Communication Major Searching for Job in the Social Media Field

Contact Information:

Shane Montoya
St. Edward's University
Communication Major
Email: smontoy@stedwards.edu
Blog: http://shanesprblog.blogspot.com

Communication Major Searching for Job in the Social Media Field

I am seeking a full-time job focusing on Social Media in Public Relations or Advertising in Austin, Texas upon graduating.

December 1, 2007

• In May of 2008 I will be graduating from St. Edward’s University with a bachelor’s degree in Communication focusing on Public Relations, Advertising, and Marketing. Upon graduating I hope to get a job with a company that deals with social media.


• Some of the related course work that I feel will benefit me in a job dealing with social media is: Public Relations, Advertising, Organizational Communication, Media Communication, Journalism, Social Media & Internet PR, and Advertising Creative Strategies.


• Since June of 2007, I have had the opportunity to work at Clear Channel Radio’s 96.7 Kiss FM for the number one rated morning show in Austin. Through this internship I have learned how to put things on the web and how to work with many different forms of sound editing software.


• Since August of 2006, I have also had the opportunity to work at St. Edward’s University for the School of Humanities. Throughout this job I have become skilled at using InDesign, Adobe Illustrator, and Photoshop. I have also had the opportunity to book hotels, order food, and make reservations for events online.


• Through attending St. Edward’s University I feel that I have had many opportunities to learn about the web and about how technology is taking the world by storm. In my Social Media & Internet PR class I have had the opportunity to blog regularly, create podcasts and web videos, learn about the many different forms of social networking sites, and how to use all the tools that keep everyone connected throughout the web.


• By having the opportunity to take Advertising Creative Strategies I have been given the advantage of learning how to create television, radio, newspaper, and magazine layouts.


• Throughout my experience at St. Edward’s University some great things have happened to me. They include: being a part of the Communication Society, being given many Student at Work Awards (SAW) for my well done job with the Humanities office, volunteering for Meals on Wheels, and making the Dean’s List.

MULTIMEDIA ELEMENTS:

Download Podcast on Social Media	Download "Outrage for Injustice"

QUOTES

These Quotes Came From Co-Workers

"Shane is one of the most reliable people I know. He is really easy to get along with and always makes the day more enjoyable." -Shelly

"Shane has taught me a lot about good work ethic. He knows when it is time to be serious and I have learned a lot from him. I would call him the leader of the group." -Erik

"Shane defines what it means to be all around talented. Every task that has been put in front of him he has mastered." -Chelsea

About Shane:

Shane Montoya arrived in Austin, TX after deciding to attend St. Edward's University in 2004. He is in his fourth year there and intends to graduate in May of 2008. His hometown is only an hour and a half away in Waco where he lived for 18 years of his life. There he attended Reicher Catholic High School. He is a dedicated individual who has worked hard to get where he is today. He is easy to get along with and enjoys life. When he is not busy (which is rare) he enjoys outdoor activities and traveling.

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Social Media Public Relations Advertising Marketing Shane Montoya Technology Internet Job

Should You Blog?

Chapter 11 of The New Influencers titled Next Steps posed the question of who should be blogging? The book tailored this question towards business owners. It stated that blogging is a great way for business owners to get their word out there. Whether their word may be promotion for a new product or rebuttal to an angry customers complaints the important thing is that through blogging they have a wide range to reach people.

One of the other things that the chapter talks about is how rankings fall for professional bloggers when they take a break. The book stated "prominent blogger Stowe Boyd said that if he takes just a week off from blogging, his Technorati ranking drops from 2,100 to 2,300," (pg 203). Fans of bloggers are serious. I don't know how many times I have stopped reading blogs because there is no new information put up for days. Blogging can be done just for fun, but if you really want a following you better be willing to dedicate a lot of time to it!

In my personal opinion I think that blogging is an excellent thing to do, especially if you have time. Blogging really does take up some time but I am glad that I started doing it this semester. Before this class I really didn't see any benefits that could come from it, but after doing it for almost five months I will never stop blogging. I have learned more about the web and new technology in these past months than I have in my entire life. There are so many great things that the web has to offer and blogging is one of them. Everyone really should take advantage of it, especially those that have a small business. Blogging would be a great way for them to get their name out there and maybe even gain some loyal customers. One day I hope to open up my own business and I will definitely be blogging about it. Blogging to me allows you to in a way act like your own PR consultant. You are the one in charge of the face that you are giving the company and the one who is in charge of your companies reputation. Blogging is one way to shape your company into whatever you want it be. Just make sure that you are being truthful. Go ahead and give blogging a try!

Amazon Kindle

According to an article that I just recently read titled, Is the Amazon Kindle Really the Ipod of Books, it seems that a new invention is making its way onto the market. The Kindle is a new electronic device where a person can download entire books, magazines, newspapers, and even their favorite blogs. Some people are even comparing this new device to be the Ipod of books.

In the article it stated that with this device you get free wireless Internet to browse for over 90,000 books. Also, the downloading is really fast. This to me looks like it is a really cool device especially for those that like to keep up with the latest technology and for those that like to read a lot. In a sense it really does seem like it could be the Ipod of books. Ipod has Itunes which has a never ending list of songs, and it seems that this new reading device has a source that is similar that has a never ending list of books.

I had never heard or seen anything like this device before. I was really shocked when I stumbled on this article because this is something that I am sure that a lot of people would want to get there hands on. The article said that to purchase a book using this device it usually would cost somewhere around $9.99 and to buy the new kindle it would cost a person $399.

While this device seems like it can cause no harm I can only help but wonder is this going to cause the same problem for the book industries that the Ipod has for music industries. All that I hear about now is how music industries are in panic because of the new wave of digital downloading. More and more people are turning to digital downloading because it is more convenient and usually cheaper. Although I don't think that this product will ever be as popular as the Ipod I do think that it will cause a stir between book industries. If the kindle ever takes off PR teams are going to have to ready to provide there cases because I am sure that a lot of book industries are going to be complaining when they lose a lot of their business.

Cluetrain Manifesto

In class on Thursday we began talking about the 95 theses of the Cluetrain Manifesto. A trend is starting to head in the way of online markets. The manifesto tries to help point out the flaws of corporate companies and how online markets are faster and better.

I really agreed with some of the theses that the manifesto mentioned. First, I really liked these two. 21). Companies need to lighten up and take themselves less seriously. They need to get a sense of humor. 22). Getting a sense of humor does not mean putting some jokes on the corporate web site. Rather, it requires big values, a little humility, straight talk, and a genuine point of view. I agree with these two theses completely because I do not know how many times companies are so overly professional that it just makes you mad at them. We are all real people and all of us to a certain extent have to speak in a conversation to where we know that the company feels bad for the problem/problems its consumers are experiencing. Sometimes when they are overly professional in tone it tends to make consumers feel like they are worthless. Like these two theses stated getting a sense of humor does NOT mean posting jokes on the companies web site, just be a little more humble.

I also really liked theses 52). Paranoia kills conversation. That's its point. But lack of open conversation kills companies. I think that conversation is the number one thing that keeps a company going. Let's remember back to a lot of PR cases that we have talked about in the past. First, there was the Exxon Valdez case. The CEO waited for an entire week to make a response on the huge oil spill and without this conversation to the public the company took a tremendous hit and loss. Just think of how different things would have been if they would have responded and took action quicker. Let's also look at the Ipod battery case. A man's Ipod starting dying after just a few minutes when he had only had his Ipod for a year. He called Apple and they told him that it would be more to replace the battery than it would be to buy a whole new Ipod. The man was outraged and a backlash went out against Apple. Through this form of conversation Apple dramatically dropped the price of getting a new battery. If Apple would not have responded quickly to this problem it could have changed the outcome of the company today.

One theses that I did NOT like was 26). Public Relations does not relate to the public. Companies are deeply afraid of their markets. I personally think that public relations has a lot to do with the public. Look at all these cases that I have talked about in this blog. If PR did not relate to the public all these companies would have had some serious problems. People that are in charge of PR are the ones that have to continue to tend to the public. If there is a problem they are the ones who have to make it better, and they have to get people to understand the point that the company is trying to make. I think that all that PR does is relate to the public. This relationship may not be like most but it is some form of bond.

I really liked this list of 95 theses. Once again this is something else to show how powerful the Internet is becoming. I think that online markets are unique and are going to change a lot about how business is conducted. It will be interesting to see these changes over the years.

What Is Facebook Thinking?

In Tuesday's class we learned about the newest application that Facebook is going to be adding to it's ever growing list of functions. The latest addition is going to be a part of "Facebook Beacon" which promotes ads on users actual news feeds. This new function is basically going to allow everyone who is a friend with you, be allowed to see exactly what you buy. (By putting a cookie on your computer that keeps track of what you bought with your credit card. If you are logged onto Facebook the same time you are buying products, than it will be added to your news feed).

At first I was like this is pretty cool. It would really help to keep people updated on what is new out there and what people are interested in, but as the class got further into discussion I remember thinking that this is a total invasion of privacy. We shared stories about how something as special as asking someone to marry them was ruined thanks to this new application. (After a person bought a ring the purchase showed up on his news feed and everyone from his girlfriend to his friends saw it, as well as the price!) This new application takes it just one step to far. This to me, just seems like Facebook is ready to start making some serious money. Think of all the companies that are going to pay them to advertise for them, when really they are doing no work at all. It seems like a win-win situation for Facebook. So many people are on Facebook and I am sure that when a new recently purchased item pops up on people's news feeds that people are going to go and check it out. They may not buy it but they will probably remember the website and use it to look for other products someday.

But this could cause a serious problem. What if people buy something that they do not want to share with the world? Facebooks PR team should get ready for a lot of complaints, and get ready to write a lot of new releases to explain why and how this could possibly be a good idea. I really do like Facebook (especially when it was more simple back in the day) but I don't like this new application. I hope that they don't end up messing up what I thought was a good social networking site.

Outrage for Injustice

Here is the video that my group and I made in our social media and PR class. The theme was to show people the realistic truth about what happens to animals in slaughter houses and why people should go vegetarian.



Click Here to Watch the Video!

Fantasy Sports

This is a little different form of social media but to me it can be classified as a type of social networking for sports fans. What I am talking about is fantasy sports. Fantasy sports is people getting together (from anywhere) online and building a team in sports that they think will be the best. These teams are created by real people and compete in real competition every week.

I play both fantasy football and fantasy basketball so those are the two that I am most familiar with. These leagues can consist of families, friends, or random people. They can be found on a lot of different sites, but the two main ones being ESPN and Yahoo. This could be a great way for people to test their sports knowledge and be competitive. This is not just a game, it is taken seriously by most people. Some people even host draft parties to pick the players that they want on their team. The players even offer trades between each other, and pick up players from waivers throughout the season. If a player gets hurt in real life than they are hurt on your team as well, and they need to be replaced in order to continue getting points. Even the top teams go to the playoffs seeing who will become the champion. Lastly, players can communicate with each during game times through something that is very similar to instant messaging.

Fantasy sports are very unique because it is just another form of social networking, but in a competitive sense. It can be linked with social media and pr because fantasy rankings are talked about every week before games on sports shows, even press releases are written about the ever changing ranking of players. Also, these rankings can be found a lot of different places online. Here is an example of the top ranked quarterbacks in fantasy football this week. If your a sports fan and want to compete you should join a fantasy league.