Journal Post 10

How do companies figure out how to implement and integrate media? How do they decide what types of media platforms they will use?  Over the past few years, marketers have increased their spending in digital media while reducing their traditional media spending.  They use data to test which types of platforms work best for their company since different audiences receive different types of advertisements differently.  Advertising spending has also increased in general and we need to ask ourselves if spending those amounts are worth it and if it is bringing return.  The way companies measure their advertising effectiveness is by multiplying reach by frequency.

Journal Post 9

Social networks have reached insane growth throughout the world.  The evolution of media has hit an all time record in digital marketing and different forms of marketing.  Today we use different forms of media including: owned media, social media, paid media and earned media.  Not only is there a huge shift in types of digital marketing but also in platforms used.  One of the more popular platforms is blogs.  Blogs have really gained popularity over the last few years and are a great way to create an archive for all of your content.  You must be effective though if you are going to have a blog.  One way of doing this is setting effective, smart and measurable goals.  Programmatic buying has also picked up momentum where marketers can buy advertising.  Real time bidding one of the most popular types of programmatic buying and uses customer data and demographics to decide what types of advertisements would be shown for what IP addresses.  The overall goal of all of these types of advertisements though, is to gain earned media. 

Journal Post 8

This week we talked about planning communication in digital media marketing. Integrated Marketing Communications or IMC is the “process that marketers use to communicate with consumers through various touchpoint with intent to persuade, remind or influence attitudes or behavior”.  Digital marketers use IMC constantly in all platforms.  When the book uses the word, “touchpoint” some examples are: features, packaging, quality, websites, emails, advertising, etc.  It is any point where the consumer interacts with the brand.  To choose the right strategy for the right touchpoint, you must understand who your target market is.  You must also determine your budget, and what types of content will resonate well with your market.  Before executing many times, testing your advertisements and contents and tracking their success is another way to create more valuable advertisements and communication with the consumer. 

Journal Post #7

This past week in Social Media Marketing class, we learned about pricing strategies and how they have been effected with mobile devices and technological advancements of the digital world.  When choosing prices for products, there are many external and internal factors that you want to consider including: commissions, objectives, costs etc.  There are a few basic pricing methods known: Competition based pricing is influenced by social media by seeing other companies’ pricing for similar products.  Demand based pricing involved price skimming which is setting the price very low at first and raising it as well as penetration where the initial offer of a service or product is very low then is raised exponentially in hopes that the consumer becomes dependent on the product and feels it is a necessity.  You also need to consider how the consumer views your pricing and strategize by framing and using reference prices.  Pricing strategies are critical in growing your business and having successful growth. 

Journal Post 6

Hello readers!  This week in our Social Media Marketing class we’ve learned about search engine optimization (SEO), search engine marketing, and other types of digital marketing that are prevalent in today.  We studied bodean operators like “and”, “or, “not” and “followed by” as well as different search engines including: Google, Yahoo, Bing, Yandex and more.  

It’s extremely interesting to learn about SERP/Page Rank Algorithms on search engines such as Google and inbound links and their effect on your website.  It takes a lot of research to understand the algorithm and figure out how to stay on the first page.  There are many different strategies and tactics that you need to learn about as a small business or website owner to be able to gain the traffic you want.  

Journal Post #4

Hi all!  This past week, we focused on consumer behavior and how it relates/ties in with today’s digital media presence.  There is a Purchase Decision Process that breaks down the steps from beginning to end of the thought process and actions a consumer takes in purchasing a product or service.  

1 Awareness: This first step is when the consumer recognizes a problem or need exists. Many times in today’s world of digital marketing, people recognize needs by things they see on social media. 

2 Interest / Consideration: The 2nd step includes research and looking for further information about the product or service. 

3 Intention / Conviction: This 3rd step involves the intention of purchasing and breaks down a mental competitive analysis to see which brand the consumer wants to purchase from.  Usually the biggest factors are price, reviews and brand image through social media platforms.

4 Action / Purchase: The fourth step is the actual purchase. 

5 Loyalty / Positive: The last step in this process is when the consumer reflects on their purchase. 

During this consumer purchase process brands may interrupt the decision making process by entering into consideration and even force exit of rivals.  Outside of this process are external factors that effect the decision.  Often times, groups influence the consumer as well.  The better we understand the purchase process and consumer behavior, we will be able to market brands and products to stand out amongst all competitors and get buzz going using influencers on social media and more. 

Journal Post 3

 This week we’ve learned the basics of creating a marketing strategy for our social media outreach.  First, you need to define your goals.  Goals need to be specific, data focused, measurable and within a certain time frame.  Secondly, you need to understand your target market.  Who are you trying to speak to?  What channels and platforms do they find information on?  Lastly, you must make an action plan of how specifically, you will reach that goal.  These three steps are crucial to having a set marketing strategy every time. 

We also did another really great assignment which allowed us to understand how to do marketing research!  We used Esri to find different segmentation groups by zip code.  I learned a lot through this assignment and it opened my eyes to utilizing resources to conduct research.  I was able to find specific areas in the US that had high percentages of a segmentation group that I prefer to be apart of in 10 years.  

Journal Post 2

Hello Readers! This past week we had an extremely interesting week-long assignment, Brand Watch.  Each night (Monday - Friday) we were to monitor 5 competing brands within an niche market on a social media platform of choice.  I chose to monitor and analyze the activity of brands within the women’s subscription box market.  The brands I chose were: FabFitFun, CauseBox, Ipsy, Birchbox and POPSUGAR Must Have.  These brands all have something in common which is: getting consumers to believe in their message and COMMIT to receiving their product each month or each season.  It’s a unique niche market due to the fact that they are actually getting consumers to convert without even knowing what products would be coming in their boxes.

During the week, I analyzed the performance of their daily activity on Instagram. All 5 brands were active daily and received good engagement overall.  They each had their strengths and weaknesses and those were clear after analyzing 5 days of posting.  This assignment was an exercise to train our eyes to compare and contrast competing brands on social media.  I really enjoyed this assignment because it taught me analytical and research skills that will help me in the real world of marketing in my career! Very excited for the upcoming lessons and assignments in the course!

Happy Marketing!

Jenni

Journal Post 1

Hello all!  As part of my business with an emphasis on marketing course curriculum, I am taking a Social Media Marketing class this semester.  The class requires us to keep a blog tracking our insights and breakthroughs while taking this course.  Thanks for following along my journey to understanding consumers & marketing of today’s world! 

We have dipped our toes into the vast world of Social Media Marketing and all I know so far is that—I want to learn and understand more!  These last two weeks have opened my eyes and have helped me understand just how impactful and powerful social media marketing really is.  Something that really grabbed my attention during our class discussion is understanding that each person has their own individual network that they choose to create and be apart of (crazy to think that there are THAT many networks!).  I’ve learned new materials from lectures and our textbook including: social capital and the opportunities it brings, the categories of different social spheres, the 7 C’s of social media marketing and more.  

Today was day 1 of the brand watch and I really enjoyed the assignment.  I feel that it taught me actual real-world lessons that can be applied to a marketing position at a company.  The Brand Watch assignment helps to train your eyes and brain to understand what to look for.  I personally am very interested in consumer behavior and what types of content consumers are drawn to so I really enjoy this assignment and hopefully will gain some knowledge and skills from doing it every day this week. 

Overall, I’m very excited for this class and hope to learn a lot about social media marketing and how to better understand how to reach specific goals in managing a social media profile.  I am excited about this blog and being able to work on my writing + creative skills at the same time!

Till Next Week… Happy Marketing! Jenni