#MaggieChang

Through the last four weeks, I’ve done my best to show you, Under Armour, why I deserve to be your social media specialist. I’ve done so by:

• Showing you my social media skills through my experience tweeting professionally for my residence hall, my ability to get an idea through one of the largest Athletic Departments in the country to affect 13,000 fans, my grasp of social media dashboards such as HootSuite and my usage and love of social media outlets such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, FourSquare and most obviously, Tumblr.
• Showing you my knowledge and love for all things sports through my job at the Athletic Department here at Michigan, my absolute adoration for athletes like Cam Newton and Tom Brady, my excitement that seeps onto this Tumblr when my teams win.
• Showing you other skills I possess and have a grasp of such as writing in a public forum, a hold on Adobe Photoshop, my coursework that describes what I’m learning in business and sports management, things that motivate me like improving from my mistakes, and experiences that have changed me.
• But most of all, I’ve done my best to show you why I am a good fit with Under Armour through detailing those who inspire me and how I look up to those who I share the same values with, having the heart and drive to complete a task but always trying to exceed expectations, knowing that things will and are challenging but wanting to take a risk, looking for the next big things, promoting a team atmosphere because that’s where the best results come from, staying humble and thankful for the opportunities I am given and always looking to improve on myself—to make myself BETTER. 

So Under Armour, I believe that I, Maggie Chang, would be a great social media specialist for you! Thank you for giving me the opportunity to pitch myself to you these last four weeks. I’ve learned a lot about not only Under Armour, but myself.

As this Under Armour competition comes to a close, I have one last time to do an inspirational person of the week. For the last few weeks, I’ve done profiles on people that inspire me. It’s funny because I actually had this one written first.

But the best is saved for last.

So here we go. The last one.

Week 4: Kevin Plank 

How many times have you heard someone say, “I can’t do that.” How many times have you seen someone back down from a challenge? Too many times.

With an industry dominated by the company with the swoosh and the other with those three lines, it would be impossible to make an imprint, right? Wrong. Kevin Plank was able to overcome such a barrier to entry to making the top ten in the World’s Top Sports (not just sports apparel!) brands according to Forbes. How? Because he believed he could make that imprint. He knew he could make that imprint because he had a brilliant idea.

It’s about believing what you do. It’s about knowing you can do what others say you can’t. It’s about overcoming obstacles. That’s what successful business people do.

His energy is unmatched, able to constantly motivate those around him. And yet, he is humble…just as one of Under Armour’s values states: Be Humble. Be Hungry.

If there’s just one thing that I could take from Kevin Plank (it’s a tough choice…), it would be: to persevere through challenges knowing that you can do something big if you’re willing to take the risk. It’s a positive mind-set, with a knack for innovation that keeps Under Armour on its toes and running well.  

Always looking for the next best thing. Always willing to take the plunge. Always humble. Always driven. Always making things better.

That’s why Kevin Plank, founder and CEO of the brand that gave us all this amazing opportunity and continues to make the most high-quality, innovative and best products out there: Under Armour.

We all learned once or twice in middle school and high school about the scientific method. Maybe you even learned a song to it to remember it. But for the most part, here’s the scientific method.

1. Purpose - State the problem
2. Research - Find out about the topic
3. Hypothesis - Predict the outcome to the problem
4. Experiment - Develop a procedure to test the hypothesis
5. Analysis - Record results of the experiment
6. Conclusion - Compare hypothesis to the experiment’s conclusion

And although Under Armour and advertising agency Red Tettemer might not have used the scientific method to put on this social experiment of the Ultimate Intern Team, I’m going to take an educated guess and say that they still had a goal, did their research and went through with this experiment. So let’s look at what Under Armour/Red Tettemer’s scientific method probably was:

1. Purpose - A need for the best and brightest interns in five different categories: film maker, writer, social media specialist, marketing strategist and graphic designer, as well as spreading more publicity about the Under Armour brand
2. Research - Research on creative ways to get many students to apply, a way to get more people knowledgeable about Under Armour, and how students are impacted by and from social media.
3. Hypothesis - If we hold a contest for the Under Armour Ultimate Intern Team via three social media methods (Facebook Like, 140 Character cover letter, Tumblr Resume), we will get the best and the brightest interns as well as more publicity of the Under Armour brand.
4. Experiment - What we’re doing right now!

Now, I can’t say what the analysis is or the conclusion is for the experiment only because…it hasn’t ended and the results aren’t shown just yet. 

But I want to bring up something interesting that we CAN conclude from this already: This contest has promoted teamwork, a support group and made friendships.

I see it every day as people like the things I post, reblog them, etc. I see it when I do the same for your work. I see it when we tweet at each other positive messages like Amelia pointed out here, or when many of you wanted to spotlight a few of the candidates that you thought were doing a great job. I see it when Daniel likes my Facebook status or when Matt Somma tweets awesome stuff about UA that I have to RT. I’m not sure Red Tettemer or Under Armour could have predicted such a circumstance. Because this is after all a competition. And we all are clearly sports fans or know our sports or at least are interested. And although sports are extremely positive for the most part, we’ve all seen sports bring out the worst in people with fights, intense rivalries leading to hate and not supporting the other team.

But this is the brilliant side of competition. The side you get to see as we support each other. We even have some friendly competition. Another social media specialist candidate, Ayo, and I were having a little battle over Twitter as our two schools (Bowling Green and Michigan) faced off in hockey. It was a lot of fun and Michigan lost on Friday, but it was fine because I thought it was really cool that because of a competition, Ayo and I could bond over something that wasn’t even essentially part of this competition.

This Under Armour Ultimate Intern Team competition has brought out the absolute BEST in all of us. We should all be proud of the work we’ve showed UA and I know for a fact they have a hard decision on their hands. I’m sincerely hoping for the best for all of you and can’t wait to see what you guys have left up your sleeves in the last lap of the competition.

I don’t know Under Armour and Red Tettemer’s conclusion, but I will say this: we might have put a little twist in their hypothesis as we’re all greatly supportive of each other.

Yet another walk through the resume! Long again but I really love this job and I think it’s an important read because this one shows a lot about how I can be a good fit for Under Armour. Click here to view other Walk Through’s of the Resume of mine!

THE BASICS:

THE MICHIGAN DAILY

Opinions Blogger

January 2012 to Present    Ann Arbor, MI

• Wrote articles biweekly for the Opinions Blog section of the online Michigan Daily in order to spark thought and discussions on topics
• Achieved more than 2,500 reads, a record high for the online Michigan Daily, setting a precedent for future posts
• Covered topics such as the electric atmosphere the Michigan Hockey student section brings to Yost Ice Arena, and an influential piece on why students should take to Twitter

WHAT DOES THIS EXPERIENCE MEAN TO ME?:

I was approached by a friend of mine in December who knew how much I liked social media and online media, and asked me if I wanted to blog for the Michigan Daily, our school newspaper for their online section called the Podium. The Podium is an opinion section so I really have the freedom to write about whatever I want. It’s been so fun because I very much enjoy having a place to write. It’s a platform for me to place an idea on the table and see how many people I can influence with it. I also love hearing the opposing views because that’s life—you’re going to face opposition. I’ve written three so far and the fourth has been written but we’re going to hold it till students get back from Spring Break. My blog is called, Hear Me Out.

• Hear Me Out: Hockey student section is the best at the ‘U’ - So going to Michigan, we’re known for our football. And now as our team is Top 25, marginally for basketball. But really, the attention has always been on our football team, our football fans, our football stadium, etc. I wanted to take this opportunity by writing about the Michigan Hockey student section. Getting to see it from staff perspective as an Athletic Dept intern as well as being in the section occasionally, it’s electrifying and to me, it is by far the greatest atmosphere to be a part of at Michigan.
• Hear Me Out: Adidas Has Not Destroyed Michigan - Yes, I know that this is talking about two brands that are in competition with Under Armour but unfortunately, I don’t go to a school sponsored by Under Armour. Making the best of that, I’ve looked at the controversy that students like to bring up between Adidas and Nike sponsoring the University of Michigan Athletics. I really enjoyed writing this one and this piece was the one that shattered all expectations of the online Daily with the most views ever on one article. It was also linked on other websites including MLive.
• Hear Me Out: Give Twitter a chance - This is something I’m really passionate about (as if you couldn’t see already) but I really think everyone should give Twitter a chance because of the cool opportunities that are presented to you. I’ll let this one speak for itself; feel free to give it a read.
• Hear Me Out….Oh, I can’t spill the next article’s name. Sorry everyone but it’ll be unveiled the first week of March! Just a hint, if you’re a sports fan and like the Big Ten conference (well, or hate it for that matter), it might be interesting! 

WITH THIS EXPERIENCE, WHAT DO I BRING TO UNDER ARMOUR?:

Writing Experience

Even though I’m not vying for the writer position here (there are amazingly talented people on here for that!), I think it’s important for the social media specialist to have experience in writing on a public platform as well. Even though at times we are limited to 140 characters, I think this shows that I’m capable of letting my voice be heard and the ability to reach thousands of readers.

Ability to Take Criticism 

When Under Armour released their uniforms for Maryland football, there was both absolute adoration for it and also mad criticism for it. But you know what? Under Armour took it like a man, held their case and continued making great products. By writing under the Opinions blog, I get praise, but also a fair amount of criticism. I read all of my comments, respond to ones I feel appropriate to but also thank them for showing their point of view too. Does criticism hurt? It always does, even if you don’t want to admit it. But I’ve prevailed, stuck my ground with my opinion and always look to improve my writing and improve myself, in general.

Sports, Sports Apparel, Social Media

I don’t claim to be an expert on sports. I don’t claim to know all the logistics of sports apparel companies. I don’t know everything about social media. But I think it’s interesting that before this competition even started, these were the three topics I chose to write about…which suit Under Armour! I want to learn as much as I can about sports, sports apparel and social media, because quite frankly—that’s what I’m interested in! I want to learn from the best of the best and I come with an open mind to do so. Under Armour, pick me to be your social media specialist, and I’ll spend every moment learning from you while producing great results! 

Setting High Goals and Starting Presedences

When the editors told me how many reads I was getting for the first few articles, I was honestly shocked as I really didn’t know what to expect. Setting a bar was an awesome but humbling feeling. Now, the bar is set very high for me from the Daily but I live to exceed it. Exceeding expectations is always my goal and I bring that mentality everywhere I am. Under Armour, set the bar high because I want to impress you!

To read before you read the rest of this post, read this first if you haven’t already: Tweet Your Seat! My Social Media idea coming to life!

So my social media idea actually played its part tonight! Which is pretty cool!

How awesome is this? It was officially on the @umichbball twitter. Again, I’m really disappointed I couldn’t be there tonight but such is the life of spring break, haha. But Crisler Center was sold out tonight. With the tweet you see above, many fans tweeted their section, row and seat in and here are some of the winners:

Awesome night even with a really sad night for Michigan Basketball with the loss against Purdue. That’s it for Crisler for the season but it’ll be fun to see if we do this next year or at hockey with Yost Ice Arena! 

I’m thrilled to announce some exciting news that will be happening at Crisler Center (home to Michigan Basketball) tomorrow! It all started out as one little idea that I had…and it’s coming to a reality tomorrow for 13,000 fans!

I am lucky to work under the Chief Marketing Officer at Michigan Athletics, Hunter, and he’s one of those people that’s always willing to listen for new ideas. So at a lacrosse game a few weeks ago, I pitched him an idea called “Tweet Your Seat.” After pitching it to him at the game, he loved it and told me to tell our Director of Digital Marketing, Jordan. Here’s an excerpt of my e-mail to Jordan, CCing Hunter:

I think (Tweet Your Seat) would be a great way to get more people involved with @umichbball and I think it’d be more fun if the handles interacted more with fans because everyone loves that! We could do a Tweet Your Seat thing at the Ohio State (or Purdue) game and people can tweet their seats in with a certain hashtag… If they’re following @umichbball, we can just choose a few people through the game that’ll win a prize pack or two, show them on the video boards and tweet out their picture as the winner. It’s an easy and fast way to get more people to follow Michigan Athletics as well as promote more fan interaction. And we’ll be seen as one of the leading social media schools!… Let me know what you think! I really think it’d be very easy to pull off too!

And guess what!? Check out this e-mail Michigan Basketball sent out this morning. This email reaches all ticket-holders and people who signed up for Michigan updates. Subject line: Michigan vs. Purdue - What to expect Tomorrow Night at Crisler Center

My social media idea is happening! It’s so cool to see it come alive. I won’t be there tomorrow (2/25) for the game because it’s my spring break right now but I asked them to let me know how it goes!

It’s exciting to see your ideas come to life and that in itself is a huge reward. I’m thankful that the Athletic Department here at Michigan gives everyone the opportunity to pitch ideas. This is just proof that a single idea from just an intern can make it through to impact 13,000 fans! I think this shows you, Under Armour, that I am creative and have a good handle on social media to be your social media specialist! I can’t wait to come up with ideas for you if given the opportunity! 

If you’re going to the game tomorrow, make sure to TWEET YOUR SEAT! I can’t wait to see how it all turns out!

I’ll keep you all updated on how tomorrow night with how Tweet Your Seat goes! Right now, I’m just thrilled it’s all happening! 

“That Cam Newton” is trending worldwide.

And look at what I found when I clicked on the Top Trend….

CAM and UNDER ARMOUR doing work!

• ACC (Financial Accounting) (271)
• ACC (Managerial Accounting) (272)
• BA (Business Thought and Action) (201)
• BIT (Intro to Business Technology) (200)
• ECON (Intro to Micro Economics) (101)
• ECON (Intro to Macro Economics) (102)
• LHC (Intro to Business Communication) (250)
• MO (Behavioral Theory in Management) (300)
• OMS (Business Statistics and Management Science) (301)
• PSYCH (Intro to Psychology) (111)
• SM (Intro to Sports Management) (203)

Since the beginning of this competition, I’ve wanted to show you, Under Armour, that I am capable of being your Social Media Specialist on the Under Armour Ultimate Intern Team. I’ve demonstrated my love, passion and usage of social media with my Twitter, LinkedIn, Personal Tumblr, Foursquare and many other outlets.

But now I want to show you what sets me apart from everyone else: Familiarity with Social Media Dashboards.

—

At the very beginning of this, I did a little bit of Under Armour research on how they use their social media. I found that although sometimes UA just goes on Twitter and tweets, most of the time it’s via a dashboard. Under Armour seemed to favor Co-Tweet for a while but these last few days, I’ve noticed the change to HootSuite.

So I decided at the beginning, before the change to HootSuite even happened, I wanted to LEARN how to use social media dashboards. What exactly does that mean? Well it’s basically where all of your social media outlets are just on one site, keeping it much more organized.

With HootSuite, I’ve learned that if you link items, you can see the statistics on how many people have clicked the link, what regions those people are from, and the most popular links. You can schedule for posts to go out at certain times. Why is that important? Well marketing plans sometimes take months and months to plan but you always have your announcement day. Scheduling that announcement right at midnight on whatever day you want on HootSuite makes it so you don’t have to actually get on Twitter/Facebook, etc. to post it! It’ll automatically do it for you, which I think is pretty cool!

I’ve figured my way around it, played with it myself and think it’s a very simple and clean interface. Although I admit that it’s not as useful to me because I use all my social media outlets for different reasons (i.e. Facebook for talking to friends, Twitter for talking about sports and social media, LinkedIn for professional news), a company like Under Armour benefits from this because for the most part, their media on all platforms is the same!

I think my familiarity with this dashboard as well as my initiative to figure out what social media dashboards Under Armour uses shows how committed I am to becoming the next #UltimateIntern!