Dream Vacation: Italy

Ever since I can remember I've always wanted to go to Italy. I've already been out of the country once to Australia, but that trip was pretty much planned out. Going to Italy is one of my items on my bucket list. Hopefully in the next's several years I will be able to afford a trip there.

I would love to stay for a month and just explore all the tourist locations. I also would love to find those "secret" locations that every destination would have. The main spots I want to see is the Trevi fountain and the Colosseum in Rome. Another place would be the leading tower of Pisa. Then I would love to visit Vatican City, Florance and Sicily. I would also love to sample the food in Italy.

 I don't really know why I was so obsessed with Italy. When I was younger I would get certain presents for my birthday and Christmas that would revolve around Italy. One year I got a calender, with certain tourist spots. The place always fascinated me, all the rich history and how buildings are really old; older than any place here in the US. The landscape too, was another thing that I loved, I thought that it was really pretty in postcards. I always wondered what it would look like in real life and actual be able to visit Italy. 

Another aspect I would love to see is not only the old buildings or history but the architecture. It's so different than any other place especially here in the States. Its even different than in Australia.

I can't wait until I have the money and the time to be able to go to Italy.

   

Social Media Monitoring

Its always good to track who is visiting sites. Its always good to know what is being said about a company. There are a lot of interesting programs to help monitor your social media.

Another good thing about social media monitoring is the fact you can look at all your social media on one platform. Like Hootsuite, this is a good tool to use when you want to monitor a number of social media accounts. This tool saves you time and helps keep you organized when you have to run multiple accounts at once.

Now comes the why. The main reasons is understanding who your audience is. Also being able to determine what content works and what may not work on certain sites. Also you can measure your reputation and your perception from others.

Three important things to remember about social media monitoring is to remember to listening is important, another is measurement, and the other is engage.

You can get certain benefits back one being insights into audiences. You also can get real-time feedback and engagement from different consumers. Also another important benefit is providing actual number data to upper management about the power of social media.

Here's an article about social media monitoring in real time - http://bit.ly/OIay5K

There are certain challenges that is involved with social media monitoring but if you can cut though them all, the benefits can out weigh the challenges. Some challenges are having a lot of data, also with that information overload. Also it can be a challenge to determine what is of value in a particular tweet or like. Also a new service can come pop up. Than there are the issues with privacy and ethics, lack of education and training the software that is used.

Going West

Last blog I posted about going to Australia. This time I decided to scale it back but keep with the traveling theme. When  mean scaling it back I mean staying in the US. My favorite trip I took, was going out west. I was 15 years old and we went over a three week period, during the summer. I went with my parents and my grandparents Brittany, also came along (we known each other since 2nd or 3rd grade, and been best friends for pretty much forever) because I'm an only child and it always boring not to have someone your own age.

The thing I remember about the trip is when we first took off we traveled to Illinois to drop off our dog to my other grandparents. We were traveling from Louisville to Anna, Illinois and ran into a really bad storm. The storm was so bad that we got stuck in Indiana and we weren't sure if we were going to make it. The sky actually looked green and there was at least golf ball sized half. We got stuck under the over pass, and had to ride out the storm. From Kentucky to Illinois it only takes four hours but it took a lot longer.

On our way out west the vehicle we took was jam backed we everybody's stuff. On the way back some of the bigger pieces and other things we didn't need, had to be ups back. It was always fun getting in and out of the van, I felt like a clown coming out of the clown car. We were specifically traveling out west for my moms forth birthday. She wanted to go to the Grand Canyon, but we also went to Vegas and stopped in other states. We went though Missouri, Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah and Arizona. 

The Grand Canyon was really amazing to view. I would love to go back. We went to both the North rim and the South Rim, Talk about a difference. The North rim, is more woodsy and a lot cooler. Also the squirrels there were very friendly probably because they wanted food. The South Rim wasn't as vegetated and was a lot hotter. At the south rim we went down a trail called the bright angel trail, I can't remember how long the trail actually is but i know when people did the trail it took them a few days. I would actually love to do the trail, its on my bucket list.   

The one experience that I don't want to remember is getting sick. This is we went to Vegas. This where I got a pretty nasty stomach bug and my parents were worried that I would become dehydrated. I ended up going the hospital in Vegas. That wasn't fun, I waited for hours in the waiting room and they ended up checking for food poisoning, lucky it wasn't and they determined it was just a bug. Lucky me. After that though I felt like crap for a few days, and this was while I was in Vegas. Luckily I was only 15 so I couldn't really do much while I was there in the casino (we stayed at Circus Circus).        

Overall, even though I got sick the trip was awesome and we did so much over the three weeks. I would love to go back west again in the future.  

Sochi Olympics and Social Media

The Sochi Olympics, I have to say I've been watching on and off. I have been following the different events that interest me, such as the figure skating competitions, snowboarding, alpine skiing and hockey are among the many sports that I follow and see if the USA can medal.

Now the other thing that I have been following is the social media going on during the Olympics. So far I am following the official twitter page of the Olympics which gives up dates of the actual Olympics. Another twitter page that I thought was pretty funny is the one about all the problems have been having called @SochiProblems. This shows funny pictures of the Olympians and also problems that Sochi have been having ever since the opening ceremony. Also its interesting how a look can become a meme, I'm talking about Ashley Wagner's "angry face" which has been photo shopped in so many photos.

Also I noticed that the Olympians have been utilizing instagram a lot and I've seen articles and I agree that you could call Sochi the Visual Olympics. A lot of other people like commentators and journalist have also been using instagram. My two favorite are the live commentators for the figure skating Tara Lipinski and Johnny Weir. They not only take pictures but also have been posting videos on the app. There actually pretty funny and entertaining.

Overall I've been enjoying following the many Olympians on different social networks. Also I've seen the games be called the Viral Games. Which i definitely agree with that term because social media explored when the games started and have been everyday since.

Article on Sochi Olympics: http://usat.ly/1jNSuAW

Which talks about the London Olympics and also calls these games as the Viral Games.  

 

Australia: My First Trip Out of the Country!

Australia is such a beautiful place to visit. I would love nothing but to go back and explore more of the country.

This year will be the 10th year since I've been to Australia. The reason the trip for me was so special is because I was chosen by a teacher to travel with a organization called People to People Student Ambassador Program. I went with 34 other students in grades 7th and 8th, round the Kentucky and Indiana area. I couldn't believe that at 13 years old I would get this opportunity. The trip lasted a total of 19 days and it was a totally awesome experience. I would love to go back in the future and if possible stay longer.

During my trip to Australia we got to see so many cool things. I saw where the 2000 Summer Olympics took place; we toured the dome, that is now used for Rugby games. We also got to see inside of the Sydney Opera House, where we saw an orchestra playing the score to Lord of the Rings, the lady that was taking us around said it was a very rare opportunity to hear anyone play there. I remember going to a town were we panned for gold, I didn't find very much, just a bunch of rocks. We were able to talk a tour of the Parliament building in the capital of Australia in Canberra. We went to so many places, one place went to a Jail and learn about a famous Australian outlaw named Ned Kelly. I went to the city of Melbourne, which very beautiful. 

It was weird also because Australia was in winter and I went in June. Of course the coldest it got was when we were at this camp on the coast of Southern Australia, it got pretty chilly. Especially at night. The other thing is because Australia is below the Equator the northern part is warmer than the southern part.    

One of my favorite parts about my trip was the host family I got to stay with. They were simply awesome. Each member of our group got to stay with a host family. Some got paired, but with my host family; I was the only one to stay with them. The host families we all stayed with were located in Cairns, Australia, which is in the Northern section of Australia. The part that fascinated me the most was that they were just like us, a normal family. There wasn't any surprising differences between american families and them, the most obvious is their accents. The other experience would have to be holding a kola bear, she was so cute and it was pretty awesome, unfortunately I don't have a picture to show; actually a lot of pictures from my trip I don't have on my computer, I only have a few pictures, most of the Parliament Build (see above) and one of the landscape (see below). I wish I had more picture on my computer to be able to show in my blog. 

There was some much that happen from my trip. The experience itself was some times overwhelming that I couldn't believe that I was able to be here especially because I was only 13 at the time.

      

Pictures are Better Than Words?

Who knew that social networks like Instagram and Vine would become so popular with people. Of course these two aren't the only sites that show pictures and videos but it seems like now people don't want a wordy explanation they much rather have that picture. Brands are now finding out that posting creative visuals is a good marketing strategy. When following brands I see a lot of fashion, make-up, and shoe brands. They post pretty stuff and show off unique items; but there is one brand that I feel wins it for their Instagram content, that would be Starbucks. The page is just visually appealing to me and I don't even drink or like coffee or tea, (a lot of people think I'm crazy for this) but i like some of their other drinks. Some of the pictures on Instagram, convince me to actually go to Starbucks and get a drink even if I didn't want one. Some Instagram examples, these pictures are pretty recent posts: 

Superbowl Picture, Just So Cute - http://bit.ly/MP3fI9

This is my recent favorite - http://bit.ly/1jCzHvu

Than you have Twitter where you can only post 140 characters or less. With a picture the possibilities are endless you can tell a story or show information with one tweet and a caption, than with a long drawn out post on Facebook. Now a days people aren't patient with anything; they want stuff here and right now, and don't want to waste the time to get it. With a picture/visual - like a info-graphic and a short explanation people are more likely to look at it and not only that but get actually information. I also think people would retweet or mention a picture more than a bunch of word even if its under 140 characters. There so much more to learn about Instagram but first off you need to know the basics and how to use Instagram as a actually marketing tool. Here's a article: "Instagram publishes best practice guide for marketers" - http://bit.ly/1bQ41L7 

Dullest Superbowl Ever!

So where was Omaha? All I can say about the Superbowl that it was one big disappointment when it came to the Broncos playing. This years Superbowl was more like the Loserbowl. I had more fun looking at twitter and watching commercials; so instead of droning on about the humdrum football game, I'm going to blog about my favorite moments on twitter and my favorite commercials.

The first brand I want to talk about and my favorite from the Superbowl was Doritos. I thought they were really on point. The largest human Doritos Photobomb was pretty creative. Also the the banter back and forth between different brands was entertaining. The most specific one I remember is Verizon tweeting on Doritos Photobomb and than Doritos having a witty tweet back.

Also another thing about Doritos on twitter is that they tweeted other brands. There was the Oikos tweet about the Full House reunion and them talking about a past brand of theirs, which i though was clever. Also tweeting Kia after their car commercial and showing the bag colors that went with the key colors in the Kia commercial. Overall I do think Doritos did a good job of using twitter as a platform during the Superbowl. Also the commercials were one of my favorites.

The way Doritos did the Photobomb was creative also. The fact they put the process of how they did it on YouTube is even more interesting to me. 

Just to name some of my favorite commercials would be: Coca-a-cola, The Budwiser called puppy love, and the Doritos.

Last but not least the brand that i though kind of bombed the twitter feeds was JCPenney's . It was an interesting tactic but I don't think it went over real well many people and brands thought they were "drunk tweeting" during the game. 

    

HootSuite: First Impression

http://bit.ly/1bAxWKp

Having the opportunity to learn how to use HootSuite is a pretty magnificent in a nutshell. I actually heard about HootSuite through IComm, the president mentioned about it. Now through the social media class, I get to learn how to use the tool efficiently.  

After watching the first video for HootSuite University, I can seriously say this tool look really awesome. I definitely think HootSuite will be very useful for me when it comes to managing social media. Its also a great tool to use when you are managing multiple brands at one time; this will save you so much time. By not going back and forth between different social networks and multiple brands; everything is on one site for you to access.

At first setting up my account, HootSuite can be intimidating and kind of confusing. That is why I like the in depth videos that help with different areas of the tool. By watching the videos you get an idea how to use it and also using HootSuite in the right and efficient manner that ultimately saves time.

The main components that I like about HootSuite is the fact you can post a Facebook, Twitter, LinkIn and any other network one time and not have to switch back and forth. The second is the way to tool is set up, you can see your twitter, Facebook and Instagram all by going back and forth through the tabs.

I feel knowing how to use HootSuite can help with gaining possible employment. I think brands will be impressed that we know how to use the tool and what the benefits are.

I think as I learn more about the ins and outs of HootSuite this will be one of the tools I will turn to if I continue with social media. Also I'm going to make use of HootSuite in the future when I have a more active role on social networks and start interacting more. I definitely think this tool will help me become more integrated with social media and start to have a presences.

What my HootSuite looks like right now with Twitter and Facebook Tab.

I can't wait to learn more what HootSuite can do and how to use it for everyday.