My Social Media journey this far
by Ana Murphy Social Media student and IT professional
- BackgroundThis Storify describes my experience during class COMI 650 which is part of my Masters in Integrate Marketing Communications at Marist.I will be sharing my overall experience with Social Media tools as well as how I used Blogger, Twitter and Pinterest to bust my brand new blog: http://anamurphycomi610.blogspot.com
Screen Shot 2014-03-04 at 11.39.05 AM- IntroductionI confess that I was very nervous about creating a blog and also not having enough followers to keep an interesting discussion flowing. I was also concerned that I was not familiar enough with some of Social Media tools such as Twitter and Pinterest.My classmates have been very accommodating and have helped me by posting comments and by asking great questions. I have also been trying to post as many comments as possible on my classmates blogs to support them. We have learned that Social Media tools are here to help improve two way communication. According to Qualman:Social media is global in nature; one of the biggest benefits is enabling users to stay connected with friends and family who are geographically separated. This global connectivity extends to positive and negative messages. (Qualman, 2013, p. 2)My strategy with my Social Media tools was simple. To post interesting and honest content and to try to personalize it as much as possible so people learned a little bit more about who I was. My goal was to reach about 10 followers per week and also generate over 10 comments per post.Plans & PoliciesTo help set the tone for my blog I posted the following site policy: Site Policy The site policy ensures users are aware that I have to rights to remove any content I deem inappropriate. I kept my blog public so I wanted to make sure the content was following set guidelines.
- Ana Murphy's COMI610 Blog
Ana's Blog Policies My blog was created for discussions about social media under the IMC Marist programs. I welcome feedback, questions and comments. Please ensure that comments respect others and remain ethical by avoiding: vulgar language. personal attacks or inappropriate remarks against a person or group. - Below is a picture of me "spying" on my neighboor to help illustrate the article from Qualman: I care more about what my neighboor thinks than what Google thinks.My plan was to use as many Social Media tools as possible to help boost the page views and also the amount of comments to my blog. The primary tools used were Blogger, Twitter and Pinterest. The secondary tools used were Google Plus and Facebook.ActivitiesBloggerI started my blog with an introduction so users could get to know me a little bit better. I shared my professional background to help establish where my expertise's are. I used as many personal touches as possible to help differentiate my blog.Every weekly blog included an example from my experience and even a personal picture when appropriate.
Ana Murphy's COMI610 Blog
Let's face it! Most of us care about what others are doing and we look for advice and recommendations from the people we know to improve our own lives. Perhaps we don't stare at our neighboor's house like I am doing in the picture but we certainly look at their social media updates.- I also used interesting videos, links and pictures to help bring the blog to life. I invited all of the classmates in my groups to help author my blog so they could easily find it in their Blogger.
I also made it easier for all users to subscribe to my blog by adding a subscribe widget to it. Every blog was published with the support of Twitter, Pinterest and a Facebook post.
TwitterI used Twitter to communicate to my classmates when a new post was available and then once more during the week to ask for their comments. I avoided overloading my classmates with too many messages. - Hi Teams, would love to hear from. Txs! http://anamurphycomi610.blogspot.com @Marist610@MaristCOM610
- I used key words and group Twitters to ask for comments.
- Pinterest
Pinterest was used on a regular basis to find important social media content as well as to share information from my research and to share my blog. I observed that Pinterest helped increase the traffic to my blog. 
Screen Shot 2014-03-04 at 12.21.52 PM- AnalysisI measured the success of my blog by the number of page views and comments. Based on these criteria I met the overall objective to reach at least 10 page views and 10 comments per post. I also targeted to increase the number of interactions by 5% per week.My last post reached 83 views and 17 comments and the previous one reached 45 views and 12 Comments.
Screen Shot 2014-03-04 at 12.50.55 PM- I observed that the number of page views increased every time I used a tool to help advertise my blog.
Screen Shot 2014-03-04 at 12.57.45 PM- The following tools regenerated the most page views based on the analysis:Twitter, followed by Facebook, Google Plus and Pinterest.Audience:It does not surprise me that 100% of my audience was in the US.Conclusion
While working with my blog I understood the practical reasons for metrics. While monitoring the page views during the week I would take action to help boost comments when I noticed page views were weak. When businesses invest in Social Media, they need to spend as much time and energy on monitoring their posts to ensure they are reaching their return on investment. Many businesses fail to change their online strategy because they are not monitoring success on a regular basis.The integration of Twitter, Pinterest and Blogger helped me reach the overall goals of my blog. I posted comments at different times of the day using different tools to help boost page views and that proved to work.I could have improved the Social Media interaction by using Google Plus and also by using Facebook more frequently. I noticed that a large number of users accessed my blog from Facebook yet I only posted one comment a week on it.As for the fear of using Social Media tools, that is no longer an issue. I learned from Qualman that we all have unique access to something or to someone: leverage yours. (Qualman, 2013, p.225)Thank YouThank You so much to everyone who took the time to read and to comment on my blog posts. You have really helped me overcome the fear of blogging! 
Screen Shot 2014-03-04 at 11.38.33 AM- Let's continue our learning journey together!!!!! Thank You!
ReferenceQualman, E. (2013). Socialnomics: How social media transforms the way we live and do business, 2nd edition. Hoboken, N.J: John Wiley & Sons.
