Week 7: Time to get Visual Folks!

This week, for my Social Media Marketing course, I have to discuss which visual networks would be right for me and my brand.  Oh boy!  So, should I discuss what is actually best for my business, or what I am capable of and/or should try pulling off?  In other words, Facebook, YouTube, SnapChat and Twitter are probably my best platforms to become popular out in the blogging world... but do I really want to start Vlogging?  Do I want to subject the world to the monstrosity that is me trying to talk on a video?  Or should I torture a wealth of people with Snapchats of me trying to get the dog tongue to come out of my cat's mouth? (Yes, I attempt that daily, updates to come)  I am thinking not though!

I am going to say that Twitter would be my best option.  Twitter is actually quite popular in the technology world and the reasoning is obvious.  You have an industry that is a constantly changing and a platform that moves a million miles per hour.  It is basically a match made in heaven!  If you don't believe me, start following some channels geared around Amazon Web Services, Linux, Microsoft, Sony, etc.  I think it is time for the seesterhood to get to Tweeting!  This is clearly a network that our Women In Technology blogs should be utilizing!

The Scheduler for posts on Facebook pages is my new friend!  Never again will I forget a holiday or post too many things in one day!  Here is what I have scheduled this month so far:

One of these is simply so that I do not forget to say Happy Halloween.  I am going to be very busy that day but I want to keep my site fresh in people's minds so I stuck that in there.  The one that you see there with a little bit of code is a joke Python program I wrote just to be funny about Monday's.  I am scheduling it to post on Monday and hopefully it will entertain my nerdy audience and get some shares.  That seems to be the best way to get the word out there.  Posting things that others want to share like useful information or funny memes gets your name out there and if there is enough interesting things on your page then you might get some new likes!  The middle one is just that.  It is just a funny meme about recursion that I posted to go out on Thursday since I will be at school and work that day and will not have time to post anything.

I think this is a wonderful tool and I plan on using it quite often!

Week 6: Networking with Other Businesses via Facebook

Setting up my Facebook site was a lot of fun.  Clicking on each individual person to invite them... not so much!  But this is the price we pay to prevent being spammed with invites so hats off to whoever is standing their ground and pushing through the hate male on that one!  This week I was asked to like 7 business sites and to explain my reasoning for choosing those 7.

I have several different reasons for choosing the businesses that I chose to support with my new page likes.  The first site I liked is a no brainer.  I have a major nerd crush on Bucky Roberts as he has been there to teach me through many a hard night of Java programming and does it with a sweet voice full of little goofy puns and jokes that crack me up no matter how bad my mood is.  Bucky Roberts is a genius and I want to share his posts and videos with my audience.  I would not have passed my last programming course if it were not for his videos.  Although I am doing great in my latest programming course due to having an amazing teacher, I still want to watch the videos that come available and share them with my audience.  

I have liked “Linux Academy” because it is through them and their certification preparation that I was able to make the major career change that I have made and I continue to learn through them.  I also chose a couple of pages that are geared specifically toward women in technology.  I am working to appeal to an audience of women who are interested in the industry but may be a bit intimidated by the lack of female perspective and might not know where to go for learning tools.

I chose to support Harley Davidson not only because I love my Harley but again, I would like to tie together the women who are wanting to step outside of the box while maintaining some entertainment for the men as well.  I am also trying to reach a very specific audience of supporters and I believe that many riders would be supportive even if they are not specifically interested.  I am looking to be connected with pages that will provide articles to share and an audience as well.

Vigor Technologies is the company that I work for and ties into my theme as well. Vigor is the most culturally diverse company that I have ever worked for.  They are huge supporters of my education and want to encourage more women to get into the industry.  I chose to like their page to share that will my subscribers.

All of these pages reach out to an audience that might also be interested in what I have to say.  I could increase my audience by being linked with the pages that I have liked and continuing to post interesting things and working to promote my business.  I was a little concerned with liking the pages of all of my classmates because I am not sure what my audience will think of my liking Wedding Planners or Salons.  I was worried about wearing out my likes so to speak.  But, I don't think I am reaching enough of an audience right now for it to be a concern and I will set my featured likes up so that will help.  I am happy to be networked with these other businesses and excited to see others flourish! 

Besides... I do what I want!!  :-)

Week 5: Post Reach and Post Engagement

The questions this week are as follows:

1. Define the difference between post reach and post engagement. 
2. Why is knowing the difference important?
3. After defining the terms, describe how a business can use Facebook Insights to better serve their customers.

I would like to start by saying that I created my page on Wednesday and five days later we are at 64 likes.  I hope to boost this number quickly but I am limited on time to share and comment and be engaged so we will see what happens.  Our post reach (the number of people that our posts are reaching) is currently at 243.  Our post engagement (the number of people who have engaged with our posts through comments, likes, etc) is at 221!  I am very excited about this because it says to me that almost half of the people who are viewing our posts are responding or "engaging" in some sort of way.  This is an important difference because if you are reaching 400 people and none are responding, you are not appealing to those you are reaching which would mean you are doing one of two things.  Either you are not reaching your target audience or you are not appealing to your target audience.  Either way, something must change!  I am noticing quickly that what time I post is very influential on how many people I reach.  If I post at the wrong times when the audience is not looking then my posts are getting lost in a sea of News Feeds.  I have hundreds of friends who are on my personal page often but this is different and it is new so I need to be more strategic in how I approach it.  

I think that these tools are just amazing!  You can really measure the success of your marketing efforts and make decisions and analyze the data until you have successfully mastered the art of Social Media Marketing Ninjas.  ;-)