Strong and Weak Organizations – Airbnb vs Dollarama

What are you more drawn to, an organization with a strong social media presence and has goals or an organization with no presence, so we are unsure of their goals?

Strong Social Media Strategy

Although I have never stayed in one, I would be lying if I did not say I have not looked at many Airbnbs throughout the years and have been so tempted, but the timing never worked. I was impressed by their social media pages because they:

@airbnb

i was taken by the view like we were in… 🗼🥐🇫🇷🥖 #airbnbpartner #paris

♬ original sound – airbnb

• Post often on multiple platforms
• Gain attraction by posting photos and videos of different Airbnb locations
• Cater to different audiences through content
• Monitor comments and posts from hosts of Airbnbs
• Responds to questions and concerns on platforms
• Has the goal of creating a world everyone can belong

To elaborate on the points I made above, Airbnb does a great job of showcasing many different locations on their Instagram and reposting photos and videos the hosts of those Airbnb have shared on their own social media. They make sure to share many different locations as well as different styles depending on the audience, some examples are cabins, places with animals, at the lake etc. They use their TikTok to cater more to specific target audiences looking to rent an Airbnb by showing them ones available if they like trains, water or even ones that have views of well-known landmarks.

Weak Social Media Strategy

Everybody loves Dollarama, so many great things for around the house at an affordable price, but they have no social media presence because they probably do not believe they need one. I think they could benefit greatly by creating a social media strategy.

First few steps:

• Start with TikTok, hop on trends and reach out to influencers sharing similar content
• Analyze the growth of the following to see how often it increases or if it increases at all
• Create a schedule of when to post and how often based off of information found from monitoring the audience
• Expand to other platforms and link them all on the website and platform bios

Once their platform is created they can use it for:

• Showcasing Dollarama must-haves
• New products and brand-name items that come in
• Using influencers to try their different items to prove just because they are cheaper does not mean they are not good
• Post updates when the seasonal product arrives
• Posting dupes and brand-name products for a reasonable price so they can compete with other organizations and give consumers the best deal

@besthomefindswithsai

Shocking items at Dollarama 🇨🇦 only for $4.75 🤩, grab it now guys!!🔥🔥 And don’t forget to follow me for more updates 🫶🏻❤️ #homefinds2023 #hotdallaramafinds #dollarstorefinds #dollaramafindcanada

♬ original sound – Bhavjot_0

With these strategies, Dollarama can set goals for themselves and by monitoring their platforms with the tool Brand24 to see what is being said about them, communicate with their audience and connect with influencers who post videos about their own Dollarama finds. Creating these relationships will help them build a solid following and use platforms like Instagram, TikTok and Facebook to create content that will help them reach their large audience that is already out there. Making sure to post often and across all platforms will help them keep the loyalty of their audience. They can also gain feedback on what kind of content their audience wants to see, such as DIY, testing out their kitchen or beauty supplies, meals you can make from just Dollarama etc.

Due to inflation, this is an excellent time for Dollarama to showcase what it can offer anyone wanting to save a little money. I think some people forget everything you can buy from Dollarama. Creating a presence on social media will help expand who views videos of trending items and bring in customers looking for what they see online.

While some organizations have a stronger social media strategy, that is not to say ones who are weak will always be weak. Implementing the proper strategy can help you gradually reach your goals; it takes patience and dedication, but the outcome is worth it.

COM0014 – Blog #3: Target Audiences

Who Wants Coffee?

For every wakeup, meetup, interview or meeting, coffee is there. To energize you, wake you up, a late-night pick-me-up or a hot drink, but who exactly drinks it? Personally, I started drinking coffee when I was about 17-18 years old and have never been addicted to it, but I did, however, develop a problem where drinking caffeine made me nauseous. It would last for the remainder of the day and sometimes still cause me to wake up dizzy. I switched to decaf and became part of the slim percent of people who drink it, which is a possible target audience. Tim Hortons and Mcdonald’s only sell decaf hot drinks, not cold, and in stores, you cannot buy decaf coffee in the refrigerated section. A campaign geared toward this target audience could effectively communicate with them using the tools below whether they cannot drink caffeine, do not want to or are moms-to-be.

Photo by Lina Kivaka on Pexels

From a business-to-consumer standpoint, the target audience is adults ranging from the ages of about 18-80, leaving there to be quite a large audience. This can be broken down into different target audiences, such as:

• Students: Using coffee to stay awake to write a paper.
• Working Professionals: Drinking coffee in the morning to get them through tough long days.
• Seniors: Going out to get coffee with old friends.
• Moms: Needing a little pick me up because they did not get their total 8 hours.

You can cater to any of these target audiences by researching more about each specific group and determining ways to turn them into buyers. This could be picking a social media platform that the audience uses the most to promote and can use influencers to promote and offer discounts. Being active on that platform is just as important because you create loyalty and trust with consumers, creating the cycle of being a regular customer. Twitter is an excellent tool for engaging with consumers and can help get feedback and monitor conversations about your products. Advertising based on current trends to your target audience will gain their attention, and tools like Twitter and Facebook being used to promote and communicate will help achieve more consumers.

Using the proper tools and strategies to reach your target audience will help effectively communicate with them, turning them into buyers who continue to return.

COM0014- Blog #2: Storytelling and Communication Styles

How to Tell a Good Story

When telling a story, you want to collect all the details you intend to include before writing it. Nothing is worse than telling a story or hearing a story where you constantly have to backtrack because you forgot a part and now everyone is confused about what is happening. When telling a story, you must immediately grab the reader’s attention. If you were to click on a blog and it is long and wordy, the interest of the viewer could be gone, by adding headings, bullet points and leading with the most critical information, the reader is able to skim the text and get a quick idea on what the main subject matter of the blog is.

To create a beginning, middle, and end for a blog, I like to use the information we were taught as a kid when creating speeches. In your opening statement, you need to hook your audience while also talking about all the points you are going to touch on.

1. Tell them what you are going to tell them.
2. Tell them.
3. Tell them what you told them.

Photo by cottonbro studio on Pexels

Important Communication Styles to Use

Storytelling is an excellent way to approach any content you are creating, you want to grab the reader’s attention whether it is a blog or trying to market a product, because you want to engage with the reader. Viewers are more likely to continue reading if the storytelling and communication styles are done properly and they can fully visualize what they are reading and feel connected to what they are reading. While most people automatically use a passive voice when writing a blog or making a post but it is equally essential to use an active voice to be more clear, understanding, and interesting to your audience.

Do you find it difficult to switch from using a passive to an active voice when writing?

Tools and Trends- How I Listen and Monitor

My Top 2 Social Media Tools

Social media has come a long way and so have the tools created to monitor and listen to different platforms. To keep up with what’s trending you need a tool that can keep on top of every organization you want to listen to. I like to use Google Alerts because you can create keywords for every possible trend you are looking for, this allows you to be specific and really narrow down the kinds of alerts you want to receive. I use Feedly, another social media tool that uses an RSS (Real Simple Syndicator) reader to view all my Google Alerts coming in. With this tool, I can get real-time alerts and organize them into folders, Feedly collects articles, blogs and more that contain my keywords making it easy to monitor my latest trends and updates. I can look through my Feedly results and determine if certain keywords are not giving me the results I am looking for or if I need to try new ones.

I prefer these tools over others because they are:

• Easy to use
• Free
• Able to organize all alerts into categories
• Straight forward unlike other tools I have tried in the past
• There is an app for IOS and Android
• Interacts with other applications

Photo by cottonbro studio on Pexels

My Top 2 Social Media News Sources

As for news sources and updates, one of the best platforms I use is Twitter, there are so many accounts of individual people or organizations that can post real-time updates so you can stay in the know of what is happening. You can follow any users or organizations that interest you and receive updates when they post, and you can also use the search page to see what is trending, news, sports, and entertainment. My second-best news source is TikTok, on my FYP (for you page) I have endless videos I can scroll through that are based on what I have previously watched or talked about. TikTok can produce these videos because of its algorithm. These videos keep me up on the latest news around the world, and what’s trending, by following those accounts I want to keep up with I can continue to see these videos and receive notifications when they are updated. TikTok has made me aware of many things going on in the world that I either would not have known about at all or would not have seen as soon as I did.

There are so many tools and news sources out there constantly being updated and gaining new competition daily, it is hard to judge one over the other when there are so many I have still not tried yet. I would love to know what tools you prefer over others and what you guys’ think are the best sources for news and updates.

COM0014- Blog #1: My first Toronto Maple Leaf game

As a Canadian, hockey is a big sport and is watched and played daily whether it is freezing cold outside or sweltering hot. Growing up my family watched every Leaf’s game, but I never had any interest until I met my boyfriend. I could not tell you what changed, maybe because he took the time to explain the rules and answered my hundreds of questions, but I now find myself putting the game on even when I am alone. His love for hockey grew on me, and our next goal was to see an actual game together.

One thing about us, is we do not plan very far ahead of time, we bought the tickets 6 days before the game and decided to make a road trip out of it and watch them in Ottawa instead of Toronto. The day we bought the tickets we realized we would not have actual seats, the 360-degree view showed some, but our description said standing. We quickly panicked trying to swap seats before they were bought…it took 4 attempts at different seats, but we finally had the relief that after our 4-hour drive, we would not have to stand for a 3-hour game. In these 6 days before the game, my boyfriend was also offered a new job he took and would be starting the Monday after we returned from our trip. Safe to say if he got this news any sooner, we would not have gone on this trip at all, I like to think everything happens for a reason.

Now that everything was back on track it was finally time for us to start our journey. It felt like those 4 hours flew by and the next thing I knew we were passing the Canadian Tire Centre on the highway. It was huge, I could not believe that in a couple of hours that place was going to be packed and we were going to be there. In the meantime, we found our hotel, got ready and left early to look around Ottawa a little bit before the game. We were both shocked when we saw the biggest Canadian Tire we have ever seen, it was two stories and had all the outdoor and indoor merchandise you could need. We finally made it back to the Canadian Tire Centre, we were walking in and noticed most of the fans there were also there to watch the Leaf’s, the crowd made it look like it was a home game. My biggest fear about spending the money to go to a Leaf’s game, especially one further away is them losing but luckily for us, they beat the Ottawa Senators 3-0, unlucky for me Ryan Reynolds was not at that game.

I would love to know if anyone else has gone to a hockey game for your favourite team and what your experience was like. I personally get so much anxiety going to big events like this, everyone pushes their way through, and I easily get lost, but at the same time the whole experience feels like a dream and I want to soak up every minute of it because it goes by so fast. I love documenting my travels and taking pictures of anything I want to remember or show people. The three photos below are just a few of the pictures I took on this vacation, social media allows me to share my experiences with everyone and will always be there for me to look back on and read about how I felt in those moments.

Out of Stock Again!

How many times did you see a video or post about a product you “just needed to have” this year. I personally have probably had 20 or more, but out of that 20 how many were actually available when I wanted them? This is the power of influence online because one person told us it was good and maybe even showed us results or how the clothes look on them, we immediately listen and go straight to the link or store. This now causes the product to go viral and out of stock on and offline. It is like a cycle and even when things come back in stock, they are immediately sold out by the people who couldn’t get it the first time.

Photo by Anna Shvets

Power of Influence

In a lot of videos I watch on TikTok where the creator is raving about a product, they actually stock up on it themselves cause they know it has the potential to go viral. They believe in the product they are talking about and the viewer can see that, which leads the post to be more influential. Being able to have the power of influence is a very positive thing, as long as you are using it in the right ways. Being able to have a minute or less video on TikTok, and influencing hundreds of thousands or millions of people around the world to go buy this product or clothing item is amazing and powerful.

TikTok Made me Buy it

Remember the Dyson Airwrap? Quite the investment but everyone who had one made it look worth it. How about the Aerie Crossover Leggings? Everyone wearing them looked so great and they seemed to nicely cover your stomach. What about Kiss Falscara Lashes? The super easy-to-use lashes looked natural and stayed on for days..but only if you bought the other two products to go with them. These are all products that probably had the hashtag #TikTokmademebuyit. This in itself is an influential hashtag that to this day still gets used on this platform and is a great way to see what was popular in the past and now. TikTok is a very trendy and influential platform but that’s honestly why so many people love it. It feels personal when you see videos on your feed for products or items people have who are just like you. This is all thanks to their algorithm but it’s one of my favourite things about the app.

Dupes

I think dupes more than any other type of product or item talked about sells the most. Everyone is always looking for a deal, especially when it is for a product or item you’ve always wanted to try but is a little on the pricey side. I find these ones the hardest to find online and in stores when shopping and if you do, you must be having a lucky day! There are not only dupes for makeup and skincare but for clothing too. I find Amazon is a common website talked about in these videos for carrying clothes that have the same feel and thickness as these more expensive stores like lululemon for example. Why pay more money when you can get the exact same feel for the fraction of the price, only difference is the logo.

They Don’t Always Deliver Here

On a lot of the posts I see, I go to the comments to see what other users say about the product before I search it up and quite often I see “they don’t ship where I live”. If brands keep up with what’s trending they could notice comments like these and set in motion a plan to deliver to more countries. I know this has stopped me multiple times when I was influenced to buy something online, and this is what also leads me to buy the dupes. I can easily go onto TikTok or another platform and search for videos on products just like this or even watch other videos on it to see someone else’s opinion.

We are so easily influenced and sometimes we may not even realize it. Social media has power over us making it hard not to want what everyone else has and it could be because one person told us we should have it. This just means these creators and celebrities that we watch and view every day are good at what they do and go viral for a reason. They are good at selling what they believe in and don’t even necessarily have to be sponsored to do that. Many just do it because they wanna share what they loved or what works for them and I think that’s why we are so trusting and influenced to go buy it ourselves. Do you get influenced a lot on social media to buy things?

Twitter:

Did you get that new mascara that’s going viral? Went to every store just to find it? Read my blog about the power of influence https://bit.ly/3MNmzF8 #soldout #influenced

Facebook:

Ever been so influenced by a post you’ve seen, you look it up and it’s already sold out!? I guess that’s the power of influence. Read my blog to learn more https://bit.ly/3MNmzF8 #powerofinfluence #trending

You Met Where?!

Where did you meet your friend, boyfriend/girlfriend or spouse? Did using an app on your phone have anything to do with it? It seems online dating has taken over and is rare to meet someone the more “natural” way nowadays. You have so many options, you could go with the classics Tinder, Bumble, and Plenty of Fish, or maybe you want to try using a platform you’ve had for years and do Facebook dating? You might have also found yourself talking to someone because they direct messaged you. There are so many ways social media has made it easy for us to connect and find relationships through our phones.

Dating Apps

Dating apps are common and have been around for a while, but have you ever made a friend on one instead of a partner? Obviously not every match is perfect and even when you start talking to someone, you might find yourself not in it romantically but want to continue talking to them as a friend. Some of these apps even added a feature for making new friends with the same idea. Sometimes when looking for a connection you get sick of waiting. Why wait when you could be swiping right on your next possible date or best friend! Social media has made it so easy for us to have individuals pop up within our age range, have similar interests and live a certain distance from us. You type your preferences and the app generates potential matches exactly like you are looking for. You then message and get them to add you on your preferred way to message and go from there.

Image by cottonbro on Pexels

Facebook Dating

Instead of turning to your more classic dating apps, you might want to try it on a platform you are familiar with. No one you’re friends with will see you are on Facebook dating and won’t show up on it either unless you want them to. Facebook dating has its own benefits and offers a couple more free features than regular dating apps. Additionally, Facebook dating can find individuals within your height preferences, the same religious views and if they want children. This might be more of what you are looking for to narrow down similar matches and get a better result in the end. They also have a feature where you can add Facebook friends or people you follow on Instagram that you are interested in. Any time one of those individuals is on Facebook dating, they will be notified they have a crush but it won’t say who. If they then add you to the same list you will instantly match. I think this is a great feature, you can put precisely who you are interested in without putting yourself directly out there to them unless they feel the same way. VIDA Select gives more information on Facebook dating compared to Tinder and which one is better based on its features.

DM’s and Quick Adds

When thinking about online dating you might not consider someone direct messaging you as part of it, but a lot of relationships have come from it. It could be a simple compliment or pickup line used when sending back a post striking a conversation and then again adding them to your preferred way of messaging. It is not your typical online dating site but that’s not to say using another source of social media couldn’t get you the same result. A good chunk of people even adds their Snapchat to other social media platform bio’s to be easily accessible. This is good for making new friends, easier get in touch with, and for someone to add if they are interested in you. Some people even just use Snapchat quick adds to meet new people, or add someone they know or would like to get to know. Quick adds is a list of suggested people you may know or people with mutual friends you have on the app, you can then add them as a friend and wait for them to add you back.

It is crazy to think how so many friends and couples around you daily could’ve met from a simple app on their phone. Some find it embarrassing to admit where they met but I say it’s a win if you were able to make something of it. One simple swipe, DM or quick add could be all it takes to find the right person. Would you try online dating sites? What are your thoughts on online dating?

Twitter:

Have you had any luck lately with making new friends or dating? Ever considered online dating and how your social media platforms could help? Read my blog to learn all the different ways online dating can exist https://bit.ly/3yE5yHE #onlinedating #DMs

Facebook:

Have you tried Facebook dating or other online dating sites? make you nervous? Read my blog to learn what online dating is like these days! https://bit.ly/3yE5yHE #youvegotamatch #preferences

Algorithms: Smart or Creepy?

Have you ever gone onto social media after a long day of talking with friends, partners, co-workers, etc. And notice some of the things you spoke about are popping up on your feed? This is because our phones are always listening. Platforms use algorithms to understand what their users want individually. No two social media feeds are exactly the same, they are specifically made for each user. Posts you are viewing are not in order of when it was posted but how relevant it is to that you.

Photo by ThisIsEngineering on Pexels

Why Do They Use Algorithms?

Algorithms are used to analyze users’ behaviour and get a better understanding of their likes, dislikes, preferences, and what specific users engage with. This allows platforms to gain more attention and interest from their users who will now spend more time on the app. This also leads to more personalized ads. Now that TikTok for example knows what videos you engage with most, you will see more advertisements for those products or brands. You might also see content creators pop up doing brand deals because people are more likely to stop and shop from a trusting face who is supporting the brand. This is a way for them to gain your attention and hopefully a new customer.

Do All Platforms Have the Same Algorithm?

No, every social media platform has its own algorithm that constantly changes to keep user engagement. TikTok for example has a FYP (for you page). This is different for every user and the videos on everyone’s FYP are based on the videos you interact with the most. If you watch a lot of cooking, cleaning, or makeup videos, that is going to be the majority of the videos on your feed. TikTok is also one of the apps I mentioned before that listens to your conversations, so it can put more related content you’ll interact with on your FYP. Most of us don’t realize this setting is on but do you find it helpful or creepy? Here’s another blog with what Brent Barnhart thinks about algorithms.

Twitter as another example has a different algorithm. Where TikTok has a section specifically to watch videos from your following, Twitter puts tweets from people you follow as well as tweets they think you will be interested in based on your interactions and following list. The algorithm also sends push notifications of recommendations and trending topics. I can be one to say this algorithm worked on me! I kept getting notifications from accounts I didn’t follow but that interested me. This leads me to follow the account and look at more of their tweets and content. Has this ever happened to you?

What Are Your Thoughts?

Algorithms are constantly changing and are hard to keep up with. I like most of you figured out these algorithms on my own, but who knows if they will be the same tomorrow. Apps are constantly being updated to keep up with their user’s needs, and they even add similar features that are popular on other apps to see if they can get the same or more attraction. Each platform is fighting the other for user engagement and it’s interesting to see new updates and features. Do you find algorithms helpful or would you prefer your feed to not be prioritized based on your engagement on each post?

Twitter:

Ever wonder why your feed isn’t always in the order it was posted & why some people are always at the top? Read my blog about algorithms to understand why https://bit.ly/3E9Xgel #algorithms #newsfeed

Facebook:

Do you ever log in for your daily updates and laughs and find yourself interested in every post on your feed? Read my latest blog to know why https://bit.ly/3E9Xgel #personalizedcontent #predictions

Loving Yourself Online

We can all admit that maybe we spend too much time on social media, but what else are we supposed to do while we wait for an appointment, on a lunch break, or are just bored? Our phones are most likely on us 24/7 and most people would rather pull them out and scroll than sit in silence. But what is that doing to our mental health and insecurities? What’s projected into society as the “perfect” body is only attainable with certain bone structures, yet women will do anything to their body to be seen in society as anything close to “perfect”. But what is “perfect”?

Photo by Annushka Ahuja on Pexels

When you see a celebrity post do you believe it’s unedited, unenhanced? Or do you know it is but still want to do everything you can to look like them? If they are the face of a product to lose weight do you believe they actually use it themselves and it works, or are they just in it for the money? This “perfect” hourglass figure doesn’t exist, yet we fall victim to these lies because that’s what society wants us to think. Many celebrities pay big bucks to look the way they do, yet again to fit what’s “hot” in society’s eyes. This body shape is constantly promoted throughout social media and has taken a toll on the mental health of young and older adults, and let’s not forget how children are exposed to technology at such a young age nowadays. There’s only so much time until they’re exposed and trying to fit into society’s standards too.

What about the comments? You’d think if someone made a post up to society’s standards it would all be positive right? Wrong. Of course, you can always have positive and upbringing comments that make you feel amazing about yourself, but you can also get negative body shaming, and insecurity-breaking comments. Comments are so influential, they could make someone take down their once beautiful feeling picture and turn it into hate they now feel for themselves. Words hurt and unfortunately social media is made up of a lot of them. No one should ever feel shame about how they look. There is not one person in the world who is “perfect”. We all have our flaws and insecurities, even these celebrities we perceive as “perfect”. That’s what makes each of us unique and beautiful in our own way. Society needs to change its messages portrayed across the world so everyone knows there’s more than one body shape, and not everyone needs to have the same one.

We need to start living for ourselves and continue spreading positive and loving messages. Stop worrying about what other people will think and focus on what you think. Don’t think men aren’t exposed to the same kind of body shaming every day, it affects them too. You are not alone, but don’t let society win. The next time you post will it be because you love it or because your followers will?

Twitter:

What app made you feel insecure today? Was it a post? Or a comment? Does anyone have the body type society has put in our head as “perfect”? Read my blog & find out https://bit.ly/3C3zW0n #selflove #societysstandards

Facebook:

Trends come and go over the years, even ones that have to do with our bodies. What was the trend that impacted you growing up? Read my latest blog to know mine https://bit.ly/3C3zW0n comment below what yours was! #bodytype #societysstandards