The Strides of Gallagher

Social media is not all bots talking to each other. It relies on people, and those people talking to other people and everybody listening to each other. But there are always people who will talk more than others and online they are looked up to. That person is what we can refer to as an influencer. Influencers aren't new. They've been around for centuries as people have tried to reach larger audiences with ideas and products. But the concept of this chapter focuses on social media influencers, a relatively new idea in the world of digital marketing. Funny enough some of the first social media influencers were writing blogs like this one. It's interesting to see what can start from something so small.  An influencer isn't just a person, they're someone who knows their environment and how to use it to its maximum effect. You can't have any old Joe representing a brand, you need someone credible and with a lot of reach. This reach can range from nano levels of a fe...

My New President's Pin As of writing this blog we are less than 2 weeks away from finals week here at Ohio Northern University. Coming off of the relaxing high of Thanksgiving break, for some this period of time can either be an uphill battle or a crash to the finish. But either way this semester is coming to a close. With that comes a lot of new changes and the end of some eras. For me there are a lot of things that fall under that category, but the one that I want to talk about today is a big change in my life. I am now the President of Phi Mu Delta!  This has been a change I have been anxious for a long time. Taking leadership is one thing, but accepting it in a difficult time in another. My fraternity has undergone some changes lately that have unfortunately hurt morale overall. Now I am coming into my leadership when it is now my responsibility to ease the frustration over those recent events. On top of that, my fraternity has a large older base of members who are going alum e...

 Within the realm of social media advertisement there are multiple forms of delivery for sending ads and other marketing material out to the internet at large. But when a company decides to focus their efforts on one goal in a coordinated manner through their platforms, this results in the social media marketing campaign.  Social media marketing campaigns are described in the book as directed efforts to unify outward communication to a specific business or marketing goal. Many types of marketing campaigns exist, but as of late, social-only campaigns have become the majority of the market. This is interesting to me because I never noticed this. Most of the time when I am traveling (which is semi-frequently) I see a billboard or magazine ad for something I've seen online ads for. This also could be my own unawareness of what goes on outside of my normal driving routes. Like funnel-style marketing, social media marketing campaigns follow a funnel model of operation called AIDA (A...

Go Bears! Ah snow. The white flaky stuff that falls from the sky and plagues Ohio for what seems like an eternity every year. Just when we think it is gone the world decides to drop I mean "storm of the century" on our state with no hesitation. But despite all this winter is still my favorite season by far and there are a few reasons for it.  Firstly, I am a cold weather person. Summer is fun and all with water activities and the lack of layers needed to be outside, but winter makes me feel more energized oddly. Cold is refreshing to me, it's easier to breathe and makes me want to be active to keep my body temperature up. Plus with winter clothes I can layer depending on where I am going and for how long I'll be outside. In summer the options are usually shorts, t-shirt, hat occasionally and not much else because heat is unavoidable. But with cold you can choose how cold you want to be. Besides, it's fun to see my breath when it's cool out. Another reason I li...

 Our current media age is one of constant sharing and updates on our personal happenings. Everywhere you look on the internet there is a fragment of someone's personal life floating right there for everybody's viewing pleasure. But how did we get here? Well in 1994 a college student named Justin Hall created a website to share his personal opinions and daily events in his personal life. This was the first blog. Through a long time of evolutions and new technology we eventually arrived here to me writing this blog! But what happened in between then and now? Well for starters, blogging set a few precedents and ideas that would persist throughout all who use it and it's successors. That being timely updates, humanizing digital presences, generating meaning, and personal connection. These benefits extend to marketers too as they can use these to connect with customers on a deeper level than general ads on social media. This is why people like blogs so much, they are more than j...

 So if you know me well you'd know that I like to cook and bake. And if you don't know me...well now you know I like to cook. I can't always cook with my schedule and lack of money, but when I can I love to make complex and rewarding dishes. Salmon cakes, roasted Brussel sprouts, garlic crusted mac & cheese and more. But above all else I have a sweet tooth and love to make desserts. One of my favorite desserts to make is fudge. Fudge is a very simple recipe but highly modifiable and enjoyable. Many recipes mark themselves as "3 ingredient fudge" where the only ingredients are chocolate, condensed milk, and vanilla. While this basic combination is delicious on its own there is much more depth to be added. And that is half the fun of cooking and baking, experimenting! Try adding ingredients you would use in other recipes like brown sugar or almond extract. Or try something wild like lemon juice or potato chips. I've tried multiple combos both "original...

 TikTok has been a controversial and extremely popular social media app that has quickly came to the top of the internet scene in the past few years. Founded in China in 2016, the app initially had a Chinese-exclusive audience. But after merging with another app in 2018 it was released to the worldwide market to critical success. Now with over 1 billion active monthly users, it sits among the greats of social media at the sixth most used app in the world. This makes it one of the most sought after marketing tools for social media advertisers today.  TikTok garners the highest user engagement of any social media platform with an average of over 10 minutes of usage. Most users use the app daily for almost an hour! With the way TikTok does advertising, it is impossible to go on the app without seeing an ad. TikTok ads are impossible to avoid as they pop up whenever you swipe to the next TikTok post with no way to tell what is coming up. Other apps have skippable ads or are easy t...

 I am a Junior here at ONU. This means I have been here for what is going on my third year. I've done a lot here at ONU so far, not as much as I would've liked to in retrospect but at the time it felt like enough. I've seen the best this place has to offer and the worst, occasionally those two aren't far apart. But all-in-all, this has been some of the best years of my life thus far. Freshman year was mostly a discovery period for me. Covid rules made this hard to grow as much as I wanted to, but I found my way through. I joined a fraternity which is something I never expected myself to do! I switched majors as well which allowed me to pursue more things in line with my interests. Sophomore year was when I began to hit my first real stride. I moved in with my best friend, got more responsibility in my organizations and started a photography club. This year is when I started to gain some more confidence in myself and my choices as a college student. Talking to people bec...