Week 8B: Get Visual

I believe visuals are most certainly a very important part of most businesses these days, especially with social media growing rapidly. Visuals are for sure a big part of my business and having cool images would help out the marketing a lot. If  I upload pictures of surfing that draw people in, that will only help the growth of the company.
Here are some businesses somewhat similar to mine:
1. Billabong, Last Post-March 27th
Visuals of their product seem to work very well on their Instagram. They have 1.3M followers and usually get about 15,000-25,000 likes on a photo. This ratio is not that good overall but they still do a good job with providing cool visuals of the product. Billabong also receives a fair amount of comments on their photos but it is not anywhere near their amount of followers.

2. Hansens Surfboards, Last Post- March 27th
This is a very similar business to mine, by being a local small business of Encinitas. On their Instagram they have 14K followers and get about 200-500 likes on a average photo. This also isn't the best ratio, but this is the same for every Instagram account out there. With that said, they also do a good job of providing visuals that people like to see.

Most business social media accounts these days have a bad follower to likes ratio, but it is something every company deals with. Now, just because they didn't receive a ton of likes it doesn't mean that they didn't receive a ton of views. A lot of people today follow big companies and don't end up liking their posts because they may feel that the business gets enough likes as it is. When these businesses upload aesthetically pleasing photos then they will get more likes and attention. That is why having good visuals is a major part of social media marketing today.

Week 8A: Get Visual

I would most certainly say that visuals would be a huge part of my business. Visuals are the most effective and powerful way to draw in the consumers to your product. By having a very cool looking image this makes it more likely for the viewer to stop scrolling and actually read what it's about.

With that said, this is the order I rank the 8 platforms for my Surfboard company:
1. Instagram
2. Youtube
3. Facebook
4. Snapchat
5. Twitter
6. Tumblr
7. Pinterst
8. Google+

From what I have experienced recently, Instagram is probably the most popular social media network that everyone has. I think this would be the most effective way to market because it allows me share exclusive photos or videos with the viewers. Like I said earlier, people are drawn to visuals and Instagram is for sure one of the best places demonstrate those images. I would say Facebook (my #3 choice) shares similar qualities with Instagram, by being able to upload any photo or video that you'd like.

I chose Youtube for my second choice mainly because of the type of business that I am running. There are many different types, models and shapes of surfboards, so Youtube would allow me to show these various boards in action and give the viewer a good idea of what its like. My 4th overall choice, which is Snapchat, is a little different than most of these other sites but I think it is very important. I have had a Snapchat for a pretty long time now and  I would say this is the number two most used social media site for most people. Over the years I have seen different companies make their way into using this network as a great marketing tool. Snapchat would allow me to kind of give a "behind the scenes" look at whats going on with the company and I could also simply upload photos/videos of the product to here.

The three that I think are the least important for my business would be Tumblr, Pinterest and Google+. These are the three I am least familiar with and I would say more people use Instagram or Facebook over these. Despite this, I would still try to use these networks because the more platforms you are involved in, the more people you will draw in.

Here is the link to the Instagram I just created: https://www.instagram.com/sksurfboards/

Week 7B: Scheduled Posts

I believe these posts are a good way to kick off my Facebook marketing. The first post shows an example of some of the product and it is encouraging people of all skills to come by and grab a new board for the spring.
The second post is trying to grab peoples attention by saying that the shop will be having a sale. Discounted product always encourages customers to actually come in to see what kind of deal they can get. Just by drawing people in with a sale can lead to them buying other products available, benefiting the store.
The third post is simply to give an example of the product by showing a video of it in action. This allows people to see what the boards are capable of and might cause them to come purchase one. I also used my self as a "team rider" just to give an example of how sponsoring people to use your product can help.

Week 7A: Facebook Page Likes

These are all of the pages I liked as my account (Sk Surfboards):
Nixon
Hurley
Billabong
Surfrider Foundation
Surfer
Stab Magazine
Hansen Surfboards

All of the pages that I chose to like are involved in the surf industry in some way, so since my business is in this market it is good to check out similar companies in the field. Some of these pages are clothing/surf gear companies while some are magazines that upload all the latest surf news on to their social media sites. With that said, I think its important to follow all of these successful businesses in order to model mine after theirs.  Since my initial target market is basically anyone who surfs it is a good idea to like these pages because they all contain the same followers.

By liking theses businesses on my page I will be able to see how they are successfully using social media. I will also be able to get a really good idea of the people I will be trying to market to and how to get it done correctly.

Week 6B: Facebook Insights

 What is the difference between post reach and post engagement? 
Post reach is the measure of how many people have actually seen your post. This can be an important aspect for a business to see how they are doing and can help them improve their business overall. Post engagement is kind of similar but it is different in a couple ways. This shows how many actual views, clicks, comments or shares that your post contains. This can also be an important way to benefit your business and maybe realize what needs to be changed.

I think this difference can be seen as important because if you have a high reach this does not necessarily mean that you are getting to your initial target market. You may have random people seeing your page and not doing anything about it. I believe reach and engagement work together and it is important to have high levels of both. In order to become successful the business needs to know what ways their marketing is affective and what ways they need to improve.

How can a business use Facebook insights to better serve their customers?
Facebook insights provide a lot of certain tools to help out the business, whether its amount of views, gender of the viewers or what time people are viewing it can all be valuable information to that business. With all this data they can see the overall growth of the company and learn ways to improve. By being able to see what posts gained the most likes, comments and views the business can  model future posts to be like the successful ones in the past. To conclude, using insights only benefits a business by basically being able to see what is working and what is not.

Facebook Page

Here is the link to my hypothetical local business, SK Surfboards!
https://www.facebook.com/SK-Surfboards-1206721486110242/?ref=aymt_homepage_panel