Month: February 2014
Google Myself? Sure, why not?!
When I was in college applying for jobs, I often googled myself to see what information potential employers could pick up about me. I know what would show up for Whitney Agan (my maiden name). This was the first time I have actually googled my married name. Although a few posts seemed like they were coming out of the blue, the majority of them seemed on point.
The top search results included the following (in order):
• My LinkedIn Account
• My Pinterest Account
• Spokeo (out of 15 Whitney Amerson results, I wasn’t mentioned)
• Death Record for Whitney Amerson (obviously not me)
• My Facebook Account
• SEO Blog Post (for this class!)
• My Grandfather’s Obituary
• Wedding Registry (when I was still Whitney Agan)
The majority of images on the Google image search came from my Pinterest account, my wedding photographer’s blog, and this blog. My dog even showed up as one of the images! I wasn’t surprised to find my social media accounts on there. I didn’t see my Twitter page in the search results though. One search result was Spokeo. I had never heard of this website before; it appears to be a name database. On the page, it found 15 Whitney Amersons around the country. The vast majority of them being in Florida, which just happens to be where all of my husband’s family lives. I, however, was not listed as one of them.
My grandfather’s obituary also showed up in the search results. That was actually the first time that my name was ever written as Whitney Amerson, being that he passed away two weeks after I got married. It was sad to see. The photo from his obituary also showed up as one of the images.
I didn’t find anything crazy. When I was Whitney Agan, there was apparently another Whitney Agan who was in and out of jail for selling drugs fairly regularly. That was pretty exciting, being that we were around the same age. The only mentions of Whitney Amerson other than the various name bank results was a death certificate for a Whitney Amerson. Obviously, not me!
My name isn’t very common. In some ways, I’m really glad about that. In other ways, not so much. If Whitney Amerson makes the news, it’s more than likely me. That could be good or bad! I’m going to keep searching for my name every now and then. You never know when something crazy might pop up!
Take 20% Off Any Item? Thank you, Ulta!
I love discounts, coupons, and free stuff. As far as retail stores are concerned, most of them have apps. These apps often feature special promo codes or announce sales exclusive to app users. I have apps for most of the stores that I frequently shop at. I found it pretty difficult to choose a new app to download for this project. I literally have an app for every one of my favorite stores. Recently, we got a new store in my area, Ulta. I decided to download the app this weekend before visiting the store at the mall. Boy, am I glad that I did!
According to their website, Ulta is the largest beauty retailer that provides one-stop shopping for prestige, mass and salon products and salon services in the United States. They sell everything from the top make-up brands to hair products. How have I never shopped at this store before?
Like most retail apps, the Ulta app was free. The first thing that I noticed about the app was the clean look and feel. Although the app seemed to have a lot going on, it was easy to navigate, which is very important for me. If the app is easy to navigate, I will most likely use it more.
In the center of the page was a Mobile Offers section. I thought it was smart for Ulta to place this in the middle of the page. A lot of people look for discounts and this one was easy to find! In the middle of the page, Ulta also added a My Accounts section for card members and a Weekly Ads section. I would think that these sections are why a lot of users go to the app in the first place.
The app also gave users the ability to shop for products and purchase them from their phones. I could see where this could be convenient. I did not like the store locator section. It only gave me the closest store to me instead of showing me more location options. The locator section would be better if it operated similarly to Starbuck’s locator. I felt like the product category hierarchy was designed really well. It was easy to use, but the colors were very plain. I expected to see more color and design work from a store that sold women’s beauty products.
There was also a Scan feature on the app. I tried scanning the barcode off of a product that I purchased there, but it didn’t do anything. I thought this may be a price checker or maybe you could scan the product in store to get more information, however, the reason for the Scan option is not clear to me.
After using this app at Ulta this past weekend, I think the app will make the cut and stay on my iPhone. Although the app has a few flaws, it did save me 20% off one item at the store this past weekend. Now, instead of purchasing shampoo at Target, I can purchase it at Ulta cheaper. Thanks to the coupon features, Ulta may have just gained a repeat customer.
Misadventures in Second Life
This week’s assignment was to create a Second Life account and interact on the site. Prior to this assignment, I have never been on Second Life. Based on what I’ve heard in the lectures and read as part of this week’s readings, I had envisioned that Second Life would be more of a professional virtual reality space where meetings could be conducted and education seminars could be performed. The experience that I received from interacting with Second Life was anything but professional.
When creating my avatar, I chose to depict my immersed self and be seen as a vampire. Obviously, if I was creating the avatar for professional reasons, a vampire wouldn’t have been my first choice. Once my avatar was created, I chose to teleport to Duke’s Country Club. The area was Dukes of Hazard themed. Several avatars were dancing in front of the stage. I found out fairly quickly that dancing in Second Life wasn’t really my thing. Once I even figured out how to move, I was dancing like an awkward middle school boy. Yikes. This is where I had my first conversation with a Second Life native. The conversation was very generic, until he asked me to send him a picture of myself. I promptly left that conversation. Although I really enjoyed the country music, there were only a few people in there to chat with. I then decided to transport to a completely different destination, Ajax and Katie’s Romance Garden. Based on the pictures, it looked like a very pretty place to go. Well, wrong choice.
One of the first things that I noticed about this destination was the low quality graphics. Perhaps the graphics were poor because my computer is not well suited for graphics. I was able to walk into a bush and see the 3D plane (my avatar was being cut in half by the bush). Strange. In addition to the poor graphics was even poorer conversation. I was disturbed at the types of conversation that was occurring at this destination. There were virtually (pun intended) no restrictions or warnings that I was entering that type of chat room. What if I was a 13 year old girl and just happened to end up there on accident? It was very disturbing. In addition to the chat, avatars were groping each other everywhere I looked. Instead of conversing with the perverted avatars in the Romance Garden, I decided to fly around and view the scenery.
I know that there are educational and business reasons to use Second Life. Perhaps because I was not there to enter a meeting or educational seminar, I missed out on those types of experiences. I might just have had a bad experience based on the destinations that I stumbled upon. Either way, I found it interesting that Second Life even has ads on their webpage talking about privacy and showing two avatars kissing. Would you really let your children on this website? I don’t have children, but if I did, this website would be blocked at my house.
Survey Says… Need More People!
Last week I conducted a survey to better understand the impact of digital advertising on today’s society. I was looking for insight on the following topics:
- How demographics (age, income, education) play a role, if any
- The credibility of digital ads, as perceived by the consumer
- How digital ads affect consumer buying habits, if any
- Digital browsing habits of consumers
- Digital advertising’s role in determining ROI
In a six day span, I only received 19 responses. Due to a low number of survey responses, it is important to keep in mind that these results may have a high margin of error. Georgia’s Snowpocolypse could have something to do with the low number of surveys. Perhaps I would have received more participation if the survey was about Georgia DOT, Governor Perdue, Douglas County School System’s stranded school buses, or snow. Lord knows it had something to do with everything and everyone in my area going crazy for the past week! I guess 20 hours sitting in traffic and sleeping in your car on the interstate will do that to you though…
Basic Survey Participant Demographics:
- Gender: 15 Females (79%) and 4 Males (21%)
- Age Range: 21-29 (52%), 30-39 (16%), 40-49 (27%), 50-59 (5%)
- Education Level: Some High School (5%), High School Diploma (10%), Some College (26%), Bachelor’s Degree (42%), Graduate Degree or Above (16%)
- Income Level: Under $15,000 (5%), $15,000 to $34,999 (21%), $35,000 to $54,000 (16%), $55,000 to $74,999 (32%), $75,000 to $100,000 (16%), Above $100,000 (10%)
As you can see, the majority of participants are between the ages of 21 and 29, with a Bachelor’s degree and an average household income between $15,000 and $75,000. Looking back, I should have asked more specific demographic questions, including household size. It is very hard to determine if income plays a role in digital media impact when I don’t know if the reported income was just for the individual or for a family.
According to the survey, the only two forms of advertisements that participants completely trust are company websites and T.V. commercials. Interestingly enough, some participants also completely distrusted T.V. commercials. When it came to digital advertising, the majority of participants either trusted or had neutral connotations towards the ad. Overall, the most trusted form of digital advertising was a company website. I noticed, however, that I accidently included company website in both the “types of advertisement” and “types of digital advertisement” questions. At least the answers were consistent.
73% of participants trust company websites the most. I find this interesting because a company website is just one big advertisement for the company. There are actually greater legal guidelines and rules for digital advertising than there are for websites. It appears that perception is what actually matters most. 69% of participants stated that they pay more attention to digital ads than print ads and every participant accessed a digital medium (social media, websites, YouTube, search engines, and emails) at least 5 times a week. 95% of participants have purchased a product after seeing a digital advertisement, 32% of this group have purchased a product more than 5 times.
When asked if digital advertising affected their buying habits, one participant commented “Yes. Digital ads expose me to new and exciting products. They also have the power to change my perception of the business or product”. One participant noted that he/she found out about the UF degree program through a Facebook ad. I, also, found out about the UF degree program through a social media ad. A well placed social media ad can be very effective.
Overall, the survey results suggest that digital advertising is more trusted and effective than traditional forms of advertising for this specific demographic. I think my survey would return greater results if I had included more specific media usage questions along with questions aimed at determining the reason behind the effectiveness of specific digital ads. I would also like to have a larger pool of participants and more time to gather information.
How do you think I could have improved my study? I would love to hear your feedback and experiences!
The Social Potter 