Find Your Moment
My second Graduate semester is done, and with it comes new exciting beginnings and challenges. It was time for my first Immersion at Syracuse University. This is were I was scheduled to meet my classmates and tour campus. Needless to say that I was extremely anxious to travel and be on the campus that I’ve only seen before in pictures. After flying from Puerto Rico for about 6 hours, I arrived at Syracuse on a small aircraft (that nearly scared me to death).
The weather was different from what I’m used to but I loved it nonetheless. I got in town one day prior just in case they were any situations that may mess my schedule. To my surprise, there were no flight delays, which meant that I got about a half day to go explore. I was eager to shoot some pictures of wildlife, so I went to the zoo and it totally did not disappoint. The staff was amazing and I was able to meet face to face with my favorite animal, the elusive snow leopard. Below is a picture of it:
After such a marvelous afternoon, I went back to get some rest and get ready to meet my classmates the next day.
Immersion day arrived so I headed to the Newhouse School. I was so blown away by the architecture and design of the University. The staff also was so kind and amazing! It was a surreal feeling talking to my classmates in person rather that behind a computer screen. You can hear comments like: “you’re taller in person”, “nice to meet you in person”, etc. Definitely, it is one of those things that you have to experience yourself in order to know how it feels.
The lectures began and with them, my mind was instantly blown away to pieces by all the knowledge being imparted by the speakers. Out of all the lectures, there was one that stood out to me more than the other ones. That was the Start Up story of Nick Cicero, who founded Delmondo and is now currently the VP of Strategy of Conviva, a Company dedicated to provide social video analytics solutions for brands and influencers.
As he started talking about his journey, I instantly felt identified with him, as he is a person that defends his ideals heavily and is a hustler 24/7. What’s really admirable about him is that he identified what was missing with social media and then, he transformed those missing pieces into what made him successful.
I think he plays a huge part on the reason of of why companies have been taking social media more seriously this past couple of years. That reason is analytics. When social media started, there were not many tools to measure engagement, besides likes & shares. But Cicero’s Social Media Analytics initiative is what Netflix was to Blockbuster when it began to rise. The way that his tools segments and analyzes a piece of content is just what every marketer and advertiser wished for many years and what many thought not possible for many years to come. His work is really revolutionary and I’m certain that it will keep shaping the path ahead for social media.
For my dream job, which is being a Social Media Strategist on a big Advertising Agency, Nick’s application will be of sum importance and in my opinion, it will be the groundworks for any type of strategy that I would plan before implementing it. The communications industry has definitely been benefited by Cicero’s Social Video Intelligence solutions because it can actually identify patterns on streams and it helps connect creators with brands. It can also recognize which audience is interacting more with a brand’s content, which translates into opportunities to create more content that’s going to go straight to the audience’s taste.
I must say that this Immersion exceeded my expectations by a lot! Needless to say that I am looking forward to be on the next one. After it was over, I realized that even though I’m part of an advanced program, there is so much space to learn about innovation and entrepreneurship. The possibilities are limitless, it is up to you to find your moment. It will be until the next one…
