Week 5: Blogs I Commented On

I responded to the following three bloggers for week 5 assignment:

Mcarthur_Sonya
Phillips_Michael
Schwendel_Gina

Week 5B: Your Target Market

American Plumbing Heating and Air Conditioning's (APHAC) best relationships are with other companies, like property managements.  After searching on Google for property managements in North San Diego County, the results were exceedingly high.  Consequently, there are over 50 property managements within North San Diego County. 

APHAC consumers are property management representatives who are located in Northern San Diego County.  They are extremely busy, on-the-go individuals who look for plumbers that are reliable, efficient, honest, and productive.  They also look for plumbers who are experienced and intelligent.  They expect to have the job done right the first time.  If the plumber sees any other issues, the property management representatives rely on the communication and honesty of the plumber to make them aware of it.  They have a “let’s get it done” attitude that understands the importance of what helps run the business.  When there’s an issue with plumbing, they look for a company who will be available and is capable to complete the job within a descent time frame, sometimes within the same day.  These businesses are either locally owned or operated by a strategic business unit (SBU).

Week 5: Your Target Market

  Chili's and Teri Café both tailor to the food industry and servicing customers of different palates.  These two places are from two different worlds.  Chili's offers spices and a large range of flavors representing a Spanish/Mexican cuisine while Teri Café represents more of Asian styles and flavors.  Their target audiences would mainly be different in that of the customer's lifestyle, beliefs, and palate. 

  Chili's cater to Jessie, a male who enjoys spicy foods with a variety of other flavors.  Jessie loves going to festivals and art of many colors.  He believes that you should have many choices to choose from in life and that life has so much to offer!  Jessie is outgoing and vibrant just like his favorite restaurant, Chili's. 

  Teri Café caters to Emily, a female who enjoys nature, yoga and meditation, and an occasional sushi splurge!  Emily likes the calm, relaxing, and the laid back atmosphere life has to offer aside from it's hectic tendencies.  She believes that being at balance with nature and the spirit is key to a happy and fulfilling life!

  These two restaurants are at polar ends of who they're targeting.  The sites tailor to these individuals very well.  Personally, I'm the individual who enjoys both worlds!  Which are you?

Week 4B: Blogger's Comments

I responded to the following three bloggers:

Blea_Nicole
Jourdan_Priscila
Mcarthur_Sonya

Week 4 Part 2: A Frequent Visitor

Two of the most common websites I visit would be American Plumbing Heating and Air Conditioning and Amazon.  American Plumbing Heating and Air Conditioning (APHAC) has an effective website consisting of various content and information.  I use this website for work on a daily bases.  The website assists me in reaching our target audience and obtaining new customers.  There is always room for improvement!  Therefore,  APHAC may need to improve the amount of information used on it's site.  I think it may overwhelm the visitors!   I know it does for me at times.  However, the level of information is great for customers to understand the small and large services we can help them with!  There are much that is under construction at the moment.  For instance, reviews, community outreach, and are blogs. 

Amazon knows they are loaded with content and they strive in keeping their consumers to stay on their site.  How do I know this?  Well, whenever I'm visiting Amazon they show what others viewed, other related items, and what you recently viewed.  They remind their visitors constantly and have what seems to be an unlimited amount of resources at your fingertips!  I can't help but go back to Amazon.com to shop and explore!  There doesn't seem to be any improvements needed for this site.  Seems to me they've got it down to the t!

What are your two most popular sites you visit?

Week 4: Aesthetics, Design & Branding

Penny Juice, Spot Metering, Apple, and Toyota are the four I chose to observe for our week four assignment.  There are several key things that makes a website affective.  Some of these are contents, resources, call to actions, and interactions.  If the site is not "user friendly" a visitor may "bounce".  A bounce happens when a visitor opens the site then leaves within a short period of time.  🕒

Penny Juice's website has much needed maintenance.  My first impression was if this site is even up and running.  I then noticed then that you have to either download a flash player or select a HMTL version.  The website is obviously outdated by a decade or so.  Like when the internet was first born into this world.  👶🚼  I wonder who even designs it?  After selecting the option of my choice, I could barely manage to view the page.  There is a huge amount of color that do not mesh well and is too bright.  🌈  It definitely needs a major face lift!  What is their brand?  There needs to be many improvements, for instance a common color theme with a selection of 5 or less, access to be just HTML which is available upon opening visiting the site, a home page option, task bars for the different pages offered, more content and interaction, etc.  These improvements would allow many doors to open for this business, thus brining in more customers. 

Spot Metering is surprisingly similar to that of Penny Juice, not up to date and not user friendly.  Spot Metering also has way too much wording just on it's front page and the content is lacking interaction.  There are illustrations that the average person would not understand and could possibly deter the viewer/visitor not to even read further.  Their fonts and colors are all over the place as well.  There are no consistency within the site.  

On the other hand, Apple and Toyota is the complete opposite.  Allowing the visitor to be at ease by it's user friendly interaction of imagery, wording, descriptions of it's products, and such.  Much of it's information is implied within it's content, pages located at the tabs and bottom of it's main page.  There is much interaction that actually makes me want to stay and browse more!  The sites does the job right for the companies/businesses!  You have an easier access to the what the company has to say and offer!  Their branding is clear and the site brings a lot more to the plate!  🍽  Let's dine in!

*Click on the business name above to access their site.  Take a look yourself and tell me what you think!  👀

If you own or will own a business, what will you put on your website?

Week 3 Part 2: Five Business Websites and the Social media

*The websites are created as a link within the name of each company/business and it's social media platforms they're associated with.

1)  American Plumbing Heating and Air Conditioning
Google
Yelp
Facebook
Twitter
YouTube
a)  Yelp, Google, and Facebook looks to be more active than that of the Twitter and YouTube sites.
b)  Yelp:  02/02/2017
      Google:  "within the last week"
      Facebook:  02/09/2017
      Twitter:  02/09/2017
      YouTube:  "2 months ago"
c)  There definitely needs improvements in all our sites except Yelp and Facebook.  Looks like our Twitter account to linked to our Facebook account, however the content is lacking a bit! 


2)  Sage Yoga Studios
Facebook
Instagram
Pinterest
a)  There aren't many reviews for this business which lacks interaction with the community and consumers on both their Google and Yelp accounts.  Although, their reviews on Facebook really stands out!  They do have great content in pictures and such on their other sites as well!
b)  Facebook:  Yesterday at 10:27am (02/08/17)
     Instagram:  3 days ago (09/07/17)
     Pinterest:  Didn't see any dates for any of the posts...
c) Looks like they're very active on Facebook other than their Instagram and Pinterest pages.

3)  Wade Into Fitness
Facebook
Twitter
Google
Yelp
a)  Very abundant in content as I could tell in their social media sites.
b)  Facebook:  01/23/2017
     Twitter:  12/20/2016
     Google:  23 weeks ago ("23w")
     Yelp:   08/03/2016
c)  There definitely needs more activity and interaction with the community on its social media platform as well as interaction with it's customers.  The content was there and seemed intriguing to me, though makes me wonder if they're still in business or something.


4)  Anderson's Plumbing
Facebook
Google
Twitter
YouTube
a) Content in all is great and seem to really interact with their consumers!
b)  Facebook:  02/08/2017
     Google:  3 days ago ("3d")
     Twitter:  02/08/2017
     YouTube:  3 months ago
c) There's definitely gaps in their activity on Google and YouTube, which is very important for this particular industry!


5)  We Care Plumbing Heating and Air Conditioning
Facebook
Twitter
YouTube
Instagram
Google
a)  They're proactive on most of their sites.  The least one would be YouTube, though.
b)  Facebook:  02/08/2017
      Twitter:  02/08/2017
      YouTube:  "3 months ago"
      Instagram:  02/10/2017 ("1d")
      Google:  02/10/2017 ("1d")
c) The content is pretty good and have great posts.  There seems to be gaps in the activity and interaction.

Week 3B: Comments on My Peer's Blogs

I responded to the following three bloggers:

Mcarthur_Sonya
Phillips_Michael
Williams_Terence

Week 3: Communication - Business & Consumer

Social Media has opened many doors to businesses and consumers.  They are able to communicate, research, review, learn, network, and experience life differently from that of over 10 years ago.  Social media has made life easier, yet at the same time more complicated.  Businesses are able to interact, respond, and promote.  Consumers are able to review what others are saying, research for options and opportunities, learn from others, and speak more openly.  Social media also allows everything to be more transparent.  This can be a bit scary for some and exciting for others. 

Sometimes communication can be difficult and sometimes not.  If a business is not active with their online appearance and interaction, as a consumer it may be difficult to communicate with them.  For instance, Elf's web presence on it's Facebook page is semi-active posting a few times a day.  When viewing some of these posts, there are customers inquiring about an issue and yet never got resolved.  The communication there seems a bit scattered and pushed aside, if you know what I mean...  I love ELF products, however, after seeing this makes me feel a bit uneasy to purchase their products from their online store.  Just like texting, online communication can be a bit difficult and could create a bad taste for the other consumers/readers.  See the following link for their Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/elfcosmetics/.

After attending a concert this past fall at the venue, Soma, in San Diego I made the effort to post a review, which rarely happens.  The review was bitter sweet as was my experience there.  The venue needs improvements with its presence inside and out.  It wasn't until over a month later, they had responded to my review.  This was a bit weird and I felt a little less of a valued consumer to this business.  Even though the communication was a bit delayed, the response was nice and personable.  I'd go back to this venue if there are some changes made.  See the following link for their Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/somasd/.

Owning a business takes a lot of communication and interaction, whether it is internal or external with other businesses and consumers.  It is essential for a business to be interactive with consumers and the communities.  With social media opening this door for communication to be widely available, I believe these opportunities make it easier for businesses to survive and grow even more so.  If I owned or when I do own my own business, my interaction with my consumers and communities should be one of my upmost priorities in running my business.  To respond to either negative or positive comments, a business should try doing so by private message or a phone call to better communicate and to limit any other negative comments to be visible.  This could hinder your business, thus making it harder to bring up your scores or repair any damages made from the negative comment. 

Positive reviews are always easy to respond to, however, as a business responding is and should always be a top priority.  Whether it's negative or positive, a business should respond in a personable and professional way.

If you owned a business what would you do?  What would you like to see from a business to respond to you when you post a negative review?

Week 2B: Blogger's Comments

The comments I left on other blogs are:

Phillips_Michael
Williams_Terence
 Blea_Nicole

Week 2: Overview of Social Media Use

Social Media can be used for personally or professionally.  Depending on your goals and such, each platform offers something different. 

Facebook and Twitter offers social interaction with a wide range of options like photos, sharing news and art, networking with friends and family, and discussion of topics within the online communities you network with.  Both sites are used personally or professionally depending on your goal.  For personal use, you may want to keep in touch with friends after moving into a new state 200 miles away.  As for professionally, a business may want to hear and connect with their consumers.  What are they saying about my product?  Why is there no traffic?  Businesses also use such sites to promote and advertise their product.  This can increase the traffic flow within their business.  They may even use the sites to look up potential applicants or B2B opportunities, hearing what the consumers of that business have to say about them.  They can view their clients and consumers profile to get more familiar with their wants, desires, and ultimate needs.  Other sites lean more towards professional profiling, such as LinkedIn.

LinkedIn offers online networking for professionals rather than for personal uses.  It's wide range of professionals can range from artists, retailers, businessmen and women, industrialists, and the like.  Businesses use LinkedIn for networking with other businesses, as well as allowing opportunities in hiring potential professionals.  Same applies to individual professionals or those who are just entering the job market.  Thus, LinkedIn offers these individuals to display their resume, qualifications, and those they are connected with within such industries.  Some other sites may be more appropriate for personal use rather than for businesses. 

Snapchat and Pinterest is more for personal use.  However, one can use it to promote and advertise their product.  Whether if it is tangible or not, Snapchat and Pinterest can increase the products awareness and in the long run it's revenue.  Another platform that is similar to Snapchat and Pinterest is Instagram.

Instagram is a combination of all the above.  I believe Instagram is best used as a fluff to another platform.  Whether you're looking to upload your family and friends photos or as a hobby, you enjoy taking photos or just sharing adventures with everyone, Instagram can be used personally for an individual.  However, Instagram could be used professionally if linked with other social media sites.  Thus, making it very powerful to promote a business product or message.  Instagram would not be a strong and best choice for a business to use if it is not linked to other platforms.  For instance, a restaurant business may upload some amazing photos of food and customer's enjoying it's service.  Yes, pictures do say a thousand words.  Though, a message may not come across the way the business would like it to or worse the viewers may become uninterested!  The opposite would occur and could hinder the business.  On the other hand, if a business has their Instagram linked with their other social media platforms, this could create more traffic and interaction overall! 

To best use a social media site is to understand the function, interaction for instance, how far can it reach and to whom, and to what objective are you trying to accomplish.  What would you use personally or professionally?

Week 1B: Blogs I Commented On

I responded to the following three bloogers for week 1 assignment:
 

Terrell Jones - http://terrelljones1.blogspot.com/
Victoria Surico - victoriasurico.blogspot.com
Nicole Blea - http://socmed4bizblea.blogspot.com/