Week 5 part 2

As a Computer Studies major I have toyed with the idea of something like a "Social Media Consulting" business. That being said I have no idea of how to begin that plan, also I would prefer a low cost small business tech consultation company. That being said, I have to start somewhere I guess. 

Introducing, FutureSolid Consulting, a small scale small business tech infrastructure company. With this I would like to provide services such as social media management with website integration as well as Information System implementation from small businesses. I does not currently exist because I am currently gathering the skills to give the idea actual worth.

My target market would be small businesses that are looking to gain a larger digital footprint to bring in new customers through social media and/or a website. In order to succeed I will have to do several analysis of different businesses to find their strengths and weaknesses then improve the digital flow of the business.

Week 5 Target Market

I decided to observe the second set that is made up of restaurants, Chili's and Teri Cafe. The restaurants in the second set are ones that I tend to frequent on a regular basis. From my experience the two businesses are very different, though they appear to be marketing to the same demographic. Interestingly enough these restaurants happen to be at max a couple of blocks away from each other in Oceanside, making them actual competition in a single area.

I believe that the demographic these businesses are looking for is people between the ages of  22 and 55 who are looking for a good place to eat lunch when they have a break from work. This is especially true with Teri Cafe, as they have a rotating $8 special lunch menu from 11am- 3pm Monday- Friday. The difference between the two sites is that Chili's geared to men and dinner because of the massive meat dinner (Steakhouse Combos) selection on their homepage. While both have their menus laid out but only Teri Cafe shows their prices so that their customers can plan. The Chili's website uses many calls to action saying, "Order Now" as they try to direct people to their food pick up service.

Chili's website has the feel of a place that you go to eat and drink during dinner, or order the food and then pick it up. Teri Cafe has a very lunch oriented website that is light but informative. I feel like they both marketing to the same demographic at different times. Both restaurants have marketing for the other time periods but it is not as prominent on their websites.

Week 4 Part 2 "My sites"

bethesda.net

This is a site for a popular video game company I believe that is what carries the site, I personally use it to make modifications to a video game that I play. That being said the website, especially the homepage, displays too much information on one page with no real structure or plan. The only reason I keep coming back is because I HAVE to use this site to make modifications. I believe that simply aligning the images on their homepage would give it some form of uniformity, which would improve the sites ease of use.

miracosta.edu

This site has been made much more streamlined than it was 2 or 3 months ago, unfortunately the new streamlined look cause some confusion with navigation of the site in my using it. The homepage makes good use of hierarchy by using a video of what is happening and what is possible at MiraCosta College. I keep coming back to this site because I have to, though it is a great site for attracting new students. One way to fix the homepage is to find a way to incorporate more content from the different departments on the homepage to try and give it more of a flow that makes you want to click on a section that someone would be interested in.

I commented these blogs

Jordyn Getz
Priscila Jourdan
Davina Croft

Week 4 Websites

www.pennyjuice.com

Penny juice has its first problem is making the you chose between the Java or HTML versions of the website, which assumes you know the difference. Next is the abrasive color scheme that assaults your eyes and confuses your senses. Last but not least is the Penny Juice its self, which their are no pictures of and I cannot really figure out what it is. I was able to find out that my nearest distributor is in San Diego but there is no way to communicate with that distributor.

www.spotmetering.com

The spot metering homepage reminds me of webpages from the early 2000's because it uses the bright colors on a black background color scheme. I also believe that the homepage is much too large when compared to today's conventions, partitioning the information using links to the other pages would work much better. Unfortunately, it also seems that the information was jammed into each page, almost to much information is on each page making it difficult to read and understand. It has a lot of information in a very old school internet style.

www.riversideartcenter.com

I may be because it is an art center but this page is well designed. It could also be because their medium is actual beautiful art, a large painting of a truck backgrounds the headline which transparent at the top. The website is very easy to read and even easier to use it was a joy to look through the gallery and look at all the children's art. It was easy to find the their events calendar, and see what's coming up I suggest Watercolor with Barb Sailor for beginners and intermediates. They also have their Facebook link at the bottom of the homepage and the content is properly aligned.

www.headhunterhairstyling.com

Headhunter Hair Styling has a very solid and well put together website that has links to their Facebook, Twitter and Yelp accounts. The page naturally flows to the right leading you to the sites other features. The services page is very clear and easily read with the prices for each of their vast services as well as images of products they sell. The whole page is very consistent, the text is easy to read and the alignment never strays giving it a very clean look.

The difference between the first two sites and the last two sites I believe is their age. The first two sites appear to be from the early 2000s because of their clunky style. While the last two websites seem to conform to more current conventions.

Week 3 Part 2- Gym Crawl and "Who I commented on"

Undisputed Downtown
http://undisputeddowntown.com/
Facebook and Twitter
The links on the site seem hidden but used.
Facebook last post: Feb 7, 2017
Twitter last post: Feb 10, 2016
After looking at the frequency of post on both accounts I believe they are not using their social media properly. They appear to use Facebook more than they use Twitter possibly because they have more of a following on Facebook.

Rhino's Boxing
http://www.rhinosboxing.com/
Facebook and Instagram
The links to their social media pages are right at the top of their home page and is very effective at being noticed.
Facebook last post: Feb 2, 2017
Instagram last post: Feb 12, 2017
Both of this businesses social media pages are active though their Instagram seems to be used more.

The Compound MMA
http://thecompoundmma.com/
Facebook and Twitter
The links to their social media sites are almost hidden and poorly colored.
Facebook last post: Feb 10, 2017
Twitter last post: Feb 10,2017
This business has an active social media presence though they do not post everyday, but they do have a solid following on both sites.

Soot Yord Palung (Extreme Power) Gym
http://extremepowergym.com/
Facebook, Twitter and Google Plus
The links are deep at the bottom of the home page but are a vividly colored and easily seen.
Facebook last post: Feb 6, 2017
Twitter last post: Oct 19, 2015
Google Plus last post: Oct 1, 2013
Their Facebook is active and they seem to post frequently, but there other two accounts though having many follows are inactive.

Champion Eyes Martial Arts Center
http://www.championeyes.com/
Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube
This business has Facebook and Twitter at the top of its homepage. As you get to the bottom you see the another set of links that also include Instagram and YouTube.
Facebook last post: Feb 4, 2017
Twitter last post: Dec 30, 2016
Instagram last post: Feb 13, 2017
YouTube last post: Nov 2016

When I looked at all of these individual sites they are all very different and the amount they use social media is very different. All of the businesses I looked at are martial arts gyms and I expected to be overwhelmed with a massive amount of very intense videos showcasing what people learn at the different gyms. I believe that social media and martial arts would be a great match together, but I did not see the two integrated very well at all, what I found was a disconnect.

Most of the businesses suffered from a sort of disconnect between what they do in the gym and what gets posted. What this means is that a prospective customer does not get a candid glimpse into the world they are wishing to join. They don't get a chance to see the classes they would hope to join, which means they will not get the excitement of progression or see that even they can do it. That is where these businesses are missing out, their social media pages convey information rather than conveying the passion that they train and fight with.

There were many other things that these businesses have in common and that is inactive social media feeds. There were a few that still had many followers but had not posted in years, the longest of all the social media I checked was five years of inactivity. I believe that at five years a business should either take steps to revamp that social media site or shut it down and remove the link from their website. I think leaving a link to a inactive social media is an unnecessary liability, because it shows a degree of negligence that a prospective customer can easily find.

In order to fix a few of these problems time would have to be taken to integrate the experience of the gym with an immersive social media experience. That means creating content such as fight demonstrations, move explanations, or the ability to get in contact with a coach or maybe even one of the students. Through social media they could set up seminars at the gym or let everyone know who is being promoted or doing well. The best part about using social media is that every time some is in the gym training, there is a chance to to get content for your social media feeds to stay active.

I commented on these posts

Priscila Jourdan
Sonya McArther
Gina Schwendel

Business Interaction

My communications with business for a long time was using toll-free numbers that connected to an evil customer service representative that would sometimes help you. I call them evil because in my experiences well results varied, sometimes they would help you and other times you would find yourself on hold for what feels like forever or other times dealing with an overworked customer service representative who can't really help you at their level. So maybe evil is too strong a word, inconvenient may be a better word for it.

As social media has evolved the connection between businesses and their customers has grown. When you leave a comment on a businesses social media feed one of the admins will usually get in contact with you and guide you in the correct direction, most often the webpage of a particular department or providing assistance using the internet. I have also observed different businesses use social media to provide a quick response to menacing customers as well.

I have not had a personal experience communicating with a business on social media but I do know that interactions between business and customers can be observed. It is the ability of potential customers to see your interactions that would effect my decision making when it comes to replying to positive or negative comments. Being responsible and remembering to provide quality customer service even to blatantly negative comment is extremely important because one negative interaction can go "viral". Snarky comments can be used to combat undo negativity, but professionalism should be used when facing constructive criticism and service issues. I believe a certain amount of finesse is needed to handle myriad of interactions a business will have on social media.

Week 2B

I commented on these posts:

Davina Croft
Nicole Blea
Gina Schwendel

There are so many good idea on the post that I have read.

Which to use?

As I look across the torn and scattered wasteland that is sometimes known as social media I am reminded that much has changed since I joined high school club back in 2001. That was the first personal use social media sites I ever used, it was for people in different high schools to communicate. It blew our minds, though all me and my friends really wanted to do was use it to meet girls. Then in 2005 I joined Myspace after I got out of boot camp to stay in contact with my family and friends.

As far as current social media platforms go, the one of the ones that seem to be for personal use is Twitter which I am not a member of. Twitter's character limit compels me to believe that it is specifically for personal use only, though I assume someone can use this for a personal business. I also believe that Instagram is for personal use as well because of its focus on pictures, though I do believe that there are some professions that could use this to their advantage such as artist, to create good word of mouth.

I believe that Facebook can be used as a sort of hybrid social media platform. By that I mean that you can use pictures, give descriptions, create events and coordinate with your customers. Facebook is full of individuals who if interested can provide input on your product and services, creating a better relationship with your customers. Others such as YouTube and WordPress can be used to communicate directly with your customers and to display your wares to prospective customers. I actually believe that the social media platform that one uses should depend on the kind of business they do.