Category: Blog

GSR Social media

The platform I choose to promote my creative work for The Green spring review is Twitter. Reason for that is because that is the main source of social media that people are using these days. It is perfect for something that involves video or writing.

My idea for my post is to create a short video that revolves the idea of a my poem. Which is a couple that is stuck in quarantine and cannot see each other. Using the hashtags Covid-19 is a good idea because that is one of the major topic in today’s world. So when they go to see everything under covid-19 they will see my post that will grab their attention. Plus this way I am not restricted by characters and can get my point across in a way that catches attention. Peoples attention span is lowering so the video will not be long enough for someone to click off but just enough to keep them engaged.

I think posting around the afternoon would be a good idea because that is when people are getting off work and want to just sit down and relax. That is when they will scroll through social media and come across my post. Some ways to help increase comments and likes are having friends share your posts for you or even take it to another media platform. You can promote your post on Instagram if needed.  I could also mention Stevenson university in my post by tagging them in it and they might even share it.

GSR Social Media

The platform that I chose to use was Instagram.  Instagram is a great option because it combines both images and text which can get the interest of different people.  Personally, I am on the platform a lot and know that is very popular for college students.  With the target audience of the Green Spring Review being current students, prospective students, and parents, I think that Instagram is the best way to reach the current and prospective students.  Not only can the pieces be viewed on the GSR Instagram, people can link it to their Instagram stories of the piece which can get more people to view it.

Social Media GSR

  1. I think Instagram would be the best platform would be most effective for the GSR and my submission because most college kids have and regularly use their Instagram accounts. My piece is a playful poem that is short and I know college students don’t have large attention spans or want to read anything super long.

 

  1. I will use a picture of nature with a caption underneath. It will be simple but I want people to be captivated by the picture and have it remind them of the time before quarantine. It asks some questions and uses question marks but no emojis or anything out of the ordinary. The picture is captivating and will make people stop scrolling and catch their attention.

 

  1. I used an image because that is what Instagram is all about. People post pictures and have sometimes witty, funny, or emotional captions to go along with it.

 

  1. I would post 3 times a week highlighting different pieces of literature at night because that is when most people scroll through their media especially since no one can go outside and hang out with other people at night. I can increase likes by having people share it on their stories and posting it on my story so people I know will share it. The more it is shared on the site gives it a higher chance of being viewed more.

GSR Social

 

I believe that my post would be mostly geared towards senior college students who were looking to graduate this spring. Since many of us are active on social media I chose Instagram because I felt as though it was the best way to reach a larger audience because on sites like Facebook or Twitter there are other kinds of engagement whereas on Instagram it is all about liking pictures. While there is a character limit on Instagram the goal of my post was to simply make the audience aware of the Greenspring Review publications. Since I am posting on Instagram, using a photo is best rather than simply having a blank post with just words describing what’s going on. Since most college students are on their phones during dinner time I feel like a good time to post will be between 5 and 8pm during the week.

When deciding which social media platform to use for this assignment, I thought Twitter would be the best medium. This is because Twitter is a platform that revolves around words as that is the staple of the posts, with pictures and videos to go along. A perfect way to promote my poem about the quarantine as it also is something a lot of users can relate to. Another benefit to using Twitter is the retweeting function allows my followers to repost it for their follows to see and so on and so on. Making this a medium to allow for a lot of interaction between myself and fellow users of the platform. Considering my poem revolves around my experience in quarantine, it may come across as relatable to other users who would share with others. And with everyone supposed to be staying home, people are on social media more so the targeted audience of other teens and young adults would be more likely to see it.

As a good way to use the platform, I would use the 280-character limit with my caption being the title and the first stanza of my poem as that is only 250 characters. The caption reading, “’Quarantine, Trapped inside with my family and my dog, / all these walls feeling my blank stare. /The memories of hanging with friends is becoming a fog. /How I long to be out again in the fresh air.’ If you like this first stanza, check out the whole piece”. In the scenario that I had a real post to link it to, I would add it in the caption at the end. Aside from changing my keyboard on my phone, the font can’t be altered but emojis can be added, however for a serious topic like this I chose not to use them.

For the media aspect of the promotion, I decided it would be best to use a photo of my dog that I took while in quarantine. It is a cute picture to accompany a matter that can be sad for people, so it can hopefully act as a little pick-me-up for them. Also, it is fitting with the excerpt of my first stanza so it gives a visual to what my dog looks like for the reader. The photo could act as an attention grabber for users scrolling through their timelines as well since most people are intrigued by animals. On Twitter, the format of a photo and text to accompany it is very common so it works well with my desired design.

I thought that the best time to post would be around 7-9 o’clock in the evening. This time would work best as for most people they are unwinding for the day and relaxing on their phones using social media. Therefore, if they were to come across my post, they would be more willing to read the full piece now that they are not doing anything else like work or school work. And as I mentioned earlier, Twitters retweeting function will be very helpful in spreading word about the post and getting other users to interact with it.

GSR Social Media Remix

 

I chose Instagram because it is a pretty popular platform among Stevenson University students, who represent a majority of the target audience. I believe that students who are dealing with issues during the COVID-19 crisis may enjoy my writing piece, since it is cheerful and includes a lot of adorable moments between a father and his daughter. I think Instagram is the best way to reach these students due to the platform’s popularity.  For my pitch, I used text. Although Instagram has a character limit of 2,200 characters, it is still a pretty long. I took advantage of this and included a small part of the intro of my piece in order to entice the readers into reading more. I created an image that was simple but also appealing to the eyes. The colors can be seen as aesthetically pleasing. The bright pink  goes hand in hand with the title of my piece. I believe the color also suits the main character, Elizabeth and her personality because she is a young adorable diva. I kept the image simple because I didn’t want to to spoil anything from the piece. I also kept the image simple because I didn’t want to overwhelm anyone with an image that has too many details that may be hard to mentally process. I thought using an image would be a good idea for this platform, since Instagram focuses so much on visuals. I think the best time of the  day to post would be around 3pm to 6pm on a weekday. I know those times can be relaxing, especially at 3 pm since there are students who have completed most if not all their classes by that time. I also know that on a Saturday, it would be best to post at 11:00 am because more people are likely to see it during that time. I think the a way to get more likes, comments, and views is to use hashtags. I think you could get your friends and classmates from SU to spread the post. Another way to get more likes, comments, and views is by sharing the post on other networks.

Media Assignment

  • For my platform, I chose TikTok. I am very familiar with it, and spend a lot of time on it looking through different videos that people post. I feel like TikTok would be a good platform because the majority of the users are people between the ages of 13-30. This would be a good audience for the GSR where that age range would be able to understand the content on the GSR. A lot of people have TikTok, and spend more time on it than Instagram. Sometimes, Instagram gets filled with ads and posts can get lost in users’ content, so I feel as though TikTok would be appropriate. The app itself is new and upcoming, and this would help draw in a targeted audience for the GSR. The only thing that would be tough is getting them to then click an external link to read the post.
  • This was my caption for the video “If you liked this video, go checkout my poem on the Greenspring Review! Link is in my bio 🙂 “. You can only include 150 chatacters which includes hashtags. I included the hashtags to get more views for it. You can only manipulate the color of the text in the video itself, but my video did not contain any text. I did a smiley emoji just to send happy vibes at the end.
  • For a Tik Tok, it’s all videos. I can use pictures in a video itself as well as text if needed. Out of simplicity, I think that a video with actual footage works the best. You can add your own video from your camera roll, one you just took, other videos online, etc. If someone wants to insert a photo into the video, it is simply an extra step. There are different filters and effects you can apply, to enhance your video. For my TikTok personally, I used some of my own footage from my backyard. I used an audio that is popular around TikTok, for background music. It says “Wonderland”, which I think fits well because I describe how beautiful the nature is in my poem; despite everything with Covid-19.
  • For TikTok, the audience tends to use it all throughout the day. Although, posting at night seems to get more attention since people tend to scroll through TikTok similarly to how they scroll on apps such as Instagram and or Facebook. TikTokers usually post on a daily basis, to keep their followers engaged and to keep providing them with new content. Keeping up with the trends is important as well, as those tend to be more popular in terms of views and likes. To increase the likes and comments, I can add hashtags in the caption of my post. Hashtags will connect my video with other people’s, and will gather more views, likes, and comments as a result. By tagging certain tags that are trending, one can get more likes and comments.
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Social Media Remix

I thought instagram would be the best platform to promote my submission to the GSR because of its high number of readers who are Stevenson students. Being a student myself, I know that instagram is the most used form of social media across campus. My submission was a creative poem about COVID-19 that could strike some interest in students who are effected by it too. Instagram has multiple ways of reaching an audience from videos, pictures, stories, or lives. Stories and lives disappear after 24 hours and I wanted to make sure to not put a time limit on the promotion of my submission. Videos are a great tool but I felt making a normal post would work best. I chose to use multiple pictures that causes viewers to “swipe for more” with the hopes to grab their attention. Instagram allows you to change the font, color, and size as well as draw on posts that are part of the story feature. This however is not available for changing the caption of a regular post. I didn’t mind this limitation so much because I put a lot of work into creating the pictures and wanted that the be the main focus.  The plus side of captions is they can include many emojis and have no space limit. It’s always important to make sure to keep the account active in order to gain and keep followers. Posts should be made around 3 times a week and stories once a day to keep followers engaged and updated. For my post I decided to ask the viewers to comment what they thought the poem was about in order to increase comments. Likes can also be increased by using hashtags like the ones used that put the post into groups so that it can be seen with others and reach more people. The best time to post on instagram is between 9 and 12 a.m. early in the workweek (Shannon, Michael, & Hootsuite 2020).

 

Sources

Shannon, et al. “The Best Time to Post on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn.” Hootsuite Social Media Management, 25 Feb. 2020, blog.hootsuite.com/best-time-to-post-on-facebook-twitter-instagram/.

GSR Social Media Remix

To advertise my story in the Greenspring Review, I chose to make the social media post on Instagram. I am quite familiar with Instagram, and the types of posts that are often made on the site. If you follow people who  are involved on campus, they often post event flyers on their Instagram pages. This is usually done through Instagram stories, but since the purpose of the account is for this assignment, I will be doing so in post form. In addition, this post will allow me to create a caption for the photo. While Instagram stories contain overlay text, posts are usually accompanied with captions.

Since I decided to use my caption as my text, I was not able to manipulate the text color or font. However, I do not believe this would have added to the post significantly. At the end of the post, I added a playful emoji, along with a Pride flag. Despite the serious nature of the piece, I enjoyed writing it greatly, which I hoped to reflect in the post itself. I did use punctuation throughout, although I decided to forgo the final period where the emojis are.

Pictures are far more popular on Instagram than videos are, which is why I decided to use a slightly modified version of the photo featured in my piece. Instagram uses square photos, which made it difficult to use the banner included in my piece. As such, I grabbed a different image, which also features the asexual/aromantic pride flag in place of the lesbian pride flag. This may be inconsistent, but it broadens the amount of represented identities, and may now include people who were not included before.

I made this post at around 10 P.M., which is just about the best time to post on Instagram (although a little bit earlier may have been better). To increase traffic, I could make this same post on my main account. I could also advertise my piece on social media. In addition, I could make an Instagram story post that says “link in bio” and also advertises the main post itself. I could get more views by encouraging others to like and share the post as well.

 

Social Media Remix

I chose Instagram because I feel like it is the most popular social media with the target audience of The Greenspring Review. With this being met for students it is important to share it on a social network that will reach the most audience members. Facebook tends to be more for the older generation, and while Twitter still has some popularity Instagram I feel is just the go to app. You can share posts, stories, and even go live and talk to people directly. Instagram is also nice because there is no character limit, and if you don’t want your caption too long you can even post creative pictures of your texts instead of a photo, and now with Instagram allowing you to most multiple photos at a time, you can do both pictures of text and photos. For my post I decided to use a photo with a caption that included part of my Greenspring Review piece, and then to help bring attention to that post not only did I use hashtags, but I also shared the post onto Greenspring Review’s stories. This will help bring attention not only to the Instagram post and our page, but also to our website as students will hopefully want to read the rest of the stories. It can be challenging to know the best time of day to make a post, I find the most successful times are in the morning or evening because people usually check the social media networks as they start and end their day, or before school/after work. I feel a page like this should post at least 2-3 times a week in hopes of the content appearing more often, or encouraging students to stay up to date on stuff. There are many hashtags they can utilize to gain attention, and even make creative posts for “motivational monday”, “throwback thursday”, or other similar days like that. Another thing to consider is finding ways to make your posts or stories interactive. Commenting their favorite book, doing contests, or doing a voting poll on their stories. Little things like this are fun ways for people to past the time on social media.