Week 5B - Defining Your Target Market

For my fictitious backpack poncho business, I really feel like the outdoors/camping community and also middle school through college students would be a good target market. For students, I could further filter down the target to areas that would want to protect their belongings more than others, such as New York City. Think of the product like a flexible plastic shell of a typical backpack that would fit over the real one, so for students who like nicer things such as leather goods or a designer backpack, this backpack poncho will protect it in rain or even from potential thieves.

Week 5A - Defining Your Target Market

     I chose the first set of websites, Armstrong Garden and Myrtle Creek because I do work in the industry and I am naturally interested!
     Armstrong definitely has a more corporate and commercial feel to it and their website looks more "cookie-cutter" from a template or something, but it's clean and simple. On their website you can browse their selection of roses, garden supplies, fertilizers, soil, etc... but purchases are in-store only which I found odd for a company that size. The only exception is e-gift cards. Armstrong boasts that they have 32 stores throughout California, plants are locally grown in-house and their motto is "Gardening without Guesswork." They have a couple call to action banners, one that offers a free landscape design and one that offers more information of the health benefits of house plants.  They have a couple places that advertise landscape or gardening consultation for homeowners so I think their demographic is possibly higher incomes, adults and more of a regional corporate look and feel.
     Myrtle Creek has a very local, family-friendly boutique look and feel to it and the website is definitely more personalized in design that fits the brand well. There aren't any products to browse through online but they do advertise that their is a nursery and a small gift shop. They seem to be all about the local history, botanical gardens, nature of the area, cafe and family-friendly activities that would be great for a family day trip. Their demographic is geared toward people of all ages and incomes with a boutique look and feel.
    Both websites have gardening tips and a glossary, but Armstrong is a larger, commercial scale provider to the gardening and landscape community that is smaller than Home Depot or Lowe's but definitely bigger than your local small-business nursery such as Myrtle Creek.  Myrtle Creek's nursery just seems to be an offshoot of the botanical gardens and doesn't look like it's the main focus even though it might be, it definitely isn't treated like the main focus on the website.

-DavidT

Week 4B - Aesthetics, Design & Branding

     I'm a data guy that follows the stock market, hence the background. The first website that I visit daily is https://www.schwab.com which is a low-cost provider of various financial services, including stock market research and trading . I also like to get in my daily news but I don't like to get it from one source so instead I go to https://news.google.com. I know all of this might sound boring but knowledge is power!

     The Schwab website definitely has its strengths and its weaknesses and unfortunately you cannot really see all they have to offer unless you are a member. However, the website is very good and has a lot of content within it from stock trading and research to education/news articles to banking to retirement solutions, etc. The problem is because there is so much information, it is hard to get lost and not really know where to look, so yes the website can be simplified a little bit especially in the menu drop-down organization. First they have the main horizontal navigation bar at the top and then a sub-menu navigation bar that is related in content to what you click on the main nav bar. However there's also the pop-up menus if you hover over the main navigation bar that blocks half of the screen. This gets very annoying and I think they should design it in such a way that there's an extra drop-down menu when you hover over the sub nav bar. Anyway, it's a pet peeve of mine when those drop-down menus take over your screen.

     Schwab has a lot of good things in the design as well. The text and graphics they use is very modern and clean. I'm not sure what design aesthetic you would call it but they use white, blue and shades of grey mostly throughout the entire site and they are trying a new beta design that is more intuitive, attention-grabbing and simple. They make me keep coming back again and again because they have my money but other than that, they don't try to up-sell you or market to you with a bunch of ads which is very nice.

     The Google news site is, in my opinion, very good. They show articles like a traditional news site with headlines and other subjects of interest but they show different news sources on the same news story so it makes it easy to read other viewpoints. You can even manage the news sources that they show so if you don't like a certain news organization that they show, you can tell Google to not show them again. I find myself reading from other sources that I didn't even know existed. I don't have time to surf the web so a service like this one is great. The layout is great, the site is clean and if you have a Google account it gets better because they can tailor to your preferences. On the right side they have highlighted boxes that include fact checking and trending topics which can be an interesting to see. The news can be improved by showing more topics in the headlines and not just political stuff but I guess that's just the sign of the times. Unless I haven't seen it or haven't figured it out yet but I would like to see more variety such as magazine articles that relate to the news stories; I think the world of magazines is shrinking which is a pity. Google news has me coming back because it seems that they are more fair about what news they show and you can manage sources. It's also an easy one click way to get all you need for a daily dose of information.

-DavidT

Week 4A - Aesthetics, Design & Branding

     This week we are going over the importance of branding and how first impressions affect people and their decisions. This is a very interesting topic to me because we all make subconscious decisions that aren't obvious to us and trying to understand this psychology is fascinating.

   
     The first website I chose that needs improvement is pennyjuice.com. At first glance it is a vibrant and colorful website that seems simple to navigate. However, there are many issues including: the logo, bad use of pictures and graphics, the header, and the fact that I can't find any nutrition facts. Almost immediately it's obvious that the header doesn't snap to the top of the page which looks unprofessional. The logo looks a little like a broadway title; it should be fun, young and vibrant but instead it has a theatrical font with an ugly brown, sort of tie-dye penny in the middle. I understand the idea behind the use of color-blocking to try to organize sections like rows on a table, but the content doesn't flow and looks piece-meal with random graphics. Why is there a large banner image showing kids playing with play-doh? Also, the footer has this weird child ribbon design that doesn't go with anything else.
     To improve on the pennyjuice website, I would change the logo to be younger and more playful so the brand looks like it belongs on that website and the logo should be more attractive to kids. Second I would use better imagery and graphics; I realized that there weren't any images of kids drinking any juice which is strange since that's the product! I would make the website cleaner, use appropriate imagery and also make a stronger sales pitch as to why someone should buy the juice in the first place. The product itself needs some help with branding and packaging as well; the bottles that the concentrate comes in looks like bottles that I would see out of a warehouse or chemistry class.


     The second website that I chose for improvement was jamilin.com. Wow this website is a blast from the past, it looks like late 90's or early 2000's in design, there is clutter everywhere poor graphics and imagery and quite frankly I'm not sure what I am even looking at. It took me a minute to actually figure out that this woman is in to energy healing of some sort. There are links all over the place and I think the majority of them are affiliate marketing links which ties in to some weird affiliate marketing instruction or seminar that she offers, I'm still not sure. There are broken internal links to some graphics as well which doesn't help this website out one bit. I'm scared to keep clicking around actually.
     This website looks like an affiliate marketing trap, there are external links all over the place and there are links to learn how to sell with affiliate marketing too! This is a quote from her "About" page: "Jami has practiced conscious interior design for more than thirty years and her special talent for color has become her trademark." If this woman has a special talent, it isn't web design. In order for this website to work, it needs to be heavily revamped with a clear message of who this woman is, what services she offers that isn't part of affiliate marketing and a cleaner website that is functional.


     One of the websites that I think are doing things right is headhunterhairstyling.com. You can easily tell what the brand is and what they do right away and the website is clean, simple and functional. The video graphic on the front page is a nice touch and makes the brand current and more engaging. Since the site is nice and you can tell that they put some thought in to it, I get a little sense of trust that they do things right and so I would book an appointment with someone. It's harder to start to like a brand when you have a bad first impression than to dislike a brand over a good first impression so I think they did a good job here.
     The other website that I like is toyota.com. Everyone knows the brand, it is a household name so they don't have to go out of their way to try to convert you in to a lover of Toyota because you probably already made that decision before visiting the website. The site is clean, simple to navigate and they show what's going on in the company beyond cars which I think is important. In my opinion they could have done a little more with graphics to make the site more engaging and more technology-focused in order to try to bring in some younger customers.

Week 3B - Communication, Business & Consumer

1. COSTCO

1. Costco
2. https://www.costco.com/
3. Facebook and Pinterest
4. The Pinterest page looks like they have a quite a few boards and hundreds of pins but they only have 41,255 followers which I don't think is very much for a national chain like them. The Facebook page has 2,029,638 followers and their latest post for Valentine's Day has 11 comments, 14 shares and 9.3K views. Given the number of followers, I don't think this is very many.
5. Facebook last post: 12:15 PM today 02/11/2019. I don't have a Pinterest account so I can't see the latest post there.
6. Costco's current use of social media is conservative. It looks like their main platform is Facebook but they mostly post a hot or popular item advertisement to try to gain interest for people to try. They do post about twice a day and it looks like they do have a social media team that responds to important questions. There is a video post about a pork tenderloin recipe that so far has 140 comments, 1,541 shares and 707K shares, which is by far the best shared and viewed post that I've seen that is recent. Maybe they should do more recipes...? Just a thought, Costco!

2. Taco Bell

1. Taco Bell
2. https://www.tacobell.com/
3. Snapchat, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram
4. Twitter looks like it is used a lot, they post every 1 to 2 days with good content, with 1.9M followers and 791K tweets. Facebook looks similar in content with 9,915,131 followers. The YouTube page only has 73,970 followers and they try to make it young and exciting with some interesting videos. The Instagram account has 1.2M followers and 1096 posts with young, trendy and vibrant content that looks pretty cool.
5. Instagram's latest post was 01/31/2019. YouTube's latest post that isn't a commercial was 02/05/2019. The latest Facebook and Twitter post was today 02/11/2019, the same post.
6. Taco Bell's use of social media is very current, young and trendy. It seems to me that they are trying to stay cool and relevant with the younger high school and college crowd which makes sense. A lot of their content looks like 90's throwback in graphic design which is in right now.

3. Coke

1. Coke
2. https://us.coca-cola.com/
3. Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram
4. Their Facebook has 107,480,300 followers and it looks like they post 1-2 times a month without a post this month so far. Twitter has 3.33M followers and 259K tweets, with their latest tweet being 7 hours ago. Their YouTube has 2,986,541 subscribers that features videos in different languages. Their Instagram has 2.6M followers with 123 posts which I thought surprising and I thought they would have a lot more posts in Instagram.
5. Facebook latest post was 01/24/2019, Twitter latest post was 7 hours ago today, YouTube latest post was 15 hours ago today and Instagram latest post was 02/03/2019.
6. Coke's social media is full of spreading positive and inclusive messages that hope to inspire tolerance, love and other positive vibes. I like how they aren't pushing marketing campaigns in your face and instead are creating a brand personality all its own.

4. National Geographic

1. National Geographic
2. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/
3. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat
4. Their Facebook has 45,236,487 followers and they post several times a day. Their Twitter has 22.5M followers and 47.8K tweets so far. Their Instagram has 99.8M followers! Wow! They have several posts a day on there.
5. Their latest Facebook, Twitter and Instagram posts were within the last 1 hour or so.
6. NatGeo's social media presence is larger than I thought. I enjoy some of their TV content and I love their wildlife conservation and research mission so this makes me happy. Their content is mostly posts of professional photographs and some videos with some social/political stuff thrown in as well.Their Facebook also has a bot that pops up automatically to talk to you and test your knowledge I guess.

5. Shopify

1. Shopify
2. https://www.shopify.com/
3. Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Google+, Snapchat
4. Their Facebook has 3,362,324 followers and they post about every few days. Their Twitter has 244K followers and 28.8K tweets so far and they tweet sporadically, probably every few days on average. Their YouTube has 130,315 subscribers with a video probably once a week on average right now. Their has 275K followers and 2,632 posts. Their LinkedIn has 82,530 followers. Their  Pinterest has 68,304 followers. Their Google+ page has 28,164 followers and the last post on there was in 2016 but Google is getting rid of it anyway.
5. All of their main platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube have sporadic posts that probably average once every week or so but that's just a good guess, with their latest post being on Instagram on 02/09/2019.
6. Shopify's social media presence is interesting. Their strategy is kind of like Entrepreneur Magazine where they post new and upcoming businesses that they like and marketing strategies and interesting tidbits. I'm seeing a lot of complaints on their Facebook about their platform not working constantly and they do reply to most people.

My Review

     Ok, so in summary I'm seeing that the largest platform being utilized right now is Facebook, with Twitter and Instagram juggling the 2nd spot depending on the business. I'm not surprised by this because of the sheer size of Facebook and how long that platform has been around. It is interesting to see the different social media strategies that are being used, from the ultra-conservative and ad-centric approach that is Costco to the trendy and young approach that is Taco Bell.

    So far I think I see more people that are following trendier brands like Coke, Taco Bell and even National Geographic (nor nature nerds) that don't necessarily plug an advertisement every post but offer messages that are important to the brand or organization and they just use their brand as the backdrop to the mission.  For businesses that are more service-related like Costco and Shopify, people may follow them to keep up with what's new but on their platforms I see more people complaining and trying to communicate with them about their services/business.

     I am not surprised to see that Facebook, Twitter or Instagram are the three biggest platforms being used but I am surprised to see some of these businesses use Snapchat, Pinterest, and YouTube. I am a little older so I don't quite understand the Snapchat thing but Pinterest is old and out of style and YouTube is a different platform that these businesses haven't understood. If I wanted to watch an advertisement I guess I would go to YouTube but otherwise I don't see why I would follow any of them.

Blogs I commented on are:

Susan Sullivans, https://csiti55sp19sullivans.blogspot.com/

Sierria Gilardi, https://csit155-f18-sierrag.blogspot.com/

Austin Poynter, https://csit155-sp19apoynter.blogspot.com/

Cheers,

DavidT

Week 3A - Communication Between Businesses & Customers

Have you ever experienced difficulty communicating with a business?

     In the past I have always found it difficult to communicate with businesses, no matter what sector or field that the business is in.  You would have to call and hope that you will at least reach a person to talk to and then you would have to hope that the customer service rep either is competent enough to understand the situation or hope that the rep even cares. You would get the dreaded phrase, "Okay, I will pass that along, thank you for calling." Oh please!

     If you are like me then you hate talking on the phone because the call quality is never that clear and I don't like being put on hold. So originally I liked the idea of the customer service email but often times responses can take days and I feel like you're just emailing a distant customer service galaxy where not one, not two and sometimes not three replies will get you anywhere. I might as well take out my frustrations on a donut and forget the whole thing.

     Of course, there are people that complain just to complain and every company has their policies and procedures but I think most people don't make a fuss about things unless it's worth their time.

Does social media make it easier to get noticed or get your problem solved?

     I would say yes and no and it may depend on the media platform. If the review is on yelp or google where a local business gets a direct review then I believe that social media helps to get noticed or solve a problem because that information is now public about a specific business location. If you start tweeting or posting on FB about a business and it doesn't gain any traction then I would say that social media probably won't help you there. Although some companies are really good about posting responses. For some reason Wendy's comes to mind as a company that has a great social media presence and you may get noticed when talking about them.

Have you ever had a positive experience communicating with a business through social media?

     I have never communicated with a business through social media. There was one time where I searched high and low for a place to leave feedback for a Sonic Burger joint because the teenage worker forgot to put a burger patty on my burger! I'm still salty over that... I didn't notice until I got home after a long day at work and I was looking forward to biting in to a juicy burger and all I got was bread, lettuce and cheese. The only thing I could find was a corporate email so I left a nasty note there and they apologized, provided an explanation of the end result of an investigation and mailed me a coupon. I guess that was a good response.

If it was your own business on social media, how would you respond to positive or negative comments?

     If my business was on social media, I would definitely say thank you to every positive comment and maybe plug a small marketing strategy like an invitation to an upcoming event or something. If the comment was negative I would still say thank you because every one likes to feel appreciated and I would offer a solution to the problem or say that I will learn from that mistake or something to that effect. Sometimes people post negative reviews about the business even though the post or problem has nothing to do with the business such as maybe they didn't like the people they were next to. In that case my response may be a little sassy and you can't please everyone.

Describe what made your experience negative or positive.

     For me, every time a business goes beyond the initial point of contact (phone call, email, post, etc.) to solve the problem or show me that they took me seriously is a positive experience. I don't expect to be put on a golden throne but at least show me you, as a business, care a little. That may mean a subsequent email or reply to a post that contains a meaningful answer or solution.

Week 2B - Blogs I Commented On

These are the blogs that I commented on for week 2:

Sierra Giraldi, https://csit155-f18-sierrag.blogspot.com/
Francesca Haman, https://csit155-sp19francescah.blogspot.com/
Austin Poynter, https://csit155-sp19apoynter.blogspot.com/
Susan Sullivans, https://csiti55sp19sullivans.blogspot.com/