Instagram

     To be honest, this one may be a bit short, and here is why.  Instagram is a mobile app and website that allows people to post a picture or a video with a caption on a newsfeed along with the rest of whom he/she is following, with features that include personal direct messages and the capability of posting video as well as pictures.  These features limit the amount and character of the content being posted.  HOWEVER, do not fret, because YES, the popular app that has allowed people to brag about food and being in Maui for the past three years can still be used in correlation with the previous social networking outlets written about in the previous blogs as a tool for marketing.
     Instagram is a very simple concept, yet there are many underlying features it carries that many seem to gloss over, features that could further the spread of ones own content.  Despite the humor in their creation and their existence, hashtags a.k.a.  #'s are a portal from the instagram of a person who has three followers to the attention of millions, just by using a commonly used hashtag.  If I post a picture of a sandwich at my brand new sandwich shop and then hashtag something like "#sandwich" then it will be intertwined with possibly thousands of other pictures that have shared the same tag.  If someone clicks on the tag, it will take them to a separate page that shows all of the pictures across the whole insta-sphere in chronological order. This feature mentioned above, remember, is just one small aspect of it, as an aside, not many people are constantly perusing the world of hashtags, but that does not discredit them.
       

Twitter

 First thing, take everything I say with a grain of salt, but remember, I'm probably a lot like you.
     

     Twitter, essentially exercised through witty one liners and quick updates about the location of the next fraternity's "keg on the porch" Cesar Chavez weekend bash.  To be honest, I didn't think I would have time for twitter in the beginning.  A constant obligatory drive to share something sparingly important to the world, simply in the drive to get as many "favorites" (equivalent to likes in normal circumstances) as possible.  But when my older, and definitely more manlier brother raved about how he got "32 favorites on [his] last tweet", I had to get involved.  And apparently, if consistent, that amount is creeping into serious twitter fame territory.  The main point is intertwined with the amount of favorites one can get on a post, and ultimately how many followers one can acquire.  Relate this to modern day protests and even country wide revolutions.      Recently, Ukraine has been on the brink of what some are calling the next Cold War, and others are calling it World War III, with the easily agitated Russia and infamous President Vladimir Putin.  Over the past few months, Pro-Ukranian revolutionaries have been convening on the extremely popular Ukraninan social networking site, VKontakte (similar to facebook, for us Americans who know nothing other than the latter...and myspace, for those who can't get over their band's oh so popular myspace page).  On Saturday March 1st, a media organization funded by Russia's federal budget, Russia Today, reported that a leader of a Pro-Ukranian revolutionary group called Pracy Sektor, used VKontakte to call on "Russia's most wanted terrorist Doku Umarov to act against Russia."  This is where my easily applicable words of wisdom come into play.  The reason these Pro-Ukranian groups were able pick up so much steam and gather a rather prominent following, is because they were able to spread their motions and gatherings to a large group of people.  Favorites=people who have seen your post and have also been affected enough by it to press that "favorite button."  

     I am now a Pro-Ukranian revolutionist, a modern day minute-man battling for my nationalist pride and my separation from a radical organization I did not want to be a part of in the first place.  I tweet about a protest in the square in Kiev at noon, boom, 30 favorites.  I alone have been able to essentially spread the word to 30 people, and whether all of them attend or not, those are 30 people who now have the information.  And imagine how many people have a twitter, or the Ukranian equivalent.    

     I am now a small-business owner, trying to bring fresh customers to my sandwich shop.  I am an entrepeneur solely trying to spread the word of my new original sandwich, swathed in my recently concocted special sauce.  I tweet about a deal I am having on the sandwich with a bag of chips and a medium drink for $7.50, boom, 45 favorites.  

     At this point I think it is pretty simply to grasp the picture.  All social networking sites have the same principle of being able to post activity, gatherings, or even sandwich deals and succeeded by the immediate attention of "x" amount of fellow tweeters.  And just for everyone to know, twitter drama is a blast, so take part and join the #revolution.              

Youtube

 First thing, take everything I say with a grain of salt, but remember, I'm probably a lot like you.

     Youtube, the frontier into the viral video world, where one can immediately go from watching polar bears getting tickled to being an eye witness to Mike Tyson gnawing on Evander Holyfield's ear.  Established in 2005, youtube has been an absolute powerhouse for countless hours of procrastination while also allowing both talented and entirely untalented people find a way into their dream of being in the spotlight.  Jessica Rose, Lin Yun Chun, Arnel Pineda, and Justin Bieber (don't worry if you don't know who that last person is) are all examples of people who have been discovered by uploading videos or having videos of themselves being uploaded onto youtube.  Now because he has obviously found the most success of the four listed internet sensations, is easily causing the biggest movement of the group, and is staged to skyrocket into music history, it would be unquestionably senseless to not choose Arnel Pineda.  For those who live directly beneath a rock and do not know who Arnel Pineda is, he is the angel-voiced current lead singer of the rock band Journey. The band, originally formed in the early seventies in San Francisco, took notice of videos of Pineda performing Journey cover songs in his band, The Zoo.  With his voice sounding almost identical to Journey's former singer Steve Perry, the band brought Pineda in for an audition and practically on the spot gave him the position as the lead singer of the most objectively decided greatest band in the world (from 1973 until ABBA makes a comeback). One video, 15 seconds or 15 hours (not 15 hours people won't watch that), one video has the opportunity to go viral*, and not only be viewed by millions of people but also by Journey.  However, enough getting caught up in the glamour of making one video and having it bound into internet stardom, because though that is happening more and more often as of late, we have to be realistic, which means realizing the fact that this requires work.  

     As an example, when making a sketch comedy channel, the first video is most likely going to be absolutely awful, depending on whether the cinematographer or the actors have had any experience or not. But from that point on, I can personally promise that as long as there is a genuine drive to perfect this craft and turn it into something legitimate, the only way is up.  That being said, the first attempts are the most important.  The mistakes, the atrocious equipment, the outdated or just basic technology and the overall inexperience is what will soon be molded into an art form.  And don't you dare just "get over" and "move on" from those mistakes. It's the same reason that people say, "if you don't teach history then it's bound to repeat itself." (I swear people say that).  Not only will you avoid these mistakes in the future, but they also become building blocks for learning and becoming more adept later on in the process.  

     Multiple videos a month, it will allow the channel to have a presence on the website and it will also provide as a much needed learning experience.  In as simple of terms, the more you make, the more likely one is going to be "the one."       

     

       

*Viral (video)- A video that gets shared at a rapid rate through social media websites including facebook and youtube, but is also likely to be passed through email.   

The Basics of Advertising Your Product

    First thing, take everything I say with a grain of salt, but remember, I'm probably a lot like you.

When Axe deodorant advertises it's new pungent, pre-teen panty dropping, Justin Bieber-esque spray-can or roll on deodorant, the producers of the commercials include many situations in which Axe deodorant can make your life better(it probably can't).  Now just between you and me, I got tired of Axe after countless hours of my freshman dorm radiating the thick lingering scent into the atmosphere disintegrating the ozone layer bit by bit every Friday and Saturday night. But when that lanky man with that mediocre build swathes himself in the aromatic Axe, he instantly becomes the main attention point of what seems to be the most exceptionally attractive women within reasonable smell-distance, despite being way out of their league. As women flock to his presence, the viewer thinks one of two things, 1) this is bull****, OR 2) this is the key to losing my v-card (once again returning to the pre-disposition that Axe is in fact an interest mainly in the teenage or younger department).  Now, despite the product being hit or miss among consumers, the advertising is there to be the main buying point.  One can go to the store and test out the different scents, but what drives the person to get up from their couch or chair to purchase some of this product is the advertising. When Burger King slaps that thick angus cut char broiled burger on the fluffy bun affixed with crisp lettuce and thick cuts of red tomato, no one can help but want that burger, and the producers know that. Advertising is where the perks of the product come out.  TV magic accentuates the beauties and benefits of the product while also coinciding with other compositional aspects of the advertisement to make the product as necessary as possible.

     Now even though these types of commercials are generally going to be seen on TV, we need to remember that this is the age of Zuckerberg, these advertisements belong on Facebook and Youtube, as far as this blog is concerned.

     Advertise your product, your establishment, or even yourself as the highest of quality, even if it isn't.  

Social Networking: Ones Shenanigans (Part 2)

 First thing, take everything I say with a grain of salt, but remember, I'm probably a lot like you.

    

    Take a picture of yourself (preferably a selfie because right now it's hella in), now post it on any social networking website, in those two steps, you are successfully marketing your own face.  Now apply that process to a music video you made, now that it's not just a picture and it can satisfy more than one sense, this engages a marketing of your vocal talent on top of your physical appearance.  Putting yourself onto a social networking website is not only one of the quickest forms of marketing, but it is also the easiest way to catch the attention of the largest amount of people in one place as possible.  Just over 1 billion users visit Youtube per month according to Pew Research Internet Project, all possible viewers of your video, however I am not saying that you are going to get the whole billion.  These sites act as doorways to the eye sockets of millions of social networking users, including people who could see your video/article/picture etc. and actually make something of it.  According to yours truly, Wikipedia "The Free Encylcopedia",1.2 billion plus people have a Facebook account.  Coaches, agents, directors and mangers alike use Facebook.  People who know people,  people who know people who know people can catch a glimpse of your post and be a bigger help than one could ever imagine, sending you on a one-way to your goal.  One of your random instagram followers could have tripped Nick Cannon in an airport once, and they could possibly see your 10 second freestyle scroll through there instagram feed.  What it comes down to is connections, that is what marketing is all about, selling yourself or your product as the highest of quality and as a necessity to everyone, and with social networking websites you have billions of connections already in your pocket.  Bill Cosby didn't have this, he had to work his jello puddin' pop's to the top with blood sweat and tears.  But virtually everyone has it now, so utilize it.
     Whether it's recording a monologue or a music video, selling your homemade Christmas ornaments, or advertising your sandwich shop or thrift store, social media is your own personal telephone post or restaurant window for your advertising.  Take aspiring bodybuilders and fitness models, they take half-naked mirror selfies of them flexing multiple times daily, but if someone happens to be impressed, then there is a possible sponsorship or modeling job on the table.  Take it or leave it, this social media thing is pretty sweet, and now is the time to hop on board, because whether people like the progression in the times or not, the middle schoolers of America are heartily spreading this crap like wildfire.  

   

   
   

Social Networking: Ones shenanigans (Part 1)

     First thing, take everything I say with a grain of salt, but remember I'm probably a lot like you.

     As a college student, I, similar to many other college students, am part of the ideal user base for a vast majority of social networking websites.  Facebook, Myspace, Google+, these are all sites (which for all intents and purposes, can be found on "the internet", located through google chrome or for hipsters located through mozilla firefox) that in one quick wisp of technological magic, can organize entire organizations, committees, political groups, and possible neo-dictatorship unions in a foreign country somewhere.  From planning events to trying to keep in contact with co-workers and colleagues, social networking can solve most mass-communication to small group communication issues, though I advise face-to-face interaction for moral and "fight the man" reasons.  However, why can't these sites be used as a marketing tool?  As an entire new aspect of modern day business strategies and public relation methods, to push contemporary music and theater and sell a new product that might be revolutionary to the present-day client base for these consumer based products, all the way from "teeny-boppers" to "old farts."  But wait, you may be thinking, "don't people already do this?"  Yes, people already do this.  Which overall means there is a nice professional base of well produced advertisements that infest sites like facebook, but can be used as learning tools for ourselves.
     This blog will be an instructional guide in how to market oneself through social networking sites.  If you are a writer like me, an aspiring filmmaker like me, a voice actor also like me, or even a powerful politician such as Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin, you could take tips from this blog.  But beside what I am personally related to, in any walk of life that could possibly use some tips in marketing or in sense selling oneself, this blog could act as your own personal Burgess Meredith from Rocky, but I won't make you fight Hulk Hogan or punch hanging pig carcasses in a refrigerator.
   
On a separate note: Please feel free to read my other blogs, not all will pertain to this certain topic.   

#cdes219 #420yoloswag