Final Presentation UBER

Getting around now at days can become quite expensive but as social beings we are always looking for a way to better our situation and in turn that of those arounds us. UBER a ride share service that is regulated by an app in which individuals can hook up with a ride to go to where ever they need to go The cost of the ride depends on they type of car you chose and 20% goes to UBER while 80% goes to the driver. 

UBER helps perfectly define what technologies the groundswell is talking about in the following quote, "the groundswell a social trend in which people use technologies to get the things they need from each other, rather than traditional institutions like corporations". 

Aside from being a technological tool in the world of groundswell UBER also uses some of the groundswell's concepts in order to succeed. 

Although UBER provides the physical service we are looking on an app. Consumers also seek comments, opinions, ratings, and etc from each other. This is where social media in effect comes into play. A various number of news reports gave people the freedom to express how they think UBER may be dangerous.  Comments and articles of that nature are often permanent because what happens on the web will stay on the web and although that might seem like a disadvantage to some if we can come to understand how the web and its new technologies work we as businesses and corporations can use them to our advantage, this idea is also part of the groundswell. Thus UBER decided to respond with the methods and policies they use in order to ensure the consumer's safety. 

Here is an excerpt from such an article:

To stay safe, Kasselman recommends riders take advantage of the app's "share your ETA" feature.

“As soon as your ride is confirmed and the driver is on his way, you can actually input your destination into the app and share that with anyone via text message,” Kasselman said.

Pals can even watch your journey on a map in real-time, using the Uber app.

After booking a ride, the app sends riders a photo of their driver, his license plate number and a description of the vehicle, so they know who to look for.

“There’s also real-time tracking,” Kasselman said. “It gives the rider a real sense of security.”

Riders should never get into an Uber car they didn't order.

Aside from energizing the groundswell UBER's employees love it from the drivers to the technicians. Technicians are happy because of the company's transparency, which suggest that the company listens to its employees. And drivers are happy just look at this video! 

Origional Blog Post 1: Technological Advances in Banking Coming Soon

Have you ever experienced fraud? Some of us don't realize what it means and how simple it really is. Although is can apply to many crimes fraud is usually directly related with the use or gain of money or goods that in reality do not belong to you. When we thinking of our current banking situation it may dawn on us that fraud can occur from something as simple as a faulty signature or the misusing of a credit card that's not yours. Because it is so easy for some one to grab a pen and sign a check, use someone else's card, or even peak over a person's shoulder and learn their pin number.

The fact that it is so easy to basically steal money from others has made many consumers have worried that this too will happen to them. How are banks, the central intermediaries of money handling, addressing the issue? Easy they are beginning to market and develop new technologies that will put their customers at ease.

The newest and most popular invention related to this since online banking apps is the new mobile check deposit which is used through the main banking app. The process is fast, simple, and easy. All the consumer must do is log in to their banking app, find the option for depositing a check click on it allowing the screen to turn into a camera, and finally take a picture of the check. This will deposit the check into your account as if you had taken a trip to the bank. Banks are not only promoting this as a safe way to secure checks but it is also hassle free, less time consuming, and all around convenient.

 
This is just the first of many new technologies that are to come in the banking world. There is talk about doing away with bank cards and pin number all together and replacing them with finger prints or retina readers. Checks may cease to exist soon. And how will banks market this? They will simply tell banks that apart from being safe its convenient. Your finger print is only yours and no one else's giving a 100% guarantee that you and only you have access to your money.

This is only the beginning!

Social Media Monitoring Assignment: Domino's Pizza Turnaround Campaign

Have you ever tried a pizza that its crust tasted like cardboard? Ugh! Would be my reaction. Never mind it tasting like cardboard with ketchup for sauce. Well sadly enough this is what customers were accusing Domino's Pizza of a couple years ago.

Some history: Like most corporate success stories, Domino's started out small – with just one store in 1960. The initial intent which remains the same till this day was to provide good tasting pizza with delivery in 30 minutes or less. In 1978 the 200th Domino's store opened, and things really began to expand. By 1983 there were 1,000 Domino's stores and 5,000 in 1989. Today, there are over 11,000 stores – including more than 5,000 outside the United States. 

Lets take a look of what this pizza looked like

That is not appealing at all!!!

So what did Domino's decide to do? Well they decided to fix the issue by starting a campaign known as the "Turnaround". This campaign was a way for Domino's to reinvent self through energizing the groundswell. They were actually listening to the consumers word of mouth, and not only they were listening but they projected it through out their campaign. So as to say, hey you guys are right and what we have been doing is unacceptable, therefore we are going to do the following to change it. Just take a look at the following video and see if it does not follow such trajectory. 

Reactions to the Campaign in Social Media 

Ice Rocket: According to this social media tool the turn around campaign has people still talking about it in a positive way. Twitter accounts mentioning Domino's seem to keep posting the following "Domino's Is Suddenly The World's Hottest Pizza Chain", and blogs seem to be trending about the honesty of their campaign, which has allowed for the company to build trust with its consumers. 

Social Mention (for campaign): 

Brand as a Whole:

Trends:

Domino's Crust

Domino's Pizza 

Social Media:

Twitter 

Facebook 

Conclusion

Comparing food chain to local gem: It is obvious that Domino's Pizza fell into the trap that most food chains fall into, loosing that home made non processed taste that everyone wants when they are not willing to do it themselves. Corner Grille being a local specialty pizza shop can offer some suggestions as to how Domino's can help incorporate some of the groundswell's concepts. 

1. Energize the Groundswell: Word of mouth is something that is vital to any company or business. Sure you can put anything on your website because its yours and why would you bash yourself on it? Corner Grille relies heavily on this and so should Domino's. Don't only look at your self as a brand but each store needs to strive for the recognition of their community. Pay attention to reviews as an individual rather than a whole. 

2. Know Your Customer Base: Corner Grille targets college students because it is in a city heavily populated by students. Where are you? Who are your deals based on location marketing to? Each individual store create a Facebook page so this is manageable.

3. Incorporate the use of the Groundswell: Create campaigns that will require customers to market for you. Such as hashtaging in which consumers can win a prize or earn a discount. Move on from the crust!

Reading Blog 4: Google not only listening to their employees but giving them freedom

As we read the groundswell we learn that a companies success is not found only by tapping into the minds ands like of its consumers but also in the thoughts and actions of its employees. It only makes sense that it is crucial that employees feel as if they are being heard and more importantly that they can makes changes. The people who understand best how your business runs best are your employees and it is because of this there questions and concerns should not be only heard but they should also be addressed. This also builds a sense of community in which trust is key allowing for a productive environment. Google and its comfortable creative environment allow for this productivity.

As we can see in this video is all about listening to its employees by collecting data from them in the form of surveys, interviews, and even psychological profiling them in order to figure out what it is they need in order to work as productively possible. 

The biggest challenge for companies however is how its employees regulate there communication so that this type of productivity and success happen. As highlighted in the book some companies like Best Buy have blogs in which they allow employees to fully express themselves in regards to issues that may be taking place. Although a blog may be a nice idea in some cases google has taken it to a whole other level with its creation of Google Moderator. This application, created during the 20% of almost free time that engineers have to dedicate to any projects that may interest them, allows the management of feedback from large numbers of employees. Through it they may vote for the top questions they think should be posed and ask their own. It aims to make sure that every question has been considered, lets spectators see others' questions, as well as helping the moderator of an event or team address the questions its audience cares most about. By empowering their employees through freedom of expression they have created a service that facilitates two way communication between staff in management, rather than a ranting blog or overflowing email. 

How to use Moderator 

It is communication like this that is efficient, quick, and understandable which in the long one keep employees happy not just because they are being heard but because there idea and strategies are actually being taken seriously and are being implemented. 

Original Blog 3: My Fitness Pal App

In the past few years we have all noticed the fitness and health craze including fads like yoga, sushi, and greek yogurt just to mention a few. But have we ever stopped to think how is it that this trend has even made it into our smartphones? Well that is what we will discover in today's blog. The app called My Fitness Pal has made its way into both the iPhone and the Android market. This relatively new app makes easy to keep track of ones calorie intake throughout the day as well as provide health advice and tips to maintain or loose weight. It even has a blog where you can read health related article and even find recipes.

So Exactly What Is It? And How It Can Help

The reviews state that there are both pros and cons to the app, as there is with everything. All in all however the app seems to be quite useful, having used it on my holiday vacation to track what I ate and how much exercise I needed to do to maintain my weight. What was great about the app was that not only does it scan in bar codes to make the process easier but it also contained a search box in which you could look up home made meals such as "arroz con guandules" (a typical Puerto rican dish) and add it to your daily food diary. Therefore almost making your calorie intake exact. This energizes a web phenomenon known as the groundswell because its taking a step further than just listening to its audience its catering to them before they ask. Lets face it there is a grand majority of us that eat traditional home cooked meals on a daily basis and cannot scan every item we use because they are not fully consumed by us and are just ingredients to a dish. Its the dish we are worried about figuring out. 

Counting Calories

When it comes to logging exercise, My Fitness Pal is great. There are loads of different exercises to choose from, from running, to skipping. All you have to do is log the amount of time you spent doing the activity or, if you used gym equipment, you can log the amount of calories the gym equipment told you that you’d burnt.

Tracking Exercise

The best this about the app is that it can be accessed from your computer, tablet or phone. 

Who is marketing it and pushing for its use? 

Interestingly enough you will find a lot of talk of this app mostly in fitness magazines. Fitness Magazine has several online articles talking about the new app as well as promoting its use. Now this is a cleaver move on their behalf because a large amount of their customer base are people who are trying to lose weight. If you simply google Fitness Magazine the first words after the magazine title are "weight loss-plans". People who read the magazine, download the app, and loose weight will accredit their weight loss ultimately to the magazine because it was their source of information leading to heir discovery of the app. And chances are people who use the app are likely to loose weight because research shows that those who keep a food journal six days a week lost about twice as much weight as those who kept food records one day a week or less. These positive results will keep customers subscribing for more magazines in order to learn new technologies or tricks that can continue to maximize or even maintain their results. Fitness magazine is promoting the app so much that they even posted an interview with the app creator on youtube. 

If you are trying to lose or maintain weight this great app may very well help. It is important to stay healthy and take pride in your body, after all you only get one.

Social Media Monitoring Assignment

"Food that tastes good"

is owner Raena Heppenstall's philosophy and she has been providing it since 1998 at the Corner Grille. Now a local institution, that caters to the business lunch crowd as well as the families of Worcester's West Side, and has long been considered a hidden gem by the city's college students who flock to it. With its high tin ceilings, a long family style table and Raena's customized chalk board menus invite visitors to a great dining experience. Great care has been taken to provide customers with a unique dining experience that involves delicious and innovative pizza pie's, sandwiches and salads.

The Corner Grille - Food that tastes great!

As many should assume being a local business the Corner Grille's social media revolves heavily around word of mouth. If we come to look at how many times it was mentioned on twitter or hashtaged we won't find much. 

Facebook 

Here it shows how their page has grown or declined in the number of likes within the past week while comparing it to the week prior

It also keeps track of the average age group that are fans of the page. Right now that average is between people of the ages of 25-34. This is a helpful tool because it can help them see what age group they should be targeting with their marketing. 

Yelp 

Total Ratings and Review 133 (break down below)

Most recent review:

9/2/2014

"If you're looking for a greasebomb dough-vehicle, don't come here.  However, if you're looking for tasty,high quality fresh ingredients on a paper-thin crust in some amazing combos, definitely DO come here.  Best pizza in Worcester.  By far.  I actually had to look at their web site to see if you could build your own pizza because I have always gotten a specialty pizza.  My favorite is probably the chicken curry pizza, but that changes every time I have a new one. My wife's favorite is the tipsy goat, with goat cheese, caramelized onions and fresh arugula put on at the end.   I also have gotten their steak and cheese wrap and it was good too.

The other reviews mentioning a small seating area are correct, if you consider 20 seats or so small.  Don't be afraid to share one of the big tables with strangers!  I've gone in a couple of times to find people waiting for seats but the big tables that seat 8 only had 2 people at them.  Share!  I've also never had problems parking and have managed to get a spot within 100' or so every time.

Their baked goods are tasty but a little pricey, and their juice and lemonade jars are great to share with 2 people.  They also have a selections of food they've prepared like mac n cheese or fattoush or chicken pot pie but I haven't had any of those."

TripAdvisor 

All three places that review this spot are forms of social media that have different purposes 1) facebook- online community where people, groups, or businesses express themselves as to what is going on in their lives, 2) yelp- local businesses, and 3) trip advisor-often highlighting places of interest in a vacation or traveling destination. This in turn suggests that this word of mouth will reach out to a wide range of people who ultimately may have entered different searches or began them differently. 

Does all this word of mouth media mean that they are not engaging enough in social media all around and need to do something else to give them a little more social media presence? 

Suggestions: 

• Creating a instagram and giving 5% on those who post pictures of their visits with hashtag #cornergrilleworcester
• Advertise their facebook and possible instagram on website 
• More features in online news or articles 

Reading Blogg 2: Jet Blue and Energizing the Groundswell

When energizing the groundswell we are talking about what is it that turns an average person like me and you into a walking advertisement for a company or a product. Well the answer is simple we turn into these lean mean advertising machines when we get exactly what it is that we want. Companies do this by listening to our concerns and suggestions and in turn improving their current products or methods based on such suggestions. In chapter 7 the groundswell discusses the third level of groundswell thinking, which is energizing. This is done by word of mouth, hence the walking advertisement, which is successful as an energizer because of 3 things: 1) its believable, 2) its self-reinforcing, and 3) its's self spreading. Pretty much who ever is telling you there experience is not being paid to, which means they are being honest and sincere. People most often believe other people before they believe media.

With sights like yelp and search engines like google word of mouth is a phenomenon that is occurring on a daily basis more and more online

In this internet world of word of mouth there are three key players according to the groundswell, which are creators, critics, and spectators. Creators make up 1/4 of internet users and are those who are blogg, create websites, and upload videos. These people are often addressing an issue, introducing a product, and etc. Those who comment on such posts are critics and make u 1/3 of internet users. And the rest who just watch are known as spectators.

JetBlue As A Word of Mouth Social Media Example

Here is my take on JetBlue: Personally I love JetBlue! They try to make your travels quick possible and hassle free. No baggage fees for the first bag checked in which is something that no other airline is currently doing. They also provide good sized snack and decent beverages, not to mention the dunkin donuts brand coffee on borad. I agree with this guy!

Going to and from Puerto Rico can be a hassle especially in the winter and during hurricane season, many flights have are always canceled. This has happened to me multiple times and not once have I been left stranded in the airport. Jetblue has always paid for my transportation to and from my home, and accommodated me in a hotel when I am not home in the U.S., and two and a half hours away from my hometown waiting for my flight in the San Juan airport. Aren't you already falling in love with them?

But don't take it just from me. Here is what another person said about them on Yelp:

"The phrase "If you love it so much, why don't you marry it?" applies here. 

See, JetBlue is like your dream soulmate. 
Clean. (I've never been on a flight and seen trash, hair balls, or any other gross item.) 
Comforting. (Leather seats? Yes, please.)
Stylish. (JetBlue's graphic design team is astounding. Making flying look trendy and--dare I say it?--enjoyable.) 
Attentive. ("Cold? Let me let the captain know." "More water? Here ya go!" "Does your pup want a biscuit?")
Forgiving. (Like when you bring two surfboards in one bag, technically against their policy, and they only charge you for one anyway.)
Thoughtful. (Like when you're exhausted and they find you the one row onboard that has no one else in it so you can stretch out and sleep)
Entertaining. (Satellite TV and XM radio have been standard on JetBlue for some time now, and they've just added free inflight wifi to their list of amenities) 
Giving. (Did I mention the satellite TV, radio and WiFi were all FREE? Oh, as are the endless drinks (they give you a WHOLE CAN of soda unlike some airlines), snacks (animal crackers? Sweet potato chips? Love.), and bottled water to keep you hydrated.) 
Animal lover. (Flying with my dog can be a pain (understatement). He's moody. He doesn't sit still. He has anxiety issues. Oh, and on most airlines, he costs more than my seat. Not so on JetBlue. With one of the cheapest per fares, not only does he fly cheaper, but HE gets me TrueBlue points.)  
Flexible and understanding. (Like when I forget to book my dog's spot on the flight and they fill up (a maximum of 3 animals are allowed on a flight, that's an FAA rule). I'm thinking "Crappppp," and they say, "No problem, can you fly out the next day? We'll book him and rebook you free of charge for the trouble." Whaaaaa? Yessssss) 
Funny. (Multiple captains have actually made me laugh out loud with their in-cabin speeches.) 

Now, JetBlue. All I ask is, please, please, take over the world (and expand service out of the Houston area (to Ft Myers in specific) so my parents/siblings can experience what I've talked about ad nauseum for years)."

Now you must love them :)