Fighting back.

I just returned to work from an almost two-week kind-of vacation. I left Wednesday, Oct. 8 and am back today, Oct. 21. This was how I spent my time:

Oct. 9 I attended a wedding rehearsal and celebrated my mom's birthday.
Oct. 10 I attended a wedding (after getting an up-do I hated!)
Oct. 11 I watched football (Go Pokes!) and rode four wheelers with my boyfriend.
Oct. 12 I had a conference call with the National ACT officers.
Oct. 13 I had my wisdom teeth removed (Ouch!) I also helped my friend Paul edit a letter to the editor of his college newspaper. He's trying to fight hard for the livestock industry up in Michigan!
Oct. 14 I slept.
Oct. 15 I checked cattle with my dad and wrote some papers for an independent study class.
Oct. 16 I went grocery shopping with my mom.
Oct. 17 I went back to the doctor for a checkup and was told I had a dry socket. No wonder it hurt so bad! I also walked through OSU's Greek community looking at house decorations for Homecoming.
Oct. 18 I tailgated, went to a fooball game, and celebrated a win!
Oct. 19 I slept. My dry socket was back.
Oct. 20 I went back to the doctor.
Oct. 21 FINALLY back at work! :)

Now, through all of that, the only thing I experienced that I'd like to relate to social media is the Michigan State University letter to the editor. Posting newspaper articles and letters to the editor on the newspaper's Web site adds a whole new dimension to discussion of the article. The comments regarding vegan food cover both sides of the issue, but I really wish more people understood the livestock industry. If you're interested in reading the initial article and the letter to the editor, please click the links. Even post a comment! He's trying so hard. Help him!

One sad thing to me about replying to a newspaper article with a letter to the editor is the boundaries chained to the letter. Paul and I had to keep the letter under 250 words. How do you fight a 700+ word article with 250 words? Also, how do you fight a writer who hides a large issue like hating on the livestock industry under getting more vegan food in a cafeteria?

Please be a good representative of the agricultural industry. Keep true to your roots and help fight the growing numbers who simply don't understand.
Start explaining.

Blogging for financial support

I went home this weekend for my cousin's wedding, and as I walked into my bedroom, one of the many things sitting on my bed was OSU's latest edition of STATE magazine. I was pretty excited to sit down and look through it. The layouts are interesting and the stories are usually pretty good.

Well, toward the back of the magazine, there's an advertisement for the OSU Foundation. It is advertising a student-written blog. According to the ad copy, this sophomore OSU student will post once a week, talking about how the scholarship money is helping him, how it's being put to good use, etc.

This is a neat idea for OSU to gain more financial support. The OSU Foundation is exploring and using all available tools. Every single avenue should be used to reach your target audience. Hats off to the OSU Foundation for doing exactly that!!

YouTube has everything!

I subscribe to some really interesting blogs about marketing, thanks to my summer internship, and what I just noticed is how often YouTube is used.

My favorite blog to read is Drew McLellan's The Marketing Minute. Posts that stick out in my mind address branding. He give examples of great advertising (or maybe poor advertising) by using YouTube videos. This is so great for me and others my age reading his blog since some of the commercials or brands were before my time, or happened when I was in diapers.

I don't spend a lot of time on YouTube, but I know anything I see on TV can be found there. My mom saw a Budweiser commercial with Hank the horse. I think it first aired during Super Bowl XLII. She liked it and wanted to share it with me. All she knew about it was Hank the horse. She went to YouTube, typed in Hank the horse, and the first thing that popped up was her commercial!

(My mom was pretty excited she could do this all on her own. It is a big deal for her. To put it in perspective, she just switched over to a digital camera in May because I bought her one for Mother's Day and forced her to use it.)

YouTube is more than just a place for fraternity guys to post funny/dumb videos of themselves, like Chad Bro Chill. It is also a resource for people like Drew McLellan who are education people like me about marketing and branding.

Using the right tools

As I was sitting in my office editing the latest edition of Spears School magazine before it went to print, a few young men came in and began talking about a video project to promote a food drive. (I share my office with three other people so this is quite common.)

I was excited to find out these gentlemen advertised the food drive using YouTube last year, with great success. They are doing it again this year, and want a high-quality video. I am just proud of people who are using the right tools to reach their audience.

If this same food drive would've been in my hometown, it would've been a flop. The majority of people do not know what YouTube or Facebook is. These gentlemen are posting the video on YouTube, embedding it in their blogs, putting links on their Facebook profiles, etc. This are the right tools to reach their audience. While college campusus may not be the perfect breeding grounds for helping feed the hungry, OSU students love helping a great cause.

And, thanks to several social media tools, I have no doubt OSU students will roll out and help with this food drive.

P.S. Have I ever mentioned I'm proud to be a Cowboy? Because I am. Through and through.