Various details go into writing and delivering a successful Kickstarter campaign. The article, "How to Write a Kickstarter Pitch" by Joanna Wiebe, details how you too can find success when setting out to crowdfund for your company. First you need a pitch that's going to catch the eye of your consumer leaving them wanting your product in their hands. In successful pitches their headlines are clear and concise, they have a value proposition, their videos are descriptive and make you want to watch them, and they tell a story. There are those who go above and beyond like the Coolest Cooler and those who could learn a thing or two from reading Wiebe's article like MudTails. Coolest Cooler was founded by a family man who had a vision of "a complete redesign of what a cooler can be." What he set out to do turned into one of the literally coolest in the market. The Coolest has an 18 volt rechargeable blender, waterproof Bluetooth speaker, waterproof USB charger, waterproof LED light embedded in its lids, locking tie down bungee chords, built in storage for reusable plates, cutting boards and knife, removable divider, wider wheels and built in bottle opener. His $50,000 Kickstarter goal was achieved by 62,642 backers that totaled $13,285,226. His Kickstarter campaign video showed the consumers why they need the Coolest, not that anyone really needs to be convinced because it's revolutionary. He showed video of what all of those different features would cost individually which was well over the cost of a Coolest and he described how you could be one of the first people to own a Coolest. As he described each feature he gave a scenario on why the Coolest would make your life easier. He put the consumer into the campaign so he or she could visualize themselves in the product. He gave stats about the design of the cooler and described why the idea of a cooler needed to be revamped. Not only did he have an amazing product, but he had a captivating and relatable video to go along with it that was easy to understand and left you wanting a Coolest for your next day out on the boat. MudTails was founded by a mother who's toddler enjoys farm animals and uses sign language as the primary way to communicate. With only 3 backers with a total of $40 (of a $2,750 goal), her funding was unsuccessful. Her vision was to create a line of shirts that had farm animals on some and sign language on the others. MudTails Kickstarter campaign video did little to persuade people willing to help, and her biggest downfall was that she didn't put the consumer in the video. Not once did she talk about why we need her product or why we would benefit from it. There are many reasons why her kickstarter was unsuccessful, but her vision has the potential to be successful with modifications. First, the idea in itself is confusing; she chose to do animals on some and sign on the other, but what if she were to have the farm animals doing the actual sign language? Second, with a thick accent, the video is hard to understand. Subtitles would have been a helpful tool to aid in this. The video was filled with pictures, but pictures can only go so far. Video of her son doing some sign language would have been helpful to strengthen her concept. Lastly, her message wasn't compelling. She wrote, "MudTails is a line of apparel for all ages that specializes in barnyard animals with a positive voice and sign language designs." What isn't clear is how the animals have a positive voice. While the product could use some work, there is a genuine idea buried underneath. ThermArt, a thermometer for both the forehead and the ear, has both positive and negative aspects of their Kickstarter campaign video. First, the product itself is practical, safe and could be used by a person of any age. ThermArt calls themselves a "state of the art ear and forehead thermometer". Their value proposition is that they are the only of their kind where you can do either, or, or both. Their campaign is clean, clear and concise and easy to understand. The video made two mistakes that might have had a bigger impact if done another way. First, the video almost tried to make the thermometer a sexy accessory. The video showed a woman in a white tee taking her temperature like it was the cool thing to do. The message might have been more impactful if a mother was shown trying to take her child's temperature as they are arguably the biggest audience for thermometers. Second, the video showed text being thrown around the screen so fast that it was almost hard to read. What made the video compelling was the message it conveyed and the words it used to do so.
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Fyre Festival was pinned as a luxury filled music festival on a private island that promised top entertainment, supermodels, white sand beaches and the fanciest cuisines. So why did this picturesque elite music experience come crashing down? Many factors were to blame for the demise of Fyre Fest. The marketing, cash flow, false promises and undertaking of a music festival of this size was too big for their cocky and ignorant founders, entrepreneur Billy McFarland and rapper Ja Rule. Their biggest downfall; bad leadership that was money hungry and in way above their heads. They had never taken on an experience like this but were confident and resilient in their pursuit to make Fyre Festival happen. At the annual Web Summit, McFarland and Rule introduced the app, “Fyre”; a marketplace where you can book an entertainer (shown in the documentary was Iggy Azalea, Juicy J, 21 Savage and Rick Ross). The app was described as “the Uber of booking talent”. You could book these entertainers in a way that couldn’t be done as easily before and Fyre Festival was birthed as a way to promote the app. The marketing for the festival was filled with false promises. Fyre’s visual marketing was beautiful and promised an exclusivity that was proven hard to attain. During a promotional shoot in the Bahamas Fyre had flown out various top models to sell a dream. McFarland said, “We’re selling a pipe dream to your average loser. Your average guy in middle America.” He sure was; their marketing was genius in the beginning. Fyre essentially took over Instagram with their first initial posts. Hundreds of celebrities, socialites and influencers were posting about Fyre festival and the buzz was out; they had done their job and very well at that. When you send out marketing though, you must be able to produce the product and deliver what you promise. They couldn’t even deliver one of the most basics of a music festival – music. The initial promise was to have the festival on Exumas; an island once owned by Pablo Escobar. McFarland himself stated that they had purchased the island; which they hadn’t. When it lacked proper infrastructure, Rule and McFarland went ahead and launched their website and started selling tickets promising an idea they had not yet planned for, let alone had an island for. Within 48 hours they sold 95% of their tickets to the festival. McFarland was money hungry and started to promise things he couldn’t deliver. They couldn’t physically fit all these people on Pablo Escobar’s island. In addition, from a “bio-waste standpoint” there was no way they could house all these people and rid of the waste they would produce over the weekend. The false promises didn’t end there. Fyre promised incredible ticket packages with round trip airfare and tickets to the festival in addition to stays in rustic, furnished tents, bungalows, homes and yachts. The team wasn’t capable of producing for not only the guests, but for the performers as well. Almost $4 million was spent on talent, but this was just to cover their booking fees. What the team failed to realize was the various elements that go into a performance; lighting packages, sound systems and other basic necessities that a performer would get when they showed up to a venue. When one of the Fyre team members and his wife unsuccessfully tried to stay in a tent on the island, he raised his concerns with the team and was dismissed. His opinions were dismissed, as well as his employment with Fyre among many others in February/March with a slated Fyre festival for April. McFarland either didn’t realize he was way in above his head, or he just figured he could keep pressing on and everything would figure itself out. He wasn’t working as a team player because he wasn’t listening to his team. Various Fyre employees had started to ask questions, raise concerns and leave the company, but McFarland pressed on with his plans. The time frames were also very short; McFarland went ahead and hired a new team just 45 days prior to the festival. Clearly planning was not his strong suit because they just didn’t have the time to produce the product and he didn’t have the project $38 million to cover the costs. The team had multiple concerns over their own paychecks. Some were paid with a bag full of cash, some weren’t paid the correct amount, and some weren’t paid at all because in the end the cash flow wasn’t there. “The biggest event of the decade” was something McFarland promised. Where he went wrong was promising something that he could not deliver. Six to eight weeks out the team had to find a new island because the real owners had pulled out for different reasons. This was the beginning to the end, but again they pressed on. For posting about the festival, 250 influencers were promised a one bedroom three-person villa on the beach that unbeknownst to them didn’t exist. When the first weekend of the festival opened guests were left in disbelief. The guests were loaded onto commercial airplanes when most were promised a private jet. While guests were finding their way to the Bahamas the biggest performer, Blink-182 pulled out. While some guests were brought to a party on the beach, others went to the campsite where they found their “rustic” tents soaking wet from rain the night before. Guests on the beach were held for six hours without answers about their accommodations. Soon they were filed to the campsites by yellow school bus. The news called it an “island getaway turned disaster”. They were greeted by white FEMA tents, long lines, lost luggage and food that looked like it wouldn’t have even been found in a prison.
In the end, the biggest sufferers were the people of the Bahamas. The men and women who labored for the festival – arranging, building and cooking – and were hardly paid. Fyre Festival promised a reoccurring festival for five years, the creation of hundreds of jobs for Bahamians, thousands of tourists and hundreds of millions of earned media impressions that would translate into future revenue, and the ability to bolster Bahamas tourism efforts at no cost to the Bahamas. Homes were rented, hotels were arranged and very few of these people saw a dime. In addition to the Bahamians there were genuine employees of McFarland that had no idea he was in so far over his head. Things started to crumble, and the event was ultimately cancelled. The cash flow wasn’t there, the marketing was filled with false promises and the creators undertook something that they weren’t able to provide. Picture this: It’s 1997. Seth Goldman is married with three children and has a wonderful life in Maryland. He works at an investment firm, but feels like something is missing from his life. He sets out to start something of his own. After coming up with various ideas that may or may not work he found himself in a convenience store after a long run yearning for a drink without excess amounts of sugar. Where’s the problem? There isn’t one on the market. This is the story of the birth of Honest Tea. Seth was convinced that people would buy a bottled drink that’s not loaded with sugar so he ran with it. His firsts step was to reach out to his old business professor, Barry, who believed in his idea. They had done some research in school, but had zero knowledge otherwise of the beverage industry. Seth's father had made an investment in 1977 that finally paid off. Seth was given a check for $50,000 and quit his job. He figured he was still young enough to be able to go back into finance if his vision failed. Barry kept his day job and put money into the business. He wrote a business plan and secured an appointment with Whole Foods. Luckily, he had gone to grad school with their Marketing Director. The day before they presented to Whole Foods Seth's middle child got very sick. He ended up having to have major surgery within that same month. Seth explained that if his son had gotten sick just a month earlier that he would never have quit his job. Seth held tea tastings in the hospitals lobby and sold with intensity during the meeting because he needed to take care of his family. They brought samples they made in Seth's kitchen and used empty Snapple bottles with Honest Tea labels for temporary bottling. He got his first commitment from Whole Foods, found a bottler and struggled to find the balance between too many tea leaves and too little. Honest Tea went to the shelves in Whole Foods and to no surprise, the consumer had no idea what it was. Seth and his team of interns did marketing and advertising and found themselves handing out samples in Whole Foods. They actually gave out more samples than they sold, but by the end of the summer they were the #1 tea sold in Whole Foods in the Mid-Atlantic region. After that summer Seth and his team knew that the Honest Tea consumers wanted Honest Tea and nothing else. Their niche was that they were the only of their kind at the time. If consumers went to the store to buy Honest Tea and it was sold out they wouldn't be buying Snapple or Arizona because the taste was completely different. Seth used the example of buying cereal; if someone wanted Fruit Loops and they were sold out they would most likely just buy a different cereal. They found that they had extremely loyal customers. So what set them apart? Well, their tea was much less sweet than anything else on the market meaning their goal was achieved. In addition, their tea was actual tea. Seth and Barry used actual tea leaves not a powder or concentrate. I found many different parts of Seth Goldman's story surprising and inspiring. I was surprised that quitting his job didn't terrifying himself or his wife. I suppose if you're going to quit your job you aren't going to let you new venture fail. I also found it surprising that he said if his child would have gotten sick a month earlier than he wouldn't have quit his job. Of course it would be hard to continue on while stressing about insurance and medical bills, but if you believed in your product so much I don't think that should stop you from following your dreams. My biggest take away is to find your niche and roll with it, work hard at it and perfect it. Seth and Barry capitalized on the fact that, at the time, there was nothing on the market like Honest Tea. Because of this, there was no other option for unsweetened bottled tea drinkers to turn to.
The story behind Honest Tea is both inspiring and frustrating for me. It is inspiring because he quit his job to pursue something that he was passionate about; he wanted something that wasn't available so he produced it himself. It was also very inspiring that he used the unfortunate event of his son falling ill to fuel his presentation to Whole Foods. In addition, he held tea tasting in the hospital lobby. This shows that you have to do what you have to do to get things done. He clearly was willing to anything and everything to help his business survive. On the other hand I found it frustrating because not only was he was handed a $50,000 check that he didn't have to pay back in order to start his business, but he also stumbled into a meeting with Whole Foods all because he knew someone. It almost feels like you have to know someone these days if you want to make it. What could be more intimidating than giving a Power Point presentation? That would be giving a 60 second elevator pitch. Gone are the days where you utilize slides to guide you through your presentation. Composing an elevator pitch entails many things; knowledge, preparation, practice and confidence. Anyone can give a presentation, but an elevator pitch is so much more. As described on Slidebean's website, an elevator pitch is "a succinct 20-30 second speech geared to convince someone about a product or company." If you're going to present an idea or concept to a person or group of people you better have done the research and know everything there is about your potential product or company. Slidebean describes ways to perfect your elevator pitch while giving you tips along the way. The website details Kurian Tharakan's suggestions on what your elevator pitch should include like your name, company, product, target consumers, unique selling proposition or difference from competition and a call to action. This seems simple enough, but you have to do your research. You have to know your product, and above all you have to know your customer because your product ceases to exist without a customer. A call to action is a unique and pertinent way for elevator pitchers to make a connection with whomever they are speaking with; a special way to make a connection that will leave the person you're speaking with a reason to keep your product or company in mind. An elevator pitch should describe all of the most important information (as described above), capture the audience's attention, avoid jargon, start with a question, focus on your listener and provide proof, among many other tips. My biggest challenge will probably be avoiding jargon. Sometimes I can get lost in what I'm saying, but from what I can tell is I need to keep it simple. I need to keep it simple and fact based in order to make the most of my 60 seconds. Something else I will have to work on is focusing on the listener. You have to be able to connect with your audience in order to pitch and sell your product or company. By practicing my speech in front of friends I will be able to see what is working and what isn't; if I connected with them or if my message was lost in the jargon.
What resonated with me the most in this article read, "The pitch is not an end in itself, it is just the beginning." This references to the call to action. In the real world, the end of an elevator pitch truly is the beginning of a potential relationship with a consumer. You have to leave them with a reason to come back; leave them wanting more information or wanting the product itself. This article left me more inspired than anything. While we are only in the beginning stages, and far from making our elevator pitches, I am excited to finalize my idea and begin my market analysis because that means I am that much closer to composing my elevator pitch and leaving my audience with my call to action. Steve Blank, writer of “Why the Lean Start-Up Changes Everything”, talks about the “fallacy of the perfect business plan” and, in parts, where things might go wrong for a startup. Blank talked about how developers and investors allocate thousands of time and money to a product for its launch and don’t necessarily take in information from the consumers or potential customer base. He goes on to talk about how once the product is launched and customer feedback is taken into consideration, it might be too late. This can be the case, but what happens when startups do get customer feedback before opening and they still fail? Who is to blame for that? In 2012, my father was introduced to a project made possible by an ambitious associate with a trust fund. Lauren (name changed out of respect) proposed a “supper club with live music” according to the Marin Independent Journal. After months of research and redeveloping, the team curated a soft opening for close friends and family (pictured below). While there were a few hiccups the event was successful overall. The supper club opened and now, just 7 years later, the doors have been shut. What went wrong? Apparently, bad business decisions by the owner. Blank referenced a Mike Tyson quote: “Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.” Well, Lauren got sucker punched. Because of bad business decisions, she gambled her livelihood away lost more than just the supper club. Bad business decisions can have a lasting effect. In the article, Blank talks about how lean start-up techniques can be applied to all business ventures. Blank writes, "Lean start-up techniques were initially designed to create fast-growing tech ventures. But I believe the concepts are equally valid for creating the Main Street small businesses that make up the bulk of the economy." The lean start-up could possibly be beneficial for someone like my boyfriend and myself. Our long-term plan is to start a food truck and brick and mortar together so we could use the lean start-up to find our place in the market.
The lean start-up method has three key principles. After coming up with several, untested hypotheses founders write a business model canvas as opposed to a business plan. The business model canvas sketches out how the company will create value. Next, the start-ups use customer development to test their business model canvas by asking for feedback on everything related to their business. Lastly, the start-ups would practice agile development. As described in the article, "Agile development works hand-in-hand with customer development... It's the process by which start-ups create the minimum viable products they test." What I've learned more than anything from reading this article is that the customer is key in understanding where your business is and where you can grow within your company. Young entrepreneurs both in college and out are creating and innovating and building startups that might one day change the world. INC's Tim Crino highlighted the "Coolest College Startups of 2018" which showcases some amazing ideas, but not all of them have the capabilities to pan out. Startups like Impowerus and Gaia have the potential to succeed while others, like Sweetbud and Codemoji, might not. Do they have a concept with the potential to flourish? What about their customer base? Are they missing the market? Let's take a look. The current climate circling around immigration, specifically from Mexico and Southern America, is troubling and most recently, upsetting. Men, women and their families have been ambushed in their homes and places of work and ripped apart from one another, but what do these people do when they come in contact with ICE? How do they handle the situation? Do these people know their rights? The ACLU has information on their website detailing the correct way to deal with ICE, but what happens after a person gets detained? Students at the University of Notre Dame found that 77% of unrepresented youth are deported, compared to 10% who are represented, but still deported. Their solution to the problem is a "secure video chat service to connect juvenile immigrants with volunteer immigration lawyers" according to INC. The market is definitely there. Everyday people are being detained and have to find representation for a fighting chance to stay in the country. This startup has the potential for great success because there is a high demand for it and the customer base isn't going anywhere. According to Vox, "on any given day, 2,000 children are in Border Patrol custody." I know if I were to be detained I wouldn't know the the first steps in trying to avoid deportation, but I hope that those who might be in or find themselves in this situation would have the resources and done their research to help themselves. The website itself is simple and easy to use and it directs both those who need help and lawyers who are willing to help in a basic process. Gaia was founded by engineers at the Rochester Institute of technology. Gaia is working to produce a "smart shirt that predicts meltdowns for individuals with autism", according to their website. The technology in the shirt is incredible. Through an app, the children's parent and or caregiver is given an alert essentially when stress levels rise. There is definitely a market out there for this type of technology. Meltdowns are a real thing that autism families have to overcome every single day. There is a Youtube channel called Fathering Autism that follows a mother, father, son and a daughter. The daughter, Abigail, happens to have autism. The family shows what daily life is like for them, including the daughters meltdowns both in home and out in public. Having access to this shirt would be life changing for them. The only problem I would have with the shirt might potentially be the cost. How much would it retail for? Would insurance cover something like this? Would they be easy to wash or would you have to buy multiple? Besides the cost, the market is there, the customer is and will always be there and the need for a product like this will always be present. The customer is there and this product will help normalize their lives without uncontrollable meltdowns, or at least the ability to control where you are having a meltdown. If the creators can find a way to make the shirt affordable and readily accessible then there's no telling how successful a shirt like this could be. Do you dump sugar packets into your black coffee every morning? Trying to cut back on the sugar intake? Two University of California at Irvine students may have created a solution to your problem. Sara Du and Simon Zirui Guo created Sweetbud; a “smart” coffee lid that essentially shocks your taste buds into thinking there is actually sugar in your black coffee. The smart lid can be attached to almost all coffee cups. The technology in the lid sends non-invasive electrical currents to your taste buds; which taste a sweet, sugared coffee from one that is without. While some may see the genius in this start up, it never got its feet off the ground. Consumers set sights on the newest trends, especially when it comes to technology so the market is definitely there. In addition, "the United States ranks as having the highest average daily sugar consumption per person", according to the Diabetes Council. These students found a solution to the sugar epidemic that has consumed our nation. At first glance this seems like it is a phenomenal idea. Instead of stacking piles of opened sugar packets on your breakfast table, Sweetbud enables you to get rid of the sugar altogether. There are some drawbacks that might steer you in the other direction. First, it’s all in the name. The first thing some might think of when they hear the name Sweetbud is marijuana. Denver is home to a marijuana dispensary named Sweet Leaf, but it seems as if Sweet Bud might have been a better fit. Second, the thought of a device sending a shock or electrical currents doesn’t sound too pleasant even if the creators say it’s safe. One would think people shouldn’t have to resort to shocking themselves to not drink coffee with sugar. Lastly, the idea talked about in Start Up Beats article about the company. Frances Jenner discussed the idea that we shouldn’t have to rely on technology to cut out bad habits. People rely on technology so much, but what happens when technology fails us? Something to think about. Throughout my years here at Creighton, there are only a few classes that I didn't enjoy. Most notably, any class where I had to code. Could Codemoji have helped me get through this? Probably not since the target audience is children. Do I think this startup will fail because it promotes the idea that children want to spend their time coding and I just don't think that's realistic? Maybe. Codemoji's curriculum "allows students to learn the basics of web development and coding, including HTML, CSS, and Javascript, in a fun and easy way", according to their website. Codemoji was created by Northwestern in hopes to help shape the future of coding for the new generation. While I think this is a great invention and has the possibility for success, I just don't think the market is there. I can't imagine students wanting to spend time learning a "fun and easy way" to code, or code at all for that matter. On the other hand, I could see schools implementing Codemoji into their curriculum if coding had to be studied. The market is potentially there; because technology has advanced so much, technology based curriculum has evolved and coding might be apart of school now. Every year students and entrepreneurs alike combine their knowledge to create something great; something that is innovate, unique and worthy of success. Of course, not all of these startups prove willing. Some fail for different reasons; the market isn't there, the concept isn't quite right or they might not have the drive to make it work. The best advice one can give is to follow their dreams and keep pushing for something if they believe in it.
The most successful entrepreneur I know is definitely my father; and while he hasn't started a business, he essentially sells himself to companies and consumers. Merl Saunders Jr. He started working at the age of 10, and now at 61 he surely hasn’t stopped or slowed down. His most successful asset is himself because that is what he sells to the consumers. His whole life consists of networking, whether he’s at an event for work, a birthday party, or even at the grocery store; he’s always forming new relationships and that is what makes him successful. He learned very early on that in the music industry it’s all about who you know, so he introduced himself to everyone he possibly could and that has paid off. He started his career helping backstage at his father, Merl Saunders’, shows around the Bay Area. From there he made connections that led him to tour manage with David Crosby, Frank Zappa and even Michael Jackson. When he had children and could no longer tour, he went on to be the Director of Marketing and Artist Relations at Gibson Guitars, Senior Marketing Coordinator and Artist Relations at Dean Markley and Senior Executive Director at the San Francisco Chapter of the Grammy’s. Now he does consulting for business, most recently for Fleet Week in San Francisco. He would not be here today if it weren’t for all the networking he has done and all of the connections he has made and that has been my biggest takeaway from him. Networking is key and introducing yourself to as many people as possible pays off. Public Relations is the field that I am hoping to go into, but it seems as if most positions require you to do public relations, social media, advertising and marketing all in one. That is a frightening thought, but I think it’s something that I can handle. I enjoy handling multiple projects at once, and through organization and attention to detail, I tend to turn in all of my assignments on time. The thought of holding multiple hats at once doesn’t scare me as much as the idea of starting a career and being let go for circumstances that are out of my control (downsizing, budget cuts, etc.). In "Media Innovation and Entrepreneurship", author Mike Green wrote, “No one can expect to get hired anywhere in the country and work for the same company for most of their careers until retirement. That’s a twentieth-century concept rendered obsolete in the first decade of the twenty-first.” I currently work at the Union Pacific Child Development Center as a preschool teacher. The parent company is Bright Horizons, but we are contracted through UP and therefore only service UP employees and their families. Over the past two years there have been 3 instances where UP has made major cuts, forcing families to leave our center. Just last month I had a mother dis-enroll her child because she was afraid she would lose her job and then have to scramble to find sufficient care for her child. Another parent told me that when he graduated college fifteen years ago getting a job at Union Pacific meant that he had a job for life, but that isn't the case anymore. The idea of journalism being dead is also a scary thought. Green writes, “The way journalism will be conducted in the future will look different than it did during the past century. The craft and industry are evolving. And technology is playing a key role in that evolution.” I have to remind myself that journalism and media are always evolving and changing. The way journalism is produced now it’s different than both what it was 10 years ago and when it will be 10 years from now and that is due to the technological advances we’ve seen.
Much like my father, I would also consider myself an entrepreneur rather than an intrapreneur. According to green, that means I am part of a group of people that are, “creative problem-solver’s, critical thinkers, collaborators and calculated risk-takers. (We’re) Sacrificial, tenacious, motivated and driven toward measurable outcomes.” As of now, my long term goal is to succeed in a target market within a corporation as an entrepreneur. My short term goal would be an intrapreneur. I have to get my feet wet in the business and gain all of the knowledge I can before pursuing something on my own. Social media has transformed the digital world immensely. News travels at the speed of light and, in some cases, this may not be a positive thing. News travels fast, but the opinions on news in my opinion are harsher and more critical than ever. People hide behind computer screens and can essentially say whatever they want, and once the first comment posts, people piggyback on it, which makes it even worse. When a celebrity or politician or someone of the sort gets caught in a compromising position they are prone to public shaming, and in some cases, cyber bullying. The only difference between the two is that people are more accepting of public shaming while cyber bullying is seen as a crime against humanity. There are groups against cyber bullying while public shaming is something that is just accepted. When we are outraged, angry or upset by something we read on social media I think the biggest thing we need to do before posting about it is to assess and reflect on our feelings before moving forward. Jon Ronson wrote an article, How One Stupid Tweet Blew up Justine Sacco’s Life, in the New York Times detailing the Justine Sacco’s 2013 Twitter scandal. Sacco, senior director of corporate communications at IAC, traveled from New York to South Africa to visit family. She started tweeting about her travels and eventually tweeted, “Going to Africa. Hope I don’t get AIDS. Just kidding. I’m white!” just before boarding her final plane. Over the eleven hour flight she became the number one worldwide trend on Twitter at that moment. The hashtag #HasJustineLandedYet also started to trend as people around the world wondered whether she would be fired when she landed, which she was. Another woman that Ronson interviewed was Lindsey Stone who, along with a friend, posed for a picture while mocking a sign at Arlington National Cemetery’s Tomb of the Unknowns. There was a firestorm against her as well and she too was fired. Stone had said that she “felt for” the woman who dressed up as a Boston Marathon bombing victim who lost her job from this incident as well. Sacco and Stone were two of the people written about in the article that were eventually fired from their actions on social media. Not only were they fired, but they were publicly shamed for their actions. Was it fair? Probably not. Were their posts appropriate? Absolutely not. Ronson met to interview Sacco about her unfortunate tweet and she said that she didn’t think people would take it literally. She can’t be serious. When I first came across this story in 2013 I was appalled that she said she was going to South Africa and hoped she didn’t get Aids. She then went even further to say that she was kidding, but only because she was white. There was so many things wrong with this tweet I wouldn’t even know where to begin. It would have been one thing if she had mentioned this “joke” to a friend or in passing, but to put it up on social media? As a corporate communications director she should know better. In January of the following year, Sam Biddle of Gawker, emailed Ronson stating that he was the one who had originally retweeted Saccos’ tweet. He said he felt bad for what happened to her, but that it was too delicious to not do, and that he would do it again. Monica Lewinsky is the perfect example of something being publicly shamed. From 1995 to 1996 Lewinsky had a romantic relationship with President Bill Clinton; we all know the story. Lewinsky made an excellent point in her TED talk. She asked the audience if they had ever made a mistake at the ripe age of twenty-two and that there isn’t a day that goes by without her being reminded of that mistake. This is strikingly true. I know that I wasn’t the holiest twenty-two year old roaming the streets of San Francisco. I know there have been many times during my year as a twenty-two year old that I made mistakes and regretted them. The difference between Lewinsky and myself? Her mistakes played out on the internet – something that really had never happened before in that period in time. Overnight her life was flipped upside down and she was recognizable worldwide. Some part of me wants to sympathize with her and say she was young and that she made a mistake, but at the end of the day Clinton was President. What did she think was going to happen? It’s been almost twenty years since the story broke, and Lewinsky is just now starting to capitalize on her scandal. Jessica Bennett’s New York Times article, Monica Lewinsky is back, but This Time it’s on Her Terms, touches on Lewinsky’s past, and what she has been up to since her scandal played out. Bennett writes about how she is taking what happened to her in the past and using it in a positive way by attending charity benefits, taking part in anti-bullying workshops, and speaking publicly in order to empower those who have been digitally critiqued and harassed. Lene Bech Sillesen’s article, The Invaluable Service of Trollbusters, in the Columbia Journalism Review, shares the story of columnist Michelle Ferrier. Ferrier took her public shaming journey and turned it into something positive. Ferrier and her followers sparked the idea for Trollbusters, which provides support for targets of online harassment, while identifying and combating trolling. While I think it’s great that Ferrier was able to positively capitalize on her unfortunate circumstances, I think it’s sad that this is what our society has come to. We have to create groups, and websites and such that search for trolls in order to get rid of them. People shouldn’t spend their time on social media bringing other people down. An article on Sporting News details the firestorm referee John Higgins caught after performing his job. Higgins’ life changed instantly after calls made at a Kentucky basketball game. After numerous types of harassment, Higgins ending up having to contact law enforcement. This could not be more awful. Higgins was truly trying to do his job; he didn’t say something offensive on social media or get caught in a compromising position. Higgins refereed a basketball game, and when fans didn’t agree with his calls they essentially attacked him. They came after his business and interrupted his home life. A person should be able to complete their job to the best of their ability without fear of harassment or retaliation if a group of people don’t agree with his work; especially when the work is trivial.
Social media is a very tricky place. While it would be great if it could be made into a more compassionate place I don’t think that’s very realistic because people use social media to voice their opinions. Opinions are either positive or negative and, while we are all entitled to them, they can hurt other people’s feelings. We could as a society be more mindful of what we post and think wholeheartedly before posting something that may be hurtful, but in the end I don’t think that will stop us from posting. In general, I don’t think public shaming keeps people from using social media. It may keep the people who already have been publicly shamed from social media, but I think people stay away from social media to steer clear of any potential drama (whether that be within their family or in their friend groups). I think social media does reward people for being snarky and mean because sometimes, and not in the cases described in this blog, what is said is funny and entertaining. We all just need to take a step back and figure out at what expense we are willing to be entertained. This semester has been filled with various ups and downs specifically in this class. I had been extremely excited to take another course by Carol, but soon became to realize it wasn’t going to complete the coursework as easy as I’d hoped. With much reflection I’ve come to realize that the only thing holding me back in this course was myself. I knew all along what to do and how to do it, but I let me hold myself back by second guessing myself. For the purpose of this assignment, we’ll break the Social Media course into before fall break, after fall break, and post presentations. Before fall break I was extremely optimistic. I felt very confident as a journalism student here at Creighton and I was excited for the upcoming assignments; although I knew deep down I was dreading presentations at the end of the semester. I really enjoyed the field trips to the Red Cross and Completely KIDS. I think that helped a lot in understanding our clients. Once we finished out that week I felt extremely confident in my future assignment and wanted to get started right away. I think it might be more beneficial if we could nix out some of the busy work in the beginning of the semester. I don’t know if this would be feasible to just work on the social media campaigns throughout the whole semester, but I think it would have been more beneficial since we are going to be turning them into the clients. I think we could stand to have more brainstorming, creating, reviewing and editing in order to put together the final campaign. After fall break it felt like things we’re going by super-fast; which they were. At this point in time I completely regretted agreeing to do the social media campaign by myself. I felt unprepared and was always second guessing my decisions. I remember thinking that I was going to give this feedback at my end of the semester course evaluation. I really enjoyed the field trip to the Nebraska Humane Society. Elizabeth Hilpipre was a huge help when it came to figuring out certain aspects of my social media campaign. She had very creative and inspiring ideas that motivated me to create original and impactful content for Completely KIDS. This visit was extremely beneficial to our projects as well as our general knowledge when it comes to social media. While this visit was a nice mid-semester break, I think it would have been more beneficial in the beginning of the class. I know we had visits with our clients so the placement of the NHS trip was understandable. After the presentations I realized that I was the only thing holding myself back. It might have been because I wasn’t confident in my work at first, but as Molly said, I really had nothing to worry about. I was in front of my peers who aren’t there to judge me. Once Molly said those words my nerves dissipated, or so I thought. I did something I have never ever done before in a presentation; fidgeted and swayed. How embarrassing! I was completely aware I was doing it the whole time, but I just couldn’t stop. I really liked that we presented our ideas to our peers. It was a no brainer; we got practice with public speaking and we presented our ideas to the class. I think it would have been beneficial if our peers gave us constructive criticism on our ideas – especially for those who aren’t working in pairs. That feedback would not only help the projects themselves, but it would help our peers become more comfortable with providing feedback to future employers and future fellow employees. At this point I came to the realization that it was a wise choice for me to work by myself. Now that I have dialed down my content I know that I can do this, and will feel extremely accomplished once it is turned in.
Overall, I greatly enjoyed my time in this social media class. As a preschool teacher, I enjoyed working specifically with Completely KIDS, and furthermore, enjoyed getting to see different sides of the childcare business. I enjoyed creating a social media campaign, but would have benefited from more in class work time to get feedback from peers and from Carol. Over the course of the semester, I’ve learned how much more there is to social media than liking and sharing posts, and I’ve become extremely interested in that specific part of the business. I can’t wait to continue my journey here at Creighton, and continue to learn more about what could come from having a degree in journalism. During class on Tuesday a panel of social media experts visited our classroom. The three women on the panel were Amanda Brandt, Megan Longo, and Ashley Anderson. Brandt serves as the social media and content strategist for Creighton University, Longo serves as the marketing director for Flagship Restaurant Group, and Anderson serves as the marketing strategist for Flywheel. Each expert had interesting tips and advice that will help me and my peers as students and as young professional eager to enter the corporate world. Amanda Brandt, who serves as the social media and content strategist for Creighton University, was closest in age to myself and my peers so her insight was particularly interesting. Brandt pointed out the importance of trying to communicate with prospective and potential students in the admissions process. Megan chimed in and said that it would be interesting to see what that would look like. When viewing content they would potentially be thinking if they could see themselves attending Creighton so Brandt would have to get creative in showing them why Creighton is for them without being too intrusive. Brandt made an interesting point about Instagram and how she views it as a professional. She said that when she is scrolling through her Instagram feed that she doesn’t click on pictures and think about how pretty they are. She looks at pictures and discerns why that certain picture was chosen, why the caption was chosen, and why this content was showing. I found this interesting, because as a journalism student, I am slowly starting to question content I view out in the world. Megan Longo, who serves as the marketing director for Flagship Restaurant Group, definitely inspired me and motivated me as a journalism student. She made interesting points about protecting your reputation as a brand while also being able to tell a story through the content you post on your brands social media sites. Longo also made points about having excellent writing and editing skills as well as writing in the correct voice. She said you have to speak to the point, create a voice, stick to it, and churn out content. It almost seems like a no brainier to stay up on your writing skills, but people make mistakes everyday, even in the corporate world. Longo also spoke on crisis management, or as she likes to call it, reputation management. When she comes across bad experiences from customers on social media she does everything to make it right as she doesn’t want to lose a customer. She does this without being intrusive which I think is extremely important. This is so huge to improve and solidify brand loyalty. I know I feel reassured when I read stories about companies making it right with dissatisfied customers. Ashley Anderson, who serves as the marketing strategist for Flywheel, had specific tips for me and my peers and gave great advice for the rest of our time at Creighton. Ashley talked about interacting with brands to promote brand loyalty. She said that once when she was at Blue Sushi she tweeted to the restaurant. Blue Sushi told her to order a certain dish, and when she replied that she had already ordered, they replied back and gave her a gift card for her next visit to try the dish they had originally suggested. While this was more of a point for Longo, I found it extremely interesting and effective (as described above). Towards the end of the class period, the conversation took a turn as Anderson and Longo started using us students as their guinea pigs. They asked questions about retargeting ads and asked us specific questions about us as student consumers. This shift in the conversation was very interesting and made the conversation more organic. I thought the professionals took a great opportunity to get feedback even if that wasn't the intended purpose of the panel. Overall the panel was extremely interesting and educational. We learned about crisis management, brand loyalty, and retargeting among many other topics. The biggest takeaway that I got that I can act on immediately though was to find a brand crush and figure out what speaks to me and why. This can help me in the future if I ever step into a social media position. As of right now I don't have a brand crush, but I certainly know that Flagship Restaurant Group and Flywheel have a new follower on social media.
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PaigeCreighton University Archives
December 2017
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