Promote Yourself Through The Right Strategy.

I ‘ve had the chance to be public relations chair for my sorority twice, in 2009 and this semester again.

In 2009, I actually had to make flyers to promote an event, send out mass emails to alumni, remind people with a text or two, and get the school approval to post it on the event board.

Now, almost 2012, all of that work has been reduced to one-two-three clicks here and there, thanks to facebook, twitter, and kean’s university new system cougarlink.

I saved a lot of time when it came to advertising bake sales, fundraisings, events, etc.

All I did was go to facebook upload an image or two, write a short description of the event, invite ALL of my friends & link it to cougar link and weekly alumni emails.

Sisters got the invitation and invited their friends. And the results of money-making were better this year.

The constant use of networking sites has made marketing and public relations a lot simpler and cheaper. Not only to promote a business, or an event but yourself also.

I know that if I want my co-workers or boss to see me as an upbeat and hard-working employee, I cant post any “ I am bored at work ” or negative statuses because it can affect my image.

Social media, marketing and PR have a greater impact on someone’s professional image today than it did on 2000 or even 2009.

If advertising my sorority worked for me, “Selling myself or a business” through Facebook, twitter, linkedIn can also give me good results.

It would save me the time of trying to get people to notice me or a business through flyers, telemarketing, business cards, weekly mail coupons, promotions or etc. But most importantly, it would save money!

Why? Because technology has better itself, people don’t really see the flyers you hand them out, or care to listen when you call them at home, or lose the business cards, or only read the important mail- not weekly promotions or etc.

I know I don’t. I spend more time checking my email, facebook, twitter, yelp, zumeo, foursquare etc than my actual home mail. My personal brand will reach more people through these social media sites.

PR and Marketing is cheap today, there are millions ways to get people to hear about a product/business/ or even your skills if trying to find a job. The only thing needed to invest is time and dedication to be creative.

Sure, there are other ways to advertise and these old-fashioned tactics will probably still work, but if I want to save money, time and suceed, my best bet is to have a clean network profile. And update my co-workers, employers, and friends with statuses that will benefit me & not make me or my job look bad.

Millie A.

aguinami@kean.edu

Let's Talk While You Eat.

For the first time, I was scheduled to work on thanksgiving day. Work made me missed getting dinner done with my brothers, or as my mom calls it “bonding time”.

But even though I didn’t get the chance to help out, I was in time for dinner and I even made it before my aunts, uncles, and cousins got to the house.

I have a big family and ever since I turned fifteen and moved to the adult table, I hear the same “remember that time” stories. It gets a little boring sometimes.

Well this year was different, while everybody was too busy eating and remembering the old times I decided to announce my personal brand.

Everybody was actually glad that I was talking about how I was doing in school, it reminded them that there are a few more weeks till im done.

My mom sort of knew about my blogging, but when I told her about my linkedin and twitter, she seemed very interested and even told me that what I had in mind was a good idea.

she also reminded me why she keeps telling me to make connections thru work and why I must engage myself with people who I think will help me in the future.

My aunt understood, agreed with all of the characteristics that I picked to described myself, gave me a phone number and email address of a person who she feels will be able to get me more involved in the business that im aiming to.

Which reminds me- I need to contact her as soon as possible.

My dad has never really been a social media guy, he’s old-fashioned. But after explaining it to him. He was glad to hear that I actually want to be my own boss, and not work for anyone else.

He likes to see that im planning ahead and is actually looking forward to see me put my goals into action.

The rest of the family gave me positive feedback as well, some didn’t really understand what I was talking about and just changed the topic.

But I personally didn’t really care if the rest liked my personal brand or not. I was just glad that my parents did because I want them to see that they’ve made a good investment with me.

Millie A.

Hello Target. Nice to Meet You.

I know who my target audience is. Now it is time to catch their attention. How? By engaging myself with them.

LinkedIn and Twitter will definitely be a help to get my name out there, it’s going to help me make connections at a greater extend, but I need to do more than just following the “right” people. I need to be involved.

Thanks to my target search words, I have found groups like Buy and Sell freely, ByTrade.com, International Commerce Club of New Jersey, and Retail Global Sourcing and Buying.

I haven’t had the chance to introduce myself in them, but I will make sure that I keep myself updated with their discussions and participate as much as possible. Hopefully, gaining a few connections.

I have also started reading entrepreneur.com, where so far I have engaged myself by commenting on articles that are relevant to what I’m studying and can learn from. When posting comments, it gives you option to either post as a guest, from my twitter (which I’ve been doing), or facebook account.

By doing this, Im positive that people will read/see my comments and will probably gain a few followers because there’s always people that are interested in learning about you. This will lead me to other connections, and expanding myself on getting to my target audience.

I have also thought about making business cards for myself as soon as I graduate. On it, I will make sure to have my email address, my linkedin, facebook and maybe even twitter links.

I plan on having them at work with the rest of business cards people leave and hanging them out to everybody I know and those who I meet on a daily basis.

I know not everybody will look me up but maybe out of 10 people, at least 5 will connect with me in one of the sites.

This is not a “from one day to another” progress. It takes time, but time will get me more connections and connections will help me succeed.

Millie A

Still Learning. Always Improving.

When I created a Facebook, I had no idea how the site worked, but with time I got used to it.

I just recently joined Twitter and LinkedIn but i still haven’t had the chance to sit down, and explore all of their features. I know that it will take time for me to get used to using these sites.

I did learn how to linked my facebook account with twitter @millie_mirella, and Twitter with my linkedin account.

For the past week, every tweet I made showed up on my facebook. I tried getting our social media blog into my statuses, and did not get too much feedback.

I gained a follower, some friends left their twitter on my status so I can follow them, and I had a friend who asked about the class in general.

My updates

Twitter

• Still new to twitter.. What is the purpose? Who to follow? Why follow? @millie_mirella
• Check out “living for today. dreaming big tomorrow”. http://keansocialmedia.blogspot.com/2011/10/can-we-go-back-to-ten-years-ago.html

Facebook

• Never thought i would say this but twitter me @millie_mirella and have a laugh at my writing skills in my social media class' blog :)
• Yess to planning! No more procrastination. Getting things done the right way. http://keansocialmedia.blogspot.com/2011/10/work-yourself-up-go-right-not-left.html

I will continue to get my twitter known to my friends, and have them give me feedback on my writing skills as well as to follow me.

Millie A

The Three W's: What? Who? Where?

Targeting an specific audience is not as simple as I thought. Yes, knowing what to do in life is one thing, but knowing how to get there is a completely different thing.

This blogging experience has actually had me thinking things through; it has helped me learn a thing or two about myself, about my career path, about my future!

After thinking and over thinking what kind of audience I wanted to target, I realized that my target audience are those who are involved in the B2B, international industry, import/export or foreign affairs field.

Search words to describe myself

• committed bilingual marketer
• optimistic
• student
• successful
• determined wholesaler
• blogger

My target search words are very straight forward

• B2B
• Foreign affairs jobs
• Wholesale trade
• Wholesale merchants
• Trading partners
• international relations

Results of my words and target words

• optimistic B2B
• foreign affairs jobs for students
• successful trading partners
• determined wholesale merchants
• international relations bloggers

Where?? to find my target are obviously facebook and linkedin, and these few other sites:

• http://www.foreign-trade.com/
• http://www.internationalmvp.com/
• http://www.entrepreneur.com/
• http://socialmediafrontiers.com/B2B.php
• http://www.economist.com/blogs/freeexchange/

The best way to engage in any field is by socializing. Adding people, joining groups, becoming a fan, commenting on articles, or liking statutes will help get my name out there.

Millie A.

Better but NOT quite perfect yet.

Taking another look at my posts again made me see common grammar mistakes that I would probably have noticed if ONE: I proof read them or TWO: If I had someone else besides spell-check to check misspelling

I went back to our first posts, and for some reason it’s not letting me edit anything after my October 09 post. There is no edit link.

But I was able to make changes to a few other posts: Millie is my brand name, Lets work to the Right- Not Left, and Living Today-Dreaming Big for Tomorrow.

I changed a few sentences, made shorter paragraphs, changed the headline, added pictures , used bold and italic font, added some labels so it would be easier to find me and read it again.

I have improved from my first blog to now, but I can definitely use more improvement. If I can think of any other changes, I will add them.

Millie is my brand name.

[FOR] International firms, marketing managers, the trade industry and those involved in NGO’s and IGO’s

[I AM] currently a young international relations bilingual senior at Kean University working as an assistant manager at a café in Hoboken, NJ

[THAT] is determined to getting a trade-related job one day succeeding in the local and global market with help from her Spanish speaking skills, foreign cultural knowledge, former employer experience

[THROUGH] commitment, social involvement, self-management, experience, and good decision making

[IN AN __WAY] optimistic

Millie A

Lets work to the Right- Not Left!

Trying to be successful in the business world is NOT an easy task, but so far i'm on the right path.

I have gone from waitress to barista to cashier to receptionist to assistant manager in almost four years.

Soon enough, I will be managing my own business, putting me a step closer to accomplishing my goal.

Involvement in the food/hospitality field has helped me notice what I want to do, where I want to stand, and how far I want to go.

I have learned to see how competitive the market is and how successful a business can be if the market is well-studied. Location is very important when it comes to these things.

Thanks to my commitment and respect towards my employers, I have had a variety of opportunities. It has come in handy because it has given me first look at what people consume whether its summer or fall or small little details that can come in between when opening up a business.

I set myself an important objective four years ago: to find my true calling. When I did, I set another one: to get as much experience as possible. Now that I have- I’m setting myself another one: to get myself known locally, slowing moving into the international market in a some future.

It is time to make my experience useful.

My own consumer's needs are important when working in the business field but seeing others' needs have definitively made me improve my customer service skills. Consumers are and will always be my main audience.

They will help me discover the endless pros and cons of having a local business and what to keep in mind if I want to go overseas. Most businesses advertise through the old-fashioned tactics. Most lack creativity- a skill that with confidence I can say I have.

Im not saying old-fashioned tactics don’t work, but everybody knows about social media networking- so why not take advantage of them? We’re in 2011-almost 2012. One must keep them in mind to attract teenage and adult generations because they are the tomorrow’s future, and today’s future.

I for an instance will be using Facebook, since I feel that Twitter is more of a site where people follow celebrities tweets. I will also be creating a LinkedIn account to make myself known by other employers who are involved in the same field.

Also having a page linked to my personal sites is one of my many strategies. This will get my close friends, family, co-workers, and others aware of my plans. It will be keeping my fans updated with latest details and get my business some advertising, without spending too much money.

Having a business of your own takes time. It doesn’t happen from a day to another. There is a complete list of expenses that one has to keep in mind.

Yet, I know that if my motivation has gotten me this far, it will not fail me in the future. Until the chance of having my own business comes up, I might have to settle to managing one for a year or two, but as long as im on the right path-not left, I KNOW i will be fine.

Millie A.

Living Today, Dreaming Big for Tomorrow.

I often wish to go back in time to ten years ago but i know those “good times” are part of yesterday.

Today is the new tomorrow, and tomorrow means it’s time to start thinking about the future.

When I say the future, I don’t mean sticking with what is considered a well-paid job for another two to five years. That’s for now, not tomorrow, not next year.

Thinking about next year sounds like a long time ahead, but last minute arrangements have never been my thing. I need to have a strategy to get me to work in the business field.

Yes, my assistant manager experience will help but I don’t want to limit myself to just opening A business. I would like to target international markets someday.

Having an oversea business means that you need to do double the work needed for a local business, but with social networking sites like FACEBOOK AND TWITTER, researching c0nsumers' needs and likes has become easier.

Social media sites will definitely be a big help for my career path. Sure, there are a few steps before opening a business, but once they’re done, i can guarantee that a website, Facebook/Twitter page linked to my personal networks and advertisement in sites where my audience hangs out will happen.

It will take my soon to come business to the next level. I don’t have a finished business plan yet, but im slowly working on it as my graduation date arrives.

All there's left for now is to get involved in the business world by taking notice of what is in, staying up to date with hot markets, using work experience as reference, asking my boss and others for recommendations, and continuing to spread ideas with people who share the same aspirations.

It seems “hard” but my motivation to be my own leader will not let me down.

- Millie A.