"Courage and Confidence are what decision making is all about." - Anonymous
Hey Guys, so I will be explaining about my project that I think
are interesting and informative for all of you. I hope this project will have
the same effect as it is on me and on you guys. This project will help develop
your Internet skills in using newsgroups for marketing. It will also ask you to
think about the ethical implications of using information in online discussion
groups for business purposes.
The scene :
You are producing hiking boots that you sell through a few
stores at this time. You would like to use Internet discussion groups
interested in hiking, climbing, and camping both to sell your boots and to make
them well known. Visit groups.google.com, which stores discussion postings from
many thousands of newsgroups. Through this site you can locate all
relevant newsgroups and search them by keyword, author’s name, forum, date, and
subject. Choose a message and examine it carefully, noting all the
information you can obtain, including information about the author.
I will be using Connecticut Pride Hikers group for the hiking
groups. This is some information regarding to the club.
ABOUT THE CLUB
The mission of the Connecticut Pride Hikers is to provide gay,
lesbian, bisexual, transgender and queer (GLBTQ) individuals and their friends
with enriching outdoor physical and social interactions that lead to increases
in overall well-being. The intensity of
most hikes is planned to be of a moderate level and group hikers are always
happy to help and encourage new comers.
Although there are many favorite hikes and trails, the group enjoys the
adventure of visiting new and different trails throughout Connecticut and its
surrounding areas. All active hikers of
the group are encouraged to share their hiking ideas and to volunteer to
facilitate a hike.
Connecticut Pride Hikers was begun by Rocky in April 2010 with
the support of the New Haven Pride Center and the New Haven Gay Socials
group. During the group’s first summer
The Hartford Gay Socials group and the Soulful Living group of Hartford became
supportive affiliates and further stimulated the growth and success of the
group. The Connecticut Pride Hikers
continues to focus on facilitating links and relationships with organizations
that facilitate quality relationships and activities for members and friends of
the GLBTQ community.
Disclaimer
Facilitators and participants of our hikes are assumed to have
no relevant qualifications or experience with hiking activities. The CT Pride Hikers group, or individuals of
the group, take no responsibility and will not be held responsible for any
personal loses, harm, accidents, or injuries.
All outdoor activities have associated risks. When you attend any of the CT Pride Hikers
hikes or events, you are taking responsibility for your own physical and
personal safty and well-being. It is
your responsibility to determine if you feel safe, secure, and if you should
participate in the activity. Please be
prudent when making your decision.
Any questions regarding the group should be directed to Rocky at
RPH203 @ gmail.com
Courtesy &
Understanding
Please be mindful that it is your responsibility to have good
directions and to arrive to a hike on time.
It is difficult for the group leaders to help you with directions and it
is very awkward to ask a large group of hikers to wait for a late arrival; it
has been requested that the group not be inconvenienced by late arrivals.
Please do not ask group leaders to help you with these things; they are busy
and need to also have fun. Be
responsible: leave early to avoid the effects of traffic jams & getting
lost. Have a friend in the group that
you can collaborate with. Please do not make it difficult or awkward for the
leaders of the hikes.
Questions :
1.
How
could you use these newsgroups to market your boots?
First of all I would
like to use this group to be my door to connection with people that have
interest in hiking, camping, or to people that simply need hiking shoes. If I have
the ability, I wouldn’t mind endorse it to the club so that they can spread
more information and good reviews about my product.
Second is to change
people’s mindset about hiking. I pick this group in purpose that people won’t
differentiate your status and your gender. As long as you are interested and
work hard to reach the top, people will not judge you. It’s the same for our
product vision that we don’t choose our customer, but customer is the one who
chooses us.
2.
What
ethical principles might you be violating if you use these messages to sell
your boots? Do you think there are ethical problems in using newsgroup this
way? Explain your answer.
There will be many ethical
principles that we can be violated if we use these messages. First it’s about
information ownership. If the author finds out that we use his/her group information
without asking permission. Of course she/he can sue us for stealing data.
Second, as we use their data, people can assume that they already approving our
product but at the reality, they maybe didn’t know at all. I think that can be
a problem. Lastly, it’s still on controversy, but the group we chosen is
already controversial. For “straight” people, we can be considered as non
ethical or not following the norms. But in the end, it’s our choice and our
responsibility for any ethical problem and issues that can happened.
3.
Next
use Google or Yahoo search the hiking boots industry and locate sites that will
help you develop other new ideas for contacting potential customers.
I think sites that can help me a
lot is social media sites such as facebook, twitter, Instagram, tumblr, and
etc, because social media sites help us not only to find ideas and contacting
potential customers, it helps to hear suggestion and complain about our product
so we can make our product better.
4.
Given
what you have learned in this and previous chapters, prepare a plan to use
newsgroups and other alternative methods to begin attracting visitors to your
site.
First we have to set our customer
goals and target and do some research what is things that they are mostly
interested and/or concern. Second, make a website and some social media to
communicate well with them. It’s better if you make some good relation with
some hiking club captain or famous hikers. Make your web interesting, yet
informative. Be reachable and keep trying to make the best hiking boots the
world can have!
By : Felicia Angelica.
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