Social Media Use: Good or Bad?

This past weekend, was Homecoming Weekend at Ohio Northern and as part of a class assignment, we live tweeted one of the events that occurred during the weekend. Part of this assignment included comparing Ohio Northern's Twitter and Facebook activity for the weekend. While looking looking at both social media platforms, Ohio Northern had very small number of posts about Homecoming and the events occurring throughout the weekend. I live tweeted the Homecoming Parade and you can view this story at https://storify.com/tiffck19/homecoming-2015

First, I took a look at the Ohio Northern University Facebook page where there was a total of three posts for the entire weekend. Their first post was about the Homecoming 2015 schedule of events and it included a list of what was going on throughout the weekend.  The next post was a video of the Stars of Northwest Ohio and the ONU Alumni Band doing the ONU fight song. The last post of the weekend was a post of all the photos taken throughout the weekend. ONU’s Facebook page didn’t do anything to promote their events for their alumni this past weekend. A majority of alumni are on Facebook, and ONU should have been posting events that were happening, when they were happening and where. They also should have been posting photos of the specific event when the event was taking place. The one good thing they did correctly is post all the photos taken at the end of the weekend, with a wrap-up of the events.

Next, I took a look at the ONU Twitter page where they also had a very limited amount of tweets from the weekend, three to be exact. The first tweet of the weekend was about the schedule of the events for the weekend. They’re next tweet wasn’t actually an original tweet, it was retweet from an alumni. The last tweet of the weekend was a link containing all the photos for the weekend. Twitter is a microblogging site and ONU definitely should have been utilizing this social media platform throughout the events. With Twitter, ONU should have been doing constant updates about the events and tweeting not just when the event was starting and finishing, but also during it, so individuals would know what was going on. ONU had the right idea when they retweeted an alumni and they should have done this throughout the weekend with alumni and current students. 

Overall Ohio Northern didn't do the greatest job in keeping up with their social media and could have been much more engaged with their followers. The main improvement ONU could have made to their social media is just posting regularly throughout the weekend about the events that were going on and where they were located. They had a positive on both Facebook and Twitter, but they could have expanded off these positives much more. Hopefully the social media for next year's Homecoming will be a bit more engaging and actually tell both alumni and current students when something is going on and where. 

Homecoming 2015

This past weekend marked my third homecoming weekend here at Ohio Northern University. It was a weekend where I was able to catch up with individuals who had graduated the year before. I also had the opportunity to meet new alumni at our annual Xi Brunch, where we invite all alumni of Alpha Xi Delta back to get to know the current sisters and see how things have changed since they had last been here.

I started off Saturday morning by attending the annual Homecoming Parade on Main Street. The parade started approximately 15 minutes late and lasted for about 25 minutes. The parade included the ONU marching band, President DiBiasio and his wife, the 2014 King and Queen, the 2015 homecoming court, two high school bands, various clubs throughout campus and Greek life. The theme of homecoming this year is, Let the good times roar.

Following the parade I then headed over to the Alpha Xi House for our Alumni brunch. It was fun to meet alumni and compare stories of the chapter. I even had the opportunity to meet my alumni aunt, which is a mentor program where you get assigned with an alumni who has a similar major to you and talk with them via email or Facebook. It was nice to actually meet her because we have been emailing all summer and throughout the beginning of the year. We ended up talking for about 45 minutes and it was amazing to see all the things that we have in common with each other and actually discuss details from our emails and what they actually meant.

After the Alumni brunch I headed back to my room to change quickly and get ready for our football
game against Heidelberg. After a slow first half we were only down 13 to 10 at half time. The Polar Bears ended up coming out on fire in the second half. The final score of the game was 34 to 20 with a victory for the Polar Bears. I was able to sit with sisters during the game which was nice as I am always so busy during the week and don't really see anyone.

Overall it was a very successful homecoming week and I enjoyed catching up not only friends, but also alumni, A win for the football team, especially during homecoming weekend, is always a positive.

Doing Research

In chapter 15 of Real-Time Marketing & PR by David Meerman Scott we discussed the importance of research. It's important to know what your customers want, so you can be the one to sell it to them
. When researching your clients, it's important for your company to be engaging in real-time marketing and PR, so your company can engage in real-time sales. It's very important to do everything in real-time as your company need to react to everything in that manner.

As we discussed in class, Ohio Northern has a  Banner System that collect information current students, prospective students and alumni. This Banner System take information about all these individuals such as marital status, location, employment and many other demographics the system uses to gain information. Not only do universities use this system, but also many companies do as they are trying to gage their current customer like and what they can do to bring in prospective customers. The goal of these Banner Systems is to define recognizable and repeatable selling situations.

Over the years customers have lost their voice when expressing opinions, but with the creation of social media customers have been able to express their opinions through these outlets. During chapter 16 we talked about General Motors and how they timely responded to a blog that was talking about how they no longer focus on their customers. Christopher Barger, GM's director of social media saw the blog post and responded in real-time to the ne
gative post and turned it into a positive for his company. Barger commented two days in a row on the blog, which shocked the blogger. The blogger in turn came back with a positive post about General Motors and all the positives the company did when handling a situation.

The importance of responding in real-time to customer complaints should be your companies top priority. Knowing what is important to both your current customers and your prospective customers should be important to your company.