Flavory Avery

For the past two years I have honestly been a stress ball of anxiety, neuroticism, and woe. School has been a big commitment for me. I frequently compare it to a train you board and cannot hop off of once you've started, otherwise face major financial ruin...at least for me. There have still been times I desperately wished I could quit though! Times where I felt I had to sacrifice things that are pretty important to me in the moment for a long-held goal. This is my last semester before I graduate. Marketing 455 is one of my last classes. One of my last projects before I am done. If I'm being real, I probably won't turn it in until Sunday night. I try so hard not to procrastinate, but my life is extremely chaotic. As for right now, it's the way I function. Once it's done, it's done. I just have to buckle down and do it. My brain is so tired. My soul is so tired. This blog is more of an emotional rant than anything academic, and I'm not really sorry for that b...

In their article, "The Key to Social Media Success Within Organizations," authors Quy Huy and Andrew Shipilov argue that building emotional capital is absolutely essential for a social media initiative to be adopted internally. Emotional capital is the positive bond or connection that is developed between stakeholders and the organization. It consists of a few essential pillars such as authenticity, pride, attachment, and fun. I agree with the author's assertion that developing emotional capital is critical, because in today's digital age, social media has become an indispensable tool for companies to communicate and engage with their employees, customers, and other stakeholders. Though an increasing amount of communication happens online, conversations should maintain personal elements like being friendly and polite. After all, we are still humans and not quite robots. Absence of emotional capital can hinder the effectiveness of social media initiatives and actually ...

Crafting a social media campaign for my company Spiral Space Dance Studio has had its ups and downs. On one hand, the project is simple because of how passionate I am about it, but on the other hand, that passion can be a double-edged sword that makes me hyper critical of my ideas. The more significant and personal an assignment is, the more pressure there is to design it as best as possible. Something I have been enjoying during this process is delving into the bigger picture of why I’m doing this in the first place. Determining the true purpose of the campaign and developing a main overarching objective is a very important step. Then, breaking that down into measurable goals, which can be further segmented into specific tasks. As simple and straightforward as this process sounds, it actually requires a lot of insightful planning. Putting passion into words is the struggle, but in the end, it will hopefully resonate with others and benefit the company. So far, I know that the main thi...

The article "The Pepsi Refresh Project: A Thirst for Change" discusses PepsiCo's ambitious social media-driven campaign that aimed to foster positive change in local communities. Launched in 2010, the Pepsi Refresh Project was a departure from traditional advertising strategies, as it diverted millions of dollars from Super Bowl ads to fund community-driven initiatives. The project allowed individuals, non-profits, and organizations to submit their ideas for projects that would make a positive impact on society. These ideas were then open to public voting, and the ones with the most votes received funding from PepsiCo.  The initiative received widespread attention and participation, with a significant number of projects receiving financial support. However, it also faced criticism and skepticism, as some questioned the motives behind the campaign, suggesting it was merely a clever marketing ploy of an unhealthy beverage company trying to improve its brand image. The compa...

Similar to a delicious meal, social media content is way easier to consume than produce. Careful what you eat though! Most of the personal time I spend on the internet is passive because of the sheer volume of things to explore and ways to entertain myself. Being a creator however has always been extremely intimidating, especially after having consumed so much content throughout the course of my life that I have developed a certain expectation or bias. Don't get me wrong, I still maintain a presence online, but it always feels forced. One of the biggest struggles for me as a young lady that grew up with the boom of internet culture is with my identity, and how I am perceived online. I try really hard to separate my ego and self-esteem from actual reality versus fake virtual reality, but it is extremely difficult as an artist who uses the platforms as portfolios to build credibility with greater audiences. Not to mention popular culture thrives on social media, so one can quickly fe...

Authors Andreas Kaplan and Michael Haenlein provide fascinating insights into the modern phenomenon most young people with a cellphone wish would happen to them in their article "Two hearts in three-quarter time: How to waltz the social media/viral marketing dance." It begins with an explanation of a tried and true strategy: Word of Mouth marketing. Essentially this is telling people you know about products you've used, who may go on to heed your suggestion and tell others. Information, especially hot goss, can spread fast through the grapevine. An interesting point that is brought up about WoM is that it "is not a purely altruistic behavior: it offers advantages to the sender, as well as the receiver. For senders, WoM is an opportunity to help others and to improve their self-confidence in doing so. For receivers, it reduces decision-making time as well as risk." This means that people often receive a significant amount of value from hearing opinions of those i...