Katrina's Blog

The End?

Going into this semester, I knew that I would like this class but I did not realize how much I would enjoy it. I went into this semester not knowing much about how to create a social media campaign, or even create a blog. And now, I am happy to say that I will be able to take a lot of the knowledge I learned from this class into my future.

This class was the class that finally allowed me to figure out what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. For those that do not know, after I had a “mid-life crisis” I decided I wanted to change my major. I was originally an Entertainment Industries Technology major but quickly realized (from this class) that I wanted to change my major to Integrated Advertising and Public Relations.

Although it was a scary decision, I could not be more grateful that I made the right decision. I do not regret my decision and I look forward to my next classes I will be taking for this major. I still have a passion for the entertainment industry, but I am more interested in the publicity side of things rather than the business side.

One of the things I learned from this class would be that analytics are much more important than you might realize. According to Social Wall, you can use analytics to “track your progress, figure out what works, and drive efficiency”. Tracking your progress is important to see how many impressions you have, what those impressions are, and see how data’s impact will increase over time.

Figuring out what works is essential to continue to grow your social media following. If you do not know what works and what does not, the chance of you succeeding is going to be less than before. As soon as you have enough data to work with, you will be able to see what social media channels work better for you. You will also be able to “check what channels do best with certain types of content, and which provide the most amount of visits to your website”. (Social Wall)

Driving efficiency is important to be able to determine what posts are more beneficial and have more of an impact for you. You can also prioritize what platforms you should and should not focus on. For example, if you are trying to promote a song, chances are you might use YouTube, TikTok or Twitter to promote it but you most likely won’t use Snapchat to promote it.

One negative thing that I learned from this course’s content would be that some companies are horrible at crisis communication. Half of the companies that do not properly communicate during a crisis don’t follow these three steps from Hootsuite. Those three steps are “creating a social media policy, securing your accounts, and using social listening to identify potential issues.”

Creating a social media policy should be a given if you are going to run a social media account for a company. According to Hootsuite, “some of the worst social media situations start with an employee posting something inappropriate.” In your social media policy, you should include “copyright guidelines, privacy guidelines, confidentiality guidelines and brand voice guidelines.” By having those social media guidelines it is less likely that an employee will break a rule that they might not even know about (if it is not written down).

Overall, I am grateful for all this class has taught me. I will be able to look at social media in a different way. After taking this class, I was able to realize that good communication is just as important face-to-face as it is online. I look forward to utilizing my skills to execute a social media campaign (that doesn’t get affected by a pandemic) in the future.

Truly Astronomical : Travis Scott Fortnite Event

A few years ago, I would probably not have watched an in-game event for the fun of it. However, over last weekend (April 23-25), I watched Fortnite’s Travis Scott event. Having a passion for the entertainment industry and public relations, this event impressed me for many reasons.

Before the Travis Scott event, Fortnite has only had one prior event with someone in the music industry. That event was the Marshmello event which was Fortnite’s first event and had drawn in more than 10.7 million viewers according to The Verge.

The Marshmello event was inspired by a concert’s atmosphere where you could get up close and personal with Marshmello. The whole event essentially was Marshmello performing with his music playing on a stage. There were also some graphics that were shown throughout the concert.

If you are looking for a more in-depth description, The Verge shares “The stage came to life with building-sized holograms of Fortnite characters, while a custom set of graphics played behind Marshmello’s avatar… the stage would alter gravity, sending players bouncing into the sky and even floating in place at one point.”

Fortnite created an event for Travis Scott that they planned over six months for. Fortnite announced the Travis Scott event April 20, 2020. The event was primarily created to promote Travis Scott’s new single Astronomical as well as benefit Fortnite. The event would have multiple different dates for the in-game “tour”.

Having multiple dates allowed more people from different timezones to be able to watch and also allowed for people to re-watch the event if they wanted to. Those dates were:

One of the promotional ideas Travis Scott’s team and Fortnite had included two exclusive loading screens and a glider for attending one or more of the events:

Some other special items Fortnite had for this series included a spray, icon and emotes:

I think creating a bundle for this event allowed for there to be motivation for people to want to collect items from the collection. During the days leading up to the event, people might see the skins and want to purchase them which could create more buzz.

According to Polygon, the event “… started with a giant version of Scott performing some of his most recognizable songs, but quickly evolved into something stranger and more exciting.

As Scott moved through his songs, more and more effects started to appear. There were lightning storms, back-up dancers made of fire, a gravity flip that turned players upside down, and finally what seemed like a trip through space.”

As someone that wants to work in entertainment publicity, I was very inspired by this event. Not just from the creativity, but by how many people attended the event. In total, there were 27.7 total players that participated and the event was attended 45.8 times (which means people attended it more than once) according to Fortnite’s official Twitter.

From an entertainment industry perspective I think that this was a great public relations campaign for many reasons. One of those reasons would be that Travis Scott’s audience might be able to expand more than ever before.

Granted, the majority of people that play Fortnite are children or young adults, but there are still some adults that play. But even if an adult does not play Fortnite, there is still a chance for them to be exposed to his music just from their children watching the event.

Another reason that I think this event was a good idea for Scott would be due to how popular Fortnite is. Meaning Fortnite is such a large game, it allows him to gain more exposure and buzz for his single. People that weren’t already fans, might have became fans after this event.

Overall, I think that this event was a great idea for Fortnite to do. Not only did it grow their stats, but it also helped Scott promote his new single Astronomical. If you are able to, I would highly suggest watching the full event.

Disclaimer: None of the pictures or videos in this post are mine. All rights go to their respective owners (The Verge, Fortnite, Travis Scott, etc.)

Slowly: The Digital Pen Pal

Recently while I was scrolling through Twitter I came across this tweet that was talking about Slowly. Slowly is an app in the Apple Store that allows you to find digital pen pals. When I was younger, in fifth grade my class got to have pen pals with people from Sweden and it was exciting. Now, the fact that you can have a digital pen pal is amazing.

Some of you might be very confused. What is a digital pen pal? Why not just have a normal pen pal? When I first heard about having a digital pen pal I was very confused but creating an account on this app is really easy. All you do is enter your email, create your profile and put in your interests.

After you put in your interests you can either be “matched” with a pen pal or you can browse pen pals by languages and similar interests. Within ten minutes of having the app, I was able to send digital letters to two people I found.

The nice thing about this app is although it is a digital app, the letters send like they would via snail mail. You can also buy or earn stamps in the app’s stamp store that you can put on your letters. For example, I have a letter arriving from someone within the hour and another letter will be arriving in sixteen hours. I also have already received a letter back from someone I sent one to yesterday.

I personally like the idea of writing mobile letters because when it comes to writing actual letters it is hard for me to write as fast as I can type on my phone. I also think it is harder to have pen pals now, unless you are able to find a site that is legitimate.

This app is great because if you are anything like me, you might be going crazy while you are stuck at home during this quarantine. Having an app like this that allows you to connect to people from all over the world is incredible. I have always wanted to have an online friend and end up meeting up with them (safely of course) and this app might allow me to have that opportunity.

If you have nothing else to do, I suggest you download this app. Apps like this are why I love social media. Social media allows you to connect with so many people whether that is from Instagram, Twitter, etc. and now you can connect with people using an app for pen pals.

If anyone wants to become my friend on slowly my username is moretacosplss.

*Disclaimer: This is NOT sponsored by Slowly. I just happened to find this app and fell in love with it*

Social Media During Quarantine

With this quarantine going on, I have been having a hard time keeping myself entertained. I have turned to social media platforms to entertain myself more than ever. Some of those platforms consist of Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. Along the way, I have discovered there are different ways that people are coping with this quarantine. Each of those platforms are very different and I figured that I would share some of the posts that you might see on them.

The first social media platform we are going to talk about is Instagram. The posts that you might see on Instagram are either endless selfies with the caption of them “bored in the house, and I’m in the house bored” or someone reposting vacation pictures.

An example of this would be a post from singer/dancer, Jordyn Jones:

In this post she talks about how she misses her boyfriend and her vacation in Tailand.

The next Instagram post is by a YouTuber called Allygatorrz. She posted this caption saying “ok I’m bored in the house & I’m in the house bored”. For those that don’t know, that saying is a popular sound on TikTok that many people makes videos to.

The next social media platform is Twitter. There are a lot of tweets on Twitter that are funny and I wish I could find more but here is one tweet that I saw:

I know there are some people that don’t like Twitter because they don’t understand it. But I think that there are a lot of Twitter accounts that have funny tweets that continue to make me laugh throughout the day.

The last social media platform I’ll be talking about is TikTok. I love TikTok because there are so many different sounds that you can make TikToks to. Whether you are looking to dance, talk about something, etc. there is something for everyone. One example of a TikTok that is relating to the quarantine would be this TikTok I found on Twitter that shows the different “characters” of quarantine.

Overall, I am thankful that I have social media to help me cope with this quarantine. If I didn’t have social media to distract myself, I would probably have a harder time keeping myself entertained. If you ever are bored, I guarantee that any social media platform you scroll through can make you laugh.

Why I Took A Break From Social Media

Social media can be an excellent tool for professional or personal use. Some people are so reliant on social media that if they don’t check it every hour, they feel out of the loop. Others struggle with their mental health if they are on it too much and I am one of those people.

Growing up, I didn’t have a lot of friends so I turned to social media to make online friends. I felt that talking to people online on Twitter was easier than trying to talk to my classmates at the time. I’m grateful that I was able to have those people to talk to growing up, but I wasn’t expecting social media to be as big as it is now.

I love social media for many reasons especially when it comes to keeping up with pop culture and interacting with others across the world. But at the same time, I wish that social media didn’t exist. The whole idea of people showcasing how perfect their life is through bikini or vacation pictures can be quite frustrating.

There is nothing wrong with showing the highlights of your life, but it starts to be a problem when society creates unhealthy standards. If you aren’t a size 0 or have flawless skin, you are considered to not be beautiful according to society. Some people might not care what others think, but there are many people that do.

Somedays if I am going through Instagram and I see someone with flawless skin, I might feel insecure. Part of that is due to being bullied for it in middle school. Aside from comparing my looks to others, I have found myself to compare my life a lot to others based off of their Instagram.

Instagram is nothing but a highlight reel but it can be damaging when all you do is compare your life to others based off the pictures they post. Yes *insert name here* went to Cancun recently, but is she really happy? She might have the perfect life, but you don’t see her mental breakdowns or the low points of her life.

After creating many unhealthy comparisons of myself to others, I decided that it would be best for me to take a break from social media. I told myself that I would delete Twitter for a week off of my phone. Although I failed, I was still able to decrease the amount of time I spend on social media. I turned off my post notifications and deleted the app for a day. I find that if my notifications are off, I am more present not only in my personal life but at work.

In January, I started a new job and I would find myself hiding in my phone to avoid conversations because I didn’t want to embarrass myself or be judged. After a month or so, I was able to develop more of a friendship with my coworkers. I consider some of them my closest friends now and i would not be able to say that if I didn’t put down my phone.

Recently someone told me that they were going to do a social media cleanse and I thought it was a great idea. I spent a day removing followers that were inactive or that I didn’t know, as well as unfollowed people that were damaging to my mental health. Removing followers was nothing personal, just felt that it would be better for my mental health if I didn’t have to worry what they thought of my tweets.

On Instagram I did more of a deep cleanse. I removed people that I felt were toxic or people that I compared myself to a lot. After doing that, I felt that I spent less time feeling like I was missing out, and spent more time feeling positive scrolling through Instagram.

I wish I had done that earlier, because it is so refreshing knowing that only people you trust are following your Instagram. I can open my Twitter now and only have tweets from people that I care about seeing on my timeline. I don’t have to worry about drama or people tweeting about things I don’t care about.

Before I took a break from social media, I would spend eight hours a day scrolling through multiple social media platforms. Within two weeks, I was able to decrease my daily social media use to four hours. Which although it is still a lot, it is definitely a step in the right direction.

There are many advantages to a social media cleanse and although I covered a lot of them the rest are in an article I found written by Tara Chawla on the website Medium. Some of the benefits that I already covered are more sleep, increased productivity, etc. but there are four other benefits that can be found in this article.

I hope that everyone is able to take a social media cleanse because it is so good for your mental health. I spend more time listening to music or doing homework than I spend watching TikToks. I am able to sleep more at night and I feel less anxious when I’m around others because I’m not constantly comparing myself to them anymore.

My Views on Social Media

As an Entertainment Industries & Technology major and public relations minor, I decided to take a Social Media Campaigns class. Meaning that social media is so versatile between any industry, I figured it would be a great class to fill an elective requirement.

Part of this class is making blog posts, which is something I am not used to at all. However, I am very grateful that I now have an excuse to create a blog and stick with it. I found this current chapter on the ethics of social media, very interesting. Everyone stops to think about the advantages of social media, but there are a lot of times where people might forget that social media can be harmful.

If you are going to work with a company doing social media, it is important that you follow certain moral guidelines that might influences others to behave or interact in a different way. From further reading, I was able to find examples of when social media was not used in a positive way. These examples might also be considered the nine deadly sins. I will be discussing two of them.

One disadvantage to social media would be that people might create a social media page with good intentions to increase engagement. However, there are often times those pages get abandoned. If you are trying to increase engagement for a company or a brand, it is important that you are able to stay consistent.

The end of my freshman year of college, I created a Twitter update account for an upcoming pop artist from Wisconsin. If you don’t know what an update account is, it is a fan made account where you share news articles, new music, etc. on an artist. Essentially, you could think of it as an online street team. In the beginning, it was a lot of fun. I was able to talk to fans that also liked the artist’s music. I was able to use my creative side and create fun profile and backgrounds for the account.

Meaning I am a college student, I had to put that account on hold. It was starting to feel like it was more work than fun and would take up a lot of my time especially during tour season. Luckily, the page was just for my entertainment so I didn’t have to worry about letting a brand or company down.

If you have a Twitter account, you might be aware of some brands such as McDonald’s, Wendy’s, etc. taking stabs at eachother. This can be seen as creating a flame war, whether the companies mean ill will or not. As a brand, it is important that you maintain your image and don’t do anything to damage it.

Most of these pokes can seem harmless, but not everyone will think of it that way. For example, a Twitter user by the name Soloucity tweeted at Wendy’s “So @wendy’s u just gonna let @IHOb sell burgers on your block? thought you were the og?”.

Wendy’s responded to the Twitter user by saying “Not really afraid of the burgers from a place that decided pancakes were too hard.” Some people might think of this tweet as humorous but as a company you need to make sure that you aren’t using the brand’s Twitter as your own personal account.

One tweet that could be taken as ill will would be one from McDonald’s that was directed towards the current president, Donald Trump. The tweet says “@realDonaldTrump you are actually a disgusting excuse of a President and we would love to have @BarackObama back, also you have tiny hands.”

Political beliefs aside, as a company, you should refrain from showing your personal beliefs. Especially, when you are cyberbullying someone as big as the president. If you are joking around with other brands about their food, it is completely different than attacking an individual, despite what your political beliefs are.

Overall, I learned more about social media ethics that I feel I can take with me anywhere. Whether you are using your personal account or a brand account, it is important that you are thinking before you post things. One simple small “joke” could ruin your brand’s image or your personal reputation. Flame wars can be funny, but it is also important that they aren’t frequent and not too hurtful.

Hello, I’m Katrina Rector

If you are reading this, chances are you want to know a little bit more about me. I am a NDSCS alumni – where I graduated with my Associates of the Arts degree. Currently, I am a transfer student at Minnesota State University Moorhead where I am an Entertainment Industries & Technologies major and Public Relations minor.

If there is one thing that you have to know about me, it is that music has always been a huge factor in my life. I might not be a talented musician, but as an avid music listener and lover, I’m constantly listening to music.

I’m majoring in Entertainment Industries & Technology – Music Business because I want to work as an artist manager, at a record label, etc. In my free time, I enjoy freelance working concerts whenever I am given the chance.

This blog was mainly created for my Social Media Campaigns class, but I plan on posting more personal things that don’t always relate to class. So stay tuned!