Week 6 Part A: Engaging Your Customers - FaceBook Strategy

     The first business page I followed is Playground LA. They are a dance studio I go to weekly for dance classes and is one of the best in the world. Since I aspire to grow my dance career into a potential studio, I feel they would be a great business to follow. They mostly share who will be teaching at their studio and collaborate posts with the dancers. All of their posts are videos which makes sense as it's dance. I think I can learn how they talk about and promote their dancers and who they collaborate with as that has been a huge reason for their success. 

    The next is another dance studio I frequently go to for training, Millennium Dance Complex. They are another studio I frequently train at and arguably even more famous than Playground. I noticed they stopped posting in 2017, which is strange, but their posts were about hosting homeless people and telling people to watch Brittany Spears's segment as their studio is going to be in it. I feel they could do more with posting videos to their page like Playground does but I feel I could learn from their posts on there as they are positioned more on the marketing side rather than just dance videos. 

    World of Dance is another I chose to follow. They are one of the biggest talent shows, so to speak, for dancers globally. If a dancer performs on World of Dance, then they are considered to be the best of the best. Their posts are a mix of videos and photos ranging from performances on their stage, to videos of dancers who are invited to perform, and photos of dancers invited to perform. This is a great technique I could leverage for my future page when I decide to open my own studio.

    Les Twins for Smart People is my next choice. They are twins who are well-known in the industry as professional dancers. Their posts are more personal which I enjoy and they appear to be pretty active on their page compared to the others so far. They have a mix of content from personal written messages, videos of them dancing, videos of them being judges on shows, and photos. As a dancer, I feel I have a ton to learn from them as they are in alignment with what my current page is. They have a solid following and have been iconic for years. I see myself studying them to ensure I gain a following as loyal as theirs.

    Nicole Kirkland is a professional and established dancer who regularly teaches at Millennium. I chose to follow her page as well as she currently is in the same industry as me but has done a great job at turning it into a paid gig for herself. I noticed her page hasn't been posted on since 2021 but I have a feeling her personal page is the one linked to her Instagram account, which I follow, and she posts regularly on. From knowing her Instagram, I know she posts videos and highlights students from her classes she thinks did well. I feel she could do better with her FaceBook but decided to follow as she is one of the top in my industry. 

    Steezy Studio is one of the most well-known dance tutorial apps where students have been going for decades to download and learn dances from their favorite teachers. They haven't posted since 2023, but their posts are something I believe I could learn from. They have a mixture of photos, videos, and behind-the-scenes that I haven't seen on their Instagrams before. They should definitely be leveraging this page more, but I see myself studying their previous tactics, as I can tell they worked.

    Lastly, I chose a friend who is known for having the most followers on all platforms, Matt Steffanina. I was lucky enough to meet him a few years ago and learn a lot from his tactics. As I went to his page I discovered he is insanely active on that page. From funny videos to internal thought posts, to dance videos, to motivational thought posts. I feel I have the most to learn from him as he has always been the best in the industry for his use of social media and leveraging it to turn him into a multi-millionaire. 

Week 5 Part B: Learning about FaceBook Data Collecting

    When it comes to Facebook analytics and data, there are two important stats to pay attention to and track. Post reach and post engagement.

    Post reach is important because it shows you how many users your post has reached. You want to track it to ensure you see what is and isn't working so you can hone in on the type of content you create. It matters for visibility, algorithm boosts, brand awareness, and better ROI. The more you track and find what works and doesn't, the more likely you are to find steady or explosive growth. 

    Post engagement, in my opinion, is more important than post reach. You can find the right hashtags or trends to gain brand awareness, but if you have high views and low engagement then that means you need to refine or change the style or quality of your content. This is important as it helps boost organic reach, strengthens audience connection, encourages vitality, and has a higher probability of conversions. You can learn how informative or valuable your content is to your audience based on the amount of and type of engagement. 

    To reiterate, insights are beneficial for companies because they give them metrics to see what does and doesn't work. This helps them to hone in on what content to repeat and expand upon and what to get rid of. It lets them know who is watching their content so they can cator it towards a certain demographic or psychographic as each area has their own way of thinking and preference in content. It can even help them build better relationships should they lean towards the posts with most engagement, so they can repeat and build rapport.

    When it comes to theur privacy policies and data collection, there's some good and some bad. Something I appreciate and think is good is their attempt to crack down on privacy and spending over 8 billion to do so. Something I think is bad, and honestly a bit counterproductive is them using our public posts to train their AI. I know that personally upsets me and many others. We should be given the option to opt in or opt out, and in an obvious way, 

Lastly, I liked and wrote on the pages for Jose Luna, Savannah Haigh, and Aleida Sterling. 

Week 4 Part B: Defining My Target Market

    When I think about who my perfect audience is for my business Coco Shuffles, I came to the following conclusions.

    My brands demographics will most likely draw in both male and female, aged 18-34 mainly, mostly middle class with some high class, heavy users of Instagram who are either students, young professionals, creatives, fitness enthusiasts or influencers. 

    The psychographics will most likely be those who are active, expressive, community-driven, enjoys creative outlets and enjoys self improvement. Their values will be authenticity, self-expression, creativity and individuality. I see them willing to invest in brands that align with their identity and their interests in dance, music, digital content creation and social media trends. Below is an overview of my business.

Name of business: Coco Shuffles

Type of business: This is a real business I'm expanding to include a website where I sell pre-recorded dance tutorials. The focus has been to garner sponsorships and paid collaborations, but I am now expanding to provide more value through dance tutorials. 

My role: I am the CEO and Founder and have big dreams to expand past just dance tutorials and eventually open my own studio.

Social Media:

• Instagram: @cocoshuffles currently has 156,000 followers, and I've been using it for dance for about 5 years now.
• Facebook: I allow Instagram to post directly to FB when I post to Instagram. I do not focus solely on that platform and am not very good at checking activity. This is something I need to start doing as I grow. 
• TikTok: @cocodry I am not an avid user of this one, which I should start leveraging more. I currently have 134,400 followers. I started using TikTok around 2021.
• YouTube: @cocodry I rarely use this one and have zero strategy, which I plan to change once I start making dance tutorials. I currently have less than a thousand followers on that channel. I've had it for maybe a year or two.

Week 4 Post A

    I chose to compare the two grocery stores, Sprouts and Cream of the Crop. I'll start with my overview of Cream of the Crop, then Sprouts, and end with the differences and my thoughts on the two.

Cream of the Crop

    After looking into their socials and website, I would say their demographic consists of people aged 30-65 leaning more on the older side, middle to slightly upper class, and a mix of young professionals, families, and older adults focused on wellness. Their psychographics are people who are eco-friendly, health-conscious, value-oriented, and focused on supporting their immediate community. 

    When first visiting Cream of the Crop's website, I could tell it was a family-owned business. The first clue wasn't actually the fact that it says it at the bottom, but rather the way the website is designed. The photo used as the banner appears to have been taken by an iPhone, and the logo used is very personalized. To me, that is a sign of a family-run website AND business. Next, I noticed the lack of prices or community activity on the page, which led me to believe they are doing this at their local farmers market. They use different colors of green throughout their website, which is a bit off-putting, as well as the logo, the order-now button, the social media icons at the bottom, and the banner at the bottom that asks the customer to follow them on Instagram. Their font choices definitely stand out to me as I notice they use Script as their logo. That's a great choice considering the script is used for being personal yet classic, but the way it's designed and carried across the rest of the website makes it difficult to read. For their banner, they use a sans serif, which is known for being modern, so I think the two at the top right next to each other clash a little bit. The paragraph right below the title appears to be in a different font, and the only time that font is used is on the title, as the rest of the website uses mostly the same font as the title. Then, at the bottom of the main page, they use all bold, which I find to be an odd choice and out of place compared to the rest of the site. 

    It's not a bad website and does well with spacing and alignment, but it definitely gives me the feeling that it's maybe a parent running the website. It's hard to get a grasp of their overall message or tone, but what I can gather is their message is to sell good, local produce and provide a warm and family-like experience.

Sprouts Farmers Market

    After doing more research into their site and socials, I would say their demographic consists of people aged 25-65, Middle to upper class income level, and a mix of young professionals including Gen Z, families, and older adults focused on wellness. Their psychographics are people who are health-conscious, eco-friendly, brand-conscious, active, and in touch with social media and current food trends. 

    When first visiting Sprout's website, I could tell it was a corporation. Not only because we all clearly know what Sprout's is, but by the layout of the first page alone. At the very top, they have deals available, which is a great way to draw shoppers in. Next, they do a phenomenal job of using the same color green, throughout the website. The font they chose for their logo is a classic and more formal font, which is great for branding, while their paragraph fonts use a mix of fun handwritten and bold sans serif font. This is a great hierarchy as it starts with traditional and authoritative, moves to a cleaner yet modern font, then when landing in the articles or community pages, they add a handwritten font giving it a youthful and human feel. 

    I also noticed they have an entire page dedicated to community and another page full of articles filled with educational insights and recipes. I'd say the overall message is to provide well-sourced food, provide knowledge on all things food, and support their local community. I believe their message is to be more than a grocery store but a thought leader who cares about health, wellness, and community. 

Comparisons and Thoughts

    In terms of their target market, I think they have a very similar audience and branding. Sprout's is like a corporate version of Cream of the Crop. When comparing the websites, I feel Sprout's is more community-focused in terms of outreach and actual community, whereas Cream's appears to be more community-focused in terms of helping local food vendors sell their produce. You can tell they both chose green for the earthy and organic feel it gives, which goes great with both the brands. The subtle difference, though, is in how it's used and the shade consistency throughout the website. 

    In conclusion, I think they both have a similar agenda, but with Sprout's being a corporation, they can have someone dedicated to running their website. I don't think Cream of the Crop does a bad job with their website; I just can tell they may not have a professional helping them out, which honestly only adds to their brand as a family-owned business. Who knows, maybe it IS intentional, and if that's the case, it's actually pretty smart. lol

Week 3 Part B: Developing a Brand

    I am the face of my brand, Coco Shuffles, for my social media channels but I do think it will be best for me to create a logo soon for when I make my website. Since it will be designed for people to purchase dance classes and for any merch possibilities, I feel a logo will be a much better marketing and business decision. (Now I'm imagining people buying sweaters with my face on it HAHAHA imagine. That would be so weird, lol) When this happens, I think I will start another page for business and branding purposes while collaborating with my main page.

    I've been thinking of a few tagline options, but none have felt right just yet. A tagline would be perfect for my brand, though. A few options are "Shuffling Towards My Dream", "Turning Moments into Movements," or "Driven by Music, Defined by Movement.".  The last one is probably the best for future use, as I plan on expanding into music, which could also work for that tagline. But I'm curious: do you guys have a preference or have any ideas? I'm open to hearing your thoughts!

    To me, the tagline is supposed to express the love for movement and music that my brand has. I want it to empower those who choose to wear it as merch and inspire those who read it to dance. Some others in my field are "Here to express, not impress" and "Talk less, dance more", which I think are great! I want mine to be as catchy as that but also flexible enough in the way it can be used. I'm definitely thinking 10 years ahead here, haha. 

    When it comes to my color scheme, I've always known I wanted the color blue as a part of my branding. At first, I was thinking of blue and orange, much like this blog post, but now I think I'm going to transition into a deep greyish blue background with light blue colors. The funny thing is, the first office I painted for myself was those colors, and I find myself reconnecting with that younger version of me. She was a pretty creative chap, and I want to make her proud.

    The part I thought I was having trouble with was the font, so I did some research and discovered that this exact font aligns with what I'm building my brand to be! I read an article on visbe.co that the font type I'm using for this blog, called "Georgia," is a serif font. Serif fonts' "personality" is described as formal, traditional, reliable, sophisticated, classic, respectable, and authoritative. Companies like Gucci, Vogue, Rolex, Tiffany & Co., and more use fonts in this family. These are brands I want my brand to feel like. I'm fun as a person and definitely quirky, but if I chose to market my brand in that way, I feel I would hit a ceiling with reach and connection. 

    I want my brand to grow as big as possible, so the decisions I make now are, to me, the most difficult and important ones. I feel lucky to have watched so many influencers over the years and paid attention to the decisions they made when building their businesses. Personal trainers like Katy Hearn, Christian Guzman, or Buff Bunny were incredible at growing their following and developing a business brand from it that was easily scaleable and perfect for marketing. They each built multi-million dollar brands, which is what I hope to do for mine.

Week 3 Part A: Aesthetics, Design, and Branding

    Today I’ve done some research into a few websites and have written what has and hasn’t worked. The first two websites are websites I believe did a bad job and the second two will be websites I think did a good job. 

 

The first website I found that genuinely scared me at how bad it is, is:

Atari Best Electronics.

https://best-electronics-ca.com

    When I first went to their page, I genuinely thought I hit a spam link and was about to get hacked. It reminds me of pop up ads because it looks more like one of those rather than a website. 

    They don’t do a great job at spacing or alignment. The further down you scroll, the harder it is to follow along or even want to read what is happening. It says it’s an electronics store but I honestly couldn’t tell. Also, their use of font size was confusing and also had random colored words in palces that didn’t make sense to me immediately. Lastly, their ease of use is bad. When I clicked on a link, I was taken to more words when I thought I was going to be taken to products.

    However, if they were going for text contrast, I think they did a great job.I think it would be beneficial for them to add sections at the top of the screen for easier use, pictures for the products they are talking about, WAY less words and branding. 

 

Next I chose Gatenfences

 http://gatesnfences.com/EliteGateOpeners_EliteGateOperators_200CSW-1HP-DM_3000UL-1HP-DM_RoboSlide900_RoboSwing_EliteSolar_Hercules.html

    When I first clicked on their site, I thought the navigation system on the left made sense. However, when I clicked on them, I wasn’t fully able to understand what I waslooking at. They did an ok job of aligning and ease of use, but I think they overcrowded their page making it overwhelming to look at. 

    I think it would be beneficial for them to make multiple pages, maybe pictures on their first page like “Gates” “Railings” and simplify it, then once clicked on, the user taken to an expanded page with more options under those specific categories.

 

The first site I found that does a good job is California Center

https://artcenter.org

    Their page is laid out how I explained the company above should be laid out. The aesthetic is nice, simple, and easy to understand what the website is about. They do a great job of repeating their colors and making the site cohesive, and their ease of use is great. I also noticed they keep their logo on every page, which is a must for websites.

 

Lastly, I chose Apple. 

https://www.apple.com

    When it comes to design and functionality, Apple is one of the top. They have a sleek branding that can be seen across not only their website but their marketing and ads as well. They make their website feel like another ad, which can cause customers to want to buy simply by visiting the website. They do a great job at making it easy for the user to navigate and I believe they do so, with the understanding that the easier it is to navigate, the easier it is for them to make a sale. 

My thoughts:

    After looking through all the companies, I realized that the aesthetic and usability of a website can cause an emotional reaction, whether done well or not. When I saw a website that was designed poorly, I felt thrown off and uncomfortable; like I wanted to get out of there as quick as possible.

    When the website was easy to understand, user friendly, and most of all, aesthetic, I noticed I had more of a desire to stay on the page and look around. When doing so as a user, you are more likely to buy into the brand, the aesthetic, and the product as you’ve found a sense of wonder, curiosity or desire when on their page.

Wk3Comments

 Miquelle Bagley

I think you did a great job at describing what you found in each company, and I love how you chose our college! I found it interesting that Children's Primary Care Medical Group is even using Vimeo, as I don’t hear many companies leveraging that platform too often. Your sentences are very descriptive and easy to understand which I really enjoy. I look forward to reading your next post!

 

Jose Luna

I love your aesthetic and how easy it is to follow your page. I think you did a great job with your research and noticed we had similar styles in how we structured our articles. WOO! I think you had great feedback and solutions for these companies, and I believe you have a knack for this. I also LOVE that you used photos for the companies within your article, so cute and such a great idea. You seem to enjoy these projects and put a lot of thought into your entries. I look forward to reading your next articles!

 

Katie Nava

I think you were very concise with your research and kept everything nice and tidy, which I enjoyed. Your analysis seemed pretty spot on as well, based on the information you shared, and your insights at the end were really thoughtful. Seeing what you learned from each platform and the way each is most commonly used was great information for me to read. It got my gears turning and inspired new marketing strategy thoughts so I appreciate you sharing! Great job!

 

Troy Smith

First of all, your blog name has me CRACKING UP! Haha love it, you definitely GOT’EM! 

For your most recent post, I like the way you introduced what it is that you did, which allowed me the chance to flow through your entry with a sense of storytelling. Each area was direct and concise as well which made it easy to follow and memorize and noticed we came to a similar conclusion after our research. I think you did a great job!

 

Suraiya Taylor

I think your entries are all really organized and clean, which I think is a hard thing (at least for me) to obtain, so good job! I like how you also edited the hyperlinks to the business name, makes me wish I would have done that too! Tehe. You’re analysis at the bottom was really well thought out and insightful especially because you chose to do it in such depth with each business and what you learned from them. Nicely done!

 

Matthew Winkle

Your blog is so easy to read, and I think you did a great job at sharing the information you learned about each company. I saw the company you looked up, Compound Kings, has a broken Instagram link, and that’s such a huge fail on their part! Lol. I think you did a great job at staying on point and keeping your information organized in a nice flow. Also, I love that you would open a slime shop if given the opportunity, and I bet your kids WOULD love it! Your analysis was insightful to me as I didn’t do too much research into brick-and-mortar, so it was interesting to get what you learned from their social media use. Great post!