The Downside of Search Marketing

Different companies and business require different types of marketing tactics and campaigns in order to get the word out about their product. This results in various kinds of advertising strategies and ways to approach marketing. With the internet plenty of new marketing tactics have been developed due to the existence of the internet. Search Marketing is a big one and it involves companies paying or using organic methods to appear in people’s searches. Keywords that are associated with whatever these companies are trying to sell will lead people to these websites. SEM, search engine marketing, uses paid tactics to generate ads according to keywords search and SEO, search engine optimizer, uses organic ways to generate traction on websites.

It is a strange feeling to think that companies pay money to try and get my clicks on their website. While it is not illegal to do it feel like I am being used in a sense. These companies put so much money into trying to get my attention based on my search results. I usually do not care about companies trying to get my attention with ads or using my Facebook information to target me. However, this just feels a little strange because it explains why random things will pop up in my searches. Things that would seem totally irrelevant to what I needed, but share some random keyword. My thoughts on this are if I wanted to search for that I would have and I do not enjoy getting ads and websites for things I do not need to search. I want my searches to pertain to what I type in and not to some company that pays to appear to my screen. While I’m sure it is sometimes effective I feel more often than not these tactics do not do so much.

While it is not an invasion of privacy it just feels annoying and almost like a telemarketer, but online. Someone who is pestering you about something you probably do not want. I understand where these companies are going for and what they are doing, but as a user it makes me feel annoyed more than thankful. I have never had a pop-up ad or random website link excite me. Either I ignore it or I activate ad-blocker to prevent the ads from bothering me. I feel as though these companies should find better ways to appear to potential clients.

https://blog.alexa.com/sem-vs-seo/

https://www.forbes.com/sites/joeescobedo/2017/06/12/social-media-engagement/#4e9ac87c2193

Curators and Journalism

Curators of news may seem like a threat to journalists, because they gather various sources of information into one space online. With the internet it is so much easier to compile these sources in a place that is easily accessible by millions of people. It would seem at first glance that curators do a better job than journalists because of the large number of sources. However, this is a wild theory and curators will not kill of journalism as some people seem to claim. Curators do not report the news, nor do they write their own stories about what is happening. They simply compile various stories about a subject to share with people. Curators have to be trusted though, because if they just use their website to attack someone people will not trust them. Journalists often use curators as a way to dig up more information on a certain subject. People have it wrong curators are not the death of journalism, rather they are just another source for journalists to utilize.

They serve two separate rolls in the process of collecting and making news. These curators do not actually make news or right if. Often times they are just enthusiasts who want to compile data about topics into one location. That makes the research a journalist’s job so much easier, because they can just go to a trusted curator and get all the work done in one place. Even for PR people this is a great tool because if they need to look back on things that have happened in the past it’s all in one place. Easy access to all the stories that have been put out about their clients, so they can see what people think of the client. These are all great ways to utilize these people and journalists should not fear but rather use them to an advantage.

A journalist’s job is to make sure the news is reported accurately and that the public is well informed about what is happening. Curators do not have this job at all and they just compile news about topics. These are two separate ideas and they should not step on each other’s feet, but rather work together. Curators need journalists to write the stories and journalists need curators to keep everything organized, rather than a mess and research taking forever. Together these two positions make news accurate and easily accessible to people.

https://blog.hootsuite.com/beginners-guide-to-content-curation/

https://mashable.com/2011/03/10/curation-journalism/#iB9zbFcKQkqt

https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/our-research/newsroom-curators-and-independent-storytellers-content-curation-new-form-journalism

Press Release

NEWS:                                                                        Seton Hall University 400 S Orange Ave

                                                                                                South Orange, NJ 08625

For immediate release                                                CONTACT: Michal Zaglewski           

609-292-6000

STUDENT ACVITIY BOARD (SAB) HOSTS AJR CONCERT

On Thursday April 11th Seton Hall’s SAB will be hosting a concert by the band AJR. To some this ban may not seem familiar, but they have plenty of hit singles. Songs such as Burn the House Down, Sober Up, and I’m Not Famous are just some of their most popular songs. This concert is open to all Seton Hall students and any friends and family they wish to bring along with them. Tickets are 10 dollars for students and 20 dollars for any guests, so kick of spring right and get your tickets today.

            Not only is AJR going to be there, but the concert will have special guest Max and The 1865. The concert is sure to be a great time and with tickets so cheap there is little reason to not go. “Yeah I’m super excited about this. AJR has got some fun songs” says Matt Walsh a Seton Hall student. Students are excited for this fun new band to come play for them. While they may not be a large name band it is still exciting for them to come.

            The concert will take place at the Richie Regan Recreation and Athletic Center and the doors open at 6:30 pm and the concert is to end at 10:30. Unfortunately, none SHU students do need to have an SHU student with them if they wish to enter. No one under the age of 18 can enter the concert even with a SHU student. If you like AJR quickly find a friend at Seton Hall so they can get you into this fun fall kick off at SHU. It will be a fun filled night with music and there is only standing room, so be prepared to dance!  You can buy tickets online to make sure you have a place to stand during the event. During the concert SAB would like to remind students to act appropriate, anyone who is acting improperly will be asked to leave. Welcome AJR to Seton Hall with the best we have to offer, so be on your best behavior! Do not miss out on this great event.

 Go to https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2019-sab-spring-concert-ft-ajr-with-special-guest-max-tickets-55263034223 and get your ticket now!

Fake News

Unfortunately in today’s world fake news is becoming a larger problem every day. The internet makes it so easy for people to just go and post stories that are just not true. Anyone who wants to spread a lie has the power to write a story and post it across various social media platforms and have millions read fake news. There is no real way to stop these kinds of posts because they will just happen. You cannot prevent a person from writing the story and sharing it. However, there is a way to better educate yourself and others in order to spot fake news. This is important because it allows people to pick out what is fake and what is real.

Fact Check did an article about how people can spot fake news and some key things to look out for. They bring up some ways that you can quickly pick out fake news. The first being checking the source and making sure it is credible. If it is an article published by the New York Times, chances are it is probably real. However, if it’s some unheard of company or website that you have not heard much about, it is probably fake. These kinds of methods are so easy to just quickly double check and it would prevent fake news from spreading the way it does. However, even with these methods there is one large problem left in place.

Everyone needs to partake in checking the sources and going through these methods to prevent the spread of fake news. The biggest problem is that one person sees it and shares it without thinking. Then their friends see it and the process continues because all it takes is one person who does not fact check. It is much easier to believe the headline then to go in and do some investigating, so some people do not bother. While I think these methods help reduce some of the fake news they do not get rid of it. The people who really care are already doing this kind of stuff. However, those who spread the fake news do not care and will most likely never check sources. Meaning that despite these methods fake news will continue to spread like wild fire. In order to get rid of fake news we need prevent the spread of it and these methods may help people see past the fake new; however, they will not prevent the spread.

https://www.npr.org/2016/12/14/505547295/fake-news-expert-on-how-false-stories-spread-and-why-people-believe-them

https://www.factcheck.org/2016/11/how-to-spot-fake-news/

https://www.npr.org/tags/502124007/fake-news

PR Freedom

Press releases are great way for the public to get informed about topics and understand what is going on in the world. If you have a client or customer who needs some PR a press release is a great way to get information out about what they are doing. Now typically press releases are sent to media companies and the media gets to decided what actually makes it into the news. Press releases were written in a specific way that would make the story appealing to media. The PR person would obviously spin the story in the clients favor, but they’d make it look as close to a media story as possible. The journalist would then decide if the story should go public and if they felt it was good enough they’d write their own story after doing some research.

            Recently, the way PR people go about press releases has changed drastically. In the story “Traditional Press Release- out- Online News Release IN” they talk about exactly how it has changed. PR people no longer need the media as much as they have in the past. Due to the creation of the internet and news sharing platforms. It is so easy for a PR person to upload a press release on the web and just have it go viral. Obviously the release still has to be professional and attention grabbing, but it no longer needs to go through the media. Of course PR people want a journalist to see this story and have them write their own stories for their papers. However, if they do not pick the story up the PR person has already posted it to several online sources.

            This is a major change for PR people and while the media is still important to them they have almost obtained this freedom to just release their stories. Before the internet if the media did not pick up your press release no one would see it. This allows PR companies to just get the story out regardless. I think there is a plus and a minus to this because on one hand it’s great that PR companies get this freedom. However, it allows them to post stories that will obviously be one sided. People will just glance over it and assume that is the truth. The media has no opinion one way or the other so they will work hard to find the unbiased story. PR has a great new tool; however, it is one that may lead to some very biased stories.

https://www.inc.com/guides/2010/09/how-to-write-a-press-release.html

Click to access OnlineNewsReleaseIN.pdf

https://www.thechannelco.com/content/how-the-internet-has-changed-public-relations

Media and The People

Snapchat is an app that has found an extreme amount of success over the past couple years and is only growing larger as a social media platform. However, ever so often a platform will make a mistake that causes it to receive a large amount of negative press. Facebook was recently investigated for selling people’s information to companies. Snapchat, in 2018, made a mistake that upset the singer Rihanna. They app asked people if they wanted to slap Rihanna or punch Chris Brown. It was part of an ad for a game called “Would You Rather” and Snapchat did apologize for it, but the damage has already been done.

When a social media platform gets as big as Snapchat, Facebook, or Instagram celebrities start to have a massive effect on how the platform moves forward. Typically, whatever platform a celebrity uses tends to be the one people use so they can follow their favorite actor, singer, etc. In order to maintain a good audience an app must take these people into consideration and what Snapchat did really hurt them, because now all the Rihanna fans have an even larger reason to leave the app. She already hated the app, but after this she condemned it and urged her fans to uninstall the app. While not everyone will there is still a large amount of Rihanna fans who will just do it because she said so. The power celebrities hold over social media is remarkable because if enough of them leave a platform there is a high chance that platform will just fade away. These platforms have to stay in these people’s good graces because they attract so many other to take part in their platforms.

Celebrities are such a large part of social media platforms and they need one another. Celebrities need social media to post and talk with the public. However, social media needs these people to stay relevant as a platform and without them the platform may just die off. This relationship can be easily disrupted in a couple ways, like Snapchat and Rihanna. We often think of the platform as the one holding all the cards but if we stop using the app or website then they die off and there is nothing they can do. That is why these apps and platforms have to make sure they are satisfying all their users so that they continue to be users.

https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/news/business/rihanna-hits-snapchat-where-it-hurts/

http://www.pages.drexel.edu/~amb98/leah.html

https://scholarcommons.scu.edu/engl_176/32/

Photo Journalism

Photos are such a key part of journalism and often times it can be easy to just look past them. Pictures are just a part of the journalism and we almost expect to see it. People rarely think about just how important they are to a story of reporting in general. In fact some stories can be told through just pictures and these pictures can have a greater impact then any amount of words. Briggs writes about the importance of picture journalism in his book and I could not agree more. Images are such key components to journalism and it adds an irreplaceable component that draws people in.

Think about Instagram and how successful of a platform it is. The entire goal of the platform is to share pictures. Sometimes with captions, but often the captions do not make sense without a picture to go along with them. This platform is the perfect place for photo journalism to exist because the main goal is to upload photos. The photo will often speak for itself and the photo journalist just has to add a small caption. They can also share their photo instantly with billons of people. Instagram is so popular that slowly it is becoming the main social media platform. It provides people with a place to pretty much upload any type of photos they wish. Vacation photos, animal pictures, and news related are just some of the typical posts people can upload. With this platform photo journalists can reach so many people in such a short time and all they need is a smartphone. Smartphones have such good cameras now that they do not even need an on hand camera. They can just snap it on their phone and then instantly upload it for people to see.

           Photos are so key to journalism and it is becoming easier for people to upload them for many to view. With Instagram being so popular journalists can share a photo with millions in a matter of minutes. Photos provide journalists with a physical image of what they are reporting on and can evoke emotions that words might not be able to capture. A picture is worth a thousand words and the more time that passes the easier it is to show people just how true that is. Instantly showing people a photo of the story is so valuable and allows journalists to share their photo journalism quickly.

https://contently.com/2015/06/23/instagram-journalism-the-new-content-trend-shaking-up-the-media-world/

http://www.niemanlab.org/reading/how-6-publishers-are-using-instagram-stories/

https://www.journalism.co.uk/news/12-features-to-help-your-news-organisation-make-the-most-of-instagram/s2/a727385/

Guest Speakers

Social media is a great tool for everybody to use and for the past couple weeks we have been talking about of professionals use it. It is such a key tool to how PR and Journalism people give out and get information. It is in fact the evolution of the field and those who do not use it have fallen behind on times. In fact it would seem impossible to not use it and still be in those fields. So much happens on these platforms that to truly keep up with the people and news you have to be a part of them.

            Today in the nursing hall, room 105, at 6:00PM two professionals will come in to talk about Social Media and how it is used professionally. Gina Cherelus and Barbara Goldberg, from New York Reuters are coming in to give us a talk about social media and the effects it has on the business. While we have done a lot of research on our own about these effect it is time to hear from someone in the business so come on over. This is open to hall PR, Journalism, and Communications majors. Cannot wait to see you guys there.

Algorithm and Media

Social media is a huge industry that connects people to one another all over the globe. However, there is an unspoken aspect of social media that everyone interacts with. There are ads all over social media for various products, but the impressive aspect comes from the content of the ads. Due to the algorithm that social media uses they attempt to tailor ads that will fit the person. This seems like it would be an extremely amazing tool that will help people find the products and services they need. However, more often than not these ads can just be annoying and not even relevant.

            In the article by Forge and Smith they point out that this algorithm takes into account every single thing you search. For example if I want to buy my sister a nice necklace for her birthday I might spend a couple hour searching. However, I just need the one necklace and then I can move on. The algorithm will send me ads for necklaces for way more then I need and now I’m stuck with these ads that don’t relate to me at all. Which make the whole process a waste of time for both parties. I don’t get relevant ads and the company has failed at attracting another customer.

            You want people to come to your social media account and Forge and Smith says in order to keep people only post relevant stuff. That way the algorithm will show people your posts because they are relevant. However, I think the way this algorithm works is way to sensitive even for that. Trying to just limit yourself to posts about a certain topic feels as though your setting yourself behind. You want to be updating about relevant information sure, but you also want to seem like a human and upload something light hearted. Limiting yourself seems like a good way to convince the public that you are all work and nothing else. This algorithm is not perfect, but maybe a funny joke you post draws someone in to be a permanent follower. They come for the joke and stay for the actual content. People want to see personality and I think working your account around this algorithm would kill a personality and that is not what you want. You want people to come to you and the way you do that is you provide them with news and personality.

https://forgeandsmith.com/how-do-social-media-algorithms-affect-you/#The_algorithmic_timeline_in_real_life http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/09/24/how-social-media-is-reshaping-news/

http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/09/24/how-social-media-is-reshaping-news/
https://forgeandsmith.com/how-do-social-media-algorithms-affect-you/#The_algorithmic_timeline_in_real_life

New Tools for Pros

When looking at Twitter it may seem as though it is just a silly social media platform where people can post nonsense that happens to them. While this may have been the case when Twitter has evolved I believe it has become so much more. It has become a powerful resource for PR professionals and journalists to use. We talk about social media and the effects it has on both these fields a lot and perhaps the best example of how effective it is, is Twitter. In 160 characters or less you can reach such a large and wide audience that it is unbelievable. If a journalist needs to take a poll they can upload to Twitter and have such a large variety of people interact with it. As a PR professional you can post about your press releases or any updates you have about your client and instantly millions will see it.

            Forbes points out that while Twitter can be useful it can also be difficult to manage. While this statement is not incorrect I do not think it is difficult enough to wave off. Keeping track of a twitter and making sure all the posts are up to date can be time consuming like Forbes says. However, I think the payoff can be huge because of the large number of people you can reach and how quickly it can be done. There is a lot of work to be done around a Twitter account, but it is such a good tool and to write it off the way Forbes does is not giving it enough credit.

            A better point I think was had by Columbia Journalism Review in which they say that it can be difficult to write stories without consulting Twitter. There is so much traffic on Twitter that if you want to write an article about pop culture you would almost fail if you did not use Twitter. As a journalist you also need to keep a profile and Columbia says Twitter is a great place to keep that. You show your interests on Twitter and this can be a sign to potential employers. This article really spoke to me because I view Twitter in the same exact light. It can do so many things with such little effort and not using this tool is almost detrimental.

            With times changing so does PR and Journalism and in order to keep up professionals must use these new tools, like Twitter, in order to survive.

 https://www.forbes.com/sites/robertwynne/2014/09/22/twitter-for-public-relations-fact-and-fantasy/#7bc68c7483b3 https://archives.cjr.org/realtalk/journalists_using_twitter.php https://www.cjr.org/the_media_today/journalists-on-twitter-study.php