Final?

I'm a little confused about this part. There aren't really any guidelines and I may be totally blind but I swear the only place I saw it on the website was at the bottom of the syllabus saying write an essay. I'm assuming I'm supposed to turn it in through the blog.

Beginning this semester I had briefly been using Facebook Pages to connect with an audience and share my work. The page was linked to twitter and I was keeping it very simple. The business has thus far been evolving at a very organic and slow pace. I wanted to learn what more I could do to advertise in a more cost-effective manner.

Through the course of the semester I became more aware of the social media tools available to me. I had previously considered pinterest, linkedIn or youtube to be difficult platforms to maintain that would not greatly benefit my business. I am now seeing that they can lend a very organic, close contact to a market. People enjoy the interaction and the quick, visual information they can gain from these platforms. I still see them as being a lot of extra work because a visual means of communication requires quality photography, which I simply do not have.

Even though I studied marketing in college, I failed to apply some very basic principles that I learned. Considering my target marketing and demographic at the beginning of the semester was extremely helpful. As the business unfolds and becomes more mature, I am learning what areas to push and what to pull away from. The business began as a hodgepodge of things I love and enjoy. I have a collection of used books and clothing. What I am seeing though is that I want to target a more affluent market. While they enjoy finding second hand items that fit their home, the books and clothing are unnecessary. I hope to focus my efforts on cuter, one of a kind items that would complement someone's home. Posting images of my finds on facebook will encourage people to visit my store.

Additionally, the above question of demographics led me down a path of exploring my brand. While this doesn't directly apply to social media, the question of who I was targeting and how made me realize that I need to create some separations in my business. I have decided to remove my store name (ReNew) from the bath and body products and create a separate identity for them. In this way I can begin to market the items separately and as a wholesale product. This brand would benefit through business to business marketing and contacts found through LinkedIn.

I am now posting quite regularly. I used to be a bit afraid to post too often, that I might bother my followers. What I realize is that I may lose one or two, but having a strong presence and repeating my message is important.

I hope to incorporate blogging and a newsletter in the near future. I am somewhat intimidated by the upkeep that a successful blog needs, but feel that with scheduling, I would be able to maintain it at least once per week.

I feel much more open to social media now. I feel confident that I can connect and share information with consumers on many platforms and really grow my business in a cost effective manner. What I really enjoy is that the projects I am working on are involving real people who are buying my artwork. So long as I connect with them socially, I should be able to expand my world steadily.

This summer I am expanding my business into a working studio space for my artwork. I am struggling with separating my store (ReNew) with my art identity. I wonder if they should remain the same or if I should divide them into two distinct concepts, twitter accounts, facebook pages, etc. I don't feel the need to because they are both a reflection of my work and personality. I want this business to remain personal. I think that people enjoy watching my progress, struggle and victories!

Ultimately I received a great education on the use of social media, alternate platforms I had never considered and look forward to incorporating this information into my marketing strategy. I feel up to date on current information and hope to maintain my knowledge as social media continues to evolve.

Timeline for Marketing

Considering the variables from recent lectures, decide which tools from the semester you would implement in your online marketing strategy. How much time do you think your business should spend on social media marketing and why? In your blog, please explain why you chose the tools you did, and how you might use them to use and test a strategy over the next six months. Plot out a rough draft plan of the next month of content across the sites you’ve chosen, and how you hope they might grow or sustain your business. Be as detailed as possible, including daily or weekly time requirements to meet the goals.

I work in a very small company (myself), have very limited time (working full-time job, boyfriend lives in city, not in Julian, plus taking classes online) and have a very limited budget. Fortunately my business lends itself to social media. People are interested in connecting, watching what I am doing and supporting me. I would like to increase the amount of time I spend using social media, but not significantly. I believe if I spent 1 hour a week dedicated to social media I would increase traffic and engagement. I would like to dedicate some of this time to taking professional looking photographs so I can build a pinterest following.

Over the next six months I would like to practice:

scheduling posts on Mondays for the entire week
photographing projects as they are completed with professional lighting
writing a blog post at least 1x a week
connecting with professionals and using social media to further my business (linkedin and twitter)

week 14

My social media strategy is to build interest, connect to fellow artist and connect to professionals who may be interested in my work. An example of how this strategy will function: I am currently designing and creating plates for a local chef. He is very active in social media. I have no doubt that my art will be shared through his social network. Having an active online profile will allow me to connect to others who are interested in my work. Facebook and twitter are the driving force behind my social connections, but I am interested in exploring linkedIn as well. I've recently realized how beneficial selling wholesale and to businesses who shop in bulk would be. I continue to use FB to share my success with others. Every time I sell a painting or create something new I post it there.

I would like to write a blog for my website to share knowledge and experience with others. There are many times when I share information on facebook and would like to provide more details by explaining the process or showing more information.  I think would be a great way to organize information and to share more about my artistic process.

I would like to incorporate pinterest into my social media skills but feel the need to take better photographs before this is launched. I think it could be a great way to share my artwork,  but since it is such a visual platform, high quality photographs are very important.

All of this requires that I become a bit more organized than I currently am. There is a lot to juggle between my full time job and my creative career path, but my hope is to transition to the latter as my only job. I sometimes consider outsourcing some of my work, but for the most part I have had success in taking baby steps and finishing what I am able. All of this is a lot to work towards, but once it becomes routine and established should be easy to maintain. I believe my next step will be to begin setting up a blog.

Facebook Pages Analytics

I have been struggling with facebook and feeling its rhythm. My goal for the FB pages is to spread the word of my art and body products through friends and supporters. I believe that as I sell, my 'likers' will view me as a serious and credible artist and think of me if they are considering art.

I did not see a large boost in reach and interaction as classmates commented. I did see a large impact when I promoted a post.

This screenshot was taken on Saturday. While there were 12 new likes that week, you can see that the engagement still fell from the week prior. I continued to post on my page with regularity. 

 This is a shot from Sunday. The third post down generated the most traffic due to promoting it with $5.

Again, my reach appears to be going down, not up, though my post engagement has risen. So I guess that's a good sign! Post clicks are also increasing. I find that as my pages likes increase, I see more of a variety of people engaging in my posts. 

This is a screen shot of my reach based on posts this year. The dark orange spikes reflect times when I boosted a post for $5. I was able to glean from this information that the most popular posts are ones that are somewhat personal and sharing something more authentic. However the highest reaching post was my 'free lotion giveaway'. 

My goal is to make more posts that are driven by my passion and creativity. I want to share the personal journey and thought behind my products. I also plan to get my website more up to day and link back to it more frequently. 

google analytics

Traffic sources: 

Could be beneficial to understand how people are arriving to my website. What content to they find appealing, what are they looking for? I could incorporate more keywords and products based on their searches and location.

Social Reports:

I rely heavily on social media to share my products and spread the word about what I'm doing. I think understanding how my use of social media is actually impacting my traffic would be very important.

Map Overlay:

This could actually be very interesting because my business is based in a tourist town. While many of my customers come from the San Diego region, I would like to know where people are visiting from and if out of town customers are discovering my website. This would give me valuable information about advertising in town who I should market to.

Mobile Traffic:

This would be interesting for similar reasons to map overlay. People who are visiting Julian would be looking up information on their smart phones. I could tap into their activity by watching this statistic.

coupon deal

My store has an eclectic collection of thrift items, handmade products and art. I would like to drive more local traffic to come in and shop as well as encourage visitors up for the day to seek out my shop. A few ideas:

- A coupon that advertises 3 articles of clothing (including jeans) for $12 (regularly $5 each).
- A coupon that offers a free lotion with any purchase over $50.

The first I would advertise locally in our little town paper to encourage students and adults to come in and shop.

The second may be a good deal to put on groupon.

The lotion is a huge hit and I sell out constantly. I think using it to encourage sales of other items may be beneficial.

Other Social Media Tools

What four additional online marketing tools do you believe could be important to the growth of your business? 

How could you integrate them into your current strategy?

If you choose to create a new account in GooglePlus, create a location on a Google map, let us know.

I like the idea of using google + and what they are trying to accomplish (more real life style of sharing) but it just doesn't seem to be a catchy tool. Maybe I need to use it more to experience what it has to offer. I used to use google reader and am generally a fan of google tools, so I suppose I should give it a go!

I think that LinkedIn could be a powerful tool for my business. I make products and think that I would be successful selling at parties or in bulk. Real Estate agents and other positions that frequently gift their clients could become a solid target market for me. They would be shopping FOR my primary target market (health conscious women with disposable income). If I were to use LinkedIn to network with existing connections and advertise to develop new ones, I may expand my business in a more 'back door' fashion.

Since I live in a tourist based town, groupon or living social could be beneficial. I believe that when people are traveling to a destination they may seek bargains or deals beforehand. This is somewhat costly for my small shop, but I may consider it in the future.

Out of the above three ideas I think that LinkedIn would be the most promising. I would develop packages and gift bags in bulk to market to those who need a quick and simple gift idea. Additionally I could advertise body and health parties in which I educate customers about the benefits of natural products.

free promotions with social media

Social media has numerous possibilities for free business promotion. I really enjoy the fact that media responds to what customers truly want. By promoting things they enjoy, I gain an audience. If I do things they don't enjoy, then no audience! Offering free products, relevant information and entertainment are all ways to promote my business. The two scheduled posts below are a great example of offering information or a product that is interesting and will gain response. 

   

I love the memes that travel around the internet on facebook. I think that would be a great way to send people back to my business page. Since my goal is to add joy to people's daily lives, I would create images that are inspirational and joyful. Or, I can simply share ones already created. By asking a question I can hope to engage the audience. Though I find that people don't answer the questions very frequently and I feel stupid when I post them. :-)

Follow up: What happened?

I posted a free giveaway on facebook. My last one was very successful. In 12 hours not a single person followed through with my request to leave a comment. I'm a little surprised! I paid to boost the post after a few hours and still nothing. 

I like the idea of a design that is unobtrusive, honest and aesthetic. I have the idea in my head that being transparent and open and coming from my heart in marketing will drive my business. I began what I do with the idea that too many products are made from bad ingredients and the producers lie and cover this up. So if I were to use banner ads they would be based on these ideas of truth and beauty.

I am really shying away from advertising right now and relying on word of mouth. I truly want and can afford for customers to come to me willingly as opposed to being in their face. I sometimes use Facebook to boost a post. I am finding that my posts are less and less visible due to the new way that FB is organizing. I know they want me to pay for more advertising, but I personally am turned off when I see people's 'sponsored ad' pop up in my screen. I find the $5 to boost an important post is a satisfactory budget. 

Curious about advertising my page and developing likes, I may use the page promotion tool as seen below. I do like that advertising my page on facebook is a relatively simple process and doesn't require graphic design or using anything but what I already have created.

Another tool on facebook is boosting a post specific to a demographic. I can even choose to engage people who are not seeing my page currently. This is appealing because I really don't want to bug people with extra advertising that are already engaged.

comments

devon pinto
craig stevens
shelby gomez

Newsletter

I think I would enjoy sending a detailed newsletter once a month. This would give me time to build up some quality content so that customers would really get something enjoyable in their inbox. Ideally they would look for the newsletter every month! 

I would want to include ...

recipes for body products
an ingredient of the month
a special offer
an article that covers some topic about caring for your skin and body
gift ideas (using my products of course!)


All of these would appeal to a market that is interested in caring for their skin and body. People are so amazed by what I do and truly it isn't very difficult. What I am selling is an accumulation of very simple knowledge. I think that people could easily learn and connect to these things. I don't fear that educating people would diminish my business (they're all making their own lotion), but make them more enthusiastic. Including a gift idea would be a good way to target men who need to buy gifts for women!

Blog Categories

For my body and home business, I envision having a few categories of categories: inspirational/brand building and educational. (I've realized I need to separate the two businesses - art and body products - and market each one individually even though they will be tied by a few things)

Brand building would include:

Inspiration
Motivation
Daily +joy
Product of the Week
The Artistic Process (discussing art I'm working on, why and how)

Educational:
Tutorials
Projects in Progress
Beauty Breakdown (why I choose certain ingredients, what they do for your skin, etc.)


It really helps to thing about categories before starting a blog. I have begun so many blogs. By doing this first, I would really be narrowing the focus of what I'm writing about.

By narrowing the focus, I can appeal to people who are searching for specific things on the internet. The more I can direct their traffic to my website, the more publicity I will develop. There are places all over the country that I would like to visit if I ever get there. I found them simply through tutorials, looking up needed information, etc. Points of contact = sales!

I started this class thinking that having a blog could be a big waste of time and I wouldn't be able to maintain it. However, with scheduling and HARO, I think I could actually maintain it. hmmmm...

Being Personal in a Blog

In my business I can be very personal in a blog post. The people who follow me are engaged because they're rooting for me, they love what I'm doing and they're excited. To share my failures, ideas and success makes the followers very happy. However, I do end it there. I wouldn't blog about my religion, relationship ups and downs, or other things that may alienate people. I think it is appropriate to give my products a face and a personality, but I am quite certain that expressing my support or disgust for a specific politician would be too isolating. I want all people to buy lotion, not just those who agree with my point of view.

In my business I see that all blog posts are an opportunity to add personality. What makes the difference between my tutorial and the 1000's of others? Probably my goofiness. If I were a major corporation I would probably tone that down. However, I think people buying into a brand are more likely to buy into something they relate to!

- Sonja

Other Businesses and a Visual Platform

The following are businesses that are somewhat similar to mine and were truly the inspiration behind my delving into the world of home and body products:

LAVISH -  A San Diego business run by two sisters. They are located on Washington Street. I adore their store, concept and energy.
http://www.lavishproducts.com/

They do not have any social media accounts listed on their website! I'm surprised. I think this could benefit them greatly. They have a lot of media coverage and have very strong products.

LUSH - OMG I love this store. I wish there was one in San Diego (probably soon). Lush is an international company that makes products en masse, BUT they are all totally healthy and good for your body. They don't use nasty chemicals in their products, zero animal testing. Their stores smell amazing. However, they do use fragrances, etc, so I'm not 100% down with their products.

Lush's facebook page also leads me to a pinterest and an instagram account. I LOVE it and want to copy it. I didn't really get it until I looked at this. Basically the pinterest account is a visual store. They've created categories and placed their products into each. Gift ideas, ingredient information, Recipes, etc. It's GREAT! On it! The instagram feed is fun, but it lacks the educational, verbal information that comes with pinterest. Pinterest really appeals to our short attention spans, but also provides information!

I created a pinterest page for my business: http://www.pinterest.com/renewinjulian

The visual networks - are they right for you and your brand? Compare the 4 most widely used visual platforms. Which would work the best for your product or service?

After reading the YouTube post, I am inspired to use the platform to share short videos about making things I love. I find the idea of making a video somewhat intimidating because it requires a bit more planning and a camera stand (its the little things that get in my way sometimes). I would be way to embarrassed to record a video with someone helping (even my love..haha). I think short 30 second instructions could be kinda rad. I hate long instructional videos. This could be a fun thing to add to my business.

Instagram is appealing. I like the idea of creating a community and truly pushing a brand concept. I don't think I have the ability to commit to the large number of posts and quality of photography required to make it a useful tool.

I love the idea of using Tumblr but have always been confused by it. I think after reading the blog post I have a better understanding. It is simply a blog, but formats things in a nice way and allows you to randomly search. This would also feed effortlessly into my website which would be very helpful.

Pinterest would be very useful to gain content for a blog, but I think would have the same drawback as instagram. I don't have high quality photos or content and would not want to market photos dominately. If I were to get a bit more serious about creating educational content (how to's for products or artwork) then I might be able to use this as a better platform. 

Overall I think that tumblr would be a great tool to promote my business.

COMMENT TO THE INSTRUCTORS:

I totally wrote this post on Monday. I'm so bummed because it (ok...I) saved to draft instead of publishing. I really thought I had it locked and loaded. :-( Sorry.

Twitter Search

Using the advanced search function I looked for "San Diego Art" to follow people who are involved in the art scene. I want to know when juried art shows are taking place in the area. My goal is to find opportunities to show my work. This resulted in many art galleries and these are the people I want to network with. I will do further searches for art critics, teachers, artists, etc.

Scheduled Posts

This is actually a bit of a challenge for me as I tend to post a painting as I finish it or a product as it's completed. This is a huge benefit though. I shouldn't be spending time in the store posting to facebook. That's when I'm supposed to be painting. Posts should happen at night in my pj's. What would be good is to save up some content and get going on a schedule.

Scheduled Posts:

Likes!

I was so glad we had done this exercise because I previously had liked pages as ReNew, but couldn't remember how to do this! Furthermore I had no idea I could go to a homepage as ReNew and see all the pages I liked! Yay!

I liked...

The Old Well - a local business with a similar vibe. I would like to see how Forrest posts on his page and how he is reaching his audience. Plus there may be opportunity to collaborate someday.

Alicia Dunn - A San Diego artist who sells her work quiet regularly. I am curious as to how she uses facebook and what I can learn from her as a professional artist.

Vladimir Kush - an internationally recognized artist. I would love to reach his level someday and think there is a great deal to learn from his posts.

The Sleepy Artisan - I find the artwork inspiring and would like to incorporate a similar style in my shop.

Art, Artists and Artisans - this is a great marketing page for artists. It offers a myriad of inspirational work and allows artists to post their own work. The work may then be reposted for all who subscribe to view.

I really like the idea of simply using this feature to share interesting content on my page. I have a friend who posts 5-10 beautiful or cute pictures about 2-3 times a day! He promotes his band with this. What's great about this is he isn't posting anything annoying, he is making my facebook page better because of his imagery. I would like to share and post beautiful artwork through my page regularly. Following these artists and businesses makes it very easy.

A smile versus a conversation

Reach versus post engagement...

As one scrolls through their facebook page they are bombarded by images, posts and stories. Everything you 'see' is a reach according to facebook. When I click on it, like it, write a comment, I am engaged and recorded as such. Engagement is important because people are actually interacting with and having a conversation with the business. In marketing, if I recall correctly, it takes 6 points of contact to move someone to an action. This is seeing the name, interacting with a name, etc. We want post engagement, we will take reach...for now.

What I believe I can learn from the FB insights is what folks are interested in. However, I don't think this is going to be very accurate until one hits at least 200 likes. The first 70 or so came from friends and a few friends of friends. I appreciate the support, but these folks aren't going to make me rich. The insights I am interested in will come when people who have walked through the store or purchased something become engaged. This will tell me the types of things they are interested in based on engagement. I recently offered a free lotion for commenting under a photo. This resulted in over 60 likes and a great deal of engagement. What I can tell from this is that people like free things.

Target Market - ReNew in Julian

This is such a great thing for me to think about. I haven't yet and it is so important.

My ultimate goal is to sell my art. This is going to be a higher price point and more for people with disposable income. So I'm ruling out anyone in their 20's. I don't think my style appeals to anyone in their 60's or beyond due to the more modern content. So maybe on the art spectrum, we're looking at middle class 30's to 40's. I think the art is equally appealing to both sexes. I hear positive feedback from both, actually more so from men. I may want to target men who are new home buyers.

The art is only one aspect of my business. The store itself carries products I make. These are handmade and again for people with freedom in their income. The body products are more appealing to women.

I think there are two arms to marketing my business. Consumers in their 30's and 40's, middle class/new home buyers, men and women. I could target a marketing campaign for the products to women and one to men for the art.


Actually, I'm not entirely positive about the men versus women in art. More men comment on my artwork, but more women purchase it. tricky....

I'm going to go ahead and say the best market is women, 30's to 40's in new homes. Thinking about the yoga niche that the case study went with, I'm wondering what sort of niche I can develop. My decorative art is more spiritual in nature, appealing to that sort of market. My body products are very good for you and do not use any chemicals that would hurt your brain/skin/organs. I'm thinking women who shop at Jimbo's, Whole Foods and Sprouts would fall into this niche.

That was fun. I don't think I can get more specific. Sure yoga mammas would be a great market as well, but I think they're probably shopping at those stores.

Week 3 - Website Reviews

Quality Sites
1 - Toyota.com
The Toyota website is quite well put together. It is clean, clear and uses predominately white to make any colors stand out strongly. The navigation is clear and the information is aligned in the center of the page. The Toyota logo sits at the top of every page.

2 - Oh apple.com and your beautiful things.
I love all things apple for the clean, simple lines and expression. This website is no different. Similar to the Toyota site it is mostly white, with splashes of color concentrating our attention. I like that there is no more information to scroll to on the splash page.

Problem Sites
1 - http://www.richsoil.com/raising-chickens.jsp

Problems: Oddly enough the rich soil splash page itself is well set up. However, this specific section of the site is very difficult to follow. The content seems random, though I can see how the author was attempting to express a very clear and well organized point. This makes it very challenging for the reader to continue. I would be tempted to find another website with more simple, straightforward information. In fact, the content is so poorly organized that I can't quite tell what I'm reading. Additionally, this page doesn't appear to have any relation to the main website - no logo or identifier.

2 - gforceracecars.com

First of all, typing that website address in is actually somewhat difficult! I think it could use an underscore or dash or two. The red, white and black color scheme is very jarring. This coupled with a video makes many areas of the page compete for my attention. I don't know where to look first. As you scroll down the page (something I hate) the alignment of the font seems to shift due to the photographs. I also am not enjoying this. Overall the page is unpleasant. The same colors could be used in a completely different balance to have a pleasing effect.

Not going to happen.

I would really like to complete tonight's assignment. I would really like to have completed the rest of the assignment on time. But I'm le tired.

I got a lot of other stuff done today, and frankly I'd rather just post a picture of that, finish a glass of wine and watch a well earned episode of The Good Wife.

I'm sorry instructors. I will do better next week.

I made a bitchin clothing rack for all my awesome second hand clothes out of galvanized pipe and pallet parts (I use a lot of pallet wood). 

 I also began work on the "B Street Shops" sign. If you've ever been to Julian you probably didn't walk up B street. No one knows we're there! So I'm making a sign to tell the world. Rough draft below. Yes, I realize it looks like "BS" and I forgot the t in street. 

Good night all!!!

Sorry I'm Late

I'll do better next week...

I've actually been running a VERY successful giveaway on my facebook page (www.facebook.com/renewinjulian) and went from 102 to 143 likes in two days! I'm very excited.

Discuss [on your blog]: Have you ever experienced difficulty communicating with a business? Would social media have made it easier to get noticed or get your problem solved? If not, have you ever had a positive experience communicating with a business through social media?
Write 150 words or more describing what made your experience negative or positive.

This question actually reminds me of several times when I have seen a large corporate business that didn't have time for it's customers be ridiculed and brought to their knees through twitter. I think that social media is a very powerful way to create changes within corporate entities. Do I think one person will necessarily be recognized for their problem? Probably not, but if there is an ongoing issue, most likely twitter could hep rectify the situation.

Recently, I received an OUTRAGEOUS gas bill from Proflame, the provider of choice here in Julian. I have not called them and most likely will not to reduce the bill. The company raised their prices quite abruptly and are losing customers left and right. I have made the decision to turn off my gas heater and only use electricity (its SO COLD here compared to San Diego - not the rest of the country). I would probably enjoy contacting them in a more indirect method such as twitter to see what would happen. I'm more angry, but not to the point I expect any changes to happen.

I once tweeted at Chevron saying, "wow...free hand wipes! Thanks Chevron!" The company wrote back and said you're welcome, safe travels. That was sort of fun.

Social Media Platforms

Which social media platforms seem geared towards personal use and which ones seem to work better for business.

I think that all social media has the potential to be useful for a business depending on the target demographic or type of business.

Facebook is a very social/personal media system but because is has such a strong following and is highly customize able, it makes a great marketing tool. 

YouTube, Instagram and Pinterest seem more geared towards personal use, but have potential to be used for business  marketing if the need fit.

Linked In and Yelp are very much geared toward business use.

Templates to Choose From

Of all the templates in all the world I chose "Ethereal." I do not know if it was the whimsical sound of the name or the soft pastel colors that finally enticed me. My decision was quick and final.

What can one say about their template choice? The masses that will flock to and enjoy this blog must see something that reflects my goals and interests. Certain the name and colors will do this.

In reality I would have preferred a template of my own design. However, time is limited and I simply do not have the capacity to dedicate energy to redesigning and coloring a blog template.

Cheers,
Sonja