#ESMC Selfie: Before and After

Before

I learned a lot from this course, but I think the greatest take away for me is to be authentic. Social media is about being social: creating connections and strengthening relationships. Every Facebook post, tweet, and blog article should reflect yourself in some way, and offer a glimpse into your own point of view.

I also learned about the importance of creating posts that people want to interact with. Instead of spouting facts, be engaging.

After

Twitter Analytics

As noted in the lecture this morning, here are the links to Twitter tools for tracking metrics:

• TwentyFeet - See your Twitter footprint in one place. This tool will show you how many mentions you've accumulated, the number of replies as well as retweets and track your follow growth.

• Twitter Counter - If you want a straightforward tool that can measure your growth and compare it with that of your followers, this analytic tool will do the trick.

• Social Bro - Speaking of your followers, how about getting some stats on theirfollowers. This is a very powerful tool and has a lot to offer free-of-charge.

• Twitalyzer - This tool calls itself "Serious Analytics for Social Business" and seems to mean it sincerely. This has much to tell, you only need plug in and let it do the math.

• Twitonomy - If you want to know about your conversions, this is the metric for your business. It packs a big punch and allows you to identify things which matter to your business most.

• Twtrland - For those who don't like a lot of numbers, percentages and other figures, this is the application for you. It produces visuals and puts the stats into groups for easy reading.
• Crowdbooster - This has all you need to know and a bit more. A nice feature of this measurement tool is it tracks your retweets, most influential followers, and impressions. Plus, it will send you a weekly email with all your stats.

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. 

Adding Apps to Your Facebook Page

Assignment D asks you to create a Facebook Page. Since working on it in class, we have had numerous questions via e-mail and Twitter, asking how exactly to include apps on our page. Pertinent ones would be Pinterest, YouTube and Vimeo.

Here are some directions I tweeted:

Hashtag Activity

You can find the rubric for the assignment here.

Remember too to include references to what you've read leading up to this face-to-face session. Just below this video is the list of readings you did for this module.

Readings / Resources

Finding Electronic Articles from U of A Extension on Vimeo.

1.	Weblink	Kuta, H. (n.d.). Exploring the Pros and Cons of Twitter in Real-Time Events. Retrieved from http://blogs.adobe.com/socialpractice/exploring-the-pros-and-cons-of-twitter-in-real-time-events/
2.	Weblink:	Commoncraft. (n.d). Twitter Search in Plain English. (Video file). Retrieved from http://www.commoncraft.com/video/twitter-search
3.	Weblink:	Bruns, A., & Stieglitz, S. (2012). Quantitative approaches to comparing communication patterns on twitter. Journal of Technology in Human Services, 30(3-4), 160-185. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15228835.2012.744249 (you might find it easier to just search the university library for the title of this article)
4.	Weblink:	Doctor, V. (2013). How to ride on already popular hashtags without turning people off. Retrieved from http://www.hashtags.org/how-to/etiquette-how-to/how-to-ride-on-already-popular-hashtags-without-turning-people-off/