Final

I remembered it all started with High School Club in 9th grade, that is what I said at the beginning. A journey is what it has been since then, diving in and out of social media applications like some sort of social Matrix or something. The class has been a true experience that I never would have done with out it.

As I began this class I didn't know what I was getting into. I could not see the full extend of how social media could help businesses from all portions of the market. I thought of social media as a place for friends and fun. Now I notice the ads and small businesses all over my Facebook feed. I see it in the videos and pictures, I see that much of it is content for someones business. Now I can see how Facebook has shifted to business to make the bulk of the content.

I feel like I received a great blueprint for a social media based small business. I think that I would be able to start an actual business and see it grow. I now know that steady content is one of the best ways to gain customers. Engaging new customers on your content is also a good way to sustain relationships with with customers which can keep or drive off customers.

This class introduced me to Twitter which is surprisingly refreshing with it always on news ticker feel although I do not like the pace at which everything goes away. This class also helped me figure out how to sift through and understand content to figure out what everyone's information is trying to lead me to. I thought that Facebook and Googles analytics can be a game changer when it comes to running a business online, having analytic is like having cheat codes for your business.

This class has been a wonderful experience of flying through social media. This class caused me to branch out to places like Twitter, Google+ and Tumbler and start personal pages to learn the platform. I feel confident I could begin working out a small business that has a large presence and use analytics to map out my route. Though to be honest I might take a break from social media due to being overexposed, maybe just a little YouTube.

I enjoyed 16a

I believe that Google+ would work the best for my business because of the communities I can network with and gain clients. I Facebook was the easiest to use because my familiarity with it though I am still unsure of what to post. I believe that Instagram would be the best to use for daily purposes because of its use of pictures as a medium rather than text. Facebook can be used on an infrequent basis because your last post stay as looks like content and also post can be put on a timeline that post it when you feel like it.

Facebook

In the last week my page recieved 2 like between the 10th and 11th, the likes are also follows. My total reach went up from 7 to 15. Four people viewed my page on the 11th. There were zero actions on the page which means I am not producing engaging content. It has been a struggle to figure out engaging content for things like domain controllers and CRM. Surprisingly The people I have reached have a wide variety of origins which is fun to see through analytics. More content on my page would create better statistics, meaning more customers.

Analytics

I believe that the use of analytics would help me find new customers by seeing what type frequent my page. By finding out who my customers are I can find out what they like and what they want. I think that where I can take advantage of analytics is with the businesses I get to do business with.

One of the ways I could use it to support my businesses. As the features say I can use analytics to support CRM platforms allow them to have detailed information about their customers. I will be able to work with them to sort the demographics and make changes that help them grow and spread across demographics. I can use analytics to help contour menus to either match or go against demographic depending on their aim. Analytics will be the perfect tool for me to use.

Low Key

I am going to be using ads that are light but similar to my regular posts giving me a kind of consistency. The trouble is finding something that brings new people in. I decided to use vague bright pictures as art to draw the eye of customers.

 I can also use pictures that give an idealize version of what I would like to do in an eye catching way.

I believe that using a more low key ad campaign in combination with word of mouth and community participation. My ads and posts would work in tandem to create and sustain awareness of my business. Eventually I will be able to use my successes at individual businesses and showcase them and their advancements.

Banner ads

I believe that the method of just creating a post as an advertisement would work for my business. By using a post I can take my plan of using helpful information as content and turn it into an ad. I could use that as soft advertising and use that kind of fade in with my regular traffic. I could bring people in by showing them what I know and advertising how I could do it for them.

I could also use the local ad to actually showcase the the businesses that I work with. That means that I can take the ads that I create for others and use it to advertise my capabilities. By giving potential customers the ability to check to see what I do for other businesses to help them decide if they want to work with me. The use of local ads showcasing a restaurant advertisement with the FutureSolid name on it would work quite well. So I will use the ads that I that I create a way to show what I can do for new customers.

Ads

Video ads have a way of grabbing you on social media. Maybe it is because they kind of trick you into believing that it is a video and then finding out that it is an ad. Either way it gets or demands that we pay attention to it, which is something that a text ad just does not have. On Facebook ads that are at least somewhat interactive are what really catch my eye.

While traditional advertising such as television commercials and radio adds still have an effect I believe that the interactivity of  of social media ads is where they have an advantage. An ad cannot have you turn your TV to see a 360 view of the event being portrayed on a commercial, but you can do that on social media with a phone or tablet.

Coupons?

I do not believe that Yelp or Coupon networks would help my business, but they all would help the businesses I would like to work with greatly. Since I would like to help small restaurants and gyms I do think that all three of the options would be quite helpful. That being said, as of now I'm not giving coupons for consultant work I don't believe I would be taken seriously.

I do believe that the communities on Google+ can help my business. As I searched through the I found the San Diego Business Networking Community which is full of all business professionals sharing information and contacts. I can use this to find not only customers but also people I would like to cooperate with. I believe that my activity in this community can allow my consultant business to pass by word of mouth and give me a place to learn further.

Groupon would really help the restaurants I would like to work with. It is good at showcasing deal that generate interest. Some restaurants could use run a coupon every month or so to boost revenue or even just knowledge.

I would definitely use Yelp for gyms, as it would allow people to write reviews for their experiences. Assuming that people enjoy going to a particular gym they would like to help that gym because Martial Arts Gyms happen to work like communities. Yelp can help people join those communities.

Networks

Their are so many different kinds of social media platforms that it is so important to figure out the right one for my business. I decided to figure out where my customer base does their business and in places in platforms where their interest lie.

Yelp would be a good place to start because I would like to help small restaurants and gyms, places that survive off of word of mouth and community. Yelp allows for customer reviews which can be good or bad depending on the performance of the business.

I mentioned community early which I think Google+ will be helpful. The use of circles is good for becoming a part of a community and helping it grow. The Hangout app in conjunction with Google+ can give me a specialized hotline for all of my customers, meaning they can get a hold of me via text with little inconvenience. Issues such as them having an iphone and iOS products could become a problem with the inability to run android apps.

I also think that Meet Up will be also be a good fit for local gyms because I know many people use it for physical activity. By hosting meet ups at your gym you can bring in new people and to generate interest.

Last is Instagram which is would be the best for restaurants and also work pretty well for gyms as well. The ability to post a lot of content about from what you do, you could have the pictures of fresh food and good times at your restaurants or videos of an amazing training session.

Comments

Alison Carlo
Herman Hernandez
Zameer Karim

Newsletter

Newsletters often show up in my email though unfortunately often in an extra folder. My HBO newsletter lets me know about new movies coming to it. That being said I never notice it and believe that it is because there are so many. I imagine the ease in which you can begin to receive a newsletter is a kind of testament to it as a tactic, but that means that their is a lot of competition and apathy to overcome.

For my business I believe that a bi-weekly newsletter would work be a good place to start. Changes happen very quickly in the tech world and I think that by presenting that and how I can help them attain those things or help them build strategies to move forward. With this newsletter I can keep my customers up-to-date on things such as new CRM platforms and POS systems. I can also use it as an informative platform by sharing information that helps stimulate computer literacy.

Now, back to that HBO newsletter that sits in my promotions box. It is a simple newsletter that first displays a list of shows accompanied by pictures. They allow the content to take up most of the space with minimal words. By doing this their content does the heavy lifting while their newsletter reminds people of their shows. They finished their newsletter with movies then Vice in the same manner as the others.

Personal Touch

I believe human interest can be a very compelling weapon for a blog to use. The ability to make a human connection over a blog post creates an emotional connection that can bring the future customer back to your blog or even your business site.

It makes sense to add a personal touch to a blog for a with you have a personal stock in. A blog that someone makes for their mom's donut shop is going to be a lot more personal than a blog for Krispy Kreme. Adding a personal flair may also alienate some potential customer depending on how personal they get. The last thing a business owner wants is for their business to suffer because of misunderstandings on the internet.

Twit Lists

When I started to searching for people or organizations I used a whole myriad of words and phases trying to find a good combination. One of the key phases I used is IT consultant which presented me with a other people on trying to work as consultants on Twitter. I found Ben Shepardson who works at LVS Design, he posts and shares helpful information for his followers. I also found Andre Humphrey also known as Andre the PC Doctor, he uses common sense tips in a way that seems like your friend is telling you how to take care of your computer.

I separated what I found on Twitter into two groups, an IT collabaration group which has individual people I would like to work with. These would be people I would like to work with or at least pay attention to for ideas. The second group I created is my IT industry group which consists of companies I might want to work for or with. I would also pay attention to these pages to follow industry trends to assist me in my future actions.

I believe that the morning is the best time to post on Twitter and most other social media platforms. Posting in the morning catches people who view their social media in the morning. It also means that your post will be up and catch action all day.

Not Visual

Yes many businesses do much better using visual social media, especially if they have a product that is very dynamic and visual. Visual media would work well with say a restaurant or a martial arts gym because they have very visual products and coming to work creates content for a visual social media platform. The visuals of IT consultation would not generate the kind of content that brings in new customers, you can only have so many pictures of someone sitting at a computer.

Harrison Technology Consulting

Harrison Tech is a good example of the kind of slow content that can come from this sector. It has a Twitter account filled with shared articles that are tips for potential customers. The page has 5 followers and has not posted since December 6th 2016, they donated to Wikipedia. There are no comments on any of their posts and it has been like that since the beginning.

Open Spark Technology Marketing

Open Spark uses Facebook, Twitter and Google Plus. The Facebook page follows the shared tech news trend and has not been posted on since October 21, 2016. It has 296 followers but usually gets less than 10 like per comment. Their Twitter page uses the same formula as the Facebook page and has not been posted on since October 21st as well. The page also has 474 followers and also appears to lack likes as well. The Google Plus page has 12 followers but no content.

Christo IT Services

Christo IT Services seems to be a lot different than the first two companies. This company has Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Google plus which they keep active. Their Facebook page has 2252 followers but don't net more than a couple likes per post. An interesting thing that they did do was create some of their own tech tips to put in the regular consultant rotation. Their last post was March 15, 2017. On Twitter they have 346 followers but post the same general information as on Facebook with their last post being on March 20, 2017. This page also has very few likes on any of it posts. The best looking and most informative version of this company on social media is on Google Plus. It has written out explanations of services and other company created content. Unfortunately it has 18 followers and had it's last post on January 29, 2016 with no +1's. The YouTube channel consists of two videos from 2011 that combine for 126 views.

All Covered Inc

All Covered has a Twitter and a YouTube that they manage. The Twitter looks vibrant and active boosting 4201 followers with many likes on each post but more importance going to the amount of retweets they receive from each post. I believe that this happens because of a combination of regular shared tech tips and original and frequent content, the last post from this page was on March 20, 2017. Some of that content comes from their fully functioning YouTube page which is filled with everything from testimonials to informational videos about the current computing landscape. They kind of make it work with varying amounts of success ranging from over 5000 views to under 20. Their last video was posted 5 months ago, it has 146 views. 

What's the use of Instagram

I am not 100% sure what the best visual network would be for my consultation business. To me Facebook is one of the easier and more fluid platforms for me to work with. I feel like I have more experience using Facebook, that combined with the 1.4 billion users that can possibly see my page make it important for me to have an active page on the platform. Many of the other platforms seem to use a more specific style of presentation to cover their market share.

I believe it would be harder use a platform whose priority is text so Twitter though it now uses video the character limit creates a limitation to my ability to share complex information. Google Plus is more of a copy of Facebook, so using it would not add anything to my business. Tumblr is an interesting platform because I could use it to show the things I do for businesses and release helpful tips and tricks to help individuals.

To me Pinterest is not the place to go when looking from tech information or assistance. Setting up on Pinterest reminds me of when a truck stop has an electronics section where you buy one of those cassette tapes with the audio cord running out of it. I believe that my business would be kind of out of place on Pinterest. I also believe that putting my business on Snapchat would mean that I would have to constantly create or share content so that my page does not become inactive after my content expires.

I don't think that Instagram was the best selection but I do believe that it is a good place to start. With the use of just pictures I can show what it is that I do as well as how the businesses I work with are doing. I can use Instagram as and easily regulated foundation for me to start expanding into other forms of media.

Scheduled Later

My first post is about the tech talk going on at MiraCosta College, it would appear to be a place potential customers could go to find information about there needs. This is also a place to find young talented professionals that can manage their day to day technological needs. The second is an example of how technology can be observed then exploited by those who have a higher understanding of how to use it. Last is a simple list of things to be aware of, things that can spark ideas of what a patron may want from me. It is also a sort of call to arms for those businesses that are not keeping up with technology.

Likes

Undisputed Downtown
Popular Science
MIT Technology Review
KUSI
TED
Tech San Diego
Constant Contact

In my consultant business I would like to make the capabilities and possibilities of technology at the forefront so that a potential customer knows. I choose Popular Science, MIT Technology Review and Tech San Diego because they display new technologies that could help to advance their businesses. I would also like broadcast things in the local area so that businesses in the local area know whats going on. So for that I decided to use KUSI a local news station and Undisputed Downtown a gym in downtown San Diego where many frequent.

The last two are more interesting, TED is liked because the ideas that are on display can change and open the minds of anyone who sees them. Last is Constant Contact, which is a much larger tech advertising company that I can often use for reference and to give a full expression of what I plan to do. I would be able to use all of these pages to re-purpose content for sharing on my page so that customers frequent my page.

Week 6 Reach v. Engagement

Facebook seems pretty straight forward to those of us that have been using for a while but there are many things that will seem extremely new when trying to set up a proper business page. One of the most striking things is the use of analytics to help you excel. A couple of the metrics that are important to take not of are Post Reach and Post Engagement.

Post reach refers to the amount of people who view the content that you post. Post engagement refers to the amount of people that like, comment or share your content as well as the number of people who click on your posts, links, images or has viewed one of your videos.

It is important to know the difference between post reach and post engagement because, post reach is just a metric of all the people who saw your content. This means that  post reach has no effect on the amount of people that come to your page because they could have simply viewed the content and then moved on without actually visiting the page. Post engagement tell you how many people actually went a step further and interacted with your content or page.

A business can use this information to find what their customer base prefers. Content that has a high level of post engagement inform the business of what is popular or trending in reference to their products or services. Then using what gets their consumer base engaged they can modify the business to better take advantage of what their customers like. Then they can keep an eye on the post reach to let them know how customers and potential customers see their content. Every view is a potential like so finding out what appeals to your non-follower viewer becomes important in growing your consumer base.

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.