#PrayForBrussels

Social media makes the world go 'round. On Tuesday, March 22, 2016 around 8 A.M. our time, several bombs exploded as hundreds of people navigated their ways through the Brussels airport and a metro station. More than 30 people are believed to have been killed and hundreds injured. When tragedies like this occur, in the midst of all of the chaos, it is heartwarming to see people from all over showing their respects and support, especially in a time when everyone seems to hate each other. Terrorism is something that everyone fears and takes very seriously and no matter who is affected, people always manage to come together when such a tragedy hits. On Tuesday, millions of tweets and Instagram posts were shared pertaining to the attacks and the hash tags #JeSuisBruxelles/#PrayforBrussels trended for most of the day. Everyone from my childhood friends to favorite movie stars shared their condolences and opinions on the attacks. Although a tweet and hash tag at the end of the day, is just a tweet and a hash tag and cannot physically do anything to immediately combat the issue at hand, I do believe that the gestures hold a bit of importance. They quickly demonstrate and facilitate worldwide solidarity amongst individuals who are all so different and also bring awareness to the issue. For people like me, who had no idea what was happening on the other side of the world until I opened my Instagram and Twitter apps, the pictures, tweets, and hash tags were very much appreciated! From millions of miles away, the posts may have just been considered a nice gesture, but for people closer, tweets and Instagram posts were extremely helpful and hit home, literally. Many civilians in Brussels and of other neighboring cities, took to social media to offer services and physical support for those directly affected by the attacks. Wow! 

Side note: When I woke up Tuesday morning, this post was one of the first I saw. It was posted by Zoe Kravitz, the daughter of Lisa Bonet and Lenny Kravitz, and one of my favorite people EVER! She's not just a pretty face with amazing style, but she's an individual who is very aware about happenings all over the world. She motivates me to stay in the loop and to never be afraid to state my opinion. 

Spriiiiinggggg Breeeaaak!

So...it's the week after Spring Break and as cliché as this may be, I'm going to talk about Spring Break. Only because it was simply amazing! Not because of the crazy parties on the beach (which I unfortunately, but fortunately didn't partake in this year), but because of the amazing week long vacation I had with NO social media. You guessed it, I went on a cruise. Now, I've been on cruises before, ones that were either three or four days long, but never a full week. A quick note about myself, I'm basically addicted to social media, so when I was overruled during Spring break planning, I was a little bummed about missing out on Miami to go on a cruise for SEVEN days. Little did I know, the cruise would actually be a little life changing. We cruised to the Bahamas, Jamaica, the Cayman Islands, and Cozumel, Mexico and I was able to enjoy every minute of it. Instead of experiencing these beautiful places through my snapchat camera, I was able to genuinely see and enjoy everything. I swam with dolphins, snorkeled with Stingrays, went kayaking and paddle boarding, all things that I had never done before and I literally enjoyed every single second of it without having my phone glued to my hand. Of course when we would visit certain places on the islands, "free wifi" was advertised, but it really wasn't unless you bought something, which I wasn't willing to do since I basically spent my whole life savings on the cruise in the first place! At the beginning of the week, I kept telling myself over and over, "I can't wait to touch down in the States". I was starving for a little Instagram and Snapchat. By the end of the week, I couldn't have cared less. I was so used to living without it and I realized that I enjoyed my time a whole lot without watching what everyone else was doing. I still haven't gotten back into the swing of things with social media and I've noticed that I get a lot more done now (what do ya know!?).

However, because I am Marketing major, I haven't lost sight of how important it is. I couldn't help but to wonder how the tourists venues were generating so much revenue with a pretty nonexistent social media presence. There were no ads for social media interaction anywhere! No "hashtag this" or "hashtag that", but then I remembered that they didn't need it because the cruise line did all the advertising and marketing for them! But, I wonder how much things would change if some of these places did get a hold of a few social media platforms. Would people start making special trips? Would anything change at all?

Any who, here are a few pictures from the trip! Enjoy.

UGA Red Cross, New and Improved

For the past couple of weeks, I've worked on a project for my Integrated Marketing Communications class. Our assignment was to come up with a digital marketing campaign for a company or organization in need of a new marketing strategy. While searching for a company, a friend of one of my group members expressed the need of marketing help on behalf of UGA Red Cross, so that's who we went with! We interviewed a few executive board members and immediately got to work. They expressed that their main objectives were increasing member and volunteer participation. They feel that this lack of participation stems from their struggling digital presence and current marketing strategies. We were eager to help!  I would like to share what we came up with, since I used a lot of what I learned about content marketing to assist in developing the marketing campaign.

1. We decided to propose a website as the starting point of our campaign. Currently UGA Red Cross has a presence on various social media platforms, however they do not have a website, problem number one. They have completely skipped the first step of establishing an effective presence in the digital marketing world. I know and can now share with them that without a website, social media posts will basically just serve as noise. After all, one of the main uses of social media when it comes to marketing is driving traffic back to the brand's site. So, without a site where is the traffic going? In and right out of people's minds! A website tells what you do and why. It's a place for consumers to become familiar and to get acquainted with the brand. It is absolutely necessary if we want to increase participation amongst the student body.

2. As a main component of the website, we proposed including a blog. The blog will serve as a platform for local families who benefit from the Red Cross to share their unique stories and express their gratitude and for participants to express what drives them to give and volunteer. The blog will also serve as a space for members and volunteers to come, socialize and comment. We hope that as a result of the blog, students will become motivated and gain an understanding of where exactly they may fit into the process of saving lives.

3. After the website is implemented, we will begin to focus more on social media content, which needs a lot of work. We haven't gotten that far yet, but I'm sure we will come up with something amazing. I'll keep you posted!

I'm super excited about the opportunity we were given to completely restructure this organization's marketing strategy. I'm even more excited that I actually know what I'm talking about. Hopefully with the execution of our proposal, results follow. The UGA Red Cross is such a wonderful organization filled with people who just want to serve others. They deserve to be promoted as such.