Social Media Independent Study-What I've Learned!

During the last twelve weeks of my social media independent study I have explored many media tools used for strategic communication, as well as conducted a qualitative and quantitative research project for audience research purposes.

A recap of what I’ve learned:

SEO (A search engine optimization) is a computer function that searches data on the Internet by using keywords or phrases.  SEO is about making your site visible within search engines and is very important to the success of websites.

QR codes are square 2-D barcodes that can be scanned by a smart phone’s camera and then directs viewers to a specific display of your choice. Some examples are, a website, portfolio, or custom text.

Twitter is a tool for posting short status updates, comments and/or thoughts. Twitter can be a valuable marketing and PR tool if you take advantage of it. Twitter is a great and easy way to connect with influential people in the media. Make a connection with an influential person on Twitter and you will have a much better chance of going viral!

To go viral on facebook (and other social networking sites) your goal is to get as many shares as possible. To do this you must build a trusting relationship with your fan base and provide them with valuable content. The more followers you have and the more responsive there are, the higher the chance you will go viral.

For Her Campus UCF Magazine, I wanted to find out how many students read magazines, specifically, who reads Her Campus UCF magazine, how often, and how they access magazines. In order to collect this data of the UCF students and their interests regarding magazines I conducted a quantitative and qualitative magazine survey. 

From the collected data and responses from the UCF students, in summary, this is what I have concluded…

Magazines have become too superficial. They are filled with too many pictures and less quality content. Students would like to see less pictures and more good quality content. Hard copy magazines are too expensive. Students would like to purchase them but they are out of their budget to read daily. With that said, it seems that Internet magazines would be doing better, but they are not. I believe the reason for this is accessibility as far as not being able to pull it out of your purse or bag at your convenience, unless you have a smart phone. I also think lack of knowledge that they exist, as well as lack of habit contribute to online magazines not doing so well with students. The Online Magazine audience can be enhanced and can be driven further by marketing online magazines more through social media avenues and by making people aware that reading magazines online is less expensive and less damaging to our environment than reading hard copies. Online Magazines are our future so by making more people aware of online magazines, the next generation will more readily accept electronic versions of magazines.