Week 17 - Final

  When I first signed up for this class, I thought I knew what it was going to be about and I honestly didn't think I would learn much.  I actually thought this would be my easiest class all semester.  I could not have been any more wrong.  I used to perceive social media as a brainless form of enjoyment for those who needed self reassurance but now, I see the depth and complexity of social media and it's true potential.
 
  From a business perspective, I thought besides using Facebook business page, there wasn't much social media involved.  Throughout the semester, we learned that several other social media platforms could be utilized to effectively operate a business.  I think that you really need to encompass multiple social media platforms in order to be successful. 

  One of the best aspects that I loved about this class was that we were actually allowed to create a mock business.  If at the very least, it allowed us to think about something that interested us and how we would run with it.  Some people from this class may stick with it to make it a reality.  For myself, I feel that there are too many factors to make Central Brew a real thing and a lot of market research would need to be done prior.

  I found that the overall utility of Instagram was way more than just posting selfies.  I never thought about it before but through the semester I analyzed how effective it could be.  Imagine that a single person has even 50 followers.  If they post a picture related to your business, then that's 50 more people who will at least see it and may repost.  It's like the pay it forward method where one person helps 10 people and then each of those 10 people help 10 more people and so forth.  Instagrams network is massive and I think more companies should take advantage of it.

  Overall, I really enjoyed this class and all it had to offer.  I saw the purpose of this blog which was to share our thoughts with classmates but it seemed to not relate as much to the actual business aspect of social media.  I would have liked to dive more into Instagram utility and even Twitter.  After our quick Twitter segment, I still feel like I didn't get much out of it and aside from product or business deal updates, it doesn't seem as powerful as facebook events or instagram posts.  I would have also liked to get more into utilizing Yelp since it is a form of social media and it directly relates to business and customer relations.

Week16B: Blog responses

I was only able to comment on one blog post of my group because she was the only one that completed Week 16.

https://katchinupwithkatesaxecsit155fa19cf.blogspot.com/

Week 16A: Review

Over the course of this semester we talked about the different platforms of social medial that businesses can use and the utility of each. We learned that it's important to understand the customer in order to use social media to its full potential.  Aside from understanding the customer,  you have to understand your business.

I have enjoyed the exposure to certain features of social media that I have not previously used before.  I didn't even realize how useful the facebook business page was for businesses.  I haven't experimented with Twitter before but I found that I received a ton of notifications that seemed to be spam.  I honestly wasn't a fan of the fake tweets that were sent out but I'm sure there was way to block those.  For the business I created, I feel facebook would be a good "home" platform to use for the business but I believe Instagram would  be the most useful platform for advertising and gaining customer attention.  Coffee pictures mixed with a young target audience can create a wide exposure through the use of Instagram.  Having the customers share our goods would be free marketing that would reach similar members of the target audience.

I think a business should spend an hour or so daily on their social media to create efficient advertisements and to market the business.  Through the use of Google Analytics, a business is able to understand what attracts customers and can mold their marketing campaign based on that data.

Over the next month, I would continue to post events on the Facebook page.  Especially the holidays coming, there could be several themed events at Central Brew to draw in a crowd. Overall, just getting the word out of the coffee should should draw in a good customer base since it's getting colder.  I would also launch a holiday drink line which I would promote on both Facebook and Instagram.  Pictures on instagram would reach the most views of the two platforms and therefore should draw in more people.  To ensure the the word goes to as many people as possible, I would need to send out multiple ads every day which would take about an hour or two out of the day.  For the holiday season and the colder months, the goal would be to push sales as much as possible since this is the season for warm drinks. 

Week 15B: Review of analytics

After adding Google analytics,  the overall information received was zilch.  There has been zero traffic and therefore no data to report.  From this, I can see that the utility of the google analytics is really dependent on web traffic.  Even with a small sample size, the information received would not be very useful.  With higher web traffic,  I could see the usefulness of the tool.

The primary use would be understanding the traffic flow and what I can do to affect the flow rate.  If I were to create an ad and post it on Instagram, in theory I should see an increase in web traffic on my Facebook page.  Now after a week of the ad being posted I could refer to the google analytics page to see how it went.  Prior to this, I would have some sort of baseline for normal activity and I would see the delta after the ad post.  If I see that the traffic hasn't changed much, then I know I would need to adjust my ad or change the platform of its dispersal.  If I see that the web traffic has increased dramatically, then I would know that the ad deployment was a success and would continue to use it.

Week 15A: Intro to analytics

Google analytics is a great way to analyze the successful utility of ads.  It will help with overall traffic monitoring but I believe it's true potential is the evaluation of ad efficiency.  Checking the analytics of a web page regularly will help the business understand what is working and not working.  In doing so, the business will be able to understand the customer better by tuning ad's to what draws the attention of their customers.

Week 13B: Facebook Ads

In order to develop a solid ad for facebook, it should clearly appeal to the target audience.  There should be something to draw the attention of the customer.  In the case of Central Brew, using a picture of coffee or even a reference to a sale going on would entice people to click on the ad.  The ad itself shouldn't be overpowered with text.  The mission of the ad is to draw attention and redirect to the business. It's a given that most customers will only glance at an ad before slowing it or moving on and its within that two seconds that the ad must capture the attention.  

Instagram would be a much similar form of social media to incorporate ads. A quick picture that references the business with a large caption stating some sort of deal would instantly catch a customers attention.  From there, they can click on the picture to redirect to Central Brews facebook page or will get all the information they need from the picture description.  Overall this form of advertising would have minimal costs and with the large number of followers for each instagram account, the ad can easily reach a larger audience if properly deployed.

Week 13A: Online Advertising - Comparing Ads

  Social advertising is different across all businesses.  The large more established businesses like Starbucks utilize their larger capital to highlight the company.  In Yelp, you'll find them as the "star" business if you look up coffee shops which no only stands the location out on the map but also makes the business the number 1 on the list.  Smaller businesses like mine rely on saving as much revenue as possible by avoiding trying to compete with market giants such as Starbucks and using picture ads that show off the products.  I think it's safe to say that depending on the size of the business in terms of revenue will determine what type of advertising is chosen.

  The things that I tend to gravitate toward are usually pictures/videos.  Like everyone says, a picture is worth a thousand words and for ads that utilize text, I simply don't have the patience to read.  Instagram's fitness gear gets me every time because seeing the pictures of the products with fit people make want to get in shape.  So naturally, I click on the images to check out the products.  More recently, I was browsing instagram and an ad for black Friday electronics sale was showing and got me to click on it almost instantly. 

  Advertising through traditional methods just simply doesn't reach the same audience size as social media advertising. I know I personally haven't picked up newspaper since the early 2000's.  In my mail, I still receive ad mailers and coupons but I don't bother looking through them and it goes straight to the trash.  Social media allows ads to reach a larger audience, can repeatedly reach the same customer over and over, and can be a cheaper alternative than traditional.