Lesson 16

I reviewed the following blog's Commercial solar Entry.   I found it to be very informative. However, I have no experience with solar panels in commercial applications so the technical terms confused me. If someone was familiar with this particular technology, they would probably understand most of the material presented. This blog entry went on to describe benefits of installing this for a business as well as the ROI of investing in this technology.

One of the items missing from this blog was a call to action. Darren Rowse lists this as the final sign of an effective blog in a blog entry he wrote. This blog should have had a call to action for businesses to purchase this technology. It could have listed web sites to purchase the technology as well as grant application links. This blog was very informative and contains valuable information, however it does not contain a call to action.

Twitters to Follow

Twitter is the only SM channel that I have intentionally not joined. I was on Facebook the second my college could have it. I utilized Pinterst as soon as my account was approved. Twitter is whole other story. I think the symbols and amount of time following celebrities made me think twice about joining.  However, day that has changed. For a class assignment I had to join Twitter. Since I enjoy traveling and want to spend the rest of my life seeing the sights I tried to gear my Twitter toward traveling. I decided to follow The Travel Channel, Andrew Zimmerman and Samantha Brown.  I want Samantha Brown's job one day- whenever she decided to retire. I am considering following Ashton and Lindsey Lohan- but only for entertainment purposes. I do not expect learn anything intelligent from their Tweets.

On another note, I have decided to follow some sustainability tweets. The Carbon Footprint one sounds the most interesting to me. I feel like it relates to travel in some sort of way. Overall, this assignment has caused to enter the world of Twitter and embrace it, one tweet at a time.

@KaraHopeH

The Value of a LinkedIn profile

Discuss: What is your opinion of LinkedIn? What are the pros & cons? Be sure to include whether or not your currently have a LI profile. Are you a member of a LI group? Are you a regular contributor to the group? Do you post regular status updates and/or send notes to colleagues to keep in touch? What has your experience been? What have you learned about LI? ie. What advice would you give to a user? If you do not currently use LI, do you have plans to start? If yes, what will your focus be? If no, why not?

LinkedIn is a social media platform that I have lots of experience with. I have used it from a marketing perspective for an employer and also, for personal growth and looking for a new job. I would describe LinkedIn as Facebook for professionals. When I utilized LinkedIn for marketing purposes, I was a regular contributor to groups related to the industry my company was part of. I would post relevant articles, monitor group activity and post releases that I wrote for the company. One of posts, in particular, lead to me being the lead contributor for a couple of weeks. My contribution led to meeting other professionals within the industry. Since my job has change, I am no longer actively contributing to any groups.

This summer I went through a job transition. One of the ways I searched for new jobs was connecting with people on LinkedIn and applying for jobs through LinkedIn. I completed my profile, as well as searched thru all of my connections to find more people to connect and reach out to. This process taught me the power behind LinkedIn and the need to maintain my profile. As a result, the second I got my new job, I immediately updated my profile and began reaching out to my new colleagues.  

Eventually I would like to be active in groups and connect to people within my profession, however this takes time. I believe it is better to post quality content here versus posting something every day that may or not may not be useful. I would advise someone to build their profile completely, reach out to friends and colleagues to start building connections and join groups related to your profession. Once you join the groups, learn group etiquette and then contribute meaningful material to those groups. When you contribute it establishes credibility and leads to more connections. 

The only downside I have with LinkedIn is that it takes time to update statuses, post content and reach out to old colleagues. However this is the case with all Social Media mediums. When I have more time, I would like to spend some it on LinkedIn, because I believe it is a valuable tool in the professional social media world. 

Lesson 12, second half

Social Media policy is something to consider for all companies in to in order to themselves and one of their greatest assets: their employees. I agree with the article titled “Should Your Company Have a Social Media Policy”  that a social media policy should apply to every employee within an organization and just the marketing department.  This is because all employees market the company whether positively or negatively.

The article went on to discuss a great point- when a company gives employees tools, such as access to SM, training needs to be done on how to properly use the tool.

So many times, companies do not implement policies and procedures until it is too late. This article does a great job of creating a sense of urgency for implementation of the SM policy. If a company implements a policy sooner versus later, they have the ability to create a positive SM experience instead of reacting to a negative one.

I think this article could have done a better job on touching on who forms the policy and how. The author is an HR professional, and this is the department that typically creates employee wide policies. I believe for a policy of this scale, a variety of departments should have a say in policy. If representatives from HR, marketing, sales, finance and operations/ IT all collaborate together the policy can created can cover all departments and their specific needs/ uses for particular SM.  I also, believe when using collaboration, the policy will be accepted company-wide quicker and with less disagreement about its implementation. Overall, the article was easy to understand and I agree with most parts of it.

Lesson 10- Sustainability Uses for Wiki

Plant Bottle Wiki Idea

People have become increasingly concerned about the environment and the harmful effects of too much waste.  In 2010, Coca-Cola created Plant Bottle.  Plant Bottle is made from 30% waste from Sugarcane instead of strictly traditional PET, which is petroleum-based. Coca-Cola began bottling it’s Dasani brand water in this packaging and seeks to expand its use to all of its products by 2020.  Plant Bottle technology is not just for Coca-Cola products. It can be used in any plastic container product.  Heinz purchased a license in 2011 to begin using Plant Bottle technology for its 20oz Ketchup container.

I think there should be a Wiki page created for Plant Bottle. The technology is new, but can be used in tons of applications for tons of industries. By creating a wiki page, more people will become aware of the Plant Bottle and offer feedback for enhancing the technology or additional uses for it. If this page is created, I think it would be successful in spreading the technology and eventually decreasing the use PET.

To see information on Plant Bottle and its technology visit the Coca-Cola Live Positively page.

Online/ Offline Media

SeaWorld is one of my favorite places. I have not had the opportunity to go since they created the Atlantis roller-coaster several years back.  SeaWorld specifically used social media to promote this campaign and had a very successful turnout, the first two weekends the coaster was open. SeaWorld targeted 20 bloggers that were classified as roller coaster enthusiasts. I think this was a brilliant idea. They made them feel like VIPs and appreciated.  By choosing to target bloggers, they chose to target people who were familiar and comfortable with the world of social media.  

Seaworld also posted a series of videos, which consisted of construction all the way to the first day the ride operated, on YouTube, and Veoh.  They made them easily accessible and easy to share and re-post.  They then shared the video with their audience of coaster lovers.  By choosing mediums that are easy to share, SeaWorld achieved word-of-mouth marketing with customers actually interested in roller-coasters for a fraction of the cost of traditional marketing methods. I believe this what made them successful at their campaign.

If I had done SeaWorld's campaign there is one thing I would have done differently. I would have offered the 20 bloggers, that were classified as VIP, the chance to ride one week before its official opening and media day. I am a strong believer in test-driving a product before purchasing it. I think if the bloggers had an opportunity to write about their experience before the ride launched it would have drawn more people to visit the park. I also believe that employees are some of the best marketers for a company. I would have had a special day for the employees to try out the new ride and have their picture taken, digitally, to share with friends, etc. This would have attracted a lot of local people. 

SeaWorld conducted surveys the first two weekends the ride was open. The survey results indicate that the ride was a success and therefore the social media campaign was a success. More people came to ride, and the campaign was the fraction of the cost of a traditional marketing campaign. 

All three campaigns engage people through social media that are actual prospective customers. In addition, they used multiple social media platforms and sought feedback through them.  They offered content that was easy to view and share with friends.  Each of the three cases had physical events to attend making all the social media come together around a central focus.  Overall, SeaWorld and the other companies leveraged several mediums in the social media world to promote and create a positive event. 

Multi- Generation

Its hard to believe that five generations of people are working under the same roof. It seems like just yesterday, Generation 9/11 was entering high school, not graduating, going to college and entering the professional workforce. I am officially part of Generation X or Millennials. I interact with Generation Y and Baby Boomers every day at work.  I decided to interview a Baby Boomer since I support two of them at my current job.

Each generation has a different view of what social media is. When I interviewed Linda, I asked her what was her definition of social media. She said "Social media is any form of communication between two individuals in which there is no eye contact or physical contact. This includes email, texting. Facebook. Linkedin, Twitter. etc"  Right away I feel slightly different from her. Social media can have face to face contact like facetime in the iPad and voice can be used when blogging or creating video for YouTube.

Next Linda and I talked about usage of social media, how often and what specific forms of social media were used. Linda says she uses it daily to communicate with friends, family and work customers.  However, she is referring to email here. Linda said she texts a couple of times a week, mostly to talk to her children since this is their main source of communication. She has both a Facebook and LinkedIn profile, however these were created by a younger family member and are not used more than once a week.

I personally utilize email all the time as well.  I email friends, family, work and school peers every day, so Linda and I share that aspect of usage. However, I utilize Facebook almost everyday and I utilized LinkedIn every day when I was looking for a new job.  I also blog about traveling in my spare time. My usage is different from Linda's usage.

Linda's personal view on social media is very typical of a Baby Boomer and very different from a Generation Y.  She said "My first experiences with social media outlets like Facebook was the observation that a lot of time was spent with virtually nothing accomplished. Because of this, I have in the past tried to avoid social medias. My experience with them is consequently very limited."  I personally view social media as tools for me to learn, communicate and express myself. I have them as a blessing and less like a burden.

Despite Linda thinking social media was a waste of time she is starting to see the benefit of it especially for her small business. Linda and I both share the desire to learn. As a result, she recently took a seminar that went over the basics of Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. Like me, Linda is starting to see that there is some real value in social media and is exploring opportunities learning how to use it.

Every generation thinks and acts differently. When they come together in the work place, new ideas are formed and new tensions arise. As seen in the above interview, each generation has very different views on whether of not social media is worth time and money to a company.  It is important, to cater to all generations when presenting a campaign to a company.  Raising profits is important to Baby Boomers while Generation X and Y see it as a place to share new ideas and learn new things.  If all of these points are conveyed in a social media pitch, then all generations can see the benefit of a social media campaign for their particular organization.

Video Statement

Statement: Relationship creation and building will be dominated by social media.

I believe the above statement about social media is true.  With the creation of the internet and the birth of social media, the way relationships are formed and maintained has shifted drastically.  According to the video,  “Social Media Revolution 2012,” one out of five couples met online.”  Ten or twenty years ago this form of relationship creation was unheard of.

Social media not only offers tools to create new relationships, it also makes it easy to maintain existing relationships.  In a recent blog on Mashable.com, the author writes about how social media allows a particular married couple to stay connected during a busy work day when they are apart.  The entry says “The couple uses Twiter to keep in touch, cheer each other on and ‘share the love.” With today’s technology there is not always enough time for a phone conversation, but social media allows you to communicate quickly and effectively with a loved one.

Social media makes it possible to connect with those from the past. Relationships that would have disappeared 20 years ago, now have the ability to resurface.  One blogger tells the story of how two teenagers went to camp and reconnected via Facebook 20 years later.  This blog entry highlights their dating and eventual marriage.

A recent news story reposted on YouTube, discussed that most people nowadays do not consider a relationship "official" until their relationship status is changed on Facebook.  This statement alone depicts how instrumental social media is in relationships today.  

As social media continues to grow and expand, more people are starting to prefer it as a primary way of communicating and maintaining relationships. In an article on Yahoo, it states that "39 percent of people surveyed spend more time socializing online."  This means instead of face-to-face communication or even verbal conversation, over one third of those surveyed prefer to communicate online.

Based on the above information, I do not believe the power of social media with relationship creation or building is likely to change anytime soon.  The only way for it to change would be for the Internet to crash or become an obsolete technology and new forms of communication to be established. I do not believe this is likely and instead I believe the world of social media will continue to grow. 

The Modern Museum of Fort Worth

I decided to visit the Modern Museum of Fort Worth on Sunday for two reasons: I was in town and it is FREE the first Sunday of every month.  The Modern is one of the places in the book 1000 Places to See Before you Die US and Canada Edition by Patricia Schultz.  The Modern just happened to have opened a new exhibit titled “Lucian Freud Portraits” that I got to see for free as well.

Disclaimer: I enjoy viewing art, but Modern is usually not my style.  I only spent an hour in this two-story museum and that was enough for me.  The new exhibit consists of portraits done by Lucian Freud.  The portraits are painted in a very modern style and several are completely nude.  This exhibit may be inappropriate for children and immature adults.  Photography is not permitted in this exhibit so I purchased a booklet of selected works for only $5.00. 

Floating Ladder

After seeing the portrait exhibit  I toured the permanent collection.  One of the most famous exhibits is a floating ladder. This exhibit is two stories tall and is pretty cool.  I also took pictures of an Andy Warhol painting of Marilyn Monroe.  My favorite exhibit is titled “Book with Wings” by Anselm Kieler.  The picture is small but this exhibit. In the picture below, it is small, but the actual exhibit is huge.  What I like most about it was that there was not fence so it looked like the book was floating in the air.

Book With Wings by Anselm Kieler

Andy Warhol painting

One of the coolest features of the Modern is the water feature outside.  It is SO tranquil and beautiful..  I took several pictures of this from different parts of the Modern.

On a separate trip to the modern, I had the opportunity to eat the Saturday brunch at the restaurant there.  The food was delicious and I wish I had pictures of what I ate.  What is your favorite meal at Café Modern?  Also what is your favorite work of art at the Modern?

Tomorrow I leave on a girls trip to the "Big Easy" aka New Orleans and the Florida/ Alabama Gulf Coast.  

Taco Milagro

This last weekend I went down to Houston for a bachelorette party in Galveston.  My sister is living there before starting graduate school next month in Lubbock.  Also, my friend from college lives there for the next couple more months before she gets married in October. They agreed to meet me for lunch at Taco Milagro.

Taco Milagro is a restaurant in the book 1000 Places to See Before You Die US and Canada, by Patricia Schultz. I decided the more people who eat with me, the more food I can sample.  The restaurant was created by the same people who created Café Annie in Houston.

Kacy, my sister, got to the restaurant early with me. As we were waiting in line, she suggested a margarita and chips while we waited on Mandell, my friend. Kacy ordered the Mango Margarita while I ordered the Strawberry Margarita. Both were frozen, strong and delicious.

We immediately got to work on sampling the salsas. This restaurant offers 8 different kinds of salsa and I wanted to try all of them.  The Mango Salsa tasted all right, Kacy compared it to Sweet and Sour sauce.  The Chipotle salsa had a smoky flavor to it. Kacy and I really enjoyed the Mild Milagros salsa and the green salsa.

Strawberry and Mango Margaritas with Chips and Salsa- YUM!

Sangria

When my friend arrived, we ordered food. Everyone ordered something different so we could taste the max amount of food.  Mandell ordered the breaded fish tacos with a Sangria.  The Sangria tasted good, but looked a little cloudy. Kacy ordered the chicken nachos and I ordered the Milagro Chicken Burrito, which was huge.

Breaded Fish Tacos

Chicken Nachos, these were awesome

After sampling everyone’s food we all decided that the chicken nachos were the best. They had fresh jalapenos and guacamole, which my sister and I love.  If we had to only survive on one food for the rest of our lives it would be guacamole hands down.  Mandell’s fish tacos were all right- she suggests getting the grilled fish instead of the breaded fish.  My burrito could have easily fed two people. Half  way through trying to eat it, I opened it up and started eating the insides with a fork.

Overall, we enjoyed our experience at Taco Milagro. It was a pleasant environment with good drinks, a wide salsa selection and food that fresh and quick.  If you want to visit the restaurant, I suggest waiting for a perfect spring or fall day and sitting outside on the patio.

Mandell and I on the Patio

Next week, I will be visiting a museum that is right in my backyard: The Modern Museum in Fort Worth.  What suggestions do you have for visiting this museum? 

The Nasher Sculpture Center

I visited the Dallas Museum of Art last week.  A couple of months ago I visited the Nasher Sculpture Center. The Nasher is about one block away from the Dallas Museum of Art. Also, if you want to visit both museums in the same day, you receive a discount off the ticket prices.  My mom’s friend Leanne suggested I visit the Nasher in the springtime because they have a large sculpture garden. Summer in Dallas in a garden is miserable, so visit in the spring, fall or winter. 

I am not an expert in the art of sculptures, but the museum is in the book, 1000 Places to See Before you Die in US and Canada, by Patricia Schultz so I wanted to visit it.  When I arrived at the museum, I could see straight out to the garden. After buying my ticket, which was only $5 for me, since I am student I went straight out to the garden.  The Nasher offers discounts to students, military and others, please check the web site (www.nashersculpturecenter.org).

There are several entrances to the garden. The main entrance is the one I went out of. I started on the right of the rectangular and worked my way around so I did not miss anything. I did not write down the names of the authors, but I took pictures of the pieces that stuck out to me. Below are some of the pictures.

My favorite piece in the garden was this red fork. I imagine Goliah grabbing this bad boy and digging into a huge cow or some other animal that just became his dinner.  Also, I really this group of men who are headless. If someone had been at the museum with me, I would have taken some pictures with this group of gentlemen.

The museum had several galleries inside. I skimmed through a couple of them, but the garden was my main focus. During the spring, this garden is perfect for reading a book and relaxing.  Inside of the Nasher was a really neat sculpture seen below. This was my favorite piece inside.

The Nasher is a really great sculpture museum. I chose to focus on the garden which was beautiful and peaceful despite being in the center of downtown Dallas. I suggest avoiding the garden in the summer when you are at risk of heat stroke or becoming the Nasher’s next piece of artwork. Next time I go, I am going to bring someone along so I can take some pictures with the giant fork and the headless gentlemen.  Next I head to Houston to check out a restaurant that is sure to fill me up without breaking the bank.

Dallas Museum of Art

A little history behind the making of this blog: I love traveling; it is by far my biggest passion.  A couple of years ago I came across a TV show on The Travel Channel based on the book, 1000 Places to See Before you Die by Patricia Shultz.  I was instantly hooked.  I bought the book as well as 1000 Places to See in US and Canada and instantly had a huge bucket list of places to go before I die.  As I went through the book I have marked where I have been as well as kept any details like brochures and tickets.

I started this blog to detail my excursions based on the book. Currently my husband and I are in our mid-twenties with zero kids, and two dogs who think they are kids.  In addition to working full-time, I am in graduate school finishing my MBA.  My husband is a history buff. His iPad is full of apps regarding history of Texas, the US and anything related to that topic. 

The most recent place I visited is the Dallas Museum of Art.  It is a destination in the US and Canada edition of the books I am following.  My husband is easily distracted at art museums and would prefer me to visit those by myself, which I am perfectly ok with.  We live in the Fort Worth area, about an hour away from Dallas.  After living there for over two years I have yet to take the TRE rail between the two cities.  I decided this was a great time to take the rail. After buying a day pass and boarding the train, I instantly turned into a little kid selecting a window seat and proceeding to stare out the window for the next hour.  After arriving at Union Station, I boarded the DART, which took me within 6 blocks of the museum. 

After walking about six blocks I arrived at the art museum.  The museum has multiple entrances with the ticket counter in the middle.  If you are a student like me, military or a teacher you receive a discount. Also if you have a DART pass like me the museum gives you $1.00 off your admission. I am a HUGE fan of discounts- I search all over the Internet for the best deal and love it when I save money.  I also love passing on good deals to anyone else interested in saving money. 

Highlights from the museum

Let me start out by how I approach art museums. I am not one of those people who can spend hours staring at a wooden tiki pole contemplating the meaning of the life.  If you are one of those people, I completely respect you but I am not wired that way.  Instead I look at the map and create a plan to see everything I want to see and then move on.  Also, I always start at the top floor. I prefer a downhill-stroll as opposed to an uphill-battle when viewing artwork.

I started on the forth floor (top floor) of the DMA.  I went through the American Art gallery and took some pictures of things I know my husband would think as cool.  Below are a couple of pictures of those paintings and furniture.  The DMA is big into decorative art in the form of furniture, which is different from other museums I have been in.

William Tylee Ranney, Veterans of 1776 Returning from War

Silver beer pitcher from 1858-1860

Painting of George Washington

On the 3^rd Level I walked through Arts of Africa, Asia and the Pacific in order to get to the exhibit I was most interested in: The Wendy & Emery Reeves Collection. This collection was donated by Wendy is a replica of their house, La Pausa which they bought from Chanel in the mid-1900s.  Chanel got my attention as well as the fact that Wendy was born and raised in Texas. This exhibit replicates rooms in the house including a library, dining room and bedroom.  The exhibit highlights works of art, furniture and other valuable antiques.  I felt like I was going through George Washington’s Mount Vernon home, except not so many people, luxury items and most important a steady stream of air conditioning.  Below are some pictures of this exhibit.

The Library in the Reeves Collection

The Dining Room in the Reeves Collection

The 2^nd Level of the DMA contains Ancient Mediterranean Art and European Art.  I briefly went through this exhibit and took pictures of the artwork I thought was neat looking as well as some Monet, one of the artists that I am familiar with.  This level contains several paintings that are huge- easily 12 feet tall.  When looking at these online they look a lot smaller.  There are lots of benches on this level too, in case you are one of those who studies paintings, or one of those like my husband who is easily distracted and may want a break from walking around the galleries.

The first level has pocket holes of contemporary art, which is not my personal taste as well as an area where you can do art projects with your kids. This is an area where they can run off some steam as well.  If you want souvenirs from the museum, the store is located on the first level as well.

All in all, my trip to the museum took about two hours.  This may seem impossible to some and forever to others but it was my experience and I enjoyed it immensely. I believe it was well worth an afternoon.  If you are interested in visiting the museum, visit the web site (www.dm-art.org) to learn how to get there, where to park and what special exhibits are on display during your trip.

Entrance of the Dallas Museum of Art (DMA)