Tag: social media

GSR Social Media Remix

In my mockup of a social media post, I chose Instagram as the main form of social media for the Greenspring Review. Instagram is a social network filled with over 120 million users and most of those being young people. Instagram caters to the youth and college-age students who look to social media for information. The Greenspring Review wants and needs to reach its students at Stevenson and looking to enroll in Stevenson; this is the platform that the audience looks first for the latest information and things about school. I think another important audience is parents. Parents of Greenspring Review writers want to see their child’s published work and probably show it off to their co-workers. This can be done through the Facebook platform. The post on this platform would be more formal and straight to the point of promoting new talent and student work. While the Instagram Post would be more causal as a way to get students interested and aware of programs being put on and how to enter their own work onto the Greenspring Review.

On Instagram, there are many factors that make it the best choice for the Greenspring Review. Once a page is on public, any person can have the ability to direct message (DM) the Greenspring view for questions or comments within minutes to stay in contact with the magazine. On Instagram, there can also be private and public stories that give an interesting aspect of exclusivity for the site to relate messages to certain people, for example, possibly a secret poetry reading late at night and only the people who like this post get to be in the private story for the location. Another good thing about this platform is that the comments amount is pretty much unlimited versus a platform like Twitter that only allows a certain number of characters per post. Emojis are always a good way to capture a follower and keep them interested in the caption attached to the picture. And speaking of photographs, these can be anything from a picture to a flyer to a video or a gif to make the post whatever we want it to be. All forms of mixed media work and mixing up the different media per post is a creative way to keep followers on their toes. Posting frequently, once a day of 3-4 times a week is good for any organization or club because this means they appear on someone’s timeline more often and that is the best way to get your page out there. Ultimately, I believe Instagram is the best platform to promote and use social media for the Greenspring Review.

GSR submission social media remix

For my social media mockup, I chose Instagram because Stevenson University students seem to interact mostly on that platform, so for GSR, IG makes more sense. Also, Instagram is visual-based, which I think is necessary for an online literary and art magazine as it allows us to display the work more. My submission is a dystopian and sci-fi short story and I believe that my ideal audience will be on Instagram because fans of the genres like to interact with fan art and IG is one of the platforms to see that.  For the Greenspring Reveiw Instagram, I’d post at 6am, 3pm, and 8pm during the weekday to target students checking their feeds before/after school and when relaxing during dinner and before bed.  To promote my submission, I made a graphic with the story’s cover picture and used a quote. In IG, there’s a 2200 character limit, providing enough space to write a nice caption with emojis and to integrate specific/niche hashtags to attract our audience. Also, I would share the post on our IG Story and add gifs, filters, or stickers that pertain to what we’re sharing. In the case of my submission, when I share the post on the IG story, I will find a cyborg gif as my story is about a cyborg. I’d also post multiple times a week to the GSR IG page, reply to comments under the posts, and participate in soicial media trends to stay current and expand the audience.

 

Social Media Remix

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think Twitter would be the most effective platform for my submission for the GSR. Twitter is my favorite social media platform and it is used by many college students. Although my primary audience is college students at Stevenson University, my secondary audience could be frequent beachgoers since my story takes place at the Outer Banks in North Carolina. When I was creating my social media post, I was debating between Twitter and Instagram. I decided to choose Twitter because of the type of content on the two platforms. When college students are scrolling through Instagram, they only want to see pictures. Usually, people go through Instagram much faster than other social media sites since they do not read much. Meanwhile, Twitter is full of all types of media, so people are more likely to read posts or click on a link that opens a new window with your writing. Another good feature of Twitter is that other users can retweet your post, which increases the number of people that will interact with my tweet.

There is no character or space limit for Twitter. However, no one wants to read a super lengthy tweet, so I think it is best to keep it short. Twitter allows you to include a picture or GIF along with a text caption. I think I should use an attention catching picture with a two sentence caption. The image will catch their attention, and then I will really draw them in with a personal question as a hook. Although you are not able to manipulate the font or color, I do not think it is necessary because I want to keep it simple. Furthermore, I think emojis may decrease my credibility, so I want to keep everything short, simple, and professional.

I think an image with a caption will work best. If I only used text, then I think it would get overlooked since there are so many tweets with just text on Twitter. If I used a video, then that would give away the plot of my story, which I do not want to do because I want people to read my story and be surprised. I think a professional photograph of a man next to a shark is the perfect image because it captures the viewer’s attention without spoiling the story. If I were to use a GIF, then I do not think that would capture their attention as much as a photograph.

I would post around 9 am on a Saturday morning. Many college students wake up and scroll through Twitter like it is the morning newspaper. I think I would get the most likes and comments by posting it on a Saturday morning since that is when many college students are active on Twitter. I do not want to post it on a weekday since most people still have online classes, which leads to a wide range of possible viewing times. I feel like Saturday morning is a safe time since everyone should be home to read their Twitter feed. With Twitter, you are also able to retweet your own post. Therefore, I could retweet it the following week around noon, which would be the second best posting time. This is because people usually have a lunch break around noon, so they are able to check their social media platforms. The last thing I would do is “pin” the tweet to my profile. This means that if someone views my profile, the tweet will always appear at the top. By doing this, I will increase my views even more.

Social Media Remix

I think Instagram would be an effective platform for the Greenspring Review and my submission. Instagram is a popular social media platform among highschool and college-aged young adults. Likewise, many Stevenson University students turn to this platform to receive university updates and entertainment from Stevenson’s many accounts. I think fellow students would relate to my poem and enjoy reading it during this time. My poem’s audience is Stevenson University students and their loved ones who may be considered essential workers during this time.

Instagram is a social media platform where users can share and communicate through images that are paired with text captions with a limit of 2,200 characters and 30 hashtags. I will use text as a caption to describe the poem and urge users to read the full poem on the Greenspring Review website. I will also include the link to the poem in the caption to drive users to the Greenspring Review website. The font and color of the text can not be altered, but I will use emojis and hashtags to attract the audience. An image will be used as media to represent my poem and compliment the caption. The image will be the same one used to represent my poem on the Greenspring Review website to ensure the branding is consistent on all platforms.

I believe my audience would best view and interact with the social media post in the evening around 5 or 6 PM. I do not believe the day of the week the media is posted will affect the amount of views and interactions as much as the time will. I can gain more likes, comments, and views by having other users share the Instagram post on their stories which will prompt more users to visit the post.

Greenspring Review Social Media post

Social Media Remix Assignment

Above is my Tweet that I decided to go with. Here, you can see my line of interest followed by a brief description of what you, as a viewer, can expect to view prior to clicking on it, without giving too much away.

1. Choose your platform, and explain why you think this platform would be effective for the GSR and your submission. Consider choosing the platform that you are familiar with, but that will also address a specific audience of the Greenspring Review. Who might be interested in reading your piece, and what platforms do they interact with most?

For this assignment, I have chosen twitter. I am familiar with Twitter and find it to be much easier to post than Twitter. I feel that Twitter can spread information better than other outlets such as instagram as followers can “retweet” information to allow for their followers on their accounts to see the post. Students from Stevenson who are impacted by COVID-19 can view this story as a romantic tale that exists in the darkness of a dreary world.

2. Craft a pitch that fits the constraints of the platform. Consider the common conventions for that site. Will you use text as a caption or an overlay? Do you have a character or space limit? Can you manipulate the font or color of the text? Should you include emojis and punctuation?

Twitter has a character limit on their posts, but they have a multitude of options to choose from to accessorize your posts such as images, GIFs, links, emojis, and hashtags. This allows for more people to see your tweets and find a relatable subject to the tweet. I intended on using a tweet as a headline with a brief description of what the post will entail and leave the link present for students to view the selected works directly and then can view more content should they choose to do so.

3. Craft media for your post. Should you use an image? A video? A screenshot? A GIF? What works best for this platform?

For my media post, I would use an image of NYC during quarantine as it relates to the theme of the story. Providing a visual element to go along with the headline can let the viewer’s mind wander in wondering what the selected work may be about. All this gives the viewer least effort to maximize the chances of them selecting the story.

4. Consider when and how often to post. What time of day does your audience use this platform? How can you increase likes and comments? How can you get more views?

Twitter is active in the morning and in the evening hours as most people check their phone for social media either before or after work early in the morning or late at night. That being said, incorporating hashtags as well as tweeting when most people are on will generate interaction with the most through likes and retweets, bringing more traffic to the post. As a page as well, the GSR can use Twitter features such as “pinning” the tweet to the profile page to keep a potential “featured post” option available for headline stories or works.

Social Media Remix

Twitter mockup I made using an alternate account.

1. Choose your platform, and explain why you think this platform would be effective for the GSR and your submission. Consider choosing the platform that you are familiar with, but that will also address a specific audience of the Greenspring Review. Who might be interested in reading your piece, and what platforms do they interact with most?

I mostly chose Twitter as the platform for my mockup because I knew my way around the website, and it’s significantly easier to post on a desktop/laptop than websites like Instagram. Also, I know a lot of my friends and peers use Twitter and have a profile, as well as Stevenson and their library. This allows the promotion of my drafted submission, as liking and retweeting the post would share it to their followers. Students from Stevenson specifically may be interested in reading, especially ones who are involved with the Greenspring Review or the English department.

2. Craft a pitch that fits the constraints of the platform. Consider the common conventions for that site. Will you use text as a caption or an overlay? Do you have a character or space limit? Can you manipulate the font or color of the text? Should you include emojis and punctuation?

There is a rather restrictive character limit for tweets, but instead of describing what my creative work was about I was able to post an image of an excerpt from my submission, along with the first picture that is embedded into my work. There are no font options, but there are tags you can add to the post so that when someone searches for a specific word like #creative or #COVID19 they will see the post as they scroll through. Even though the character limit is small, most users aren’t very receptive to walls of text, so I incorporated spacing and two short sentences to get my point across.

3. Craft media for your post. Should you use an image? A video? A screenshot? A GIF? What works best for this platform?

Adding the pictures may prompt the user to click and scroll through them so they can read the excerpt, and posting the link to the Greenspring Review will attract more attention to the website itself if users are interested.  Images are practically a staple for Twitter, especially as a workaround for the limited characters you can have, so the screenshot of my excerpt is very useful in describing what my work is about. This can also attract anyone interested in photography, as the first image in my mockup and the images in my submission are pictures I took myself.

4. Consider when and how often to post. What time of day does your audience use this platform? How can you increase likes and comments? How can you get more views?

For my audience, which is mostly anyone who is affiliated with Stevenson University and the Greenspring Review in any way, or anyone who is a photographer or author themselves, I would say that early afternoon in Eastern Standard Time would be best. That way, across United States, and other time zones across the world that are during the day at this time, would be able to see this post. It might be more beneficial to post this on other sites like Instagram or Facebook as well, since Stevenson University also has a following on their profiles as well. There’s also a possibility that Stevenson might post/repost/like/retweet my post to reach more people, because their social media accounts are very interactive with their students.

Social Media Remix

This is the GSR profile with story highlights for different categories.
This is the post I chose. It is the title and the first stanza of the poem with a photo of my uncle and I who the poem is about.
  1. I chose to do an Instagram post because it is what I am most comfortable with. The interesting thing about Instagram is that it is photo-based, although you can add captions and videos it is mostly photos. This would mean that for written pieces would have a photo attached to grab attention.
  2. I would use captions to post a small bit of the written piece and the author’s name. If the submission is a photo or art piece then it would have a caption with the author’s name and the title of the work. I think this is cool because it gives a small attention-grabbing segment bringing people to our site. Instagram has a large character count of 2,200 and a 30 limit for hashtags.
  3. Instagram can have videos or photos as posts. Depending on what fits the submission best it can be left up to the creativity of the editing team or the author. Through Instagram posts, we could have a creator spotlight to get to know the Stevenson students creating this work. You can also have live videos of any events happening with the GSR and having stories to publicize anything the GSR is doing.
  4. It is said that the best time to post on Instagram is between 3 pm and 4 pm because that is the most active time for the app. Instagram also works with hashtags to create more views. with creative hashtags it could gather more views, for example, #poems or #art, this will grab people’s attention.

Social Media

 

  1. Choose your platform, and explain why you think this platform would be effective for the GSR and your submission. Consider choosing the platform that you are familiar with, but that will also address a specific audience of the Greenspring Review. Who might be interested in reading your piece, and what platforms do they interact with most?

I choose to use Instagram because people are used to seeing and clicking on advertisements. Also, it is easy to advertise because you can post a link directly to the website. I am using Instagram because I know that a lot of people who are my age, creative, and who go to Stevenson follow me so they will see the message and be receptive.

  1. Craft a pitch that fits the constraints of the platform. Consider the common conventions for that site. Will you use text as a caption or an overlay? Do you have a character or space limit? Can you manipulate the font or color of the text? Should you include emojis and punctuation?

There is a character limit in Instagram, however, it is very long and I do not think that it will be a problem. Also, I will be posting on my Instagram story so I can manipulate the colors, font size and font style of the words. I will be including emojis also because it is a good way to grab people’s attention. Another way that I will grab peoples attention is by using both a picture and text.

  1. Craft media for your post. Should you use an image? A video? A screenshot? A GIF? What works best for this platform?

I used a link to a video of the COVID-19 contest that was on the English departments Instagram account.

  1. Consider when and how often to post. What time of day does your audience use this platform? How can you increase likes and comments? How can you get more views?

I would make mid-day post for social media, around 12pm, and then another one in the evening between 4-5pm. This is because most students check their social media as soon as they wake up but because of the online schooling most students are waking up between 10am-12pm. I will post around 5pm because this is usually when most students are done with classes and are getting bored so they will check their social medias. To increase my views of the post my goal would be to get other SU students to share the post.

GSR Social Media

  1. Choose your platform, and explain why you think this platform would be effective for the GSR and your submission. Consider choosing the platform that you are familiar with, but that will also address a specific audience of the Greenspring Review. Who might be interested in reading your piece, and what platforms do they interact with most?

I chose to use Twitter because everyone knows there is a word limit so when there is an advertisement people will be more likely to click and explore the website to know more. I just would need to figure out what to say that will spark interest in students who love to read poems and short stories or  take photography.

2. Craft a pitch that fits the constraints of the platform. Consider the common conventions for that site. Will you use text as a caption or an overlay? Do you have a character or space limit? Can you manipulate the font or color of the text? Should you include emojis and punctuation?

There is a word limit that I had to maneuver around by using symbols like “&”, however twitter’s special feature is the ability to use hashtags and tag people. So I decided to hashtag key words in  order for the post to be seen by people in the specified group. For example COVID19 is trending on twitter so anything with #COVID19 will be included in the feed whenever someone is searching for it.

3. Craft media for your post. Should you use an image? A video? A screenshot? A GIF? What works best for this platform?

I  used a screenshot image of my submission to make sure viewers will be able to easily read and reply back to the answer I asked. Then if they are still curious they will be able to search greenspringreview.org themselves.

4. Consider when and how often to post. What time of day does your audience use this platform? How can you increase likes and comments? How can you get more views?

If I was in charge of the social media post for GSR I would think to post everyday around 7am and 5pm because, as a student, the first thing I do when I wake up is check social media for news or anything interesting before I start my day. Then around 5pm is usually when students are finished with classes or work so they may have down time to read. In order to get more views I would have to make use of the hashtags and watch what is trending on the website to include myself in the mainstream.

 

Social Media Remix Assignment

Now that you have received feedback on your draft from your instructor and at least one peer, and have made revisions to your GSR draft, it is time to cultivate an audience. As you are well aware, social media is essential for marketing and publicity. This is true for authors and literary magazines as well. For instance, Margaret Atwood – author of the Handmaid’s Tale – has 1.9 million followers on twitter, and posts regularly on Facebook and Instagram. Her posts promote her work, but also share information about her passion for gardening and her opinions on politics.

Screen shot of Atwoods twitter page

And the Paris Review, which you should remember from the Rhetorical Analysis assignment, has 974,5000 followers on twitter and 399,319 followers on Facebook.

Pretend you are in charge of the social media for the Greenspring Review. How would you promote your submission? How might you craft an engaging post for twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, snap chat, or tik tok that would draw readers to your creative piece or review? What is appealing about your short story, poem, media, or review that is worthy of the time and attention of the GSR audience?

Follow these steps to craft your post. Post your mock up and respond to these questions in a summary paragraph in your post on WordPress.

  1. Choose your platform, and explain why you think this platform would be effective for the GSR and your submission. Consider choosing the platform that you are familiar with, but that will also address a specific audience of the Greenspring Review. Who might be interested in reading your piece, and what platforms do they interact with most?
  2. Craft a pitch that fits the constraints of the platform. Consider the common conventions for that site. Will you use text as a caption or an overlay? Do you have a character or space limit? Can you manipulate the font or color of the text? Should you include emojis and punctuation?
  3. Craft media for your post. Should you use an image? A video? A screenshot? A GIF? What works best for this platform?
  4. Consider when and how often to post. What time of day does your audience use this platform? How can you increase likes and comments? How can you get more views?

You can use your personal accounts to mock up your posts, or create fake accounts to use temporarily. Alternately, you can use any of the many free templates online. For example:

https://medium.com/@esinan/35-free-social-media-templates-for-brands-bloggers-9f6af52e17a1

https://medium.com/@esinan/25-free-social-media-mockups-and-templates-35547b499a3

For samples and advice, check out this blog and search through their posts on how to use twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook to promote literary texts:

https://insights.bookbub.com/category/book-marketing-ideas/

This is due by the end of the day on April 29th. Use tags “social media” and your platform, and category “blog.” Then, comment on at least five other posts before Monday, May 4th.