IMC Hawks Blog

Tag: 2012

  • Some Parting Tips for Graduates

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    Graduating college means moving on to a new and unknown phase of your life. There are many things that seniors and college graduates should keep in mind when entering the job market. In recent years, employers have been asking their potential employees to provide their Facebook password. This occurrence has been limited, but it demonstrates how one should be mindful of their social media usage, since much of what is on the internet may commonly become public knowledge. In fact, it is important to keep in mind that what may have been considered acceptable in college may be seen as inappropriate in the workplace. Along with this notion, graduates should be mindful of the fact that in today’s business world appearance DOES matter and this is often considered one of the main factors that determines being hired or not. In fact, appearances and professionalism play a crucial role when assessing one’s competence and overall attitude. As graduation rates are rising, college students are faced with a higher amount of competition in the job market. Differentiating yourself from other applicants and making a positive first impression is often what makes the difference. Communication skills are also in fact very important qualities that are desired in all job fields, and are often associated with professionalism.

    One way to make a distinction from other job applicants is to have a thoughtful, well-constructed resume with you. Having an interesting and structured resume is very important, considering your resume is a huge part of the first impression you give. College graduates must realize that when applying for jobs, the selection process is almost always based off of resumes alone; face to face interaction will come later if the applicant is lucky. A resume should not be a puzzle for the person making the hiring decisions; mislaid pieces are warning signs or “red flags” to most employers. A resume is basically a published story of your previous school and work experiences. When creating your resume, concentrate mainly on the past highlights and most recent and relevant work experience; this will make it easier for the person analyzing your resume to see what true ambitions you uphold, as well as evaluate your awareness of the potential job’s requirements and responsibilities. Being descriptive and very detail oriented in your writing will show to prospective employers that you are sincere in what you say. Having a strong and confident start to your resume can will readers a detailed concept of your background knowledge and expertise right off the bat. Placing your top achievements and experiences at the beginning of your resume will ensure that they are looked over. If your resume has multiple pages, and/or the recruiter has a large amount of other resumes to evaluate, he/she may take a look at your first page and then go on to the next applicant; having this information stated first should catch the reader’s eye and leave a strong impression embedded in their mind throughout the rest of the application process. College students applying for jobs must sell themselves through the use of a resume if they truly want to be recognized and leave an impact on their prospective employers.

    Overall, graduating college is a huge transition. Although it may seem a bit scary to some, it can also be a very exciting and rewarding time. Graduates just need to keep in mind that the real world is a little different than college, and has less room for error; however, if graduates think before they act and make smart decisions, they are creating the foundation for a successful future.

    – Sasha De Vecchi, Lindsay Gallagher, Jay Reilly, Cary Welborn

  • Going Green, Brings Green

    Brands can promote themselves through almost any medium nowadays. Pens, stickers, posters, billboards, you name it, you can put your brand on it. Planet Earth Promotions is a company that is designed to help brands promote themselves in an eco-friendly way. There is constantly increasing awareness about environmental protection and a greater consciousness about how important it is to protect these environmental and natural resources. Planet Earth Promotions is leading the way for this “EcoSmart” promotional item trend.

    Planet Earth Promotions’ mission statement indicates that their “goal is to help companies and corporations around the nation proactively enhance their brand through the use of environmentally conscious and educational promotional items”. They have certainly delivered in this respect. This company has been ranked #1 in promotional advertising for the past ten consecutive years. Not only are they paving the way for other companies, they have become a greatly successful brand that is little to no impact on the environment. Planet Earth Promotions has built a successful brand on a trend that is becoming increasingly important as time goes on. This brand is very strong considering they have remained at the top of the list from Arizona Magazine for the last ten years and they are here to help other brands.

    They are able to offer many alternatives for companies to help cut back on environmental damage by providing recycled goods, information about recycling and environmental days in the USA and tips to bring pollution down. With so many companies shifting focus to being the “EcoSmart” companies and LEED (Low-energy electron diffraction) certified, it is a challenge to stay on top. Planet Earth Promotions has paired up with other environment-friendly companies such as AWEA (American Wind Energy Association) and Women’s Business Enterprise to built a very powerful and successful brand and continue to pave the way for other companies looking to create environment-friendly products and solutions for all varieties of businesses.

    – Julius Roberts, Leanna Marshall, Leslie Tyler and Bryce Koonts

  • An “Augmented” Look Into the Future of Advertising

    Last week Google unveiled Project Glass, their latest developmental project set out to design and build augmented reality eyeglasses. Google upload a video to YouTube entitled “Project Glass: One day…”, which shows viewers what Project Glass could potentially look like. Project Glass would allow you to communicate with friends, schedule appointments, get directions, take pictures, and even hold video conferences all by using the augmented reality interface and voice commands. While this technology is in the earliest stages of development, Project Glass has the potential to be a realistic and marketable product in the future.

    While the announcement of Project Glass is only a week old, there is already concern about user privacy and advertisements. Google already uses search terms to customize advertisements, and are even beginning to push ads based on your location, so just how far would Project Glass go? Would advertisements pop-up in front of you if you are close enough to a store? Could marketers use where you go and what you look at throughout the day to better understand what type of consumer you are? The parody video below shows how pop-up ads with Project Glass might look if they were implemented:

    While this idea of “forced advertising” seems a bit extreme, it’s already happening with several other projects. Twitter now adds Promoted Tweets to your timeline, which are sponsored announcements from businesses that merge together with the other tweets from people you follow. Pop-up ads are common with free Android and iPhone apps, and some applications even send ads as a notification. Amazon sells discounted Kindle e-Readers with “special offer” advertisements that appear on your screen. It seems that with every new piece of technology, the first idea that is addressed is how to advertise on it. With Project Glass, the possibilities for customized advertising are much more personal. How will marketers adapt to changing technology? Will consumers be willing to sacrifice their privacy and accept interruptive advertisements in order to use Project Glass? Only the future will tell.

    -Hunter Wilson, Joshua Vester, Ashley Oliver, Molly Jacques

  • Learn about Communication Studies at COM Studies Day

    When Communication Studies majors share their idea with others they are often met with a variety of  questions. These questions often range from “what is Communication Studies” to “what on earth are you going to do with that?!,” and can leave the student wondering just why exactly did they pick this major in the first place. Fortunately the UNCW Communication Studies department is hosting its annual Communication Studies Day this Friday and will answer many of these questions.

    The Communication Studies Day  will have panel presentations of UNCW graduates from the major discussing their careers and experiences since college. Students will be able to hear from individuals who are currently doing things with their Communication Studies degree that they are considering doing after graduating, such as marketing, graduate school, broadcasting, and public relations. Many of the panelists graduated recently and will be able to relate to the students attending the presentations as they only recently were in the same point of approaching graduation and having to decide what they wanted to do and how to go about it. There will also be networking sessions for students to speak with faculty, friends and alumni. Another aspect of Communication Studies Day is the Dress for Success fashion show, in which attendants will get to see outfits of business casual and business professional attire. Attire is an important component of a professional image and many students are unsure about how they are expected to dress for a successful career.

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    Communication Studies Day is not just an event that is simply put on by faculty and that students can show up to if they want to. The event is being  coordinated and marketed by UNCW Communication Studies students. Dr. Persuit’s IMC II class will be tweeting, posting photos, and sharing information about the event as it is occurring on this blog. Individuals can learn more about the event by following #DressForSuccess2012 and #COMStudiesDay on twitter.

    ~Molly Jacques, Josh Vester, Ashley Oliver and Hunter Wilson

  • Year of Adele

    The Annual Grammy Awards are one of the biggest nights in the music industry where artists are recognized for their exceptional achievements. Last week the Grammy awards ceremony celebrated its 54th anniversary at the Las Angeles Convention Center with host, LL Cool J. With live performances by Bruce Springsteen, Katy Perry, and Adele, America was eager for this year’s Grammy Awards. The 54th Grammys brought in 39.9 million viewers which was the second highest rating since the 1984 Grammys. America, along with the artists, held their breath with anticipation to hear the winners for the 78 awards.

    It’s hard to go even a day without hearing the name “Adele” in the music industry. She hit the music scene in 2006, but it wasn’t until 2010 that she seemed to gain fame overnight with her single “Rolling in the Deep.” The young British singer has encountered many obstacles in the past year, from canceling her tour to undergoing vocal surgery in late 2011.  “Adele underwent vocal cord microsurgery by Dr. Steven Zeitels to stop recurrent vocal cord hemorrhage (bleeding) from a benign polyp,” said a source at the hospital where her surgery took place.   She gave her first post-surgery performance at the 54th Annual Grammy Awards last week, and solidified that she’s still got it. Her worldwide fame reached new levels this year with an amazing 6 Grammy nominations; Record of the Year, Album of the Year, Best Pop Vocal Album, Song of the Year, Best Short Form Music Video, and Best Pop Solo Performance. She won every category in which she was nominated and left the awards ceremony with her arms full of Grammys.

    At 23, Adele has more confidence than most females her age. She focuses on her passion for music instead of trying to look like the “ideal” celebrity.  She is happy with how she looks and is not pressured to be skinny like her competitors.  Despite criticisms of her weight rolling in from the media, Adele prides herself with being a role model for the average woman. Her fame and success prove that talent can overcome looks in today’s society.  “I’ve never wanted to look like models on the cover of magazines. I represent the majority of women and I’m very proud of that.” –Adele

     

    -Kelsey Bendig, Andrea Blanton, Brian Burch, Brooke Keller

  • Let’s get Weird!

    So here we are in the middle of award shows. We just had the Grammys and now we are preparing for the Oscars. We know that some of the things we are going to see at these events are the designer gowns, crazy hairstyles, and death-defying shoes. We all know who most of the winners are going to be at these events: it will be the new and hip people on the scene, or possibly a singer/actor who has made a comeback in the industry. But what about the unsung heroes that are always there? Who are those people that are really good at what they do, but never seem to make it? One of the biggest unsung heroes is “Weird Al” Yankovic. He has been on the music scene since 1976 and has been making comedy music like “Bob”, “Born this way”, and “Amish Paradise”, just to name a few.

    He has been nominated for comedy awards 14 times, but only twice has he ever won. Even with only two wins, he just keeps on writing and performing his amazing parodies. This is what people should look for when choosing a brand. You want to research and look for a brand that has been around and survived throughout the years; brands that are secure and responsible. You can go out and try the newest brands, but because of their newness, they might not last. Then you have those brands that are trying to revamp themselves because they are on their last leg. Just like “Weird Al,” we all love those brands that have given us the best products and services for years and that we know we can rely on. This is something to keep in mind when you are looking at all the brands that will show up this year at the award shows.

    ~ Dorothy Conley, Laura Simmons, Christina Stevenson, Mollie Berthold

  • Challenge: Build Your #brand In 140 Characters

    Social media is a growing evolutionary electronic forum around the world.  Some argue that Twitter and other social media sites are becoming the journalism of the 21st century. There are numerous social media outlets which allow their users to instantly connect with thousands of online communities and share a limitless amount of information.  From celebrity Tweets to Facebook events, wall posts to Pinterest pins, people are staying connected in a variety of forms on the Internet.  Twitter, founded in 2006, has become one of the leading social media outlets allowing users to stay up to date with current events. From international businesses to famous celebrities, Twitter allows its users to feel connected to whomever they choose to follow.  Celebrities like @Kim_Kardashian, @Heidi_Klum, @Ryan_Seacrest, and @Snooki all use Twitter to enhance their #brand and attract followers.

    The use of social media sites is becoming one of the most dependable and fastest ways to sell and promote products. In just a few clicks marketers can have access to any target audience they desire. Twitter is an efficient way to connect people to ideas and enhance their #brand awareness. It also allows marketers to engage their audience in a manner where the consumers actually want to receive information. Twitter can also be used as a research method to learn what their target audiences are tweeting about and incorporate those ideas into their marketing strategies. Twitter can be used to build and enhance a personal #brand by making connections with their target audience and answering their questions and comments directly.

    With each tweet, celebrities are promoting and advertising themselves in 140 characters or less. Some celebrities control their own accounts while others are maintained by their PR agent. Using Twitter for publicity increases their popularity while establishing their #brand.  It also allows celebrities to establish more of a personal connection to their fans. Sometimes celebrities will re-tweet and reply to comments, questions or concerns that their fans send.  This gives them an understanding of what their fans like and dislike about their #brand. Twitter provides these celebrities an opportunity to prove that they are just like everyone else.

    @Kelsey_Bendig, @Brian_Burch, @Andrea_Blanton, @Brooke_Keller