First Blog Posted

Hi everyone my first blog is up.

Picture from http://goo.gl/igrC1O

You can find it at http://meganphan.blogspot.ca

Module 3 Intro by Tara

This is my first blog, and I hope I published it correctly....

I am the Internal Communications Manager for Civeo - a global workforce accommodation specialist. This is a new role within the organisation, and at this time there are three on the team - me, myself and I. Together 'we' lead the planning, development and implementation of company-wide employee communications initiatives. This includes the analysis of new and/or improved methods of communicating with staff, which is where the enrolment into Effective Social Media Communication comes into play.

With an audience of more than 3,500 geographically dispersed, culturally distinctive and technologically diverse employees, communications can be a challenge. Approximately 75% of my workforce is "non-wired" or "remote", meaning that their job is not at a desk or even in an office. These employees typically work in manufacturing, transportation or housekeeping roles often in very geographically remote areas. Nor do they have a company-issued computers or mobile devices. Did I mention the communication challenges? :-)

I currently manage my company's social media recruiting platforms (Facebook careers page and LinkedIn) as well as contribute to the corporate social media platforms (Twitter, Facebook corporate page, etc.). These platforms are primarily used for communicating and engaging with potential staff (candidates/recruits) and not for connecting with current employees.

Our organisation is going through a large amount of change at the moment. Having recently spun-off from our parent company to create separate stand-alone, and publicly traded, company has left the organisation with a plethora of communications needs. Both inside as well as outside the company.

I graduated from the UofA with a B.Com in Marketing back in 2003 and have worked in the field of Marketing since. While I have dabbled in the SM arena since 2007, I find that there is still so much more to learn and discover. Pursuing a Social Media Communications citation is a beneficial, and necessary, path to this discovery.

I am hoping to be able to use the teachings from this course to enhance the development of my current communications plans and to be able to develop my company's first-ever social media strategy. In addition I am excited to begin exploring the idea of using social media to communicate and engage employees that have, thus far, been "unreachable" by traditional communications tools.

Thanks for taking the time to read my introduction. Looking forward to meeting all of you on Thursday.

This is a copy from my original blogpost: here

Module 3 - Non-profit Communications

As the Communications Coordinator for a small non-profit organization, communications plays a huge role in my day to day work-life. APPLE Schools (Alberta Project Promoting active Living and healthy Eating) is a research-based healthy school initiative dedicated to improving the health-behaviours of students, staff, families and community members (our stakeholders). Specifically we work with our stakeholders to improve healthy eating, active living and positive mental health behaviours. 

I've been doing the work of Communications Coordinator off the side of my desk for the past 3 years, and in June of this year the position was offered to me officially. My educational background is in Marketing and General Management, and the vast majority of my work experience has been in public health, making this role a terrific fit for my different skill sets. 

I'm currently working with the management and staff of APPLE Schools to develop a comprehensive strategic communications plan to help the organization reach its goals. This includes:

• clarifying our internal and external communications, 
• identifying specific communications goals, objectives and activities, 
• developing processes to make the organization more effective and efficient, and 
• developing a social media strategy, (which the Social Media Citation is directly helping me with). 

Additionally, I'm developing an online database to house data about all of our stakeholders, to assist us with developing grants and funding requests to the government, as well as communicating internally and externally with our stakeholders and partners. I also maintain a resource library that's accessed by over 100 different school communities and partners across Alberta, and write and distribute a weekly newsletter for internal use. 

Some of my future projects will include a YouTube channel to chronicle the different health initiatives and activities that happen in the schools we work with, and possibly a blog to support the distribution of these videos. 

Module 3: Communicating with Mortgage Brokers

Social media has always been a key fascination of mine, ever since 'Nexopia' was launched when I was in junior high. At the University of Alberta, I studied Marketing and graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce degree in 2012. I toyed with Facebook and blogs for a while, but it wasn't until graduating that I really began to realize how powerful of a role social media can play in people's daily lives. My personal social media experience shifted from sporadic Facebook posts, to a blog documenting my travels in Ecuador, and then my presence today—on a number of social media platforms.

Source: Flickr. (Illustrated by Gerardo Obieta.)

I'm currently a Marketing Coordinator at Optimum Mortgage—a division of Canadian Western Bank. Our clients are mortgage brokers, who are looking for lending solutions that will meet their customers' needs. Communications, in general, plays a pivotal role in my daily responsibilities. Some of them are:

• Creating, editing and distributing weekly Optigrams (eNewsletters), to thousands of brokers across Canada. 

• Finding innovative ways to provide product and service messaging at conferences and tradeshows.

• Developing content for editorials, magazine ads, digital ads, and our website. 

More recently, I have convinced our management team to consider social media as another communication tool. Through my own research, I've found that there are many brokers who use social media to connect with their own clients. Every week, I analyze trends in what brokers are discussing. Any trends I see are then used in the creation of our weekly Optigram. 

On November 22, I'm planning to launch Optimum's first Twitter account, which will coincide with the largest Canadian mortgage conference of the year. 

Breaking Barriers in Heritage through Communications

Broadly speaking, the Edmonton Heritage Council's mission is to connect people with the stories of their city. Our goal is provide a link between citizens, educators, artists, government, business—all valuable pieces in raising the profile of heritage in Edmonton.

It's easy to think that heritage is primarily the realm of historians, history books, and museums. But our goal is communicate that everybody is a character in the Edmonton story and we are all valuable actors in its preservation and sharing. It's still uncommon for heritage organizations to have an active online presence through a website, and rarer still for them to be active on social media. To us, this is a huge opportunity lost, since many of Edmonton's movers and shakers meet and communicate through Facebook, Twitter, and other social media.

We've all seen how quickly a tweet can turn an idea into a huge conversation, and then a meeting, and then a project, and then a big part of civic discourse. As the EHC's Communications Assistant, it's my job to initiate, engage with, and follow these idea surges in the hopes that people will feel encouraged to bring them to fruition. And it's also my job to ensure that people are aware that our organizations would love to help in the process, whether it's through grants, workshops or just advice.

At this point, most know what to expect from a museum or a history book, but there often isn't room in either for the creativity of the populace. The most unexpected stories we've heard have come from people with minimal or no heritage experience just giving it their all to see their passions through. Such was the case with Fred Armbruster, who is currently leading the charge to see the Edmonton Civil Defence bunker rebuilt back to its prime. For decades, nobody cared about this nondescript structure in the west end, but now locals are clawing at the opportunity to go inside. Our historians and museums are incredibly valuable resources, but getting the public more involved in the discussion of our identity will only give a stronger sense of who we are, where we came from, and the artifacts left in our wake.

Edmonton is a pretty creative city, and we have a knack for creating something out of nothing. This can come from anywhere, including social media. It's my job to communicate that these unique ideas—however daunting they may seem—have a place to go.

Introductory Post - Module 3

Hi there,

My first ever blog post. I hope this is the right place to post my first blog entry. I do not own a weblog currently, but have started thinking about starting one. 

I work in the non-profit industry. Non-profit is a unique industry to work in because you must be able to wear a lot of hats. The more diverse your skill set, the better your work performance. Of course, specialization in any field is a bonus. And there are a lot of opportunities for specialization. But I am just starting my career, so the more I can add to the conversation the better. 

Social media is the hot topic at the moment. I think it has been for awhile now. We are always looking for ways to increase awareness of our events and mission. It seems to be that most people spend their time on a computer, so why not go where the people are. Building stronger relationships with people connected to our community will only increase awareness and support for our initiatives. Finding people with similar interests online is much easier than trying to steward from nothing. At least I know that the online world can help me search and segregate those with an interest in the work I do.  

So, that's a little bit about me and why this social media class will help in the work I do. Thanks for reading. 

Introductory post - Module 3

Hello Everyone,

My field of study is Marketing. I’m a Marketing Professional with over 8 years of experience in various industries.  I really love what I do because marketing is an open mind occupation that allows me to explore and create new things and ideas. It allows me to satisfy customers and companies needs.

Regarding Communications I summarize my thoughts in just one phrase:

Marketing is all about communications

You could be the best marketer in the world, but if you don’t convey your message you won’t be heard and nobody will know you. Communications is the most important key factor of marketing, if you don’t communicate your ideas in a proper way you won’t reach your goals.

For me Communications as a whole (verbal and non-verbal) plays a very important role in my daily life, from my social relationships to my work interactions.  I'm ready to learn new things about Social Media Communications in order to improve my networks and my marketing skills!

Social Media Survey

Two important things to do this week! Please complete the following survey AND ·       Start your own blog! Add a comment at the bottom of this post with a link to your blog.

Module 3: Blogging

Module 3 Blogging Part 1

Activities/Assignments Class Blog: write an introductory post about you and your field of study and what role communication plays in your work on or before end of day Oct. 10 Complete the Social Media Survey: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dDQxWWpDcVdQY1BGSlNTVlVEelRpLXc6MA#gid=0 (In-Class Activity, Oct. 16) Start your own blog! Add a comment on the Module 3 blog post with a link to your blog