#cis70

CIS 70 / SMC – Khaled Essa

 This theoretical Social Media / Online media marketing plan is intended to address the typical needs of a fictitious local retail location selling drought tolerant plants and plant accessories. The business also provides landscape design and maintenance services to homeowners, multi-unit dwellings, and commercial properties in the Los Angeles area. The retail component of the business is a newly opened “brick and morter” shop on busy street in a upscale residential area. The store does specialize in drought tolerant plants and plant accessories . The business is eager to make its presence known in the community, using a variety of means, including the internet and social media .  We will focus on the online / social media strategy.

The Primary marketing objective is to make the business easy to find. The online campaign will optimize search engine results and provide a means of gathering customer feedback by participating in the most active online consumer search engine communities and social media platforms.

The main idea is to be sure that the business is easy to find, for a typical person looking for plants, cactus, and landscaping services online. The top local search engines include Google, Yelp, YellowPages.com , Bing, Yahoo, and others. These search solutions are an excellent place to direct the initial social media marketing efforts. They are geared to directing customers with existing needs to appropriate providers, and they provide ranking services based on consumer feedback intended to guide consumer activity. SEO (search engine Optimization) on these platforms will result in increased foot traffic to the local business (the shop), making the shop easy to find and building a history of positive customer feedback online.

The second marketing objective will be to Increase overall brand awareness and attract the attention of  new customers that are not necessarily looking for the product or services. This objective will require the business to create an environmentally conscious , creative and fun business persona on social media sites, such as Facebook, Tumblr and Twitter. The persona will be created incrementally on one platform at a time , with an emphasis on authenticity  and  positive,  environmentally friendly content.  Social Media objectives will include aligning the persona with other online organizations with similar objectives.

The third important objective is to build a basis for future eCommerce opportunities by creating a path  to a wider internet audience, a wider social media following, and greater regional brand awareness. The underlying opportunities will be predicated by the success of the local social marketing campaign to attract and local * customers through brand management on the internet, promote water conservation and grow sales.

  Local* reefers to the Los Angeles / Westside area

Products*  refers to drought tolerant plants and cactus & landscaping and landscape design.

 STEP 1

Step 1 will optimize search engine results, make the business is easy to find and provide the business with a place to gather customer feedback. . The services include Google, Yelp, YellowPages.com , Bing, Yahoo, and others.

Step 1 - Objectives

Make it easy to find the business

Gather customer feedback to improve business.

Generate shopper traffic in the store Increase awareness among “ready buyers”

 Online Platforms:

·        Google Plus.

 Driving Directions & More - Will help shoppers physically find the “Shop ”  by marking the shops location on a google map, providing driving directions. When we build a google plus presence we will simultaneously be increasing our “findability” on the worlds most popular search engine. The information we present in our google plus profile will be searchable on Google.  

 Customer Feedback - Customers can comment and rate the business on google, allowing the business to build an attractive reputation over time. These customer ratings really matter to customers who are looking for impartial input from the community. .

 Build a Following - In addition to providing customers with driving directions, phone number and links to our website, the google plus profile allows customers to follow your business and keep in touch with your communications. If managed properly your marketing communications can be sent on a reasonable schedule and include thoughtful , interesting, relevant and appropriate messages. But, the opposite is also true , a mismanaged communication campaign can have a net negative effect on a business popularity in the community.

 ·        Yelp.

 Customer Feedback – Yelp maybe the king of customer reviews of local business. Customers can offer great praise and lengthy testimonials on yelp and they do. It is important to monitor customer feedback closely and deal with  negative feedback quickly, especially in the Yelp community.

 Driving Directions & More – Yelp wiill also help shoppers physically find the “Shop ” , link to customer website, provide phone numbers etc.

 Paid Advertising– Yelp also provides paid advertising programs that can reach shoppers in related area of the site and increase visibility. For instance shoppers are searching for Lawn Furniture, and if this business does not sell furniture, we may still want to be visible in a banner ad calling attention to our product offerings. Paid advertising can do allow for that.

  ·        YellowPages.com

 YellowPages.com is like many of the other local shopper search engines / consumer communities. It can help a shopper find your business with driving directions and it will list other business selling the same products and services as you.   Yellowpages.com also provides for increased exposure through paid packages .

   STEP 2

Step is all about Branding and is intended Increase overall brand awareness  and attract the attention of  new customers, and keep in contact with previous customers. This objective will require the business to create an environmentally conscious, creative and fun business persona on Social media sites, such as Facebook, Tumblr and Twitter.

  Objectives

Build Foundation for E-commerce Engage with target audience

 Online Platforms:

·        FACEBOOK.

These days it is no longer a question of  “if” we should use Facebook to promote local business? It is much more a question of how we should use Facebook in relation to our specific needs. Facebook offers tremendous reach and targeting tools and if properly managed can be a very effective branding tool and now, with the addition of the Facebook marketplace, that allows sellers to sell their products, the potential of Facebook as a retail channel is just beginning to be captured by innovative business. For now we should keep our strategic options open, in terms of using Facebook as an online retail channel while,  diligently creating a meaningful and appropriate brand image on Facebook .

  ·        TUMBLER & TWITTER

 What to Post - Tumbler and Twitter can be combined into unified “Micro Blog” marketing strategy. Although Tumbler is not a “microblog” for our particular purposes we can use it as such. We can use it to post on matters tangential to our core business. Like interesting developments, in horticulture, world records being set in the size of a cactus, interesting and brief, but not necessarily promotional, just tasteful, and obscurely related to the business of plants , water conservation, landscaping tips and tricks , stuff that is interesting and appropriate enough..

When to Post - Also the frequency of content posting will need to be set. For example we shall post no less than twice a month and no more than 8 times in amonth.

  STEP 3

The third important objective is to build a basis for future eCommerce opportunities by creating a path to a wider internet audience, a wider social media following, and greater regional brand awareness. The success of the local social marketing campaign will predicate the underlying opportunities to attract and retain the local consumer attention and retain online interest in the brand.

Brookhaven National Laboratory

The 2016 PMI Project of the Year Award was awarded to Brookhaven National Laboratory for the development of the NSLS-II a giant light microscope with unprecedented capabilities. The project is a complex and extremely technical requiring precision planning and adaptive techniques in developing new engineering techniques and unique features.

The information in this tiny project view is primarily derived from video content located on PMI YouTube channel and the Brookhaven National Labs website.

Project:  National Synchrotron Light Source II (NSLS-II)

Sponsors : The United States Department of Energy (DOE)

Goal: To construct the NSLS (National Synchronous Light Source II ).  the world’s most powerful photon microscope; enabling breakthrough scientific research and new discoveries.

Budget:  912 Million Dollars  (link to Dollar vs Euro Chart for fun )

Project Begin Construction: 2009 - (Brookhaven Lab -  https://youtu.be/zYr0AF-3uQo )

Project Completed:  2015 – (Brookhaven Lab -   https://youtu.be/A7w8sFWMBT4 )

Methodology: The use of PMIBOK and project management best practices is identified as crucial to the project success. (https://youtu.be/DaLrDogffwc)

Challenges:

(Human Resources): Too complete the project scientists and engineers from many nations would need to work together. Project managers would need to implement project management knowledge to facilitate this crucial connectivity. The successful management of international human resources is recognized by PMI in the selection of the NSLS-II project as the 2016 project of the year award. (PMI Video )

(Technical) : The projects technical objective – to produce 10,000 times more brightness over existing capabilities. This required the systematic management of  research development, new methods, new technologies and other new technical challenges.  ( PMI Video )

smcsecondblog

A Project Gone wrong? A learning Opportunity?

Project Management is not exactly new. But it is a growing field in business , government, education everywhere you look you will see new opportunities in this growing field. However not all projects are completed successfully. For Example the project summarized below , was not completed successfully. And to make matters worse the press got a hold of it and now I am recycling it for my own BizSugar purposes.

Project Case Study Summary:

The purpose of the project was to make progress in addressing the “Digital Divide” (the gap between those who have access to broadband internet and other technologies and those who may not have sufficient access to internet resources). The specific plan was to increase broadband access by installing publicly   accessible free wireless access points along specific streets and boulevards in Los Angeles. The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) sponsored the project with a 2.3-million-dollar grant, distributed among several nonprofit entities. The project was to be completed over a three-year period, beginning in 2012 and ongoing into 2015.  The project failed to accomplish its intended objective. Possible changes to project management process are suggested in final section of this tiny report.

PROJECT NAME – “Free Wi-Fi Project”.  

PROJECT SPONSORS – California Public Utilities Commission

PROJECT MANAGER/s –Manchester Community Technologies  

PROJECT GOAL – Install free wireless internet access points along busy boulevards in low income neighborhoods as a means of narrowing the gap in the digital divide.

PROJECT COST / BUDGET -2.3 Million Tax Dollars.  (Source of funds : phone bill surcharges.)

PROJECT TIME LINE – three year period Beginning in 2012 / Ending 2015

PROJECT OUTCOME (Summary)- (FAILED) The net effect of the project did not meet the needs of the stakeholders. Those who the project was intended to benefit were in large part not served by the implemented technologies. Only 2 of the 25 installed access points functioned as expected. Leaving the intended beneficiaries of the project without the intended access to resources.

PROJECT STAKEHOLDERS-

1)      Persons living in the designated implementation zones who would have benefited from a no cost internet access service.

2)      Appears to be, California Public Utilities commission as the agency charged with awarding the grants and evaluating the implementation vs the intended objective.

3)      The organizations that were awarded the grant and fell short achieving the specific project goal of providing free Wi-Fi in designated low income areas of the city.

PROJECT OUTCOME:  Failed / Partially Completed

The “Free Wi-Fi Project” began sometime in 2012 and was to be completed over a period of 3 years, ending sometime in 2015.

The project sponsors can be identified as the California Public Utilities commission. In 2013 The California Public Utilities commission, held a “kickoff” news conference, and awarded a group led by Manchester Community Technologies a 2.3 million dollar grant to install free wireless Internet along busy boulevards in designated low-income neighborhoods in Los Angeles.  

Unfortunately, the intend outcome was not achieved. Of the 25 access points that were physically installed only 2 access points actually functioned to allow free internet access. Additionally, communications generated by the project managing agency seem to suggest a

successful project completion. However independent testing by the stakeholders / sponsors (California Public Utilities Commission) contradict those findings. (See reference sources below linking to official documents)

Possible Changes that could have improved project management and outcome:

The failure suggests that on a technical level this project was not adequately considered, and may have been technically more difficult to achieve than initially expected.   Perhaps, adjustments to the scope of the project may have been required as difficulties must have become apparent during implementation. Perhaps, more forthright communication between the project managers and the project sponsors during project implementation may have averted undisclosed shortcomings at the conclusion of the project. Also, perhaps implementation of ongoing quality assurance process may have discovered correctable technical issues in time, and perhaps allowed for modification of the process of implementation, hardware or software changes. All of the afore mentioned possible mitigations to the undesirable end result are highly speculative, and without deep knowledge of the technical underpinnings it is impossible to arrive at certain conclusions. However, it is reasonable to suspect that appropriate quality control measures would have detected technical shortcomings prior to “completion” of the project and exhaustion of project resources.

Sources –NEWS ARTICLES http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-missing-wifi-20160403-story.htmlhttp://arstechnica.com/business/2016/04/government-funded-free-wi-fi-project-isnt-providing-much-wi-fi/

http://www.dailynews.com/technology/20160331/nonprofit-falls-short-of-goal-to-bring-free-wi-fi-to-la-countyspoor

Project Management is not exactly new. But it is a growing field in business , government, education everywhere you look you will see new opportunities in this growing field. However not all projects are completed successfully. For Example the project summarized below , was not completed successfully. And to make matters worse the press got a hold of it and now I am recycling it for my own BizSugar purposes.

 Project Case Study Summary:

The purpose of the project was to make progress in addressing the “Digital Divide” (the gap between those who have access to broadband internet and other technologies and those who may not have sufficient access to internet resources). The specific plan was to increase broadband access by installing publicly   accessible free wireless access points along specific streets and boulevards in Los Angeles. The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) sponsored the project with a 2.3-million-dollar grant, distributed among several nonprofit entities. The project was to be completed over a three-year period, beginning in 2012 and ongoing into 2015.  The project failed to accomplish its intended objective. Possible changes to project management process are suggested in final section of this tiny report.

PROJECT NAME – “Free Wi-Fi Project”.  

PROJECT SPONSORS – California Public Utilities Commission

PROJECT MANAGER/s –Manchester Community Technologies  

PROJECT GOAL – Install free wireless internet access points along busy boulevards in low income neighborhoods as a means of narrowing the gap in the digital divide.

PROJECT COST / BUDGET -2.3 Million Tax Dollars.  (Source of funds : phone bill surcharges.)

PROJECT TIME LINE – three year period Beginning in 2012 / Ending 2015

PROJECT OUTCOME (Summary)- (FAILED) The net effect of the project did not meet the needs of the stakeholders. Those who the project was intended to benefit were in large part not served by the implemented technologies. Only 2 of the 25 installed access points functioned as expected. Leaving the intended beneficiaries of the project without the intended access to resources.

PROJECT STAKEHOLDERS-

1)      Persons living in the designated implementation zones who would have benefited from a no cost internet access service.

2)      Appears to be, California Public Utilities commission as the agency charged with awarding the grants and evaluating the implementation vs the intended objective.

3)      The organizations that were awarded the grant and fell short achieving the specific project goal of providing free Wi-Fi in designated low income areas of the city.

PROJECT OUTCOME:  Failed / Partially Completed

The “Free Wi-Fi Project” began sometime in 2012 and was to be completed over a period of 3 years, ending sometime in 2015.

The project sponsors can be identified as the California Public Utilities commission. In 2013 The California Public Utilities commission, held a “kickoff” news conference, and awarded a group led by Manchester Community Technologies a 2.3 million dollar grant to install free wireless Internet along busy boulevards in designated low-income neighborhoods in Los Angeles.  

Unfortunately, the intend outcome was not achieved. Of the 25 access points that were physically installed only 2 access points actually functioned to allow free internet access. Additionally, communications generated by the project managing agency seem to suggest a

successful project completion. However independent testing by the stakeholders / sponsors (California Public Utilities Commission) contradict those findings. (See reference sources below linking to official documents)

Possible Changes that could have improved project management and outcome:

The failure suggests that on a technical level this project was not adequately considered, and may have been technically more difficult to achieve than initially expected.   Perhaps, adjustments to the scope of the project may have been required as difficulties must have become apparent during implementation. Perhaps, more forthright communication between the project managers and the project sponsors during project implementation may have averted undisclosed shortcomings at the conclusion of the project. Also, perhaps implementation of ongoing quality assurance process may have discovered correctable technical issues in time, and perhaps allowed for modification of the process of implementation, hardware or software changes. All of the afore mentioned possible mitigations to the undesirable end result are highly speculative, and without deep knowledge of the technical underpinnings it is impossible to arrive at certain conclusions. However, it is reasonable to suspect that appropriate quality control measures would have detected technical shortcomings prior to “completion” of the project and exhaustion of project resources.

Sources –NEWS ARTICLES http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-missing-wifi-20160403-story.html http://arstechnica.com/business/2016/04/government-funded-free-wi-fi-project-isnt-providing-much-wi-fi/

http://www.dailynews.com/technology/20160331/nonprofit-falls-short-of-goal-to-bring-free-wi-fi-to-la-countyspoor

Sources – Internal Documents / Communications https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2778402-CPUC-Letter-011616.html https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2630101-q2-2015-sbrbc-narrative.html

(via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7tw2pVsxfo)s