Week 17: Wrapping it up

Overall: Week 17

I would have to say after taking this course, I thought before I was well versed in the subject matter of social media but I really did have a lot to learn! I am glad I took this course to really dive deep in understanding the matter of social media. My viewpoint has changed about social media, before I felt there was only a few platforms that were important as a business (eCommerce) owner but that is not the case.

To really engage your customer on all platforms, you need to be posting on ALL platforms daily and be active. Exploring other platforms, for example Twitter, I never have used this platform in my personal life and we had to create an account, create and post ads on Twitter. Which, I am glad that I was pushed to use a different platform to understand the differences in platforms. This is something that I need to keep up with because the younger generation (teens-18's year old) is always using the newest platforms, so having that knowledge is key for newness. But also still posting on the "older" platforms such as Facebook and Instagram. 

Overall, I feel that after taking this class has definitely taught me the building blocks of starting and continuing to have a successful eCommerce business. By developing a well known standing business on the eCommerce level you need to have a stance on every platform. Not just that alone but by posting good content, that may not have to do with what your selling either just to reach to your targeted customer. Once that is grasped, you will have a great follower base and that is something for my start up that I want to get going. This class has helped me with the start up of my own company, Katharyn's Kollections by getting a follower base on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. This will help me because I already have followers and those followers will create more by liking, commenting and sharing my content that I post. 

Social media for businesses, services and products are amazing tools to pick and choose what you want to use for the particular business that you are promoting. Facebook alone has this great feature of Facebook Ad manager, this allows you to create content on the platform as well as share it on Facebook and Instagram. This is an awesome tool because you can actually boost your ad that you shared a few weeks ago or months ago and bring that back to your timeline for you and your customers so you don't actually have to recreate content if you are doing the same type of offer. In the future, I am for sure going to use this tool to create and share content on Facebook and Instagram. This tool also helps have a guild line of what your content should entail, which is very helpful when creating a lot of content. 

All in all, this class has taught me the actual building blocks of having a successful business. I also very much enjoyed being pushing into something new to learn and grasp what is being shown to us, that is so important online because technology is always changing. And keeping up with the newness is very important as well. I am so glad I took this course, it really opened my eyes to social media businesses and running a successful one! 

Week 16: Planning Your Future Strategy

Overall

Overall, this class really pushed me in the right direction, from when to post, on different platforms, how to post, ect. All of the assignments were very helpful and useful for existing businesses or upcoming businesses. I really liked almost everything covered in this class because it really helped / showed me the correct way to go about being an eCommerce business. 

I think the best social media platforms that integrate the best for my company would be Instagram and Facebook. I feel that these two platforms are very powerful and hit my targeted customer. I am glad that we explored Twitter, but I don't think this is a good platform for my particular company. I definitely will use Facebook Ad manager as well as posting ads on Instagram. I got way more users and views on Facebook and Instagram rather than Twitter. I really like Facebook Ad manager because it allows you to create exactly what you were going for and also allows you to link your Instagram page as well. This I feel is a great tool to have, to save time and money. Facebook Ad manager does charge you, but if planned out correctly it will work for us and make our money back with sales. I think that my company should spend at least 2 - 3 hours on social media posts per day and coming up with a budget as well. 

Week of 12/8 - 12/14 

Planned post - Monday and Thursday (Extended Black Friday Deals) **Post on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter using Facebook ad manager (Instagram and Facebook) 

Actual Post : Extended Black Friday Deals.... WHAT?!.... This is unheard of!! 40% off all purchases until December 15th. 

Week of 12/15 - 21 

Planned post - Wednesday and Friday (Last minute shopping - WE HAVE DEALS!) **Post on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter using Facebook ad manager (Instagram and Facebook)

Actual Post: Last minute shopping... we still have some great deals with 40% off all purchases, including gift wrapping. Don't sweat it! Katharyn's Kollection's is here! 

Week of 12/22 - 12/28 

Planned Post: Tuesday and Wednesday (Happy Holiday's - Express shipping if in need of gifts!) **Post on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter using Facebook ad manager (Instagram and Facebook)

Actual Post: Happy Holiday's ! Don't sweat it, we've got express shipping if in need of last minute shopping! 

Week of 12/29 - 1/4 

Planned Post: Everyday all week this week (After Christmas sale!) **Post on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter using Facebook ad manager (Instagram and Facebook)

Actual Post:Happy After Christmas sale! We are offering 50% off all purchases! 

Week 15: Optimizing Yourself and the Company

Google Analytics 

I feel that all parts of Google Analytics are very beneficial and useful. The main google analytics home is very beneficial because it shares the amount of users (which is great to know if you are building more customers or not), bounce rate (this is very helpful because this tells you how many people visit and stay vs. visit and leave, the sessions and the duration of the sessions of users (sharing how long a customer is on your site). 

Another part of Google Analytics that is very beneficial is "how are your active users trending over time?" This is a great feature to allow you to see if your traffic is expanding or decreasing. With this information you can see what you need to change if traffic isn't expanding. "When do your users visit" is another great tracker to see when the best time is to post an event, offer or anything else so the most amount of people see your post/ad. The other two analytics I found important were, "where are your users and what are your top devices?" These two are important because you can see where your customers are located so you can post effectively. Additionally, knowing the type of devices is very helpful to, to know what kind of ads to create for and what your customers are using. 

All of these analytics are super important and will apply all of these to my company to gauge and understand where my customers are expanding, ect. 

Week 14: Developing Online Advertisement

#1 Promoting the business locally

This was my first ad for this assignment, and I thought this was important to use location to boost my customers to come and visit my shop! Also, I personally find this very helpful as a customer when a location is shared to help me find where I want to go. Sometimes if there is not a location listed I will not track down the store, I will just shop somewhere else. That is why I feel this is so effective and a good ad, to show our location (allowing more shoppers to come shop) and boost our traffic especially with the holidays right around the corner! The objective for this post is for customers to find our shop the easiest way possible and to create more traffic through out the Holiday season. 

#2 Promoting Website and Extended Deals 

This ad was to promoting our websites and different social media platforms, to share the good deals of our Black Friday Deals being extended. This will be effective because sharing the extended deals on all the social medial platforms will boost our sales (because of our great deal - 40% off all purchases) and get the word out. Additionally, everyone loves a great sale, by doing a great sale will continue traffic and bring new customers. The objective of this ad is to bring in new and old customers to purchase with our great deals we are offering. 

#3 Boost Posts and Getting Business Out There 

Finally, for the last ad, boosting a post. Taking an old post and tweeking it a bit! The objective is to show our beautiful bracelets and the great deals we are offering with them! This makes sense for our company because of the great sale along with the Holiday season... and who doesn't need to grab a gift real quick! 

Week 13: Online Advertising

The five companies that I picked that were similar to my company was Pandora, Alex and Ani, Alzerina Jewelry, Carlsbad Creations Jewelry and Fosters Fine Jewelry. In my opinion all of these companies do a great job with online marketing and all of these companies post every single day, sometimes multiple times a day. These are all great practices to help your company grow because when your company posts every day multiple times a day, people see that and want to shop your products. All five of these companies use multiple social media platforms, such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Snap chat,etc. This is so effective for these companies because posting more allows people to see you and your products more, which this allows people to purchase more products. Also with a larger audience when posting on multiple platforms with different people and different likes/wants.

All of these companies all have in common is there photos and content that they post. All of the posts are thought out effectively with a professional stand point but also it makes it look super clean and easy like the person just took the photo of themselves instead of being in a photo shoot. All of these companies post every day  - a few times a day, which is something to consider because it is putting your business/promotion out there multiple times a day. By doing this, this will bring in new customers along with your regular customers.

The traditional advertising vs. social media advertising, in my opinion social medial advertising is winning. I say that because of how many people go on social media every single day, multiple times a day they are more pron to seeing the ad that you posted online vs. a magazine ad that someone is just looking at one time to pass the time. On social media, that ad can be used more than just one time as well. Also, the traditional way to advertising is very expensive and does not reach out to as many customers, that would reach on social media platforms. Social media advertising makes more sense to me to use for my company, for all reasons to reach all target markets and being cost efficient.

Week 12: Other Online Tools

Meet up Groups: 

Before researching for this assignment, I did not know of meet up groups and that was an actual thing. So, I went on Google, and searched meet up groups in San Diego for jewelry making. North County Crafters came up in my search, there is 110 members in the group and they meet every weekend to share ideas and finish up crafts that they have not. This group is awesome because if you feel like you have a road block with some of your ideas, the members are there to help you and give you new suggestions. I think this an awesome idea and something I definitely would like to be apart of! Being in the art industry, sometimes your ideas fall short or need a little boost in your passion, this is a great tool to help build your business and new ideas. 

Yelp.com:

Yelp.com is another outlet that I think would help drive my company. By having an yelp people do check that before shopping with a company and it is a good idea to have a good name for yourself and your business on that platform. I would start by creating a yelp page for my company, and for every customer that purchases I would have them write a yelp review on their personal experience to grow in positive ways. 

Week 12: Using Other Online Tools

Using Other Online Tools: 

After reading our lecture, I honestly think I would put all of these tools into consideration to use for my company. I really think that bringing in different types of marketing will drive my company and overall sales. I think I would use a few of these ideas from the lecture.

https://www.proofhub.com/articles/best-online-collaboration-tools-business, this I would like to use because this really drives your company/business sales. This platform can help from what is trending and helping you post on social media. This tool would really help my business because this can tell me what is important to share vs. what is not very important. 

http://google.com/business/, I would also use google.com because google can really be a team player, google rules the internet. Google allows you to create websites, post photos/content, customers can review your company and you can even add you location so your customers can just put you in their phone and get to you(Google Maps). Google is defiantly going to be one of the first tools we use and we for sure will get a lot of use from the other end (customer end).  

http:/linkedin.com/, We would use this as a professional stand point, to network with other alike companies and learn from each other. As well as employment opportunities, Linkedin is a great tool to find good employees and network with them as well.  Overall, Linkedin would really help our company grow all together with knowledge and business growth. 

http:/yelp.com, This is a platform that our company should really try to grow because a lot of customers/consumers will check out yelp before even walking foot inside the business. Other peoples options and experiences are so important for the business and for the customer as well, so we will try and keep our positive outlook on yelp.com 

Week 11: Email Marketing

Email Marketing

After reading about Email marketing and this really can help your business. I think for my business, Katharyn's Kollections we would do a monthly newsletter, letting customers know what's going on with us through out the current month. Additionally, with the newsletter, posting new posts at least 3 - 4 times a week, reminding our customers of our daily or weekly deals that were posted in our newsletter but since the newsletter will only be posted once a month this will help bring in new and old customers. We would use a social platform to send out our newsletter, which would be on posted on all platforms and emailed. By using an online platform for the newsletter, customers can easy access at anytime as well as subscribe to them for each month. 

What's in the Newsletter? 

For my business, Katharyn's Kollections we are going to put in new information about our company, new products, monthly deals, upcoming deals to get ready for and not to forget about, and building our relationships with our customers at our upcoming events! I think coming up with trending topics as fashion and jewelry, also new products with people wearing the pieces and their own reviews would attract my target audience of all trendy women who enjoy jewelry.

Content Ideas: 

Fashion for each season 

Showcasing new products

Trending items

Real reviews by customers 

What you can pair the jewelry with  

How the company is ran 

Building subscribers - adding new upcoming topics 

Week Ten: Blogging for Business Analysis

Blogging for Business Analysis: 

Using a blog in business is such an awesome idea to connect with your customer on a personal level. I think I would start with a few broad topic/categories, such as trending fashion/jewelry looks, how we do/run our business, a day in a life of how business is done/made and popular topics to bring in customers from all angles. By acting on these strategies of being relatable, on a personal level but keeping it professional. This will bring in all types of customers, which we are going for all women that love to stay on trend and keeping up on fashion sense. 

Each of these categories will bring in different types of customers and reaching all women. By talking about trending fashion and jewelry, this will target to customers that just like to understand what is trending and how they should dress.  This will help my business grow because this is a large category that a lot of women who care about their fashion and being on trend, by talking about this topic and sprinkling my product in the blog post, this will draw attention and sales. 

Another idea category I had was sharing how I create different types of jewelry and maybe even making an video tutorial to see what goes into the company. I came up with this idea because I enjoy watching other companies videos to see what they do and how they go upon business. This is such an interesting topic so I thought this would draw in business as well.

Also, this is kinda of like my idea above but a little different to see a day in a life of how the business runs. This could draw in business and attention. From when I pick out a look to the ending look and posting the products online. 

My last idea was to just bring in a fun blog post of new topic every week, this brings an opportunity to reach out to other individuals that haven't seen my blog or business to read on a personal level but then make a connection with the brand additionally. By doing this, the brand can get more attention and bring the customer back to read or purchase. 

All of these categories will help my business grow by reaching out to all women to connect to the blog then to my brand. Also, by having a range of different topics this will help target individuals on the whole spectrum. 

Week Ten: Extra Credit

Week Ten: Blogging for Business

Blogging for Business

The article, The Real Purpose of Blogging for Your Business on clickfirstmarketing.com had a few great points for blogging for companies. This reading dove deep when blogging for customers and making your blogs interesting also not a sales pitch. This really made me think how businesses are doing to do this. I began to think about how to do this, YouTube almost everyone is talking about what they are using and how this helps them. When you create a platform for your business front that is also personable people will want to do business with business that do, do this. This makes you, the leader of the company and your company relatable, making customers wanting to buy and use your product because of this. Results show that as soon as you make your content relatable (blogging on a personal level) your traffic and sales will go up. This is very interesting and very useful information when starting a brand new company from scratch. 

When blogging on a business platform, you need to make the content relatable as well as keeping it professional. Sharing family posts and fun things that can be shareable to your audience as well as keeping the content PG because you don't know who is on the other side reading or watching. You don't want to create a bad name for yourself and company so thinking about the correct content is key. 

Week Nine: Twitter - Sharing your thoughts in 140 words or less.

Twitter - Sharing Your Thoughts in 140 Words or Less 

For this assignment, I started to think what are some companies that have inspired myself and as well as this brand. I started to look through my Instagram to get a few ideas. There it helped me figure out what the company was going for and as well the look. I started following a few companies on Twitter by just typing the keywords like jewelry, fashion, on trend,and trending. These words made connections to the companies I was looking for. I ended up finding companies and started following Valentino, Calvin Klein, Chanel, Harper's Bazaar, Dior, Dolce & Gabbana, Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Tiffany & Co., Pandora N. America and Alex and Ani. 

I created two different lists on twitter, I am still trying to fully understand how Twitter works. The first list I created was Cross Promotions with Alex and Ani and Pandora N. America because I found these two brands are very similar in ways and also I have been inspired by these brands. The second list I made was another cross promotion list with Tiffany & Co. and Harper's Bazaar. I found these two companies to be beneficial to my company because they way they brand themselves and maybe some of those techniques can work for my company. I thought all four of these companies could really help me understand and be more organized on the Twitter platform. By the help of these companies I can get to my goal of people following and really engaging in my product, ultimately gaining a loyal customer following. 

I am Twitting right away in the morning and at noon. I found these two times are very important because people start their days by looking on their social media platforms. I have also noticed that companies will post multiple times a day, in the morning, at noon, in the early afternoon, ect. but not really after time of business hours. So I am going to use this useful information and post in the morning, noon and afternoon (before 6 pm).  The companies tweets that are most effective are posts that are posted right away in the morning and early afternoon get the most attention. 

Week Eight: Post Two Analyzing Businesses

Over View: 

On my business Instagram page, I went through and started to like other businesses that are alike to mine and businesses that I have found inspiration through. I liked Carlsbadcreationsjewelry, Alexandani, Micheal Kors, and theofficialpandora. I liked all of these businesses for different reasons because they are alike but differ in ways that they run businesses. Thinking this through for my company, social media platforms are going to work for my type of products. On most of these businesses Instagram pages are linked to their website allowing them to shop all of their items! I think this is a great way that you can show your product and the customer can go and check it out with a simple click! I would definitely try this out on my own page because I find this highly effective. 

Carlsbad Creations Jewelry

I liked this page because this is an local business that I think I would use some of there marketing techniques! They have 115 followers and following 223, they post a couple posts every few months and some months it seems like they have more post than others. Their last post was June 30th. Each post they post an average of about 20-25 likes and each post does have a caption with hashtags that do change on different content. On their posts they receive a few comments about 2-3 comments. I think that they could improve on their platform by posting more often and also get more followers this way as well.  

Alex and Ani 

This is a well known company in the jewelry industry and respected. I have always loved their jewelry and have worn them for years. They have 6,339 posts, 1 Million followers and following 2,293. Alex and Ani post every single day and sometimes multiple times a day. On all of their posts they have a shopping bag symbol that allows you to go to their website, which I really think is an awesome technique! Their last post was today a few hours ago. On each post they receive about 5,000 likes and the comments vary from each post, 10 - 70 comments. Each post does have a caption, sometimes quotes or just a simple deal of the day and ending with shop link in bio. They do not use hashtags which surprises me! The one thing I would say about improving is maybe adding hashtags and that would invite more people to their page. 

Micheal Kors

The reason I liked this page is because I have always been inspired by this brand and have always worn their clothes and jewelry. They have 5,004 posts on their page, 15.5 Million followers and following 293. Micheal Kors posts every single day and sometimes multiple times a day! All of their post do have a shopping bag on their posts which allows you to access their whole website. On each post they average 20,000 likes and comments will vary from 50-200 and their last post was only a few hours ago. Each post does have a caption with hashtags for the company, example #Michealkorscollection. I think they are really doing a great job on their Instagram page, I am not sure what I would improve for them! 

Pandora - The Official Pandora 

I absolutely love Pandora and I have worn their jewelry almost every single day! I have found a lot of my own inspiration within this brand to create my own. They have 1,405 posts, 7.2 Million followers and following 0. Pandora posts every single day as well, their last post was 13 hours ago. Also on their all of their posts they do include the shopping bag allowing the customer to visit the whole website. On each post they average about 200,000 likes, and the comments will vary from 200-1000. Each post does have a caption with what the post is pertaining to following with a hashtag like #pandorame and also what the item in the photo is. Pandora is doing an awesome job on their Instagram page but maybe posting more of just their products more. 

Week Eight: Get a Visual

Instagram

This assignment was to figure out which social media platforms best suit your own business. For my business, which is jewelry I think the best decision for our next platform would be Instagram. I have a couple different reasons for choosing so, first would be because of how popular Instagram is with the younger generations and even including mine. This is place a lot of people check day to day which makes me think that my company that is fashion forward, this platform would work for us! Also, on Instagram there is a trend of people purchasing items only on there which also would work for us as well! The product that I am selling is pointed towards individuals how like to stay trendy and it is important to them on their trendy platform as well.

Pintrest & YouTube

These two other social media platforms, Pintrest and YouTube would be good as well to get involved with as well but in the future. I have been thinking about making videos on how we make our product until it gets to the consumer. But I am not completely sure about that! Also, Pintrest is a great platform to be involved with and A LOT of people go on Pintrest to get new ideas as well as purchasing items.

Instagram Page for Katharyn's Kollections : https://www.instagram.com/katharynkollections/

Week 7: Post Two

Scheduled Posts:

I started this weeks assignment by checking out all the pages I liked and looking at them for some of them for inspiration as well as my fellow classmates. I had a little trouble with the scheduling posts, it only allowed you to select now, backtrack or save as draft(it shows up differently on my feed). So I did two of my posts that were backtracked, the first one I did was don't forget about your favorite trick or treaters, I think this will reach out to a different type of customer. I also attached an promotion with this as well! Which I think this could possibly work to get a new type of customer shopping with us for gifting purposes! Next, I posted life is better with a little sparkle, this will invite a new customer because I am offering a 20% off! Also, this type of promotion will bring back that same customer when we do fun offers! I also added a photo to this post which makes the customers eye drawn to the post. Last, I posted this cute layering moment for an Halloween inspired outfits! I thought this photo was pretty cool to show how the customer will use the product as well as how cute they are!! 

Week Seven Post One: List of Liked Businesses

Overview of Facebook: 

I took a little of a different approach by liking businesses that were local and not as big companies or corporations. Business pages I liked: Foster's Fine Jewelry Carlsbad, Cassiano Designs Jewelry, Aranelle Carlsbad, Tippi and Lu, Loot, WaveBoxx and Oceansky Beads Carlsbad. I liked all of these alike businesses that are a little different in their own ways to create/get ideas from each of these businesses. First, I came across Foster's Fine Jewelry which is a different type of jewelry I am selling but I really like how they marketed their products and overall I liked their Facebook page. I could possibly use some of their ideas and tweak it to my business for our marketing. Second, Cassiano Designs Jewelry I really enjoyed this page because all of the jewelry is hand made and it is an local business. I really liked this company because, one I've never heard of it and two the page itself makes you want to stay and look around. Next, this is one of my favorite stores in downtown Carlsbad, Aranelle Carlsbad. I love this store and you can always find a beautiful piece inside. Aranelle is very active online and I think that this is something that my company can take into consideration on posting frequently. Tippi and Lu is a local bracelet creator, this company I found super cool because it is pretty similar product of what I am selling but just a little different. I like on their page that I would do in the future is that they take pictures and post them on Facebook of customers/employees wearing their product which creates customers to like and shop more. Loot, is a spa that also does sell jewelry, I was attracted to their page because of how cool their page looked itself. I think I am going to take this into consideration for the future to make my page elastically pleasing. WaveBoxx, is another local company, this company is super active with their posts and also post super cool photos in their posts. This is something that I definatley want to use on my page to had super cool posts to attract new customers. Lastly, Oceansky Beads Carlsbad, they sell awesome beads along with bracelets that I really enjoy. This company does do a lot of posts that makes you want to come in and shop (fish hook). Overall, looking thru these companies pages motivates me to create an awesome page with great techniques from these companies.   

Week Five: Post Two Katharyn's Kollections

Katharyn's Kollections - Jewelry Company 

Katharyn's Kollections is a brand new company that creates new trendy bracelets and as the brand expands their goal is to different types of jewelry on board. Our target market is targeted to women ages 12-60 years old with an income from $10,000-$100,000 a year. We are targeting these individuals who care about keeping up with trends. Next, we are looking into psychographics, which are attitudes, needs, interests, activities and values. Our perfect customer would have a great bubbly attitude, with a need of keeping on the trendier side of the world, and who cares about others (gifting).  Also, our target market are always checking up on social media platforms and these individuals are open to buy online, if it's cute enough! 

After brainstorming our target market, next is to think how to advertise to these customers. How we can do this is start on a large social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram and market towards them. We can sponsor ads, so our product is advertised more and seen more. Which, means its bought more! (hopefully) By using social media on our side, we can reach our target market, who is always looking to buy online were they may or may not even know they need it or not.  

Week Five: Defining your Target Market

Armstrong Garden Center 

Armstrong Garden Center's target market is people who love to garden and who have gardens of their own or garden for the city. Mostly people who have an green thumb, don't mind to get a little dirty and love to garden that want to purchase items for their gardens. 

Myrtle Creek - Botanical Gardens 

Myrtle Creek has a little bit of a different look, this place looks like a good place for families, friends, visitors, ect to go and adventure around the Myrtle Creek Botanical garden. The website feels more family orientated and can go to the Botanical gardens for day of fun. 

There are major differences between these two businesses and their websites as well. Armstrong Garden Center is a place you go to get your garden supplies and the individuals that shop there care a lot about their plants and gardens. Myrtle Creek Botanical Gardens is a place you go to see the scenery and go for an adventure. The Botanical Gardens is a place you bring families, visitors, friends ect. I don't really see these two businesses crossing over only to recommend to go see the Botanical Gardens or to shop at Armstrong. Armstrong's call to action is that they are here to help you create the most beautiful garden and/or backyard. They even ask you if you need landscaping help! Myrtle Creek Botanical Gardens call to action is to invite individuals to come spend a day there at the botanical gardens, get some food, create a small sized garden with your kiddos, go on a nice adventure hike/walk. Overall, these two businesses are very different but very alike at the same time. 

Websites I frequently Use - Week Four:Post Two

YouTube.com 

I visit YouTube I would say almost every day, from hair ideas to help with homework to how to around the house. I think YouTube is effective because I can simply type in what I am looking for then videos pertaining the search will appear. Then I can pick whatever I want to watch and I can listen to it while doing other things as well. Also, YouTube will pick up on what you like to watch so when you open the app, on your homepage videos will appear that are suggested for you. Most of the time they are videos I do end up watching and really liking, sometimes they are a little far fetched but for the most part are what you like. This aspect I really enjoy because it makes it easy to pick what to watch right away and also opens you up to other channels. 

Another reason why I enjoy using YouTube is that they have playlists, so if you are really into one topic you can search for that playlist and consistently watch multiple videos about that specific topic. Sometimes individual YouTubers will create a playlist of all their videos which is awesome when you are discovering a new channel. Most channels have an upload schedule and this is what makes me come back to the site. One of my favorite channels is about true crime which she uploads every Tuesday with a new video and new topic. I love getting ready and listening/watching her new videos and once I start I want to continue watching. One thing that could be improved with this site is maybe on your homepage bringing more newness instead of just YouTubers you like to watch. 

SnapChat.com

I use Snapchat everyday for sure! I think SnapChat is effective because that you can make a short video, take photo with a caption or send a text. I love this website because I can communicate with my best friends that live in Wisconsin. On SnapChat, you can create groups and my best friends and I have a group called Girl Gang. We all send each other snaps through out our days because sometimes talking on the phone and texting can take too long. Also, using videos you can see the tone of the person talking because sometimes with texting things can be taken the wrong way. The design of SnapChat is super easy to use and anyone really can do it. This makes me come back and want to use it. Also, SnapChat has stories that you can watch that you can see what your friends and family are doing that day. The aspect of being able to communicate with my best friends makes me come back to this site and to continue to use it. One thing that could be improved is maybe being able to replay an video more than once a day. 

Aesthetics, Design and Branding - Week Four Part One

Jami Lin's Passions 

Overall Jami Lin's website is a great idea and I am glad that she is living her life to the fullest. Although, I did see a few potential problems there could be for some visitors. The first thing I noticed about the website was that it was very busy, there was a lot going on from the banner with five to six photos put together to videos to her blog and so much more I can't list, it would be this whole blog. By taming down the website a tad, this would keep the visitor and have them return. The website has a lot going on but with a little bit of organization on each page would help a lot. By reducing the items on the home page would invite and keep visitors longer. Another problem with this website, is that color scheme, rainbow is beautiful but to aesthetically please your audience you should have a color scheme with five to seven different colors for your website. Or if you want to keep the rainbow, then all aspects of the site should be rainbow. This would help improve the website because it is a little confusing with were the colors are, sometimes on websites having alike colors for alike categories help within the organization. Also, with a color scheme with only five to seven colors is good for websites because it keeps the repetition within the website and will not look so amateur. Thirdly, the organization overall should take a look at because organizing your website with like topics on the same page will not confuse your visitors. As of now, the site is very confusing and need to read everything to understand. For example, the anti-aging information should have a drop down menu and a separate page. 

Driveway Gates Wrought Iron 

This is a very cool business and on their website is full of information and photos, which is a great thing for this type of a business to display their work. Overall, there is a lot of good information on their website but is a little overwhelming and if I was shopping for that item on their site I would probably give up because there is A LOT!! The first thing I noticed was that there was no color scheme on the site, this makes the site look unprofessional. By having a color scheme presents the site more professional and inviting. Especially this item is more of an expensive item, you would want your visitors to know that your company has quality items. Next, I noticed that there was an GIF as you scroll on the site the credit card moves with you. I think this is a little tacky, it gives the impression that they just want you money. By removing this from their website would probably increase business and more visitors on their site. Although, there is a lot of information on the site maybe reducing the amount of tabs because there is probably more than twenty tabs which begins to be confusing. By reducing the tabs would help visitors on the page to navigate to what they are looking for. When having too many tabs it becomes overwhelming and people being to give up and look elsewhere. 

Headhunter Hair Styling

Headhunter Hair Styling's website is very professional and sleek. The first thing I noticed how cool the site was and how simple it can be to look this way. I like that they have an moving picture of cutting hair on the home page, it is very inviting and makes you want to look at more. Simple is key with websites, by having a color scheme and easy navigation throughout the site makes the site super easy to work with. Everything on the site itself is very self explanatory and anyone could use it. Which for this type of business you should keep the site more light and they have done a great job at doing so. Everything is matching when you change from page to page which on websites everything should match. 

National Park Service

The National Park website is very sleek and straight to the point site. The website also displays The National Park's beauty in photos. This site has done a great job for creating a site for what people are looking exactly for. The site itself is not cluttered full of information about the parks, you can simply search anything you want as soon as you arrive to the home page. This is working for the site because it makes it very user friendly and keep the visitors as long as possible. I also really like that was soon as you land on the home page it asks you if you want to look up parks in your surrounding area. Which this makes it easy for users to find where they can go that is closest to them and what they are probably looking for on the site as well. The design overall makes the experience on the site easy and straight to the point bringing visitors back to the site again and again. 

Week Three - Part Two

Alex and Ani 

https://www.alexandani.com

Facebook- posted 9/7/19 , Twitter - posted 9/9/19, Snapchat- posted 9/9/19, Instagram - posted 9/9/19, Pintrest - posted 9/8/19 and YouTube - posted last year 9/9/18 

Alex and Ani are using their social media platforms everyday which is a winner in e-commerce businesses. The more you post the more people see and want me buy. But posting everyday could potentially bring in new customers looking for a specific item. This is a great move for this company and also tells me to be noticeable, be on all social media platforms. 

Pandora Jewelry

https://us.pandora.net/?cid=sem:branded:e:en-us:Null:google:PAND_US_07_2018_Core_SearchCampaign_Brand_EM_NA_Google_EN_E-Store:evergreen:pandora:te:Null:Mindshare&ds_rl=1257505&ds_rl=1260272&ds_rl=1257505&gclid=CjwKCAjw8NfrBRA7EiwAfiVJpfEMa6zxYiyaIKlTgKvOljMm0gJ0kq_ylXKmQ2h1yJ_qXPOAI6xT5xoCDC8QAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

Facebook - posted 9/9/19, YouTube - posted 9/7/19, Twitter - posted 9/8/19, Instagram - posted 9/9/19 and Pintrest - posted 9/9/19

Pandora Jewelry does do more posting on social media than Alex and Ani. I found this interesting that Alex and Ani's last post on YouTube was last year and Pandora's posts almost 3 - 4 times a week. YouTube is climbing up the social media platforms and taking over that number one spot.

Kendra Scott Jewelry 

https://www.kendrascott.com/?gclid=CjwKCAjw8NfrBRA7EiwAfiVJpehVHP-N7PspTRzt-PXt8kQWdrRYmvdK3Qh6uDB80lkoEoPZuvq-zBoCPegQAvD_BwE

Instagram - posted 9/9/19 , Facebook - posted 9/9/19 , Twitter - posted 9/9/19 , Pintrest - posted 9/9/19 , YouTube - posted 8/9/19

Kendra Scott does post every single day, and they do have more follower counts than both of the two companies listed above. They do bring in more customers by doing so, and more followers as well which brings in money too!! Fun fact about all three of these jewelry companies they all have around 23 videos on YouTube. 

Tiffany & Co. 

https://www.tiffany.com/?omcid=ppc_google_BR+-+Core+-+Exact+-+US&mkwid=s4Z5717lN|pcrid|338982497881|pkw|tiffany%20and%20co|pmt|e|pdv|c|mtid|744dpc50313|slid||productid||targetids|kwd-111462315|groupid|1613072353|&gclid=CjwKCAjw8NfrBRA7EiwAfiVJpYfRaaS5E7FT7QpXhHXoFFZpxZFJ-qBMXiQrn7LUJEn0HVRbs43rWhoCU0QQAvD_BwE

Instagram - posted 9/9/19, Facebook - posted 9/8/19 , Pintrest - posted 9/9/19, Twitter - posted 9/8/19, YouTube - posted 7/8/19 

Tiffany & Co, like all the companies above do post every single day. The cool thing about Tiffany's is all the super professional photos that they post. I feel that their photos that they do post are very beautiful and showing the product just how they wanted to. I love their look its very chic and futuristic. 

Swarovski Crystal Jewelry 

https://www.swarovski.com/en-US/?gclsrc=aw.ds&gclid=CjwKCAjw8NfrBRA7EiwAfiVJpYlDFdeugNGtRFeUezazavFSgDKrXWL_JSI1f-Xxgjog5i02PLqv3BoC1iEQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

Facebook - posted 9/9/19 , Pintrest - posted 9/9/19 , Twitter - posted 9/9/19, Instagram - posted 9/9/19 , YouTube - posted 9/4/19. 

Like all the companies above, Swarovski Crystal Jewelry is very active on social media platforms. They post almost every single day, they also keep up with their YouTube channel as well. 

All five of these companies do keep up with their social media platform posting, this is important to all of these companies because it is very important to keep your online presents there. Even though people have been saying Facebook is really on it's last legs. It really is not the truth, so many people still use Facebook and all five of these companies all post on Facebook almost every single day. Pintrest is a social media platform that is continuing to grow. All five of these businesses use Pintrest and create their own boards for others to look and share, which is highly effective.

Snapchat is one that I saw less of on these businesses websites. The only business out of the five businesses that uses Snapchat is Alex and Ani. I think Snapchat is a little more difficult to use and keep an following on Snapchat. Therefore, I think that is why less businesses are using it. Although, different types of businesses might work better on the Snapchat platform. Jewelry might not be one of them. Twitter is very popular through out all these businesses and all use them. I personally do not use Twitter but a lot of people are on there everyday. The only downfall to Twitter is that it is known for people to go on and just write negative opinions, which this is why I personally do not use. But after seeing all these companies Twitter pages, it really is not a negative platform, especially as a business stand point. 

Instagram and YouTube are in my opinion are winning in the social media platforms. So many people use Instagram and YouTube everyday, it is probably the easiest social media platforms to use and so many people are directed to YouTube because its a video, not reading. Mostly all of the companies are using YouTube and have a very successful channel, by having a large following on these platforms you also get paid from them individually. All five of these businesses have a very popular Instagram page as well as an YouTube channel, which is becoming the new TV. Overall it's super important to be active on social media platforms as a business stand point and to keep your name out to the pubic.

I commented on: Hannah Cliff and Luke Divinere

Communication - Business & Consumer

Communication - Business & Consumer Chat - Week Three 

So this weeks questions were a little hard for me to think of a time it was hard to communicate with a business, but then I did think of a time that it was difficult to communicate with a business! About three years ago I ordered some clothes off of a Facebook ad, which I clicked on the ad and went directly to the website. The clothes on the website where presented with good material and for a good price, so I ordered probably twenty items off the website. A few weeks later, I received the clothes in the mail in two different packages. Which on the website, the order said was going to be delivered in two-three business days and in one package. I was a little annoyed it took that long to get the clothes but I was still excited that I still got them! When I opened the packages I was very unhappy of what was in the packages, all of the clothes were made out of weird material I've never felt and everything that I received was nothing I ordered but in the right size. Weird right? So since this was on online company I sent multiple e-mails (which this is how their "return policy" works) regarding my situation. I never received an e-mail back in response about how to return the clothes or a refund. 

After being super annoyed with the situation that has happened, I went on their Facebook page and directly messaged the company. I told the company my situation and asked what could be done on their end. I still did not hear anything regarding my message I sent and my problem still was not solved. A few weeks later I checked the message I sent on Facebook and the company actually opened the message and read it but did not say anything back. So I was left with spending about $150 and a bag of clothes that I will never wear. 

This experience opened my eyes to buying thing online, especially clothes. Now I only purchase clothes online  that I have purchased before in the past. This experience really was a learning experience and to never just buy something from a random company, especially from a Facebook ad. This was a very negative experience that I hope I never have to experience again and hope no one else has to either! 

Overview of Social Media

Personal Life and Social Media Platforms

Social media platforms are sprouting for all different audiences. I feel that Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat are all geared mostly for personal use. In my opinion, Facebook started as a social media platform to communicate with your friends and family far away, I still use this in my day to day personal life because a lot of my family and friends that use Facebook. Instagram is definitely targeted to younger generations, but here I still use for my personal life with mostly my friends and not as much family. Snapchat, I basically use instead of texting just because explaining, you can simply just make a video and send it to who it people it was meant for.

Business and Social Media Platforms

A lot of social media platforms took a spin on how they were targeting their audiences a few years ago, all social media platforms are evolving into a business world as well. Linkedin in my opinion is the most geared towards businesses because you can find jobs on there as well as individuals that could improve your work environment and business. Also, you can reach out to others that have the same job title as you to create an networking for you and your team. Additionally, other social media platforms have created a place for businesses to own an page for their business and even sell items on their platforms, for example Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat all do this to help businesses that use their platform of social media. 

Personal Life, Business and Social Media 

Social media can be used in so many different ways! They can mix well with the spin of business and personal life on social media platforms. By having individuals checking up on their social media platforms they are most likely to see an ad that is targeted to that individual and will probably end up clicking on that ad. This works good for both the individual and the business because the individual is getting their needs/wants and the business is getting sales by being targeted to the correct buyer. I do think this an evolving way to advertise and do business. Possibly one day in the near future, the only type business there will be is online. 

Katchin' Up With Kate

Welcome to Katchin' Up With Kate! 

Hi! I am Katie Saxe, this is my first time writing a blog ever and super excited to start blogging! Currently I am in my last semester of college and I am so excited to start my career. I am taking this class to further my knowledge with using social media because I want to have career in E-commerce which is buying and selling products online. 

It was a little hard to figure out what template to use but I really enjoyed the colorful template which I felt resembles me to a T! I enjoy the colors used in the template and the little birds were so cute... I could not resist. Also, the humming bird resembles good luck in general and I thought having the humming bird on my blog, people visiting my blog could also have good luck too! 

This past summer I went on a vacation with my best friend to Steam Boat, Colorado, there we hiked up Haans Peak and camped in the cabins there. Every morning when we would go down to the main cabin where we would have coffee and breakfast, outside they had humming bird feeders and at least 100 humming birds would visit by there every day! This template reminded me of those good memories, so I was bound to pick this template!

The font color of the heading I thought was very attractive to the eye, when someone comes to visit the blog the colors would make them stay because of the warm color choice. The colors of the template are part of the warm section of the color wheel which makes people feel warm and invited to stay.