Oh No You Didn’t!

For a while now, people have been overly consumed with their social media pages. They are so overly consumed with their social media profiles, that they worry about multiple things like, how many followers do they have, what people are following them, what people unfollowed them and more. About five years ago, the first website and app were created to check everything that had to deal with your audience and the engagement on your social media pages. Now although I can’t remember exactly what website and app that was created first, the world was in a frenzy when those two tools were developed. The idea of being about to see the people who are or were invested in your page was fascinating to most people. Now, all of the unfollower apps and websites that are out there now are similar to Blanchard’s idea of measurement within social media. Blanchard discusses how measuring your social media can be obsessive at times but can also be good depending on what you are measuring your social media for.

From personal experience, I believe that downloading these unfollower apps don’t do anything but cause problems. For example – when I was in high school, I downloaded an unfollower app for Instagram. At the time, I truly did think it was cool – but the more and more I looked at it, the more and more it made me upset and then I started to find the apps and websites creepy. I could see who unfollowed me, who followed me, who liked my posts, who didn’t like my posts, who followed me, but never liked anything at all, and more. Now being as though I was in high school, and the world is full of petty females – this stuff was important to me at. But all these tools did was cause drama when I look back. Girls were always arguing with girls about why people unfollowed them or girls would talk about the people seen were creeping on their pages and more. It was truly a big mess. And thinking back on it, measuring your social media really does nothing for you unless you are running a business. I say this because when you think about social media, one must realize that all of this trivial stuff shouldn’t matter but your influence that you have through your pages does. These apps made the world focus on the things that did not matter. These apps made people think that popularity was important. And these apps made people alter themselves and what they put on their pages so that their lives could seem more alluring to the world. It doesn’t matter how many followers you have on your personal page and who cares about who followed or unfollowed you. Those are not the things that matter most in the world.

Now, on the contrary these tools, are good for business purposes. I say this especially if you are building a new brand. You want to be able to see who supports you and who doesn’t. You also want to find ways to build up your followers so that your page can be shared to other. There are many new up and coming businesses that use these tools to figure out how to measure their audience and build their brand and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. Using these apps for good / business purposes will always be good in my opinion. Measure what matters most. Don’t measure what isn’t going to benefit you personally in the long run.

 

Works Cited

Blanchard, Oliver. Social Media R01: Managing and Measuring Social Media Efforts in Your Organization. Pearson Education. 2011.

“Numbers Don’t Matter, Influence Does”. GaryVaynerchuk, 16 April. 2016, https://www.garyvaynerchuk.com/numbers-dont-matter-influence-does/

Post Less – Say More

Celebrities have it hard. And by that I mean that whatever they do get critiqued in every single way no matter if what they are doing is good or bad. With social media growing, it has become a great outlet for celebrities to express themselves, market themselves, and more. But it can also be a crucial outlet because of how the world analyzes their lives. So, this has caused some celebrities to be very mindful of what they are doing or saying on these social media platforms. Danny Rubin actually made an article about writing less and saying more. In that article he discusses brevity and how it can be very beneficial when writing. Sometimes taking out needless words is key when it comes to saying what you want to say. This made me think of celebrities and how they have developed their social media pages so they aren’t saying too much, but are still saying enough.

 

Beyoncé (you guys know I love her) is a very good example of a celebrity who says less – but still happens to gets her point across. Beyoncé has always been meticulous with what she does. Instagram is definitely a place where she doesn’t post much, but she posts just enough to keep you updated with what she is doing. For example, unlike many celebrities who reveal their pregnant bellies by letting the public pry into their lives or guess if they are pregnant, Beyoncé waited until the perfect time to post a picture that let the world know she pregnant again. What was truly great about the picture was that she posted a picture in minimal clothes that showed her baby bump because of the rumors that surfaced 5 years ago that said she wasn’t pregnant with her first daughter Blue. Her posting this picture below was basically her saying “I’m a woman who takes pride in being pregnant. I’m still a normal human being like the rest of you – so don’t even say that I’m not really pregnant this time” without her really having to say it. Again, this is similar to what Rubin was saying but with a twist: Post Less – Say More.

Although Beyoncé has mastered the post less, say more technique, there are plenty of celebrities that do the same exact thing. The beautiful and talented singer, Alicia Keys, is a really good example of posting less and saying more. Last year, Alicia Keys began to post pictures of her not wearing make up on Instagram. Now some celebrities do this just for the hell of it, but when Alicia kept posting pictures of her bare face, the public started to ask questions. While the public kept asking questions, she did not respond. The public later discovered from an interview Alicia Keys did was the message she was trying to convey was the fact that you don’t have to wear makeup to be considered beautiful. Still till this day, Alicia Keys hasn’t touched make up.

I think both of these ladies do a great job at saying what they have to say through their Instagram posts without having to spell everything out for people. I think that’s how many celebrities should be and I also think that is how regular people should be. I say this because the less you post, or the more careful and meticulous you are behind your posts will benefit you in the long run, especially if you have employers looking at your social media or you are conducting business on social media. So, post less – say more. Be careful with your pictures. AND Be careful with your words.

Works Cited:

Carter-Knowles, Beyonce (Beyonce). “We would like to share our love and happiness. We have been blessed two times over. We are incredibly grateful that our family will be growing by two, and we thank you for your well wishes. – The Carters”. 1 Feb 2017. Instagram.

Keys, Alicia (AliciaKeys). “Constantly discovering, relearning & deciding again and again who I want to be. I’m my interview with @MuseumMammy @GlamourMag Activism Issue!”. 1 Feb 2017. Instagram.

Rubin, Danny. “Write Less, Say More.” LifeHacker. 5 Nov 2012. Web.

Attention “Whore”? Or Smart Gal?

Social media has always been a great way to connect with friends, stay up to date on what is going on in the world, or even a great way to network with other. BUT more recently, social media sites have turned into great (or sometimes not so great) places for people, especially celebrities, to self-market themselves, or in other words, it is a great place for those to seek attention – but seeking attention in order to make money. According to Marwick, “Self-branding is primarily a series of marketing strategies applied to the individual. It is a set of practices and a mindset, a way of thinking about the self as a salable commodity that can tempt a potential employer”. So like Marwick is explaining, self-branding is a way that many celebrities make their money. Kylie Jenner is such a good example of this. Kylie Jenner was originally known because of her famous family, but now – she has built an entire empire built around herself because of how she chose to market herself. She is now known for her sultry pictures and documenting her life via social media. The boom of Kylie Jenner originally started because of her infamous lip injections. When she posted the first picture of her lips after her lip injections, the world went crazy. But she was smart and developed her brand off of the attention she was seeking. Kylie has now turned into an internet sensation. She now has an entire makeup line which sells out insanely fast because she knows how to market herself and develop brand.

While Kylie is flourishing in the world, she is not the only celebrity who uses social media to their advantage. Beyoncé (QUEEN BEY), also self-markets everything through social media now. Beyoncé uses social media to her advantage because she doesn’t put herself in the lime light as she used to before. She is very private and meticulous with how she handles her business. For example, her self-titled album went platinum after posting that her album was on iTunes via Instagram. Since that day, her Instagram has truly been her primary marketing strategy for her business. Whether she’s promoting her album or promoting her documentaries days before they premier, she uses social media to her best abilities.

Celebrities aren’t the only ones who take marketing and branding into their own hands. I too, have actually developed my own brand and have begun to market my photography business via social media. I made a separate Instagram page (@ShotByJos) to post pictures from photoshoots, in hopes to pull in more clientele and turn my small photography business into an empire. I started this around this time last year because I’ve come to realize that social media can really work in your favor and you can really start from nothing and grow into something. So, hopefully my business will continue to grow.

The media just proves that Marwick was right! Regardless of if you are showing off your body, asset, and lips like Kylie Jenner, surprising the world with a CLASSIC album like Beyoncé, or even just trying to chase your dreams like me, social media is currently a great tool to use to market yourself and build your brand!

Works Cited

Knowles-Carter, Beyoncé (Beyonce). “Surprise!” 13 Dec 2014. 12:00 a.m. Instagram.

Wilburn, Joslyn (ShotbyJos). 19 Feb 2017. Instagram.

“Kylie Jenner Lips – Plastic Surgery Before and After Injections”. Plastic Surgery Gal, 25 June 2016, http://plasticsurgerygal.com/lip-injections/kylie-jenner-lips-plastic-surgery-before-and-after-injections.

Marwick, Alice E. Status Update: Celebrity, Publicity, and Branding in the Social Media Age. Yale University Press, 2013. 19 Feb 2017. Web.