As most people already know, I am obsessed with sloths. So I have decided to enlighten you all on why I feel sloths are worth loving and obsessing over. Not only are they super cute… obviously…

But they also are very interesting as well. Below are  just a few interesting facts most people do not know about sloths (mostly because they are one of the most stereotyped animals).

1. Sloths cannot walk – they can only use their legs and arms to drag their bodies across the ground.

2. Sloths are amazing swimmers. They have adapted to swimming because most sloths will fall into water or crawl into water when defending themselves from predators (or just because they are clumsy, broke their branch and fell out of a tree).

3. Sloths only urinate and defecate once a week when they are grown. The younger sloths can go up to three weeks without urinating or defecating.  They also go to the same exact spot every time they need to go to the bathroom, which makes them more vulnerable to their predators. 

4. Sloths are extremely solitary creatures. They only gather when it is time to mate and after that they will not be around one another (this means they are very young when their mothers leave them).

5. Sloths are nocturnal animals and contrary to believe, they only sleep for about 10 hours a day – NOT 24 hours a day. 

6. Wild sloths have the tendency to grow algae on their fur to camouflage themselves from their predators – this is actually one of the only ways to defend themselves from predators.

7. Sloths are EXTREMELY strong animals. If you ever attend a sloth encounter, like myself, you are not allowed to hold them because they will not let go of a branch or in this case a human unless it is voluntary. Not only are they strong when they are alive, but they also maintain their grip after they have passed away (in other words, they just keep hanging).

8. Three toed sloths are similar to owls, they can turn their heads almost a complete 360 degrees.

9. They only move at about 3 meters per minutes… which is slow but not as slow as what people assume. 

Are you convinced that sloths are worth loving and obsessing over yet? If not, by the end of this semester you might be but until then you can watch a valid representation of how much I love sloths through this video of Kristen Bell having a full-fledged panic attack (in a good way) over her first sloth encounter. 

Do you want more followers? I DON'T.

In the book, Guy Kawasaki stated “There are two kinds of people on social media: those who want more followers and those who are lying”.

This statement truly bugged me because I in fact do not utilize my social media to maximize my followers. After really thinking about this, I was hoping he was referring to organizations and businesses, not just individuals. However, I am not completely sure that is what he is referring too.

Today there are several millennials and even the younger generations who truly care about their followers. I believe this is just a shift in the social media culture all together. But I like to think I am the outlier of the generation.

Looking at my Instagram for example – this is my private life and moments in my life that are meaningful to me. Yes, my profile is private but that is simply because I do not feel that strangers need to have access to creep on these moments in my life. When I receive follow requests, I analyze if I know the person or not. If I do not know that person – I will in fact hide their request and not allow them to follow me. The amount of likes I receive on a picture do not affect the quality of my picture, nor does it take away from the meaning of that moment to me. I know several people who will delete their pictures if they do not receive enough likes on a picture… however I am not one of those people.

I feel that this statement would have been true if I was a business attempting to promote my brand, a service, or a new product. However, I am none of those things. I have always thought if an employer wants to look at me and see my brand then they can go and view my LinkedIn account. My life outside of work ultimately does not have anything to do with my employer – unless I was committing seriously illegal laws, doing drugs, or coming to work intoxicated. However, since I am what I like to call an ethical person I do nothing of that sort.

I could analyze all my social media outlets; however, the same end result would appear for them all - I truly do not want more followers. That is not and never will be my object with my social media platforms when speaking about MYSELF. If someone I just met wishes to follow me on social platform, that’s cool. If not, that’s just as cool.

Disclaimer: I am not judging those who do want more followers because that is your own personal social platforms, I am just stating I do not seek more followers for my social platforms. 

Predicted Social Media Trends for 2017

This week on PR News for Smart Communicators, I read the moving article 7 Social Media Trends to Watch in 2017 From Yelp’s Manager of Local Business Outreach written by Sophie Maerowitz. She explained how the social platforms are in a constant state of change because they are always updating. This can be difficult for a company to manage seeing how there are so many platforms all with different updates. Maerowitz interviewed John Carroll, a Yelp Manager of Local Outreach who expresses seven social media trends for communicators to continue looking for throughout 2017. These trends may help a company be more prepared when/if the updates come along. Below are the seven trends Carroll believes will become prominent.

·         Video’s will still reign supreme: here he talks about the evolution of the video tools on platforms that already exist such as Instagram stories, Facebook Live, etc. He believes that videos allow for more rich content to reach the audience while allowing them to engage in an experience.

·         There will be an increased focus on capturing authentic moments: here Carroll explains how social platforms allow for organizations and individuals to share moments in real time. This means that moments are captured as they are happening and being posted for others to see.

·         Immersive technology will allow brands to take audiences along for the ride: here he explains the idea of virtual reality increasing today is allowing for consumers to feel an increase in immersive content that is portrayed. This allows the consumers to actually experience the journey with them first hand rather than showing them the experience at a later time.

·         The barrier between brand and consumer will dissolve: the word brand has changed over the year’s tremendously. Branding today does not just mean the label of product however it also takes into consideration the engagement of different people. Carroll states “brands are expected to behave in a human way on social media”. By this he is referring to giving customers the same experience and perception of a brand that you would receive if you were to enter the store or organization.

·         Staying on top of fads will yield positive engagement if you act fast: here Carroll acknowledge small trends and how if an organization or individual acts fast they can take part in the current trend. He then briefly states if the trend makes sense for your brand, you should participate in the trend.

·         Social media will continue to be a multifunction channel: as social media become more and more popular different organizations and individuals have begun to utilize it for different things. Carroll expresses how millennial-targeting brands are beginning to have successfully driven sales by making social platforms such as Snapchat their de facto channel.

·         Social platforms will get more complicated and more expensive: here Carroll explains how the idea of social media increasing so quickly is only complicating things for companies. They are now creating algorithms which make it challenging for brands to get content in front of consumers and rather they will need to depend more on paid campaigns as time goes on.

Seeing how much social media has already expanded and how fast the technological advancements are, it is important to keep an eye out for future trends and updates within the platforms that already exist. Since they are constantly updating, it is critical that organizations stay as up to date as they can or they will risk losing their target audience’s attention to those organizations that do keep up to date with the social platforms. 

Three R’s of Habit Formation

As we are entering the year 2017, I felt it would be beneficial to talk about the different ways to forming good habits. I know we all just made our “New Year Resolutions” and with that being said we are going to make attempts to better ourselves, start new healthy habits, or possibly get rid of the old bad habits that we once had. As I am going into my last year here on Ohio Northern University, I realized that I have gone four years without caring about my body. I haven’t exercised, ate healthy, or even ingested the proper fluids (whether this is referring to the amount of alcoholic beverages or just the proper amount of water each day).

One of my resolutions was to take care of myself and get back into shape. In high school I was a cheerleader and that might not mean much to a lot of people. But the sport of competitive cheerleading if extremely difficult. It requires 3:00 minutes of true dedication. This dedication required me to do four standing back hand springs, two running tumbling passes, six jumps with one jump combination, three stunting sequences (a pyramid, basket toss, and a single combination consisting of three or more different things), dancing, cheering, AND smiling/looking happy while in shape doing it all (or I would have never made it through those 3:00 minutes). I know that is a lot to process and it sounds impossible while looking at it on paper – but at one point and time I made it happen. Today however, I can hardly walk up a flight of stairs without feeling like I am going to pass out. This has created motivation inside of me not only for the year 2017, but for the rest of my life.

No matter what resolution you have, I am here to give you three basic tips that will help you achieve the end results of that resolution. These tips are a simple and easy way to form a new habit until you are adjusted to the new change you are implementing into your life. The three tips are commonly known as the Three R’s of Habit Formation – Reminder, Routine, and Reward.

Reminder: It is important that you set a reminder about why you started doing what you are doing and what time you want to start. For example, each day if you want to go to the gym at 3:00 PM, set a reminder on your phone. Instead of it saying “Gym”, it should say something more motivational “You got this! Work hard and the reward will pay off” or maybe “I know you are thinking about skipping leg day.. DON’T DO IT”. These little reminders sound silly but it is an internal motivation to keep pushing yourself to form that new habit. At the end of the week or end of the month set a reminder to reflect on your progress. Reflect on why you started and why you want change in the first plae. Reflect on how far you have come and how much farther you have to go. The first couple weeks (21 days) are going to be the hardest time frame. These reminders are going to be essential.

Routine: This is the actual action you are taking. Mine for instance is getting into shape. You need to maintain the will power to continue actually doing the action that you told yourself you were going to do. There will be times when you convince yourself you don’t have time.. however, excuses will not get you the end result you want. Make sure you are actually allowing yourself the time needed to accomplish your goal.

Reward: With positive rewards, there are positive actions. When you see the reward paying off you will find desire to continue the routine allowing yourself to form a good habit. For example, when you are sore it is because you worked hard. Knowing that you are sore is a positive reward (even though it feels like a negative one). Eventually you will stop being sore and start seeing the actual result. If you are trying to form a habit that doesn’t have direct results it is important that you reward yourself in other ways to continue pushing through what seems to be negative rewards. The better the reward the more likely you are to respond positively to the reminder set on your phone for day two or day thirteen.

Growing up I have known the Three R's of Habit Formation and not one time have I ever applied it to my life. On January 18, 2017 I decided I wanted get back into shape, be healthy, and respect my body. On February 18, 2017 I will have formed a habit if I continue to push myself each and every day for the next month. I will complete my goal by following the Three R’s of Habit Formation. I have full faith that I will complete this goal not only for 2017 but (hopefully) for the rest of my life. 

Three Fundamentals for Building an Influencer Program on Instagram

This week I decided to read an article on PR New for Smart Communicators focusing on utilizing PR throughout an application called Instagram. This specific article was call 3 Fundamentals for Building an Influencer Program on Instagram written by Steven Goldstein. Throughout this article Goldstein expresses that throughout research it has been proven that Instagram is the most popular platform that reaches people who actually are engaging with brands on social media. Since Instagram is the most popular for brand recognition on social media, it is important to recognize how to utilize this platform to the best of ones ability given that there are limitations to how much a brand can do through a social media platform. The following three points are the ways that organizations and individuals should create an influencer program on Instagram:

• Extend Existing Relationships: For organizations and individuals that already have existing influencing social media accounts, they should utilize those followers that already exist from these accounts to expand and reach out to new followers. The benefit is explained to be a crossover across social networks affect rather than just having one. 
• Organic - Getting Hands On: This tip is talking about being more hands on with the followers. Organizations and individuals should not just follow individuals - they should share what they post and possible direct message them. If it is a piece of work that you absolutely love, you should consider asking to re-post with a full attribution and explanation about how you would use the image. This is giving your followers the power to influence your profile. If you are sharing their work - they will share your work. 
• Influencer Agencies: Seeing how these relationships are hard to maintain and nurture, organizations and individuals should take in consideration the help from an influencer talent agency. These agencies are rapidly growing and will ease the amount of effort you must put into your relationships. Even though this a cost that you should take into consideration, looking at the benefits you may decide it is worth it - especially if your want to sustain relationship on behalf of your brand. 

What seemed simple, isn't so simple.

After the first reading for class, I came to the conclusion that what appeared to be simple parts of social media, was actually not so simple at all. Social media actually can be a very complicated subject when analyzed appropriately which many millennials should take into consideration as this will heavily impact them today.

Looking through the first chapter solely, I have to the conclusion that I need to go and adjust almost all of my platforms. On the plus side, I realized I am not the only one because almost every other person I follow on my platforms needs to do the same thing. I am going to approach this by “thinking out loud” throughout the first seven steps that may have seemed like a “simple” or “basic” step to the author.

1.      Pick a Neutral Screen Name

Luckily… this is something that I have successfully completed since day one. My name is “Dani Schae” on every platform. Not only is this consistent across all platforms, but it is unique. Since both my first and last name are common, I made the choice to use my middle name which sets me apart from others and is memorable. In addition, this screen name brings no harm to my personal brand or reputation.

2.      Optimize for Five Seconds

Now this description was pretty short and is better defined in the next following steps. But I feel as if I have done all three points discussed (Avatar, Cover, Biographical Text) wrong in way or another.

3.      Focus Your Avatar on Your Face

I feel that most of my avatars in the past and present showed who I was as a person. However, if a stranger were to come across my profile they would have no idea because my avatar usually is not of myself alone. Therefore, I did not allow the audience to make a snap decision about me because there is always more than one picture in my avatar. In addition, as most college students I can admit that not all my avatars in the past have been the best representation for future employers or strangers to see and be able to confidentially make a decision that I am a professional adult. Looking more specifically at the smaller aspects of my avatar the author provided some small tips that make sense to utilize when updating your avatar. He said to make the asymmetrical allowing for your avatar to come across as interesting. He also advised users to take pictures towards the light and not against it to eliminate your face appearing unexposed. Finally he said to think big when you are updating your avatar. With this he means that you should make it a crisp photo that is at least 600 pixels wide. Now, most of those tips may have seemed to be of common knowledge, however taking an asymmetrical picture and making sure it is at least 600 pixels wide would have never crossed my mind when choosing an avatar. Like most individuals I usually just chose a picture that I feel I look presentable in.

4.      Stick with One Picture

Check – I do that with all my platforms (even though I thought I was just being weird… apparently this is supposed to be done).

5.      Craft a Mantra

I have never even heard of the word “Mantra” before reading through chapter one. So this whole step was news to me. Apparently your mantra essentially is your tagline and is only supposed to be two to four words long. As your stereotypical girl however – I have a quote… which obviously is a little excessive. I also do not have a consistent mantra throughout all my platforms because I created them all at different time, this is something that I never reviewed to make sure they all were consistent.

6.      Tell Your Story

Here the author was talking specifically about cover photos. I do know that these exist and I have always had one. I feel it also was a coincident that all my cover photos were consistent and that they were of meaningful things to my life. These pictures have also always told a clean story, one that the professionals and strangers would be able to make a sound judgement on.

7.      Get a Vanity URL

WHAT?!?!? You can do that? This is probably way old news to most people, but this appeared to be one of the most exciting things I have ever had the opportunity to learn! I always get so annoyed with the long 35 numbers at the end of URLs.

After reading the text I realized that I do not even have the basic part of any platform set up correctly, let alone my platforms filled with the correct context. I feel that the main reasoning for this is because I was uneducated about what power social media has and the true purposes of the different platforms. Another reason this may seem so complicated to me is because I was younger when social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Myspace, and other platforms came out. Since we have had our platforms for so many years we never realized how much it would be utilized throughout the years to adapt to the technological advancements we currently have today.  

What would you like to be when you grow up?

We have all been asked the same question. That one question that no matter how many times we’ve been asked, we aren’t quite sure what the answer is. Yet, we have been asked this questions so many times, it would assumed that we should have an answer by now – or what appears to be somewhat of a direction to the answer at least. But, here we are, clueless once more. What question is she referring to you might ask yourself…

What would you like to be when you grow up?

As a child this question seemed so certain. All my life I thought I would grow up to be a Veterinarian. I love animals more than I love most human beings, so this path makes since to pursue. However, as I grew up I realized that I was not the best at science and I have a weak stomach prohibiting me to be around blood. These both are factors that I have no control over unfortunately so I needed to start thinking about a different future to pursue. In high school I was extremely good at math. I graduated a year early from high school which required me to double up on my math courses. Since I was so passionate about the subject, this was a challenge I was willing to accept. When I started looking at colleges, I began looking into the business field. Why would I pick a degree in the business field when I loved math so much? Why would I contradict my natural ability like this? Why can’t I have the best of both worlds I thought to myself. Today, I am in college at Ohio Northern University. I am pursuing a major in Risk Management and Insurance with a dual minor in Management and Statistics and the question still remains.

What would you like to be when you grow up?

Almost seven years have gone by and I still do not have the answer. I am currently a senior in my last semester of my undergraduate degree and I could not answer the one question that has been haunting me for years. At ONU I have found that there is a very limited population of students that can give a definite answer to this question. What appears to be the worst part about this redundant question is that the majority of the faculty and staff cannot answer it themselves, let alone give you the answer to your future. I ask myself so many times, why is this question so hard to answer? It may be because as an undergraduate student in college I do not have the most experience in the work force to know what I like and what I do not like. It might be because I am not educated on the amount of jobs directly related to my degree, seeing that I am obtaining a degree in a fairly new program. It might be that I haven’t taken the time to really think about what I wanted to be when I grew up?

Just recently I discovered that not being able to rely on others to give me this answer isn’t the worst part. The worst part about not being able to answer this question is one of the many factors playing a part in everyday life – time.

It feels like just yesterday I was in grade school learning my alphabet and before I could blink I am a few months short of walking across the stage to accept my diploma from ONU. Now, I have to take one of the biggest steps on my life and decide what I want to do from here. Time has caught up to me and I have to decide where I want to start my journey and what I want to be (or at least start with). The only thing I know about my future is that I want to be happy with a good job. A job that I don’t hate waking up for every morning. Knowing that I want to be happy with a good job doesn’t seem to be enough, especially now that I have to begin applying for jobs. Again I am stuck here asking myself that one taunting question.

What would you like to be when you grow up?