Bloggin’ it out in first year

As I officially wrap up my first year of Advertising Marketing Communications at St. Lawrence College, I’m starting to reflect on all the personal growth I endured throughout the year.  Part of my personal growth was maintaining my blog while I was attending school.

As much as I like to say I did a great job of posting regular content… I did not lol. I did manage to write some opinion blog posts that really refreshed my blog of just strictly fashion.

I enjoy voicing my opinion on current marketing topics and sharing with you all hopefully pieces of wisdom or something of interest you can think about.

One key lesson I learned during my time blogging for class is that in marketing you can’t target everyone and that’s okay. As much as some people enjoy the creative fun and fashion sense theme of my blog, some find it confusing or don’t really see the point.

For people who felt that way; as it would be costly to market to everyone, it would be very time-consuming for me to try and please everyone’s opinions as to what a great blog should sound like.

Something I’ve learned about myself as a writer is that I’m always geared to elevate my writing. Whether it’s my instructors trying to get me to improve my grammar or proofreading I’m always taking the initiative to bring my writing to the next level.

Something crazy I’ve experienced while blogging is that my voice gets brought on a higher level, and globally my ideas and posts can be viewed by anyone.

I’ve never been the person to put my opinion on display with the fear of rejection or conflict but being able to voice my opinion in the context of the blog gives me a sense of comfort and confidence that makes me want to invite others opinions to form a discussion.

As I continue to blog, I hope to connect with more of my audience and share my ideas while I continue this journey of fashion, body positivity and marketing. Tomorrow (April 27th) I am shooting a late spring lookbook showcasing some spring outfits ideas for next week.

so more content is to come this summer and I hope you enjoy!

I would love to hear my readers opinions on anything you’d like to see me write a post on, I love suggestions!

-Marki xx

Gif from Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, posted by gramunion.com

AI enabled marketing reaching out a hand of support instead of a nudge of persuasion

Most people now when scrolling through Facebook can automatically find a banner or click advertisement of something they had just googled for an hour ago haunting them as they try to update their status about how crazy the world is getting, am I right? (would have to book off a week to talk about that)

Besides that point, Facebook is more than just a sharing community and bringing people together, they also can track your data using your information, status moods and frequently searched keywords to create this beautiful banner ad that you will hopefully click on (and buy something.)

This is called AI enabled marketing, curata.com puts it best when they say that Artificial intelligence refers to machines with capabilities that mimic cognitive functions associated with the human mind—most notably learning and problem-solving.

This means Facebook takes your data that they collect from your cookies, and gives it to other marketers to create an advertisement that fits what you’re feeling and what you want to see.

I never thought about this truly in-depth until my instructor for my Consumer Behavior class had us Listen to an eye-opening podcast by Sam Harris

that talked about Persuasion and control and how AI facebook algorithms cause consumers to see only the things Facebook thinks you want to see and how it uses your moods to create advertisements off of your vulnerability

Some people might see this as unethical, but I think that it could help in many people as well who are at a low point.  A great example is that Tumblr uses AI technology by picking up keywords when typed into the search to bring a helping hand if someone is feeling depressed or broken.

Tumblr creates an ad for their vulnerable consumer to spread support and awareness that hopefully brings them out if whatever mood they are feeling, which to me is a more ethical way of marketing.

I encourage you to check out Sam Harris’s podcast and create your own opinion of this AI debate around facebook, id love to hear your opinion as well in the comments! hope you enjoyed my thoughts!

1. Marki xx

screen grab from Tumblr.com

The female advantage in leadership

This post is about a woman thought leader that I had chosen for a project, and just dipping my toes into the book so far, shes got some certain ideas of how women lead

my definition of a thought leader would be someone respected, who has gain years of experience and shares their thoughts on a certain topic to influence others and create a discussion, but Forbes does a better job with their words on the subject.

thought leader, borrowed from GIFY

My thought leader is Sally Helgenburg,  she is a consultant of leading as well as a published author, with a few of her books being about women in business leading themselves while rising to the top.

On her website, she has a list of her books as well as areas of leadership she has done keynotes on, check her out if you like to know more about her!

My thought leader project is based on her book from 1994 called: The female advantage, women’s ways of leadership. I first chose this book excited to have a female role model to learn from and get inspired on how to become a stronger leader especially in an industry that has seem to be more male-driven in the past.

From just starting the book, the vibe of these thoughts is shaped around the idea of the female temperament versus the male.

Sally gets at the point that men are a little drier and cutthroat when it comes to dealing with employees while, Women say that the way to inspire and get the most out of employees is to be uplifting and trustworthy to them.

being the fact that this book was made 24 years ago, so far I found it to be a little stereotyping with saying men are tough and women are softer, which sometimes it is the case of who you are but with the feminism movement we see today in 2018, women can also be very stern and dry when it comes to managing other people and men can be more gentle.

An idea of a stern woman leader, borrowed from GIFY

I will write more about this book once I get more into it, i feel like its going to get a lot more inspiring as we dig deeper into The female advantage.

what are your thoughts on the female advantage? do you believe that women do have a sense of leadership that men don’t have? let me know in the comments!