Week 5B: My Business

The business I will be talking about for the remainder of the semester is SK Surfboards. This is a local Encinitas surf shop that sells surfboards, surf apparel, and clothing.

Since I am only 18 I do not own my own business yet. This is just something that I made up because I would love to be involved in the local surf culture by owning a surf shop. I feel you could connect with the people who live here and also I would enjoy helping people who want to learn to surf figure out what to purchase.

I would want to be on all of the major social media sites of todays world. This would most likely include Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube  and possibly snapchat. This would be the best way to market the product of the shop.

My target market would include basically any male or female who lives near here that surfs sometimes or on a regular basis. This would be the main market during winter and once summer kicks in the market expands to a bigger crowd. In the summer Encinitas is filled with people from different areas that are looking for a place to rent surfboards, wetsuits, or any other surf apparel. This shop would be a place where beginners or experienced surfers could find something they want or need. This could include a surfboard, a pair of board shorts, or simply a cool T-Shirt.

Week 5A: Target Markets

The set of websites I looked at were Chili's and Teri Cafe. While these two places share some of the same foods, they seem to be marketing to different groups of people.


One of the biggest differences that I noticed right away was that these websites both have a very different tone/vibe to them. Chilis has huge letters that read "Smokehouse Combos" right in the middle of the page right when you open it. This is what your attention is drawn to immediately and they do that on purpose. Overall Chili's has a much more aesthetically appealing layout to the site, including cool looking fonts, colors and design. The Teri Cafe site gives off a different vibe and seems to be a lot more simple. Since they are a small business they are probably not putting as much effort into the website and are more relying on people just coming into the restaurant. Another big difference is that Chilis is a chain restaurant with different locations across the world, while Teri Cafe is a local restaurant with only about two locations. Chilis website is a lot larger in comparison to the small Teri Cafe one. On Chili's, they have much more to say, while Teri Cafe is simply promoting the food and the daily specials.

The markets for these two places are most certainly different. Teri Cafe is more of a local target market, so basically anyone who lives in San diego or any tourists visiting. Chili's is marketing to a much bigger crowd, since they have their restaurant practically everywhere. Despite this, there still may be some crossover to the markets. They do have some similar foods and are both located in San Diego, so they could potentially be targeting some of the same people. Also the pricing on their food is about the same for the most part, so people who want quality food for a reasonable price may go to either of the restaurants.

To conclude, these two restaurants have many differences, as I pointed out above, but they also share the part of quality food for a good price. They may draw similar crowds at times, even though they have significantly different online websites and contain different overall vibes.

Week 4B: Websites I visit

1.http://www.surfline.com/home/index.cfm

One website I frequently visit is surfline.com. This site is basically the easiest way to check the surf or the surf forecast. The site contains cameras for almost every surf spot and it allows you to look how the waves are without leaving the house. I also visit the in order to watch surf videos or to hear about the latest news in the surfing industry.

I believe this website is very effective and it is perfect for anyone who enjoys surfing videos or just wants to check how the waves look. The website is very easy to follow by having about 8 main tabs at the top. These tabs include all of the main components of the site and are clearly labeled. I would say that the main reason people go on surfline.com is to either check the waves or to look at the forecast for the next week or so. They make it very easy to do this by having a tab that pulls down menu where you can select different regions around the world and then you can go from there. 

Overall this website has a good modern look to it and contains many images to make it look nice. The fonts and colors are not too overwhelming, making it a cool site visit and search through. These are some of the reasons I come back to the site, but in the end the main reason I go back is to check the surf, look at the forecast and just to watch some surf videos. 

The only part I might want to change about surfline is to limit the amount of advertisements that pop up. Now I know this might not be possible, but it would be nice to not have so many ads jumping out at you when you are scrolling around. 

2. https://www.amazon.com/ref=nav_logo

Another website that I use often is Amazon. I commonly go on here to shop for items at a good price and for fast shipping. Online shopping is big now a day and I believe amazon is the best website to buy certain things from, simplifying your shopping needs. 

Amazon has defiantly put together a nice website and they have most certainly made buying specific objects a lot easier. Having the big search bar right in the upper middle section of the website has made it very effective and easy-going. Once you end up searching something it is easy to see what they have on offer and the price is shown right away in semi big blue lettering. 

I enjoy how easy it is to find what you are looking for and to order those things. They also keep a nice list of all the items you ordered in the past and how much you paid for them. All the little things they do to make shopping easier is the main reason I find amazon so effective and user friendly. The website contains a nice simple look and is in no way overwhelming in my opinion. 

One thing amazon could improve on the website is to possibly develop the recommended items part. They usually just put the exact items you ordered in the past since they are sometimes different sellers with the same product. I would like to see some similar items to what I have bought in the past, so that way I may be interested in buying it.

Here are the blogs I commented on for Week 4A
Patrick Conahan
Hernan Hernandez
Andrew Sterk 

  

Week 4A: Website Pro/Cons

The first website I visited was Penny Juice (http://www.pennyjuice.com). This site is very plain and pretty unclear on what it's even about. There are no tabs to click on and everything is in one spot, making it look a little bland and defiantly hard to navigate for the viewers. Another site I found full of problems was the Spot Metering one (http://spotmetering.com). This site is also kind of confusing and there is kind of a lot jumping out at you. The page is not very aesthetically desirable, with it's odd  font, font colors, photos and background. The whole page just seems very out of date and hard to search through.

These websites could both try to upgrade to a more modern look by changing fonts, photos, colors, etc. The Penny Juice one for sure needs to be more clear and include labeled tabs to navigate the site. These sites need to improve these things in order to have a more austhetically pleasing site and draw in more viewers. If they do change theses things I believe it would help people understand what they are showing/selling,  which would only help.

One website that does everything correctly is Apples site (http://www.apple.com). They keep it very up to date, include many good looking photos and it is very easy to find your way around the site. All the tabs at the top are clearly labeled and it makes it very easy to find what you are looking for. Another strong website is Toyota's (http://www.toyota.com). They have avery modern style and everything is all up to date. They make it easy to find the car your looking for by having the "select vehicle" tab and it's a breeze to find whatever you may need.

I would say design and aesthetics are two of the most important parts of having a website. When the site looks good it will draw you in more, causing you to search around. Making your branding look satisfying is also very important and personally it impacts me the most when it looks superb and easy to follow.

Week 3B: Business Websites/Social Media

1. Billabong
- http://www.billabong.com
-Facebook, Google Plus, Instagram, Twitter, Youtube, Vimeo
-All seem to be very well used, except for vimeo hasn't been posted on for 5 months
-Facebook (February 9th), Instagram (Feb13th), Twitter (Feb 7th), Youtube (Feb 13th), Vimeo (September)
Billabong uses their social media very well and the most popular one is Instagram which they post the most on because of all the followers.

2. Burton Snowboards
-https://www.burton.com
-Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Instagram, Pinterest
-All well used
-Facebook (Feb 13th), Twitter (Feb 13th), Youtube (Feb 8th), Instagram (Feb 13th), Pinterest (Unknown)
Burton keeps all their pages up to date and does a good job of displaying their product through cool photos.

3. Channel Islands Surfboards
-http://www.cisurfboards.com
-Youtube, Instagram, Vimeo, Facebook, Twitter
-All pages are used
-Youtube (Feb 5th), Instagram (Feb 13th), Vimeo (Jan 29th), Facebook (Feb 13th), Twitter (Feb 13th)
Channel Islands uses them all very equally except they space out their uploads on Youtube and Vimeo a little more than maybe Instagram, which is normal for these companies

4. Surer Magazine
-http://www.surfer.com
-Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Pinterest
-All pages are used
-Instagram (feb 13th), Facebook (Feb 13th), Twitter (Feb 13th), Youtube (Feb 8th), Pinterest (Unknown)
Surfer Magazine posts an all accounts daily and does a good job at providing what people want to see  in surfing

5. GoPro
-https://gopro.com
-Facebook, Youtube, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest
-All pages used
-Facebook (Feb 13th), Youtube (Feb 13th), Twitter (Feb 13th), Instagram (Feb 13th), Pinterest (Unknown)
GoPro has a very unique marketing tactic since their product is a camera. In doing this they provide very cool photos and videos everyday of their cameras and what they can do

After searching through all these different companies I discovered a few things throughout. One was that everyone of the companies I chose is most active and popular on Instagram They all contain their most amount of followers on there and it seems to be the most popular social media site in todays world. With that said, all of these businesses use all of the networks and different people use other ones more often than others. All of these brands use cool photos to market their product which I find very effective.

While these businesses are all on Youtube or Vimeo this seems to be the least active place. Now, thats not a bad thing though. We don't necessarily need a new video every single day but it's nice how they all upload videos at least weekly. This gives the consumer a good way to check out the product and the athletes that are associated with it.

All of the companies I chose are involved in Surfing and/or snowboarding in some way. This is because I love these things and it is a market I might want to pursue if possible. I think it's important to love what you do so if I could work doing the things I love it would be a lot better for me!

Posts I commented on:
Michael Fanghella
Alexis Holley
Brent Reyes

Week 3A: Social Media Communication

These days it seems relatively easy to me to get in touch with a business, since there are many different ways to contact them. There is always a phone number, an email and many social media sites to try and contact them through. The only time communicating with a business has been hard for me is when I get put on hold for a long period of time or don't get a response to an email that I sent to the business. This doesn't happen every time though, the majority of the time help is easy to find. 

I do believe that social media has made it easier for businesses to solve problems that customers have. With the growing world of social media and technology companies are more intact with providing help, especially over the phone, email or whatever it may be.

With everyone being a part of social media businesses can use this to their advantage to help the company. Social media marketing by businesses has positively affected me simply by making me aware of the new product they offer or by informing me of an exclusive offer I could obtain. For example, if a surf company I like puts out an ad for a new wetsuit they have, chances are that I will only see it if its on social media. So by putting it on these networks it only has positive outcomes. 

Providing businesses with positive and negative comments can always help. If it was my company I would build off the positive comments and learn how to be better from the negative ones. 

Week 2B: Blog Comments

Madison  Burns

Irene Vasquez

Patrick Conahan

Week 2A: Overview of Social Media Use

I would say almost all the social media platforms now a day are used for personal use. Personally I use Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter and Youtube all for my personal use with no business involved. And many friends or people I know could say the same I'm sure. I would say that Snapchat is the one platform geared mostly towards personal use, but people are realizing this and are starting to market even through this.

Now, this doesn't mean these aren't used for business also. All of the social media platforms I listed above are involved in business in various ways. Almost every modern company/business has an Instagram, Facebook, twitter, etc. that they use to promote whatever it is they have to promote. With that said, social media is a very important aspect to marketing these days and everyone tries to use it to their advantage. Almost all these sites also have advertisements all over the place, whether its just a pop up or something on the side, they will have them regardless. We may not think much of those ads that pop up but they at least get us thinking about what is being presented.