Week 17 Last Post

Hmm, how has my use of social media changed? Well I guess you could say I have a better understanding of the SM platforms that our available to me as a business owner. As I have stated previously Facebook is still the number one platform for my business, however I am going to push ads heavy on Instagram in the coming months. Growing my followers list on Instagram is only going to translate into more customers on Facebook or whatever platform I'm using in the future.

Our business is thriving and has been for sometime even before this course, but I have to say using the information I have learned is helping me do more to grow our engagement on SM platforms. The lectures helped me understand why it is important to be consistent with your SM posts and how that in an of itself can grow your customer engagement. Not just "likes" but real content even non-selling engagement is getting more people to my business page.

My view point on SM has not changed, it has expanded but not changed, SM is here and its here to stay so you better get on or be left behind like Sears and Toys R Us. I'm not saying you can't be successful with out SM, but you can be a whole lot more successful with it. One thing is now I'm struggling to choose my platforms, Facebook is where I'm comfortable and for now that is where the customers are, but there are so many more choice. Look at what we are all doing right now "Blogging", its fun and easy and if you do it right the reach is endless.

If I was starting a new business today I would have a good grasp on what I need to do to be successful on SM. I just may start a new company just because of all the things I have learned this semester, not just from this class but from all my Marketing classes and Management classes. No matter what the take aways from this class lead me in the right direction, so thank you for that.

I don't know if I found anything new that I would use for myself, there are tools that I now know about but they have always been there I just didn't pay them any mind. The other students have some great businesses and I will continue to follow them on SM, but will I use their services or products I don't know. In general I don't really focus on anything more then my family and business, but as I have said the future is SM and with this exposure to it maybe I will find something I have been looking for.

#lulabrojay

week 16 post 2

I commented on the only 2 Bloggs within my group: Matthew Dangyou and Adriana Macias.

Week 16 post 1

What a wild and crazy semester this has been, full of ups and downs, good days and bad. One thing that has been consistent is this rad class, having learned so much about all the different social media platforms and how they can benefit my brand. Out of all the platforms the two that work best for me are still Facebook and Instagram at the present time. As for the platform that is the least desirable for my business Twitter, its not a bad platform, just not right for me.

When you get down to what matters from each platforms available tools, Facebook Insight is by far the number one tool for my business needs. Utilizing FB insight I can track the information I need to make informative business decisions like, is the ROAS or CPC worth what I am spending on the advertising I'm running.

For me Social Media is my number one market place, so I spend 98.9% of my time advertising on SM platforms such as FB and ISG.

Here is a look into how my work week looks on Social Media:

Mon - Fri
8am - Instagram post "Morning Coffee" with a picture of what my morning is looking like
830am - Facebook live "Morning Coffee with Jay" this is a non-sales live, just talking and engaging with my consumers "VIP's"
12pm - Engagement post, this is to drive the FB algorithms so my content is shared in more places
230pm - Text alert sent to all those VIP's that have "Opt'd In"
3pm - FB live sale
9pm - Late night FB Live sale

Sat
Engagement post, this is our day off so we keep it light and fun.

Sun
9am - Morning post with information about the 11am FB live sale

Week 15 post 2

Here is the last 7 days, we have been taking care of a lot of other business this week and haven't been super present on this page. Tomorrow is a new day and we will start to hit running again.

Week 15 post 1

Since most of our business comes from Facebook, it only makes sense for me to use Facebook Insights (Analytics). This tool gives me the information that I need to ensure the ads Im running are working. Since Facebook is big on engagement, this tool lets me see if I need to up the engagement so my post are seen.

Week 14 post

These are our currently running ads. We will be updating these pictures soon, we are doing a big photo shoot soon.

Week 13 post 1

I find this Blog to be a bit hard for me, trying to find 5 businesses similar to mine should be easy. On the contrary it isn't that easy, I mean sure its women clothing and there are a million companies, but I don't find them to be like ours. I will the basses of MLM's in general and find companies that sell products as close to ours as I can or that use a similar model for selling online.

1. Looking within my own company LuLaRoe (LLR) there are some very big sellers $100K a month, their advertising is awesome utilizing Facebook and Instagram as the primary. That being said I know the amount they are paying for their ads and I would say that its not worth it in the end. Over $20-$30K a month is crazy.

2. Dot Dot Smile, another MLM business that is doing well, however most of the retailers were previously LLR retailers and the ads are very much the same with just a name change.

3. Decided to throw Gucci in the mix, I mean do they really even need to advertise to us commoners. LOL. Anyways they have an enormous advertising budget and with 18 million likes on Facebook I would say we are not in the same, well anything. However I do like the artistry of their photography and the almost total disregard for public acceptance in that aspect. I also find some of what they do completely off the charts annoying, lets face it half of styles they show look like it belongs in a circus act.

4. Wild at Heart Boutique, this is a similar concept to LLR and is advertised quite a bit on Facebook and Instagram. The ads are decently made and target the same demographic that I do with my own ads. I did find the that the diversity in sizes was not captured well in the advertising which I understand, but I don't agree with it. So for that reason it is kind of hitting me the wrong way and as a consumer I can only imagine plus size ladies my be uncomfortable asking questions.

5. Ok just found this company by searching "Companies like LLR" Buskins leggings, they do advertise on SM and offer free shipping. The biggest draw back in my eyes is they don't offer very good customer service, I tried to ask a question and didn't get a reply as of yet. Also the quality of their ads isn't that great, kind of sloppy.

Ok so to compare the different types of advertising you have to look at what the product line is, some products really don't make sense to advertise in a traditional manner. That being said I find SM advertising more engaging for me, I think that print media is dying and even magazines are utilizing digital and SM more and more. For small business its not even worth trying print media as it is expensive and your content must be made available so far in advance that major changes in your business may take place before your ad ever runs. Traditional advertising is for big budget companies in my opinion, now I wish I was at a point where I could say man I need to run more ads on TV or Radio and maybe one day I will.

Week 12 post 1& 2

Part 1:

After reading and exploring a lot of different SM marketing options nothing seems to have the reach as the traditional SM sites I currently use. Facebook being the number one for our business and instagram number two, even twitter hasn't really been that great for our specific brand. With our demographic being females between the ages 38 to 65 the trend seems to be on Facebook, however I'm going to try and see if I can find some new customers using Linked-in. Linked-in is more of a professional based SM platform which plays into my business with the clothing we sell, so taping into this market my be a benefit.

Part 2:

After using my go to site for all things SM "Social Media Examiner" I think I might give Youtube a try, using the site to make videos on how to style our clothing brand and just to talk about all things LLR. Unlike other brands our styling teams setup amazing tutorials on how to style the new patterns with existing ones, with helps to move "old" product using the new. Perhaps doing my own version of this for customers we will see an uptick in sales, either way its a small investment so why not.

week 11 post 1

If I had to send out a newsletter it would be a monthly letter, I find news letters to be very ineffective to begin with. Im sure for some businesses they might work well I just know when I get things like this it automatically goes into the trash. So like I said if I sent one it wold be monthly and this is what would be in it.

- Fashion tips for our clothing line, this would show our clients how to style different pieces with each other.
- New styles being released for that given month.
- There would be a spot in it for customer testimonials.

Anyways this would be my monthly newsletter.

Week 10 Post #2

Since my business caters to women's fashion my target market would be Fashion, clothing, Disney (we carry a whole line of Disney products) and body positive. Breaking that down a little more the focus in the "fashion" would be style with comfort in mind, as for "clothing" I would go into specific category of the products. When it comes to Disney there are a lot of licensing agreements and rules that must be followed, so that would take some creativity. Now the "body positive" is the most exciting for me, I want our customers to feel awesome in our products, stepping out into the world looking fresh, stylish and put together ready to "Slay the Day".



I also commented on the following Blogs:

- Tracey Walz
- Sierra Gilardi
- Francesca Haman

Week 10 Human Interest

Adding the human factor to blogs, posts, or whatever brings a sense of community to a business. This reminds me of something I was just told recently "People don't buy what you do, they buy why you do it" or "People don't buy what you sell, they buy why you sell it". In our business we call this our "Why", by adding emotion or personal thought we connect with our customers on a level that is more then just retailer and consumer. The sale feels better when it comes organically, if I have to push something on someone for them to buy it I might get one sale out of them, but if I can connect and build that trust I will have a shopper for life. Now of course there is a time and place for everything, on my public business page I might not share as many personal thoughts, but when you become a VIP member thats when we really get to know each other and build that trust. So finding that balance that works for your business or service really comes down to you as a business owner and what it is you are looking for.

Week 9

Twitter Account: https://twitter.com/JayLulabro

My first experience with Twitter, I'm so lost! However I am intrigued at how fast and now it is, also how I can run ads for my business.

As for the searching like businesses I used some generic searches, Fashion, Style, fashion photography, and Entrepreneur.

UPDATE: I made two list, however I don't know what that means other then I need to do some more research. I also refined some of my searches, since we sell "Disney By LuLaRoe" I searched all my Disney lovers.

Week 8 Post 1

Hey everyone, so this is going to be the alternate assignment for part one:

Currently we are using Facebook and Instagram for our social media platforms, Facebook generates about 95% of my business through the Group pages, Lives, and Advertising. It can get pretty nerve racking when things like what happened yesterday on Facebook and Instagram bring business to a halt, we do have a shopping link outside of Facebook but its brand new and not everyone knows about it yet. I am pretty new to Instagram with only 115 followers and 32 posts, however our Facebook VIP group has over 1800 followers and we are very active there. The Hashtags that we use for Instagram vary depending on what we are wearing and where we are, but below are a few.

 #lularoe, #lularoe(and whatever style we have on), #lulabro, #lularoeaddict, #fashion, #highfashion, #streetstyle, #kidsfashion, #modernfashion, #shop, #shoponline, #styleblogger, and I end all of them with #oneradluladad

Within the comments we make sure to reference our "Shopping link" thats in the Bio.
 www.teamjellystyle.com

The goal now is to expand and branch out to other media, this way when Facebook has issues we aren't loosing sales and revenue. Yesterday cost us about $2K in sales which isn't crazy for other businesses but for us that is a bad day. We had a brand new style launch and it was delivered on Wednesday, expecting to do about $6K over the next three days loosing one day is a big deal. Due in part to fast thinking and emails we were able to cut some of those loses, but its very important to have multiple sources or platforms to work from.

So as this is my actual business page today I added all updated product albums, I know it called for scheduled post but this is going to generate profit. The vast majority of my scheduled post go into our VIP group within Facebook and unfortunately you can't show activity logs from group pages. Today I loaded 1800 pictures broken up into 28 product style albums.
www.teaamjellystyle.com

Week 7 Post 1

Here are the 7 Facebook pages I liked:

https://www.facebook.com/RockThomasOfficial/?epa=SEARCH_BOX
https://www.facebook.com/Alpha-leaders-344060432851374/
https://www.facebook.com/LuLaRoe/
https://www.facebook.com/EntMagazine/
https://www.facebook.com/theonlinentrepreneur/
https://www.facebook.com/wordsofsuccess/
https://www.facebook.com/Vogue/

I picked these seven because they embody what I'm looking for within my own business. Rock Thomas's story is amazing, Alpha-Leaders have great motivation, LuLaRoe is the brand I'm representing, Entrepreneur Magazine has great articles to draw from, The Online Entrepreneur gives ideas for online success, Words of Success I use for quotes on my business page, and Vogue to keep current on the world of fashion. Using all of these pages helps put me in the right headspace to strive for more.

Week 6 Post Reach V's Post Engagement

Well thanks to some changes within Facebook I know this pretty well, and use it daily. First, post reach is really not that useful, sure it tells how many people your post is reaching but that does me no good if they aren't clicking or commenting. So for me the second part is more beneficial, post engagement is what drives my business page to end up on your feed. See Facebook wanted to get back to meaningful engagement and a way from all the business ads in your news feeds, I understand its a 'SOCIAL Media" site, but man did it through me for a loop until I understood it. you have to understand that all the engagements have a face value "Like, Love, Emoji, and comments" all factor in your "Post Engagement". With likes being the lowest value and comments being your highest, oh and a bonus if you get your page folders to engage with each other on your posts. When Facebook see all this content engagement they flag it as important and boom I'm back in your news feed.

Facebook insight is how I determine when I am going to go live, broken into days and times I know the best times for engagement on my page is. We go live at least 3 times a week so this insight tool helps us know when to set our schedule for the week. Insight will also let you know what type of post are getting the best engagements "Lives or Wall Drops" this can help you determine what posts to "Boost".

Week 5 point 2

Our Target Market can be quit broad, however we try to stick to what has worked best for our LuLaRoe business. The ads that we have running on Facebook presently our targeting women between the ages of 25 to 60 that live in the U.S. Since its not cost effective to ship outside of the U.S, we stick to only domestic sales at the moment. We also use some Psychographics as well, Disney is a big one since we have a licensing deal with Disney to carry clothing displaying Disney characters. The size range for our adult women lines are 0-28 so we have items to fit a vast majority of body shapes in flattering stylish clothing and thats what we pride ourselves on.

More importantly LuLaRoe Ellie Lamay & Jay is more than just our brand, we have built a community of amazing women that are more confident about the way they look and feel in clothing. These relationships will last far past that of a clothing brand, with the sense of friendship and family that our small little Facebook group has for one another is the real reason we do what we do. We truly love our VIP's and know about their families and if they are having a hard time or an amazing new opportunity has come their way. This is a business and if I said making money wasn't the point I would be bad at business, but its not just about selling product for us, we enjoy just getting to know members and their story.

www.teamjellystyle.com

Week 5 post 1

Armstrong and Myrtle Creek


Right away you can see the difference between the two companies and their target market, first I will talk about Armstrong followed by Myrtle Creek.

Armstrong: Big box brand focused on the middle aged homeowner or house flipper, its all about the big projects with them. Their website has all the information needed to make an educated decision, but lacks a sense of warmth and personality. I only found one social media link to Instagram, it is possible I over looked more, but it wasn't advertised very well if there were more.

Myrtle Creek: A very different feeling when the website opens, its like a country homestyle vibe. Very much targeting the younger family that maybe wants to get out and have an experience and also purchase some new plants. you can tell its not a generic big bulk type nursery, but more of a spread out see things as you would in nature where the plants and flowers naturally grow. Their social media is right at the bottom of the page with links to all 7 media outlets, which also make me feel that they target a younger demographic then Armstrong.

Week 4 post 2

www.netflix.com

My first pick is Netflix, I visit this site multiple times a day. the effectiveness that comes with the ability to set viewing privileges and profiles is awesome. Having young kids this feature is important, although the kids don't use it all that much when they do I know what shows they're watching. When you first set-up your profile you fill out specific genre of film, TV or whatever you feel, in turn Netflix's gives you daily options of show that meet your preference. However their App is not the easiest to navigate in terms of changing profile preferences, so for that I would say they can do better in tis department. Overall they are a solid website.

www.yelp.com

Ok so I think everyone uses Yelp nowadays, so for me to tell you how rad they are would be silly, right? Well to bad I'm telling you anyways, the home screen is ever changing with new and popular in your area, discover unique experiences around you, I love this. For being as widely used as it is, the simplicity and user friendly App is refreshing as it is not over complicated. With reviews being left on almost everything on the market having this one stop shop for me is the reason I return. To be honest I can't think of anything I would like them to change.

Week 4 part 1

Websites that could use some modification to make them more user friendly:

Gatenfences.com- This website comes up as possible spam this will turn off a good number of customers with the thought of identity theft. I'm sure its not that hard to change something within its identity to rectify this issue, this in turn would allow more access. One can only imagine if it was as easy as say Apple's website they would have increased customer looks and interaction again creating more business.

Jamilin.com- This site is way to busy, its confusing with the amount of content at one time. To many redirects with hyper text every other word, because of all the content it took me a minute to figure out what the product was. As a consumer I want my shopping experience to be pleasant and really want to know what it is I am buying, I feel that this site is losing customers with the aesthetics of the site. They could maybe categorize the hyper text, clean up all the different boxes and make an eye catching home page.

Websites that are doing thing right:

Toyota.com- Ok Toyota has a great page layout and they play into whats trending and know the target market right off the bat, music, extreme sports and off road. Their site is easy to navigate and I found myself building a Toyota 4Runner while doing this assignment, it took me a second to remember I went to the site for school. they collect data in the form of zip codes and the type off vehicle you are searching, I fully expect to have Toyota ads popping up for the next few days on any social media I use.

Apple.com- With a $1 Billion marketing and advertising budget and you sell tech products your website better be on point! Apple has an aesthetically pleasing site, they also have all their product lines separated so you can shop according to what it is your looking for without going through a ton of products your don't need or want. Again I find myself scrolling though and looking at things as I try to complete this assignment and I don't need anything at the present time. All in all you can tell who has a solid marketing team and the difference it plays in your website and business overall.

Week 3 part 2

1.  Dukes in La Jolla
2.  URL: www.dukeslajolla.com
3.  Facebook, Twitter, Instagram
4.  They use their links equal it looks like
5.  Facebook: Feb 6th, Twitter: Feb 6th, Instagram: Feb 6th
6.  I would say 5 days since the last post isn't bad, but its not good either considering we are three days from Valentines and there isn't anything posted about that days menu or anything.

1.  T-Mobile
2.  URL: www.t-mobile.com
3.  Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube
4.  Their social media use is excellent, however they seem to favor Instagram.
5.   Facebook: Feb 10th, Twitter: Feb 10th, Instagram: 1 hour ago, Youtube: 1 week ago
6.  Their content is good and keeping up with current trends. The way they use their target market is putting them ahead of the competition in this space.

1.  Vistaprint 
2.  URL: www.vistaprint.com
3.  Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest
4.  I was pretty surprised that they use their social media as much as they do.
5.  Facebook: 20 hours ago, Twitter: Feb 7th, Instagram: 20 hours ago, Pinterest: 2 weeks ago
6.  I use this company for all my business cards and advertising for my own business and the reason is because we saw their ads online. They do prefer Facebook and Instagram over the other two platforms, makes sense with the ad space in both.

1.  Fedex
2.  URL: www.fedex.com
3.  Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Youtube
4.  with the look of their social media use I would say they more of a traditional TV commercial ad type of company, although they do use Twitter as the main social media vehicle.
5.  Facebook: Feb 9th, Twitter: 12 hours ago, Linkedin: unknown, Youtube: 1 week ago
6.  I do believe getting into the Facebook space more regularly could benefit them, the amount of online shopping that takes place their means there are a lot of packages needing to be shipped.

1.  Redbox
2.  URL: www.redbox.com
3.  Facebook, Twitter, instagram, pinterest, Snapchat
4.  Twitter is the preferred social media with Facebook a close second, the content is more generic and not really much of what I would say catches my eye.
5.  Facebook: 10 hours ago, Twitter: 5 hours ago, Instagram: 4 days ago, Pinterest: 2 years ago, Snapchat: Unknown
6.  Do I care that yesterday was Jennifer Aniston's birthday not really, but maybe that will get consumers think about the movies she is in and they will go rent one. To me its not the best use of your marketing dollars but who knows.

Blogs I commented on Week 3

This week I commented on:
Lisa Haas
Adriana Macias
Lynne Stewart

Blog Post Week 3 Part 1

1. Yes I have had some nightmarish experience with one business in particular, AT&T is by far the worst company to communicate with. It got to the point that I logged my call times and every name of every person I spoke to, but in the end none of that mattered. forty six and half hours of my life I will never get back, but if you look at like basically two days to determine that I never want to do business with them again is better than years of bad service, so I guess it wasn't all bad.

2. Social media definitely makes it easier, just this week I used "chat" to talk to the customer service folks at T-Mobile. Fast and easy and the ability to screen shot my conversation in the event I have to refer back to it.

3. Referring to the above mentioned T-Mobile experience, they have their stuff together. Friendly, fast, and to the point is exactly what I look for in customer service. Time is valuable and the fact that T-Mobile takes that into consideration during customer interactions is why I choose to use there services.

4. You have to take the good with the bad, not everyone is going to have the experience that they might have wanted. Its unrealistic to think you can make everyone happy or cater to all their needs, however being polite and addressing the specifics regardless of the nature of the comment will go a long way. Try to find a solution to change the customers mind if they had a negative experience, leaving the customer with a positive interaction may bring them back or at the very least show that you truly care about their concern. This can also change the mind of a potential customer that is reading reviews, the response to a negative comment could mean the difference in them staying or leaving.

Week two part 2

I also commented on the following Blogs

- Tracey
- Lynne
- Bassel

Check their blogs out, Lynne has quit the list of social media site! Never knew about half of them...

Week two part 1:

1. In my opinion Instagram and Twitter make for the best personal use social media platforms, although I don't have any experience with other social media sites. Personally I use Instagram for advertising my business as do a lot of my fellow entrepreneurs, but many of my family and friends use it to post random pictures and things like that. As for Twitter again I don't have Twitter, nor do I know much about it, but what I do know is maybe not everyone should have an account! It seems to be a place to run your mouth about things you would never say in person.

2. For business I would go with Facebook and Instagram, having the ability to run banner ads on Facebook has increased my sales greatly. Like I said before, I use Instagram for my business as well, but mainly as a way to advertise my products through personal pictures of me and my family wearing our inventory. Being able to have business pages and Facebook live events offers a reach that you can't duplicate anywhere else. With a click of a button you can use a URL that links you to all our social media and our Facebook VIP business page www.teamjellystyle.com. How amazing is that?

3. As I explained above, Facebook is great for my business, but it is equally great for personal use, in my opinion. I have family all over this country and across the pond in England and Ireland. Facebook has been our main way of keeping in contact with one another for years. Group pages make it very convenient for all of us to stay in the know as a family and again giving us the ability to go live and interact is priceless when you are separated by such great distances.   

Blogs I commented on:

- Matthew
- Cristina
- Austin

Their blogs have good content and give you a glimps into their lives, really enjoyed reading the blogs.

Why this theme

To be completely honest I picked this theme because I liked the color contrast between the black and blue. I haven't the slightest idea of what I'm doing when it comes to blogging, but I hope to gather a better understanding through this course and spice up my blog layout.