When learning about the practices on the forever evolving field some of the unexpected applications I found in online marketing and the social media field were the things you can find out about your company such as the devices the users are on when visiting your page or the trending keywords and hastags section and so on. There are so many things to explore in terms of applications in the field I think its the best to choose a number of them that you think would benefit your brand or business the most and focus on those rather than looking over all of them which can become confusing over time as there’s so much to have to look at and compile.
Throughout this course I feel like I learned a lot, I explored different topics and found most of them interesting. I found learning about the target audiences concept the most interesting as it dove into the demographics and much more. Storytelling is so important for creating digital content because it makes the content stand out from the others to the audience being targeted, it catches the viewer’s eye and can be appealing to them or intrigue them to want to read what you’ve posted. It also builds trust and relationships between the customers and the business. The content I post will be guided by the story in the theme and how it unfolds. I think that the kind of stories I’d like to tell are ones that the readers can relate or connect to in order to give them interest in my brand or company.
I hope that my business grows steadily and efficiently from using the right, proper resources. I’d also like to be able to grow my business/brand to a state where it’s big enough to do stuff for the world where worrying about return rate in terms of money and engagement isn’t an issue, like putting on an event or supporting one etc. Another thing I’d like to achieve with a business is to have multiple investors with the company to support it.
Another goal of mine is eventually to be able to have smaller businesses off one business-like children brands or companies almost? Which allows for more variety and widespread demographics coming in. As much as I don’t have a clear image of what I’d like to base my business off of I’d like to start one up by myself and build it, not work for someone else or help them build it up.
Personal characteristics that set me apart from my competitors are being intellectually curious which allows me to explore despite the risks, having self-awareness and self-confidence. I think that the fact that I’m a curious person also helps with me exploring new opportunities and learning new skills, some people arent and will take the easiest route, same with a strong worth ethic. I think that my friends or colleagues would say that my best trait is being curious and wanting to explore new things and take risks. Lately, in order to make myself stand out in the future, I’ve been trying to keep up with the current trends in my industry of interest and explore and try new things to take my skill level further.
In order to develop my professional network online and in-person I’ll focus on providing the best quality work while still keeping up with the rush in order to please the clients. I also think that I’d get involved with the community of my area and create connections with people with similar interests and goals. When it comes to using social media I’ll combine it with using network efforts in person and not truly relying on social media platforms to develop my professional network side.
In the next 6-12 months I think to contribute to the development of my networks I will create relationships with people with similar interests and goals of mine and attend networking events, keep up to date with the current trends on social media and explore different opportunities. I also will ask for feedback on my ideas and projects in order to choose and provide the best work, having another opinion also helps in terms of choices and goals. Another thing that I’ll make sure to practice is improving my communication in terms of in-text and in-person which can help during networking.
For my case study I used Amazon, they’re active on social media platforms such as Instagram, Tiktok, Twitter and many more. As much as they’re a large and growing industry I feel like they aren’t using social media as well as they could, from looking through their comment sections on Instagram and or Twitter, they’re mostly complaints about Prime or their bad experience ordering something, their comment section has almost turned into another customer service area just without them actually responding. Although it does make Amazon look unprofessional it’s mostly just the random occurrence someone had a bad experience with their order, most of the time people are pleased with their experiences. Amazon uses Twitter to connect with people who have bought off their services with a response that should put a smile on the user’s face, Amazon uses Instagram to promote itself with posts that include items they’re offering, they don’t really respond to customers in the comment section also. I think in a way, Amazon doesn’t have a set marketing strategy, therefore, it’s resulting in a, not as professional look, even if they do have an approach they’re trying to use and or make work it shows that it isn’t.
Amazon needs to gather a more well-put-together social media management team and connect it with customer service since most of the comments are people looking for help. I also think that they could create a more eye-appealing Instagram feed which could help bring people’s interest back to Amazon possibly? At the moment the feed is too jumbled up and isn’t appealing for a new customer. I think with some changes Amazon’s social media presence could be much better than it is at the moment, it looks like a mess today.
The two organizations that I think have an impressive social media strategies are Spotify and Hinge, they both are large organizations that have a large following online. Spotify markets towards the music /entertainment group, with the age group ranging from 13-55+. Spotify uses its Wrapped campaign during December and January to bring in a large number of new users, it brings noise because users were sharing their Spotify wrapped on their stories and over social media which caught others’ eyes and they wanted to experience it. They combined FOMO & personalization. Spotify also worked with BMW with the launch of the 320i.
I chose Spotify as they’re growing hugely every day and they use social media smartly and efficiently. An organization that I think should adapt to a social media strategy is Twitch, they really don’t have a set strategy, from my viewing point it’s really just randomness and no set type of posts etc. They market towards the entertainment group ranging from ages 15 to 35. If they were to develop a social media strategy they would benefit from it in terms of how they look and their social media presence. I think their first steps to the world of social media or a better strategy could be what they post and how they interact with their fans.
A personal interest of mine is E-sports, these days the audience is ranging from ages 15 to 35 mainly being males yet female interest is growing steadily these days. They tend to tune in to watch their favourite team playing their game of interest by some of the world’s best. E-sports organizations such as FaZe Clan and Sentinels have risen to become some of the largest organizations in the industry bringing huge numbers to the community and changing the virtual world. Organizations communicate with their audiences by allowing their content creators/members to interact with the community, this falls into influencer marketing. Some strategies that they could introduce or keep using are putting on more events or sponsoring an event, adding more known creators or players to their roster. Organizations could also connect with larger companies such as Clothing Brands or even some car brands have worked with some groups. I think one strategy that might work is focusing on games that are up and coming since it could bring action to the organization as the game starts to grow.
In the last week so far I’ve learned about different types of writing, grammar, punctuation and spelling. I’ve learned about how important they all are when it comes to storytelling, I also never knew about the “Inverted Pyramid” or “Triangle” approach which seems useful and a more efficient way to build and write a more powerful and meaningful structured paragraph. Before I always used to just use the opening paragraph, structure paragraphs and then conclusion paragraphs, the simple way to write them, the way that was taught before. I also found the part in the content talking about the history super interesting as I never really have read about the history of storytelling, it makes me think about how far it’s all came from when it was first discovered/created. One thing I think I’ll use more is the thought of starting a paragraph or essay with thinking about the end of the story or paper, I think it will help me with creating more structured well put together multiple paragraphs. Overall combining the Inverted Pyramid or triangle approach and with the “keeping the end in mind” thought I think It’ll help me create a better final product for myself and the reader.
My two favourite social media trend monitoring/listening tools are Hootsuite and Nexalogy, I chose those two tools because they’re both known well in the social world which means they’re reliable and I’ve heard the customer service is super efficient also, which are keys to good service. My two sources of news and updates of interest to me would be either the website “Hypebeast” or it might not be a website but I’ll use Instagram for the majority of my source of news and updates. I like Hootsuite and Nexalogy because they’re both simple and easy to maneuver through the platform, they’re both extremely budget-friendly if that’s an attribute you’re looking for. They also both have a real solid background in terms of trust and reliability. The two sources that I mentioned would be significant to my interests as “Hypebeast” is a website that posts anything from tech to clothing that is known as the trending hype, I mainly enjoy reading the news about automotive or new tech that’s being released. All these are pretty significant because they all have different meanings and uses such as Hypebeast is good for keeping up on the newest information and trends, Hootsuite or Nexalogy play a role in helping marketing the brand and keeping up with the newest stats on the company whether it’s stats on viewers or the newest post or release.
Algonquin College Social Media Certificate Program 