Project: Choose an existing product to rebrand for a release in a new country (Nigeria)

Project: Reshape the consumer experience of a local franchise. 

Execution: Create a preview that would demonstrate the design and concept of a new app design

Project: Webpage banners and newspaper ads for a not-for-profit

Project: Pick a not-for-profit organization, and create 3 billboards 

The Future of Facebook in 2019 May Bring Big Changes to User's Timelines.

 According to Social Media Today, Facebook may be testing a new feature for users - a Keyword Blocking feature - Similar to the "snooze user/page" tool that Facebook already has. However, this tool would allow users to hide phrases or specific words from appearing on their timelines.

 Wanting to hide certain words is not a new demand on social media - there are many 3rd party apps that allow users to input words that they don't want to see on their timelines around the internet. This can be very useful for users who wish to hide "Trigger Words" - these are words and/or discussions that those who have experienced violence or abuse of some sort can cause panicked reactions upon reading. For these users, browsing Facebook would be more comfortable than before.

Also, it would also be useful for businesses trying to advertise on Facebook. Even though Facebook currently provides a "hide" feature to users that include h short reasons for them to choose why they don't like an ad, it does not provide the whole story. If Marketers can tap into the specific words that people do not want to see, and therefore specifically block, it can help them be more creative with their advertisements. It would be beneficial to see if there are any trends between the demographics of which words are hidden as well. 

Instagram is paving the way for platforms to be more accessible for the visually impaired!

 Instagram announced on November 28th that they have been making changes to their image description feature. the description of these images can be read to users as they scroll through their feed.

 I think this is a great step towards including the millions of visually impaired users who want to get the full Instagram experience. However, unless users are aware of this helpful feature, Instagram is not doing much to encourage average users to utilize this feature. The feature itself is somewhat hidden from the general "New Post" area. 

Also worth mentioning, is the amount of users (although fewer) who may be visually impaired, but also do not speak the same language of the poster/the description. 

I think this opens a lot of opportunity for Instagram. Much like there is a YouTube community who caption their favorite videos in multiple languages, Instagram could open this feature to the public and increase the number of languages and described images altogether, and even move to caption videos as well.

 The NFL and Fortnite partner up and the reaction to fans is positive and negative! 

We used to see gamers as socially awkward people who did not interact with others often, however, with the growing population of gaming, that perception is starting to become a thing of the past. Studies show that 90% of teenagers are playing games.

 This impacts Social media marketing in big ways. In order for brands to stay relevant with young markets, it may be time for them to engage within gaming communities.

 The National Football League is a great example of how brands can introduce their slogans and branding into this community in a fun way. The NFL has partnered with Fortnite, an extremely popular online game, with 78.3 million monthly players.  This partnership allows Fortnite players to pay for NFL "skins" of their favorite teams.

 The skins have been incredibly popular among fans and have produced many images on social media platforms. However, this can also be dangerous for the NFL, depending on how players choose to show off the skins.  

Tweet by @FlowAndolini 

Many players started posting images on social media platforms as specific players of teams, some of them holding guns, or recreating Kaepernick’s' kneel, which caused a huge controversy earlier this year. The NFL is discontinuing their skins, and some are relating this pull from the misuse by fans.

 I feel like this was a great idea to merge football fans and Fortnite players, however, when it comes to portraying real players, brands should be more careful. Although they own the imagery of the teams, they also represent real players and the baggage that they hold. I think this partnership was not entirely thought out with how their skins would be used.

Between the recent security breach through Google+, and Tumblr being removed from the Apple App store, the stability of social media platforms is questionable. We have already said goodbye to some of our favorite platforms such as Myspace, Vine and now Google+ will be fully removed in a year. If Tumblr isn't prompt in adjusting their algorithms, it may have the same fate as the others.

 Because we cannot rely on these once popular platforms, it's important for brands and creators to have strong followings on their owned media websites. Although Social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube are extremely helpful for brands, I think it is dangerous to rely too heavily on them.

(User’s of the Tumblr app are no longer able to download updates on iOS)

Many content creators were devastated when there was a new YouTube algorithm put into place, and creators on Vine struggled to find new platforms to post content once it was fully removed. If these creators and brands had strong owned media websites, they may not have been in such trouble.

 Small business owners such as Sha'an d'Anthes, is doing just this - She has created her own website through Squarespace and advises other small business owners and creators to do the same. Own websites give the creators full control over their brand, and how to interact with their customers in what can be a more personal way than other social media platforms.

(Sha’an d’Anthes’s SquareSpace front page)

Alongside this, Website hosts such as Squarespace and Wix even offer users their own set of analytics to assist users in their marketing strategies. Not only does having a strong fan base on own media give brands more control over what their fans see, but it also cuts steps in purchasing decisions. Customers who are reading blog posts on own media sites do not have to leave the website to purchase products by the creators.

 Sources: 

Jillian D'Onfro: https://www.cnbc.com/2018/10/10/google-plus-users-mourn-shutdown.html 

Juul e-cigarette company has announced that they are shutting down their social media accounts - why is this? their marketing campaigns are too successful towards customers who are not old enough to buy their products!

 This is an interesting call to action by Juul. On the surface, it looks like a very morally responsible move by Juul. Their company was made up to help adults quit smoking but was quickly hijacked by teens because of the variety of flavors that were offered, and the trendiness of vaping on social media. alongside the shutdown of their social media, they are also discontinuing these flavors and only selling their nicotine flavors that are designed to help adults quit regular cigarettes.

 Even though this shows that Juul is trying to reduce the irresponsible use of their product, is this the right move? Even though they advise customers who have questions about their products to contact them at their own site, it will not stop the imagery of their products used by teens on social media.

 When searching Juul on any social media platforms, there are hundreds of images and videos of teens who are publicly posting anyways. With Juul's official accounts offline, it just takes away the control of their brand, where they could otherwise be advocating the proper use of their product and information about the effects of smoking and the health risks of teens. Also, their full stop on advertising online does not affect the stores which sell their products who advertise on their own social media platforms (Although Juul apparently monitors and eliminates these posts, a simple search on Instagram proves that this effort is not extremely effective.  Therefore, unless more efforts are taken, their products will still possibly be marketed towards the younger crowd that they are trying to avoid.

 It will certainly be fascinating to see how this affects social media accounts within the e-cigarette industry. As of Today, brands such as SMOK, and Kanger have not made any posts related to the actions of Juul. Conversely, Aspire Ecigs with over 13k followers on Twitter seems to be pandering to a younger audience with their use of language and emojis.

(Example of Aspire Ecig’s Marketing post on Twitter) 

On top of this, Juul acknowledges that their product is extremely addictive. The result of the pull of their products could have harsh effects on the teens they are trying to help. Although it is appropriate that they want teens to stop vaping, forcing them to quit cold turkey can have health issues of their own. Research shows that 95% of people are not successful when attempting to quite habits this way. Also, quitting is accompanied by a variety of side effects including anxiety, headaches, and depression.   

Ben and Jerry’s has been dipping a giant spoon into social media to share their political advocacy efforts.

Ben and Jerry’s have been taking a political stance for years, since the beginning of their social media accounts, in fact.  They have made posts in an attempt to educate their followers about their political beliefs. They share what they are advocating for and make a difference! Even in 2004, in the early days of social media, Ben and Jerry’s partnered with AOL to hold a poll for customers to suggest flavors in themes of raising voter registration.  

Most recently, one week before Mid-term elections, Ben and Jerry’s was trending - and the reason was an addition to their many political campaigns! to promote their new flavor, Ben and Jerry’s reached for social media yet again.  PECAN RESIST this flavor is an explanation that the company is fed up with current policies, and that they support LGBTQ+ rights, climate change, and refugee rights.

unsurprisingly, their Facebook and Twitter posts have been flooded with comments saying how people will be boycotting the brand. however, Ben and Jerry’s haven’t responded to many of these posts. This is most likely because Ben and Jerry’s don’t need to respond! Comments have been sprouting from loyal customers that encourage the brand to keep advocating for what they believe in. This is a unique example of how loyal customers will come to a company's defense if they have a meaningful connection with it. However, Ben and Jerry’s have been responding to potential customers who have genuine questions. This shows that the brand is purposely not engaging with the negative comments but is still using their voice to communicate to valued customers.

Facebook is leading the way to provide businesses with a new way of tracking their potential customers with Facebook Analytics. 

What is it? What does it do???

A more advanced version of Facebook Analytics combined with Instagram – A tool that is a section of Facebook that is available to businesses and developers who can gather data on their own Facebook Pages and Posts.

As explained by Facebook Analytics, the tool Allows you to see if "Events" that viewers take part in. - Following, unfollowing, like/unlike and more. Soon, businesses will be able to track conversion of people, and see their paths to purchases through “journeys”.

For Instagram users, it gives the ability to Create Segments. This ability, which is already offered by the current Facebook Analytics will be coming for Instagram as well. This tool gives a business the ability to create segments of people who have commented on their posts, and it allows them to analyze the value those people bring to the business

Connects Instagram and Facebook - It allows businesses to see how their Instagram audience overlaps with people downloading their app, visiting their website or engaging with their Facebook pages.

(Image from Facebook Analytics Beta Demographics Feature) 

Impact on Social Media Marketing

This is a great resource for any type of business that is using or thinks it should use Facebook or Instagram for their brand. Because both platforms have such a high volume of users and activity, they provide a great platform to reach and engage customers. With the addition of analytics, brands can track how they are doing with their social media marketing strategies, and measure how close they are to reaching objectives and goals.

With this increase of analytical data, there may be more brands turning to Instagram and Facebook. More competition on these platforms will force brands to become more creative with their strategies if they want to stay ahead of the social media marketing game. Not only may this shift competition of brands, but other social media platforms such as Twitter and Snapchat suffer if they do not keep up with what they can offer to businesses.  

 Customers are at the core of good marketing. Knowing your customers is the most important step in social media marketing - even with good context and content, if brands do not know their customer base first, they will seriously struggle to succeed on social media. This technology aids business accounts to discover what their customer's behaviors are like and will aid marketers to be able to cater to their customers better.  Alongside that, this analytics will give businesses greater insight on how to better reach and engage their audience.  Only after businesses can reach and engage are, they able to convert their followers into loyal customers.

Resources

Amy Gesenhues at Marketing Land:  https://marketingland.com/facebook-begins-rolling-out-analytics-for-instagram-accounts-expanded-page-analytics-250996?utm_campaign=socialflow&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social

Barbie's has had another makeover – The female empowerment movement.

In the past, the Barbie brand was struggling and after losing sales, Mattel has changed its tune about how to sell dolls and represent women. Now, among veterinarian, doctor, and an astronaut, Barbie can now list “YouTube Vlogger” on her resume. 

Animated videos of Barbie have been running on YouTube since 2015, and there are now over 70 vlogs on the Barbie Channel. Recently, her videos have been reaching a wider audience of social media users. Barbie is now addressing self-reflecting issues that have trouble girls young and old. One of these videos includes "Sorry Reflex" in this video Barbie says, "Every time we say sorry we take away from our self-confidence".

One of the most recent Barbie Vlogs, posted on October 11th, explained the "Dream Gap". This video goes alongside an entire campaign run by Mattel. Mattel states that when girls are the age of 6, they stop seeing themselves to be as smart, while boys their age continue to have growing confidence in their own intelligence. This results in girls being less likely to see themselves pursuing careers in STEM and other industries.  

 The flood of comments on the Barbie Dream Gap Vlog are so positive and show that the vlogs are truly helping women feel encouraged by the messages of the brand – this content is making a meaningful connection with the viewers, and the responses show. The word about the Dream Gap is growing - women and men are encouraging young girls on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Fans of the campaign are posting photos, messages, and sharing their own stories to raise awareness and support! 

(Images retrieved by Twitter, Youtube, and Instagram)

Starbucks is a great example of how marketers can apply common personality traits, values, attitudes, interests, and lifestyles to connect with their customers on a more personal and effective level than traditional marketing.

There is an endless supply of quality coffee at people's fingertips - but it is more than a preference that gets people to continue going to Starbucks. Starbucks values the human spirit - and uses this common interest to market to their customers.  Starbucks supports multiple charities and social organizations, are outspoken about their beliefs as a company and even provide a college program for their employees.

(Image From Starbucks NewRoom Article)

“To inspire and nurture the human spirit – one person, one cup and one neighborhood at a time." (Starbucks Coffee Company Mission Statement).  Starbucks taps into a group of people who enjoy coffee AND share these interests in their Mission Statement. Customers enjoy going to Starbucks because they know that a portion of their purchase supports causes they believe in.  

 The programs and organizations that Starbucks supports show up a lot on their social media marketing.  This helps their image as a member of communities and supports brand loyalty. When Starbucks shares information about their interest and beliefs on community engagement, education, support to the LGBTQ+ communities and veterans, through social media, it reminds customers that they have a reason that resonates with them to buy from Starbucks above somewhere else.  

Starbucks shared their efforts to support and honor military spouses in August - providing them a supportive and comforting place to work. Starbucks shared the stories of military spouses through their own "Starbucks Channel" blog, as well as Twitter, Facebook, and other social media platforms. The feedback they received on their Twitter posts was mostly positive - comments from customers thanking them for their effort.

(Image from Starbucks Coffee Twitter Post)

Last week, following the earthquake and tsunami that hit Indonesia, Starbucks partnered with Care (an organization that delivers emergency relief and international development) to share ways to help donate to those who were affected. The way Starbucks uses tragic events in their marketing is very careful.

 They do not come across as if they are gloating about how great their company is for donating - Even though the Starbucks Foundation contributed $100,000 to the relief efforts, they did not directly share that information directly on any of their social media posts. This gives the impression that Starbucks is somewhat selfless in the way their support organizations like Care.  

(Image from Starbucks Coffee Facebook Page)

With the release of her first non-fiction book, British Content Creator/Influencer/ Fashion Icon and Daily Vlogger - Zoe Sugg separates herself from her brand!

(Image From Zoella Instagram Page)

 Zoe has been creating YouTube videos for years but also has been working to create her brand empire. Zoe brings millions of people together with her videos, blogs, products, and books.  Although the variety of her content is vast all of it contains a fundamental message of acceptance, inclusiveness, happiness, gratitude, and having fun. Zoe tells stories of her daily life to her followers. She has created a community of over 10 million people on Instagram alone - and amazingly, with her fame, she continues to remain relatable to the many that tune into her channels.

Recently Zoe and her team decided to separate her personal social media accounts from her brand accounts. Instead of posting her regular content alongside her brand content (advertisements or details about products) she has separated the two. This is a bold move considering that she has access to so many people following her personal accounts.  

(Image from Zoe Sugg Instagram Page)

The brand's Instagram/Twitter/Facebook and YouTube accounts now share the name "Zoella" a new home for everything that is product or work related to the brand. This separation gives Zoe more control over what she wants to share with her community. It creates a place for those who have feedback on products to have a voice, which is very valuable to have access to.

I think this separation was a great move. It gives Zoe the ability to have a clear source of information on the portion of her followers who are interested in her products, instead of pushing it onto everyone who is following her personal account and may not care about her other content.  

(Image from Zoella Instagram Stories)

Although Zoella has accounts on all the top social media accounts, the brand is most active on Instagram. It's no surprise to me that the Zoella brand Instagram account already has over one million followers.  

The volume of the Zoella account pays its success to its creativity as a brand account. It is much more than a simple advertisement page - Every post tells a story.  Zoella shares behind the scenes of how everything goes into development, what their office is like, and opportunities for followers to communicate with everyone on the Zoella team. Like Zoe's personal account, it makes interesting and meaningful content.

  What makes the Zoella brand stand out compared to other beauty or lifestyle brands is the inclusiveness they provide to their followers.

They have basic advertisement and detail posts that you would expect, but they do so much more to promote brand loyalty. The Zoella Instagram account posts answers from everyone on the team to questions like "Latest Hobby". Because of this relatable content, followers feel like they get to know everyone who works on the products, they become familiar with the team and feel a connection with them.  

The effect of this content is undoubtedly the way followers become a volunteer marketing army - since the Release of Zoe's new book this week, there have already been thousands of posts on Instagram from fans who have bought the book and shared it on their own accounts.

(Result from Instagram #CordiallyInvited Hashtag Search)

Monday, (formally) Weight Watchers (now WW), announced live on USA Today that they are revamping their brand. Their CEO, Mindy Grossman explained that they are going to concentrate on the best overall health (Wellness that Works) for their customers. This means they are stepping away from the idea that weight loss is the main solution to a healthy life.

(Mindy Grossman as she appears on USA Today’s live video)

To support this movement, the brand is using Twitter and Facebook to communicate with their customers. They’ve made multiple announcements on the platforms have multiple hashtags to spread the word (#WeAreWW and #WW). The engagement from customers is booming; many people are commenting and tweeting to WW about the change. Impressively, WW is promptly responding to a great deal of customers and answering their questions.

A change like this for any brand is not easy!  But the way that WW is addressing the concerns of their customers and using social community platforms to connect with them is a great move. WW wants their current and future customers to know that they are there to support them.  

The change of the brand shows that WW wants to support what is best for their customers and what the customers really want – to have an overall healthier life; and that losing weight is not necessarily the most important solution to achieve good health.  With the rise of social media, there have been many online support groups for people who want to be healthy, both psychically and mentally, and want to be a part of a community. WW may be trying to tap into these groups by being more inclusive and approachable. Changing their mission accomplishes this.  

Like most of my mornings, I start the day by checking up on the Instagram creators that I follow. After scrolling, and watching every "Story", some of my favorite art bloggers and beauty gurus mentioned their channel’s on Instagram TV (IGTV). So, I tapped the TV box in the right corner of the app and after seeing that I can search for video content, select tabs like "For you", "Following", "popular" and other categories, and fell down the seemingly endless rabbit hole of IGTV.  

 I think the best uses for IGTV for marketers would be to help raise awareness for new products and to influence desire for products. Disney Studios and the Lush Cosmetics seem to be using IGTV in this way. Disney is creating buzz about some of their upcoming movies by posting trailers and interviews of actors.  While Lush is showing a demonstration of one of their products.

(Image From Walt Disney Studio’s IGTV Front Page)

A significant feature of IGTV and Instagram as a whole is the ability for customers to share posts by tagging their friends. Looking at any one of the IGTV posts by Disney reveals that there are many comments by viewers who are tagging their friends, sharing their excitement for the film, and expressing the desire to see the film together. These results are very likely to be in accordance with Disney’s goals in creating social media content for their movies. Tagging is an incredibly useful tool for Disney, and many other brands on Instagram because customers are essentially sharing their content for them.

 Brands can - and should be doing much more!  

Although these two huge brands have a massive following (@disneystudios has over 5 million followers, while @lushcosmetics has over 4 million), there is very little interaction by either brand in the comments sections of IGTV posts. Communication on IGTV is more of a one-way street. There is not much interaction taking place in the IGTV comment section by either brand. Communication on IGTV is more of a one-way street because brands are not communicating with their viewers. After a while of browsing the “Popular” section saw a video posted by Kensington Royal (The official Instagram of The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, with over 6 million followers on Instagram) 

(Image From Kensington Royal’s IGTV Video)

As seen in the image above, Kensington Royal posted a video on IGTV to raise awareness about a cookbook that they support. Comments on this video are incredibly positive, with many of them asking where to buy the book–information that was not provided in the video. Ultimately, other viewers responded to these inquiries by providing purchasing information in the comments section. This is a missed opportunity for Kensington Royal to not only connect directly with their audience, but also to create traffic and sales for the cookbook.