How a Cost-Effective Social Media Plan Can Make a Difference for Small Businesses

Small businesses make a significant contribution to the economy of the United States as well as to the economies of states and cities. Latest estimates from the U.S. Small Business Administration indicate that small businesses employ approximately 57 percent of workers in the private sector and pay 44 percent of the U.S. payroll. Unfortunately, it is also true that only 50 percent of small businesses survive beyond five years. While there are many reasons for this disconcerting statistic, a major reason is a lack of marketing and communication efforts. Small businesses cannot afford to invest heavily in developing and implementing effective marketing and communication strategies; however, it is possible, with the help of digital communication tools such as social media, to develop cost-efficient yet effective marketing and communication strategies for small businesses. In this paper, I demonstrate how a small business can develop a cost-effective social media marketing plan to achieve its marketing and communication goals. A template for an implementable social media marketing plan is also presented

A Case Study of Teaching Integrated Marketing Communication Using an Innovative Group Internship Project

In recent years, many college campuses have moved to implement experiential learning projects in many disciplines. It is generally accepted that experiential learning projects or client projects (we will be using these two terms interchangeably throughout the paper) help students to communicate effectively, perform well in teams, solve problems, and acquire functional knowledge. We describe our experience of implementing an innovative experiential learning project that required students to form a company, and plan and execute an integrated marketing communication (IMC) plan for a real-life company on a tight budget. Finally, we compare the student assessment for this group internship project with traditional client projects that typically do not involve a full-fledged execution of an IMC plan

Advancing Communities of Learning: A Collaborative Project between Local Universities, Funding Agencies, and Nonprofits to Develop a Subsidized Senior-Transportation Plan

The growing population of seniors in the United States poses both interesting and challenging transportation policy issues that demand research on alternatives to current transportation systems. This study was motivated by a local foundation’s interest in senior quality-of-life issues in the communities served. The aim of this study was to assess senior transportation needs and systems as a means to move policy makers and funders closer to providing high-quality senior transportation services. The localized nature of senior transportation needs is best examined as a case study. In this article, one mid-sized Indiana community is examined using focus group interviews and individual surveys of senior citizens. In addition, a survey of the literature on senior-transportation models provided critical information relevant to formulating best-practice recommendations for community-level senior-transportation systems. To design effective senior-transportation systems, five critical factors are evaluated. Finally, the article presents a case study highlighting the importance of multisector collaboration in addressing the challenges and opportunities associated with critical senior-transportation issues in upcoming decades

How Academic Libraries Can Leverage Social Networking to Popularize Their Services: An Empirical Study

Social media is commonly used in academic libraries to market services, products, and events to users. A thorough review of the extant literature revealed that few libraries have incorporated a social networking strategy into their broader marketing strategy. Users of an academic library in an urban Midwestern university were surveyed to reveal how they use social networking sites. Respondents were asked the importance of libraries using social networking sites. Although the majority of users thought it was important for libraries to use social networking sites, their preferred method of communication with the libraries was flyers in the library. Library users below the age of 35 preferred to get information from the library webpage. Based on the results of this study, we recommend suitable social networking strategies for academic libraries

On the taxonomic identity of Phanera jampuiensis Darlong & D.Bhattach.

Phanera jampuiensis Darlong & D.Bhattach. (Leguminosae: Caesalpinioideae: Cercideae) has been treated here as a new synonym of Phanera glabrifolia Benth. var. glabrifolia. The collection from Tripura forms the first collection of P. glabrifolia var. glabrifolia from the wild after more than 160 years after the species was described from Hortus Botanicus Calcuttensis

Profitable Retail Customer Identification Based on a Combined Prediction Strategy of Customer Lifetime Value

As a fundamental concept of customer relationship management, customer lifetime value (CLV) serves as a crucial metric to identify profitable retail customers. Various methods are available to predict CLV in different contexts. With the development of consumer big data, modern statistics and machine learning algorithms have been gradually adopted in CLV modeling. We introduce two machine learning algorithms—the gradient boosting decision tree (GBDT) and the random forest (RF)—in retail customer CLV modeling and compare their predictive performance with two classical models—the Pareto/NBD (HB) and the Pareto/GGG. To ensure CLV prediction and customer identification robustness, we combined the predictions of the four models to determine which customers are the most—or least—profitable. Using 43 weeks of customer transaction data from a large retailer in China, we predicted customer value in the future 20 weeks. The results show that the predictive performance of GBDT and RF is generally better than that of the Pareto/NBD (HB) and Pareto/GGG models. Because the predictions are not entirely consistent, we combine them to identify profitable and unprofitable customers

Thinking Critically About Critical Thinking: Assessing Critical Thinking of Business Students Using Multiple Measures

Critical thinking is a skill that potential employers expect all graduates to possess. Hence, most business management programs consider critical thinking as an important student learning goal. Unfortunately, there is ambiguity about how to best assess critical thinking, both as a skill and a learning outcome. We empirically demonstrate how we measure the critical thinking ability of our students in different settings, and their critical thinking ability improves as they progress through our business program (13) (PDF) Thinking critically about critical thinking: Assessing critical thinking of business students using multiple measures. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/329067375_Thinking_critically_about_critical_thinking_Assessing_critical_thinking_of_business_students_using_multiple_measures [accessed May 23 2021]

Seven new combinations in Phanera (Fabaceae: Caesalpinioideae: Cercideae)

Seven new combinations in Phanera Lour. are made for species which were either described in Lasiobema (Korth.) Miq. or later transferred to Lasiobema from Bauhinia L

The geometric phase and the dynamics of quantum phase transition induced by a linear quench

We have analysed here the role of the geometric phase in dynamical mechanism of quantum phase transition in the transverse Ising model. We have investigated the system when it is driven at a fixed rate characterized by a quench time $\tau_q$ across the critical point from a paramagnetic to ferromagnetic phase. Our argument is based on the fact that the spin fluctuation occurring during the critical slowing down causes random fluctuation in the ground state geometric phase at the critical regime. The correlation function of the random geometric phase determines the excitation probability of the quasiparticles, which are excited during the transition from the inital paramagnetic to the ferromagnetic phase. This helps us to evaluate the number density of the kinks formed during the transition, which is found to scale as $\tau_q^{-\frac{1}{2}}$. In addition, we have also estimated the spin-spin correlation at criticality.Comment: 10 pages, accepted in J. Phys. A: Math and Theor. (Special issue on Quantum Phases

Search for new particles in events with energetic jets and large missing transverse momentum in proton-proton collisions at root s=13 TeV

A search is presented for new particles produced at the LHC in proton-proton collisions at root s = 13 TeV, using events with energetic jets and large missing transverse momentum. The analysis is based on a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 101 fb(-1), collected in 2017-2018 with the CMS detector. Machine learning techniques are used to define separate categories for events with narrow jets from initial-state radiation and events with large-radius jets consistent with a hadronic decay of a W or Z boson. A statistical combination is made with an earlier search based on a data sample of 36 fb(-1), collected in 2016. No significant excess of events is observed with respect to the standard model background expectation determined from control samples in data. The results are interpreted in terms of limits on the branching fraction of an invisible decay of the Higgs boson, as well as constraints on simplified models of dark matter, on first-generation scalar leptoquarks decaying to quarks and neutrinos, and on models with large extra dimensions. Several of the new limits, specifically for spin-1 dark matter mediators, pseudoscalar mediators, colored mediators, and leptoquarks, are the most restrictive to date.Peer reviewe