Blog Posts
Blog posts made for senior Public Relations classes. All posts pertaining to Steven Matz are fictitious and were used as part of a semester long class assignment.
Way before the dawn of the Internet and social media, businesses had to come up with creative ways to grow and prosper. Advertising played as much of a role then as it does now but in a much different way. Billboards, periodicals, telemarketing and even door-to-door sales were just a few of the many tactics organizations used to try and grow their business. So many organizations have had to adapt to the rise of the Internet and social media because it has changed how the world operates. For example, newspapers now in 2016 are critically endangered and could eventually become extinct. Whether you are a popular nationally known paper like the Wall Street Journal or a small circulated newspaper from some small midwestern town in Nebraska, they are all dying. People find it more convenient to get their news from an online news source that updates periodically throughout the day than having to buy a black and white paper that is talking about the top news from yesterday! So now most, if not all of the newspapers have a news website to attract readers who are interested in the news but not in holding a physical newspaper. That is just one of many businesses that have been affected by the overwhelming shift the Internet has caused. So why is having an online presence so imperative these days? Well, now the smallest of mom and pop stores can think globally while still maintaining their small size because of the Internet. They can stay in their small store, in their small town with their small amount of employees and still advertise and find ways to communicate with those certain people who happen to find their products fascinating halfway around the world. That is something that could not have been done before the dawn of the Internet. As the picture above shows, everyone in the world is connected through the Internet which makes growing a profitable and successful business that much easier because of the amount of people that can be reached and the frequency in which you can communicate with them. Now on to how an organization can strengthen their presence online. Social media has taken the world by storm, thanks to Zuckerberg. Where at one point in the infancy of it, it was mostly used to communicate with friends, family and co-workers. But now it is used for far more. Businesses use it for advertising because they know they can reach more people in a short amount of time and with how much people use social media daily, it is a safe bet to say it is the best way to get information across to them. Unless you are selling walkers to the elderly, then using Snapchat and Instagram may not help you. Besides for social media, another way to strengthen an online presence is to make a user friendly website, if you sell products, make online purchases possible as a majority of people in the world would much prefer buying something online than having to go into an actual store. Starting up a website and social media accounts are great ways to raise your presence online, not just because they are the most popular, but because you can use social media to advertise products or services, get important information to your public and use the two interchangeably. For example, you can make posts on the social media accounts about important information with a link to your website which would increase traffic and on the flip side, you can have all of your links to social media on your website so people who go there and are not already following you in terms of social media, will soon be able too. Having a strong online presence is paramount for success in the world today. It links the world together and the sky is the limit in terms of the positive effects it can have on your organization.
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Strategy on Social Media Zoo Atlanta is connected on multiple social media platforms including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Google+, Vine as well as a few others. One of their strategies they have is to try and make different posts to the different platforms. There are plenty of organizations out there who tend to just make the same posts across all of their social media accounts. Now why is this a bad thing? These companies are going the extra mile to reach people across all platforms who may not have a social media account on Facebook, but may be on Instagram. But the reason why this is bad is because it looks very repetitive and can come off to visitors as laziness. As we all know, there are different groups of people who use different types of social media. For example, the majority of Snapchat users tend to be millennials, whereas your grandparents might be on Facebook. It is unlikely that you will see Grandma uploading videos and pictures on her Snapchat account. Now that you are aware of the different audiences across different platforms, you can see why it is bad to make the same exact posts on all of an organizations accounts. In this case we are discussing Zoo Atlanta and their positive strategies that they use on social media, but there are plenty of other zoos around the country, ones bigger and smaller than Zoo Atlanta who do the exact thing I was just discussing to be a bad strategy. As you can see in the picture below, Zoo Atlanta not only makes different posts on different sites, but they also make sure to have a good mixture of visual content as well as posts with just text. Pictures and movies notoriously get the most amount of likes, comments and reposts and to build a larger following the zoo knows they must upload content that catches the attention of their visitors. Unlike the majority of other zoos and aquariums, they also make multiple posts each day and not just of pictures and videos. They also make sure to bring attention to any specials that are going on in the park. For example, in January and February they had a promotion for lower ticket prices called "Pandas and Parkas" which was meant to boost attendance in slow months of winter. They made sure to advertise it across all of their accounts because it helps to get the word out and brings in more potential visitors. The zoo also posts important news articles, conservation alerts and any other newsworthy stories pertaining to animals. It gives people who are interested in animals something to read and also raises awareness. It is clear that the type of people who are following a zoo on social media most likely are advocates of animals and their rights to survive and avoid extinction. So by posting articles that interest their audience, they will have people coming back to their pages regularly and because of that, these visitors have left themselves more susceptible to seeing advertisements and other incentives which may convince them to take a trip out. What separates Zoo Atlanta from the pack (other zoos) and makes their strategy strong
The proof is in the pudding! When you look at the amount of likes, reposts, visitors and friends all of their social media accounts have, it shows that their strategy is working. Besides for that, they are considered to be one of the top zoos in the country and that is in part due to their strategy in social media as well as in other important facets of the organization. One undeniable reason that shows Zoo Atlanta is one of the top zoos in the country has to do with the pandas. These animals, even though they are so popular are only in four zoos across the United States and all of them are from China. Some of the most renown zoos in New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles and Boston were not given pandas to live in their parks. If their strategy to promote their zoo was bad, they would not be given the opportunity to take in such prestigious animals like the pandas. This is one of many reasons which shows the strategies that Zoo Atlanta has set forth for their success has been working to perfection. Also, their yearly attendance is another factor that shows the strategies they have in place are successful. Even though we are talking about their social media strategies, it is all connected and if they had any fallacies in one area, it would affect other areas and yet you do not see that here because the strategies and tactics that are being used are working. Why should people in the public relations field be a “news junkie”? When you have a job in the public relations field, you have to be ready for anything at any time and making sure that you are prepared for whatever may come your way is imperative to be successful at your job. One huge way to prepare is to become ingratiated in the news. It helps to take in as much news as you can for many different reasons. The first thing that immediately comes to mind is how reading about what is going on in the world could benefit you greatly. For example, when you read about an organization that is dealing with a major crisis, you find out how the company is handling everything from start to finish. You learn a variety of strategies and tactics that companies use that turn out to be effective as well as learning what not to do if you should find yourself in a certain situation. By keeping up with current events you get first hand knowledge of how people react to a particular event. You also learn what types of actions can trigger a crisis. When you look at Volkswagen for example, you see a car company that had been doing well and staying out of the news, avoiding any kinds of negative news. Then all of a sudden, it comes out that they have been breaking the EPA rules for emissions by cheating through the use of their computer systems. Now as for someone who works in the public relations field, there are a lot of things that you can take away from this scandal (even if you do not work for a car company). First off, it shows how important it is to be honest and forthcoming in your organization, because more times than not, things will eventually come to the surface and you do not want to have to try to explain to the world why your organization has been deceiving everyone. Another takeaway from the Volkswagen example is if you are dealing with a crisis, you know from reading about it what they did to get in front of the scandal, what strategies they used that were effective and what was ineffective. Staying up to date with current events in my eyes is almost like being in a class, you are able to learn new things that could help you in the future in one way or another, that is why it is so imperative to absorb as much news as possible.
Strategies vs Tactics Although there are major differences between strategies and tactics, there is a positive correlation between the two and you use them to build off of each other. The picture above depicts how you use strategies and tactics once you have a goal you want to complete. The first step is to decide what you want your goal to be. In this case we'll use a fictitious car dealership as an example. If you want your dealership to sell more cars this quarter, that would be the goal. Unfortunately you can't just snap your fingers for that to happen, so next comes strategies. A strategy is a step thats taken to achieve the goal that you have set forth. In this case, to increase the sales at our dealership, we have decided that increasing the amount of advertisements we have would be a great way to increase sales. Now that we have our strategy, thinking of ways to implement that so we can see results is what comes next, that is where tactics come in to play. The tactical part of this process is when you decide on a specific way to achieve your goal through the strategy you came up with, it's the tool that you use. Increasing advertisements to sell more cars is our strategy and to make that happen, our tactic will be to spend more money on internet advertisements that get shown on social media outlets. Since the majority of Americans use social media, increasing advertisements on these outlets will be seen by numerous people of all different age ranges who may be interested in buying a new car. Then after a few months, if the amount of cars in the dealership has increased, then it was a success and your goal was accomplished! Goal vs Objective
As you now know the differences between strategies and tactics, goals and objectives are another two words that have become interchangeable even though they mean different things. A goal is an idea about something that you want to accomplish, but in the broad sense. There is not too much specificity involved in a goal. As you can see in the picture above, a goal is what comes first followed by the objective(s). The objective is something that you come up with once a goal has been established. For example, if one day you are to wake up and decide that you want a college degree, that would be your goal. It's not specific, but it is an idea of something that you want to accomplish and that is where an objective comes in to play. Now that you have decided on getting a college degree, you must decide what college you want to attend, what level of degree you want and what subject you would like to have your degree in. That would be your objective and for this case we'll say a Bachelors of Science in Public Relations from Kennesaw State University. One big reason on how you differentiate between goals and objectives is one is more generalized and the other starts to become more specific to where you can start finding way to obtain your goal. By: Ross Platkin Over the weekend in Chicago, the New York Mets beat the Chicago Cubs with four straight victories to win the National League Pennant for the first time in fifteen years. The last time the Mets represented the National League in the World Series was in 2000 when they played the cross-town rival Yankees in a “Subway” World Series where that led to the Yankees winning their 26th title. Meeting the Kids Steven Matz visited a local public school in Queens to meet some young baseball players and big-time Mets fans. The kids, who had no idea Matz would be stopping by, were extremely happy to meet one of the four top pitchers for the Mets, who also happens to be a native New Yorker as well. The Kids were Floating on Cloud Nine Matz did not come empty handed to the school. Besides for surprising all the young Mets fans, Matz bought the school all brand new baseball equipment that included helmets, aluminum bats, hats, jerseys, and bought enough new baseball mitts to field every position. He also helped the school in raising money to renovate their field. Before he left, he took pictures with the different classrooms and autographed a variety of things for some of the kids. The school gave Matz a team baseball jersey with his name and number on it to say thanks for stopping by. By: Ross Platkin There was a great turnout of fans at the Susan G. Komen fundraiser hosted by New York Mets pitcher Steven Matz. The event was held at Citi Field last weekend in honor of October being breast cancer awareness month. Breast Cancer Awareness Month
Matz decided to kick off the month by hosting an auction to raise money for the Susan G. Komen foundation. All the proceeds of the auction, which totaled over $10,000, were given to the foundation to help in finding a cure. I asked Matz why the Susan G. Komen foundation was one of his favorite charities to donate to and he said, “I have had family members who were diagnosed with this disease and they were lucky enough to beat it, unfortunately, not everyone is that lucky and I just want to do my part to help.” Mets fans were on cloud nine There were two parts to the auction; the first part had different items to bid on that were autographed by Steven Matz and other current and former New York Mets players. After all the items were sold, there were one hundred playoff tickets to be auctioned off that were donated by Steven Matz. “It was my way to thank all the fans for coming out to support the fundraiser and also help raise some more money” said Matz as he was asked about purchasing the playoff tickets for the auction. Steven Matz has is an upstanding professional athlete on and off the field. He believes whole-heartedly in charity work and giving back to the community. Matz hopes that with his popularity, he can help with raising money for good causes and lend his support to the community by working on current issues that need to be resolved. By: Ross Platkin Meet one of the young pitching studs of the New York Mets, Steven Matz. The 22-year-old lefty and New York native has taken the league by storm this season. He is one of the top pitching prospects in the Mets organization. Let me introduce you to Steven Matz
Steven Matz was a Mets fan long before the Mets called his name on draft day. It’s a well-known fact New Yorkers are passionate about their sports and growing up on Long Island in Stony Brook was no different. You have two choices, the Mets or the Yankees and in the case of Steven’s family, it’s cheering for the boys in Queens. So of course, when the phone call came in that the Mets, his family’s favorite team would be drafting him, it was a dream come true for him and his family. When Steven was asked about his favorite moment on the Mets, he responded, “it has to be when my grandfather, a long time Mets fan saw me pitch for the first time at Citi Field”. Besides for being a lefty flamethrower with fastballs hitting upwards of 97 mph, Mets fans have gravitated towards him because of his charity work, upbringing and being a fan of their favorite team long before he had his own name on his jersey. What he means to the Mets and their Future The New York Mets have a long history as an organization with great pitching. Both times the Mets won the World Series, their success was directly related to their strong pitching and the success they are experiencing now is no different. Steven Matz joins an already impressive rotation of four other young guns that may be the best in baseball. What separates Steven from his other four teammates in the rotation is that he is the only lefty. From the beginning of time, lefty pitchers have always been a hot and scarce commodity in baseball. Maybe it’s the “natural curve” they possess or that the only kryptonite of a left-handed power hitter is a powerful left handed pitcher. Whatever the reason may be, it makes Steven just as important to the rotation as any of the other starters and what he has shown in his short time leaves all Mets fan looking ahead at a bright future. |