CAPtain 105 On The Move!

Media, Public Relations, Social Media, Technology, Technology Tools

This blog was created in coordination with GVSU CAP 105’s Scavenger Hunt Final Project

TEAM NAME: CAPtain 105

Use these hashtags to access our Twitter live tweets to see what we did for this scavenger hunt!:

#CAP105GVSU
#CAPtion105

The hashtag was supposed to be CAPtain 105 but we made a mistake! CAPtion105 works for the class too!

1. CAPtain105 Logo

This logo was inspired by common superhero symbols/logos. The logo was created using Adobe Photoshop

2. Check out the locations that the CAPtains went to in GVSU!

Heaven and Earth @ Lake Plaza

Erected right in the center of the Lake Plaza, this structure artfully represents all the Grand Valley State University students reaching sky-high for the stars in their academics.

The Bifilar Pendulum @ North Campus

Also known to students as “The Wrecking Ball”, this GVSU staple is located right outside the Lotus Lecture Halls. It creates a beautiful pattern when it sways with the wind. It didn’t always have the fence around it. It was fenced up after some students tried to ride it (some said naked) like Miley Cyrus in her famous music video, “Wrecking Ball”.

The Cook Carillon Tower

This clock tower is in the center of Grand Valley State University campus. Located outside the library and Kirkhof, this clock tower is not only pleasing for the eyes, but it rings every 15 minutes to help students be on time! It even plays Christmas song in December! The Cook Carillon Clock Tower is the most iconic symbol of the Allendale Campus.

The Traditional Link @ Lake Plaza

This structure, located right outside of Au Sable Hall, is known as Traditional Link. When walking to class, make sure to NEVER walk under it. Legend has it that if students were to walk under the Traditional Link, their grades will surely plummet!
Don’t believe us? Try it out yourself!

*Did you notice how the CAPtains posed with “1,” “0,” and “5” in the pictures?*

3. The CAPtains are checking in!

The CAPtains know where to go to ask questions! — 2020 Information Desk!

The CAPtains are social media savvy indeed!

4. Tour the Mary Idema Library with the CAPtains!

Click HERE to take the virtual tour!

5. Let the CAPtains tell you what the Presidents’ Ball is all about!

6. SEO Research

Program: Grand Valley State University Advertising and Public Relations

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Picture from: https://www.gvsu.edu/soc/advertising-public-relations-major-47.htm

Keywords:

Advertising
Public Relations
Communications
Grand Valley State University
Technology
Social Media
Research
Grand Rapids
Multimedia
College

We chose these keywords because they all related to either Grand Valley State University, or to the Advertising and Public Relations program. We believe prospective students, parents of students, or high school teachers will be searching for these keywords when they want to find information on programs that suit the student’s needs. By having these keywords included in our online content, it allows our page to show up more frequently in people’s search results, so long as they include those keywords in their online searches.

7. Content Research

Program: Grand Valley State University Advertising and Public Relations

Picture from: https://twitter.com/gvsuapr

Type of Content:

We suggest using a blog to help promote the Advertising and Public Relations program. For this blog, students of the Ad and PR program could blog about what they are learning in their classes. This will not only help students to learn how to write blog posts; it can also help promote the program in a positive way. It can show people the knowledge that the students are gaining from their classes, and to showcase their writing and communication skills that they have acquired through attending Grand Valley State University.

The blog posts will include topics likes:

5 Important Technology Tools I Learned From CAP105
How To Do Research With Social Media, As Shown In CAP115
This Is What The PESO Model Is All About, My CAP 220 Reflection

Google Adwords Certification

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The Class Was Only The Beginning

Media, Public Relations, Social Media, Technology, Technology Tools

I was slightly reluctant to take CAP 105 in the first place. I did not know what the course entailed nor did find the point of going back to take a foundational course of which I have overridden twice in my academics.

I was arrogant and skeptical about how I could benefit from this 100-level class, seeing that I am already a junior. However, I was not given a choice as the class was a major requirement. So, it was with an unwilling heart that I stepped into the first class.

On the first day of class, I took a glace at my surrounding. Uneasy, I decided to look at my schedule once again, hoping that I made a mistake. Looking back now with my current view of the class, I think that my stubbornness, should it persist, would impede me from many opportunities in life.

And so the introduction began, and it swiftly made it into the part that I was waiting for – the syllabus. I was eager to see what could I get out of my time here. And it turned out, there were many things that piqued my interest; it was then that my delight in the class began to manifest. Hindsight looking, things that I was interested in were also ones that I benefitted from the most. One of which was the blog assignments.

I have always loved writing ever since I picked up English writing a few years ago. But I never pushed myself as a writer, never challenged myself with blogging ideas that are outside my comfort zone. Soon, my fear of sailing into unchartered waters dulled my motivation to write, writing simply was not as exciting as it used to be.

Challenge yourself with new blogging ideas/topics.

In CAP 105, students are asked to write blogs throughout the semester, some are compilations and others reflective writing. All the blogs centered around the technological theme of the class, which to me was an exciting challenge. The most exciting part about writing these blogs was positioning myself in my writing, to have a coherent style that can be easily recognized by my readers when there are other blogs on the same topic. I came to learn that blogging is an interesting way of sharing stories, even in the career world. Through my practices in this course, I have slowly developed myself to be a confident writer who can create relatable content that would interest my audiences.

Aside from the blogs, I also benefited greatly from the curation and sharing of interesting articles throughout the semester. Initially, doing it definitely felt like a chore that would eventually get tiring later in the semester. But then, as I was introduced to different articles by other students, I started becoming more curious about this technological world that we live in, and I started having more questions. So, I decided to treat it not as a required task, but instead a guided opportunity. I see its potential in opening my eyes and widening my knowledge scope about technology that interests me and pertains to my daily life. This element of the course definitely trains me to be an avid news consumer, to be readily informed about the world; including its people, issues, and new trends. I think this is important for anyone who wants to be in Advertising and PR field, to always be in the know as time casts a big impact on message effectiveness, and news consumption increase the information intake drastically. Besides that, whenever I am selected to discuss the article I shared on Slack, I also see it as an opportunity to boost my confidence, and to allow me to practice conveying messages in a clear and concise fashion.

News: A lens to the whole wide world.

Lastly, I think many people benefitted immensely from the certifications that we were tasked to acquire throughout the course. I have learned many useful things through the modules, things that I will carry with me when I enter my career life. With each certification I attain, it feels like I am laying down sturdy stepping stones for me to be the competent PR professional that I aspire to be.

Certifications: my stepping stones.

Of course, these are not the only useful things I acquired from CAP 105. I also learned how to use visual editing tools, manage social media, and working in groups were also valuable lessons. I decided to go in depth with those few because they shifted my attitude and showed me the things that I need to do in order to practice PR efficiently. I am glad that I ultimately enrolled in this course, what I learned was definitely irreplaceable.

Social Media Management Assignment

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Hootsuite Certification

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Google Analytics Certification

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Co-Labor-ating Tools for Busy-nesses

Media, Technology, Technology Tools

As the demand for businesses to produce work increase, the workforce has the need to collaborate now more than ever. This collaboration will also have to sync to the fast-paced work culture, so technology became their trusty resort.

Through my internships and experiences working with multiple organizations, I have had the chance to use some of the most common tools in the workplace setting. What I learned is that through these business tools, communication becomes instant, work speed increases, and workplace productivity is much more efficient. There were less communication barrier and error, and everyone was able to receive relevant information speedily and move on to complete their given tasks.

So, here I have compiled some of the best business collaboration tools that I found that are common in today’s workplace. Some I have used and some I have heard good things about.

Slack

Slack- Communication Made Easy

The use of Slack has become a cliche in the business world today, especially for start-ups; but that does not discredit Slack’s usefulness. I have worked with Slack at work, in university, and other student organizations and I could really see how Slack impacted the productivity in those areas of my life.

Slack is essentially a workplace communication tool. People in the same organization can communicate with each other instantly with their own devices, be it mobile or computer. This not only save people time for walking across the office to get a certain product approved, but it also enables people from different countries to work together despite the distance.

I think Slack is especially useful for media companies. It can also be used to send files, photos, and links, which is something that media specialist do a few times every hour. My experience with this is sending social media graphics and copy to my editor to be approved before I can post it online. Slack will always be my top pick.

2. Basecamp

Basecamp was introduced to be at the beginning of 2018. I would describe Basecamp as a serious version of Slack. In addition to being a workplace communication tool, Basecamp has the feature to allows people to assign tasks and set goals.

I got the chance to work with Basecamp when I was a part of GrandPR, Grand Valley State University’s student-run PR firm. With Basecamp, our team was able to separate chatgroups based on our clients. There, the account executives will assign tasks to account associates for them to complete, and everyone can also set goals for themselves to be completed before a certain time.

Basecamp has more of a disciplinary feature, which sets it apart from Slack. I found that using Basecamp makes me hold myself more accountable, and I can also have a visual guide to make sure all my tasks are completed.

3. Google Suite

Google Suite – The Much Needed Upgrade

I find myself using all of Google Suite’s tools on a daily basis, it is like my best friend. Google Suite is like Microsoft Suite with a collaborative work upgrade. Google Suite allows its users to edit documents simultaneously online, and it allows collaboration in the workplace to be quick and easy. The common tools used in the Google Suite is Google Docs, Google Spreadsheet, Google Slides, Google Drive, and Google Forms.

Google Docs, Spreadsheet, and Slides are, no doubt, essential tools to students in the 21st century. But it is also commonly used in the workplace. Google Docs allows colleagues to draft documents together, the Google Spreadsheet can create financial report or campaign timelines, and GoogleSlides help with presentations. Google Drive allows management to upload materials like logos, contracts and other documents for their employees to quickly retrieve them. Google Drive also has the capacity for team members in companies to upload documents that are useful to each other, saving the time needed for members to email and request for certain documents. Lastly, people can collaborate in drafting a Google Form and use it to administer surveys or to have people RSVP to company events.

4. GitHub

GitHub – Best Codes are Written Together

GitHub is different from the other tools mentioned on this list, but those who are in the business of coding will be familiar with the tool. GitHub is a tool for coders to collaborate in their coding process. GitHub can be used free of charge but companies can also buy its program for added privacy. The coding team that uses GitHub will be able to code together. They are able to review each other’s code, give comments or even be authorized to edit certain codes, this ensures no mistakes are left unattended. There is also an interactive dashboard for the coding team to make sure they know what code is currently being worked on, and which codes are completed.

There are plenty of tools out there, making it hard for people to decide which to use. I think that it is important for people to assess their needs, then and only then should they start finding the tool that best suits their needs.

Social Media; Catalyst of Free-Expression

Personal Branding, Social Media, Technology

I am very involved in social media in my daily life, I am on most the relevant social media site, and I can be seen online very often. I have always heard how social media negatively impacts lives by instilling less-then-ideal mindsets and lifestyle. Though those statements are not baseless, I think it is important to value people’s autonomy in using social media. I am not ashamed to be a social media advocate, but in this blog, I will discuss how I interact with social media and how it has been affecting my life.

I treat social media very seriously, I think it is important for everyone to be responsible for the content that they put out. However, I also notice that my persistence on social media can be somehow extreme in some instance. I am very critical of my media content, combing through every piece of information to ensure that I am consistently portraying who I am to people, and for that image to be ideal and helpful to me. I view social media as an identity card, it houses who I am, or at least, who I aspire to be seen as.

I am constantly in pursuit of high-quality social media content.

I will talk more in depth in terms of my involvement with Instagram. I use Instagram very different from other social media sites. I see it as the place for me to work on my personal branding. I could take a hundred photos before I can pick one to post, and I can spend hours to think of a caption that will draw in the impressions and engagements. I also post Insta Stories daily, they could be about my everyday life, and I also have a series that goes into it. For instance, I came up with #weitoohungry as a segment for me to talk about my passion for food as well as posting cooking videos and culinary tips. Aside from that, #farfarawei is the hashtag that I use to indicate moments that are recorded abroad, either studying or traveling. I think it is good for a PR student like me to be more involved with creating connections and fostering relationships through social media for myself before I have to do it in a work setting next time.

Snapshot of #weitoohungry, an Instagram cooking series that I started last year.

I think I will continue to build my social media channel even when I am in the workforce. But I am also excited to see what field I will be in and how that will affect my social media use. I was a content intern in the past, and one of my jobs was to juggle four social media pages on my own. Being a social media manager difficult in the beginning, but the things that I learn really changed how I see social media. It helped me establish the importance of social media in this generation, as well as thought me ways to go about utilizing social media professionally and ethically. I think when I re-enter the media field, I will be more mature to discern content quality, as well as be more critical of the effects and information coming from social media.

Like I said before, I used social media mainly to build my personal brand. I think it is very important to have a presence in this media-centric world, which is why I spend a lot of my time experimenting and learning ways to improve my social media brand. I think personal branding means that you get to control the narrative, to have a first say in who you are and what you stand for. Personal branding helps you to showcase the aspects of your identity that you feel most confident in, in turn, this will affect how you view yourself and eventually, how other people see you. This is why I spend my time and effort on social media building my own brand; I know my personality, wittiness, and creativity is what I can best offer to the public, so I want to make sure that it can be easily seen n my social media identity.

Feature Image Credits:

https://www.pexels.com/photo/apple-applications-apps-cell-phone-607812/

Getting to know Canva

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When Eyes Listen and Visuals Speak

Public Relations, Social Media, Technology

I thought I was hopeless. By seeing my high school art project next to my classmate’s, it was apparent that I was no art prodigy. When I decided to go into the media field, I knew that I would have to eventually face my fears. It was not that I had no taste in graphics, I just felt incompetent in translating my ideas into concrete, visually-appealing products.

My belief was, however, shifted when I started my first internship. I started to realized how visuals are better than words, the emotional impact they had. During my internship, I was given an access to the Adobe Creative Cloud Tools and was instructed about ways that I could use the power of technology to make my ideas into actual designs.

Here, I compiled my findings on some of the best digital visual designing tools. Through online research, I found these four tools to be the most mentioned.

Canva, mentioned in CreativeBloq and Zapier
Inkscape, mentioned in TechRadar and CreativeBloq
GIMP, mentioned in TechRadar and CreativeBloq
Photoshop, mentioned twice on 99design.com, have the highest rating on PCMag.

I have coincidentally experienced working with all these tools, but I am only familiar with two. So, I looked up more information to find some key differences between them.

Costs:

Amongst the four tools, GIMP and Inkscape are free to use. Canva is slightly different, Canva can be used for free unlimitedly, but one can also opt-in to upgrade to Canva for Work to access all the features. Canva for Work would cost 12.95/month, or 119.4/year. Lastly, Adobe Photoshop has a 7-day free trial, but after that, the cheapest plan would be 9.99/month, this plan comes with Adobe Lightroom, a photo editing tool. Other more expensive plans grant access to more Adobe Creative Cloud tools.

User-Friendliness:

Canva’s drag-and-insert way of designing is very easy to be learned. Users can choose templates that are best suited for the purpose of the graphic, and then add images by either uploading or selecting from Canva’s large selection of images. Adobe Photoshop, GIMP, and Inkscape are not as easy to use. Their function tools are represented by symbols which would take time to get used to. More time needs to be put into learning the features before one can fully utilize these three tools.

Features:

Here are some of the most attractive features these tools have. Photoshop and Canva support multiple-page editing, while GIMP and Inkscape cannot. Every tool but Canva is able to used to manipulate images freely, while Canva can only transform proportionally or disproportionally, which is a big limitation. GIMP has a volunteer-run community and it is easier for users to contact leadership, this enhances the customer experience.

All these tools have their pros and cons, but we should choose the one that best fits our needs. For me, I use Canva to create simple social media posts as it is quick and easy. For more intricate designs, I will use Photoshop. I tried designing a logo with both these tools, I found Photoshop more competent in designing complex images but it is slower than Canva.

Logo designed with Canva.

Logo designed with Adobe Photoshop.

Now, let us talk about some best practices in social media’s visuals!

Colors

Go for striking colors in your graphic, but refrain from using too many colors as it can be overwhelming. Pick a few colors that fit your brand and colors that would stand out amongst other posts. CoSchedule.com described the different emotional connotations that colors have. According to them, blue brings trust and helps in relationship building, I believe it is the reason why Facebook, Twitter, and Linked-in all use the color blue for their brand.

Messages and typography

Elaine Cunningham from West Michigan Whitecaps adviced that when it comes to messaging, always use typefaces that have many fonts to have the freedom to use different ones to highlight important messages. Using font size to draw emphasis and leaving white space to not overwhelm readers is also important, Canva’s templates shows good examples of this practice.

Visual types and attributes

Firstly, it is important to choose the right image size for the right social media platform to make sure none of the design goes unseen. Other than still images, we can also venture into other visuals such as videos and GIFs.