Mediaboss Marketing

Elizabeth Renstrom for TIME

Back in 1970, the technology writer Alvin Toffler published a book called Future Shock , which became an international bestseller. The book is about how humans struggle with too much technological change in too short a timeand it's all-too relevant today. Social media now dictates how people interact with friends, read the news and navigate their day-to-day existence.

What is all that doing to the human psyche?

Researchers have been trying to find out since the early 2000s, when the first studies on social networking media emerged. The field really ramped up with the advent of the iPhone in 2009. Like it is today, the early evidence was mixed.

One study found that positive interactions on sites like Friendster and MySpace could boost a users wellbeing, but another found that including strangers in your social network may have a negative impact on your self-esteem. Online social networks, researchers warned, are much different from a real-life social life.

Social media was so new and evolving so quickly, both in terms of its content and how users interacted with it, that researchers had a hard time keeping pace. But experts say the latest study conclusions are more consistentthough the news isn't good.

One recent study examined the links between Facebook use and wellbeing. We found that the more you use Facebook over time, the more likely you are to experience negative physical health, negative mental health and negative life satisfaction, says study author Holly Shakya, assistant professor and social media researcher at the University of California, San Diego.

More research is needed, she says, but I think people do have a sense that this is a problem, and theyre ready to reflect on their use and to consider making changes.

Social media also appears to be stressing people out. Another 2017 study looked at 18- to 22-year-olds and how social media impacted their anxiety levels. The more time they spent on it per day, "the greater the association with anxiety symptoms and the greater likelihood of an anxiety disorder, says Anna Vannucci, coauthor of the study and a research associate at Connecticut Childrens Medical Center. "We think social media use may exacerbate stress.

Exactly how social media does that may depend on which site youre using.

On lifestyle-focused sites like Instagram, a user may see a friends perfectly framed, glamorous photos and compare herself negatively to those images. On a news-heavy site like Facebook or Twitter, the steady stream of current events headlines and opinions of other people that you may find disturbing could cause despair or negative feelings, Vannucci says.

The idea of communication or technology overload is something else were exploring, she says. Just being exposed to all of it constantly on our phones could be overwhelming to the brain.

MORE : Why We Shouldnt Tell Workers When to Unplug

Social media overload may be even more detrimental for teens and adolescents, says Jean Twenge, a professor of psychology at San Diego State University and author of the forthcoming book iGen . I think young people, especially, look at the so-called highlight reels people post on social and compare themselves, so they may feel depressed or negative emotions as a result, she says. Sites like Snapchat may be less about performing than some othersbut these sites go out of style so quickly now that its hard for the research to keep up, she says.

Some experts challenge the cause-and-effect relationship between social media and negative mood, arguing that people who are prone to anxiety or isolation may be more likely to spend a lot of time on social media.

While thats probably true, Vannucci and Twenge say the relationship seems to flow both waysmeaning people with anxiety or mood disorders are more likely to use social media compulsively, but that compulsive use may also promote these sorts of negative emotional states. At least two studies have followed people over time and showed that heavy social media use came before lower psychological wellbeing and feelings of loneliness, rather than vice versa, Twenge says.

Quitting social media seems to improve mood. Last year, a study team from Denmark split more than a thousand Facebook users into two groups and asked one of those groups to take a week-long break from the social site. Compared to those who kept using Facebook as usual, the people who took a break experienced big jumps in life satisfaction and positive emotions. The more a person had used Facebook before taking a break, the greater his happiness boost after giving it up, the study data show.

None of this is to say social media used in moderation is harmful, says Christine McCauley Ohannessian, associate professor of pediatrics and psychiatry at the University of Connecticut Medical School (and Vannuccis coauthor on the social media and anxiety study). But defining moderate use is difficult; it depends on the person and the platform.

Saying how much is too much is tough to answer, especially for adults, Twenge says. I think you have to assess how using it makes you feel emotionally, and ask yourself if youre using social instead of seeing friends in person, or exercising, or doing other things we know are linked to happiness and improved mental health.

Spending time on multiple social media networks also seems to be problematic. People have so many different accounts now, and they feel a lot of pressure to stay connected, Vannucci says. Trimming your social habit down to just one platform may lighten your brains load. And, though its easier said than done, Vannucci recommends unfollowing or blocking the people or news streams that tend to stress you out.

The same advice can help teens and adolescents. But kids may have a harder time monitoring their emotions and keeping their usage under control. A 2015 Pew Research Center study concluded that 24% of teens go online almost constantly. Kids are also receiving their first phone earlier than ever before: around age 10, according to one 2016 survey.

Whether its hanging out with friends, playing outside or just daydreaming, a 10-year-old or 12-year-old probably has healthier things to do with his time than stare at a screen. I think people look at kids usage and intuitively sense that this is screwed up, Shakya says.

Figuring out what makes people happy or unhappy is always messy, and much of the existing research is incomplete. But based on what experts know today, taking time away from social media seems more likely to brighten your day than bum you out.

Excerpt from:
You Asked: Is Social Media Making Me Miserable? - TIME

HIBBING Its a scene youve visited a million times over, and as Minnesotan, one you learn to cherish during the blissful heat of summer were talking about the iconic backyard barbecue.

You know the days when its too hot to even think about cooking indoors, so you fire up your grill. Your neighbors are doing the same, and soon enough, you find yourself hosting an awesome, casual party that you didnt even have to plan.

On Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2017, Hibbing Police Department (HPD) will be hosting a barbecue for the residents of Hibbing and the surrounding areas as part of National Night Out (NNO). The grill will be on and hamburgers and hotdogs will be served in the citys back yard Bennett Park beginning at 4 p.m. with events scheduled until 7 p.m. And in good ol fashioned barbecue etiquette, organizers ask you to bring a pre-packaged food item or beverage with you to share.

A party of this magnitude takes some planning to pull off, but Hibbing Police Officer and National Night Out Coordinator Rachel Shiek has it under control.

Last year we had about 3,000 to 4,000 people come out, and were hoping to see the same turnout if not more, she said.

The whole idea got started after Shiek was invited to various neighborhood gatherings around Hibbing. She thought it was great and wanted to get the whole community involved. Thats when she proposed the idea to HPD Chief Maryann Hooper who agreed and told Shiek to run with it.

Last years event was a smashing success and the HPD has an even bigger event in store this year more food and more fun.

No one is making money off this event. Its not political. Its just a way to get comfortable with one another, Shiek said. We (HPD) are planning to have information tables out with resources about Internet safety, drug use and abuse information, how to keep your house safe from burglary that kind of thing. We want it to be an event that everyone can enjoy.

In addition to a bigger and better bounce house, youll have a chance to soak a cop. Shiek has police officers from all different departments lined up and ready to sit a shift in the dunk tank.

Itll be fun to watch them get soaked in their uniform, she laughed.

And its that good-natured kind of fun Shiek hopes will spur casual conversations between residents and all the groups that will be represented that night, formally or not.

Youll have your chance to explore squad cars from HPD and the cadet training cars at Hibbing Community College. Hibbing Fire Department plans to be there with a rig or two, and there will be tons of fun events for everyone including games, face painting and live music from the city band.

Hibbing resident James Plese Jr. feels he knows his neighbors pretty well, but is looking forward to connecting with people he doesnt see that often. His wife and kids were at last years event, and they all plan to make it to the park this year.

I see so much negativity about our community lacking things to do that I feel that its really important to support the events that come about that are family-friendly, he said.

In 2015, Hibbing was listed as the safest city in Minnesota. After a rash of homicides this past year, Hibbing doesnt register on any top 10, 25 or 50 safest city lists in Minnesota.

Hibbing Mayor Rick Cannata plans to attend the NNO event, and was proud of the great turnout last year.

I appreciate the work of Officer Shiek and all the helpful volunteers that are working hard to make this happen, she said. I was born and raised here, and I still think its a great, safe community.

The majority of our town is full of very good citizens. By showing up on Tuesday night, we can show that were a stronger community than we think, she said. Networking is so important. Its important to be comfortable talking to the officers. Were here for support. Were not always looking to make an arrest. Were here for anyone who needs us, if you dont know where to turn, call us. We can find ways to help you before your situation gets worse.

View post:
Experience the power of the social network - Hibbing Daily Tribune

When you own, run, or look after the marketing for an online store, there are plenty of strategies you can implement to generate interest, build a brand, increase conversions, boost referrals and encourage repeat business.

In this day and age, though, when billions of people have at least some kind of online social media presence and use networking sites to research products and make buying decisions, it is imperative that your marketing efforts have a significant focus in the social space, too. Read on for some ways you should be using the power of social media to better market your e-commerce store today.

When it comes to using social networking tools to build your e-commerce business, your best resources will be social data analytics programs. More sophisticated than ever, these tools will collect and analyze the data from the social media sites you use to help you ensure youre targeting the right customers, and also to allow you market to them more effectively. This makes it easier to design a marketing strategy that will get the results you want.

In particular, tools such as Buffer, BuzzSumo, Keyhole, Hootsuite, and Klout can look at the engagement you receive on social media posts to determine which types of posts receive the most likes, shares, replies, and comments, and which links are clicked on most often.

Once you have this data at your fingertips, you can work out which content to do more of and which to not bother spending time on. It also helps you to ensure that youre reaching the target customers youre after, plus can help you to identify potential new demographics to focus on.

Another top benefit of using social media to market your online store is that platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram provide you with a space to improve your customer service. On social networking sites, you can chat with people directly in real time, and have more meaningful interactions with current and potential clients.

By answering questions as soon as they come in, providing information when it is needed, running live chat sessions, or responding to complaints or problems ASAP, you can make customers happier. They will then, in turn, become more loyal to your store, and will be much more likely to recommend your products or services to their friends, family members, colleagues, and other contacts. This does some handy marketing for you, and at a very low cost.

Keep in mind that people are busy and quite demanding these days, and expect to hear back from businesses straight away, not in hours or days. Social media provides the perfect platform for this type of quick response, and means that people dont have to waste time on hold on the phone, or worry about checking to see if they have received an email reply. They will be more likely to finalize their transactions as a result, and to come back and buy from you again.

Apart from making people feel more confident to buy online because they have the information they need or have had their concerns allayed via social media, providing customer service on networking sites also helps you to impress a lot of other consumers at the same time. People can see, publicly, that you take customer service seriously, and that you will go the extra mile to help clients and address problems right away. This is the perfect low-cost marketing tool.

In addition to overcoming possible objections and demonstrating your commitment to customer service, you can use social media to build your brand by humanizing it. Through posting online, you allow people to get to know the company more intimately, as well as the people behind it.

Via social media channels you can showcase the personality of your brand, and demonstrate the ventures passions, vision, goals, beliefs, and point of difference. You can give people a taste of what the culture is like within the organization, and who it is that they will speak to or buy from when engaging with the business. You can also introduce them to the people responsible for selecting the products sold or determining the way theyre packaged up and shipped out. This allows you to stand out from the thousands of other e-commerce stores you will likely be competing with.

Brand storytelling is important for all businesses, but online stores, in particular, can benefit from using social networking sites to tell stories about the products sold and about the culture, lifestyle, and/or ethos that defines them and the venture as a whole. Through your posts you can help people to trust in your business and what it is you sell, and inspire them to share the lifestyle and culture youre defining.

Some opinions expressed in this article may be those of a guest author and not necessarily Marketing Land. Staff authors are listed here.

Link:
How to use the power of social media to better market your online store - Marketing Land

All of these sites allow users to create and share content with an audience the essential media element that email is missing. On all sites, there are methods of connection and building a network: Facebook friends, followers on Twitter and connections on LinkedIn. In many cases, you will not have met all of these connections in real life (although that is less true in the case of Facebook friends), so followers can often represent more of an "audience"than being actual collaborators.

Social media is also closely associated with "Web 2.0" the concept of the "second stage"of the web popularised by Tim OReilly and Dale Dougherty. In the first stage of the web, users were limited to passive viewing of content; for example, they would go to a website and be able to access its information, but not be able to interact with it.

With Web 2.0, the Internet is thought of as a platform in itself, where people are essentially building applications within it. The more people collaborating, the better the applications get, and where users are able to interact with the content and create their own.

See the rest here:
What is social media and how did it grow so quickly? - Telegraph.co.uk

Networking events can initially seem an inconvenient distraction for entrepreneurs from the day-to-day running of their company.

But all the evidence suggests that there is business to be won for savvy networkers.

Networking events range from business breakfasts to after-work happy hours at restaurants, as well as more formal events.

And the benefits frequently become manifest on innumerable levels regardless of the setting or the tone of the event.

But Will Kennedy, sales and marketing director at managed services provider Solar Communications, believes that the IT sector in particular is missing a trick when it comes to the many benefits of networking.

He explained: The impact of networking in the IT industry is often underestimated, even by the very people working within it.

After all, once weve installed the software and done twiddling with the wires, do they need to see or hear from us again unless theres a problem?

That, I fear, is the perception, and it couldnt be more wrong.

Whats so important for us in the IT industry to understand and appreciate, is that our products are critical to the everyday functioning of our clients businesses.

Being on hand, be it through a fully furnished corporate event, or over a cappuccino, strengthens that sense of trust in us as providers of solutions who will always be there should things go wrong.

Many networking experts maintain that there are five steps when it comes to successfully building business contacts...

Kennedy added: Cultivating and developing that trust through regular contact with clients is good for building a reputation, understanding more about their business and a stronger relationship but it also has another, more basic function - increased sales.

Ours is a fast-moving industry, and new technologies and solutions are appearing all the time offering new ways for businesses to execute mission-critical processes more quickly, more efficiently, more easily and more cost-effectively.

Regular face-to-face contact with clients gives us the opportunity to showcase these solutions and, hopefully, close sales further down the line.

A reputation for reliability and trustworthiness is vital for all industries, but particularly so for ours, an industry whose failings can have a catastrophic impact on our clients businesses.

Organising events where we can share our levels of expertise via thought leadership allows clients both existing and prospective an opportunity to see and hear that they are right to put their faith in our solutions and in our people.

It consolidates their belief in us, and that belief can translate to enhanced loyalty, greater custom, and new partners. Successfully selling a product to a client shouldnt be the end of face-to-face interaction with them - it should be the beginning.

Lawrence Jones, CEO of UKFast, adds: "There is nothing more important for a start-up than getting to know people. Potential customers, potential mentors, other start-ups and successful businesses everyone knows something or someone that you dont.

"Nowadays, theres really no excuse. The internet has opened up the world and there are more routes than ever to meeting new people. I recommend using all of the tools at your disposal

"LinkedIn is fantastic to expand your network and access to professionals whereas Twitter gives you more personal, broader access. Twitter is an incredible tool for getting advice and linking into events that you cant make.

"That being said, nothing can replace meeting face to face. Getting to know someone over a cup of tea, a game of squash or at an event rather than solely online is a sure-fire way to build a lasting business relationship.

"When I first met Sir Richard Branson, we went for a run every morning. Whilst getting exercise and enjoying the beach around us, we were chatting about business and asking each other questions. We ran for hours and the insight that I gained was extraordinary.

"Equally, Ive been skiing, climbed Mount Snowdon and been camping with many business leaders, rather than sitting in an office forcing the conversation

"If youre struggling with where to start, take a look at TechMCR which connects businesses and mentors and holds events throughout the year for tech startups."

Tech Manchester was launched earlier this month with the expressed remit of enabling the next generation of tech entrepreneurs to access the support they require to grow their business.

As part of this process, it has promoting networking and is organising events throughout the year.

For more details visit: techmanchester.co.uk/events

Read more:
The real benefits of social networking id you're a tech entrepreneur - Manchester Evening News