Thursday, May 1, 2014

What a semester!! :)

Over the course of the semester in Laurie Boettcher's Social Media Marketing class, I have learned some amazing information that I will carry with me throughout my professional career. I dream of one day owning my own business and this class has given me a lot I can use.

The first social media we took a look at, we used throughout the whole semester and yes, it is blogger. Blogger is Google's blogging site and can be very useful for all types of business'. It also acted as a foundation to all our other social media outlets, meaning there were links to our others sites like Facebook and twitter. We consistently posted in blogger every Wednesday to show that the people running social media sites for companies must keep their audiences informed on a regular basis. Most of our posts were open to us to talk about what we wanted but a few of them had themes. This was perfect for real life business examples because when things like holiday come around, a company should definitely play into them to excite the public. In a real life scenario, I would definitely use this but maybe a different site.

The next site we were introduced to was twitter. Twitter is a microblogging service so like blogger, we can continually post to the piblic but only 140 characters or less at a time. Twitter has become massive world wide and is very important to business' to be on it. It is also a very important social media avenue for individuals like artists so this would be essential to my business if I'm sponsoring and networking with them all day. For class, we were to post 3 to 5 times a day in a logically sporadic fashion, meaning we were to hit our public with the right information not all at once. We also practiced retweeting our other classmates tweets when relevant. This showed us that looking out for one another can greatly increase your followers. Twitter is a very smart idea and will stay around for a long time. We were taught about EEI which stands for entertain, engage, and inform. We were taught that they are all three important and help your social media pages flourish. It is smart to cover the range of them and especially the ones your public is looking for. The high majority of my tweet were to entertain as I was displaying many artists and bands.
https://twitter.com/Platform4PG/media

After Twitter, we moved onto Facebook. I am most comfortable with Facebook because I use it almost everyday of my life as does most of the world. I also ended up having a majority of entertainment posts which makes sense for my business. This leads into the buddy media report which we learned about in class. it showed us the correct times for what business' to post. My company technically fell into the entertainment category. The report showed that most of my type of business' post Saturday to Monday when in reality, they should be posting Monday through Thursday. This makes sense to me as most people use their days off to get out and entertain themselves away from a computer. In a real life situation, this would definitely be one I'd use.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Platform4-inclass/1424049521174197

Now, Hootsuite was different than all the others. Hootsuite is a social media aggregator. This means you can sign up all your social media accounts and schedule posts and things through it for future dates and times. This can be extremely handy when you have a business that needs to post a lot on different mediums. It was kind of hard and weird right away but after a couple uses, I became used to it. I also didn't use it much for this class but in a real life scenario, I would use this only if I had a larger business.

We next moved into Pinterest. I personally really like this one! Pinterest is like an open paged board where posts can be placed. They also can be tagged or "badged." People can comment and favorite them and search by key words you tag them with. I like it so much because its much more visual than a lot of the other ones.

A very cool concept Laurie introduced us to this year was niche networks. A niche network is just like other social media networks but it is narrowed down specifically for certain users. We were to find niche networks that connected to our business. I came across a site called Behance.net. After working through it, I found I like the site much, I created a personal profile to use. It has the feel of Pinterest but through your profile, you create an Online Portfolio. All the things you post to the site connect back to the specific artist. You can also search by specific types of art and mediums which I really liked. Another amazing feature to this site the the job listing aspect of it. It contains an area where you can post or search for jobs. The search engine for this has things like area, field, and types. This niche site would be perfect for my business as it brings all types of art together and it helps the artists connect. I really enjoyed this one!!

Podcasts come next in the semester. I've done these before and am pretty comfortable with them. I have a few artists I follow pretty closely on their podcasts and am actually listening to one right now. For class, we were guided to a software called audacity. For me, I thought it was really poor and hard to use and because I have done them before, I just used my Garageband software on my mac computer. This made the whole creation aspect of it much easier. I was able to do it in one take which was also very nice. I used my favorite piece of personal equipment for it as well; The Blue Yeti Pro microphone.

Vines and commercials came next to our understanding of social media. Vines is a smart phone app owned by Twitter. Vines are short looping videos that can be shared on Vine, Twitter, Facebook, and many other sites. For class, we were to create two Vines pertaining to our business and mine turned out to be really fun. I really like the stop and go feature because you can make some really fun stuff up! Next was my commercial. We were next made to create a commercial for our business. We were assigned to create it on Youtube but again I decided to use Garageband and Imovie to make mine. It turned out to be super easy and quick and I was able to hit the 30 second mark very easily. This is one of the more important aspects of the class to me because visual commercials make such a personal rapport with your viewers.

All in all, this semester was definitely worth my time. While I already have a really good handle on most the social media avenues we were taught on, I got to find out some really cool information and information that will be very beneficial to me in the future for the work force. The weekly post were tedious but mirrored exactly how it really is. My favorite new information I came across from the class was the niche networks. It's something I truly pulled into my regular life and it has changed it for the better. The things I didn't enjoy the most were the daily posts but they are necessary and we also have things like Hootsuite to give us a path to help this. In the end of it all, I really enjoyed this class. It has given me some information I will use later in life and also helped me build relationships, online and offline.

~PGarry

Monday, April 28, 2014

ROI Blog

Social media measurement has become an amzing avenure for people to find professions in. The statistics that go along with how many people use social media and how many people use it for shopping and advertisement would portray exactly how important social media measurement reports are. having a good report can show you or your company exactly what is working and what is not. If you can find out what to post and when to have the greatest yield.

Being that Platform 4's facebook page is not used very much and is for the class, I currently only have 2 followers. I do not have exact access to number and posts at this tim as it is not a real business. The same goes for my twitter page but I do have 19 followers on there. I have 52 tweets and am following 29 others.

For my business, I wouldn't need any of the above actually either. If I had a business large enough to use any of them i would definitely pick the google analytics. I did thast one during class for a presentation and I realy liked the information they portray to the users. Especially if i had a very lage company.

~PGarry

Friday, April 11, 2014

First Commercial!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAFNwdFfLPA&feature=youtu.be

Check out my new commercial!!
It's a little information on my Thursday Night Mic Strike!!

Let me know what you all think.

~PGarry

Wednesday, April 9, 2014

Financial Arts!! /Life & Arts

In today's bustling world of online marketing and entertainment, it is vital to take into account that online reviews can make or break your business. My business is bring artists from across the local area and putting them into the spot light. I came across a review site that would be amazing for me and my fellow artists. The website is Financial Arts with a subheading of Life & Arts.

The reason I chose this review site is because it is in between local and main stream. It would be hard for talent to get onto the site but those that do would truly have what it takes. They would, in other words, be deserving for the publicity and reviews from the surround readers. It is also perfect for me because it ranges from so many different mediums of art. I'm not just a music mogul. I am an art mogul.

http://www.ft.com/intl/life-arts
I would like to ask the readers of my blog to let me know what you think of the site! Give it a look and let me know what you think. It could be a great avenue for us to all enjoy on and it is also a great place to find some cool stuff!!

Take care guys.
~PGarry

Wednesday, April 2, 2014

Fiery Girl

Hello guys!
I'm just going to show you a quick sample of some of my poetry as of late..

She's always just a stones throw away.
But.. it's like a dream where you can't function just right.
Like a tree trying to grow under and around a telephone wire.
Or like a dog who keeps forgetting about it's chain tied a foot too short.
Appreciate and breathe. Patience is key.
She knows I'd swim across every one of these seas.
Leagues and legions can't stop me from shouting her lyrics.
ReVerberating spirit. I know she fuckin hears it.
I just can't remember her name, or the things she'd always say.
I can't remember her face.. but I know she'd want me to be brave.

A portion of my statement can move her oceans.
I'll be her lunar light to create balance.
But she pulls it full circle.. cos without her moon beams,
My Earth would drown.
My lyrical berth would bow to dark side.
To the false heart's side. Too robotic and cyclical.

Tyranny would take away like grains of sand in a windy hour glass.

I guess we all need containment.. or shame would embrace us.
Humans are just animals, but animals who can realize art and creation.
Like our own make and our own station to each other.
We live for love, whether it's love to make kin or love for a brother.

We stand tall and strong on a rock that spins like no imagination.

~PGarry

This is just a reminder to all the people out there who are creating to be brave and to trust you heart.

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Poet's Contest!!

Hello all!

This weekend, Platform 4 will be hosting a poetry contest.

On Saturday, March 29 at Patrick Garry's house, there will an open mic style poetry slam! 11:00am to we fall asleep!!

Food and beverages will be provided as well. (Omit all allergies to PGarry in advance please: pgarry@student.cvtc.edu)

It will be judged by four slam poets and the top two winner get free social media promotion for two weeks (full terms discussed at the event or by email).


All are welcome!! We hope to see you there!

~PGarry

Sunday, March 23, 2014

New Podcast

Give a listen to my first podcast!
I touch on my favorite few artists and a little bit of west coast feel and artists.
Thanks for your time guys and I hope you enjoy it!

https://soundcloud.com/pgarry-slizza/podcast-1-sm

~PGarry

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Thursday Night Mic Strike!

       Hello out there!
New weekly event now underway!

Welcome to Thursday Night Mic Strike!
       It is starting Thursday, February 20th and continuing each Thursday of every week. Show up around 8:00 pm. Thursday Night Mic Strike! is an open mic night held in the garage of a local artist. It is entirely up to the performing artist to decide what they show to they audience, meaning there are no restrictions on content.
18+; This is required because the time of night and the open ended concepts of the artists.

       It is open to any who would to join! You may contact Patrick Garry at (507) 254-7315.

       Location: 6371 Prairie Circle South, Eau Claire, WI 54701

Thursday Night Mic Strike! is meant to be an open area where artists feel comfortable and energized to continuing creation. It is also meant to help people meet one another.

Let's get rockin'!

~PGarry

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Judge a book by it's public information

Facebook has become a worldwide craze. Initially directed at college students, it has taken off. It;s being used by children under ten and adults over 90. Along with the population, Facebook is also a well used avenue for businesses of all kinds. When thinking about this, it's obvious why privacy should be a concern. Facebook privacy is everything about what information is allowed to who.

Currently, my personal privacy settings show that I only trust the people I am friends with, although it only to a certain extent. There are photos and other things of me that are fully public but certainly nothing that would be detrimental to myself in anyway. Professionally, this says I am open enough to be out in the stream but smart enough to keep my things to the people I want.

I will not be making any changes to my privacy settings. While learning the privacy material is very important for future use, it doesn't concern me too much at this time.

~PGarry

Wednesday, February 5, 2014

       Twitter!! Twitter is a form of social media and microblogging service. Users are able to send "tweets" which are 140 character messages. Everyone has their own usernames and can be mentioned with the "@" symbol. It supports pictures as well.

       There are many pros of using twitter for my business. The biggest pro is twitters vast amount of users. So many celebrities use it all and everyday and so do other businesses. It makes for a great way to access instant information. I don't see any cons for my business and twitter.

       Here of some examples of engagement, entertainment, and information advanced through tweets.

Engage:
"Share this post and be entered to win a free P4 t.shirt!!


Entertain:
"Check out this oldie vid!! Classic.
bit.ly/1lBCsyM"

Inform:
"Heyo! @Bigwax's new mixtape is coming out later this year!!
Can't wait. Check him out on youtube!"

Hashtag tweet:
"Atmosphere's playing in Rochester next week!
#GodLovesUgly"

Mention tweet:
"Heyo! @Bigwax's new mixtape is coming out later this year!!
Can't wait. Check him out on youtube!"

~PGarry

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Album Art Contest!! Artists wanted!

         Attention Artists!
P4 will be holding an Album Art Contest.

Not only will artists have a chance to meet many local artists and vendors, they will have a chance to get on our weekly pod cast!

The genre of album art for artists to try to correlate to is a classic, funky, and/or blues album theme.

Prizes will go to the top three contestants:
3rd: $25
2nd: Free site ad space, $25
1st: Free site ad space, Pod cast interview, $50
It will consist of a 5 x 5 submission. Submissions must be sent to pmgarry@gmail.com in digital format.

Submissions are 15 dollars. One submission per individual.

Submissions are open February 1st at 12:00 noon and close February 10th at 11:59 pm.



All are welcome! The art will be judged by P4 and and local artists from the Eau Claire area. Good luck!

~PGarry

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Welcome to Platform 4; The Blank Canvas Hub.

       Welcome to Platform 4(P4). P4 is a stepping stone for undefined musicians and artists. It is run directly through Patrick Garry. He is a musician and artist himself.

       At P4, artists will be given opportunities like state of the art equipment, amazing work space, promotion to millions of social media viewers, and especially contact with other artists similar to them.

       P4 is striving to put new music and other art forms into the minds of the public. P4 is for all types of artists and avenues of entertainment. It can be thought of as a "hub" or "home base" for rising talent and aspiring individuals. It's main purpose is networking and promotion.

~PGarry