Below is a list of all the criteria for this course. Please make sure all criteria are met and you have posted – just one continuous post. Do not have multiple posts, please.
Abstract
Mission
Flow Chart
Wireframes
Design Samples
Cost Chart
Revenue Generation
Social Media Marketing
Prototype Working Site
Abstract:
With the growth of online news, everyone expects the latest news n the spot. Everyone wants to know what is happening around the world the moment it happens. There are those who want to know what is happening, how it happened and why it happened all in one go. This is where the internet successes where print media doesn’t.
Mission Statement:
Interest vary from people to people. People search for various sources for their interest to know what goes on in particular field. In this case, I will be focusing on creating a news site dedicated to the up-to-date information on the world of animation. On this site, I will focus on the latest news, reviews, and interviews from animation ranging from the newest feature films, to the latest hit on television. The site will also give synopis’ for film, television shows, and short films from past, present, and future. I hope to create a site that will stand out as an informative site and will be accessible to everyone.
FLOWCHART:
WIREFRAME:
Cost Chart/Revenue Generation:
Social Media:
Introduction: Social Media is the term used to describe interaction among people through virtual means. While considered a distraction for most people, social media has been slowly becoming the norm for social interaction and media consumption. Naturally, this has been noticed from a business standpoint so those who were willing to keep up with the current generation decided to move their marketing and social interaction with consumers through different types of social media. However, thanks to it’s competitive side, social media has grown into several different websites, some more popular with some still developing. The difference among these sites are the key to knowing how to perform well in advertising your product or company.
Facebook: As far as corporate social media site goes, Animation studios have utilized it’s use to show progress and advertise their next big film. From production work to it’s release day. Most recently, Walt Disney Animation Studio is a buzz about their most recent movie release, Frozen. Notably, they use an image from the movie as a banner. On the side is the movie’s logo with the phrase “Now Playing” at the bottom. Photos and videos are also dedicated to promote the film as well as posting images from production to promote the film. Compared to Dreamworks Animation and Pixar, both which use multiple images from each film they have made, it shows Disney is in high gear to show off their latest film. Given that Disney currently has 3.4 million followers, is show that they have a grasp at how to bring in their fans while also using their page as an advertising site.
For relation to my site, Toonzone, a website dedicated to cartoon and comic news, promotes their reviews and current news that relates to anything drawn or rendered. While not as popular as big named sites, Toonzone manages to deliver to it’s “niche” audience by delivering up to date news and reviews.
LinkedIn: LinkedIn is different from other social sites. While it can help connect with other people, it can also help in searches for job and career opportunities. It works similar to a job site while also working as a social media site similar to Facebook. For following, many corporations use this to list job opportunities in their company. In animation, there is not much work easily found, however that doesn’t mean there aren’t. This is also an opportunity for companies to promote themselves in a positive light to bring in potential employees. As far as my site goes, this doesn’t provide much in terms of news, however, it will be a great opportunity to post jobs for animation enthusiast and majors who are seeking jobs in a time where jobs in the media are scarce.
Twitter:A rather recent social media site, Twitter has become one of the most popular site online. Quick and easy to use, news can be up to date at the drop of a hat, in 150 words or less. Much like Facebook, Animation sites, use this to promote their films and upload any and all production art. Videos can also be uploaded although many prefer to link to their youtube accounts. This benefits both social sites as both can link to each other while getting more page views. Two for the price of one. News site wise, many prefer to promote their news and reviews followed by a link to their site. This benefits sites like ToonZone and Rotocopers, another animation news site, as they can update on current events in animation. Twitter is fast and easy to use and with mobile devices, Twitter can help bring news to everyone anytime, anywhere
Instagram: Instagram is still new, however, it has brought in a fast following. Much like Twitter and Facebook, it utilizes the status updates. What makes Instagram different is the image and video upload. Instagram can make images look pretty with filters while their videos are limited to fifteen second clips. Unlike youtube, Instagram make video watching fast and to the point. Animation news wise, it’s similar to twitter as they link back to their main site. A picture says a thousands word though as Animation companies use this to post more production art and screen caps to promote their film.
Pinterest: Much like Instagram, this site is image based. Here, Pinterest can group these images into selected groups of interest. For a Corporation like Disney, they group up their interests in sub-categories ranging from “Disney Quotes” to “Disney Weddings.” This shows Disney interest in keeping up with trends in their fandom by keeping these categories together. Rotoscopers uses their Pinterest to categorize their products from news to reviews even promoting merchandise from different companies. This helps separate different wants for followers in case they are not interested in anything else on their main site.
YouTube: Finally the site that changed the way we watch videos. Youtube is a site that allows people to upload their own videos to share to friends, family and even the world. While the “You” in Youtube has been lost in it’s original intent, Youtube is still one of the highest sites visited online. Of course with animation, there has to be videos to show with pencil tests, previews, and special events dedicated to those videos be it music videos or home-made projects. For Animation, and movies in general, this is one of the best social medias to use. Rotoscopers is an animation news site, but unlike the other animation sites, Rotoscopers uses videos to create their own newscast and video blogs to present news and opinion pieces. Once again, for this type of media, video is the best way to go. While many other social sites provide video use, none are as easily manageable as Youtube.
Conclusion: In terms of animation, while some of these social media sites aren’t as valuable as the next, it can’t be denied that these Animation studios are doing their best to keep up with their faithful fans. News sites are more narrow in this regard. More often, news sites will use Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube to provide information for their followers.
Abstract
A lifestyle multi-media network geared towards the eGeneration.
Mission
With the emergence of to the internet, YouTube and ITunes, in recent years indie artist have been able to capture a niche audience, earn video/audio views online, tour and establish a career without having national radio spins, or conventional TV presence . This multi-media platform taps into the various niche markets bringing them under one roof.
As today’s generation is no longer genre specific, this website will feature various genres of music. Whether it’s Hip Rock, Rock or EDM, if its apart of youth culture it will be featured. Occasionally featuring mainstream artist, the indie artist will be our core.
Although the network will be music based it will also feature things that are loosely based to music or apart of youth culture such as Sports, Fashion, Indie-Films, travel and leisure etc.
There will be two elements to this network.
The blog/ alternative to print will feature daily news and updates regarding artist and culture. It will also feature themed articles written in journalistic form.
The video/ alternative to TV section will feature Artist Interviews, Event Coverage as well as programs/ and series that are loosely related to the music (similar to what MTV and VH1 does). A huge staple of the video section will be a multi-genre online music festival featuring indie artist
Access to content will not be limited to only the internet but can also be accessed through apps
Flow Chart
Cost Chart
Revenue Generation
AFFRM is a distribution company for Black Cinema through their Facebook page, they post pictures of films that have been acquired by the company . Full length trailers of films, release information for films wether it be DVD, Netflix or theater information
Archives have traditionally been where old documents, photos, and other forms of material are kept safe for long-term preservation and access. The primary source materials contained in these repositories are an important educational resource, but are not always easy to find. Documents related to one area can be contained in various repositories that are located across the United States. There are many archives that don’t even have an online presence. Therefore, I propose the creation of a site and tool that would centralize an archive’s activities as well as provide one location for the public’s primary source material needs. All repository information, finding aids to collections, requests for further information, photographs, video, sound files, and payment transactions would be handled through this single content management system.
This site would produce benefits for both parties involved – the organizations responsible for maintaining and providing access to the archival materials as well as the users. The users would be the general public (researchers, scholars, and students) seeking valuable primary sources of information. This website would allow archives to improve their online presence (and create one if needed), content, and their various operations (information requests, requests for scans of documents, photographs, video, and sound files). This website would contain various tools that would help organizations promote archival resources and services to users, grow and diversify their audience, increase access to archival materials and share the knowledge, images, video, and sound contained within their records. It would also increase efficiency, productivity, and decrease turnaround time for patron requests.
Organizations will have their own login, be able to create and maintain their own institutional “page” information, add and edit finding aids to their various collections, manage different material requests and orders, process payments (if applicable) and foster discussions with their patrons. It would essentially allow archives or any organization possessing archival material to do more with less – something that has become expected in the current economy. Meanwhile, the public would have greater and more convenient access to primary source materials than ever before. Individual users of this site, through their own login, will be able to search through the collections of organizations apart of the site and gain access to the services they provide. My goal is to create an easy to use content management system designed specifically for archives that would allow them to create a better user experience and provide enhanced services to their patrons.
This would be a hosted system enabling the organizations that manage archival records to display their content and interact with patrons. To access additional functions and support, there would be a premium membership available for a minimal annual fee. Each repository would establish their own guidelines and fees (if any) for materials requested (document, photo, sound, and video) within their archive. These fees would depend on several factors including the number of items that are requested as well as the time, energy, and resources needed to fulfill the request.
Links
1. http://www.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/archives/collections/franklin/
3. http://www.moma.org/learn/resources/archives/
5. http://www.templatemonster.com/demo/46729.html
6. http://www.templatemonster.com/demo/46783.html
Social Media Marketing-
Social media will be a major part of my marketing strategy for Archiverse. Not only are these social media tools free and easy to use, but also are great mediums for displaying the vast and variety of collections available on Archiverse to use. These tools also allow individuals to use a number of different sources to get information to the public and effectively communicate with users.
Having a blog for my website is a great way to give collections available on my site further context to educators, students, researchers, and the general public. It can also be a place to give the public an inside look on what’s involved in preserving and making these collections available.
The best-operated archive related social media accounts belong to the Coca-Cola Company. They have an exceptional blog, facebook page, and twitter account. There also a huge corporation and have a lot of material to work with (being invented in 1886). The Coca-Cola Archives blog (http://www.coca-colaconversations.com/) called “Coca-Cola Conversations” stands out because of the brief, well-written posts that are consistently filled with meaningful and relevant content. They also do a great job of engaging and responding to patrons.
FACEBOOK:
University of Pennsylvania Archives on Facebook:
This is a great example of a well-done facebook page. I also noticed that they did something very clever. Under “Info” for their page instead of simply putting the history by year of the actual Archives that the facebook page represents, they put down all the important events that occurred during the history of the University or the records that they contain. In this sense, it is more like a timeline of the records.
COCA-COLA SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS:
The Coca-Cola Archives Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/CokeArchives
Coca-Cola Archives Twitter: https://twitter.com/coke_archives
The best-operated archive related social media accounts belong to the Coca-Cola Company. They have a great blog, Facebook page and Twitter account. They are a huge corporation, likely have a ton of funding and being invented in 1886 have a lot of great iconic material to work with but they also happen to have some great Archivists employed there. They do great job with engaging the audience and there is a consistent look between the different accounts. The posts are short and well written, meaningful, and they do a wonderful job of engaging and responding to customers and all that express interest in the content they share.
D23’S ARMCHAIR ARCHIVISTS ON YOUTUBE:
Disney does not have social media accounts dedicated to only their archives but they DO an interesting feature called “D23’s Armchair Archivists” that they publish onto their YouTube channel. Disney started releasing these productions of Armchair Archivists every week in November 2010. They are short videos that with a host take the public behind the scenes of Walt Disney Archives. They often examine the significance and history behind some of the items that are stored in the archives. For example, one week Armchair Archivists focused on the props and costumes from the Avengers movie, another video focused on Disney’s voice actors and the records from past movies, and another took a look into the Disney animation research library. This is a great way for Disney to get fans of their shows, movies, and other products engaged not only with current productions but past ones as well. I would love to do something similar on YouTube with my site and the different collections featured there. It’s a different and engaging way of presenting the history and significance behind the information that my site will contain.
The Huffington Post – is a general online news site aimed at a wide audience. It would increase visibility and knowledge of my site to a large audience if I could get an article about Archiverse published in such a publication.
Example article:
Inside Higher ED – http://www.insidehighered.com/
I feel that widely read online publications such as Insider Higher Ed and The Chronicle of Higher Education would also be good places for an article about my site to appear. These publications are geared towards a much more specific audience, those interested in education. This would be an ideal audience for what my site has to offer.
The Chronicle of Higher Education –http://chronicle.com/section/Home/5/
Example article: http://chronicle.com/article/Digital-Library-of-America/143489/
Engadget – Engadget is another widely read blog that deals much more with technology related topics. Many of those that regularly read this blog could be interested in my site. It can be a way for news about Archiverse to reach a relevant but somewhat different niche. There are many educators and librarians who also read Engadget but there are also those who read this blog that don’t read the other publications.
Example article: http://www.engadget.com/2013/04/18/digital-public-library-of-america-launches-in-beta/
LISNews – Is a collaborative blog devoted to current events and news in the world of library and information science. One of the most widely read library science publications along with Library Journal. Librarians, the teachers and students they interact with will be a major user of my site so it’s important to get publicity that is geared towards them as well.
Example article: http://lisnews.org/libraries_in_the_time_of_moocs
Library Journal –
Example article:
http://www.infodocket.com/2013/11/04/new-article-libraries-in-the-time-of-moocs/
Information Today, Inc. –
Example article: http://www.infotoday.com/OnlineSearcher/Articles/Features/HathiTrust-and-Digital-Public-Library-of-America-as-the-future-88089.shtml
Abstract:
All over Europe the main sport is soccer. There are millions and millions of soccer players across Europe who dreams of making it with one of the big clubs. But with so many young talents, the competition for the spots is incredibly hard. So what do a 18 year old player do when he is done with high school and have used the last 12-13 years on one sport, and realize he wont make it at the professional level just yet?
More and more players are looking to combine their sports with education. As the European educational system is set up it is hard to combine the two. Two different institutions that demand a lot of time and efforts, without working together makes are almost impossible to do. Therefor we see more and more European athletes seeking to find opportunities in America. I did it. My friends did it. And plenty of people back home would like to do it.So why not use my 4 years experience to something positive. Why don’t my knowledge about the NCAA system and American educational system to help my fellow athletes back in Europe to come over to America to combine school with sports?
Right of the bat Soccer is the sport I know the most about, but I know plenty of swimmers, golf, volleyball and tennis players who would be good enough to compete at
different college levels. To set up a recruitment business as a player who has gone through it, could be valuable both for me, and for the prospective student-athletes. I used recruitment agencies that helped with paperwork’s and to get in contact with potential universities. After I have gone through the process and discussed my experiences with my roommates, we have developed an understanding on how we could make the process more smooth and clear. A better online environment and society could help the student-athlete in the process.
Mission Statement:
Our recruitment agency focuses on bringing clear and concise information about the recruitment process to the student athletes. By providing to-do-lists, fill-in-budgets and calculators available online we want the prospective student athletes to understand where in the process they are at all times. Lastly we focus on bringing you as a student athlete the best service we can. By being available to you on Skype, Email and phone you can tell us about your needs at any given time. By providing services in English, Norwegian, French and Dutch we make sure you get the help you need. On the other side we provide coaches and college recruiters with all necessary academic and athletic information. Log in and find what you need to know about the athlete, all in one place. Videos, resume, grades, SAT scores and contact information are available to you at all times.
Flow Chart:
Homepage:
Athletes – MyProfile page
Athletes – Checklist page
Homepage design:
About Us Page Design
Social Media:
The last 6-7 years the use as social media in your marketing is crucial to get the result that you need. Most companies have their own account on all the different social networks. However, there is a big difference of being present on these cites, and using them effectively. The whole Social Media topic has turned into a part of the curriculum for media practitioners. For my page in particular, the use of social media as our marketing platform will be significant.
The inforgraphics presented below, gives us an understanding of how much time people actually spend on social network, and how popular these sites are compared to the other major networks out there. Only Search engine Google has more users than Facebook each month, and the next two sites are also search engines. It is more powerful than we can imagine.
For my page in particular the presence on social networks will be a major factor in our marketing strategy. We want to reach young athletes all across Europe and convince them to continue their career at a College in America. To post photos, videos, and information about how to get in contact with us, as well as how it is to be a student athlete. To use Instagram, twitter and Facebook to broadcast the beauty of college life can help convince customers who are on the fence to become our customers.
To use Social Media effectively you need to know the strengths and weaknesses of each network. Who use Facebook, when do they use it and what should you post? It is a science. Lets look at the different social networks.
Facebook is the network that offers you the most options at their site. You can build you corporate Facebook age into fully functional webpage as well as it offers a great way of interaction with the customers. But there is a wide spread on how different companies decide to use their Facebook pages. Some a re great, while others doesn’t take advantage of the opportunities it offers. Below is a list of the most popular corporate Facebook pages. The graphic to the left indicates how many people interacts and talks about a brand on Facebook, while the other is a list showing the number of fans the respective sites have.
The number of fans that you have does not necessary mean that you have a great corporate Facebook page, while the other graph is a better indicator on how your brand is doing on social network. your goal as a Social Media Strategist is to get people to talk about your clients products. As we can see of the graph Coca Cola is clearly winning both categories.
To take a look at Coca Cola’s Facebook page we can see what they are doing something really smart. Their homepage has the traditional Wall feature, but if we take a closer look, they have incorporated a piece of their web store to their page. Here you can shop your favorite Coca-Cola merchandise, and will be linked straight to their store online store if you choose a product. Smart. I would grab this feature for my corporate webpage. I would build it up so some of my pages from my website would be accessible through Facebook, just as Coca Cola is doing.
To introduce a Facebook page that is more relevant to my project, I will take a look at Red Bull’s page. As you may know Red Bull sponsors some of the best extreme sport athletes in the world. Ski stars, Formula 1, BMX riders and many more are all on Red Bulls Payroll. They take full advantage of these ambassadors as their theme and pictures are all extreme, and crabs the viewers attention right of the bat. They try to get people to engage in discussion about their extreme photos and videos. They also have incorporated their own TV channel, RED BULL TV into their Facebook page. This is a concept I’m a big fan of. It is also set up in a way that you wont be redirected anywhere to watch it, you simply stay in your Facebook window the whole time. I will look closer on their marketing strategy when I get to the Instagram section of my analysis.
How to use Facebook in the best way:
Nike: Nike also have a well developed Social media team bringing the organization closer to its consumers. By acting friendly, being helpful on a personal level, you gain customers.
How to use Twitter in the best way:
When to post:
Twitter has opposite busy ours than Facebook, and Saturday is the best day to, even though it seems that companies don’t take advantage of the high relative engagement rate on saturdays.
Instagram has grown up as a great addition to the two major social networks. Instagram is most effectively used if you link it up to Facebook and Twitter. This way you make your readers aware that you are present on all the networks. By posting interesting photos and an effective use of hashtags you can draw attention to you corporation and services. I follow two companies on Instagram that I feel do an excellent job.
Red Bull:
Yet again I want to highlight RedBull. They use Instagram in a very engaging way. By creating the hashtags #flyingfriday and #givesyouwings they encourage interaction with their followers. Red Bull post spectacular photos with their athletes every friday. With hashtag they hope their fans will do the same. Below you see some of the photos from both RedBull and their fans.
New York Nets:
The other account I would like to mention is Brooklyn Nets. They have taken Instagram and use it as a part of their news outlet, and they post tons of behind the scenes material. From locker-rooms, team-talks and other situations where fans normally don’t have access.
To have a good professional network is important for any Business. LinkedIn gives you the opportunity to post job openings, or search to find candidates that could fit your company well. It is an excellent tool to use. But it is important to have your account set up in a professional way. Adobe was voted as the best company on Linked In in 2012, and I want to show show some examples why. I also included some photos from Nike’s LinkedIn account, so we could see the difference.
As we can see Adobe’s account has different cover photos, it describes its products properly, it has an engaging video that will show the company from a positive side. It is overall professional made.
If we compare it to Nike’s account below, we find that the page is not fully filled out. It has only two products explains, and the cover photo is simply not clean and appealing to me. Also their lack of interactions with job seeking LinkedIn users is a turnoff for me.
As YouTube has changed their channel layout, it is hard for me to pick one channel above the other. There is really much choice in what you can change on the design. I would have to mention NBA as a strong channel though. Their nice and clean design, combine with the Social Media logo’s makes the page both convenient and nice to look at. Youtube is not something I will be spending alot of time on for my webpage though.
For me Pintrest is not one of the social medias I would spend much time on. This is simply because of their demographics. As shown in the graphic below, Pintrest has mostly women between 25 and 34. My target audience is for the most part potential college students. So I’m looking at people between 18-20 years old. Also 50 % of pintrest users have children, which is far from ideal for my purposes. Major difference. To spend time on a social network that is not drawing people into your project is a waste of time and money, so therefor I simply decide not to have a pintrest account for my website at this point in time.
PR – Article:
To promote my website I would have to rely on publications in many different european countries, or internationally known online publications/blogs. I think the best thing would be to go for a feature article on previous college soccer players helping others to reach their academic and athletic goals. To be mentioned in a blogpost for Sports Illustrated would be the ultimate for my company, as well as several posts in more local newspapers and publications across Europe.
Budget:
Link to ‘live’ Website:
Abstract: As technology continues to advance in the digital age, art has progressed in a way that many traditionalists can’t seem to grasp. Through new software and applications such as Adobe Creative Suite, artists have discovered a whole new canvas for creation. As a recent graduate with a BFA in Painting, one of the largest debates I faced was “Is Painting Dead?” or “Is traditional art dead?” With the world wide web at our fingertips, I feel that traditional artwork can be brought back to life through the use of interactive media. This will be done by creating a space for artists to upload, share, blog, and interact all on one website. This website will take the fundamentals of what other social media, advertising, and educational websites do, but will be specifically for artists.
Mission Statement:
My thesis will provide artist’s, specifically traditional artists with a new venue to show their work. My website will make uploading photos and videos simple and easy for all users. Like other social media sites, the user will create an account to share and post their artwork online. Not only will artists be able to share their work without having to pay for a website, but they will also be able to interact and connect with other artists and colleagues. The site will also provide users and visitors with an updated Art News page featuring recent articles/ posts about artists, shows, galleries, open calls, etc. This website is necessary for artists to get their work online instead of just sitting in a gallery. It will also be an educational tool for art educators to use in the classroom, a way to show students examples of contemporary artists. Schools can even create their own page to display student artwork as well.
2.What will it look like?
The website will have a simple and clear design to it, making it easy for all users to navigate. On the home page there will be a slide of photographs of artists’s work. I recently viewed www.squarespace.com which has a similar concept and I enjoyed the overall clean design and simple layout.
3.Please provide links to sites that you find visually appealing and how would you use these capabilities?
www.facebook.com. www.linkedin.com. www.etsy.com www.tumblr.com www.thedrawingcenter.org www.fineartamerica.com www.art.com www.squarespace.com
I will combine different capabilities that I find appealing from each of these sites to design my thesis. I will research and explore which qualities not only look simple and clean, but work most efficiently. Making my website easy for new users.
UGallery is a company that successfully uses social media to further impact their mission of selling and promoting online works of art. While their website, ugallery.com is primarily aimed for the Artist’s and Buyer’s, they use social media as a tool to display artist’s work in a blog format and post special offer’s/ events. The company uses facebook, twitter, instagram, and pinterest. They recently were a part of Art Basel in Miami last week, which can be seen on all social media. For those viewer’s and fans of UGallery, twitter provides interaction that the other pages don’t. In hopes to find them on LinkedIn, they do have a page but it only has a list of employees. A new feature that ties well with their social media page is featured Curator’s Collections. Overall, I feel that UGallery is able to share their company’s work and media in a variety of ways, each page has a different interface. Therefore, customers and viewers can see the same information on whichever site they prefer.
While on Linkedin, I found Christie’s page to be both appealing and informative. Although it has not been updated in month, their career’s tab feature’s not only a list of available jobs, but a youtube video of a live auction. I feel that they have room for improvement and may want to even create a separate page just for their headquarter’s in NYC.
As far as online publications, I find huffingtonpost:arts&culture and art observed.com or buzz feed.com to be suitable for a PR article. For my thesis idea not only does it relate to arts& culture, it is a new way for artist’s to communicate and display their work online. Huffpost and Buzzfeed are a given when it comes to gaining popularity but what I like about art observed.com is how they are incorporating other media such as twitter (I find this interface to be more appealing).
Linked In: Christie’s
Prototype: “Artuoso”
Revenue Chart
Maria Greco
Website: www.lifinds.com
ABSTRACT
A website/mobile app which offers local coupons based on your search or location. Coupons to be presented via phone to eliminate paper coupons.
Mission Statement
1. What would your thesis actually accomplish, how and why is this necessary?
2. What will it look like?
3. Please provide links to sites that you find visually appealing and how would you use these capabilities?
1
LIFinds’ mission is to provide Long Island, Queens and Manhattan a web experience that will enrich their daily lives by offering access to money saving virtual coupons they can utilize in their daily lives. These coupons will be used virtually (shown to merchants via phones). This will allow and promote for a GREEN form of advertising.
The website will also allow for an interactive experience by offering visitors the ability to create personal accounts which will offer them the opportunity to participate and engage the website as an entertainment portal. Visitors to the site will be able to create an account which will allow them to save coupons they like and write reviews on merchants they have visited. The free membership will also allow for visitors to engage in blogs, forums, food reviews, recipes and articles. Users can save favorite blogs, articles and recipes in their profiles for later exploration. Their profile will allow them to sign in through Facebook or email. They will be able to upload their photo for a personalized experience. A mobile app will enhance this user experience by allowing members to have access to coupons, recipes and more at any time wherever they are. The mobile app will allow users to pull up relevant coupons based on their current location as well as basic search routes.
Businesses will also be able to create a business profile. Here, they will be offered to advertise their coupon/business on the site. They will be guided through the proper forms to fill and picture uploads to begin creating their ad and read through the proper contractual forms that they will check off to demonstrate compliance. Businesses will have the ability to pay through a payment portal on the site. The ease of use and coupon updates will offer business users a smooth interface and user friendly experience. Businesses will also be able to see how many members “save/like” their coupons and read through their reviews. This will allow for businesses to directly read/see the results of their advertising and possibly find ways to improve and or change in order to gain a larger client base. A business will also have the ability to offer us recipes and write blogs that will allow readers more vehicles that will lead to their coupon.
LIFinds is a green approach to advertising/entertainment. If necessary, people can print coupons for those who are not web or mobile app savvy. This website is important as will allow consumers from any given area access to a plethora of reviews, forums and information relevant to their hometown/area. As we continue to move to a virtual age, LIFinds will allow users to quickly get the information they seek. Consumers won’t have to spend time looking for coupons, cutting them, or remembering to use them. They can search instantly as the idea sparks. As for businesses, they will be able to advertise at a fraction of the cost of print with a higher return and user engagement rate. They will be easily able to upload any ad changes without waiting, when it is convenient for them.
2,3
The website will look stylish, yet simple. A Clean white or light background with the images/ads/category boxes popping with color. This website will work seamlessly whether using a computer or iPad or other device. The top scroll down navigation will allow for easy access to find the necessary pages. In order to keep with an updated site, the left hand nav. bar will be eliminated, allowing more room for visual prompts (For top nav. idea, see only the Work |Live |Play |Learn section on the following link, I like the way it gives you options under each category clearly http://www.workinthetriangle.com or the top nav. of http://www.shabbyapple.com/ I like the simplicity of the latter). You can easily read and then choose your option or explore them all.
Beneath the top Nav bar, the top of the body will present a slide with smaller images below of articles, recipes, whatever is headlines for the week. This will engage/attract users to keep them on the site. (see yahoo.com for main article large image, and you can click on other story and large image turns to the item click, that idea with a large type more like www.starz.com , instead of schedule on bottom, that would be article/story preview. This should be kept visually attractive and changing to keep people interested and draw them in.
The website will include forums with different categories. I like the look of the following forum, it shows user pictures and looks cleaner than some others I’ve seen. http://forums.thenest.com/categories/bnotb
For the app, I like the way food spotting uses a picture as the location marker for the specific business. I would like to incorporate this style in the app. Using the ad pic as the marker on the map. (http://www.foodspotting.com/find/best/Salad/in/Greenvale-NY-USA)
When people click on the coupon page, I would like the header to remain the same. The page could look similar to http://www.shabbyapple.com/c-7-dresses.aspx but no left hand nav, shorter images and 3 to 4 to a row. In comparison to Groupon, the actual coupons should not have text below, maybe just an image, the company logo, and say for example 20% off (most text hidden in meta tags to allow for visually enhanced experience). When user clicks on any given coupon, they come to a page with the large image on right, on left a map with address and contact below that. Here, members can save coupons they like for later and share on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, among other social sites. Below all this information, users can leave reviews. On the right side of the page, possibly have a right hand nav with other coupons strategically placed vertically reading, other coupons you might be interested in or other search for these, or something along those lines.
These are some ideas on the layout, but there will be many different options and pages to consider as this will be a very large site. All will have a similar, user-friendly, visually stunning layout with easy accessibility to all links. Most articles, recipes, and other material will ultimately link them back to a coupon through methods of suggestions.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Social Media is a necessity in today’s instant access, virtual world. With so many users on many different social media platforms, businesses need to jump on board and utilize the multiple ways of showcasing and advertising their business. The social media platforms I would like to utilize for LI FINDS are FACEBOOK, TWITTER, GOOGLE+, YOUTUBE, FOURSQUARE, MYSPACE, INSTAGRAM, PINTEREST, and I will always be on the lookout for growing sites that could further expose my business.
In looking at some highly successful pages that utilize some of the above named social sites, I would try to model their successful pages. Some include:
https://www.facebook.com/cocacola
https://www.facebook.com/burtsbees
http://www.linkedin.com/company/adobe
Some great sites I would want my business mentioned in are:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/
http://bestof.longislandpress.com/
Below are some interesting articles that relate to social media.
Why Facebook Marketing is important in promoting businesses nowadays?
May 23, 2011 at 6:03am
Transformation of communication ways
Do you realize the ways that people acquire information have been changing significantly overtime? In the old days, they mainly obtained information from newspaper, radio and television. These sources, however, are quite limited because they only work well locally. Although these traditional media of communication are still being used, the internet world has quietly emerged as a new and more effective way of information flows.
With this, our way of communication changes from one-way to two-way. For example, the newspaper as a traditional communication tool provides news to the public only in one direction without a mechanism to collect feedbacks. In a two-way communication mode like through Facebook, people can acquire information as well as conveying their own comments at the same time. This can make a big difference in social impacts because it effectively facilitates exchanges and interactions among people and thus contributes to making information flows more globalized and influential in the real world.
Users’ behavior
This trend is kind of metamorphosis which allows companies to make good use of social media such as Facebook to promote themselves. Nonetheless, at the same time they also need to be sensitive to Facebook users’ preferences and behaviors in order to do a good marketing job through the Facebook platform. It must be recognized that nowadays people are not passive anymore by satisfying with just absorbing information as given, but they also prefer to be able to interact with other people or giving out their own views on the internet – reflecting perhaps a subtle way to achieve self-actualization.
A good example of this can be seen on Wikipedia which has become so popular due to active participation of readers in inputting their views and information. In other words, if your online marketing is not good enough, people can choose not to look at your page. Therefore, companies need to change their marketing mindset by fitting in well with Facebook users’ needs, rather than insisting on the traditional ways of marketing focusing on the hard-selling mentality. In short, “creativity” and “knowing well your potential customers” are crucial to successful Facebook marketing in this new era.
A recent study by University of Florida on undergraduate and graduate students is informative as it reveals the preferences of young people on Facebook. The results showed that most are okay with business page but feel annoyed by straight advertisements. With this observation, companies should put more effort on their Facebook page instead of spending a lot of money on advertisements.
Differences between Facebook marketing and traditional marketing
What are the main differences or characteristics of Facebook marketing as compared with traditional marketing? The answer is that the former is more focused on content sharingand creating a viral marketing effect. It is not that kind of face-to-face marketing anymore. Therefore, traditional ways of marketing would not be effective enough. By making good use of Facebook marketing techniques, your target customers base can be expected to grow much faster in this new world.
It is observed that Facebook users tend to enjoy content sharing. For example, they like to post their own recent photos or share information about the good restaurants they have tried. Since social networking works to connect people, giving good comments or recommendations by Facebook users to their friends on Facebook would be a more effective way to promote. Trustworthy recommendations tend to have stronger positive effect than normal advertising. This would further create a viral marketing effect as good messages are passed on from one person to another by word-of-mouth along a chain. Therefore, in order to become successful in Facebook marketing, companies should promote their products, services and brand-names by building trust among their target audiences on the Facebook network, and goodwill would then be created and spread out easily.
Ways to improve your page
There are many ways to make your Facebook pages more attractive and attention-catching. For instance, using Facebook applications to decorate and promote the pages among fans is a good way to make your pages unique. There are many ready-to-use applications available online like the ones created by WeBuzz. You can also design your own promotion strategies such as devising campaigns and organizing contests by using WeBuzz’s applications. These easy-to-use applications are useful and helpful even for those non-technical users.
For more information, please visit http://www.webuzzapp.com/.
With new social networking platforms appearing from behind every corner, it can be hard to know exactly where to commit your time and resources. And as we move into the latter-half of 2013, it’s important to look ahead to where social networking is going, and how we can get on board.
As I think about the trends in social media so far this year, I’ve compiled a list of my predictions as to where we’re headed as we inch towards 2014.
1. Investment in Social Media Will Become a Necessity, Not aLuxury
While I’d argue that investing time and resources into a social media strategy is most definitely a necessity in 2013, I believe the tipping point in public sentiment from ‘should have’ to ‘must have’ will occur in 2014.
Businesses are already coming to terms with the need to integrate their social media efforts with their content strategy, and are seeing the impact of social media in terms of lead generation, referral traffic, and revenue.
As businesses see these very real and measurable benefits, I believe we’ll see a move away from assigning social media tasks to existing employees, and see even more companies hiring social media strategists or full-time social media managers.
The benefits of social media are many, but they include:
Social media is also one of the three pillars of SEO.
2. Google GOOG -0.83%+ Will Become a Major Factor
While Facebook FB +2.87% continues to lead the pack in terms of number of active monthly users (1.15 billion at last count), Google+ is quickly gaining steam, and in fact, now has the second highest number of monthly users (343 million).
With Google using the platform to collect personal information (think demographics, location, etc.), Google+ should no longer be thought of as ‘just’ another social network. It’s increasingly proving itself to be an integral part of Google’s grand scheme in terms of SEO, social signals and providing a more personalized search experience. This is especially apparent with the importance of Google Authorship, which I project will be one of the key components to Google’s search ranking algorithm by the end of 2014.
I believe that businesses who are finding themselves spread thin with their social media efforts will increasingly turn to Google+ as the closest thing we have to a ‘one size fits all’ social network.
As Google+ moves towards even greater integration with other aspects of the web – as they’ve already done with their foray into local search – I think we’ll see its growth skyrocket, both in terms of business and personal use. For information on how to start using Google+, read “How to Breathe Life into Your Google+ Profile.”
3. Image-Centric Networks Will See Huge Success
We’ve seen a consistent trend in 2013 toward sharing through image andvideo, rather than text-based content. Visual content will increasingly become a critical piece of any solid content strategy, and social networking site Pinterest will continue to shed its reputation as a ‘women’s only’ network and become an integral part of retailers’ marketing strategies.
Other image-based social media sites like Slideshare, Tumblr, Path, and Mobli will continue to grow, and businesses will need to become more mindful about the ‘sharability’ factor of photos on their websites and blogs in order to derive significant benefit from their social media content marketing efforts.
4. We’ll Witness the Rise of Micro-Video
It seems that writing 140 characters and taking 3 minute long videos is becoming too tedious for many of us. Micro video to the rescue!
With the emergence of micro video apps like Twitter’s Vine and now Instagram’s video sharing feature, we’re seeing even more movement toward real-time video sharing. And not just any videos; with Instagram allowing 3-15 seconds per video, and Vine allowing precisely 6 seconds, users are even more likely to create and share videos from their smartphones.
It will be interesting to see if and how these bite-sized pieces of content will change the playing field when it comes to video-based social media.
5. Foursquare Will Decline Sharply
With stale traffic numbers, and significant difficulties raising capital in 2013, Foursquare continues to struggle its way towards 2014.
With other social networks like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter offering location-based features, it seems like only a matter of time before Foursquare folds and their users are absorbed into these other networks.
6. MySpace, Love it or Hate it, Will Grow
With their radical makeover and re-branding efforts earlier this year, MySpace appears to be getting its second wind. Offering an iPhone app that allows users to network, receive private messages, and listen to their own personalized radio station, MySpace seems to be on track for growth in 2014.
I don’t see MySpace ever again competing in the same space as Facebook or Twitter, but it will be interesting to see how the network grows among bands and music-lovers.
7. LinkedIn Will Become a Major Player for B2B Business Growth
Still holding steady as the #1 social networking site for professionals with 238 million users, LinkedIn isn’t just sitting on its heels. With the launch of itsInfluencers program, LinkedIn is positioning itself as not only another networking site, but as one of the largest sources of content creation and curation for professionals.
As it grows and attracts even more users, the advantages of being “linked in” will become enormous for B2B marketers. For a guide on how to use LinkedIn for Marketing, see my article “The Ultimate Guide to LinkedIn Marketing.”
Final Thoughts
Facebook and Twitter show no signs of imminent decline, but it will be interesting to see how they innovate to keep up with the growth of Google+ as well as image and video-based networks.
With social media behemoth Facebook turning 10 in 2014 (has it really been that long?), they’ll continue to focus efforts on mobile, and on offering advertisers opportunities to better target their ads. And while Twitter continues to be the golden child amongst B2B marketers, I’m curious to see if and how the rise of Google+ will impact its market share.
While most business owners are aware of the necessity of having a social media strategy, I believe 2014 will be the year where a majority will finally understand the necessity to commit the necessary time and resources to their social media efforts. I’m excited to see which up-and-coming networks grab a share of the market, and which have already run their course. If you’re a business owner looking to build your social media presence, I recommend this article: “How to Determine Which Social Media Network Fits Your Business.”
Which social networking sites do you think we should be watching? Which do you think are on their last legs? Let me know in the comments below!
Follow me on Twitter @JaysonDeMers for more insights, predictions, and expertise.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Social Media is a necessity in today’s instant access, virtual world. With so many users on many different social media platforms, businesses need to jump on board and utilize the multiple ways of showcasing and advertising their business. The social media platforms I would like to utilize for LI FINDS are FACEBOOK, TWITTER, GOOGLE+, YOUTUBE, FOURSQUARE, MYSPACE, INSTAGRAM, PINTEREST, and I will always be on the lookout for growing sites that could further expose my business.
posted on DECEMBER 10, 2013
As we approach the end of the year, we always see lists of top this and best that for 2013. Today’s list comes from LinkedIn. It’s the “top” – meaning most inspiring and engaging company pages as voted on by LinkedIn members.
The 10 companies comes from a range of industries; 4 are tech related but still represent different aspects of the industry. The biggest surprise is that only a few are strictly business to business companies. Let’s take a closer look at a few of them and see what we can learn from each of them.
Adobe gets high praise for proper segmentation. Rather than cram everything into their company home page, they created individual pages for their Marketing Cloud product and their Creative Cloud product. This way, they can customize the message to suit the needs of two different customers.
LinkedIn praises employment company Apple One for their bold, intriguing photos. But on closer examination, I noted a strange incongruity. The LinkedIn posts link out to very helpful articles elsewhere on the internet, but the photos don’t come from those articles. They come from other places – sometimes competing places. For example, a ZDnet image used to promote an Inc. article. Odd. I give them credit for putting the credit on their images but wouldn’t it be easier to just use the photos that go with the article?
Commonwealth Bank sprinkles direct questions into their posting schedule such as “do you prefer cubicles or collaborative workspaces?” People love responding to simple questions, especially when there are specific choices. That question received 33 comments while their normal blog post links average 1 or none.
Four Seasons Hotel and Resorts reels them in with aspirational photos and videos that make you want to book a room right now. The fact that Michel Volk was Appointed General Manager of Four Seasons Resort Bora Bora isn’t very exciting (sorry Michel) but when it’s accompanied by this image and there’s 7 inches of snow outside your window, it’s going to catch your eye.
NPR makes great use of the list. 6 Ways to Do This. 10 Best This and Thats. 4 Things You Don’t Want To Do Again. Lists deliver a lot of information in short, bite-sized bits so they’re very attractive to the average reader. They know that when they click, they’ll be able to skim and get out quick with at least one nugget of information.
So there you have it. To keep people coming back to your LinkedIn page include bold, aspirational photos. Ask simple questions. Divide up your audience so you can focus and then teach them something with a short and snappy list.
What’s your secret to LinkedIn success?
More info on GOOGLE+
http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/3-successful-google-pages-and-why-they-work/
I believe a website should be visually appealing but extremely user friendly at the same time. I came across a few websites, which as a viewer I thought were quite creative and interesting to browse through.
The most impressive part of these websites is the branding. The way they are marketing themselves in terms of design, concept and visual clarity. There’s ease in navigation and the appealing color combinations makes the viewer stay.
Out of the 5 different aspects of multimedia that are
1) EDUCATION,
2) INFORMATION,
3) PROMOTION
4) ENTERTAINMENT and
5) ART
I would love to be a part of ‘PROMOTIONS and ENTERTAINMENT’ aspect of multimedia.
PROMOTIONS and ENTERTAINMENT always tend to go hand-in-hand. I believe that in today’s world, the Entertainment industry would give me a lot of freedom to play around with my creativity in terms of promotional concept designs. It is a vast area of business and contains a lot of scope to explore new and distinctive things. Some of the mediums for promotion in the entertainment industry are:
a) SOCIAL MEDIA PROMOTIONS (facebook, twitter, google etc)
b) TELEVISION
c) MOBILE DEVICES/GADGETS (iphone, ipad, tablets, etc)
d) PRINT MEDIA (Newspapers, magazines, booklets, brochures etc)
There are different types of promotional/conceptual advertising present around us these days. Some of them are:
– ANIMATION (always successful)
– CONCEPT-BASED (a mind-blowing message)
– VIRAL VIDEO (Something different that keeps the viewer hooked)
– SOCIAL MESSAGE (Touching sensitive topics to gain trust)
– PUBLIC SURVEY, INTERVIEWS (more believable)
– USE OF A BRAND or CELEBRITY NAME (an old and effective type of promotion that almost always works)
“ A CELEBRITY FASHION website that’s also an ONLINE SHOPPING PORTAL”
This website will tell you all that you need to know about celebrity fashion. It will be spotting the celebs on and off jobs to capture their sense of style for you to get inspired from. Not only can you know what they’re wearing but you can also SHOP for the same ensemble at this very site.
This website will answer questions like who wore what when? Whether it’s a party, a movie, television soap or an award show. We spot the celebs from all over the place to capture their look and bring it for you to BUY(at a discount if a member).
This is the only place where you can shop directly from your icon’s wardrobe.
Do you know what your favorite celeb wore to their movie premiere in LA? FIND OUT here and SHOP FOR IT.
A three-step story:
Some of the taglines that would describe it:
->“ FIND your fashion inspiration”
->“WHO WORE WHAT WHEN?”
->“Red-carpet garments straight to your wardrobes”
->”LOOK like your favorite STAR”
Target audience: My website would target everyone who is even minutely interested in FASHION and its upcoming trends.
The facebook page of UsWeekly magazine really caught my attention with its dynamic and perky posts every 2 hours keeping the followers hooked to its content all the time. It’s description read “The Latest News, Photos and Video About the Celebrities You Care About!”. Now how would one not get tempted to go through a page like that? UsWeekly’s facebook profile is undeniably making the best use of this social networking platform to increase its viewers and create a brand structure like no other magazine profile page on facebook. UsWeekly shares with its viewers not only the fresh celebrity news/fashion but also puts together stories and reveals the unknown facts. What else does a fan need?
As obvious with most of the headlines and over-hyped buzz these days, MILEY CYRUS has joined the league of one of the most stylish and daring icons of the year. Even if sometimes in terms of her unpleasant gestures or her shocking but inspirational sense of fashion, Miley has successfully reserved a place for herself in the music industry. But at the same time we cannot deny the fact that ‘Social Media’ plays a fairly important role in all of this ‘miley fuss’ that had been created all year round. If it wasn’t for Miley’s habitual picture posting on instagram or facebook that usually leaves the viewers speechless for days, her fans or haters wouldn’t have had anything to talk about. So this one goes to Miley’s INSTAGRAM addiction that today makes her the brand that she is.
As People magazine comes under one of the world’s largest selling celebrity magazines, it has also very efficiently cracked the code to using social media in its best possible way. Twitter isn’t for everyone. It is for everyone who are already established and defined as a brand looking for a medium to strengthen the followers/viewers/audience. People magazine’s twitter account aims at spotting celebrities, their fashion and not to mention, their personal life. Their tweets are the most creative ones till date giving out a 140 characters puzzler that would easily tempt the viewer to click on the link to read further. As a result, they gather more and more viewers each day.
A channel that will bring you the latest news straight from the celebrity-town. Videos are always a good way to connect to what you love or what you’re passionate about. HOLLYWOOD.TV brings the best red carpet moments, celebrity news, interviews, gossip, and candid videos to viewers all over the world. It has 109,011 subscribers and on an average it posts one video every three days. The best thing about this channel is their video composition skills. The videos are to the point, not too lengthy, gives you the right information and always in time. That’s all what a viewer needs.
Ellen is definitely not another OPRAH. She has succeeded in coming out of that typical ‘talk show’ host stereotype and has created a spot for herself in the television industry with her endless charm and overwhelming skills to interact and connect with people of all statures. Ellen Degeneres’s pinterest page impressed me to the very core. Its not just filled with celebrity pins but everything that her show portrays from food, animals, kids, holiday, funny, memorable moments. She has essentially included all the things she is fond of as a human being and that is what pinterest is all about. Pinning all the things you LOVE and keep close to your heart wherever you go. This profile helps ellen’s fans to bond with her in a better way. By knowing what she and her show is all about. Henceforth, proving PINTEREST to be a great tactic for branding.
I would love to get my PR article on the ENEWS website that is one of the most popular online celebrity news website/blog. Their website looks extremely user-friendly, colorful, easy to browse through with more pictures and less text which is exactly what I would want to focus on while designing my webpage.
Some examples of articles on ‘www.eonline.com’ similar to the ones I’ll be posting on my website are the links below:
2) http://www.eonline.com/photos/7606/best-looks-of-the-week/337067
3) http://www.eonline.com/shows/fashion_police/news/489047/style-180-anna-kendrick-goes-sexy-in-sheer
Please watch this…
imagcwp journal 
