What I Learned From This Course

Technology in public relations and advertising has taught me multiple things that can help further my education and increase my skills for my future career in this field. As much as this class has caused a lot of anxiety on me, I have learned many things that I can take away from this class.

There were four main projects that we did in this class. One of the projects involves getting Google Analytic certified. I was confused at first why we would have to do something that I have never heard of. Being Google Analytic certified is something that can be put on a resume and land you your future job. Google Analytics provides information on website tracking. Getting Google Analytic certified involved multiple hours of training to be certified. It involved videos of how to bring yourself to a certain page and how to make charts for the information you will be gathering for your website. The training also involved an exam at the end of the training to get you your certificate of completion to be Google Analytic certified.

I also had a project that was called the “Multimedia Package”. This project involved a video, a podcast, and an image gallery. We had to choose a trend that would be popular in 2017. I chose the trend as social media. In my video, I had a classmate take a video of myself of me stating the reasons why social media is trending in 2017. When making the video on Adobe Premiere Pro, I added photos of the examples I mentioned in the video. So when I was talking, a video of myself would switch to photos of social media as I continue talking. The project taught me how to use programs like photoshop as well which is going to be helpful for any career I go into, especially advertising. This project taught me how to use Adobe Premiere Pro and it will help me in my future career.

Another project I did in my class was designing an app. Since there are already millions of apps out there, it took a long time to try and figure out something that would be useful to the public. I wanted to create an app that had to do with fashion. The fashion industry is something I want to be involved with for my future career. I have a passion for styling people through clothing. I also love shopping, especially online. The biggest complaint people have when shopping online is that when they pick a size online, and it comes in the mail, it’s not the right size for you. This is why I designed an app that has to do with shopping online and styling clothing for yourself. The app lets you design a look for yourself. You start by picking out what style is yours. For example, my style is trendy yet bohemian. Once you pick out your styles, you will be taken to a page that has a list of stores that has these types of styles. Then you pick out the store you would like to shop from and it will take you to the store’s website. When you pick out an outfit you like, you will add it to your cart and it will be directly drawn back into the app. You can then download a full size body image of yourself and drag the clothing onto the body. This allows a person to see if the size fits right, if the color looks good on you, or even if the whole outfit itself, looks good on you. You can then go back onto the store’s website and buy the clothing of the looks that looked perfect on you. Hence, the reason why I called the app, “PerfectFit”. This project was less work and more fun for me! Designing an app has taught me the tools I need to possibly design an app for the future.

The last project that I want to discuss with you is the project that I had to post every few weeks on, which is the blogs I have posted. This is my last blog I’m writing for this class.  This class taught me how to write a blog. Blogging has sparked an interest in me to start my own blog. I would like to create a fashion blog. Without this class, I wouldn’t have had even a desire to write a blog. I’ve learned many new things from this class that is very beneficial for my future career.

Social Media is taking over PR in 2017

I had the opportunity to create a project about a trend that is forming in the public relations world. I chose my trend to be social media. I chose social media because over half of the nation has some sort of social media account. Public Relations practitioners are taking advantage of this trend as it becomes more popular across the nation. Advertisements are starting to pop up even more across Snapchat and Instagram.

I have three parts to my multimedia package project. One of them includes a youtube video of me explaining how social media is trending in 2017. I use examples from Facebook. I explain moments of how PR practitioners are making you more aware of their organizations. An example I used was when you’re shopping on a website like Target and you put something in your cart. I explained how since you put it in your cart but didn’t buy it, it will now show up as an ad on Facebook to try and convince you to buy it. I also talked about how advertisements are becoming popular through Snapchat, Twitter, and Instagram within the last year. Even though, they’re not very affective, people are still looking at the ad and becoming more aware of the company.

 

The second part of my multimedia package is my podcast. I created a podcast that involved an interview with my roommate who has many different social media accounts and who uses social media quite often. I asked her questions regarding how many likes she gets on her posts and how have the advertisements that she has come across has affected her.

Transcript of Podcast:

“I’m here with my roommate, Bethany. And we’re just going to talking a little bit about social media and how it is trending throughout 2017. So Bethany, how are you doing today? Good thank you. Good, that’s great. So, do you have any social media? Yeah I do. Which accounts do you have? I have a Twitter account, Facebook, Instagram, basically everything. Which one do you use the most? Probably Facebook. Why do you think you use Facebook the most? It’s a way to connect with people that I haven’t seen in a long time, but I have a lot of people that I know or like in different states or countries that I’ve met. Have you met anyone new through any other social media? No. Okay. How many posts do you use for Facebook per week? Per week, maybe about like five. Oky. Maybe a little more, depending. Do you do about the same amount for Instagram? Um no, Instagram is sorta like when I’m doing something fun and I’ll just post about it. Okay. How many accounts do you have on Instagram? I have three. You have three? Oh wow. Can you elaborate on your accounts? My one account is like my main account where I just put like fun events that I’m doing with my friends and family. And then my other account is for CHAARG. Which is like an exercise group that I’m apart of and I just post about like healthy eating, different events I do for that. And then my third account is like a finsta which is like a funny insta. So just funny pictures of myself and different things like that. Okay, that’s awesome. Which account do you use the most? My regular account. Okay, how many likes do you get about average per post? 150. Okay, how many followers do you have? Eight-hundred and something, eight-hundred 90, eight-hundred something. Okay, do you think Instagram is the most trending out of all the social medias? I think so, yeah. Why do you think this way? Most of the people that I know and I met new people and they will be like what’s your Instagram? They never ask about your Facebook. A lot of people don’t have Facebook anymore and a lot of people that it’s out of date. Okay, do you think that Twitter is trending or declining? I think Twitter is declining. Okay, is there a certain reason of why it’s declining? I know a lot of friends that have deleted their Twitter account. I personally, deleted the app. I don’t go on Twitter more, I’ve just stopped like yesterday. But I know most of my friends don’t have a Twitter. Okay. What about Snapchat? How do you feel about that? I personally like Snapchat a lot but I use it a lot. I have a lot of friends that most of my friends have Snapchat. So do you think through Snapchat, Facebook, Instagram, do you think advertisements are popping up the more that you use them? Yeah, definitely. I’ve noticed in the past couple of months that like Instagram has started using a lot of more advertisements and Facebook has always used a lot of advertisements and same with Twitter. Have you ever purchased something from an advertisement? No. Okay, is there a reason why or you just not intrigued by it? Yeah, I’m usually not intrigued by it. So overall you think that Social Media is trending, correct? Correct. Do you think that more PR practitioners should use this trend to spread awareness of their companies? I think so, yeah. But also it can get annoying with the amount of advertisements with these like that like I personally because Twitter has so many little advertisements, little things going on. That’s part of the reason why I deleted it. But Instagram is starting to get really annoying with advertisements. Yeah, okay. Thank you so much for your time Bethany. I really appreciate it. Yeah, no problem.”

 

The third part of my project is the image gallery. You will notice pictures that will give you an insight of how advertisements are used throughout social media. All three parts of my multimedia project will give viewers an inside look of how social media is trending through 2017 in Public Relations.

Social Media, Virtual Reality, & Blog Posts: Shaping Ad & PR

Three trends that are shaping advertising and public relations is social media, virtual reality, and blog posts. I chose these three trends because through my primary research I found that these three trends are becoming more and more popular each day. Social media, virtual reality and blog posts are constantly advancing in technology. With the new advancements in technology, the audience for each trend is growing.

The first trend I found the most popular is social media. Over half of the nation has social media accounts including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. The number of users is constantly growing. In the past year, advertisements started showing up on Instagram and Snapchat. As a user for both of these accounts, I have enjoyed the advertisements that pop up on my page. I have even seen advertisements about blogs that I should read.  From that advertisement, I now read a blog every week. Something that always creates new trends and spreads awareness is hashtags. Hashtags are mainly used on social media. An example would be a hashtag that is always trending at Grand Valley State University is #Anchorup.

When I think of virtual reality, I think of it being something that is very futuristic. Our whole world is surrounded by technology, and we’re constantly advancing in it. Most people have seen virtual reality being in video games. Since virtual reality is trending, more people are interested in it. Soon, virtual reality will have a high demand, more brands will focus their campaigns on them. Right now, virtual reality has a high audience number for gamers. Advertising agencies and public relations firms wanted to try and have a broader audience that anyone can want virtual reality. An example of a new virtual reality product that is recently trending for all ages is the Samsung Gear VR. The product has a headset. The headset is like ski goggles. Instead of the plastic that is covering your eyes, your Samsung phone is in there. With this new product, advertisements didn’t just want gamers to be invested, they wanted all different types of people. The way this product is capable of doing this is because you can choose which scene you would like to be in. From being in a race car to being in a yoga class. With how virtual reality is becoming more demanding, it will continue to advance in its technology in 2017.

The third trend that I thought would be shaping 2017 is blog posts. In 2016, blog posts became very popular. Blog posts are like personal journals that are open to the public. They’re becoming popular because it’s a way for people to connect with one another. Blog posts are very relatable. They make you feel that your not alone in the way you think about certain things. For example, recently there has been a women’s march across the nation for women to gain respect and equality. There were many blog posts that were against the women’s march. The blog posts made the women feel they don’t need to think the way society is, they can have their own opinions without getting judged for them. There are millions of blog posts in the world including, how to be a good mom, how to cook, how to think about yourselves in a different light. I personally read them because I tend to have a different way of thinking than most people, so blog posts makes me feel I am not wrong in the way that I’m thinking and it actually helps me feel more confident in myself knowing that I’m not alone in the way I think. Blog posts are affecting advertisement and public relations because there are blog posts on how to come up with a good advertisement. Blog posts help public relations firms because they know a lot of people read blogs so you can pick up on how they feel about certain things by seeing what blogs they read. Through this, they can get to know there client better and build a better relationship with them.

Social media, virtual reality, and blog posts are each affecting advertisement and public relations in their own way. Each are changing the way people look at advertisements and public relations. They’re becoming more popular within social media by popping up on your newsfeed. Advertising and public relations will focus more on virtual reality since it’s becoming more demanding among a large number of people. Blog posts are showing the way people think and feel about things, which will help advertising and public relations with their target audiences. These three trends will change the way advertising and public relations is affecting this world in 2017.