In a community that prides itself on civic engagement and volunteerism, Roe Motors in Grants Pass is a business with a superior legacy of community and customer care by which it has come to define itself: it’s “who we are - giving back to the community that helps support us.” Roe Motors has an online culture that is humble, kind and deeply human, appreciative of customers, supportive of employees, and invested in its community. "We know there are many needs in the community. We thank our many loyal customers for letting us help our community. We realize that without our customers we would not be able to continue to help - now and in the future." ~ Roe Motors Through donations of time and money Roe Motors supports Boys & Girls Club, Three Rivers Community Hospital and Asante Foundation, Grants Pass High School, Relay For Life (American Cancer Society), Junior Achievement, Josephine County Food Basket, Chamber of Commerce, SPARC, Gospel Rescue Mission, Rotary, foster children, local school projects, and the Josephine County Tree Plant. The Roe family’s philosophy of kindness, giving back, and social responsibility permeates the business’ ethos as well, shaping the relationship the business has with its online community. "Smart organizations," Quesenberry writes, "are using social media to manage customer relationships." (pg. 334). You can find owner and general manager Steve Roe responding personally to Yelp reviews, expressing gratitude and - specifically to those few that indicated dissatisfaction - extending every offer to make the situation right. On Carfax,[1] reviews were in the 93% positive range (“Roe Motors earned a SUPERB on their effort and care.” - Verified Customer “2022 GMC CANYON AT4 Owner” on 10/04/2022), but there was less customer engagement. Citing the survey by BI International, Quesenberry notes, “Nearly 60 percent [of customers surveyed] would rather go through other channels than use their voice for customer service” (Pg. 334). In meeting customers where they’re at Roe makes online service appointment scheduling, car shopping, and financing conversations simple. In a nod to customers' environmental awareness and concerns, Roe Motors' website notes that the company recycles its paper and used cardboard, and uses more biodegradable products in its detail department. Further, the body shop uses less-harmful waterborne paints, and burns waste oil to generate heat and heat water to wash cars. Roe's Facebook and Instagram offer a mix of employee & customer appreciation, seasonal greetings, and no shortage of cute photos featuring the office dogs. Facebook is kept current with fresh posts at least once per week, including current inventory, employee appreciation, and Small Business Saturday posts recognizing other businesses within the community. Roe Motors uses YouTube to host video showcasing cars currently for sale are embedded on the company website. YouTube also hosts General Motors (GM)-produced Car Care and sales event “shorts” with Roe Motors badging. Although Roe Motors is not on TikTok, one of its better-known salespersons, @gpcarfox, is – talking cars! References:
Quesenberry, K. A. (2021). Social media strategy: Marketing, advertising, and public relations in the consumer revolution. Rowman & Littlefield.
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Many people, when thinking of summer road trips, imagine sunny locales and outdoors adventure, with some good food and fun thrown in. The Redwood Hwy, or U.S. Hwy. 199 corridor through Southwest Oregon's Illinois Valley is not only a great way to travel from popular Crater Lake to the Pacific Coast, but packed full of great things to see and do besides. Plan on more than a day to make this 100-mile trip to the ocean. You won't be disappointed.
2. Recreating the runs made by historic mailboats to and from the logging and mining camps downstream and even as far as the Pacific Ocean, the Hellgate Jet Boats excursions are great fun for a group. Departing from Grants Pass the trip along the Rogue River is wet and exhilarating, and not to be missed! Watch for wildlife - heron, deer, bear, and more - along the banks of the Rogue as your guide pilots your boat through pristine wildness canyons. Stop by Shop River Rock gifts and home goods shop afterward. They have a nice selection of wine available, too, if you can't wait 'til we get to the wineries, which we'll get to in a moment! 3. Picnics are sure to be bountiful with the selection of cheese, meats, and wine awaiting you. World renowned for its World Champion blue cheese, Rogue Creamery hails from SW Oregon! Tour the Rogue Creamery Dairy Farm west of Grants Pass. Meet the cows and sample fine cheeses! Next, while you're in Cave Junction, don't miss Taylor's Sausage, which has been making signature franks, brats, and landjaeger since 1924. The Country Store even boasts a grill and full menu; you can get anything from a hot dog to a ribeye cooked just like you like it.
4. $8 Mountain/Darlingtonia Bog Trail Hike Stretch your legs with a short boardwalk hike to view one of the rarest and oldest species of carnivorous plants in existence. Growing in primary in the serpentine soils in this part of the Northwest, the bog-dwelling pitcher plant, or Darlingtonia, is found in thick stands, or fens along this trail. From here you can look out across Oregon's Illinois Valley south to California's Trinity Alps. 5. The marvelous "marble halls" of Oregon Caves National Monument have been attracting adventure-seeking visitors since the late 1800s. The National Monument sits high at the end of winding Hwy. 46, about 20 miles east of Cave Junction (where you pick up cave tour tickets at the visitor center). Bring jackets and good shoes for a hike through the cave, where the temperature is a constant 44-degrees Fahrenheit. Look for the renovated Chateau to reopen in 2025 6. If you're lucky enough to have scored a reservation at the globally famous Out n About Treesort B&B, you'll have time to wake in the canopies, go horseback riding, and soak up the atmosphere. There are more than a dozen treehouse accommodations to choose from, plus cabins (ask about "satellite" treehouse properties). But most day-to-day visitors come for the tree-top zip-lines and Tarzan swing! 7. In the mid-20th century the United States invested in the ability to fight forest fires from the air with specially equipped parachuting firefighters flown from bases in the western U.S. The Siskiyou Smokejumper Base Museum, south of Cave Junction, commemorates one of the earliest bases established and still standing in its original location. Check out the equipment, photos and memorabilia at this casual, self-guided museum on the grounds of the Illinois Valley (Josephine County) Airport. 8. In addition to the Darlingtonia, the serpentine soils of this region harbor a great many rare and special flowers and plants. Stop for a level hike along the Rough & Ready Botanical Wayside & Trail. The trail was recently widened, and new, hand-carved benches installed along the route to accommodate hikers of all ages and abilities. 9. No trip to the coast on this Pacific northwest highway is complete without a stop to view the majestic giant trees at Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park. Leave Hwy. 199 at Howland Hill Road, and after crossing the Smith River, find yourself on a twisty lane surrounded by immense trees. The spectacular drive will take you most of the way to Hwy. 101 and the Pacific Ocean. 10. North on Hwy 101 from the Redwoods, stop in Brookings, Oregon for a quick trip to sandy Mill Beach. With easy access and amenities nearby, it's a great spot to begin exploring the coast.
If you're traveling in summer, after the inland hikes and heat, the cool of the ruggedly beautiful ocean beaches of Southern Oregon and Northern California is alluring! Coastal temperatures are typically far below those of the valleys just 30 miles east of us. Prepare for dynamic weather, great scenery, and opportunity to explore.
I wasnât sure that I knew any influencers, so I checked with my son, a 20-year old college student. "Look at Markiplier on YouTube," he said.
Markiplier (Mark Edward Fischbach) made a name for himself in the 2010s with game playthrough and other forms of content on YouTube, where he now has 18M followers. I realized that when my kids introduced me to the horrifying Five Nights at Freddy's eight years ago it was in the form of Markiplier's play throughs. My son told me that the influencer leans on personal image - a very distinct face and voice - and lets his physical person and personality carry the content. I was also told that Markiplier is well-respected in his community as seen as a genuinely good person. It was an interesting story to learn about but the content didn't speak to me, personally. But then I realized that my interests (cooking!) had, in recent months, led me to begin following another bona fide, long-time influencer - a media presence whose multi-platform enterprise, founded in Emmy Award-winning television, includes not only FB-, Twitter-, Instagram-, and Pinterest-supported YouTube content, but also books, product endorsements, three restaurants, merchandise, and speaking engagements. Sam Zien (known as âSam the Cooking Guy,â began his rise to streaming success on television in San Diego. His short cooking segments during the local news became a 30-minute show that earned Zien 15 Emmy Awards and guest appearances on the Today show. The Sam the Cooking Guy social media presence, while largely geared toward driving viewers to the YouTube channel, is also tailored to each platform. Instagram posts, for instance, reveal a behind the scenes look at the video program, Zienâs life and local community. This gives a rounded immediacy to the personality. TikTok offers pared-down, yet delicious-looking portable-format teasers which link to the full-length video on YouTube
Each near-daily YouTube video includes links to the thecookingguy.com and cooking tool store (Sam uses his own branded knives and cast iron during filming).
An influencer is a personality or entity who share their earned attention with products or experiences followers to participate their own (creative or consumerist) experience. Sam's work inspires many to enjoy the simple pleasure of cooking with and for family. Not stuffy or pretentious, sometimes irreverent or juvenile, the Sam the Cooking Guy brand is breezy, fun, and easy to watch. Self-consciously produced with multiple camera angles, carefully curated music and juicy, melty, slow-motion "money shots," the menu items, like porn, are presented in such as to arouse and excite both visual and auditory senses (the crunch of a perfect grilled cheese, the sizzle of a ribeye on the grill).
I like The Cooking Guy's work, wit and irreverence. It would be a simple thing to suggest that the product would be improved through refraining from swearing or including less outright innuendo. But I don't make that recommendation.
I have yet to find user-generated content that engages STCG material, so an effort to invite follower participation could possibly benefit the brand. I chose to return to a brand familiar from COML 512, White's Boots. So much class time was consumed with the welfare of this company, I thought it would be interesting to analyze the bootmaker's social media approach. I'd been a subscriber to the brand's Twitter page since last year, and I've enjoyed the Japanese White's Boots fans enthusiasm for hand-made Americana on Instagram. I followed the brand on Tik Tok, Instagram, and YouTube.
This TikTok page appears to be new since last year. Much of the #whitesboots tagged content on TikTok is consumer-generated brand content, and some created by White's Boots employees themselves. The company could do a much better job of engaging with this content on TikTok, as well as highlighting this story content on other platforms. As noted above, the brand's Instagram account is busy and updated with gorgeous photos, historic information, and responsive but not profound engagement with followers. What content there is to enjoy on White's Boots YouTube channel is well-produced and does communicate the boots' handcrafted and rugged story. But there could be more consumer-generated content here. Stories from the "boots on the ground" would bring those images of beautifully crafted boots into fully realized life. Reference:
Quesenberry, K.A. (2021) Social Media Strategy. Rowman & Littlefield. |
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