of this, I think that the business of the certain brand is lowered because it does not seem like a serious brand in the advertisements.
I feel that the chapter more educated me of what a social community is rather than how a social community would benefit me. 

Chapter 4

In Chapter 4, I learned a lot about the different types of social communities that exist amongst each other.  In each separate community, the social media interactions are similar but different at the same time.  Each online community is built on an individual foundation of certain information, which is what makes them all so unique.  Within these foundations, lots of ties within nodes exist.  Within these nodes, it is made possible for ideas and information to be exchanged back and forth between multiple resources.  These types of communities revolve around conversations and the exchange of thoughts and ideas.  In these communities, they abide by their own set list of rules, and each person has a special job in the participation of the membership of the community.  Overall, these people are able to come together socially in a civilized manner to exchange information with one another.

Overall, I think that the chapter was very educating and interesting.  I got a good sense of what a social community is.  By giving several well known examples of social community websites throughout the chapter, it helped me to more fully understand what a good example of a social community would be because I was able to compare these sites to the descriptions in the book.  If the chapter had a weakness at all, I would have to say that some of the definitions could have been explained and exemplified a little better, making the readers have a better sense of understanding when discussing the terms.

Of all of the new terms introduced to me in this chapter, a few specific ones stuck out to me.  I always new that there were several types of different power levels within communities.  However, I did not know that these power levels also existed in social communities and that there were so many of them.  These power positions include:
reward power: one's ability to provide others with what they desire
coercive power: the ability to punish others
legitimate power: organizational authority based on rights associated with a person's appointed position
referent power: authority through the motivation to identify with or please a person
expert power: recognition of one's knowledge, skills, and ability
information power: one's control over the flow of and access to information

Out of all of my Facebook friends, I would have to say that a large majority of them are weak ties.  I have some of 4000 friends.  Out of all of these, the ones that I most regularly keep up with are: my family members, my friends, and my boyfriend.  I have a huge family who constantly posts things to me on Facebook, as well as a large group of friends.  Most of the things I see on my newsfeed are posts from friends of mine that I have not seen or talked to in years.

On my twitter account, one of the accounts related to fashion that I most keep up with is the Free People account.  They constantly post tweets consisting of links and pictures related to their newest designs and collections.  Whenever posting a new design, they always come up with a clever hashtag to go along with it, for example: #FPsweaterweather, #FPfallclogs, #FPautumnanarchy.  Whenever followers see these new trends and their hashtags, they began to share them if they like the trend, therefore spreading the word to other potential consumers. 

Overall, this chapter was very educational in the means of informing me exactly how social communities work and function.  By learning more about each individual part within each different social community that exists, I will now be able to more fully participate in these communities for my own business advantage in the future.

Chapter 3

Throughout all four social media zones, I have a special social footprint for each one.  In the first zone, social community, I have several social media accounts that would apply to this zone.  On my accounts like Facebook and Twitter, it is not hard to regularly leave a social footprint.  On Facebook, I am constantly posting statuses, pictures, and other types of updates.  My newsfeed is very active and always updated.  On twitter, I usually tweet a few updates every day.  because of these constant updates, it is very easy for my followers to keep up with my updates.  In the second zone, social publishing, I also have a few social media accounts that would apply to this zone.  I have a YouTube account and an Instagram account.  On my Youtube account, I don't usually make videos myself, but I do favorite or share videos that I like.  On Instagram, I frequently post pictures and videos of my weekly activities.  Through these accounts, my followers can easily access photos and interests of mine in a simple and quick manner.  In the third zone, social commerce, I have several accounts on multiple apparel websites.  With these accounts, I am able to save styles of clothing that I like and purchase styles of clothing that I like.  I have a collection on each website of the articles that I favor, therefore leaving a social footprint.  In the fourth zone, social entertainment, I have several applications on my phone that would apply to this zone.  One application in particular, called Flixstr, is an application where I can keep up with and subscribe to updates about movies that come out in theaters. 

If I had a brand, I would want a very catchy and cute digital brand name.  This would take a lot of thinking and planning to figure out the perfect name. 

I wouldn't necessarily call myself a social media addict, but I do believe that my life as it is now would be very difficult without it.  I think that I have became so familiar with relying on social media to communicate and share information, and that would be difficult to complete those tasks without it.
An organization I would like to discuss is Phi Mu sorority.  Some market segmentations  of this organization are: women who want to excel in academics, women who want to find a strong sense of friendship, woman who seek a Greek lifestyle, women who want to participate in community service, and woman who want to become more involved on campus.  Some online communities that this organization belongs to are: Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.  Of all of these social accounts, each section of the market segmentations overall have an account on all of these social media sites.  Through these sites, they are able to keep up with the organization and all of it's updates and success.  If a member ever had a question regarding any information on Phi Mu, they could just check any of the social media accounts and most likely find their answer.  These organizations are also used for contact within the organization.  Without these social accounts, it would be difficult for curious potential member to access information or contact with the organization without physically visiting it. 

Overall, I think that this chapter has educated me pretty well on how to use social media in merchandising and marketing in specific manners.  It taught me the exact advantages that social media marketing is capable of and also taught me the situations in which social media would be able to benefit me and my business in the best ways. 

Chapter 2

Hello to all again!  Thank you for checking up on my blog! To begin with Chapter 2, I think that both strategic plans and marketing plans are crucial for every organization.  In order to succeed in any field, you must have a general idea of what you desire to accomplish.  Whenever organizations make a strategic plan, they are considering all options and routes that are possible for the organization to take in order to achieve its goal.  Strategic planning is very important because that is the step of planning in which the organization decides what the best strategies and tactics are in order for the organization to fulfill its mission.  Without strategic planning, it would be really difficult for organizations to figure out with type of plan would most benefit them in the means of being successful.  Strategic planning may be a large part of an organization, but having a market plan is just as important.  Without a market plan, organizations would not be able to plot out the proper characteristics that the organization must demonstrate in order to achieve their goals.   Within a market plan, the certain pricing, demonstration, production, and promotional strategies are carefully thought out and perfected in order to achieve the best results possible.  Because we are discussing the importance of strategic planning and marketing plans, I feel that it is necessary to touch base with the social media marketing techniques.  Not only is social media a large part of our society today, but it is also a large part of what consumers consider whenever they are going to purchase an item.  Social media is extremely popular because it is simply so easy to keep up with.  It is the easiest way of modern marketing to spread word about products within seconds.  Not only has social media spread like wildfire within the past few years, but it has also been able to increase the sales of numerous products. 

Whenever we think about social media, we usually think about how it is available for anyone to use.  However, in order to use social media to your marketing advantage, you must have a special sense of social media marketing maturity.  This basically means that you must have experience with being able to properly market the necessary materials in order to make good sales within your business.   If people do not have maturity in their social media marketing areas, what good does it do to even advertise via social media? This concept is very important because it can either make or break you. 

Another very important concept of this chapter is the SWOT analysis.  A company can help itself immensely by carefully using this analysis.  When considering a company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, it makes it much simpler to plan out the company’s path.  A company can either choose to be more successful because of these factors, or choose to decline.  Opportunities and strengths are the biggest advantages that a company has; this strategy teaches companies how to use these for their biggest advantages. 

Throughout this chapter, the benefits of strategies are elaborated on.  I think that this is a very important part of marketing, and if done right, these types of strategies can greatly benefit any organization interested.