Week 8A - Get Visual

     My products are in an interesting category when trying to figure out the best visual social media platforms to use; backpack ponchos are both part of the apparel/fashion world and also the practical world. I guess you could sport a lovely plastic heavy-weight cover over your Louis Vuitton if it's raining but I doubt you will (If you can afford one in the first place).  But then again, I have seen heavy plastic being used in the avant garde fashion industry, but I digress.
   
     I still think Facebook will be the best social media platform for my business but that's not to say that YouTube isn't basically a required content cousin. I'm offering a product that people would wear and I would want to sell that product through a website. The best way to do that probably is that call to action "shop now" button that Facebook can put on your business page while also being able to share and connect in ways that Facebook only allows. And having been in fashion and clothing retail for almost 10 years (thankfully not anymore), I know that a picture isn't worth a 1,000 words when you're trying to decide if you want to buy a garment online. Online pictures can show you the overall look and color but you can't feel it or try it on. In that regard, a video always helps when trying to gauge how it fits. For my business, a video could be a good way to showcase the product and how to use it.

-DavidT

Week 7B - Engaging Your Customers Facebook

I tried to get a little creative with these posts so forgive me if they are a little cheesy haha. I created one event to post tomorrow for this weekend to recycle your old umbrellas and to turn them in to art. By doing so, I am offering a discount on your next backpack poncho purchase. I also created a couple posts that were just funny while still trying to spread the "environmental" message. One the posts is scheduled for May because I intended it as the start of the beach clean-up season while also offering free shipping. Overall, I'm trying to engage my customer in the causes that are important to the company while also trying to make it fun and different. Let me know if it's too much!

Week 7A - Engaging Your Customers - Facebook

Liking Business Pages

The businesses I chose are mostly related to outdoor sportswear and a couple are specialists in everything that is backpacks! Here are the businesses that I chose:

1. Patagonia                        7. L.L. Bean

2. The North Face               8. Jansport

3. Colombia Sportswear      9. R.E.I.

4. Herschel                          10. Kanken

5. Filson

6. Filson Outdoors

With these brands and businesses, I can share content that will compliment well with my product, such as a new Jansport backpack or a new leather Filson backpack that will pair well with one of my backpack ponchos. I could also share events that Patagonia or The North Face might have that align with my business; maybe a national beach clean up or a popular hiking spot. Kanken and Herschel are specialized trendy/fashion backpack and bag companies that engage with younger people and students which can be good for engagement with students who may want to protect their beloved bags!

Also, being able to engage with customers of other brands can be a great way of getting additional likes, shares and comments that could potentially bring more customers to my page. Over time, I could develop some great relationships with these brands to further increase my insights statistics and events.

Week 6A - Facebook Page

Ok so Facebook has 2 important insight tools that you can use to research how your business page is doing: Post Reach and Post Engagements.

Post reach is basically the number of people that have had your business page pop up on their screen while they are using Facebook. They further break this down in to organic vs. promotions. Organic is like word-of-mouth where your friends posted something and you end up seeing it or if I personally post something about my business page and my personal friends see it. Promotional is through an ad/marketing campaign.

Post engagement is the number of times people have shared/liked/commented on, etc. with my business page. This section is a better representation of how people interact with my business page.

Both tools are very useful and can be used to improve upon the user experience and improve upon targeting your audience. If post reach is high, a lot of people are seeing it but your post engagement is low, you have to start thinking why that is. Maybe you aren't responding to comments enough or maybe the logo or the page itself needs some sprucing up! Keeping track of these insights can tell you a lot about what is working and what isn't and allow you to adapt.

-DavidT