Coyotes Basketball Showing Lots Of Fight

No Quit Attitude

Craig Smith had to fight an uphill battle almost immediately after getting hired to take over the South Dakota men's basketball program. Numerous players quit, didn't qualify academically or graduated. 

Losing a leader like center Trevor Gruis to graduation was going to be a blow. The team hoped Washington State transfer James Hunter could replace some of Gruis' production, but he's mostly been silent all year and only had three points on 1-5 shooting in the 87-79 loss to Youngstown State.

But despite getting nearly no production from their bigs, the team hasn't backed down.

47 of the team's 79 points came from player's 6'3" or shorter: Seniors Tyler Larson and Brandon Bos and junior Casey Kasperbauer. The team is so undersized that at times you'll see the 6'3" Larson switch from point guard to power forward. Coach Smith has appluaded Larson's "throwback" style of doing whatever is asked.

"Some guys want to be pegged as a two or a three. (Tyler) doesn't care," Smith says. "He just wants to be on the floor and that's what I love about him.

The team has also gone into three overtimes this year. Yes, they've lost all three of them, but they've showed enough heart and fight to get to all three of them. 

Another storyline to follow early on has been the progression of Kasperbauer. 

"I'm feeling really comfortable this year and really have enjoyed playing for coach Smith," Kasperbauer said. 

Kasperbauer lead all Summit League freshman in scoring two years ago with 8.8 points per game but last year he wasn't utilized as heavily in Joey James' rotation, seeing his minutes per game drop from 27.6 to 18.2, thus seeing his scoring also drop by two points per game. But his minutes are back up to 29 this year and it's been paying off.

"Casey has been playing really well lately and I tell him to shoot it every time he can," Smith said. 

Larson also said he's seen a difference in Kasperbauer.

"He's been that guy that has hit big shots and it's been nice to see him involved again because he can get points in a hurry," Larson said. 

Kasperbauer scored 18 in the loss to Youngstown State. 

It's a long season, but without a doubt, two storylines to follow will continue to be the team playing gritty while being undersized and watching the progression of Kasperbauer. 

Week 12 Blog

The future of social media marketing

It only takes one word to answer the question of what the future of social media marketing will be in the future: bright. The sky truly is the limit for where it can go. Media marketing started off with newspaper ads, then moved on to radio ads and then moved on to television ads. While those are still prevalent, the marketing of media has expanded immensely. 

Social media marketing will always be as popular as what came before it, regardless of what inventions are created in the future. That's because people will always want to connect with one another, and through connecting, you can market stuff. Because of that, social media marketing will always exist, and always be a hot commodity. 

This article goes more in-depth with that thought. 

http://www.imediaconnection.com

Another intersting take the article expands on is the continuing growth of mobile devices. It isn't going to take long before most people are checking the internet on their phones or tablets more than they are on their computer. Complanies will continue getting smarter and utilize that aspect of social media even more. Just another reason why social media marketing will continue being as popular as ever. 

Here's a picture of the current budget of social media marketing.

Current Budgeting  

No one saw Facebook blowing up the way it did. Then came Twitter, Instagram, Vine, etc. No one has any clue what the next form of social media will be to blow up. But the way things are going, it surely won't disappoint. It's also a good guess that some sort of social media will be created that's more integrated with businesses. That'll make the marketing boom even more. 

There's nothing suggesting why the future of social media marketing will slow down and not be as popular as its previous forms. It'll continue being the monster it is by generating even more interest and even more money. 

Week 11 Blog

Week 11 Blog

Thank the lord for viral videos — at least some of them. 

Some videos get overplayed so much that I want to bang my head against a wall. On the other hand, some videos that go viral are legitimately hilarious. Sometimes so hilarious that I will watch them on repeat for a week.

One video that went viral within the last two months that, at one point, I particularly liked, was the "Legally Blind" YouTube video. In this video, a woman is suspected of committing some sort of crime revolving around a car. The ensuing events in the video are what made it go viral. 

The lady says she didn't drive the car because she is "legally blind" and is then asked, "so can you see?" She then replies with, "barely."
Here's a picture of her.
Picture

In the events after she sings about her "momma" and "pop."

I think the reason I liked the video so much was because of the irregularity about the entire scene. The lady acts so strange and says such unexpected things that I couldn't help but laugh. 

Videos can go viral for many reasons. One of those reasons is obviously humor. To me, this video had plenty of humor. One other reason this video went viral was because it got really popular on Vine. People made their own videos and had the "barely" line in their Vines. As the reading states, some of the main components to viral videos are blogs/websites and YouTube itself. This used those components. 

Here's another article describing how a video goes viral.

Make Your Video Go Viral

This article makes some very good points. The "Legally Blind" video is definitely upbeat. And it's not longer than two minutes, so it has some characteristics of being short and sweet.

Videos go viral for so many reasons. It's always interesting see why they did. In this case, it was mostly humor.

Week 10 Blog

Super Bowl Blog 

The Super Bowl is the mecca of advertising and branding. We're all used to see numerous Budweiser, Dorito and GoDaddy commercials during the game. That's because these brands have made it a staple to spend big money and get their name out there.
Super Bowl commercials are the most watched commercials out there, which is why they are so expensive. It's pretty astounding how high the price has reached. Reports came out this summer that 2015 Super Bowl commercials will cost north of $4 million.
Cost of SB commercials
With the rise of social media, it wouldn't be surprising to see something new and creative be designed through social media during the Super Bowl. Twitter took center stage during the blackout in 2013 and you can definitely expect ads on Facebook and Twitter to ramp during that time of the year.
One area that can be done with social media is integrating apps with commercials. It wouldn't be surprising to see a company get you interested during the commercial and then to learn more you have to download a new app. Another area with social media that I could see companies steer towards is going heavy on hashtags for new campaigns. It wouldn't be surprising to see hashtags involved at the end of commercials with the intent of getting it trending on Twitter.
And lastly, one other area companies will probably attack during the time of the Super Bowl is fan-related commercials. We've seen some of this in the past and it has seemed to be highly successful. Fans of a company send in self-made commercials in hopes of theres being chosen. It could be even more involved with social media if it's involved with Twitter or potentially even a combination of multiple Vines. It gets lots of easy fan interaction. Last year Doritos offered the winner $1 million.
Here's a picture of one that got second place.
Homemade Doritos Commercial
Companies know the Super Bowl is a time they can go hard after new campaigns or really just try to get their name out there. It's always an fun time for viewers and that should only enhance with the continued involvement of social media.

Week 09 Blog

Campaign 

Campaigns for companies are always happening. Companies want to continue coming up with new ideas to continue the buzz for their product. 

Social media has just enhanced campaigns for companies. Reaching out to the age demographic of 15-30 has never been easier. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Vine, etc. has made campaigns for companies much larger. 

One of my favorite social media campaigns has been the #ItsMillerTime campaign for Miller Lite. The campaign asked followers and fans to share pictures of them with the new bottle through social media. Miller Lite brought back their old-fashioned white Bottle and something that simple has generated extra revenue for the company. 

This article explains the new campaign.

#ItsMillerTime

As the article says, the campaign is and has been successful because it is all user generated. Having Miller Lite fans tweet pictures of themselves with the beer is branding within itself. Quite genius. Miller Lite knows by having a campaign like this, hundreds of thousands of Twitter users will tweet pictures of themselves with Miller Lite bottles. 

The more pictures tweeted, the more timelines fill with free advertising. And the motivation? It's simple. If Miller Lite stays consistent with retweeting and responding to enough people, the tweets will continue coming. 

My Belief

My Biggest Belief

In life, one thing is clear to me, and that is FOE.

FOE, or "Family Over Everything" is something i stand by and always will. Family is something that will always have my back and it's the people I trust most. Whenever I have a question, I can easily pick up the phone and call my mom. 

My mom is the person most responsible for instilling all the values that I believe in. If I misbehaved, she got after me. She may have been crazy at times, but if was for the better. My mom is without a doubt, the person most responsible for shaping me into the person I am today.

As for my dad, he's nearly as responsible. He may be the second most knowledgable person I know about sports, behind me (of course...)

I only have one sibling and that would be my sister. We talk every once in awhile. But now she's a freshman in college and the talking has only grown. That has made me very happy, because as you know, it's family over everything. 

My reasoning for having this belief isn'y much different than others. I realize how important everyone close to me is. And that doesn't just mean my immediate family members. 

My mom has had both of her parents pass away. Her mom passed away when my mom was just 18 years old. My mom mentions all the time how badly she wishes we got to meet her. 

So it's real simple. Family can be precious. It's important to cherish the time you have. 

FOE. Family over everything. 

Week 8 Blog

Social Media

Reading on this Washington school shooter, we have a very tricky situation on our hands. Understandably, school shootings are a very touchy topic that can evoke a lot of emotion. 

High schoolers can be very emotional, so reading the boy became unattached with society based on relationships isn't too surprising, unfortunately. 

As far as the tweets are concerned, I would first want to determine whether or not they held any relevance or insight into why the shooter acted as he did. If it determined that indeed the tweets are deemed relevant then I wouldn't see too much wrong with using them. Another reason I wouldn't see much wrong with using the tweets is the fact that social media is public knowledge already. Yes there are ways to lock an account, but anyone who uses any form of social media should remember that anything you put up runs the chance of being made public. 

But that the same time, tweeting is some interesting stuff. Sometimes you just have to let them be. Obviously, you can't say that whatever someone says on twitter is exactly what they mean, think and feel. Sometimes,  I think you can say it has a pretty good chance of being quite near to what they are thinking, and when dealing with such a violent crisis such as this it is very important to take into consideration. The psychological side of things is something that will likely get further attention is years down the road.

The Washington shooting had many emotions involved. Here is a picture of some of the emotions. 

Emotions 

At the same time, posting social media stuff right away means you are walking a tight rope. It can be very hard to decipher what is truly meant, and what it fake-meant. Yet, in this story, here is evidence that a girl shot in this shooting died, and it was obviously fatal.

Fatal Shooting

In the end, it's a very tricky topic to discuss. Social media can be a very interesting topic to search. At times, it can be very obvious, but at times it can be kids that aren't totally serious. As a result, I think looking at a kid's social media page and posting it is totally okay. If it helps eliminate future killings, that is a success. That's the potential it hold with these fragile kids, which in the end is worth it.