This is my first attempt at blogging on the Internet. I am hoping to gain a better understanding of it, gain some skills at web-design and social networking, and perhaps teach you a bit about me.
I'm 23 years old and live in Mid-Michigan with my dog Zoey (a sheltie) and my cat Buddy (a bit of a jerk---even for a cat). I currently work as a News Producer for a Mid-Michigan TV station. I graduated in May of 2008 with a major in Broadcast and Cinematic Arts with a minor in Marketing. I'm currently pursuing a career in the field of Public Relations.
So why blog? Well, it appears social media is the "wave of the future." Be it Twitter, Facebook, pod casts, or blogging. These media are revolutionizing the way we get our message out to people. I'm currently reading "The New Rules of Marketing & PR" by David Neerman Scott. It's a fascinating book about the changing world we live and communicate in--and how the social media is--or already has become king (you can send your check to me in the mail Mr. Scott).
Simply put, the "old school" methods of reaching consumers and customers is becoming more and more difficult and wasteful. Think about it, how many commercials you're hit with each day. Various reports at Google Answers indicate its anywhere from several hundred--to several thousand. That's a hell of a lot of messages, and how many do we recall? Other than the ones we really like (the Microsoft commercial with the little girl making a slide show to the A-Team theme song comes to my mind) we only recall or remember a small fraction of them. This is where the web comes into play. This isn't even taking into account the number of channels we have for our TVs. Some of you satellite-subscribers get hundreds of channels. This only convolutes the message of the media more. So what can be done?
By utilizing strong social media, we can get a much more personalized message across to people who actually want the information. Developing a blog or website that caters to the people you want to find helps direct them to you. Someone may start blogging about your blog or website. That, in turn gets more people savvy to what your message is and what you're trying to do. Best of all, most of the time using social media is cheap.
Think of it as carpet bombing versus a laser-guided strike. You're much more directed to your target, and it's a lot less messy. That is why I am starting this blog, to gain a better understanding of the process and hopefully obtain future employment with skills that will benefit my future employer. Who knows, I may even really enjoy this. I do like getting on my soapbox...
