Addy's Corner

This year in social media marketing, we used 'Stukent' for our textbook. The textbook was named 'Essentials of Social Media.' This is a very fitting name for the textbook because the book contains all the basics you need to know about social media marketing. I thoroughly enjoyed how the book was divided; each chapter focused on a different platform. Within the chapters, there was information about the use of the platform and demographics. I personally loved the infographics; I find them to be the most effective way to present information. This is mainly because I am a visual and kinesthetic learner. I personally would have loved more interactivity throughout the book. However, the 'simternship' was purely interactive. This method was much more effective for me personally. In addition, the book covers large campaigns that occurred on the different platforms. This was very interesting to learn about; however, I wish I had paid more attention to these since many of

This year has come to a close quite rapidly. As I begin to come to terms with leaving the place I love and people I cannot live without, I am super disappointed. I fully embraced this year academically, within organizations, and creating new friendships. This year was the best year yet at Ohio Northern and I cannot wait to come back. I am getting upset writing this right now. The bonds that I have made through this school have impacted my life so much. I have learned so much from my friends have have become a much stronger and independent individual because of them. Last year when I left campus I wrote them all love letters practically and cried saying goodbye to them. However, I ended up seeing them almost every other week. Which made benign apart from them so much easier. This year we plan to all do the same. I want to have them all come visit me in Toledo. Toledo is honestly such a fun town and there are so many things to do. I am excited to host them all!  I have exciting news rega

This week is both sad and exciting for me. I've begun the process of clearing out all my belongings from my room. I have more junk than I thought. I've parted with many items to reduce the amount to move. The process of ensuring everything is out of my room for move-out is stressful. I'm worried that I won't be able to fit everything in my car on my last trip home — which almost happened last time. Last year, I had so much stuff and didn't anticipate it being as much until my last exam day. I filled my car to the brim and couldn't see out of my rearview mirror or my side passenger window. I was so nervous driving back last year, I don't want to put myself in that position again. So, this year I'm trying to get ahead of things. However, this process is making me very emotional. I've thoroughly enjoyed this school year and spending all my time with my friends. Honestly, it's hard during the summer not being able to see them whenever I want. But I k

I spelled my last name wrong when I was signing up for Stukent LOL This past Tuesday, the Social Media Simternship rounds were due. Ultimately, I feel this was a great exercise for this course. I personally know I learned a lot through the simulation. These modules and rounds align very much with the social media marketing course. In the sim, you were not only able to play with content creation but also paid content and influencers. These were all done in stages, the first being scheduled content creation. Following that was paid social media content and paid influencers. Then, for the last three rounds, all three strategies were implemented with a $5,000 budget. This same budget was allocated for each of the paid social media content and influencers alone. So, it was a struggle to have all three strategies done within the same budget as it was for one. Personally, I had the most success with creating paid social media posts. These posts generated much more revenue than the other two s

  Continuing this week with TikTok, I read more into the brands and marketing of TikTok. I was surprised to see that the most popular brand on TikTok was TikTok itself. I'm not sure why this surprised me, but I feel that I consume TikTok advertising without realizing it's advertising. I thought it was just a part of the platform. This made me think a little more. Many videos I watch are eligible for commission by the creator. If these videos are included in that statistic, that makes much more sense to me. Because many creators partner with brands or review products. These products, for the most part, are available on TikTok Shop. So, this is beginning to make more sense to me why TikTok is the leading brand by an exponential amount. The other popular brands on TikTok are mainly food companies. There are lots of trends that involve food on TikTok. There is this one trend currently all over my TikTok, where two people play rock-paper-scissors and the winner gets to eat the food

This past week was Greek Week! This is an extremely exciting week for the Greek life community. Greek Week consists of many fun activities such as volleyball, kickball, and the Greek Olympics. Volleyball is obviously my favorite; however, we didn't do that well this year. Regardless, it was still a blast. These activities are spread all throughout the week, starting with Greek Sing on Monday. Greek Sing is probably the most prepared event, where we all do parodies of songs and choreograph a dance with it. If I'm being honest, Greek Sing isn't my favorite. I cannot dance for the life of me, so next year I think I'm going to sign up to be a singer. This is also probably the largest event because every member of Greek life is there, as well as a lot of other people who come to watch and support their friends. The following day, on Tuesday, which was also Honors Day this year, the banners were due at 9 a.m. Wednesday is kickball! Kickball is always really fun, and people ge

This week's read was "TikTok." I personally overuse my TikTok and spend more than two hours on the app daily, according to my phone's screen time data. This personally shocked me. I knew I spent a good chunk of time on the app; however, I did not expect that much. This made me curious, so I referred to the book to see what the app's daily average use is per user. Their sources found that the daily average use is 96 minutes. So, I guess my scrolling addiction isn't too bad. The chapter opened with a statement regarding the large effects TikTok has on our society. This made me reflect on my personal interactions with the app. Without realizing it, I have created playlists and purchasing choices based on what is featured on my feed. No other app has this power over me. I don't know if the video testimonials seem more genuine or what, but I trust TikTok more than other apps I use. Which seems crazy to say because the government has mentioned removing TikTok fr

This past Tuesday was Honors Day at Ohio Northern University. I started off my day by dropping off the Alpha Xi Delta Greek week banner. I had worked on this banner tirelessly, so it was very refreshing to officially be done with it. After that, Polina and I got Starbucks and were able to grab a bite to eat with a few of our friends. Then, I began to get ready for presenting at the Research Colloquium. I conducted research this past school year on the effectiveness of recyclable design. This study uncovered the successes and downfalls of the recycling initiatives by designers. My presentation, a shorter one lasting about 10 minutes, covered a general summary of my findings and research methods. It went well, however, I hoped to do better. Following my presentation, I headed back to my dorm to interview a company for a partnership with Alpha Xi. This partnership sounds like a great opportunity for us as a chapter. I took a quick nap in my business professional clothing for 20 minutes. A

This week's chapter is about marketing with YouTube. I used to be a daily YouTube watcher; in fact, when I was little, I posted slime videos — embarrassing. As I have gotten older, I no longer spend any time on that platform. However, I use YouTube TV all the time. I simply do not have time to binge videos anymore, other than when I am babysitting. The kids LOVE YouTube. Honestly, sometimes I get into it too; it’s funny. However, during COVID-19, I had to use YouTube a lot to watch lectures or videos required for my classes. When I stumbled across YouTube's response to COVID-19, I found it interesting. YouTube created campaigns to spread awareness and information regarding COVID-19. This part did not surprise me. I feel that almost every company created campaigns because it had a large audience as well as need. What I thought was interesting was their updated community guidelines to include a page regarding COVID-19 misinformation. I hadn't thought about this earlier, but t

This past weekend, I had so much fun with my friends. The weekend started with Alpha Xi formals Friday evening. The formal was a lot of fun. We rented out a venue just past Norda Lanes, and it was actually really cute. The venue was a refurbished greenhouse with a super cute black exterior. I got a ton of pictures with my friends and ate some yummy food. We also did superlatives, which is always a blast. This year, we had some more out-of-pocket superlatives, which were really funny. Polina and I got the best big/little duo, of course! The next event that occurred last weekend was Founder’s Day for Alpha Xi. We had nine alumni come, and it was amazing. All morning prior to the event, I was getting the house ready and making food. We made sandwiches with a couple of side options. These were a hit with almost everyone in the chapter, including the alumni! We set up the event as a tea party, and I thought it turned out great. It was very aesthetic, and the alumni really enjoyed it! I made

This chapter I found very interesting because I personally love LinkedIn. I use this platform daily. I am probably on it more than any other app on my phone — besides TikTok and Gmail. I love staying up to date on my emails. However, right now my app says that I have two unread emails, and I cannot find them anywhere, and it's bugging me. But I truly love LinkedIn. I feel like my profile is my baby, and I have been watching it grow and nurturing it by posting and commenting on relevant posts. I have also been using this platform heavily for internship searches as well. I have probably applied for over 30 internships. However, recently I have found a couple of promising ones, such as a graphic design internship for the Toledo Zoo and Libbey Glass in Toledo. Both my grandma and aunt worked there, so I reached out to them to see if they could contact current employees they know to help me out and put in a good word. However, there is always a fallback option. My great-uncle owns a gra

This weekend at Alpha Xi Delta, we're celebrating our founders. The event is scheduled for Saturday, inconveniently the day after our formal. Despite the timing, I'm thrilled to host another event for my sorority! Founder's Day is a bit different, though. It includes a ceremony that I have to lead. Speaking at length in front of everyone, especially with 10 alumni attending whom I'm not entirely familiar with, makes me quite nervous. I know I'll figure it out, but the anticipation and everything leading up to the event are daunting. We're aiming for a "high tea" vibe for a late afternoon brunch, preparing small sandwiches for all the guests and sisters of the Gamma Tau chapter. This means the communications committee and I have to prepare a full meal for 50 or more people. It's a daunting task that's not only out of our budget but also a significant time investment to make everything appealing. Additionally, there will be sides and other miscel

  This week at Ohio Northern has been interesting. I held my first AIGA meeting, which went super well. It was a resume-building workshop, and we had a good number of people show up. This made me feel good, as this is the first event I have held as president. It might make me seem like a bad president, but I did a lot behind the scenes. However, I definitely need to start stepping up more. In addition, this week Alpha Xi is initiating our new members. This also excites me because I know one of them has been wanting to join since her freshman year, and this semester she was finally able to. I feel like these girls are such a good addition to our chapter. They are all very unique and funny. Not only that, they mesh well with literally everyone else in the chapter. This week, I also wrote a speech for Honors Day for a nomination I submitted for one of my teachers. When I found out I had to speak in front of everyone, I quite literally gasped. But, I know I'll be fine since I truly wan

This past week, PRSSA (Public Relations Student Society of America) at Ohio Northern University hosted an all-day workshop on social media. This not only got me out of some of my less exciting classes, but it also proved really beneficial. The workshop covered a broad range of topics under the social media marketing umbrella. The speaker who most resonated with me was Dyaton Barnett. He was extremely lively and personable, and the social media accounts he manages target 18- to 24-year-olds effectively. His passion for his career was evident in his presentation. He manages social media accounts for the Lake Erie area. Being from Toledo, I have visited Put-In-Bay and many of the locations he mentioned. Knowing the places he creates content for made his presentation particularly interesting because I understand the feeling and vibe of those places, and I believe his content accurately represents them. I found it interesting how he mentioned needing to adjust some of the messaging he initi

I use Snapchat pretty regularly, as many people my age do. I would say by no means am I an avid Snapchatter, but I am on the platform quite frequently. So, I was not surprised when the demographic infographic showed mainly people in the age range of 18-24. In addition, the infographic shows the United States is the second-leading country of Snapchat users, behind India. This also makes sense to me because India has the largest population overall. However, I did not view Snapchat as a marketing platform prior to reading this chapter. The chapter remarks that Snapchat has a unique audience to raise brand awareness. I also didn't expect Snapchat advertising to be as successful as the chapter remarks. The book states that the advertisements on Snapchat receive twice the visual attention of Facebook advertisements. The large audience that is frequently on the platform allows companies to easily gain traction through their advertisements on Snapchat. I feel that when I view ads on the pl

This past week was Spring Break. I thoroughly needed a break from school and stress, and that's exactly what I did. My mom and I went to Lido Beach and stayed at my step-grandparents' condo on the ocean. The location of their condo is amazing: not only is it oceanfront, but it's also a mile or so from downtown. Every morning, I would walk downtown, grab a coffee and walk back. This would always set the tone for the day, productive yet relaxing — more on the relaxing side. The rest of the day would be spent outside. Two of the days, my mom and I went to Siesta Key, which is absolutely gorgeous. The first day we went to Siesta, my friend from club volleyball texted me out of nowhere and said we were on the same beach. So, of course, we met up and caught up for a while. I learned she attends Hope College and is studying political science. She wants to go into the Peace Corps after she graduates. After the beach, my mom and I would go inside and clean up after being in the sun

  This week, my brain is officially checked out. This week has felt like the same day over and over again. Today, I finally had a mental breakdown. I tend to overstress myself and let everything fester until I explode. Although not a traditionally good way to deal with stress, it works for the meantime for me. I'm still figuring it out. But, this upcoming week, I am ready for a break. My mom and I are going to Sarasota, Florida. My grandpa Stephens lives on a key in the area; however, we're staying at his beach house. Last year, we were able to do this, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. My mom and I go for walks each morning in the nearby town. By the time we get back, it's beginning to get warm out, and we change to go out to the beach. Then, we make up some cute, fruity water for the beach and layout. When I say this, I mean I’m laying straight into the sun, practically begging to get burnt, while my mom has on 50 SPF and is in the shade. I live by one motto, and one motto onl

Chapter Six covers the startup and statistics of Pinterest. I was shocked at the slow start Pinterest experienced. This surprised me because I feel as humans we are very visual people, so an interface solely focusing on visuals and aesthetics of graphics, I assumed, would flourish quickly. However, Pinterest has interface metaphors that were not common at its release, such as the "pin" and "board" concepts. But, by the year after its release, the platform quickly grew to the top 10 most-used apps. Another thing that surprised me about Pinterest was its demographics. Over 70% of users are female. This is to be expected for an app that mainly focuses on aesthetics and inspiration; however, two out of three of its founders were males. So, were they expecting the interface to be so female-dominant? This intrigued me, so I decided to look around the internet to find out why Pinterest is such a prominent female platform. I found from multiple sites that the high Pinterest

Spring break  In Chapter 5, Marketing with Instagram, the book has a section about Instagram's response to COVID-19. I found this particularly interesting because I clearly remember my life during that time period. I was walking through the halls with my boyfriend at the time when we heard over the announcements that spring break would be extended to two weeks. I was so happy — I was struggling with school at this time and really needed a break to get my head straight. So, three weeks off sounded just like what I needed, little did I know that we weren't coming back the rest of the year. Ultimately, I had a pretty positive experience throughout COVID; I learned a lot about myself and ended with a 4.0. However, I do remember what a huge part of my life social media played. Social media, including Instagram, was the only way to connect with my friends and stay up to date. I resisted downloading TikTok until late in COVID; the first week I had it, I spent over 11 hours on the app

This week, I am hosting my first event for Alpha Xi, and I am beyond excited. This Saturday is "Ladies We Love Day," an event for all the sisters and their mothers or significant female role models to visit Northern. This event is always super fun with my friend group. Before the Alpha Xi event, all our moms will join us at Tavern 101. Afterward, we plan to visit a senior's house off-campus to hang out. Bonding with my mom during this new phase of my life is incredibly rewarding. My mom and I are extremely close—I cannot imagine life without her. She is an alumna of Northern and always has hilarious stories from her time on campus. I personally believe that Mom’s Day, Dad’s Day, Homecoming, and Founders Day are critical events that showcase to alumni and parents the value of their support and financial contributions. Ironically, these events receive the smallest budget—brutal, indeed. However, I am determined to make this year's event memorable and unique for all the

This last week, I decided it was time. I was finally going to rearrange my room. When I moved in, I naively decided to put both of my desks underneath my bed, meaning that to get them out, I would have to take apart at least one of my beds. I have been working without a desk for the entire year up until this Saturday. This became increasingly difficult to work and focus as I would have my computer on my lap for hours on end, designing. My computer would overheat, burn my legs and cause huge implications for my work. This Saturday, having nothing to do, I called Polina. She and I had just got back from the gym, luckily it was a leg day, and we started getting to work. Lifting the heavy pieces of my bed, futon, dresser and ottoman was a workout in itself — not to mention the solid block of wood we have for desks. We started the process at noon and miraculously were able to take apart the bed and get the desk out within an hour. After the bed was put back together, I told Polina I could h

Chapter 4 covers Facebook, oh, Facebook. I struggle with Facebook because it's set up so differently from Instagram, which I find much easier to use. Additionally, I feel Instagram targets a younger audience, making me more accustomed to its interface. However, as mentioned in Chapter 4, the Meta Business Suite acquired Instagram for $1 billion and WhatsApp for $19 billion. This confused me. I've never used WhatsApp. It seems like a platform with little conversation around it. I even had to ask my friends what WhatsApp was used for. I thought it was some sort of purchasing site — I was very wrong. But what I find confusing is that I'm always talking or hearing about what my friends post on Instagram and the latest scoop. So from my perspective, Instagram is more popular because my generation is so active on the interface. So why is WhatsApp valued so much more? Even the graph in the book shows Instagram and WhatsApp have the same number of active monthly users. Did Instagra