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[maddytalkssocialmedia]

Audio and Visual Elements

Currently, Guilty Sips only has a social media presence on their newly created Facebook page. They do a great job incorporating visual elements to their posts, with a large majority of their total posts containing images. They do lack video content, which would be easy to incorporate into their visual elements with the product they are selling. They often post images of the drinks they make, but when it comes to graphic images there is no clear uniformity. I cannot tell if they are finding graphics online to post, or if they make their own. If I were to make changes to their current visual presence, I would create a brand graphics guideline to follow in order to make their posts more recognizable to the brand. There should be guidelines set in place for how to use the logo graphically, color scheme, elements used, etc. Additionally, their images could be improved aesthetically. I can see that they are really trying to create high-quality images of their products, but the production quality definitely could be improved.

For Facebook, they are optimizing their posts rather well. For example, they will post a picture of their featured drink of the day with the caption showcasing the name of the drink and the ingredients used. They also include eye-catching emojis and the hours they are open for that day. Again, I think more use of video content would be beneficial, and maybe even going live on Facebook for a short stream would be a good idea. 

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Target Audience

My client has traditionally tailored its content to a large target audience. They seem to target Minot locals, mainly women, with an age range of early 20s through late 40s. This seems to be effective, and the content they post does target this audience well. For my campaign, I would continue to target this audience, but in addition I would start by adding a younger crowd to the mix as well. With the products that my business has, it would be easy to market custom drinks that had themes that matched the interest of a younger audience, such as Disney inspired drinks and flavors. They could take the approach of having “something for the entire family” in terms of products. I have noticed that it is common for kids to introduce their parents to products that they want, so if you can have a product for the parents to consume while they are buying for their child, you will be able to double the sales by doubling your target customers.

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Major Strategic Goals and How To Measure Success

The first major strategic goal of my client is to increase brand awareness, which is the level of recognition or association by potential customers towards the products and services my client provides. This can be measured by the follower count of each social media page, the reach of their social media posts, and the amount of mentions, shares, and retweets posts get. The following questions can be analyzed to see if the objective is met: How many people can we potentially reach?; How many people do we reach each day, week, and month?; How many people are talking about our brand or sharing our social media posts?

The next strategic goal is to boost brand engagement. Increased interactions between my client’s brand and followers can improve brand perception, loyalty, and word of mouth recommendations. Many social media platforms prioritize posts that have higher engagement, which can potentially bring more traffic to my client’s pages. This goal can be measured by likes, shares, and comments on each post as well as mentions and replies. The following questions can be analyzed to see if the objective is met: How many people are interacting with our social media posts?; How many people are mentioning our brand, and how many have we replied to?

The final strategic goal I would consider is to implement effective customer service across social media platforms. Excellent customer service on social media can help boost brand image and customer satisfaction, which will lead to an increase in revenue and customer retention. My client also can differentiate themselves from competitors through effective customer service on social media. This goal can be measured by considering response time, Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT), and quantifying the demand for social media customer support for the company. The following questions can be analyzed to see if the objective is met: Is there a demand for social media customer support for our company?; How fast are we getting back to our customers?; How satisfied are our customers with our service?

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Social Media Campaign Introduction

For my project, I have chosen Guilty Sips, a subsidiary of Guilty Sweets, as my client. My personal connection to this business is that it is local to Minot, which is where I grew up and currently live. While Guilty Sips does not have a social media presence yet, Guilty Sweets does. 

Their biggest following is on Facebook with 4.6k followers. They post consistently, with an average of one post per day, and mainly feature images and videos of their products with captions that list their products. Their Instagram account has about 1.3k followers and features almost exactly the same content cross-posted from Facebook to Instagram. On TikTok they have about 200 followers and on Twitter they have 1 follower. Additionally, they have their own website and are featured on VisitMinot and have a presence on GrubHub.

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Influencer Marketing

When I looked through the accounts I followed across multiple social media platforms, I found that most of the influencers I follow typically have around 100-500k followers, making them macro-influencers.

 One of these macro-influencers goes by the handle ‘@elasmarketingservices’ on Instagram and has around 120k followers. She is an entrepreneur and an expert in her field of marketing. She interacts with her followers in several ways. I found that she often does Q&A Instagram stories to answer her followers’ questions about what she does in her profession or how to get started in the marketing industry. She also offers personal coaching sessions and advertises her marketing services. Since she has made these ways to contact her so clear, I feel that I would be more likely to engage with her content. Her content heavily involves interacting with followers as she mainly teaches her followers marketing tips and invites them to try her methods and share their work with her. She has a good deal of followers, but has shown that she is able to be contacted through several methods.

Another macro-influencer I follow goes by the handle ‘@leanneansar’ on Instagram and has around 540k followers. She is a French-American style and culture influencer and is a French embassy social ambassador. Her Instagram feed content mainly consists of aesthetic photos and videos of fashion, architecture, art, food, and European culture. She has her own website linked on her Instagram profile and I found a few ways to contact her there, although it seemed like business-related contact information. I also saw that she occasionally does Q&A Instagram Stories as well as posts fan-art on her story, but she has not done this in quite a long time, probably due to a large influx of new followers. I feel that I am quite unlikely to engage with this influencer. Her follower count is high, she doesn’t seem to interact much with followers, and her content generally does not give me any reason to reach out to her to ask questions or talk.

One nano-influencer I follow goes by the handle ‘@sav.plays.piano’ on TikTok and has 3,148 followers. She is relatively new to TikTok; her first post was on December 12, 2022. Her content displays what it is like to live as a graduate student studying piano performance at the University of Texas. She showcases what the music program there has to offer, what her daily practice sessions look like, how she prepares for concerts and competitions, and other similar content. She often responds to comments and sometimes makes videos addressing comments. I would be likely to engage with her content. She has shown she often responds to followers, has a low follower count, and we have similar interests since I was previously a piano performance major as well. 

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Transparency vs Privacy

I believe we have a right to privacy as human beings and should not let anyone, whether it is the government, people on the internet, or otherwise, break our personal boundaries. It is imperative to pay attention to ongoing legislation, or lack of it, regarding our privacy on the internet and the sharing of our personal data. Transparency has nothing to do with the specific details of your life such as your phone number or address. This is private information that could be used to harm you if the wrong people found it, especially for celebrities/influencers or vulnerable groups such as domestic abuse survivors.

When it comes to my own social media, I prefer to only have my family and friends added. I do not usually add people I do not know and I avoid adding coworkers on my social media. I don’t have anything specifically to hide from them, I would just prefer to keep a smaller “audience” on my social profiles with people who know me personally. The only time I would say transparency is necessary on social media would be for politicians or brands as they have the most to gain from hiding things about their lives. Their platforms are most often built on specific values and morals, so knowing about their lives is important to see if they are being genuine. However, I still believe these people have a right to privacy when it comes to cell phones, addresses, etc.

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The World Wildlife Fund's Major Social Media Success

In 2014, the World Wildlife Fund launched the #LastSelfie campaign on Snapchat in order to raise awareness and money for endangered animals. The organization chose to specifically launch a social media campaign because of its lack of marketing resources, which can be just as effective as a major media campaign if done correctly. The target audience of this campaign was mainly “Millennials”, or broadly an age range of 15-35. They wanted their message to reach a younger audience and believed social media would be the perfect way to do so.

The campaign was centered around Snapchat, specifically drawing on the fact that selfies and pictures last only 10 seconds on Snapchat. The #LastSelfie campaign used pictures of endangered animals with captions such as “Don’t let this be my #LastSelfie” and “In 10 seconds I’ll be gone forever, but you can still save my kind”. This was followed by a call to action, asking the audience to share, donate, or adopt an animal. The element of “limited time” or “urgency” ties into both the platform they chose, and their cause. This cohesiveness resonated with the target audience, and the campaign quickly went viral.

This campaign was extremely successful, and it is easiest to measure this by looking at the fact that their donation goal for the entire month was met in just three days. Even though the campaign was meant for Snapchat, Twitter users took a liking to the WWF’s message and began sharing it on other platforms as well. In just one week, the campaign was seen by over 120 million Twitter users, which is 50% of all active ‘Tweeters’. The campaign’s success is also highlighted by its 2015 People’s Choice Webby Award in the Social Media Campaigns category. The campaign clearly reached the target audience and resonated even past just that group. It goes to show how much impact free social media marketing can have if utilized correctly. 

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Social Media Usage

It’s important to be self-aware of your daily screen time and social media usage. Mindlessly scrolling online can easily become an unconscious habit that eats up far more time out of your day than you’d think. I analyzed my social media usage over the past three weeks in order to reflect on how much of my own time, productive or otherwise, is spent online.

Each week, the hours I spent on each app varied slightly, but the same few platforms seemed to be in the lead: TikTok, Twitter, and Snapchat. The results of the accumulated data from these weeks actually surprised me - I expected much more screen time.

In summation, TikTok came in first with 14.5 hours over the three week period. Snapchat was close behind at 10.5 hours, and both Twitter (8.5 hours) and Facebook (6 hours) had similar data. YouTube (4 hours), Instagram (1.2 hours), and Pinterest (1 hour) took up the rear, and I was honestly shocked to see how little I used Instagram. 

I use each platform for almost entirely different reasons, ranging from mindless entertainment, to connecting with family. TikTok and Twitter are for entertainment purposes. When I want to laugh, cry, learn a random fun fact, or just escape from my current problems, I tend to use those platforms as my source. Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat are similar in that I use them to connect with people in my life and community. However, I use Facebook mainly for family and Instagram and Snapchat for friends. YouTube is a wild card that I find myself using for all sorts of things like entertainment, research, honing a new skill, and soooo much more. I open Pinterest when I need inspiration and ideas from brilliant minds across the internet.

I do think that the platforms, each in their own way, provide me with what I am hoping to gain from them. I truly feel thankful to have access to such a limitless network of information and people from every corner of the world. However, I recognize the negative aspects of social media usage in my daily life. For me, social media became a substantial distraction. I found myself checking my phone for notifications constantly and was addicted to the dopamine and instant gratification the platforms offered. I decided to turn off notifications for all social media platforms on my phone, and while it was an excruciating process at first, I eventually started enjoying the new mental freedom. I made that decision years ago and haven’t looked back since. I feel more present in my daily activities, and I am definitely much less distracted and anxious.

Reflect on how you spend your time, and don’t do it just once. Check in with yourself regularly and make sure how you spend your time is fulfilling your needs, wants, desires, hopes, and dreams.