Week 6A: Reach vs Engagement

In relation to Facebook insight, there are two metrics that can give a better understanding of the business page strength.  They are post reach and post engagement.  Post reach is the concept of views for the post.  That's it, just how many times a post has been looked at or has "reached" the customer. This number only indicates the success of spreading the word and does not necessarily dictate a strong customer base.  What does dictate the strength of content is the post engagement.  Post engagement is when a post is shared, liked, commented, or any sort of action is done on the customer end.  The two do not necessarily go hand in hand as you can have a high reach number but very low engagement.  It all depends on strength of content and marketability.

It's important to know the different because those two insight metrics can aid a business owner in increase sales and customer base (or vice versa).  If a business is having low reach, that means that the word isn't getting around enough.  This is when many will consider using a third party service to help spread the word and increase marketing.  When the reach is very high but the engagement is low, then there is an indication that the content isn't drawing the customers in.  The business is getting all these looks but for some reason, there isn't anything triggering a customer response.  This is an indicator that the content needs to be changed to appeal better to customers.

Let's say that a new pizza shop opened up in San Diego.  This pizza shop created a facebook page but traffic (reach) was low after several months.  The pizza shop hired a third party service who began advertising the webpage to better adjust to the changing algorithm which in turn generated thousands of views.  The owner was happy but for some reason, the store was still empty.  After researching, he finds that the reason his store is empty is because the word isn't being spread.  Even with the higher traffic, his webpage or posts aren't being spread or even liked.  He hires a consultant who notices that his posts are very generic and uninviting.  The consultant recommends posting staged pictures of his food and putting up offers on his facebook page for people to share and claim.  After fulfilling the recommendations, the owner sees a spike in his engagement has people are sharing and liking his pizza offers and commenting how delicious his pizza looks.  He also notices a huge increase in customers at the shop due to spread of word.

Week 5B: Business Market Analysis

The business I would like to start in the future is an all-night boba/coffee shop called "Central Brew".  The shop will be located in close vicinity to Cal-State San Marcos and will be targeting the college students.  Unlike most coffee shops in the area which are open from around 5am until 11pm, Central Brew will be open from 6pm until 8am.  This gives college students a place to get their study and hangout all while indulging on coffee/boba drinks and snacks. In addition to the late night college student customers, the shop will be open until 8am to also take advantage of the early morning crowds going to school and work.

The overall idea of the business is to take advantage of the lack places for students to hang out and study outside of the immediate college campus.  Central Brew will allow students to meet up in a safe environment and work on projects or study for tests.  Currently in the area, the competition for Boba primarily closes around 11pm with only one staying open until midnight according to Yelp. The competition for coffee according to Yelp close around 10pm.  Unless something has changed where student's do not study after 10pm, there is a huge customer gap that could be tapped into by my business.

Week 5A: Call to action!

A call to action is a marketing method used on websites to give direction to a viewer.  It allows the text to not only give information but also instill an idea of doing something.  Sometimes it will stress a sense of urgency like the old TV commercials that would make you rush to purchase their product since they're offering a discount that that won't last long.  Other times it's a subtle message to inquire more to generate more interest.

Myrtle Creek is a local botanical gardens and nursery targeting families rather than businesses.  They cater to the experience of visiting their location through the actual tour and gift shops.  In their "about me" section, they have three call to actions: Try their cafe, take their tour, and purchase from their shop.  As you continue to scroll down the "about me" section, the same call to actions keep trying to direct viewers to tour, eat, and buy from them.

Almost the opposite of Myrtle Creek, Armstrong Gardens is a chain store that focuses on sales to not only families but also to businesses.  In the "Armstrong grown" section of the "about me", the bottom of the page is calling other businesses to reach out to the company to build a partnership.  The home page has a few call to actions such as the image that says "visit us" or "learn more".  They are pushing the viewer to visit a store or to inquire for more information.

Both companies are in the same field however their businesses are definitely not the same.  Myrtle Creek targets homes rather than businesses and offers an experience outside of a normal store.  Armstrong Gardens focuses on growth through partnerships with businesses. 

Week 4B: Website Effectiveness

• Why are they effective?
• What specific principles of good design do they include and why?
• What makes you come back again?
• What could be improved?

A website's design that typically appeals to me is something simplistic and user friendly.  I hate when I have to go on a scavenger hunt to find what I need on a home page.  Too many animations also make me not want to bother with reading the website content. If websites don't meet appeal to my standards, then most of the time they won't get multiple visits from me.  Two websites examples that I actually like are https://www.amazon.com/ and https://www.twitch.tv/.

Amazon's website is extremely user friendly.  On the homepage, the immediate needs for the average customer are there at the top.  You have the search bar and all the important menu items.  Below the "critical" needs are some picks that appeal to the users search pattern.  The website consolidates as much information as possible in the most practical way.  The home page does have a decent scroll amount but since everything important is at the top, there really isn't a need to go lower.  Besides the great deals, I come back just to see what's new.   A lot of the ads on the home page are fun to look at because every now and then you find something you weren't expecting to be interested in.  The only thing I don't necessarily care for that could be improved is the amount of suggestions that are given.  I wish there was a way to filter suggestions for similar items I search for.

Twitch's website is a little more chaotic for first time users but once you visit it enough, it becomes very easy to navigate.  On the home page you have the search bar which is the primary navigation of the website.  On the left side, you have the streams that you typically follow which allows for easy visiting of those streamers. I also like the suggestions for the similar streams.  The color scheme is easy on the eyes and the content is well balanced.  The only thing I could think of to improve the website is to disable the auto play of a suggest video when first getting to the home page.  I don't like trying to find the stream I want to watch and having to multi task trying to find the pause button on the video playing or turning down my volume if it's too loud.

Week 4A: Aesthetics and Design

  Website aesthetics and design are what capture and hold the attention of the viewer.  They can be the deal breaker between a sale or just another visitor hit. Take http://gatesnfences.com/ for example.  One look at the website and my head aches.  My eyes don't know where to hold their attention and the number of options along the left side makes me want to just close the window. The main section is very text heavy and the font size seems to be varying without any reasoning.  What the company should do is significantly reduce the text on the main page. The bottom section should be moved to a separate page rather than taking up valuable real estate on the home page. I think most of the links on the left side could be compiled to reduce the quantity as well.

  Another company that has a decent website but could use improvements is  https://www.pennyjuice.com/. The company's website has a lot of color which for the topic, works well.  I think that the main issue I have is spacing.  The amount I need to scroll to get all the information displayed on the home page is excessive. After scrolling several times, I come across three paragraphs that could have easily fit on one screen or broken down to just two scrolls. Aside from spacing, I'm confused as to what the purpose is.  I initially thought it was a juice manufacturer focusing on kid sales but I see something about childcare justice on the top right corner.  There should be a clear purpose for viewers.

  On the flip side, there are websites that also have some good things going for their website.  Take https://www.apple.com/ for example.  They're menu options are straight to the point and the color scheme is very simplistic.  The home page is a variable design due to the ads for their products cycling through.  Sometimes it'll be an ipad taking up the screen and other times it'll be an iphone.  Overall, they kept everything straight to the point.  I find it very easy to navigate and find what I'm looking for.

  Slightly more hectic on their first page but similar to Apple, https://www.toyota.com/ is well designed.  I have one issue which is that there is a lot going on but I think they have designed to be more of a controlled chaos.   Everything I need is easily accessible at the top and there are just enough options to get me where I need to go without going overboard.  I actually love that conveniently a bottom menu lines up when you're at the top of the screen to give you an upper and lower menu bar.  

  

Week 3B: Communication Business & Consumer Response

1. Dominos
2. https://www.dominos.com/en/
3. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr
4. I would say their social media platforms are occasionally used. Most have been posted on within the last 48 hours.
5. Facebook: 9/2/19 | Twitter: 9/8/19 | Instagram: 9/8/19 | Tumblr: Unknown
6. I think the main point of Dominos' social media platforms is to get the image of pizza in the viewers minds.  Post a picture of a delicious pizza on their instagram will have their followers glance, get enticed, and possibly order a box. Facebook isn't used as much as Twitter and Instagram which is probably due to the quicker updates on those platforms.

1. Regal
2. https://www.regmovies.com/
3. Facebook and Twitter
4. Facebook is hardly used at all while Twitter was updated just a few hours ago.
5. Facebook: 8/30/19 | Twitter: 9/8/19
6. Facebook was used significantly less which is probably due to the low follower count compared to Twitter.  Plus updates are given rapidly on Twitter which gives the platform the advantage over "update posts" like news from Regal.

1. Costco
2. https://www.costco.com/
3. Facebook and Pinterest
4. Facebook was heavily used to advertise products.  Pinterest had tons of product pins but the platform is hard to navigate to identify when things were posted.
5. Facebook: 9/8/19 | Pinterest: Unknown
6. I don't agree with using Pinterest as one of two platforms for this retail giant.  Even Facebook seems a bit weird to use but they do keep it updated.  This type of business probably could benefit from using instagram where they can post images of hot products that are on sale.

1. Dewalt
2. https://www.dewalt.com
3. Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn
4. LinkedIn was non existent and should be removed from their webpage.  Facebook hosted an occasional post of their products and Instagram was updated a few times today alone.
5. Facebook: 9/8/19 | Instagram: 9/8/19 | LinkedIn: 9/5/19
6. As mentioned earlier, LinkedIn is not an appropriate social platform to promote their products.  It should be used as an internal platform for employees primarily.  The product lines should continue to be posted via Instagram for a mass following with facebook used on occasional (as the company currently is doing).

1. Braun
2. https://us.braun.com/en-us
3. Facebook and Twitter
4. Both social media platforms have not been used in years!
5. Facebook: 3/26/17 | Twitter: 5/15/17
6. It appears that Braun, a leader in hair grooming has completely given up on social media.  Both their Twitter and Facebook have not been updated since 2017.  Awkwardly, they're both still listed on their website as social media connections.

Conclusion
I chose a few different companies to analyze for their social media usage.  I tried to gather different business types rather than only focus on retail stores.  Overall, it seems Facebook is the popular choice for most of the businesses which is probably due to it being one of the original social media platforms of this decade.  Many businesses that specialize in products such as Dominos and Dewalt utilize Instagram which is a great platform to post pictures to a large viewer group.  Simplistic organization and constant updates makes Instagram ideal for putting a product out there for the followers to get attention. As the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words.

The biggest losers for social media platforms would be Pinterest, LinkedIn and even Twitter. Twitter was the most useful out of the three but with the platform being primarily text posts, its hard to get attention from customers quickly.  It's a similar platform to instagram but text just can't get enough attention like a picture can.  LinkedIn was a lost cause for promoting the business and I don't understand why it was even posted.  Pinterest is the DIY social media platform of the world next to Youtube.  Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to be the best social media platform for a retail store.  I think Costco would have more success focusing on Instagram as their social media platform of choice.


I commented on the following:
https://dburkscsit155fa19.blogspot.com/
https://margmansd.blogspot.com/
https://csit155-fa19-isabelf.blogspot.com/

Week 3A: Communication - Business & Consumer

  I currently work for a large bio-tech company as an asset manager for the laboratory equipment on site.  One of my main responsibilities is coordinating with different internal (sub companies) and external companies to perform equipment maintenance.  Most of the companies I work with understand the service level I require and are more than happy to make my job easier.  We had one company who was the complete opposite and although we gave them plenty of work, their mindset was very closed in terms of cooperating with our needs.  The things I needed from them weren't anything extravagant, mainly a constant communication (I need to provide updates to the equipment owners) and to receive service reports for their work completed. I reached out to the technician multiple times to try to resolve the issue at his level but he never replied to phone calls or emails.  After a few weeks of trying, I finally escalated the issue to his supervisors who made it seem like they were going to remedy the issue.  In reality, the issue was resolved for about a month before the communication died out again. At this point, I still have not received a service report from them.  I reached out to the supervisors again but no one responded after multiple attempts.  Finally, I had had enough and decided to stop using the company all together. Within a few months, they noticed their profits take a huge dip.  Each repair they perform is usually 4-8 labor hours at about $200 per hour.  They were getting about 10+ work orders a week.  Months later, out of the blue, I get an email from a new supervisor who had revamped the entire process and has adapted to my needs.  Seeing the turn around, I've been sending them work orders again and so far, I've received my service reports and had communication well maintained with weekly phone calls and almost daily emails from the supervisor asking for improvement points.

  As a customer, I've also had bad experiences at businesses and with no real form of direct communication with the owner, I had to take to social media.  Yelp has been my go to tool when I have an issue with a business and I tend to get responses back from the owners.  I think the reason it works so well is that yelp directly effects the profitability of a business.  If the Yelp reviews are low, then there will be less people willing to visit the establishment and vice versa. My wife love boba and we go to Sharetea a lot in Orange County and Mira Mesa.  Recently an Escondido location has opened up and we've become regulars.  We have noticed that the boba amount per drink is significantly less than the other locations by almost half.  After weeks of getting drinks there, my wife said she was going to just order extra boba to make it like the normal amount at other locations.  Funny thing is, when she got her drink, they gave her even less than their normal amount!  She was dumbfounded.  She asked the cashier if it was extra boba (which she knew it wasn't) and he checked with the kitchen worker who said it was. Usually I'm the yelper but she got on the app immediately and uploaded her picture of her drink with a 1 star review.  The next day, the owner reached out saying they will be providing training to their servers.  Who knows if it actually happened, but at least the business owner reached out to attempt to resolve the issue.  I've had several positive experiences based off my yelp review which has resulted in better service. 

  If I had a business, I would do my best to acknowledge every review on yelp.  I would thank all the positive reviews and probe for points of improvement.  For the negative reviews, I would acknowledge the issue and create a plan to remedy (if plausible).  I would ask politely for the reviewer to try my business again and to provide an update on their current review whether positive or negative.

Week 2B: Social Media Utility Comments

I commented on:

https://csit155-fa19-lindsayw.blogspot.com/
https://dburkscsit155fa19.blogspot.com/
https://csit155-fa19-chantellg.blogspot.com/