Friday, September 30, 2022
Week 6-part B: Creating and Scheduling Facebook Posts
Thursday, September 29, 2022
Week 6 Part A: Engaging your customers- Facebook strategy
The seven businesses I thought can have a strategic connection to mine are 626 Night Market, Tea Around the World, Fox 5 San Diego, Mary Bishop Photography, Scripps Health, Lamb Screen Printing, and Encinitas Elks Lodge#2243. I picked these businesses because I felt that they all can be impactful with Encinitas Donuts.
626 Night Market: is the largest night market in the United States. It specializes in food, beverages, socialization, and entertainment. It has 148,860 likes on Facebook and 151,563 followers. The 626 Night Market originated from San Gabriel Valley, which is northeast of Los Angeles. They post upcoming events and vendors within the food and beverage industry. Photos are primally used on their post to be more interesting. They're consistent with posting every day with different foods, especially desserts. I automatically hit the following button to stay updated for myself. Viewing their recent post, 626 Night Market will be in San Diego this November until mid-December. I'm glad I stumbled upon this business. With over 148k likes and 151k followers, I'd say they have great customer engagement. Who doesn't like food, drinks, and entertainment?
Tea Around the World: is a catering business of tea and pastries, served in culinary fashion form. Their page was created in October 2013. They have 98 likes and 102 followers. Unfortunately, the last post they posted on was December 1, 2013. I'm not sure if they still exist. The website is pretty vague. From my understanding Tea around the World has catered to many different countries. Landing big contracts with high end hotels and private venues and continuing that business relationship. I chose them because I like tea and pastries. I like the tea party vibe. It's nostalgic for me. Tea Around the World posts photos from the events they catered. From looking at the pictures, the location looks luxurious. If I had them as a connection, offering their tea and our donuts, perhaps we would all profit from it. Vendor relationship. They barely have any customer engagement. 2013 was the last post they shared. I do like how the creator was engaging with viewers by asking them questions pertaining to the business.
Fox 5 San Diego: San Diego's local news media, sports, and entertainment. I've been a viewer since I moved here in 2015. I enjoy watching the support local businesses segment. It's great PR to advertise a business that no one's heard of. Photos and videos are what they use to post and be more interesting. Photos of current events along with videos of the news anchors interviewing guests. What I learned from viewing their page is that you need simplicity is enough for the audience. Very direct and straight to the point, with less tabs to navigate. 561k followers I'd say they have a substantial amount of customer engagement.
Scripps Health: It is a nonprofit health organization, providing high quality patient care. My first born was delivered at Scripps Encinitas and the birthing facility was great. It was easy to register for birthing classes through their website. Their Facebook page is well informative. They use videos and images to keep the page interesting and important. I learn that it's impactful when you add patient feedback on your page. It directs you to an email link where you can voice your concerns, opinions, or praise. 34,347 likes, 35,699 followers, and 12,199 check ins. A good amount of engagement.
Mary Bishop Photography: Local family photographer in San Diego. I like her page because I felt the warmth and friendliness by the creator and looking at the photos she posts. Perhaps in the future she and I can collaborate. Her taking high quality photos of our business and we promote her by posting pictures she took onto our social media. Giving her photo credits and tagging her business. Since it is a photography page, photos are what she uses to keep it relative. Most of her content is outdoorsy pictures and nature setting. I learned that authenticity is important. You have to be passionate about what you want to do in order to be successful. 160 likes and 159 followers of customer interaction.
Lamb Screen Printing: Family owned and operated custom printing and embroidery for businesses. This business is run by a classmate of mine. I don't personally know the creator, but the cute dog caught my attention. My husband has brought up customizing t-shirts for the donut shop. Ones to wear during business hours and some to sell. Our own merch. The posts that they create are from previous companies they worked with and events that they were involved in. Great self-promoting. I learned that being pertinent to your community, you need market yourself to local events. Food markets, festivals, street fairs, or fundraisers. 309 followers. Majority of their clients are through word of mouth.
Encinitas Elks Lodge #2243: Fun local socialization venue that's also available to rent out for private events. Community musicians, happy hour, and my all-time favorite Bingo! Great place to escape from reality and have some mental clarity. I enjoy viewing the entertainment they offer. A great place to meet new people and possibly build friendships. Encinitas Donuts would love to work with Encinitas Elks Lodge if ever they need a donut supplier. Patrons can have donuts and refer to others about our establishment. I enjoy the images and written content about upcoming events and the next taco night! With 1.1k likes and 1.2k followers I learned that creativity and originality will help your business grow.
Monday, September 26, 2022
Week 5 Part B: Facebook data collecting
Post reach and post engagement are two essential tools on Facebook for businesses. For example, post reach shows how many people are researching your content or show interest. It captures viewers looking to see what a business is offering and how many times they are viewing it. Post engagement is when an audience is fully engaged in the content of a business. Either " liking, commenting, sharing, putting offers, or link clicks in regard to the content. With all the data collecting, it allows a business to make adjustments for room of improvement or capitalize on something that's popular or key items.
We have noticed folks asking about our donut shop and how they can contact us. I know a person has suggested making vegan and gluten free donuts, which is on the idea board. It was a great way to be involved and engaged with our customers. I felt a genuine connection with everyone who responded to my post. I'm excited to see how far our Facebook page goes. According to the textbook, " it's about your customers, not your brand." Our business is obviously donuts. Earlier I posted on our page, what's everyone's favorite donut. With the responses we got, we were able to increase the amount of chocolate and cake donuts for our customers. We ended the day 10% more than yesterday.
Pages I liked and commented:
(1) Protein for Pets Vista | Facebook
Saturday, September 17, 2022
Week 4 Post 2: Target Market Research for Goods and Services of Encinitas Donuts
Our target market is the working-class consumers, families, teenagers, and retires. Depending on the day, our market varies. This research is being conducted into improving missed opportunities within the business. We have been around for 35 years at the exact same location. Servicing many folks from all walks of life. Our hour of operation is from 4am-2pm, or until we sell out. During the times of 4:30am-9am, we have a line outside full of wage-earning customers. Around noon, is the lunch rush. Typically, high school students and senior citizens. Our goal is to continue our client relationships and grow between generations.
Our customers are either on a budget or prefer something quick to eat. "Donuts are limit in quantity with less cost also a wide variety of flavors, and it enhances the time because it's baked food. "Global Donuts Market - Size, Outlook, Trends and Forecasts (2019 – 2025) (envisioninteligence.com)
Wednesday, September 14, 2022
Week 4 Post 1
The two businesses I picked were Subway and Hungry Bear. A little back story of the two businesses. Subway started in 1965 by Fred Deluca and his buddy Dr. Peter Buck. $1000 was invested by Dr. Buck as a quick service restaurant industry. First location opened in Bridgeport, CT. As for Hungry Bear, no specific date on when they debuted but it does mention that they are local based out of Vista.
Some of the demographics of Subway consumers are people who are on a tight budget, anyone can enjoy a decent sub at any age, and may have multiple family members to feed. Psychographics would be a person who is constantly on the go, watches what they eat (fresh), and physically active. For Hungry Bear Deli, I'd say the demographics are gen Z. A person who is working in the office from your typical 9-5 Monday through Friday. A young to middle aged single person. Makes above the average income. The psychographics would be a person who is not cautious about healthy food choices, a foodie, and lives locally.
First thing I noticed with the Subway website, is that they offer many perks and deals. A membership with exclusive deals, special offers on your first purchase, and an app for quicker online ordering. Hungry Bear on the other hand, has an offer when you become a VIP member. It's quite vague and no full description on what exactly you get. The subtle differences are the choices on the menu. With Hungry Bear, you can choose from specialty salads, regular salads, and more meat options. A grilled burger sub. Say what? Sounds delish but also a clogged artery waiting to happen. I don't think there is a crossover between the two customers. I feel like it's more about location and personal convenience.
The large international chain has more of a user-friendly website. Easy to navigate, readable, and the alignment of the content made it easy to go through the page. The brand colors, white, green, and yellow, were repetitive and had my attention. As for the local establishment nothing really caught my attention. The red font was too light to read. Pop menu was the company who designed the website. Quite a few pictures of sandwiches. However, I do wish they would have mention what brand they use for drinks. The typography used was pretty basic nothing didn't stand out. The pictures on the website I'm assuming are what drives consumers to come in.
Sunday, September 11, 2022
Week 3 Part B: Developing a Brand
The brand I chose is Encinitas Donuts House. It has been around for 30+ years ran by my in-laws, Sonny and Maria. All the donuts are made fresh every day, 7 days a week, all year round with the exception of major holidays. Their clientele is a majority of day labor workers, locals, and folks who are passing thorough. With this business being a mom-and-pop shop, their social media pages aren't as visible as it should be. Here is where I come in to help promote them digitally. They currently have an Instagram account with the front of the shop as their profile picture and 4 followers including myself and 0 posts.
We currently don't have a tagline, but we have thought about using, " family owned and operated since 1985" or " freshly made donuts daily with a smile." My in-laws really don't market themselves besides word of mouth. Like mentioned before, Encinitas Donuts are made daily from scratch. Being in the same location for three decades. The choice of colors they picked for a color scheme is red, yellow and white. Where's the significance? There isn't. Once my husband and I take over, we decided to change the colors to pink, brown, and white. Pink to represent the pink boxes which is a staple in the donut world business. Brown to signify the dough and white to symbolize frosting/ glaze.
The logo now is the name of the business followed by graphics of a coffee cup and some donuts. Going forward I don't think we will change the logo. It goes well with the brand. We will definitely use the logo on our Instagram page. Also, we plan to get customize ink stamps to stamp the pink boxes. There have been a few occasions where I volunteered at my son's elementary school to bring donuts. Parents and teachers have asked where we are located and responding gets too repetitive. The ink stamp will also include our address and phone number.
Consistency is key for our business. Going forward, I've mentioned to my in-laws that our logo needs to be present everywhere in the shop. From napkins, coffee cups, to maybe even uniforms/aprons. I understand it's about costs for them but in the marketer's eyes it's a strong brand identity and recognition. It's what separates us from all the other donut shops in Encinitas and hopefully all over.
Overall, it's their business and they're very old school. Hopefully once they both retire, I'll have more say into what goes on with branding and marketing. For now, I can only make suggestions and if they want to use them then great! My vision is to franchise and be the next Krispy Kreme or Dunkin donuts. My in-laws immigrated here in 1980 from Cambodia with $200 in their pocket. To stay in business this long and during the pandemic definitely says a lot.
Wednesday, September 7, 2022
Blog Week 3 Post 1
The two websites that I thought were poorly designed and had issues were Gate Openers Gate Operators Driveway Gates Wrought Iron Aluminum Gates (gatesnfences.com) and Atari - Best Electronics Home (best-electronics-ca.com). Starting with the Gate openers page. There is too much going on the website and no focal point. Everything is just thrown onto the page. The hierarchy and typography does not have breakdowns of the content. Nothing stands out and the fonts have too many different sizes. The company's headlines are not captivating as a visitor. The ease of use is also complicated. Too many navigation tabs on the main page.
Best electronics website doesn't really capture my attention and does not interest me in learning about what they have to offer. The concept and contrast is not appealing. Here you have the flashing " Atari" in multi colors and the bold headline. As you scroll down, the history of the company is mentioned. An improvement, I'd do is breaking down into sections and add some graphics here and there and to make it look enticing. For example, adding a picture of the Atari console or some nostalgic games from back in the day. In conclusion I would suggest they both redo their website and perhaps hire someone to do it. Something simple, clean, and straight to the point. These changes might help drive sales and get more recognition from targeted audiences.
I found two websites that did really well in regards to being easy to use and well designed. The first one I really liked was Headhunter Hairstyling | Pensacola, FL. The contrasting colors and the content automatically caught my attention. The hairbrush which symbolizes that it's a hair salon and the colors in the background contrasts with the brush. The proximity of the brush and headline was a great way to attract visitors. The navigation on the site was a piece of cake! Booking services was just a click away. If you're interested on the history of the salon, there's a brief section for that and the option to read more. Overall, it was eye catching and simple which makes visitors not feel overwhelmed.
Apple was another website I personally thought executed all criteria's in web design, branding, and aesthetics. I mean why wouldn't they? It's freaking Apple. From the moment you enter the website, the background color and the galactic theme was compelling enough to scroll through, making the concept and contrast easy to understand. The repetition of the Apple logo on the site keeps me engaged and wanting to learn more about upcoming products. Comprehensively, Apple knows exactly what they're doing to stay relevant. The website is easy to navigate, read through, and understand.
To conclude what I have learned regarding the impact and that the design and aesthetics made on me was I'm more of a concept and contrast along with easy navigation viewer. I'm drawn to colors, minor graphics, and easy scrolls. Generally, all the imperative is essential when it comes to a website design and more. Overall, I fell simplicity is best. With overwhelming fonts and too much content in one page, it loses the audience's attention.
Part 2B Names I commented on:
1. Spencer
2. Riley
3. Emmanuel
Monday, September 5, 2022
Week 2 Part B: Business Research
The Fresh Yard
One of the businesses I chose was The Fresh Yard. It is a local street wear brand that's independent and boutique setting. They are based out of San Diego and started small by selling exclusively upcoming brands of street wear, to now becoming a lifestyle. The culture of hip-hop music plays a major factor for this business. Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook are what they are using to drive sales. The Fresh Yard aka FY has a link on their social media page to access their website. Once you're on there they provide a free subscription to exclusive offers and promotions. Six days ago, was when they last posted and prior to that was a month ago. The date on the last post was August 12th on Instagram and August 6th for both Facebook and Twitter. Weekly to monthly this company adds a new post. Since they've been open, they have 1,082 posts on Instagram with 11.6k followers. Twitter 22.4k followers and Facebook 1,675 likes.
The Fresh Yard communicates by word of mouth. Social media is just an add on to get more business. You're either are in the know of the brand and follow fashion trends or a walk-in customer that becomes a loyal client. As a consumer of theirs, they aim for in person shopping experience. I for one own a few apparels from them and enjoy posting my new pick me ups on social media. Of course, I make sure to give them the proper shout out and referrals to anyone who's interested in a local clothing brand.
Heaven by Marc Jacobs
Heaven is another clothing brand that I picked. It was first launched in September 2020 by Marc Jacobs the icon of American fashion design. Heaven caters to the young adult fashion influencers with a non-binary label for all genders. Internationally known with many of the trendiest artists, Heaven has opened a few stores globally. Instagram is what the company is using to promote their business, but many trendy influencers promote the brand while posting on their own social media platforms. The number of hashtags helps consumers discover the clothing brand. Their Instagram page provides a link that will direct you to their website. The last post they shared was 11 hours ago introducing the fall 2022 collection, September 3, 2022. With 257k followers not that many people know about this brand of Marc Jacobs. You would have to be someone who is familiar with the designer and someone who knows futuristic/grudge trends.
Heaven by Marc Jacobs communicates well using social media. They are always on top of every new item that's going to be released. Promoting collaborations with artists, bring back an old collection, they make sure to get the message across. As a person who wears the brand, I'm always checking weekly to see what's new.
Tre Boutique
Tre Boutique is a local clothing boutique that started in Del Mar over 35 years ago. It was first named " The Rare Earth boutique" by founder Bobbi Martini but decided on the acronym TRE for short. Along came two sisters to help with the family business and each run their own store in north county. With three locations including del mar, there's one in Encinitas and Carmel Valley. They are using Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest as part of their social media platform. After reviewing the links on their website, Instagram and face book are what they are currently using. 5 days ago, was their last post. They haven't tweeted or pinned in over a year. 1400 followers on Instagram. 34 on twitter, 5.5k likes on face book, and 2 followers on Pinterest. Instagram and Facebook are the primary platforms they use for their business and communicating with consumers.
With this company social media is just icing on the cake. They have customers who walk in and walk out as frequent clients. Tre Boutique is another word-of-mouth business. A few days ago, I never knew this store existed until I was in the area and saw some cute earrings. After purchasing my item, I was encouraged by the sales associate to post on my personal Instagram and tagging their store.
Lululemon
4. athletic apparel + technical clothing | lululemon
Lululemon is a well-known athletic brand originating from Vancouver, Canada. It's first retail space was in 1998 and in 2000, they had their first own retail store opening in Vancouver. Fast forward three years later, the Santa Monica store launched. That became the first US store to ever debut. Lululemon has 570+ stores in 17 different countries which makes them an and international business, with over 25,000 employees. On their website, it lists Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Facebook as a way to stay connected to buyers. Posting daily on Instagram mostly with new products, fabrics, or colors, Lululemon has 4.2 million followers. 988k followers on twitter and 623k followers on LinkedIn. The last post was three days ago. Lululemon has a great media team. They communicate well using social media by having digital employees that dedicates to online community connections. Every online platform you can think of, Lululemon is on it.
NIKE
My last company I chose was no other than Nike. It was founded as Blue Ribbon Sports in 1964 by Bill Bowerman who was a track and field coach at the University of Oregon. Along with his student Phil Knight. It opened it's first retail store in 1966 and debuted their first Nike shoe in 1983. To this day Nike, INC consists of the Nike brand, Jordan, and Converse. Nike is a global company employing 74,500 members internationally as of May 2020. Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram are links on their website to get information on the brand.Twitter and Instagram are the two main social platforms that they use to stay connected to consumers. 235 million followers on Instagram and 9.3 million on Twitter. Posting daily about their sponsored athletes, collaborations, sporting events, advocacy, to sustainability Nike is a brand that's popular in the general society. Love them or hate them, the swoosh is a recognizable logo that represents the business. Social media especially the main two they use, consumers interact well with.
In conclusion, I discovered that Instagram was the main source of promoting the 5 businesses I researched. With the local and small companies, social media is a must in order for them to stay relevant, especially if they're up and coming boutiques. Being consistent with posting on their pages and staying connected will further along the company. As for the nationally well known businesses, all social media platforms is an add on to stay engaged with the consumers digitally. Twitter was also used to communicate with patrons. If there was ever an issue, 3 out of the 5 businesses will respond to fix the situation and correct and missed opportunities. Social media can either make or break a business.
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