Week 16 Post 2

My viewpoint of social media has certainly changed. As someone who only used social media for personal reasons, every time I would exit social media I wouldn't feel enriched at all, in fact I felt like I wasted time because I seen things that I don't really care for. However, using social media for business has opened my eyes to the huge opportunities it can present, such as gaining access to incredibly big markets and getting connected with many other like minded people who can potentially help the business in the future.

Yes I feel this class has helped me understand my options better to help me decide which is the best strategy for my business to adopt. Also, it has helped me use the tools on some of the biggest platforms such as Facebook and Instagram.

I have also learned, how to successfully develop a business by releasing lots of accessible information for my customers. Such as how they can buy from us and our general business practices and why we should be bought from instead of our competitors.

I have started using some of the tools myself already but not for the business that I started with this semester. When my other classes went online I had to change my project for one of them (KINE 292) where I developed a free live streaming service dedicated to yoga. I used many of the tools from this class to help promote it and in one month of operation I have managed to get around 150 organic likes to the page. I will be using more of these tools I have learned from this class to develop it further.

Thank you for a wonderful semester Professor Faulk. I understand it's been incredibly stressful but I generally enjoyed your class, you're a fantastic tutor and I wouldn't hesitate to take another class in the future. I hope you have an amazing summer.

Week 16 Post 1

For my business I feel Facebook has the most potential for making sales. This is due to most of my customer base using it regularly. Also, it has easy to use tools to help make my posts stand out more and also very good for analysis such as seeing how far a post has reached and what kind of reactions my potential customers are giving me.

The tools I would implement are writing many social media posts and scheduling them as that is very effective for letting your customers know that the business is still running. Also, it gives customers plenty of information about upcoming products or services or new practices that the business has adopted in making it more appealing to the consumer. I didn't enjoy the email marketing side as I feel this can be invasive if it wasn't requested, I would only want to send emails to customers who consented to receiving them without tricking them otherwise.

I think my business should spend a lot of time on social media as people can spend hours at a time just browsing through social media, the more active we are the more likely new customers will stumble upon the business and have an interest in it. Also, by generating a following people can then recommend the business to people who don't use social media nearly as much. Since my business is online, having a strong web presence is in my business' best interest.

For my next month of content. I will be scheduling daily posts for my business with little quotes on most days while providing updates on products being offered throughout the next month. The sites these will be posted on are Facebook and Instagram as these are my most popular platforms and the ones I like to use. I will also release 2 YouTube videos over the month detailing the way we do things at my business as well as 2 podcasts talking about issues around the world on SoundCloud which will all be linked together via Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. The key is to ensure all of the social media platforms are all synced together so no matter which platform our customers prefer they can easily see all of the posts that we make.

Week 15 Post 2

This is the analytics for my Facebook page. As expected engagement and views has gone up and down, this is pretty standard as things tend to happen in waves, some days are very good and others not so good. The post reach has astounded me with 603% increase this could be due to algorithms working in my favour. I post lots of videos on my page which is why I get many views, the only thing that hasn't increase is my orders but that's because I am not selling anything yet.

Week 15 Post 1

Google analytics has many useful features for businesses to take advantage of. The first feature I think would benefit my business is the data analytics. This allows me to measure things such as engagement, views and clicks. They can even put it in a graph for it to be easier to analyse. This is essential to see what is working and what isn't working well. This can also invite the business to experiment with marketing where they can try something and if it has a positive reaction on the analytics then we can keep up with it but if it negatively impacts then we can stop using that technique.

Secondly, Google adsense and analytics offers many ways to display ads using widgets so it is very flexible to use multiple methods to advertise your business. For example, you can use video to show off your products, using the data you can analyse which type of ad is working more effectively, should the video method not work than switching up to an image may be much more effective.

Finally, I like the fact different users can access the same analytics. This is especially useful if I gain staff specialised in marketing as they will have access to the analytics without risk of them accessing my personal data or any data I don't want people to see in relation to the business. Also, I can give access to an outside marketing firm that can give me constructive feedback on how to adapt my marketing strategy.

Week 14

Week 13 Post 2

With Facebook ads they give you many options for advertising such as:

• Boosting a post: This is where the user can pay to show their post to a wider community whether it is local or more global.
• Promote a page: This is where the business can promote their page to people anywhere in the world, this will help them generate likes and follows.
• Promote the business locally: This is where Facebook will focus your promotions within the area you operate to ensure that the business hits the correct target audience.
• Get more website visitors: This add specifically works to promote the businesses website so people will hopefully click on it to drive traffic
• Get more leads: This is where Facebook can set up forms to share to people to gather more information about potential clients. This can help tailor the ad campaign to appeal to that target audience.

For my business, I would want to promote my page nationally. Since the business doesn't necessarily have a physical presence I don't have a need for people to visit anywhere. All of their products will be shipped directly to their door. Since this is the case, I can market anywhere in the United States. I would however choose states that have the highest tea consumption and that have population that are more interested in European culture. 

Online advertising will be my primary way to advertise since my customers will be required to have an internet connection to be able to connect with my business. Social media will be my biggest tool and in particular Facebook and Instagram. In terms of how often, it would be one week before the next months box of tea would be shipped; this would give customers plenty of time to review what's in the box and whether it is something that would interest them. The ultimate aim is to get them to sign on for a years subscription as it's much better to have long term customers so we can more accurately determine our profit margin. 

The type of ads we would use are image or video related. When it comes to the image, we would opt for showing the highlight of the flavour in the box, for example, if we are showing a more tropical tea, the imagine will be based on things associated with tropic things such as palm trees, rainforest, etc. We would not want to give too much away so a lot of the things in the box will be censored away but will drop hints. In terms of videos, it would be showing where our tea comes from and talking about our environmental impact and the way we treat our employees.

We will use the boost option often so that we can reach more people within our demographic, particularly when we advertise the monthly box so we would be running ad campaigns one week of every month.

Week 13 Part 1

This business is advertising a lamp with different colours. I like it because it shows minimal text and allows the image of the product to dominate the ad. This is particularly important because showing the product in action is far better than just having text to describe it. Clicking on the image takes the user to the website where they can buy one of their products.

 This product is advertising face masks. I have seen many of these types of ads the last few months due to businesses shifting their manufacture or new businesses popping up due to the on going Covid-19 pandemic. This business is using football (soccer) teams as their USP (unique selling point) advertising the big clubs such as Real Madrid, Barcelona, Juventus and Manchester United.

Compared to traditional ads they can shift from local or regional methods such as newspapers and radio advertisement to potentially global methods like social media. The amazing thing about social media, particularly Facebook, you can target any demographic. For example, you can set the ad to only hit people in a 4 mile radios in Oceanside or go as far as the entire United States or even the world. The cost of advertising isn't very expensive either compared to traditional methods either. Advertising on Facebook costs hundreds whereas a billboard can set you back thousands or tens of thousands with Facebook having far more reach available. I strongly support the idea of using social media advertising over more traditional methods.

Week 12 Post 2

The two websites I have chosen to sign up for are LinkedIn and SoundCloud

LinkedIn

The reason why I have joined this website is because of different groups that can be joined to share knowledge on the macro economy and also for any tips for businesses to do well. Over the long term, I hope to use this website to recruit professionals in the field of ecommerce and subscription based businesses to help me improve my practices and drive from sales. Finally, there could be some recruitment opportunities for employees at the business from supply chain management to marketing. These employees can possibly take my business to the next level.

SoundCloud

I have chosen this website because I read that this predominantly music producing website can also be very good for podcasts. I want to set up podcasts as part of a green washing marketing campaign where my business will talk about the importance of CSR (corporate social responsibility) and how all business around the world can work together in reducing our impact of the environment and improve workers condition, particularly in third world countries where they work in dangerous conditions while earning peanuts compared with the west. Also my company can talk about what steps we are taking in improving our practices in hope to generate a new customer base.

Week 12 Post 1

The ideas of using extra online marketing tools is certainly an interesting concept. After reading through the assignment I would be interested in using a review service like Yelp since I would want my customers to talk about my products so I can improve my service. I would likely use TrustPilot since I don't have a physical presence and they are more for online businesses. I can add the reviews to my website and put the highest rated ones on the front page so people will know instantly that my business is trustworthy.

I also think using SEO (search engine optimisation) will help my business; if I can manipulate traffic to my social media and website then I can essentially trick Google in putting my business higher up on the search page.

Twitter would also be a good site to use since most businesses use them and the website itself is incredibly popular. This would be another way to drive traffic and hopefully make more sales.

Also, I like the idea of using LinkedIn as a way to get business advice, I can look at different groups that share information with other entrepreneurs. Also, I could even look to gain contacts which can help come up with a mutual arrangement that can benefit everyone.

Finally, I would make a podcast talking about today's issue in the business world especially when it comes to the environment and practices concerning employee treatment, especially in countries where cheap labour is exploited. This concept is known as green washing and will hopefully inspire change while also driving customers to buy from my business.

Week 11 Post 1

The idea of email marketing is certainly interesting but dependent on how the personal information is obtained; if people wilfully sign up to your subscriber list then it's perfect given that they are already interested. However, if the information is obtained through a 3rd party it can make things difficult as email folder have gotten pretty good at filtering marketing emails to junk. Therefore, the business needs to figure out how to get the email to the correct folder.

For my business I believe an email once every 2 weeks is perfect because my business offers a monthly subscription and the emails can specify what the offerings are for the next month. It's short enough for the customers to keep up to date while also long enough that there will be new content available.

The content I would include are special themes for a month; so I would advertise a special type of tea with a theme. Also, I would add a lot about ways we are improving as well in terms of quality and what we do for the world. I would like it to be bright and colourful with a newsletter in the next page talking about what type of business we are.

Week 10 Post 2

As a business we could end up writing hundreds of blogs where many could easily get lost, this is why it is important to divide it into categories. The first category I would use is an about category. This would describe my business as a whole and all of the work we do, this will showcase our personality. For example, I would write about how the business was formed, what we pride ourselves on and also how we source our products.

The second category would be why should people buy from us. This would talk about the many benefits of going with us other our competitors, we could talk about price, convenience and even our CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility), morals and ethics. This will show our customers we care about many of the world issues and doing our best to reduce our impact while also talking about our corporate practices as well when it comes to personal.

Finally, we will have a how category where we will show our customers how to purchase from us and how to choose their products and the best way to save money with us.

Week 10 Post 1

Adding human interest that appeals to peoples emotions are important because people naturally like to be connected to different things; if you can write something that empathises with people and something that they can relate to, they will be more likely to be interested in the business. The ultimate drive to bring in customers is to offer products/services that they are interested in, but that is only one part of the puzzle. What can make the different between competitors other than the obvious (price) is the way a business conducts itself and connects with their customers. Should a business write blogs it should be done with a much personality as possible. People are less inclined to go with a business that has no human side at all, a business is a functioning and living entity so there's no reason why it shouldn't be shown as such.

I would argue that there isn't ever an inappropriate time to add a personal touch. A product demonstration should not just be a demonstration, a customer also needs to know why they should care about it; if I customer has no emotional attachment to the product or service then the business is far less likely to make a sale. For example, if I simply write how customers can order my tea products, a customer may ask "why do I need to order tea when I can just go to my local Starbucks?" I need to emphasise how my tea is the best on the market, and how convenient it is to not need to go out and buy the tea. Also, I can include a lot about CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) since many people around the world are concerned with how ethically a business is. I can write about how my tea is fair trade and the country I import them from pay the farmers fairly. Also, I can write about how my company uses minimal packaging to do far less damage to the environment.

Week 9 Post 2


I used the hashtags BrewTeaFul and Cuppa for my posts. I used BrewTeaFul since it's my business name and I used cuppa since it's a very common slang by people who drink tea. I found these hashtags based on my own knowledge of tea and from other tea businesses. I added posts around the morning in California 10am since it's a typical time for many to have tea and also it's in the evening for the UK where people are just coming off work. What I learned is the hashtags and the timings are very important to ensure your posts have maximum reach.

Week 9 Post 1

1. Dollar Shave Club

Instagram seems very effective to them as men's grooming is very popular in the younger generation and Instagram is very popular for the younger generation. The hashtags they are using are mensstyle, grooming, skincare, mensgrooming, malegrooming, shave, barber, beard, haircut, style, dollarshaveclub. They have 238k followers and they post every other day. They get more responses on their more humorous posts. Their last post was made 5 hours ago. You cannot see the numbers of likes on Instagram anymore and it would take too long to count but I know for a fact it would be far less than their followers based on typical liking trends, they don't receive many comments at all they received only 20 on most of their posts. They help by making their own graphics which shows how their products work.

2. LOOTCRATE

Instagram is very useful for this business as their audience are far younger since they sell gaming items. LOOTCRATE doesn't use hashtags on most of their posts, they only hashtag specific items they are selling. They have 733k followers and post around 3 times a day. The type of content they get comments on the most is their comic book hero's ones. Their last post was made 2 hours ago. They have far more followers than likes on each post. They receive very few comments only around 10 a post. They are posting a lot of current event things which is helping them boost.

3. Tetley Tea

Instagram is fairly useful for them but they don't have many followers since they have been around for a long time and their audience tends to be older. They don't use many hashtags at all only seen things like TetleyTeaBreak or Nowwearetalking. They have 5046 followers and they only post twice a week. They mainly post quotes with their tea in the background and they don't seem to get much more than around 200 likes. They only receive around 10 comments on their posts. They are putting their branding everywhere on their posts which would help my business.

4. Cadbury

Instagram is useful for Cadburys since their products attract multiple generations. Cadbury doesn't use hashtags very often but when they do its normally DonateYourWords. They have 224k followers and post once every other day. They post a lot of videos with their partners which is currently one of the biggest football clubs in the world Manchester United. Also they are doing a lot with the NHS (national health service). They get many likes but not as much as their follower count and they receive around 60 comments per post. They do a lot of sponsorships which could help my business in the future.

To conclude the hashtags I will use for my business are: BrewTeaFul, PutOnABrew, TeaService and Cuppa.

Week 8 Post 1

Many businesses use Instagram since it is such a vastly popular social media website. They use it for a variety of different reasons. The main reason is to post pictures of their products to showcase it. They will use imagery to try and entice their customers to click on their website to find out more.

 Also by generating followers they will get more interaction to get constant feedback on their products so they will know how to improve constantly, they may also get ideas from their customers on other products to pursue.

commented on: https://www.instagram.com/artcrushparties/

Week 7 Post 1

I liked businesses based on groups.

Firstly, I liked services such as Dollar Shave Club and LOOTCRATE because they are using the model I want to use which is a subscription based model. The way they promote will be similar to mine as they are both quite similar in their approaches.

Secondly, I liked tea companies such as Tetley, PG Tips and Yorkshire Tea because they sell products I want to sell and the types of teas they sell could inspire me to come up with a new idea for a tea flavour. Also looking how they interact in a quintessentially British way helps me adapt my promotion techniques for my own business.

Finally, I liked confectionary businesses such as Cadbury and Milka because I also want to sell confectionary items and I can learn from how they promote their business. These businesses are the most successful confectionary businesses in Europe and to learn from the way they interact with customers will be key.

Week 6

Post reach refers to how many people see your post on social media whereas post engagement refers to who actively engages with the post such as with likes or comments.

Knowing the difference is vital because if your post is reaching many people but has no engagement then something is flawed about the post or it's reaching the wrong audience. Reach means nothing but engagement is crucial for the business.

Facebook insights refers to businesses being able to keep track of statistics such as likes, how many see posts, etc. This is useful because the business can see which types of posts generate the most engagement and which generates less engagement.

Week 5 Part 2

The business I am creating for this class (and possibly as a real thing if proven viable) is called Brew-Tea-Full. This is a subscription based company which delivers subscribers different teas and biscuits (cookies) every month. The teas will be of different flavours with the customers being able to pick and choose or hit the "surprise me" button to get a random selection of tea. The cookies will work in the same manner with them being based on very popular cookies in the UK. The business will be advertised as a British company as Britain is well known for tea and can give me a competitive edge. 

My target demographic are people aged between 21-35 as the people in this age range are more likely to use an internet based subscription based company, plus in the United States tea is growing more popular, especially with the younger generation. The psychographics for my business are people interested in tea and cookies as well as British culture.

Week 5 Part 1

I decided to go with more of a challenge on this assignment, given I know nothing about plants, I thought it would be interesting to look at the target markets of the two websites and see what I can learn.

Armstrong Garden Centers

This website looks to be about a garden centre that also does labouring work for customers as well. Typically people into gardening tend to be older/retired people as it is well known to be a great hobby for helping to keep people active while close to home. Also, in this demographic would be homeowners, this is typically people who are aged 25+ as they are more likely to have established a permanent address. This is due to the landscaping services offered as younger people don't have the time/interest to maintain a garden while studding/working or raising children. The psychographics are people who are interested in gardening, this is made obvious by advertising the type of plants they sell and their garden centre locations. The overall tone of the website is very bright and colourful to draw in customers, although I don't know much about plants, I do know people like bright and pretty plants and not shrivelled and dead plants!

http://www.ranchovistanursery.com/

This plant nursery is more of a B2B (business to business) company. They advertise their plants to resellers and wholesalers. Also they do events such as wedding events so their demographics will be couples who are looking to get married. The psychographics are people who are interested in plants, particularly cactuses..

The differences between these websites are fairly obvious as Armstrong is a B2C (business to consumer) company and rancho is a B2B company. Also Armstrong offers landscaping services which rancho does not, they may be very similar businesses in what they sell from a broad perspective but once the consumer dives into the details they will notice big differences in services offered. The only crossover between the businesses is the fact they both in the horticulture business. The overall tone of the website is far more simplistic, it wasn't very obvious as first who they catered to but after digging around I found the answer, it definitely caters more towards businesses rather than individuals.

Week 4 Post 2

1. EA Sports FIFA

https://www.ea.com/en-gb/games/fifa/fifa-20/ultimate-team/features

This website is effective because I regularly play a video game called FIFA 20 and it allows me to access my teams using their web application. Also, the website releases patch notes regularly to tell me what is coming up on the game. Finally, they have community posts where people discuss different aspects of the game and people can interact and engage with each other.

They make the website very simple and easy to navigate. Where a lot of game websites go wrong is by making the website not user friendly. FIFA makes it very easy for users to see what's happening on the game and post in their discussions boards.

The regular updates made on the website makes me keep coming back plus it's always good to keep up with the community posts as well. The way the website could be improved is by making the richest content more to the front of the website so it is easier to access for the community.

2. Reddit

https://www.reddit.com/

This website is effective because of the communities that exist within them. There is a constant stream of fresh content which makes it very addictive.

They split their website into different categories so people can easily find the subreddits they want to read, they also but of the top reddit posts on the front of the website.

What makes me come back is the fact their is new content added to the website all the time, you can very easily spent a long time reading posts or sharing your own insights.

What they can do to improve is make it more user friendly by not cluttering the front page so much and simplifying the navigation bars so users can find subreddits more easily. Finally, they should modernise the website as it looks dated in todays world.

Week 4 Post 1

1. http://jamilin.com/

The first problem with this website is that I have no idea what this is about from the first few seconds spent on the website. This is important because when someone clicks onto your website, you only have around 10-30 seconds to keep them there before they click off. The second issue I found was it looks very dated. The website looks like something from 2002 and needs modernising, I find old looking websites like this very tedious.

The first way I'd improve this website is by simplifying the front page significantly. I would add one big image with big text telling the visitor exactly what this website is about, I would then add sliders advertising some of the products and also add an about page to tell the reader about the business. Currently the page is cluttered with so much information that is very off putting. Secondly, I would modernise the images used and also remove the blue text for social media at the top of the page and instead add images of the icons at the bottom of the page.

http://www.roverp6cars.com/

This website looks like it's about to give my computer all sorts of viruses, in other words, very dodgy. I don't like the moving bars in the middle of the website with the very basic paint and text font. Also, with the Portugal promotion, the text with that background is painful to look at. Finally, this website is cluttered with utter rubbish, I appreciate the designer trying to ensure the reader that their website is about cars but I think they overly achieved because they seem to be shoving it down our throats.

How I would improve this website is by removing all of the images of the cars on the sides of the website to make it look much simpler, only one or two images are necessary to advertise the fact they're a car website. Secondly, I would change the background colours and the text font of the website to make it look more professional. I would look how car manufactures create their website and base the website design off that.

http://apple.com

Apple make it very obvious what they sell when I first click on the website because there is an iPhone staring me in the face and it takes up a lot of the screen. They also make navigation very easy for all their products by putting the links horizontally on top of the page. Finally, when the reader scrolls down they can see more of Apples products with high quality images.

My reaction to this website was refreshed, they have the correct amount of busy with it not being too baron nor too hectic. Also, it had plenty of imagines instead of text to show off their product.

http://www.toyota.com/

I like the fact Toyota put a video on their website to show their projects. They also make it obvious about what cars they sell with their prices included as well. They also use simple colouring and only highlight the important parts of their website such as their deals.

I think this website is very professional and it makes me more likely to trust their business and purchase one of their vehicles; if their website looked very unprofessional, as a consumer, it would affect my opinion on their cars as it reflects.

Week 3 Post 2

I have not got a specific business in mind so I will review business in sectors I am interested in and have knowledge about.

1. Dollar Shave Club

https://www.dollarshaveclub.com/

They are a subscription based company that sends you a starter kit and then razors and other bathroom products. They are a business that has boomed over recent years and are an international company serving the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Australia.

The social media platforms they use are: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube and Pinterest (all are found on their website).

Facebook:

• 3,651,408 followers
• Post daily
• Last post: 02/09/2020

Instagram:

• 224k followers
• Post daily
• Last post: 02/09/2020

Twitter:

• 85.1k followers
• Post daily
• Last post: 02/09/2020

YouTube:

• 36.4k subscribers
• Post once every few months
• Last post: 02/07/2020

Pinterest:

• 14.2k followers
• Post daily
• Last post: 02/09/2020

Dollar Shave Club utilises social media very well by being active on most platforms. They use Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest consistently. However, YouTube is lacking in content which in understandable given YouTube videos are far more time consuming than posts.

2. LOOTCRATE

https://www.lootcrate.com/

They are a subscription based company that gives subscribers boxes containing random items from themes that the customer picks. For example, a gaming lootcrate will contain gamer items, it is a more randomised way of receiving items. They are an international company.

The social media platforms they use are: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Snapchat (all are found on their website). 

Facebook:

• 2,567,256 followers
• Post twice a day
• Last post 09/02/2020

Twitter:

• 543.4k followers
• Post twice to three times a day
• Last post 09/02/2020

Instagram:

• 738k followers
• Post twice a day
• Last post 09/02/2020

YouTube:

• 265k subscribers
• Post once every few months
• Last post 10/28/2019

Snapchat:

• Cannot see analytics

LOOTCRATE utilises social media well again and are extremely active on all except for YouTube. They use Twitter the most but Facebook and Twitter aren't too far behind.

3. Spotify

https://www.spotify.com/us/


They are a free/subscription based company specialising in music. Customers pay monthly to gain access to many songs on the platform. Spotify is one of the top music subscription businesses in the world.

The social media platforms they use are Instagram, Twitter and Facebook (all are linked on their website).

Instagram:

• 4.8 million followers
• Post daily
• Last post 02/10/2020

Twitter:

• 3.3 million followers
• Roughly 5 times a day
• Last post 02/10/2020

Facebook

• 22,231,906
• Post roughly 3 times a day
• Last post 02/10/2020

For a huge business Spotify doesn't use as many platforms as some of the smaller businesses but they are extremely active on the ones they are on, especially Twitter.

4. Home Chef

https://www.homechef.com/

They are a subscription based company that delivers meals to people every week. They are a national business.

The social media platforms they use are: Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

Facebook:

• 473,724 followers
• Posts daily
• Last post 02/10/2020

Pinterest:

• 4.8 monthly viewers
• Posts daily
• 02/10/2020

Twitter:

• 11.3k followers
• Posts daily
• 02/10/2020

Instagram:

• 147k followers
• Posts daily
• 02/10/2020

YouTube:

• Their subscribers are hidden
• Posts once every month
• 01/06/2020

They are equally active on every platform except YouTube

5. Starbucks

https://www.starbucks.com/

Starbucks is a huge coffee company which operates in almost every country.

The social media platforms they use are: Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, YouTube and Twitter.

Facebook:

• 35,609,351 followers
• Posts daily
• Last post 02/10/2020

Pinterest:

• 9.7 million monthly viewers
• Posts daily
• 02/10/2020

Instagram:

• 18.4 million followers
• Posts daily
• 02/10/2020

YouTube: 

• 250k subscribers
• Posts once every few days
• 02/04/2020

Twitter:

• 11.2 million followers
• Posts multiple times a day
• 02/10/2020

Starbucks uses Twitter the most but are active on most platforms and are the most active out of the other businesses.

I purposely compared smaller businesses with much larger to get a scope of how they behave based on size. I can say with confidence, that no matter the size of the business, they will all be very active on social media. This shows how important being active and posting is.

Businesses also use different platforms based on their demographics. Where LOOTCRATE has a younger demographic so they use Snapchat, other businesses like home chef will use Pinterest to show images of their meals to try and gain more publicity and therefore more subscribers.

To conclude all businesses see the vital importance of social media by being extremely active and caring about the number of follower, likes, etc. they receive.

Week 3 Post Comments

The blogs I have commented on:

Janae Virgil
Janda Slade
Hayley Raynor

Week 3 Post 1

When it comes to communication with businesses your experience can vary depending on why you want to communicate with a business. Should you want to enquire about a product/service or purchase said product/service a business will make it very simple for you most of the time.

However, once the product/service is purchased and you encounter a problem, this is when businesses suddenly become very difficult to contact. Business like to deflect you as much as possible; if you require assistance most of the time they will refer you to an FAQ board and will reluctantly give you a support email address or phone number. When contacting them response times tend to be long and if calling them, you spend much of the time talking to a machine.

Social media has somewhat helped the issue because tweeting a business negatives about the product or problems you have encountered can harm them and puts a spotlight on them to respond with a solution. Many of the responses consist of asking the disgruntled customer to direct message them as they don't want to flood their boards with a back and forward exchange. However, if many people are contacting businesses via social media it can make your message or post lost.

Whenever I share comments about a business I hail them if I love their product and write a recommendation. Should I have a negative experience I am honest about what happened but I don't write foul and harsh language as that doesn't solve any issues and makes them less likely to help find a solution to the problem.

Should I own a business I would want to be quite witty with my responses on social media as this can draw a lot of attention, especially for positive comments. However, if I receive negative feedback I would take a more serious attitude and try to rectify with my customer to show that the business is committed to good customer service as it's a lot easier to retain a customer than find a new one.

Week 2 Post Comments

The blogs I have commented on are:

Jojo Hassan
Hannah Miyamoto
Hailey Raynor

Week 2 Post 1

For this blog post I will be discussing social media in the personal and business world. Social media is a vital tool in the business and personal world and it is important to decide which social media websites are best. Personally, I am a big fan of Instagram for personal use; it is simple, filled with content and has more people who are of similar age using it as opposed to Facebook as an example. Also, Instagram is more photo based with the options to add stories as well. I prefer this because photos are worth 1000 words and has the potential to spark more insight as opposed to posts where I find many can be completely meaningless.

In terms of the business world, that can heavily depend on the type of business you run and the demographics. For example, if you're advertising clothing targeting women aged 35-50 the best social media site to use is Facebook due to more of that demographic being on there. However, if you're advertising skateboards which tends to be younger people aged between 11-25 you'd likely use a site like Snapchat or Instagram as more people in that age bracket use these sites.

Based on past research for other classes, all social media sites have their merits for both business and personal barring LinkedIn which is definitely more geared for businesses and professionals. A business will use social media in a slightly different way to personal accounts. Businesses will tailor posts to gain traction and attention to try and generate sales, analytics are often used a lot to measure engagement from potential customers and find out their demographics. Personal accounts tends to post more based on their own lives, to share with friends and family. However, some people do want to gain a following online and will use similar attention grabbing posts to try and generate likes and ultimately followers.

Week 1A: My Template

Confidence is key. This is a motto I have always lived by. Having experienced difficulty in the past with mental and physical health I understand the importance of looking after yourself.

I used to be severly underweight and unable to leave my house due to anxiety but with much tenacity and effort, I have embarked on my adventure to California alone to study in the field of kinesiology. To add a bit of context, I am not from California... or even America... I am from the UK or to be more specific Wales so Croeso i fy blog! That is Welsh for "welcome to my blog!"

I am going to use this opportunity to post my experiences with health and to promote things you can do to improve your overall health and wellness. I have chosen this theme because clouds symbolises freedom and that is the best word you can use to describe the feeling when you are rid of mental health issues. Even if I can help at least one person then this class will be a huge success. I am also very new to this blogging website so expect improvements to made over the design as the semester progresses! I look forward to reading all of your blogs!

Diolch,

Matt



Edit: Blogs I have commented on

Isabelle Brenner: https://csit155-sp20-isabellab.blogspot.com/

Priscila Chavez Palacios: https://csit155-sp20-priscilapc.blogspot.com/2020/01/hey-my-name-is-priscila-palacios-i-am.html?showComment=1580099136774#c9163571217818359347

Hannah Miyamoto: https://nationalprogressive.blogspot.com/2020/01/new-theme.html?showComment=1580099385192#c971812819081829631