A Book

                Reading is one of my favorite hobbies. I have over 100 books on my Kindle and spend most of my summer days reading and relaxing. My favorite genre of books is romance and mystery but as I get older, I would like to make the transition to books that pertain to personal and professional goals.

                I am a Psychology major and Business Administration minor at Saint Michael’s College in Vermont. My professional goal is to become a college admissions counselor and eventually work my way up to becoming the president of the college. I believe that a degree in psychology and business will help me to achieve my professional goals.

                I have found a book on Amazon that combines both concepts from psychology and marketing. It is entitled Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert B. Cialdini. This book is about the science of persuasion “explains the psychology of why people say ‘yes’” (Cialdini). It teaches the six principles of how to become a skilled persuader.

                I want to read this book because it combines two subjects that I enjoy learning about. Persuasion is an important skill to have in the professional world and I would like to learn about different ways that psychology ties into the ability to persuade. I would like to develop better persuasion skills and I am interested and learning what the six principles of how to become a skilled persuader are. This book would help me to expand my persuasion skills while learning about psychology and marketing.

http://www.amazon.com/Influence-Psychology-Persuasion-Business-Essentials/dp/006124189X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1403231250&sr=8-1&keywords=psychology+of+persuasion 

Library & UPS/logistics

                The Saint Michael’s College library offers many databases for students to use. There are specific databases categorized by one’s major as well as databases for general research. Reference librarians are always ready and available to help and always go out of their way to help students find the best and most reliable information from all available resources.

                I have worked with reference librarians many times during my academic career at Saint Michael’s College. I recently worked with Steve, a reference librarian, on the case for Alan Ashe Insurance Agency. He was able to guide me through the process of using library databases, like Value Line, to find information about insurance companies and demographics. He went above and beyond what I needed him to do and even sent me links to research after I had left. Having reference librarians that are willing to devote their time to students’ needs is one of many things that makes Saint Michael’s College unique.

                Today, I worked with Marilyn to find out information about United Postal Service (UPS). She showed me a database called Business Insights: Essentials which then led me to information about UPS. UPS is a “package and document delivery company went public on November 10, 1999. The company's U.S. domestic package segment include the time-definite delivery of letters, documents and packages, to include the air and ground delivery of small packages and letters. The international package segment includes delivery to more than 200 countries and territories worldwide.” (bi.galegroup.com).

                UPS also delivers packages internationally and is one of the highest-grossing delivery services. UPS is a merger with T.G. International Inc., TanData Corp, and Intertrans Corp. UPS partners with Worldwide Express. The Worldwide Express website states “Our partnership with UPS allows you and your customers to have peace of mind when shipping your products. UPS delivers more than 4 billion packages and documents a year and 16 million each day, more than any other carrier.” UPS uses this partnership with Worldwide Express to reach more people and expand their services. Having a partnership between UPS and Worldwide Express creates “Dedicated Local Customer Service, Global Access, Reliability, Flexibility, and One-Driver Advantage” (wwex.com). The partnership allows both businesses to be more efficient thus providing excellent customer service.

                Other interesting information that I was able to discover on the Business Insights database about UPS was that they earned $55,438,000,000 in revenues, have 395,000 employees, and employee’s sales are $140,349. I was also able to browse through a SWOT analysis, which was particularly relevant because we are using SWOT analysis’ in class, and company history.

                Going to the library and seeing the reference librarian was particularly helpful in this case. I would not have known to look on the Business Insights database without her help and commit. I would have just been browsing Google trying to find information relevant to the topic when I have access to the content through the Saint Michael’s College library database. I plan to continue seeking assistance from the reference librarians during my time at Saint Michael’s.

References:

• §  "United Postal Service Inc." Bi.galegroup.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 June 2014.

• §  "UPS Partnership - Worldwide Express Shipping Solutions." Worldwide Express Shipping Solutions. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 June 2014.

Promotional Strategies

I feel like I am constantly swimming in a sea of advertisements. Everywhere I go I see ads either on billboards or posters. Every time I go on social media like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram I am constantly being bombarded with advertisements. It has gotten to the point where I just try to tune out most advertisements. However, I consider myself an easy target because I love to shop and buy new things. I especially love sales, promotions, and coupons. I frequently find myself joining loyalty clubs or redeeming coupons I receive in the mail.

                My Facebook has gotten so specific with advertising towards me personally that it has gotten borderline creepy. There is one particular ad that I see every other week for a t-shirt company. The T-shirts say “It’s a GOODE thing” and are available in many different kinds of clothing and colors on some t-shirt website. This is creepy to me because they use my personal information, particularly my last name, to advertise to me. I have also seen ones that have “Lily” printed on them. This ad with my name is targeted specifically to me. However, I have seen on my other friends’ Facebook pages the exact same ad only with their name inserted. I have seen advertisements on Facebook targeted towards me based off of my recent Google searches like Alex and Ani or Disney, but the ads that use my name and information just feel creepy and invasive to me and do not encourage me to purchase their t-shirts. This is an example of the promotional strategy advertising on social media because the t-shirt company is trying to reach their target market (me) through Facebook in order to increase business.

                My favorite magazine is Seventeen magazine. I have had a subscription for three years now and always look forward to receiving it in the mail each month. Last week, I was skimming through the latest issue and came upon a print advertisement for a new Biore face wash that I had not tried before. The ad showed a before and after picture of a model with acne and then a model with flawless skin. The ad also contained a 2$ off coupon for the face wash. I ended up going to Walgreens this past weekend and using the coupon I got in Seventeen to buy the new Biore face wash. The promotional strategies that Biore used were print advertising and sales promotion. I only came across this ad because it was posted in a magazine that I enjoy reading and I probably wouldn’t have bought the face wash if it did not have a coupon.

                In my opinion, the most successful promotional strategy is sales promotion because it encourages customers to buy a product because they receive a discount. If a customer then enjoys the product they may become a loyal customer. This strategy works the best with me because I love getting and using coupons. Most times I will only buy a new product if I have a coupon and then if I like it I will continue to use and buy it.

               

The Curly Fry Conundrum

               The Ted Talk "The Curly Fry Conundrum: Why Social Media Likes Mean More than You Think" by Jennifer Golbeck discusses the ways companies and scientists are able to obtain information about internet users simply through the use of social media, specifically through Facebook "likes". Companies are able to monitor everything we do online and then modify the products they target towards us depending on our likes and interests. Jennifer Golbeck stressed this point with the example of how Target knew a fifteen year old was pregnant before her parents did by tracking her web searches and purchasing history. The amount of information about our personal lives that is leaked to companies for them to use for their personal gain grows everyday as technology becomes more and more advanced and prevalent in our lives.

                I was not surprised by the information presented in the Ted talk. For the past few months I have actually been noticing how advertisements on my Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram seem to be more tailored to my likes and interests. My initial reaction was that I agreed with what Jennifer Golbeck was saying and I was curious to learn how companies figure out my likes and dislikes based on social media.

                I think that I might come across as a young adult female that enjoys shopping and fashion based on my web searches, and the advertisements that I noticed seem to be specifically targeted at me. Most of my web searches, whether on Google or Facebook, have to do with clothing, jewelry, or shoes. I have noticed that Facebook, which offers advertisements on the right-hand side of their homepage, tailors their ads to what I have been searching recently. At first I thought it was a coincidence, until it continued to happen. For example, I had been searching Alex and Ani bracelets on Google and I was exploring the Alex and Ani website. A few hours later, I went on Facebook and in my side advertisements was an ad for Alex and Ani bracelets. I thought to myself "wow how did Facebook know what I was thinking? It's like they read my mind!" until another time when I had been exploring on the Disney website and a Disney link came up in the ads.

                I find this level of privacy invasion mildly disturbing. It is strange to think that every search I make on the internet is being tracked and monitored and that companies may know more about me than some of my friends do. I think that one of the main ethical issues is invasion of privacy. Yet if we as internet users make the information public and available then why shouldn't companies be allowed to check our social media and discover our interests? An ethical issue discussed by Jennifer Golbeck is trying to resolve this invasion of privacy yet continue to get information. She brought up the point that companies like Twitter and Facebook could make everything private but users are considered "products" and the companies receiving information would be consumers because they are able to target the users from the information received.

                I have experienced several other ways that the internet has tracked what I do. For example, the popular app Instagram has recently started posting advertisements to users' timelines with advertisements based on specific users' interests. Most of the advertisements that come up on my Instagram are for hair products or jewelry whereas one of my guy friends advertisements range from watches to cars. Another way the internet has tracked us is through the input of our information to create an account. I have often received spam mail from companies after entering my email to create an account for a website. These tactics used by companies to receive our information will most likely continue to grow in the future so as users we must be mindful about the information we reveal about ourselves on the internet.​

Value of Self

           For the next six weeks I will be participating in the Accelerated Summer College at Saint Michael’s College. I am currently taking two courses that consist of both class time and online coursework. I am a Psychology major with a minor in Business. During the ACS Program, I will be taking Social Psychology and Marketing in order to fulfill requirements for both my major and my minor.

            Over the course of the six weeks that I am attending this program, I hope to learn skills both in and outside of the classroom through both the courses that I am taking and the programs being offered Student Life and the Wilderness Program. I am very excited to be taking Social Psychology as I have always been fascinated by the social aspect of psychology but have never gotten the opportunity to take class in it. I intend to focus on the social aspect of psych and taking a class will be a good way for me to figure out if that is exactly what I enjoy learning about. What I am really hoping to learn in social psychology is the reasons why humans can have such different reactions to certain situations and what causes these reactions. I am also looking forward to taking Marketing. I would like to focus on the marketing side of business for my minor and this class will be very interesting for me because it involves doing real work with outside businesses. I am excited to be actually working with companies rather than just taking tests and quizzes on the reading because testing has never been one of my strengths. I took an intro business course during my last semester and enjoyed the marketing aspect and actually marketing the product that we sold using different promotional techniques like posters, radio ads, and social media. My goals for outside the classroom are to get involved in both the Wilderness Program and MOVE. I am hoping to learn how to kayak and climb. I would also like to participate in service projects through MOVE like serving food to those in needs. My goals for this summer program are to excel in both of my classes, learn how to kayak and climb, better my computer skills through the online coursework, and build connections and experiences that I can put on my resume and use throughout my life.

            I will bring value to the Accelerated Summer College by bringing a positive attitude and a strong desire to learn. During class time, I hope to be a positive influence on my peers by being involved in class discussions and work. I am hoping that my classmates and I will encourage and push each other to learn more and truly make the most of our time here at Saint Mikes. I am a team player and enjoy working with other people so I hope that I can share my enthusiasm for marketing and social psychology and my desire to learn with peers.

            The Accelerated Summer College is so different from any kind of educational program I have ever been involved in and I am excited to start this new adventure in my life!