Social Media

Throughout the last 50 years, humanity has witnessed many changes that have attired and changed our lives in many ways. The emergence of technology in our lives, for example, has caused life to become simpler by making connections easier between people. Changes such as these have caused many differences between each generation. Whilst comparing the life of our generation and our parent’s generation we can see that various aspects have changed Like technology, education and life style.

Through the last two decades we’ve witnessed a rise In aspects that we laden know of before. Technology Is an Issue that our generation was greatly Influenced and affected by. Through the Internet new ways of connections, were brought to the table making life easier for our generation. In the olden days one had to go through uphill efforts In order to simply contact another person, however nowadays due to social media, connections between people are Just one click away. The swift and easy going interactions that social media Imposed on us changed the way of life between the two generations completely.

Likewise: education is one of the aspects that blossomed in our modern days causing dissimilarities between this generation and the past generation. Due to the common awareness that we have been exposed to regarding the importance of education in life, education has become more easily accessible for people of different classes of the society. Numbers of educated people in our generation has increased tremendously comparing to our parent’s generation. Educational institutions have now new and more technological ways of teaching.

On the contrary education in the past generation was limited to the local institutions; international schools and universities were few and too expensive. Also, the education method in the past generation differs from the methods we’re using now; our parents’ educational system mainly depended on spoon-feeding. In these days we are taught to think more critically, deeper, and outside the box. Another aspect that changed between the two generations is their lifestyles. Due to media and the globalization of media our perspective and opinions about various issues have changed.

For example, because of open portrait of sex, alcohol and drugs in movies, our generation view these somehow controversial topics as mediocre, In our generation these issues are being practiced more abundantly while in the past these issues were viewed as immorally. Also you can clearly see differences In the smallest details of our life like music. For Instance; the past generation’s taste In music was more appropriate, inspirational, motivational and positive storytelling than this generation’s.

Songs like “Man In the Mirror” had a positive meaning behind their lyrics “I’m starting with the man In the mirror. I’m asking him to change his ways. And no message could have been any clearer. If you want to make the world a better place. Take a look at yourself, and then make a change. ” Michael Jackson. “Man in the Mirror. ” Race. May 1987. Bad. Michael Jackson, Quince lyrical kinds of music, like Electronic Dance Music. Artists like Michael Jackson, The Battles and Affair aren’t as popular as they were before.

Also, words like “Rave” “PLURAL” and “#Damselfly” are now being used despite the fact that they weren’t known before. To put it in a nutshell, we can easily see the differences of our generation and our parent’s generation in many aspects like technology, education and lifestyle. It’s natural, and as Jim Morrison said “Each generation wants new symbols, new people, new names. They want to divorce themselves from their predecessors”. We can easily relate that the next generations will be even more different than our generation.

Social Media Affecting Lives There is no doubt that social media is expanding drastically in the world, yet this change is not only related to technology and the internet. Social Media is revolutionizing every aspect of our lives. The aim of this document is to summarize some of the important headlines mentioned in the conference that took place in the “American University of Beirut” on Friday, December 16, 2011.

The conference went over how social media is changing fields such as education, culture, business, media and journalism, music and art, NGOs, politics, religion, human rights, science, the environment and the personal lives of everyone who is using them. The conference has gathered some remarkable influencers from the Arab Community; it was rich in the speakers and topics discussed. One of the speakers was the British Ambassador to Lebanon, Tom Fletcher, who began his discussion by stating that social media can play a big role in highlighting and challenging human rights abuses.

His main points were: 1. Marc Zuckerberg and Steve jobs have impacted people more than did Georges Bush and Osama Bin Laden 2. Social media can be used to get people’s voices heard as they travel must faster online. 3. It can also be used to support the values we believe in versus the forces that oppose those values. This can all be done through social media, and he also discussed that no matter what the boundaries the government put on the internet and tries to manipulate and suppress people, internet always tends to overpass these boundaries.

Quote: “if you pull a wall around our internet, we’ll build another internet around your wall”. During Tom Fletcher’s discussion, the number of active participants who were online in the hall was remarkably noticed. Attendees were able to interact with the speaker as well with other attendees through screens showing live twitter feeds. To Tom Fletcher, the number of people playing with their mobile devices was a welcome sign of engagement rather than disengagement. Another speaker of the day was a Marketing instructor from the AUB, Mrs.

Leila Khawli Hanna. She discussed that consistency is the main key when using social media. Twitter has become a pre-requisite for one of her courses; she states that as we develop in our humanity, we meet a lot of people who are somehow shy in engaging or defending their opinions. Mrs. Hanna faces this issue in her daily classes at the university and thus came up with a way to include a screen (with the class page opened) in her class that shows live feeds from the learners.

For her, twitter has been proven to intensely improve learners’ participation; even if certain learners were absent on the lecture’s day, they were still able to follow the lecture through tweeting. This has opened a way to increase the interaction whether between her and her learners or between the learners themselves. She communicates a difference between people who follow a management with a digital strategy and those with a social strategy. * Digital strategy Tackles Company will tail * Social strategy Tackles people increases sales, performance, etc… by connecting people together.

It creates a community that takes the offline and put it online. Doing it that way will sometimes increase outputs, means and performance. Social media can be risky (having data constantly online available for unethical behaviors), therefore consistency is very important. Some other points of the day: * Farid Chehab from Leo Burnett MENA tackled the impact of social media on activism, stating that while social networks are good at initiating & supporting public causes and mobilizing people, it proves less efficient in the long term.

This view was echoed during the Social Media in Business panel. The panel placed great emphasis on the positive impact of social media on businesses, it warned however of “one time hit” (social media campaigns) versus maintained success and stressed the difficulty of continuous engagement with customers. Nevertheless, Farid Chehab followed the online community and published his book on the web (www. pari-rihan. org) for those readers who, having a book in the hand is not a pleasant thing. Ziad Kamel, founder and CEO of the Alleyway group talked about the impact of social media in Food/Beverage business. Before social media, 1 unhappy customer tells 7 people. After social media, 1 unhappy customer tells infinity of people. * Yorgui Keyrouz, founder and action president of “Donner Sang Compter” organization also discussed the way he uses the social media to spread the word for needed blood. He stated that after going online, his organization was able to help in saving people’s lives more than they ever imagine they would.

Some statistics from the day: * 27. 3 million users on Facebook * 1. 9 million user on Twitter * 100 million viewed youtube videos every day * 77% of Facebook users have liked a brand through FB * 50% received customer service via Twitter At the end, social media is here to stay so better use it and benefit from it in a way to increase the volume of the different aspects in our lives, as this volume is diminishing in the real world. Quote: “If you’re not on social media, you don’t exist. ”

All three articles promote the concept of using social media to build and maintain relationships with the public. In the state of emergency all three highlight the significance of social media networks because they allow for Instant communication between lost family members, volunteers and emergency services. Article 1 concludes that companies that are active on social media need to follow 3 strategies: disclosure or openness, Information delimitation and Interactivity and Involvement (Men & Tsar 2011).

Both Article 1 and 3 both underline poor use of social medals attention and recommended online Interaction through two-way communication, which Includes replying or acknowledging user posts and comments, and posting content for entertainment purposes rather than just promotion. Article 2 showcases how organizations can better use social media platforms to interact and build relationships with their publics.

The studies in all three articles reveal that overall the Chinese level of engagement with corporate social network sites was rated at the medium level because users on Render (Chinese social media site) viewed social Edie as a platform to ask enquiries not Just view marketing and promotion material. 3) The common theme found in the research surrounding ‘social media’ is its rapid transformation over the past ten years and how its use can go beyond its original intention. Backbone, was referred to at the time as a college version of Friends (DRP.

Curtis 2013). Backbone and Twitter have developed new features to companies to stay relevant in the new digital age. Social media has changed communication channels and mediums over the last 10 years (Pashas 2013). All of the articles display the significance of creating a ‘sense of community belonging and affiliation’ because social media connects and engages people from the comfort of their own home. However, our group learnt that organizations do not utilize social media to its best potential in relation to creating user to company relationships.

As seen in the additional two articles ‘Moms for Blobbing’ (source 1) and ‘China’s Social Medal Fuel Citizen Quake Response’ (source 2), social media Is connecting societies and communities around the world. As seen In source 2 the ability of civil society groups o coordinate a relief effort were “enhanced by Sins Hello, the Twitter-Like microbiology that did not exist in 2008 but now has more than 500 million users “(c)level society Is much more capable today compared to 2008,” (Levin 2013).

All five articles and additional research highlight the evolution of social prom has the ability to influence people’s attitudes and behaviors. 4) When it comes to social media and public relations the ability to form, build and maintain affiliations is a pivotal factor and will assist an organization to attain positive public relationships. As Ferguson stated ‘relationships – not the organization, nor the public, nor the communication process – should be the unit of study in public relations (Manager 2012).

Therefore the relationship theory, which focuses on public relationships, is proposed by a number of scholars. As recommended in all the supporting articles time invested [in creating and maintaining relationships] makes a difference’ (Sterner 2012). The relationship theory best demonstrates the conclusions of all articles because it supports the concept of developing ‘a social Edie strategy to grow virtual communities with stakeholders’ (Lovely, Waters & Sexton 2012). It also promotes effectively building and maintaining relationships between the organization and the publics.

However as illustrated in the articles 1, 2 and 3, the effective execution of this may be limited due to ‘cognitive dissonance’ through the instruction received on application of social media. The notion of organizational public relationships as core to public relations is the focus of scholars Burning and Laddering (2000, p. 9) who state that, “the purpose and direction of an organization (its mission) is affected by relationships with key constituents (publics) in the organizational environment”.

The emergence of social media has altered public communication and interaction from human-tachometer to human-to-human and human-to-content. The excellence theory provides a rich and abundance body of knowledge in public relations and a key finding in the study found that PR is a “unique management function that helps an organization interact with the social and political components of its environment” (des Chic,J & Snotty, G 2009).

Goring’s and Rorer’s- with local customers. Additionally, the strategies are put into place to increase returning customers on a regular basis. Our team is determined to improve the image of the Morris Inn and replace the dated concept that is currently associated with the Morris Inn. BACKGROUND The Morris Inn was built in 1 952 on the campus of the University of Notre Dame. Its construction was primarily funded by a generous donation from Ernest M. Morris, a 1906 alumnus of Notre Dame.

In 2012 Ernestine Morris Carmichael Racial, the daughter of Ernest and Ella Morris, provided funding or the Morris Inn as a gift to the university. This renovation brought major improvements to the outdated Morris Inn, including expanding it from 92 rooms to 150 rooms, 18 of which are suites. The size of the beds improved from double and single sized beds to king and queen sized beds. In addition to the improvement in bed size, the renovation saw the introduction of the Irish tavern Rorer’s and improvements to the fine dining restaurant Goring’s.

Also, the new 24-hour fitness center, gift shop, and the Fireside Terrace, an outdoor extension of Rorer’s that is complete with sofas, umbrellas, and fire its, are a result of this renovation. RECOMMENDATIONS Increase exposure efforts in the South Bend area, while focusing on specific target markets In order to encourage more locals to come onto Notre Dam?s campus to eat at either Goring’s or Rorer’s the first Step needed is to increase the exposure Of each establishment in the local community.

Goring’s a fine dining restaurant has a smaller target market, middle to upper class, but also faces less competition that Rorer’s which faces heavy competition from other bars, particular Eddy’s Street establishments. As a result the marketing program for Goring’s and Rorer’s will differ in that the efforts to expose Goring’s must be concentrated and specified to reach small group, while Rorer’s campaign can cover a broader target market. Because the target audience for Goring’s will likely have a higher disposable income, marketing efforts for Goring’s should be directed so that exposure towards higher income individuals will be maximized.

Initially, the Morris Inn management should contact local businesses in an attempt to lure in business lunches and dinners, which historically are held at higher end establishments. Emails, calls and mail advertisements are all possible means of alerting the local business communities to the possibility using Goring’s for meetings. Furthermore, the University is heavily involved in the local economy, and taking out partners, donors, clients and other business affiliates to dinners at Goring’s will help to increase exposure for the restaurant in the local business community.

Also, to attract higher income individuals and families, Goring’s should advertise with local private schools. Schools such as SST. Joey’s are likely to have on average families with higher disposable incomes, and therefore can afford o eat at a higher end establishment such as Goring’s. Sponsoring school sports teams, donations in Goring’s name, and dinners at school fund raising auctions are all possible means of reaching to parents. Rorer’s target market differs from Goring’s in that it is a much broader group than Goring’s.

A much higher percentage of the local community eats at bar and restaurant combination establishments on a regular basis, but there is also a much more competitive market. As a result, marketing efforts must be altered to reach a greater number of people, but doesn’t need to be as specialized. Initially Rorer’s can advertise on and around Eddy’s Street to attempt to attract a segment of the local population that goes there to eat. The target market for Rorer’s is exactly the kind of people that eat regularly at Eddy’s street establishments such as Brother’s and Resource’s.

In addition, advertising at popular local events, such as Silver Hawks games and the farmer’s market are all opportunities to reach large segments Of the local population. In such advertisements it is important to heavily market incentives, such as free valet parking with dinner, in order to encourage attention customers to leave the establishments they regularly eat at in favor of Rorer’s. In addition, advertisements should be obviously tailored towards locals in order to help mitigate the apprehension that is felt by many locals in regards to coming onto campus.

Produce a positive consumer experience that creates repeat customers The second step in this process is to create an atmosphere for customer’s day or night out that favorably reflect the restaurants we are promoting. In an effort to provide a positive dining experience, the Morris Inn could coordinate tit sports teams, specifically basketball, hockey, and baseball (football days appear to already be successful). Packages including tickets to games as well as transportation through university golf carts to and from the hotel to various arenas could seer. E as a significant attraction for locals for fun nights out. Football weekends are flooded with visitors on campus, but filling Roses with viewers for less supported sports (but still with loyal fan bases) such as hockey and basketball could produce the consumer experience to bring customers back for more. In addition, advertising the restaurant alongside tickets and transportation with a potential discount on the whole package could peak the interest the hotel needs to attract nearby residents, especially those looking to save money on a family or couple’s night out.

Along with that idea is the concept of increasing ease of transportation around the Morris Inn, especially for those dining at Goring’s or Rorer’s. The idea already in effect of free valet parking for customers of the restaurants is a novel one and hooks those concerned with the hassle of going out for dinner or a bite to eat. Free transportation to games across campus at Compton Ice Arena and the Joyce Center could do the same for the hotel as well as close the gap between Goring’s, Rorer’s, and closer locations and competition like Legends of Notre Dame.

Increase Return on Investments of Social Media Strategies As a way of promoting both Rorer’s and Goring’s, we feel that the entire Morris Inn brand should improve their presence on social media, which is currently very minimal. Morris Inn’s current presence is limited to Faceable, while neither of the two restaurants have a presence on any social media site. Social media is a prominent culture among people and restaurant-goers Of all ages, so it is crucial that both Rorer’s and Goring’s become present on social media. Not only is this a tremendously important aspect to the marketing of restaurants, but it is also a free method of advertising.

We feel that Rorer’s and Goring’s should have individual pages on Twitter and Faceable, as they target very different crowds in their marketing plans. The Morris Inn should have a large presence on Twitter and Faceable and should feature links to the two restaurants’ pages in order to connect all three and create a strong brand. Both restaurants could advertise specials and special events on their respective pages and could encourage people to “follow’ their Twitter page and “like” their Faceable page by offering deals only available to people who do so.

Although Morris Inn already has a page on Yelp, which is a website that features restaurant reviews provided by the public, we propose that they consider paid advertising on sites like this. Aside from paid advertising, Morris Inn should provide as many photos and as much information as possible to Yelp and similar sites to strengthen their online mage that will help to draw in visitors looking for good reviews. Morris Inn should also contact local food floggers and invite them in for a free meal in exchange for an online review to be read by potential customers.

There should also be an effort to monitor on line reviews to assure that the reviews are primarily positive. BASIS FOR RECOMMENDATIONS As a team, we feel that these recommendations will increase the Morris Inn’s profits by creating a stronger business model. The Morris Inn has undergone major renovations, and with such renovations it is important to improve the marketing plan as well. By Meaning the original marketing plan of the Morris Inn, we feel we will be able to target a larger audience that will be more suitable for the customer base that the improved restaurants at the Morris Inn require.

Rorer’s and Goring’s require two distinct marketing plans to bring in a customized client base for each setting. Our solutions will draw the attention of each client base and therefore improve business for both restaurants. We are confident that our solutions will attract sufficient attention, while also remaining in a price range that is suitable for a struggling business. We have found convenient marketing availability in the South Bend area and have spoken to local residents who agree that our plan will target the appropriate client niche and improve business for Goring’s and Rorer’s.

There is room for further development as the restaurants’ business improves including a social media plan that will gain popularity as customers increase. NEXT STEPS We are now confident that with our suggestions The Morris Inn will have the resources to move forward and further implement the new marketing strategies. There are a few steps we feel that can be taken immediately to main exposure in the area. The first of these steps is primarily focused on personal contacts with potential clients.

We have found in our research that it would be best to either purchase pre-composed emailed lists of the area or use your current records to send out an email to all clients inviting them to dine at your new restaurants. It will also be important to make calls to frequent visitors of the university and employees of the university, particularly in the development center, who will contribute to the local atmosphere that you are trying to achieve. While it may not be the most enticing marketing plan, reaching out personally to clients will get them in the door and allow your team to explain the improvements of the Inn.

There is no better way to sell something than with face-to-face contact. The second step that your team should immediately implement involves reaching out to local vendors for advertising within their companies. The Silverware’s will be starting their season shortly as the weather improves and it will be important to have advertisements ready for them. We have reached out to Nick Brown, the Vice President of the Silverware’s, and he is willing to it down with your team and discuss specific advertising availabilities based on how much money your team is willing to allocate.

The Morris Performing Arts Center Will be hosting guests like Aziza ANSI and Tyler Perry who will bring in large business and it will be important to have advertisements prepped for those events. Finally, we have spoken to SST.

An essay about a social network Faceable is one of the most important social network today, and one of the most popular sites from the internet. Social network sites (Sons) were always popular and people seemed to be attracted by the idea of creating a profile where they can put information about them and keep in contact with their friends, or even look for dates, jobs and many others. But with Faceable, the idea of a social network site became much more important, because it grew so big that it became a link that people accessed every day, and in a way or another, it is an important thing in many people lives.

It all started with the young Mark Seersucker and his college roommates. In the beginning it was called Faces, which was comparable to Hot or Not, a website where Harvard’s students could vote between two pictures Of girls from college, deciding which one was hotter. The site was created with the help of hacking, and this was the reason why it was shut down. After this failure, Mark tried a new site that was called tablecloth. Mom, but he was caused of stealing the idea from three Harvard seniors, Cameron Winkles, Divvy Narrated and Tyler Winkles, who asked him to help them create Harmoniousness’s com that was based on a similar idea as Faceable. This led to a lawsuit that became huge and created a lot of problems with time. But still, nothing stopped the growing of Faceable. Soon, it was opened to other big colleges and even then it was easily noticeable that the site had something extremely addictive. In 2005, Mark launched a high-school version of Faceable and soon after that the membership was expanded to employees of several companies.

Faceable was officially opened to everyone of age 13 and older with a valid email address. The value of the site constantly grew and most of the important companies wanted a share of it. The number of people that had a Faceable profile increased shockingly. If in august 2008 there were 100 million users, and this year in September there were 800 million, a number that is actually almost unbelievable. It even seems that this website can easily become the most important “list’ of people in the world, a huge contact book of almost everybody that lives in civilization.

One of the most important things that Faceable did, was the fact that they asked their users to use their real name, and for the internet that was a big deal. Before Faceable, most people that accessed the World Wide Web were anonymous, and many of them enjoyed it. People could say anything and be anyone on the internet, and even if it was fun and interesting to be whoever you wanted online, in many ways it was dangerous. It is not healthy, especially for children to be able to be and say anything on the internet, because in a way or another it can bring out the worst in them and not only.

Faceable changed that, not completely but it made a pretty big impact. The fact that it expanded all over the internet at the point that you can connect to Faceable from most besides, made the internet a little more real, the anonymity not being such a big problem anymore. One of the questions that is on everybody mind is why and how is Faceable so popular and successful? When there were many other Sons that had almost the same idea before it and weren’t as close as huge. Sons are popular for a number of reasons and one of the most important one and actually the main one is the human need to socialize. people love to know things about each other, love to “stalk” their acquaintances, to look at pictures with them, to see what they like, where hey were what they did and in the same time they love to show other people things about themselves. People are so addicted to watching other people that they wake up looking at profiles of persons that they don’t even know. They actually tend to use social networks to show who they are, but mostly the social profiles cannot really be trusted, because they don’t usually define a person.

People put on their profiles what they want others to think about them, they choose the pictures that they want to show and so and, in the end, creating maybe a different virtual person. O, we can Say that Sons are popular because Of the need Of humans to gossip about relationships and the need to know everything about everybody. But why Faceable is so popular? Probably because it’s very easy to use, it’s accessible to everybody and it’s very simple. Everything is clear and it has all the necessary things that a Sons has, and even more.

After it became popular, the reason why everybody created a profile was because all of their friends had one too. Faceable without people you know on it would be very boring, because that’s the main reason why we use it. Its not a dating site, ND it’s not a site where you go to meet new people, its a site were you go see your existing ones and connect with them. It’s very useful because it’s a great way to always keep in contact with people you know, even from the past. Another thing about Faceable… Well, Faceable took stalking to a completely another lever.

If you don’t have good intentions and you are searching on Faceable… For example rapist or thieves, they are in the perfect place, just like a little kid in a pool of candy. If you are a regular F-casebook user or an addicted one which is worse, they know were you are, where you are going to events for example), what places do you like, who are your friends, when you are out of country and many more. All of this makes it easier for thieves, who can rob your home because they now you are not there and for creeps and rapist that can find you easily.

No more old school stalking behind a wheel, now it’s behind a monitor. Faceable changes the way we socialize in a radical way. Before, when you met somebody you had to talk with that person for hours to know things about him/her, like what kind of movies does that person like, what sports he/her practice, who are their friends, ex legislations and so on, but now, they are at a click away, all this information. Now, most people when they meet somebody new, go after and check their profile and in a way or another think that they already know that person.

I think this is not a good think, it influences alarm it makes face to face communication not so important anymore and supports the concerning problem of young people that have a problem of communicating “live?’, as in they are so used to typing and not talking that they find the second one as natural as the first. Yes, it’s the need to socialize, to communicate, to show strictures of us, to see pictures of others, to let everybody know what are you listening to, what are you doing at the moment, the need to see how many people like that you are in a certain place, or that you are eating soup.

Like most things in life, it’s good, but not in a excessive way. As anything that people like, at some point it creates addiction. The question is, is Faceable a real addiction danger? A lot of people check their Faceable dozens of times a day and stay for hours and hours just checking profiles, posting things on their wall, looking at pictures and so on. I don’t say that having a Faceable ND spending some time on it it’s bad, but losing hours and hours of your life just studying what other people do its actually bad. But honestly, I don’t think it’s actually dangerous.

In life, anything can be addictive, and accusing something Of being entertaining enough to become addictive its stupid and unnecessary. It’s the people who are the problem, when they feel the need to spend so much time on Faceable, not Passbook’s. As a conclusion, we can ask many questions. Why is Faceable so popular after all? Is Faceable a good thing? Does the internet becoming a concerning important part in our life? There are a lot of answers, but we have to admit that today, we can’t imagine a life without the internet and without social networks and this is a reality we have to accept.

It’s an amazing thing what we can do today with all the technology and with everything that we can do online, the thing is that we don’t have to let it lose control. I think that with us spending so much time on the internet, we leave a lot of information about us there that can be easily traceable. Is that dangerous? It could be, but after all, how much is safe to share on Faceable? There are a lot of questions that we want to find answers o, and with time, we will find them. Faceable, from my point of view, it’s a good thing.

What tools are there to measure the effectiveness of a social media campaign? Which, in your opinion, are the best and why? These are five tools to measure our social media marketing effectiveness: Page Rank Checker Using a quick online form, this site enables us to instantly check our websites current Google page rank from O to 10. Our site’s page rank is determined by a Google algorithm analyzing various elements of our website, and then comparing them to competitor sites. Hoot Suite Hoot Suite is probably best known for its social media communications dashboard LOL, but it also offers a suite of analytical applications as well.

With Hoot Suite, we can track brand mentions, analyze our social media traffic, and track the growth of our followers. Google Analytics and Backbone Insights can also be integrated into our Hoot Suite account, making the service even more valuable. Clout Another social media analytics tool, Clout provides a measurement of our influences across social networks. The guts of Clout is the Clout score which takes into account our network size, content, and how people interact with our online content. Clout cores range from O to 100, with 20 being the average.

Google Analytics One of the most widely used web analytics application, Google Analytics is as robust as it is popular. Analytical tools include advertising ROI, e-commerce tracking, social network application tracking useful to analyze both website traffic, but also marketing effectiveness. A particularly useful feature is website referral traffic, which tells us where visitors came from before they visited our site. Backbone Insights Similar to Google Analytics, but for Backbone. Backbone Insights enables us to reawaken our “likes” by demographics and other attributes.

It includes a plethora of handy statistics, like page views, performance of posts, inscribes information, and more. Backbone page administrators can access Backbone Insights on the left hand side bar. In my opinion we need all tools to be able to have a clear picture of all our social media marketing success but we may chose page rank checker to see where we are comparing to our competitors.

You and your long-suffering team have spent months, maybe years, locked away in your batcave developing your new product or service. You have consumed an unhealthy amount of coffee and invested your blood, sweat and tears into this project. And finally, you’ve reached the stage where you are ready to unveil your brainchild to the rest of the world.

But before you hastily compile an outreach list and send your pitch email to everyone who has ever written about tech, let’s take a minute to think. Company launches are notoriously hard to get picked up by the media, thanks to the millions of other companies shouting their news at the same time. It’s important that you take the extra time and effort to prepare yourself to maximize the results of all of your hard work.

Related:

Here are some techy tools and platforms to help you get the best results possible from your company launch.

Beta testing.

The problem with a launch is that you are, well, launching. You don’t have any traction to sell to customers, investors or the media. It’s hard to convince journalists that your product is going to change the world on your word alone. Journalists are, by nature, skeptical, and they like to work with hard facts, not speculation.

One way to get some early opinions and feedback — which can help you to fix early glitches and offer some ratings for the media –is by using a Beta testing service such as .

For a fee, UserTesting will arrange beta testers to meticulously run through your beta. They’ll share a video with their feedback and comments. The service allows you to target your specific audience — there is little point in a college kid reviewing your over-sixties dating app — and offers detailed metrics based responses about the user experience (UX).

ProductHunt.

Once you are ready to launch your real product, one great way of maximizing exposure amongst people who really care about your industry is by announcing your launch on The platform is becoming increasingly popular and offers a great way to place your product in front of and engage with people who really know what they are talking about.

However, to get the most out of your campaign, it takes some preparation beforehand. You should contact a moderator who has launched products similar to yours. You could also reach out to popular “hunters” via social media to let them know about your company and product and the date and time you will go live. Platforms like allow you to highlight active members who have a lot of followers. If they post about your campaign, this could win you a lot of upvotes, shares and potential clients.

Influencers.

As mentioned before, launching is a difficult stage because you are effectively trying to sell a dream with nothing to back up your claims. One way to boost the reputation of your product is by getting an endorsement from a well-known figure in your industry or from a social media influencer.

Endorsements by public figures don’t guarantee success. recently reported that social discovery tool SUP shut down due to struggling to gain traction, despite endorsements from Virgin founder Richard Branson and Apple’s Steve Wozniak. But it is still worth the time and effort to get as many people on your side as possible before your big day.

If you work in bustling tech hubs like Silicon Valley, it is becoming increasingly easy to connect with people who can really push your business forward, thanks to tools like . But if you are outside of the bay, then you will need to take a more active approach.

Tools like , and allow you to search for influencers with huge online followings and who work in or cover your industry. It is then up to you to create an organized outreach list, and send personalized messages on social media to try and get them to back your product.

Related:

Visual aids.

Before you take the leap and reach out to journalists to cover your story, it is important to create a which contains all of the information a journalist could possibly need. Journalists are busy and simply do not have the time to trawl the internet looking for information. Give them a nicely wrapped digital package, and it will put you in good stead from the outset.

As mentioned before, a company launch is essentially a pretty boring announcement. To maximize your chances of hooking a journalist to cover your story, you need to sell them more than just your product. You need to convince them of the value of your big mission and dream. One way of selling your big mission is to show them why your product is going to make a big change in the world and help a lot of people. The most effective way to do this is by tying into a current or global trend. Rather than just throwing figures at them, you could present the data in a visually attractive infographic using a tool like .

Find the right journalists.

When preparing for media outreach, it is important to contact journalists who cover your “beat,” meaning they write about your industry and type of product or service. To maximize exposure, the most effective strategy for a company launch is by asking journalists to agree to an embargo. This is when they agree not to publish their story until after a set date and time. In this case, it would be your launch day.

The best way to do this is by sending a brief pitch — which doesn’t share all of your juicy details — and have them agree to an embargo before you send over the press release. This keeps your back covered from people breaking your embargo and letting the cat out of the bag before your big day comes around.

Tools like and allow you to search for appropriate hacks based on stories they have covered in the past. That said, while tools can make finding suitable journalists easier, it is important to spend  time personalizing emails to each individual contact to maximize your chances of getting picked up.

The next step is to create an organized outreach list. There are when reaching out to journalists, so harness tools to keep you on track and stop you from making rookie mistakes like contacting the same journalist twice, or using the wrong name.

Tools like Prezly, and allow you to organize your mailing lists and track the progress of who opens the pitch email. The tools respond with live analytics.  

Customer service.

If your plan comes together perfectly, you get a lot of upvotes and attention on ProductHunt, and your launch announcement gets picked up by a leading publication. You’ll be in for a busy first day.

Related:

You need to be available to answer questions, engage with consumers via chat, and offer essential information to potentially thousands of new visitors. If you don’t have a big enough team of customer service staff to deal with the volume, then it might be a good idea to employ the help of some bots. and both provide trainable customer service bots, which can be taught how to respond to a huge range of customer queries and concerns.

Tracking and analytics.

It is important to be prepared with data analytics that can help you learn from your first day of what will hopefully be many to come. Tools like , and  can help you track traffic, conversions and the results of your launch. This will help you improve your overall service in the future. If you are lacking this data, you won’t be able to determine any weak links in your process or gather leads to target in the aftermath.

While the chances are that as a startup, you won’t have bundles of extra cash to throw around, it is important to prepare for launch day as much as possible. Start as you mean to go on by preparing for all eventualities and creating as much of a buzz around your product or service as possible. Have the tools in place to learn from the experience too. You have devoted so much time, resources and energy into your project to arrive at this stage, so one final push to make your launch the best it can be won’t kill you.