Category Archives: Social Media

Another Semester of ‘Experiential Learning’ Begins at Rider University

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Fall 2018 at Rider University looks like it’s going to be another exciting semester of “experiential learning” (or, as I like to say, “learning by doing”) in both my COM341 Publicity Methods class and my COM107 Writing for the Media class — and I can’t wait to get started tomorrow (September 6th)! 

This semester, my students and I will be working and learning with Hackensack Meridian Health‘s Meghan Higgins and Margaret Fontana, producing a “Social Media Embassy” at the HMH Women Rock event on October 14th in Asbury Park, NJ. (Tyra Banks will be at the event, too!)

We’ll also be working and learning with the newly formed nonprofit, the James R. Halsey Foundation of the Arts, and its founder, Joseph A. Halsey, taking a hands-on approach to learning how to develop and promote the organization.

Additionally, my COM107 students will collaborate with Patrick Jones and Bryan Evans from Greater Trenton. We’ll be writing articles for the new online publication, Trenton Daily.

Yes! It’s going to be a very busy — yet FUN — semester… stay tuned!

P.S. I know it’s been a while since I’ve posted on this blog… I’m not going to make excuses, but I am going to promise to try to post more frequently and to restart the flow of information and conversation here. (In fact, I missed telling you about last semester, Spring 2018, when my students produced a super-successful event at Rider U. working with Seven13 Films… Maybe we’ll talk more about that in a future blog post?!)

But, I’m back — and I’m happy to be bringing this blog back to life, and I’m looking forward to teaching and facilitating another semester of “experiential learning” at Rider University!

Learning By Doing: Rider University Students Take Over Social Media at #HMHWomenRock Event

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I’ve always been a big believer in the concept of “learning by doing”! myLIpost WOMENROCK

This semester (Fall 2017), my “COM341 Publicity Methods” class at Rider University has had the wonderful opportunity to work with, and learn from, Meghan Higgins, Online Conversation Starter for Hackensack Meridian Health (HMH), and Margaret Fontana, HMH Digital Information Officer. Meghan and Margaret are our class’ “real-world” clients, and they’ve been helping us to learn everything we can about communications, social media, digital media, event planning, promotion, publicity, business, and more!

After weeks of planning during our class meetings and Skype sessions with Meghan and Margaret, on Saturday, October 21, we accomplished a “social media takeover” at the HMH Women Rock event in Asbury Park, New Jersey. Throughout the afternoon event, which was attended by hundreds of people, we expertly handled the social media coverage. We also were fortunate to have the assistance of a few photographers from my class and from Professor Jessi Oliano’s photography class at Rider. It was a great day – and an awesome experience for everyone involved!

A big “thank you” to these special people:

  • Thank you to my Rider students and Prof. Oliano’s photography students for doing such an amazing job! You make me so proud to be associated with you and Rider University. 🙂
  • Thank you to everyone at the #HMHWomenRock event who participated with us in real life (IRL) and on social media – Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat and Pinterest!
  • And, most of all, a BIG “THANK YOU” to Meghan Higgins, Margaret Fontana, and the folks at Hackensack Meridian Health who made this learning experience possible!

 

‘Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm…’

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syllabi fall 2017American Poet Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.” I agree 100%! That’s why I’m so excited to be starting another semester working with my students at Rider University. This semester, I’m teaching “COM107 Writing for the Media” and “COM341 Publicity Methods.” I couldn’t be any more enthusiastic about meeting my students (although I’ve met a few before) and about moving ahead with the activities planned for Fall 2017.

It’s go time! Classes start this week, and my syllabi are complete and already shared on Canvas (Rider’s learning management system online). Enthusiastically, I anticipate Fall 2017 will be a GREAT semester! Bring it on!

Are You Ready to Get More Social [Media]?…

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Recently, a friend asked me about the social media consulting work I’ve been doing for a few of my clients, so I shared the following information with her.
croppedcolorfulbutterflyAfter I sent the info, and the more I thought about it, I decided it might be a good idea to share the information with everyone… Maybe you — or someone you know — could benefit by “getting more social [media]” for your business?! If that’s the case, please reach out to me. I’d love to chat with you! 

Get More Social [Media] and Navigate the Social Media Channels with Kathy Magrino as Your Guide…

In the social media world, someone who “loves to talk” can work to your advantage: Kathy Magrino can help you navigate the social media channels and gain exposure for your business. Kathy will serve as your co-pilot and advisor as you take control of your business’ social media presence. She’ll show you how you can use social media to connect with more potential customers and fans, and you’ll gain more exposure for your business or brand. And, if you’d prefer, Kathy can manage and take care of your day-to-day social media tasks for you, while you relax and enjoy the ride!

Kathy has a long history of being known as a “social butterfly” and someone who enjoys chatting with other people. In fact, Kathy’s grammar school teachers would say she “loves to talk too much” and sometimes was “too social” in class. Jump ahead a few decades, and these “social skills” have combined with Kathy’s many years of experience as a writer, editor and marketing professional to create a powerful combination of skills. In recent years, these skills have been helping Kathy guide her clients – B2B and B2C businesses of all types and sizes – through the social media channels, “talking,” “chatting” and “socializing” their way to more exposure and more business.

From selecting the most effective social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and so on), to blogging and micro-blogging, to curating content (finding news and information relevant to your audience’s interests to share through the social media channels), to establishing an online “voice” for your brand and business, Kathy can help you do all things social-media-related, and she can help guide your business to social media success!

Connect with Kathy Magrino today to get started on your social media journey… She definitely looks forward to “chatting” with you! 😉

Email – kathy@thewriteway.com

Twitter – @kathymagrino

LinkedIn – http://www.linkedin.com/in/kathymagrino

Phone – 732-995-4030  

Creativity and enthusiasm shine through the blogs my students are writing!

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A few years ago, I blogged about how impressed I was with the blogs my students were creating and writing for our COM106 Writing for the Communication Professions class at Rider University. And each semester since 2012, I’ve continued to be “wowed” by my students’ blogs.blogcollageimage It’s not just the writing that they’re doing that’s impressive. It’s my students’ creativity that impresses me the most!

I give my students complete creative control over their blogs, and they can choose to write about any theme they want (because I believe that it’s always easier to write when you’re writing about a topic that interests you). Their creativity is awesome, and it’s enhanced by their enthusiasm for the topics they’re writing about, as well! They’re doing such a great job writing their blogs this semester, and the themes and topics are so interesting. I enjoy reading every post they write. 🙂

Take a look at a few of the blogs created during the past few weeks (Spring Semester 2015), and I think you’ll be impressed, too!

Twitter grows, while Facebook remains the same…

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Do you use Twitter?

Apparently, Twitter has been gaining more users, while Facebook usage has remained the same.  According to a recent article from Social Media Examiner, Twitter has been experiencing “massive growth.” Twitter screenshotThe article cites a Pew Research Center report that says the social media platform’s audience rose by 27.7% from 2013 to 2014, while Facebook’s audience held steady during the same time. The research also attributes some of Twitter’s increased popularity to TV programs and other businesses and brands using the platform. The article reports, “Twitter’s foothold with television audiences and Millennial consumers suggest there are some marketing opportunities.” That’s good news for businesses and brands.

Personally, I’ve enjoyed using Twitter since I first signed on in 2009. Over the past six years, it’s been fun to learn from people around the world, to meet new friends (some of those friends have transferred from the “Twitter world” to the “real world”), and to watch and participate in Twitter’s growth. If you’re not already using Twitter, you should join in on the fun! And let’s connect there: You can follow me @kathymagrino and I’ll follow you back. Hope to see you on Twitter soon! 🙂

WriteOn! – Week of January 12, 2015 – This Week’s Picks:

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What’s YOUR favorite social media site?…

The Pew Research Center says Facebook is the most popular social media site, but its growth has slowed. my twitter page At the same time, however, other social media platforms saw “significant increases” in popularity and usage. (I’m on several social media platforms, but my personal favorite is still Twitter — and I’ve been happily tweeting since 2009! Follow me on Twitter @kathymagrino.) Here’s the report released last week: http://pewrsr.ch/1ANX79T

In B2B content marketing, let’s get busier — and better!

According to the “B2B Content Marketing 2015 Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends – North America” report, ONLY 8% of B2B marketers rate the effectiveness of their organization’s use of content marketing as “very effective.” (This means there’s a lot of room for improvement! 🙂 ) You’ll find a lot of interesting and helpful info about B2B content marketing in this report from Joe Pulizzi of the Content Marketing Institute and Ann Handley of MarketingProfs: http://slidesha.re/1tY68pa

 

 

Introducing a new feature on this blog: WriteOn!

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Each week, I’ll be posting a “WriteOn!” mini-post here on my blog where you’ll find two or three links to blogs, articles and academic research paper posts that I’ve discovered online during the previous week. WriteOn3-carrotHonestly, I’m not sure what the specific topics will be – I’m open to learning about anything and everything that can help keep us positive, focused, motivated and moving forward in today’s sometimes-crazy, often-distracting world.

I’ll be looking for writing that somehow catches my attention. (For those of you who already follow me on Twitter and LinkedIn, you know my interests are wide-ranging and somewhat scattered: business, writing, teaching, learning, entrepreneurship, social media, communicating, etc.) In determining my picks for each week, I’ll be focused on sharing writing that’s somehow eye-opening, thought-provoking or just plain interesting – something that makes me (and hopefully you) think or react or take action.

Let’s face it: There’s so much good writing that’s going on right now, it’s impossible to read it all. Today, it seems we’re all writers – and we’re writing more than ever before: texting, emailing, blogging and expressing ourselves on social and online media… The reality is that humanity, as a whole, is communicating on a global scale and we’re linked together now more than we’ve ever been before.

This new blog feature – WriteOn! – will be my attempt to simplify and filter through all the writing and communicating that’s going on online today. I’m doing this for myself and for my like-minded friends and followers. Hope it helps us all! Look for my first WriteOn! post this Monday, January 5, 2015. Let me know what you think by commenting or tweeting to me. Thanks!

Does ‘Social Networking’ Continue After We Die?

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Move over, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, LinkedIn and other social networks! “The other side” is being touted as “the original social network”… and this presents an opportunity to view social networking and social media in a whole new way. sunburst

In an interview on the Hay House World Summit website, New York Times best-selling author and world-renowned psychic medium John Edward compares our relationships with loved ones who have died and “crossed over to the other side” to our social networking habits and relationships on the Internet. 

Mr. Edward says, “The way we’re tethered by energy on the Internet with Facebook” — how we’re aware of what’s going on in our friends’ lives and how we’re connected — is similar to how we’re connected and “tethered” to the people we love after we die. He adds, “The other side is really the original social network, and we’re tethered by love.”

I’ve heard and seen a lot of definitions and descriptions related to social networking and social media, through my work teaching writing and communication classes and through my own experience with social media. But John Edward’s analogy is different and it taps into our emotions.

The next time I update my status on Facebook or Twitter, I’ll be thinking about how my Dad checks in on my family’s “social network” from the other side to see how we’re all doing. For me, that’s a very comforting thought.

Photo by whologwhy via Flickr