Week Seven: Competitor's Visual Platforms

Two competitor's that have similar products are listed below.

EarthCafe  https://earthcafetogo.com/
Two visual social media platforms that this company utilizes are YouTube and Pinterest.  I don't think it was very effective for them, because they have very limited videos, all of which are over 2 years old and in Pinterest, even though they have 10 different files, none of them are very well populated and they only have 44 followers. Although they do have 12,000+ followers on Facebook, there is limited interaction with the customers, which leads me to think these aren't real people.  I think that the YouTube channel could have worked for this company if they posted videos creating recipes.  It wouldn't have to be of their actual product, it could have been for similar food items; raw power balls, bars, etc.

Pamela's Products   http://www.pamelasproducts.com/
Pamela's utilizes Instagram and Pinterest.  They have quite a few followers on Pinterest and they've also included videos, which I didn't know that you could do.  They are very active on this site and I think they are very successful in their reach.  They also have quite a few followers on Instagram, their posts are up to date, very engaging and visual.  I feel they are very successful in both of their visual outreaches. It doesn't feel like marketing, more of an interaction.

Visual social media definitely works for my type of business.  Food is a very visual medium and it's a way to connect with people.  Who doesn't like to talk about brownies? I've gotten quite a few ideas from Pamela's Products and will be looking to their different platforms for help in the direction to go that is successful and is working.

Week 7 - Visual Networking

Until I started this class, I didn't feel that social media was relevant to my business, and definitely not visual social media.  I have since completely changed my mind on this.  As I see the purpose of these very different platforms, set them up and begin interacting with people, so many ideas keep arising on how I can make each of these platforms work for my business.

Being a bakery lends itself to almost every social media platform out there.  When dealing with food, pictures are what drive people to purchase or desire these treats.

I think the four most widely used visual platforms are:

• YouTube
• Instagram
• Pinterest
• Blogs

YouTube is something that my family constantly uses, whether searching for window cleaning tips to how to change a tire.  These videos can be as long as you would like and you can imbed them in your website.  So many people prefer to click on a video than to read an article.

Instagram is similar to Facebook in that you are posting to your followers, however, it's more of an "in the moment" type of posting.  You can upload take a photo or a short 14 second video and put it out there.  

Pinterest is a visual platform that relies upon photographs to grab the attention of the public.  The more attractive and interesting your photo, the more chance you have of someone "pinning" it and sharing with others, who may in turn pin and share.  It's similar to Facebook's sharing, but on a much larger scale.  What is great about this platform is that your pins can have a life way past the time that you post them.  Someone may come across your picture of the best brownie on earth years from now, and repin it, as opposed to a post that you have on Facebook that has long since become inaccessible.

Blogging is another visual networking platform that relies upon photos and videos to hold the interest of the reader.  The more attractive the post, the more chance you have of retaining the reader to finish the entire article and possible sign up for notifications of future posts.

For my bakery, I feel that Pinterest would be the most beneficial for us to use.  We can post our own recipes, repost other's recipes and also have other boards that we think our followers would be interested in.  Based on our target market that was identified in the 2nd week of class, I would think that our customers would be interested in anything to do with Southern California, gluten free foods, health, allergies and possibly DIY beauty products.  I'm also thinking of making a YouTube video that plays at double the normal speed, showing production of a cake, from mixing the ingredients, to frosting, packaging, delivering and then actually purchasing.  

Week Six - Future Posts

The photo above shows the (3) posts that I have scheduled to be released on Friday.  I highlighted a store that carries our product on one post.  On the second post I listed a funny video about that store that I found on YouTube and on the third video I featured an original recipe from our company for people to try out over the weekend.  I think these posts will engage my audience because the store being featured is a familiar and iconic store.  The recipe has a visual that will catch the eye and the short list of ingredients will encourage people to give the recipe a try.

Week Six : Strategic Connections

The following is a list of (7) strategic connections that I made for my Facebook Page - Tia's Bakery.  Since we sell gluten free desserts, I thought it would be best to Like pages of bloggers who post about gluten free desserts and have a lot of followers and also to follow the stores that carry our products.  I've made it a goal to find many more pages that fall under these criteria, sticking to the ones that have a high number of followers.

1.  Elana's Pantry (blogger)
2.  Spunky Coconut (blogger)
3.  Civilized Caveman (blogger)
4.  Celiac.com (organization)
5.  Whole Foods Venice (retail location)
6.  Celiac Disease Foundation (organization)
7.  Gluten Free Mama (blogger)

Week Five: Facebook's Post Reach vs. Post Engagement

In regards to Facebook Insights, Post Reach measures the number of people your post reached.

Post Engagement refers to how much activity resulted because of your posts with regards to views, clicks, comments, likes and shares.

Both of these insights are important to a business.  While you are trying to grow your follower base, the reach amount is important to track how many people your posts are touching.  For engagement, building relationships with your followers increases their loyalty and makes them feel as though they have a personal stake in the growth of your company.

Businesses can use both of these insights to get information on not only how many people are being made aware of your company, but also how engaging your posts are and how much they encourage people to interact with you.  Depending on the stage of growth that your company is in currently will dictate which of these insights will weigh more heavily in your social media campaign.