Week 15 - Wrapping It Up and Looking Ahead

The world of Social Media is constantly changing. So many platforms and so many ways to connect with family, friends, and complete strangers with similar and common interests. There is Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Google+, YouTube, Pinterest, and so many more that keep popping up at a blink of an eye. One of the trends, cultural I guess, is the need to develop an online persona that is an extension of one's self and provides an online connections with others whether it be work, leisure, or research. The need to connect has evolved from that of a physical connection, which is attainable, to one that consists of constant online "surveillance" to catch up and see what is going on with our friends/family and the world. I we are a society that is constantly connected to the web and technologically focused. Nothing wrong with that!

As a young Latino male this course has been quite an experience and one that has taught me SO much! Being born in the late 80s, and growing up in the 90s, I grew up at the precipice of the technological revolution. First, being of Mexican descent my culture has been a great part of my life which includes the constant verbal communication and the occasional physical contact such as kissing my parents or having my mom "bless me" whenever I set foot out the door. However, assimilating to the culture here in the U.S., I've also been bilingual which has allowed me to balance both my American side and the Mexican side of my culture. Similarly, I feel that's how I've had to balance my technological knowledge/savvy-ness in my life between relying on technology to do my daily work or choosing to do my work long-hand, the "old" fashion way.

Having taken this class, what does technology mean to me? I've been able to progress and follow the trends yet remain loyal to the way I was taught to do things. Compared to my nieces and nephews if we were both at the library I'm 95% sure that I could easily navigate the public library and finds books using the library catalog (the index cards with the book info) while they would go straight to the computer. How many people actually know what the Dewey Decimal system is, nowadays?! I digress a bit, I may not know every little slang/popular language used by the current generations but I think since growing up we didn't rely so much on technology I'm able to adapt the technological way of doing things as well as see things form the perspective of "back when computers weren't so popular" which benefits me because I can attract and relate to many other people that way.

SO I've probably ranted but I what I'm trying to say is that growing up in the 90s there are skills that  have learned/gained that don't rely on technology solely. I always try to stay in the know of the advancements in technology and what programs, apps, mediums are being used on a daily basis for employment and essential in daily life. FYI, my family didn't have a computer until 1997 and it wasn't until 1998 when my teachers expected homework to be typed from that point on! Yet I keep a balance and try not to let technology consume every aspect of my life...I still enjoy having a face-to-face conversation even though, personally, I feel that keeping eye contact is a little awkward.

As this week's lecture mentions, you can't side idly by on the sidelines. You do need to keep up on changes, to keep your marketing fresh. Some of this is determined by the type of business you run, some is determined by the type of clientele or customers you are searching for. For me, despite the way I've been raised, I understand the need to keep up with technology. My mother taught I was just wasting time every time I was on Instagram or posting a tweet until I showed her my business page on Facebook. Since then she know understand what it is I'm doing and it has become easier for her to know what each platform as I explain what I do as she watches me do my stuff. Keeping the lines of communication is very important whether it be online or physically/verbally.

I was afraid of having an online persona back in January before the beginning of the semester. Now that this course has taught me what I know I am able to see what it is I want to share with my friends, family and the world. I know how to integrate useful content between multiple platforms and how each one has a specific niche so that my "marketing" isn't the same thing across the multiple platforms/mediums that I choose to use. For business it's all about the image you set up and how to keep your audience interested. Be constant interactions or the sporadic post here and there, it all helps and it's what makes one's audience keep coming back and making one's business more successful. I've learned a lot and very useful for my personal and future business social media tasks/jobs.

Week 14 - My Online Strategy

I think by now most of you, my classmates, have figured out that so far my favorite social media platforms have been Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. The way that these three platforms can sync and connect with each other def makes for easy marketing both visually and otherwise.

I know that one of the difficulties I will have with creating a strategy for my business would be to keep on track and stay with the scheduled plan. This semester I have been lacking on staying on top of assignments due to time constraints from my job so that was an issue but I think planning ahead and knowing that I will be leaving the restaurant, I'm at now, in about three weeks, I think I'll definitely have more time to dedicate to my online presence and strategy for my business.

The way my online strategy would work for the next six months would be to focus on my favorite platforms. The way that Facebook would be useful would be by scheduling new events at least one per week. The reason for this would be to engage my audience that follows me on Facebook. Additionally, since there is no limit on characters used when typing a post/message then my audience would find it much easier to communicate with me and openly give their opinions about my products and the things they would like to see as well. The cool thing will be that I can plan ahead on posts but schedule them to come out at different dates and times so that it brings a constant flow and uniformity to the dedication I'm giving my business in the online aspect of it.

Similarly, Twitter and Instagram would be used to constantly showcase possible products and/or popular products. i started to briefly see it on Instagram but showing the craft such as doilies and table pieces would def bring more attention to what my business has to offer. The way that Twitter would be used by having that constant communication with my followers. I can post a question, concern or suggestion on Twitter and then have my followers answer and be creative to where I can share some of the comments, questions and suggestions that I have liked as I speak with my followers. I think this method would work as long I post anywhere from 3-5 tweets a day. Keeping in mind that Instagram would be used for what I like and plan to introduce to my audience and Twitter used for the the input of my audience and what they would like to see.

TIMING! That will be the issue. Each medium requires a different focus and interest to drive each post with it's intended purpose. I think that in order to make my online strategy effective I would be spending a minimum of four to six hours a week which would included item/products being discussed, research information, staging especially if it's food, and the time to think of how to present my intended posts and tweets. That would probably be anywhere from 30minutes to an hour a day and that is not including any possible extra time o do research especially when on a roll and feeling it and making more possibilities happen...trying out new recipes, time to buy items like yarn and figuring out new designs, etc. Despite that little hiccup, it will be fun to update and maintain the livelihood of my business.

Week 14 - Group Members Facebook and Twitter pages Feedback

My classmates blogs that I gave feedback to are:

• Chris Deddo
• Angie Johnson
• Fritz Templin

Week 14 - More Social Strategy

Throughout the semester we have been exploring social media in it's many platforms as well as experimenting which platform work best with each other and which one's seem to bring more traffic to our business' page.

From my experience, thus far, the social platforms that have integrated the best with my type of business have been Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. If anything having a food business Instagram works best since having my phone with me I can take snap picture of a beautiful dessert or awesome food at some event and then just load into the app and share it with all my followers. Part of the reason that Instagram makes integration with other platforms is because before publishing the picture post you can also have it be published on both Twitter and Facebook (as long as the login information is provided for both accounts) and then one post can be posted three times in three different platforms...useful since not the same followers will follow my business on all three platforms, if they do then it's a little rare.

I have truly enjoyed using Twitter, because it updates quickly and interaction is instantaneous. Although it doesn't show I was able to use twitter and direct message a couple of the people I was following and had conversation with them that resulted in better customer service as well as special promotion for my next visit. I think one of the things that makes me not want to use Twitter is that it does seem that one must know what they want to say and/or do to keep up with the constant communication that is always tending on Twitter. I have also enjoyed using Instagram but when posting my pictures I really haven't played with filters and the special effects but it has been fun in order to get my products displayed quickly in different platforms.

If it's not obvious by now the three social platforms that I have truly liked due to this class have been Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. I think that all three work the best for daily use. Lately, I have also been trying Pinterest and that platform would also work well on a daily basis or weekly basis depending on the boards that I build for my followers to check out. Facebook and Instagram are more likely to be great for the slightly "random" daily post to which followers can comment on on their own time. One cool thing about Facebook is that one can schedule posts to be posted at alter dates and times which is convenient when one ideas comes up but not quite the perfect time to reveal it.

Although, Twitter works too but one issue I see is how relevant one's tweets remains throughout the day, so more thought and interaction is needed to get the crowd going. I also think that Google+ would be effective on a much less frequent time schedule because I have used it to get ideas from others and join different forums and discussions. I think that Google+ would work best most for research and getting input form your community and connecting with others that way than necessarily advertising to a wider net of people.

Week 13 - Facebook Analytics

Continuing on with looking at the analysis of our business, we are now to use Insights or the Facebook analytics we have access to after getting 30 likes.

I will begin by saying that it took forever for me to get traffic to my page because it wasn't until Thursday 5/7 that I finally got my 30 likes...mainly after texting my sister to like my page as well as one other friend. Since then my business page, Así Como Mamá, has gotten a boom in traffic, comments and like on my comments and a much more demand to get my friends from my personal Facebook page to request and/or start following me on Instagram. It's kind of sad because at the beginning of the week I had a total of only 12 likes which included our professor for this class and now I'm well above 30 likes with some people being from outside the U.S., like Peru, liking my Así Como Mamá Facebook page.

Now that I have all 30 minimum likes, and growing it feels great. As of today there has been a bit more growth. Now things to wonder is how to further engage my audience-especially now that I have one. I think adding more content would be a great place to start especially crafts like my mother's hand woven doilies seem to catch people's eye as well as provide more dessert options. 

   

I've been thinking that one new way to improve traffic would be to begin sharing my recipes with my audience, both via Instagram and Twitter...I would take a picture of the recipe load it on Instagram and make it share on both Twitter and Facebook (killing two or three birds with one stone) and then add a savvy caption so that more of my own style of family/traditional cooking can be shared by others. One cool aspect of this style of sharing would be sleective in that not all recipes would be shared and it would be a little more random as to what is shared and what the dessert/food will be.

Week 13 - Google Analytics for Business Page

Especially in trying to grow a business it is very important to know and understand in what ways your business is growing whether it be from online searches, the linked content from other sources like Facebook, Twitter, etc, or from traffic generated from advertising and/or regular posts done a regular and organic way. For week 13 we are to look at Google analytics and consider what features would be the most beneficial to check daily for our business. The features from the Google analytics that would benefit my business are as follows,

• Real-Time reporting: See how many people are on your site right now, where they came from, and what they're viewing. With real-time reporting, you'll know which new content is popular, how much traffic today's new promotion is driving to your site, and which tweets and blog posts draw the best results.
• Advanced Segments: Advanced Segments let you isolate and analyze subsets of your traffic, like paid traffic or visits that led to conversions. Then you can compare segments side by side, or apply them to current or historical data.
• Content Experiments: Test variations of your pages and learn which designs bring you the most conversions.
• Audience Data & Reporting: Focus on your audience: the kinds of people they are, where they come from, how they find your content, and how loyal and engaged they are.
• Browser/OS: PC or Mac? Chrome or Firefox? The Browser / OS report shows you what people are using to view your site, so you can make smarter decisions about site layout and design.
• Custom Dimensions: Add the custom data you care about most: user data like demographics or purchase history, content data like page categories or product information, even behavioral data about those who use certain site tools.
• Flow Visualization: Flow Visualization reports let you see and analyze the path a visitor takes on your site. See where they came from, the pages they moved through, and where they exited your site.
• Mobile Traffic: Should you build a separate mobile site, create a mobile app or implement responsive design? As mobile continues to boom and consumer preferences shift, the Mobile Traffic report helps you analyze and optimize for success.
• Social Reports: The social media revolution is maturing. Are you measuring? Social reports show you the impact that social media has on your business goals and conversions. Integrated web and social data offers a holistic view of your content and community.
• Traffic Sources: How do people find your site? Use Traffic Sources to evaluate the effectiveness of your referrals, direct traffic, organic (unpaid) search keywords, and custom campaigns.
• Goal Flows: See why visitors love your site… or don’t. Visitor conversion paths show you where they enter, where they get stuck, and where they leave. You'll see the strengths and weaknesses in your site navigation, and learn where adjustments are needed to your site and your marketing plan.
• Alerts and Intelligence Events: Google Analytics monitors your website's traffic to detect significant statistical variations, then generates alerts called Intelligence Events when they occur. A closer look will bring you insights you might have missed — for example, a spike in traffic from a particular city or referring site.
• Event Tracking: How do visitors actually interact with your pages? Use Event Tracking to measure activities like downloads, video plays, mobile ad clicks, gadgets, Flash elements, and AJAX embedded elements.

Out of the long list of features that Google analytics does provide I strongly believe that the 13 features listed above would be beneficial to my webpage. Those features would really help me better analyze my business, it's growth and what my fans/audience like about my business. Regardless, it is always better to get some help from a program, like Google analytics, to provide more defined results that help guide one to better focus on their audience.

Week 12 - Project Activity: Coupon Network and Yelp Account

Finishing up week 12 we have a project activity to think about at least two of the suggested activities--creating a coupon network, having a research group through LinkedIn or Google+, tracking favorite blogs with the RSS Feeder, or creating a Yelp! account--and how they would benefit and bring growth to my business.

After a lot of thought, the two activities I would consider for this project would be creating both a coupon network and a Yelp! account.

The reason I would be interested in creating a coupon network would be because of the nature of my business being a catering service and the selling of Mexican crafts it would be beneficial in providing discounts and certain sale promotions. This network system would def be attracting more traffic to my business in that not only will the content, mainly pictures of my products, strike curiosity but will also, hopefully, drive my sales up. However, the idea to make a coupon network would be great but thinking back to week 11 and the importance of money in order to advertise the real possibility of this happening at the moment is very very slim and hardly a reality. Maybe once some revenue is established and funds are readily available then it be a more reasonable action. For now I think that any system of coupon would probably rely on Instagram and Twitter where certain discount words and/or pictures provide a limited time code to get a special offer or deal.

The other platform I would use would be Yelp! I must note that I don't have a physical location to provide as an address, except for my home, but not really a place to get people to come over and check out m products and merchandise. Now, Yelp! would be beneficial because unlike my Facebook business I would actually be able to hear back the opinion of my followers/fans and what they think of my services and products. Additionally, as a business owner I would be able to know what my audience/follower's expectations are of me. Granted Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter are the foundation of my business and mainly the can that is provided to my followers/audiences. Yelp! on the other hand would be the worms the spewed out of the can once it as opened in that i would be getting first hand input, questions, suggestions and comments from anyone and everyone that has taken up business with my Así Como Mamá business and services. With this power that will be given to my audience they will be able to rate my product which would be helpful in me gauging what style of foods to provide as well as what kind of crafts and art work would be more in demand or wanted by those willing to buy from me. The cool thing that definitely separates Yelp! from Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter is that Yelp! serves as an outlet and/or safe space for my audience to freely express their opinions of my business and products and even myself! In terms of right now I think that Yelp! would realistically be more practical to set up even if no phsical address is provided.

Plus, if texting my sister to like my Facebook business page to get my 30 likes and see my insights ratings/information got me an additional 25 likes after the initial 30 likes within two hours, and that's including my Facebook friends to request to follow me on Instagram, the likelihood that Yelp! would the better option for me to gain much more traffic and feedback for my business.