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comm 224 blog post 9

prompt:

Over the course of remainder of the semester, you will pick a corporation, organization, or individual as your client, and create a social media proposal, content plan, and visual samples based on your assessment of their needs. You will analyze the social media presence of your selected entity; outline the entity’s target audience(s) across appropriate social media platforms; and design a social media campaign that helps advance the strategic goals of the brand. This week's Blog Post will be the fourth step of this process. In your post, answer the following questions:

Which audio/visual elements are characteristic of your client’s social media presence?

Would you consider your client’s content to be optimized for the platforms on which it is shared?

:

As part of my social media proposal for Valentino, I have analyzed the audio/visual elements that are characteristic of their social media presence. Valentino's social media presence is known for its high-quality, visually stunning imagery that showcases their luxury fashion items. The company frequently posts photos and videos of their clothing, accessories, and runway shows, often featuring models from diverse backgrounds.

Valentino's social media posts also include behind-the-scenes footage of their fashion shows, which gives their followers a glimpse into the creative process behind the brand. They also share content featuring their collaborations with artists and musicians, such as their recent partnership with BTS Suga.

Overall, Valentino's social media presence is visually appealing and reflective of their brand's luxury image. The company's use of high-quality imagery and video is consistent with their status as a luxury fashion brand, and it helps them to stand out in a crowded social media landscape.

When it comes to whether Valentino's content is optimized for the platforms on which it is shared, I believe that the company could make some improvements. While their Instagram feed is visually stunning, their posts on other platforms such as Twitter and Facebook are less consistent in terms of quality and style. Additionally, while Valentino's social media presence does feature some diversity in terms of models and collaborators, there is room for improvement in terms of inclusivity and representation.

Given that Valentino's social media campaign is targeting a non-binary specific and LGBT Gen Z demographic, it is important to ensure that the content is optimized for these platforms. This could include the use of hashtags that are relevant to these communities, as well as more frequent and consistent posting on these platforms. Additionally, the company could consider working with influencers who have a large following within these communities to help spread their message and reach a wider audience.

In conclusion, while Valentino's social media presence is visually stunning, there is room for improvement when it comes to optimizing their content for different platforms and ensuring that their message is inclusive and representative of their target audience. By making these improvements, Valentino can create a social media campaign that resonates with their target audience and helps to advance their strategic goals as a brand.

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comm 224 blog post 8

Over the course of remainder of the semester, you will pick a corporation, organization, or individual as your client, and create a social media proposal, content plan, and visual samples based on your assessment of their needs. You will analyze the social media presence of your selected entity; outline the entity’s target audience(s) across appropriate social media platforms; and design a social media campaign that helps advance the strategic goals of the brand. This week's Blog Post will be the third step of this process. In your post, answer the following questions:

To which audiences has your client traditionally tailored their content?

Do you recognize any audience segments that have been un(der)served in the past?

How would you profile the target audience for your social media campaign?

Audience Tailoring

Valentino traditionally caters to a high-end audience that appreciates the brand's luxury and craftsmanship. The content often targets those seeking elegant and sophisticated fashion. Additionally, Valentino has focused on millennials, valuing their preference for authentic experiences.

2. Un(der)served Audience Segments

Valentino has not historically targeted the queer and trans youth audience. However, this audience segment is growing in significance as more brands emphasize inclusivity.

3. Target Audience Profile

Generation Z queer and trans youth are passionate about social justice and inclusive values. They accept people from all backgrounds, promoting diversity and sustainability in fashion. They prefer brands that support social responsibility, and are highly active on Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat.

To design a successful SM campaign, Valentino should create content that's inclusive, authentic, and engaging; which can be achieved through showcasing Valentino's commitment to sustainability, promoting LGBTQ+ charities and initiatives, and featuring diverse models in campaigns.

Also, partnering with LGBTQ+ influencers can help promote Valentino's values and create a sense of community and inclusivity. Indicators of success include trending tags and sales, influencers discussing the campaign on social media platforms, and artwork featuring Valentino products.

In conclusion, targeting Generation Z queer and trans youth is an effective strategy that aligns with Valentino's commitment to inclusivity and social responsibility. By tailoring content to this audience's values and preferences, Valentino can establish a powerful and engaging social media presence.

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comm224 blog 7

Over the course of remainder of the semester, you will pick a corporation, organization, or individual as your client, and create a social media proposal, content plan, and visual samples based on your assessment of their needs. You will analyze the social media presence of your selected entity; outline the entity’s target audience(s) across appropriate social media platforms; and design a social media campaign that helps advance the strategic goals of the brand. This week's Blog Post will be the next step of this process. In your post, answer the following questions:

What would you consider to be the major strategic goals of your client?

Which key performance indicators can be analyzed to see if your client’s objectives are met?

: 1. a social media campaign targeting the youth of today, or at least the generation that just came of age to be the next buying power of America, yet still being young enough to be trendy and share the product with their own influence ie: Generation Z.

In Gen Z there is a higher rate of trans youth and trans visibility, Valentino is a brand that includes gender non-conforming style into their clothing and products, which is a perfect ethical moral for consumption with this target generation in particular. In addition, Gen Z is a social media savvy generation, able to make information travel faster than ever across the globe, making their attention to the brand in particular to be a major advertising boon.

So a strategic message would be to appeal to the LGBTQ+ community with a particularly heavy focus on the trans and gender non-conforming community. Especially using trans and non-binary spokesperson that are currently trending as celebrity, as well as making trans/non-binary brand ambassadorship, especially in tik-tok.

2. Trending tags and sales due to trending status. If #Valentino or any type of # involving the campaign is trending on social media it would be one indicator of success. Amount of influencers speaking about this campaign, tik-tok and etc, even art using the products would be an indicator of success. Sales number on product and visibility/attention.

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comm224 blog post #6

Over the course of the remainder of the semester, you will pick a corporation, organization, or individual as your client, and create a social media proposal, content plan, and visual samples based on your assessment of their needs. You will analyze the social media presence of your selected entity; outline the entity’s target audience(s) across appropriate social media platforms; and design a social media campaign that helps advance the strategic goals of the brand. This week's Blog Post will be the first step of this process. In your post, answer the following questions:

Which entity will be your client, and what personal connection do you feel toward it?

Across which social media platforms does this entity maintain a presence?

post:

For my client, I will choose the brand entity; Valentino. I chose it because it is a gender-non-conforming fashion brand with non-binary elements, it is also a brand that is working with Suga of BTS and he has spoken on their gender-non-conforming style. I researched their style and I like it, very simple, elegant and interesting. The graphic design component for their logo itself is very telling of their brand, it's simple and elegant, a V with a wrap-around, in black and white.

Did I choose this brand solely because of Suga? No, while he may have a big pull towards my final choise, it is actually because of the company itself, being non-binary myself, seeing Suga being a brand ambassador and speaking on the brand's gender-non-conforming aspect.

There are also several other runner-up fashion brands based on partnerships with other BTS members (you will be sick of these boys by the end of this semester) such as; Celine (V), and Louis Vuitton (J-hope) this brand really is a big runner up for Valentino, because as an East Asian immigrant, Louis Vuitton is such a status symbol and a bespoke trend, And last, but not least, Dior (Jimin), now I love Dior too personally, all these brands are quite the powerhouse to be honest, but I want to research Valentino the most, so that is the final choice I'm settling with.

2. I've researched and can only so far find their instagram account, not including their websites. I'm sure they must have at least a twitter and perhaps maybe a tik-tok, since those are the powerhouse of the social media world at the moment.

Here are some visual aids for the Suga x Valentino campaign

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comm 224 blog post #5

In your blog post, discuss 2-3 of the major influencers you follow and reflect on how you would categorize them according to this scale. For example, do you follow YouTubers, TikTokers, or Instagrammers that could be considered nano- or micro-influencers, and are you more likely to engage with their content compared to the content of the macro- or mega-influencers you might come across?

Nano-influencers have 1,000 to 10,000 followers. They tend to have high engagement rates due to their interaction with their followers.

Micro-influencers have 10,000 to 100,000 followers and are usually a specialist in their field. They are careful in developing relationships with brands as they are working to build their brand. 

Macro-influencers have between 100,000 and 1 million followers. These influencers are usually either a B-list celebrity or an expert in their field.

Mega-influencers have more than 1 million followers, and many are celebrities in some capacity outside of social media. 

: Well, I follow Kurtis Connor (a youtuber and social media influencer-ish), I would categorize him as a macro-influencer, I'm sure he has more than 100k and less than 1 million followers. I engage and watch his content a lot, it's very easy and humorous.

I also follow Rui Gao on instagram, I think they are an alt fashion influencer (they are also Chinese so, maybe there's that too). She is also a macro-influencer, they have about 355k followers on instagram. I view her content and take inspiration from her outfits.

And since I'm a kpop fan, I will of course talk about BTS (I know many other kpop band, but BTS is the most famous in the western world atm) I'd say they're mega-influencers, because they have more than millions of followers.

While I love BTS and most other mega-influencer level kpop bands, smaller scale influencers are much easier to engage with and less intimidating. It feels like an actual hierarchy, a nano-influencer would be more human (more like you), I feel (and know) that mega-influencers/celebrities are just so far away and out of reach from you, and while yes, they are still just human, they are in a different league, their life is so much different than a normal person.

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224 blog #4

One consequence of the growth of online social networks has been to blur the line between business and personal life. With contacts overlapping between business, family, school, and so on, keeping private life out of the public eye is increasingly difficult. While previously only celebrities and politicians could expect public scrutiny of their actions, much personal information (especially contributed by young people) can now be found on the Internet. While some are concerned about the implications of widespread information sharing, it can also be argued that this “transparency is in sum a good thing for individuals and society.”

In your blog post, explain where you would draw the line between transparency and privacy, and elaborate on the extent to which you work to keep your personal life private in online spaces.

answer: Well, when it comes to the line between transparency and privacy and the blurring of personal life and business, my personal take would be this: Privacy comes to sensitive and personal matters, like family, harmless secrets and personal preferences, etc... Whilst transparency means being truthful and morally conscious while working on a business and the process. Also not lying when it comes to business and how the product is created, ethicality, moral upholding.

I would share my thought process and work process, etc, however if I would not want to share very personal things that wouldn't really harm anyone, or even if, I can still refuse to disclose such sensitive information of my personal life.

I'm quite an open book myself when it comes to what I believe in, or stand with and or against, I personally don't mind people knowing what I'm made of.

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224 blog post #3

Prompt: Many experienced marketers use personas, but the dilemma for a person new in the field is how to develop personas from scratch. There are many possible ways to create user personas, including intuition, trial and error, and costly market research. However, there are only a few systematic approaches that have been modeled and studied academically. One of these is the Three-Step Persona Development Cycle, created by Michelle Golden:

Identify persona roles, listing all relevant personas by role.

List needs and situational triggers from personas’ perspectives, defining concerns, symptoms, and problems.

Create messaging objectives suited to each persona’s needs that you have the expertise to address (and note those that you don’t).

In your blog post, create a persona for the average Minot State University student. How may we characterize the demographic and psychographic position of the average MSU student, and which needs and concerns most affect them? And, by extension, in which ways could advertisers' messaging objectives respond to these needs and concerns?

Blog:

I'm not too sure about this prompt, but I will answer it to the best of my abilities.

A persona for an average Minot State University student. Average age demographic would be 18-28 (18-45 for an outlier net). Needs and concerns for most of them would be, curriculum and graduation requirements, dorm/residency and food choices. These are just some of the student concerns that I as a member of the SGA hear often. There are many curriculum changes at the moment, with a new legislative year coming and Hartnett Hall being remodeled causing many of the humanities department to be out of a place and relocated to less than ideal conditions for the required curriculum and work they must produce. Perhaps the campaign that is needed more is less of a product and more on the upcoming Student government elections for the next school year in the Fall.

The advertising objective would be to show a leader or Officer that would be transparent and actively listens to the student body as a whole, is proactive and always fight for the student's wellbeing and needs. And since the NDSA and student government is very much open to outside and non elected hearings, they should also advertise student government meetings for members of the student body to participate in and voice their individual concerns or as a whole.

word count: 227 words

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224 class post #2

Prompt: Choose a social media advertising campaign, and explain why you would deem it to be successful. Ideally, you will choose a campaign by which you were personally swayed. Specifically, I ask you to discuss the target audience for the campaign, and to explain the ways in which the chosen platforms and channels allowed the advertiser to reach this audience. In other words, how did the advertiser characterize their audience (you!), and where did they approach their audience to talk about their commodity, cause, or service?

: This is a bit unusual of an answer but! Kpop as an industry in general. Every band comeback is relentlessly advertised in Korea and even overseas for the foreign fans. Brands would in fact paste a picture of an idol/actors and the products would sell out, or fashion brands doing advertising via idol brand ambassadors and their fans will buy the products.

A campaign I'm personally swayed in, would be when the band BTS got popular in the west and more western brands started doing collaborations with them, such as the Mcdonalds meal and some asian brands of coffee was pasting them in their products, I would buy them because I like their group. Or when they made a cartoon line BT21 where they sell collectible doll merch, not to mention their albums and posters and other merchs.

The way their entertainment industry also advertises the group in general, their target audiences would usually be young females (generally and most specific) and it works fairly well, the parasocial relationship they create from fan-meets, idol personality, fashionable music videos and the fact that most of the idol are required to be visually pleasing, and game shows they are always in. All are staged for the maximum connection to the audience, the no dating rules, etc. Their images are highly protected and constantly on, almost like a very lucrative Truman-esque show.

For the Kpop industry, their best way to reach foreign audience is most definitely their highly entertaining and well produced music videos in youtube, that is in fact how I found most kpop bands from, then spotify, v-lives, etc. How they reach their audiences is very different than the west I'd say so it'll be harder to explain. First a band would start advertising a new album they've created, then they'd plan all their campaigns and event for the duration. Fan-meets, tours, MV drops, interviews, etc, then the sales of such albums and the merch.

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Comm 224 post 1

Prompt: Reflect on the uses and gratifications of your social media use. Does your time spent on social media allow you to gain what you had hoped to gain (such as entertainment, enrichment, or interpersonal connection, for example), or are there unforeseen side-effects of your social media use? In other words, to which extent are social media a positive and a negative force in your life?

I use instagram the most as a social media platform, it is because it was the first form of social media that was introduced to me and the first one I had an account in. It beats youtube because of my incredibly short attention span. I always only ever use it for art. I share my art, follow other artists and mainly seek art and the art community on that platform. I still use it for art now, but also for business and networking with other artists, I sell my artworks, which are now mostly in the digital form, through instagram. I also use it a lot for entertainment, inspiration (from other artists) and an educational tool (tutorials, style, etc).

The side effects would of course be the immense amount of time spent and wasted on it. It also affects my mental health sometimes (arguments online or online harassments, etc). Filters are not advanced either, especially for those contents that refuse to categorize themselves. Racism, sexism, doxxing, etc. Stalking and fairly absurd situations and threats.

Does it impact my life positively? It really is debatable, does it impact it negatively? Yes, without a doubt. Is it an addiction? Could be argued for, yes. Ultimately I am agreeing to put myself in this situation and accept the risk. Perhaps it is confusing, much like substance abuse, however I am ultimately accepting them, much like the terms of agreement.