Week 15 Part A: What we Learn from Google Analytics.

 

Looking through the Google Analytics webpage, I found some really helpful tools to use while creating my live stream. Similar to how Twitch tracks most of the users and views, a helpful feature is that Google Analytics allows you to connect multiple pages and accounts to track to give you an easy view of everything at once. A few of the most helpful trackers that I know I will be viewing from time to time are the engagement tab of course, just to see how many people have viewed and/or clicked on my sites or accounts, the monetization tab to see the average income any of my platforms have been able to grow and the demographics tab to see who my audience is and how I can either branch out or target them more directly.

Week 14: Social Media Management Tools.

 Research:

    Many of the different management tools are great in what they offer, the only issue being the price and the capability of how many users or profiles they allow per service. Luckily, I am only workiing with myself so I don't have to worry about getting multiple accounts or paying extra. The first site I looked into was Hootsuite. While it has the best analysis for your analytics and a good price range compared to the others, it does get weighed down by microtransactions to compensate for the free to low price. However that free price tag is a good bargain if you don't mind spending a bit more to access additional features.

    The second tool I looked at was Buffer. It as well has a free sign up and a great price if you're on a budget. The only real downsides are that it doesn't integrate super well with platforms beyond the basic ones (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc), as well the fact that there are only 3 profiles allowed on a free plan. Narrowing down its helpfulness quite a bit.

    The third tool I looked at was SocialPiolet this one unfortunately did not have a free plan, but even the cheapest option at $21 a month had more than enough to offer to be worth the payments. 10 Social Media Accounts for one user and with a two-week trial. For a paid tool it has a pretty good amount of features available for the price tag and getting even better with more accounts and users at higher prices. 

    Personally, I would use Buffer for my personal accounts as it seems like the best option on a budget. While, one day moving up to something like SocialPiolet would be great when working with a team or business.

Week 13 Part A: Online Advertising - Analysis of the Marketplace

 1. Look for examples of advertising or sponsored posts on FaceBook, Instagram, and other social media. What draws your attention? What is their call to action? Do they use imagery and is it effective? Which ads are annoying? If you click on their link what did it go to?

2. Compare the impact of traditional advertising (in newspapers, magazines, billboards, radio, TV, etc.) to advertising done on Social Media. Which seems more practical to you?

3. Some online advertising seems more similar to traditional advertising, not dialing into the individual consumer's tastes and search patterns. Where do you see this? Some become almost too dialed into what you have researched in the past. Does this feel intrusive at times? Or helpful? 

1. What typically draws my attention to ads on social media are the colors and the use of intellectual properties I am familiar with. Their calls to action are typically that they are on sale or they will sell out soon so you should go to the webpage and buy it now. They often use imagery of anime or superhero characters to draw my attention, and it works most of the time. The ads that are annoying are ones that have nothing to do with me or tailor to my personality, just generic brands with boring imagery and wording. Clicking on the link on Instagram usually opens up a tab on their webpage directly to a list of products.

2. Comparing traditional marketing and social media marketing is often like comparing apples to oranges. Due to how different they are, while Tv, magazines, and billboards will allow a big group of people to see you often in a large metropolitan area there is still a small number of people that will follow up on the message. Leaving your target audience often in the dark or missing out on your product or service. Online, however, you can exclusively tailor your ads and messages to people that you directly wish to target using tags and the options given by most websites. Even better, typically at a lower price than a huge billboard or Tv commercial.

3. While yes, tailoring your ads to the specific user is extremely helpful and can have a good turnout on whatever it is you providing. It can very well, get lost in the noise if it is too generic or equivalent to a quick tabloid on a magazine. On Instagram and Tiktok it is still very likely you will run across a majority of ads that don't have anything to do with you and are just attempting to sell a product you aren't interested in, but it is as well a double-edged sword. As we've seen the consequences from Facebook and Amazon of what it is like to be too in-tuned with their audience. Tracking personal data and generating ads and messages to specifically target an individual can very quickly go off the rails and have dire consequences in real-time. Often leading to the user feeling almost spied on by the companies for things that they are being told they will like.

Week 12 Part A: Using Business Specific Online Tools

For my business, considering I want to do live-streaming I am choosing to focus on Youtube and Twitch's built-in features for creators. As well as Tiktok for self-promotion and maintaining a community. One of the more interesting avenues I looked into however was the podcasting world and learning how to start up an audio library on Spotify. Many of the websites that were given to grow and maintain a business were insightful, but overall I felt the best one for my unique position was still Discord. As it is already a platform I am familiar with and one that it seems many of these other websites either take inspiration from or were influences for the platform, apps like Slack and Nifty for example.

Week 11 Part B: Marketing with other social media

 

Blogs I posted on:

Megan: https://csit155-fa22-meganm.blogspot.com/

Alex: https://csit155-fa22-garzaa.blogspot.com/

Pablo: https://csit155-fa22-pabloc.blogspot.com/

Week 11 Part A: Marketing with Twitter, TikTok, Google for Business, LinkedIn, and more

    I began looking at ways to grow my business through Twitter. As almost every internet personality that I follow and have liked over the years is constantly posting there. Having had a personal account for a few years now, I created a new business account for my page. Twitter is one of the best ways to promote yourself as it allows you to get your ideas and voice out directly to the public. Its ease of access allows you to share any promotion, announcement, or even just a funny meme with possibly millions of people all around the world and receive instant feedback on everything. 

    Twitter is one of the best ways to get direct and quick feedback on any decision and question you may want to ask your audience. With all its built-in features you can ask directly and get responses to your questions in minutes, start a poll to get audience opinion on a topic, and even create a post that has its own healthy discussion between the audience through the "threads" that allow you to respond and talk with everyone.

    Due to its ease of access, however, Twitter is very much a double-edged sword. As we have all become increasingly aware over the last couple of years, anyone can say nearly anything on the site and that has a serious possibility of boosting you up and tearing you down in a short amount of time. For a business or online creator, Twitter is the best way to respond to the critiques from your audience and address any problems that they may have about you or your business. But, that doesn't mean everyone will take your words the same way and the feedback on it can become increasingly hostile in a short amount of time. Twitter is known by many as a "hellscape" because of the accessibility that the public has to the site and the ability to share every thought and action through it. Having already been on the site for a few years, I have had the opportunity to witness this firsthand. And yeah, it really is like this sometimes.

    On the upside, however, there are many businesses and creators who have very healthy and well-adjusted discussions and talk with their audience through the site. They have managed to carve out their own section and ecosystem that allows them to promote themselves or a product and discuss their thoughts with often a very kind and loyal following. People like Markiplier, InternetToday, and Supereyepatchwolf. 

    All in all, many creators in my same space use Twitter as a baseline necessity as it is the easiest way to interact with their audience and boost their outreach directly through conversation and discussion. While the site has many downsides and upsides overall it is a fantastic way to promote your business and your online brand with its ease of access, many built-in features that allow for healthy and useful discussion, and the ability to reach out to your audience and even beyond it to grow talk with people all over the world.

If anyone is interested please follow my new Twitter @lil_K0ala, where I will be posting many more updates, memes, and discussions as I delve into the world of streaming.