#NoLikesNeeded Campaign

Remember when IHOP turned into IHOB? Everyone was so confused and for several hours was the top trending topic on Twitter. 

Why on earth would America’s International House of Pancakes change the P to a B?

What did the B stand for? 

Everyone was talking about IHOP.

This is known as a social media campaign. A social media campaign is defined as “a coordinated marketing effort to reinforce or assist with a business goal using one or more social media platforms. Campaigns differ from everyday social media efforts because of their increased focus, targeting, and measurability.”

One campaign that I think has done an incredible job is the #NoLikesNeeded campaign done by Dove. Dove is a brand that is constantly communicating the importance of self-love and that beauty inspires confidence, not anxiety. 

In 2015, Dove used this self-esteem project to motivate and encourage girls to realize that the only ‘like’ that counts is their own. 

The first step in conducting a social media campaign is research. Dove began by learning that over 1 million UK girls suffer from low body confidence, with two-thirds admitting they feel prettier online than in real life. Other statistics also included:

• 1 in 2 girls say they are using social networks ‘all the time’, across an average of 4 different networks and are increasingly considered as being ‘always on’
• The average UK girl takes 12 minutes to prepare for a single ‘selfie’, thus spending 84 minutes a week getting ready for selfies
• The number of girls who say social networks make them feel worse about their appearance doubles between the age of 13yrs to 18yrs – 30% agree at 13yrs vs 60% at 18yrs
• Girls aged 18-23yrs want three times more ‘Likes’ on social media than girls aged 13-17yrs

On Dove’s website, they then listed ways one can help teenage girls feel better when it comes to their self-esteem. All advice and support were aimed at influencing a more positive, healthy outlook and usage of social media. Dove gave advice such as:

1. “Real vs. Online: Remind users that social media is often like a showreel of life’s best bits – attention-grabbing, carefully edited, and inflated. Real-life isn’t like that and it’s important to encourage young females to acknowledge this, value what’s real and what really matters, especially in relation to friendships at this critical age.”
2. “True friendship: Encourage them to recognize that social media ‘friends’ or ‘followers’ aren’t necessarily true friends or even acquaintances, and therefore you should think carefully about what she’s sharing in the public domain.”
3. “Be a role model: Prioritize good friendships in your own life, too: be positive about the place your friends have in your life and make sure users know how much they value their own two or three closest friends – and how a wider network is great, but not quite the same as a dependable inner circle.”

Along with creating the #NoLikesNeeded hashtag, Dove also included the “Self Esteem Project” section on their website. This tab included resources such as “Building Body Confidence – A Conversation Guide for Parents” and more information for parents, mentors, teachers, and youth leaders. 

Dove also included a search bar where users could search through any sort of topic they wanted an article about. Some examples of this are bullying, peer pressure, fashion, diversity, and more. Topics could also be filtered into an age group as well. 

Dove continues to promote positivity and self-love every day and that is what makes this brand stand out against others. 

SOURCES:

https://www.dove.com/us/en/dove-self-esteem-project.html

https://www.dove.com/uk/stories/campaigns/nolikesneeded-campaign.html

Reaching A Niche Public

As a 20 year old part time college student, I have to make a living somehow. Who’s going to pay for this expensive tuition I have? Living in Mount Juliet, but working and attending school in downtown Nashville can only mean one thing: a long car ride. 

If I get on the interstate at just the perfect time, (from 6:14AM-6:22AM) I can pretty much miss the traffic. However, if you’ve lived in middle Tennessee for as long as I have, you know that there is never a time of day when you’re not sitting in some sort of traffic. 

Now, if you’re still reading you’re probably asking me to get to the point already.

I have recently found a podcast called “Savvy Social Podcast” by Andrea Jones. Andrea Jones is the creator and lead social media strategist at OnlineDrea.com, a social media marketing agency focused on “delivering done-for-you services to coaches, consultants, thought leaders, and passion-led online business owners.” 

As a social media management major, I want all the insight I can gain before I graduate next December and with all the free time on my hands, I thought listening to an educational podcast would be the perfect thing. 

In the episode I just finished, Jones talks about the essentials for social media managers and what they need to be focused on in 2022. She goes on to talk about the need to be up to date on the latest platforms, questions to ask yourself in order to stay competitive, and how to calculate your rates with the new demands for social media managers. 

When Andrea Jones discusses the importance of continuing to grow your knowledge of all things social media, she mentions things such as how to market your audience on TikTok versus Instagram Reels. 

Developing a clear understanding of your social media target audience may be the most important thing you do as a social media marketer. Your audience is defined as the people that are going to be most interested in any type of product, service, or content you have to offer. 

In order to start understanding where to go from here, start by looking at the data you have already. I believe the easiest way to go about this is to break down the individuals that are already supporting you: 

• What is the age range? 

• What stage of life are your followers in? (College vs. Family of 5)

• Where are these people located?

• What are your followers interested in?

But what about expanding my brand and reaching diverse and niche audiences?

This is when learning about your current audience can come into play. Statistics show that, more than 65% of U.S. adults aged 30-64 say that they are actively using Facebook, 40% of all 18-29-year old’s that live in the U.S. tweet and use Twitter relatively consistently, and 67% of all U.S. 18-29-year old’s currently have an Instagram account. (Lever Interactive)

While collecting data and conducting research for your new niche public, it is important to not scare away your existing audience in the process. This is where marketing segmentation can come into play. 

Marketing segmentation is as simple as creating one campaign for one set of individuals and one for another. Say for example that I have a brand that is advertising a new fleece sweatshirt for the upcoming winter. 

For Gen-Z, I could create a TikTok that showcases the different types of ways  it could be styled with a popular song playing in the background or have fun transitions. However, for an older crowd, I would go about posting a picture on Facebook of the coat with a caption such as “Cozy up with a good book this winter!”

Or if all else fails, hire someone in the target audience you’re trying to reach as your new social media manager. 

Also my podcast listening friends, please give Andrea Jones a listen! She is definitely one I’m going to continue to keep up with!

Instgram: @OnlineDrea

Website: OnlineDrea.com

Get S.M.A.R.T!

I played tennis all throughout middle school and was on varsity all four years of high school as well. Being the number two seed on my team, I had quite a lot of responsibility to carry. Now, many might see tennis as just the easy sport that snobby rich kids play, but it actually requires a bit more strategy than what meets the eye. 

Like tennis, social media management also has more strategy than most people might think. 

One of the first things we are taught in our public relations classes is the acronym RPIE and SMART.

RPIE stands for research, planning, implementation, and evaluation. Taking these steps into consideration, social media strategies will start to become easier to break down. 

When diving into what SMART stands for is specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound. As a social media management major, this acronym is something that should always be remembered. 

Specific

New goals should be focused and attainable. However, you also need to make sure that your goals are not vague. Creating specific goals guarantees that you will be able to identify what you need to achieve and will help begin the process of figuring out what resources you’ll need. 

Goals should be personal to your business or brand. Some goals that can be considered are:

• Increasing brand awareness
• Growing follower base
• Achieving more sales

Measurable

Above I mentioned that some goals brands focus on are increasing brand awareness, growing follower base, and achieving more sales. These goals can be defined as measurable because you can make a set objective such as: “To achieve gaining 50 new followers by November 15th.” To have criteria that measures your progress with help towards the accomplishment of a goal. 

Attainable

Having an attainable goal set will help you figure out what steps need to be taken and how you can work towards it. When deciding of your objective is attainable, ask yourself:

1. Do I have the resources and capabilities to achieve the goal? If not, what am I missing?
2. Have others done it successfully before?

Relevant

Deciding that a goal is relevant can sometimes be difficult. Within a company or business, it is crucial to decide whether your goal is realistic in order to go hand in hand with being attainable. If a goal is something you can realistically accomplish, you have the time and resources to reach it, and you can commit to achieving it, then you are set!

Time-Bound

In order to have a SMART goal, it is important to make sure you carry out your goal from start to finish. It’s important to make sure you have a deadline and an idea of when you want to achieve your goal. 

An example of a goal in a SMART format:

“On December 1st, I will win my next tennis competition. In order to do this, I will obtain private lessons with my coach and will put in the extra work 6 days a week. Every week, I will focus on improving one weakness. By December 1st, I will be in the position to win my tennis match.”

In order to have a SMART social media strategy, all it takes is a little bit of time to sit down and make a plan (even if you don’t even have a P L A) (I hope someone gets that reference)!

Social Listening: Is Amazon All That Extra?

Now, I know we all use Amazon a lot more than we probably should. We love getting the notification that our packages are on the way or at our front door.

How many of us actually fill out that second email they send where we are asked to fill out a survey or rate a product out of five stars?

In a day and age where “social media influencer” is a job title, many just assume you have to have a pretty face and be willing to work with any brand. However, as an individual in this line of work, one has to be aware of all of the behind the scenes work. 

One main thing that is important for these influencers or brands to remember is social listening. 

Social listening gives brands an opportunity to track, analyze, and respond to conversations about them on social media.

Engagement

In order to better understand your customers or followers and their needs, it is important to recognize what kind of engagement you are receiving. When collecting data, what posts do well versus which posts are not reaching your audience should be made note of for future reference as well. If wanting a super detailed insight, using data such as what time of day followers are most active can also be useful

Understand Your Audience

Not only is understanding your audience important for social listening, but for any company or influencer. If a famous TikTok influencer decides they want to partner with a brand in order to give their followers a discount, deciding what brand to work with should be a first step. As TikTok is a gen-z/millennial heavy app, brands like Curology and American Eagle would be a smart choice. If this influencer wanted to reach an older demographic, then they would need to begin with researching what platform this age group is most active on and then find out what appeals to them most. 

Identify Customer Issues

With social listening, influencers and brands can identify the concerns or issues their customers might be encountering. For example, if an influencer is trying to showcase something they bought off of Amazon in their bio but the link is not working, they need to know that in order to fix it. Another scenario social listening is important is if a brand has recently launched a new product and their customers are receiving faulty or broken products. The company can then go back and change formulas or the way it was built/made in order to resend and gain feedback from. 

Some of us might find that email Amazon sends us a little extra, however, with this company asking for customer feedback, it is one of the reasons they are able to flourish the way that they are. So next time you get an email asking to leave a review of some kind, be honest and explain the pros and cons for the next person to read!

One Direction Fan Accounts Create Careers?

In middle school, I was your typical “fangirl.”

Also known as the girl that made a Harry Styles/One Direction Instagram fan account.

At the young age of 10 years old, I was already obsessing over how many followers I had and how many likes I was getting per post. Was this a premonition that I was destined to be a Social Media Management major at 20 years old?

Maybe.

Even as a middle schooler, I wanted to be a popular account a lot of people followed, but even as a One Direction fan account, the influencer market was a competitive place. Now in 2021, we are in the age of influence. The concept of leveraging celebrities or those with influence to endorse or promote a product has been a fundamental part of marketing for centuries. However, harnessing the voices of influencers—social media celebrities—requires a different approach to how you’ve traditionally spread your brand’s message. 

If you are considering entering this ambitious market, there are several types of influencer categories you can choose from: 

• Beauty (James Charles, Manny Gutierrez)
• Fashion & Styles (Gigi Hadid, Sommer Ray)
• Food (Jamie Oliver, Salt Bae)
• Lifestyle (Joanna Gaines, Lilly Singh)
• Photography 
• Fitness (Blogilates)
• Travel 
• TikToker (Addison Rae, Charli d’Amelio)
• Youtuber (David Dobrik, Zach King)

Like with any marketing tactic, influencers have to go through the motions of learning how to target their audience and planning how to reach them. In order to create an influencer marketing strategy, there are steps those individuals can take.

How To Find Influencers & What To Pay Them

First, one should start conducting their research. What platform do you want to focus on? What is your demographic? Do you want to target gen-z or the millennials? Look into the different types of influencers you’re interested in as well: a nano-influencer (<1k-10k followers), micro-influencer (10k-100k followers), or macro-influencer (100k-1M).

“Time and attention are our two biggest currencies that we have right now on social media.” —Karen Freberg

When it comes down to payment, most influencers decide to make their rates per post. Regardless of what kind of influencer you are, it comes down to the number of followers you have yet again. Statistics show that for users with fewer than 1,000 followers, the price per post is far less than the average ($271) – these influencers charge roughly $83. Users with somewhere between 1,000 and 9,999 followers earn just over 30 percent more for their posts (roughly $108). Influencers who have upward of 99,999 followers, though, see their earnings more than double ($240), while users with more than 100,000 followers see their price per post rise the highest – over $763.

Set A Budget & Management Strategy

The next decision to be made is a budget after planning an influencer campaign. It is important to establish a posting schedule, calls to action to regularly use, and a diverse feed to showcase their brand.

Goals & Message

The two most common reasons for using influencer marketing are to elevate brand awareness and increase sales. This first step in figuring out what a brand’s goal needs to be, they need to understand what their mission is. Influencers have the ability to reach specific individuals, so in order to ensure you are communicating with the right target audience, it is important that you showcase your product correctly. For example, if your demographic is older individuals, we wouldn’t want to rely on a platform on TikTok or Snapchat. However, if the target audience is gen-z, TikTok would be the perfect place to post content. 

Review & Refine Strategy

Make sure you create predetermined dates to measure progress and track results throughout the whole campaign!

Canva: Better Than Diamonds

Coming into Belmont University, I thought I was a decent artist and designer.

Keyword: THOUGHT

In high school, my art teacher was the football coach if that shows you how advanced I thought I was. Flashback to my Intro to Design class I was taking freshman year at Belmont, we were learning about the Adobe creative suite.

Why was everyone so much farther ahead than I am? How did they already know how to use the pen tool?

And how did she stretch her design like that? Did he draw that by hand?

I was struggling.

Flash forward to now: I’m a junior Social Media Management major and I have discovered my new best friend: Canva.

History of Canva

In 2007, creator Melanie Perkins was tutoring her own students on the Adobe Create Suite programs. They found them complicated and difficult to collaborate with. To help with this issue, Perkins and her partner Cliff Obrecht decided to create an online, school yearbook design business, Fusion Books, to test out the idea of having a space that is easy to use, collaborative friendly, and creative.

This platform exploded more than they ever could have imagined and decided to expand to create Canva in 2013. 

Users of Canva

Canva is one of the best inventions to ever happen in the eyes of a designer, with over 55 million users as of 2021. Whether you are like me and use Canva for social media to create content, or you’re a small business making posters for a new sale coming up, this platform can be used by any individual.

Features of Canva

Canva is great for those using it individually and to collaborate with others! This user-friendly interface is laid out with templates on the left-hand side, while fonts and color-changing options are located at the top. The drag and drop feature also allows users to try out different tools with ease. With the use of Canva Presentations, individuals can share their work with others and be able to contribute to a project. Users can then run live sessions to present where the audience can join the conversation, send comments, and even ask questions during the presentation. With the use of 100+ different fonts and filters, there are endless possibilities.

Add text for a funny caption, use a curved text design instead of a boring old box, add a speech bubble to a picture, or even make a collage. The possibilities are never-ending on Canva with the addition of stickers or frames around a photo as well. Don’t know where to start? That’s okay too. This platform even has free templates you can choose as a base to personalize in order to fit your needs.

If you have access to Canva Pro, your options can be opened to a premium library of stock photos, fonts, shapes, and templates. In-app purchases are also available if you don’t want to pay for the pro version.

Not only is Canva a platform to create, but also learn. Located on Canva’s homepage, one can find the “Learn” tab located on the right hand side. After clicking on it, the user is prompted with the option of courses, tutorials, or blog. Each category has sections packed full of information on how to use communication effectively, branding your business, social media mastery, and more! As a new Social Media Manager major, I have found myself looking through these articles a multitude of times to learn new ways to incorporate content creation into a future career.

Examples of other articles found on Canva:

• “The Pros, Cons, and Future of Flat Design”
• “40 Of The Best Franchise Fonts For Your Business”
• “10 Ways to Stop Your Designs From Looking The Same and Create Unique Stuff Quickly”
• “How to Choose The Right Colors For Your Brand”

Limitations of Canva

You would think this application has it all, unfortunately that is not the case. As a designer, Canva is great when you are experiencing a creative block, however, the overuse of designs on this platform does not really help that. In addition to this issue, is the fact that a majority of the more advanced features require a subscription service: $199.99/year for 1-5 people, $419.99/year for 10, $719.99/year for 15 people, and $2,819.99/year for 50 people.

Another limitation that can occur is there is no source file like the Adobe Creative Suite. Without your Canva account, you cannot access your design as a raw file. Canva also does not have local file storage, meaning if the website is down for any reason, you will have to wait to access your designs.

Applications of Canva

Canva’s main application is simply a graphic design platform to create presentations, posters, and any sort of visual content. There is no correct or incorrect way to use this application, however those who want to skip the hassle of watching an hour long “How To” video of an Adobe application, this is for you.

Best Practices of Canva for Strategic Communication

1. Having a clear and concise message
   • With visual content, it is important that your point is easy to read, in turn leaving less room for interpretation.
2. Encourage Collaboration
   • Canva has an easy to use sharing tool for this exact reason. If one person is having a hard time coming up with a new poster idea or needs something to post for the Instagram story, grab someone to look at your work so far! Team work makes the dream work!
3. Consistency is key
   • When it comes to visual communication, you want to stay consistent to prevent sending mixed messages which can muddy brand reputation. Plus, when a brand is visually consistent, it tends to make it appear more credible, trustworthy, and professional.

Tips & Tricks for Communicators

1. Think about visual hierarchy
   • Arrange and group elements in your content in accordance with their importance. Ask: “What do I want to draw attention to?”
2. Create team templates
   • As a graphic designer, starting from scratch is the last thing you want to think about. Templates can make visual communication quick and easy. Set up a template with Canva to share within your team so everyone can customize it to their liking.
3. SIMPLICITY IS BEST!

Influencer Profile: Beth McCord @YourEnneagramCoach

I’m a Type Two, Let Me Help

As a student at Belmont University, you are probably often asked “What’s your Enneagram Type?”

To some, that sounds like a made up word. Gibberish.

Me? I was already one step ahead of the game.

I can remember the exact moment when I found out I was a Type Two: The Helper. It was a Christmas party in 2018, I had never heard of the Enneagram test until one of my mom’s friends handed me her phone and told me to take a sixty-question test.

An individual who experienced a similar phenomenon was Beth McCord, an Enneagram coach, speaker, and teacher. 

Graduating from The University of Kansas in 1996, McCord wasn’t immediately immersed into the Enneagram world. For several years, she spent working in the church as an office administrator. She also worked alongside Michael Hyatt, a well-renowned author who writes books about leadership, productivity, and goal setting. In 2016, Beth McCord began her own company known as “Your Enneagram Coach,” revolving around all things Enneagram, personal awareness, and growth accessible for everyone, anywhere. 

When it comes to communication strategies and tactics, McCord seems to be hitting all the right marks. Not only is she on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn, but also has a very well-created website, along with a podcast! Being an author also comes the consideration of book covers and the illustrations they entail.

McCord has done a wonderful job with sticking to a cohesive theme throughout all nine Enneagram books with a giant number in a legible font and color blocking. Her Instagram has obvious areas of wanting to keep a minimalistic, straight-to-the-point thought process. 

One amazing way McCord has leveraged social media to build her brand to achieve professional success is by making it a point to create a logo for her company and implementing it throughout her platforms (i.e. book covers, website, Instagram profile page). Beth McCord achieve success is connecting not only with Enneagram interested individuals but also those with big connections to their faith.

Not only does McCord write books, but she also teaches classes on the individual Enneagram Types and even how to incorporate that into marriages, friendships, and scripture. Not limiting herself to one specialty helps boost her audience and the market she’s able to reach!

I would definitely give her a follow if you enjoy anything Enneagram related, she’s become a new favorite! Check her out on platforms below:

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Instagram: @YourEnneagramCoach

Website: YourEnneagramCoach.com

A Big Yeehaw Girl

Senior FFA Officers 2019

Oh, if only you knew the irony of the reason why I am a Social Media Management major.

As a freshman in high school, I was your typical

“I love my dogs more than anything in the world! I want to be a vet when I grow up!”

This was my first mistake. At Wilson Central, to take the veterinary classes when you were a sophomore, you had to take an agriculture class your freshman year. I had NO room being in agriculture living in a suburb, never having worked on a farm, or even cared for a goat other than at the petting zoo. 

Being in an agriculture class meant you were automatically enrolled to be a Future Farmer of America.

Welcome to FFA.

Most of you who are reading this were not in FFA and probably know nothing about it so let me give you a little insight into how I got suckered into three years. Not only was I active in this organization, but I also held officer positions and became a national member after I graduated.

The first month of this class focused on learning the meaning behind the FFA Creed and then memorizing it to recite to our teacher. The FFA Creed is a five-paragraph statement where each section begins with “I believe.” 

Now CURSE ME for being able to memorize stuff with ease and having a semi-decent speaking voice at 14 years old, because after reciting this creed to my teacher, he suggested that I compete in the FFA competition coming up. I was paired with five other FFA members to participate in a competition where we had to research the pros and cons of an agricultural issue and present our conclusions to a panel of judges.

Long story short . . . our group won districts and regionals. We were one of four teams that would compete at the state competition in Gatlinburg. 

We got third in the state. 

Regardless, I now felt inclined to keep submerging myself in various FFA competitions such as dairy judging (eating cheese, not showing cows), another couple years of performing skits, tried my hand at parliamentary procedure, and many more. 

If you knew me in high school, you would never guess I was SO involved in my chapter.

This brings me to my TRUE love . . . social media management.

In my senior year, I was given the title of “the reporter.” My job consisted of taking pictures at chapter events, creating posters for things we were hosting, and managing our Instagram and Facebook. 

So maybe FFA was not my calling. I did not want to become a vet. I did not want to go to college to study agriculture-related things. 

Now, I do not like math. Don’t get it twisted. However, during the year I ran the social media accounts for my FFA chapter, I loved seeing the accounts grow, whether it was gaining more likes or seeing how much interaction I was gaining on the stories I would post. Seeing my statistics grow every day put such a smile on my face (so much so I forgot I always smelt like pig or goat poop). 

Moral of the story:

I may have not been able to accept any of the agriculture scholarships I was offered, but FFA kind of led me to my passion. And I’ll thank it for that. 

But for right now, I still have a year until I graduate. . .  don’t ask me what I want to do yet. That’s another conversation for another day.