Successful Use of Social Media - America's Got Talent

America’s Got Talent: Seeking Input from Viewers

https://twitter.com/nbcagt

Early summer is one of my favorite times of the year when it comes to television entertainment.  Many shows go into reruns.  Therefore, there are many available spots to be filled.  This is the time when the broadcasting networks debut all the premieres their fun summer-time “reality” and competition shows.  One of my favorite examples of this type of show is America’s Got Talent.  It is such a fun show and worth tuning in as it is guaranteed that there will be something on it for anyone and everyone.

America’s Got Talent is a variety show where contestants demonstrate a talent they have (whether the talent be singing, dancing, extreme sports, the sky is the limit).  After weeks of judging and the judges choosing potential talent, the acts begin performing for the public.  It is at that time when the show becomes interactive using social media.  People use Twitter to cast their vote as to which act should move onto the next round.  There are several occasions when the voting on Twitter is being performed live on the show.  It is so exciting to be able to see the results being calculated in real time.  The show’s judges also use Twitter to “live Tweet” during the show.  This gives the people watching on TV at home the opportunity to get involved with the show and even interact with the judges.

I find America’s Got Talent to be a very successful example of how social media can be used in marketing.  The excitement of this show depends on how well they can engage the audience.  It is appealing to think that anyone can be involved with the production of a show being made on the other side of the country in real time without even being there.

Application of New Technology - OpenTable

OpenTable: Marketing to Millenials

https://www.opentable.com

How many times have you been out with friends on a Saturday evening and your tummy is rumbling? There are restaurants all over, but it’s primetime for hitting them up. You know what that means…. A 45-minute wait to get a table, but we all have that one friend… That friend who refuses to wait for a table. As hungry as you all are, you just leave in hopes of finding a spot with less of a wait or no wait at all!  Sounds like it’s going to be McDonald’s again tonight… Not if OpenTable can help you!

Description.  OpenTable is a service that allows users to enhance their dining experience by helping them locate new restaurant choices in the area.  It also increases the convenience of going out to eat by allowing the user to make reservations and cancel them if necessary.  OpenTable also has a rewards system that reservation-makers to earn points towards discounting their next visit to the restaurant.  The application also provides reservation-makers with the opportunity to view the menu of the restaurant they are going to.  All these features add up for a pleasant, and smooth-running outing.  OpenTable is available for online use and both iPhone and Android playforms.

Marketing Potential.  This app and organization does an excellent job of marketing.  As Kerpen mentions in chapter two of his text, it is important for a company to understand the needs of their target audience.  OpenTable’s target audience is probably 20 to 35-year-old population as this is the millennial generation and this group is notoriously known for their technology use, impatience, and the careful watching out for “freebies.” This application and service works towards directly catering to these consumers (Kerpen, 34).

References

Kerpen, D. (2015) Likeable social media: How to delight your customers, create and irresistible brand, and be generally amazing on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest, and more (2nd ed.). Chicago, IL: McGraw Hill.  

Intro to New Technology - Todoist - Brittany Fanale

Todoist is an incredible app that allows you to easily create, modify, and sync a to do list viturally through multiple devices. The problem I have like many others is you physically write down a to do list and have to carry it with you 24/7 or you loose it. It does not allow for easy updating unless you scribble on it. Breaking free from paper lists will allow you to have your to do list with you on your mobile device and any computer you sync to. 

You can access tasks everywhere with apps and extensions or 10+ platforms, your tasks are always there: on mobile devices, web browsers, inboxes, and more.

Collaborate on unlimited shared tasks with anyone – colleagues, family, friends – and collaborate in real-time on shared projects and goals.

Your tasks are a big part of your life. Stay motivated and organized with Todoist’s intuitive and beautiful to do list.

Best Use of Existing Technology - ComEd

When you mention the utility name of ComEd people would immediately say "I hate them!", "customer service is horrible", "there slow in restoring our lights." and I can continue with more complaints I've heard from people.  After many years of backlash due to the poor infrastructure ComEd made changes and listened to there customers.

In 2012, ComEd launched an interactive online outage map and a new mobile app for smart phones. The map allow customers to see the area effected by an outrages as well an estimate of restoration times. In turn, the app allows you to manage your account and report outages. ComEd also utilize Facebook to inform the customers of weather conditions, company events and safety tips.

There are programs such as ComEd Energy Efficiency that provides you with ways to save money which includes, assessments of your home, in- store discounts on Energy Star products, appliance rebates, and recycling of your old fridge or freezer. 

We receive the quarter newsletter, and there are many accolades from customers that have thanked ComEd  by posting how appreciative they've been to witness all the enhancements the company has made. The major improvement was customer service and the change was so impactful because we listened.

Best Use of Existing Technology - Erin Cline

The existing technology of streaming services is something we see all over our culture in 2017. You can stream movies, television, concerts, and live events using all kinds of streaming technologies. There are specialty streaming services that focus on increasingly large numbers of what would have been considered niche audiences in years past. Do you like Criterion Collection movies? Did you know there's a streaming site for that? (FilmStruck) Do you like video games? Did you know that there is a streaming service for that? (Twitch)

The specific streaming service I would like to bring to attention, I feel, exemplifies this idea of niche audience streaming to a tee - FloSlam. FloSlam is a prowrestling streaming service that pools streams and iPPVs (internet exclusive pay-per-views) into one place and makes it all accessible for a monthly price of $20, or a one time payment for one year of $150. Why does this exist? Are there really that many people watching prowrestling? In a word, yes. The dominant prowrestling company, WWE, developed a streaming service (The WWENetwork) which has climbed to well over 1 million subscribers, and other, smaller wrestling companies have realized that the best way to get people to watch your product is to put it on the internet. People can't know about your company if they never hear about it, and people don't talk unless they can see your product. FloSlam takes many of these smaller companies and pools them into one place, making their products maximally accessible to far larger audiences.

By utilizing this kind of streaming service, independent wrestling companies are dramatically increasing their viewership. This increases ticket sales and leads to being able to book bigger names, which also increases ticket sales. Instead of putting their backs up and trying to pretend that other companies do not exist (as was the case for decades in prowrestling), the companies that are participating in this streaming service are finding that it's easier to challenge the giant of WWE if you bring eyes that are already looking for alternative prowrestling entertainment into a common place. If you like ProWrestlingGorilla, maybe you'll like House of Hardcore. Or, perhaps, if you're there to watch AAW you'll find yourself clicking into Shimmer or Shine - bringing in new audiences and building larger followings for companies that have been looked over or seen as inaccessible in the past.

Intro to New Technology - Erin Cline

One of the most exciting forms of new technology is the rapid growth we are seeing in the self driving/automated car field. Self driving cars is an idea that has existed in our science-fiction visions of the future for decades, and there have been enormous leaps and bounds made in developing and rolling out this technology. While the technology is not yet perfect, the testing being done on these automated automobiles has proven that the days of driver driven cars is limited.

By introducing driver-less automated cars into our society we are going to see a radical change in the way that businesses are run. One of the largest employment providers in the United States are those employing long distance truck drivers. These people literally keep our economy running. There are hundreds of thousands of delivers made to businesses for every kind of conceivable reason - food, clothing, furniture, cars, all of these things require long distance trucking in order to keep the (metaphorical) wheels of these businesses moving. With the introduction of automated cars this will rapidly wipe out hundreds of thousands of jobs currently filled with humans; why pay someone who has to rest and eat and sleep when you can just set a course for the destination and run your trucks 24 hours a day?

Another field which will be heavily impacted by the introduction of self-driving cars will be the private transportation industry. We have already seen how companies like Uber are aggressively moving to replace their human drivers with self-driving cars, working every day to improve their technology to eventually phase out the human element. This will start to bleed into taxi cab companies as well. It would be unsurprising if in the next decade we look around and see that most of the cars on our roads will be driving unassisted, piloted by computers.

Innovative technique: Alexis Casares

Web 2.0 technologies, such as Facebook and Twitter, have made it faster and easier for businesses and organizations to reach their target audience thus reaching their marketing goal faster than ever before. It is amazing how one post to social media can start a movement. These movements, in most cases, can even begin with consumers. Consumers with a passion for a charity, business, and/or product can quickly spread their ideas through their network of followers. This was the case when the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge made a huge impact in the amount our donations to the ALS Association.

The Ice Bucket Challenge originated as a way to motivate people into donating to different organizations. It began to spread rapidly among Facebook friends, but it was not until it reached Pete Frates, who was diagnosed with ALS, that it became such a grand movement for the ALS Association. Pete Frates had a massive network of supporters that helped spread the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge into such a successful movement.

In this case, the organization did not start the movement, but it incorporated the movement into its marketing to spread the word further. This in innovative marketing. The marketing department of the ALS association had nothing to do with the original idea behind the Ice Bucket Challenge, but they quickly saw it was becoming a success and started to ride the wave.

Imagine what types of marketing movements can be created if a business or organization just seeds the right people into creating positive social media posts. Or even better, if a business is in tune with what consumers are saying about their products and incorporate it into their marketing campaign. This type of consumer created marketing can be more powerful than any marketing a business can create because it comes from the end users. When a consumer is considering purchasing a product they look at product reviews to see if the product is a right fit for them. If consumers see social media posts created by other consumers these messages instantly hold more credibility than anything a business can say.