Joseph Pass CSIT-155 Class blog

Visual media is definitely useful in my type of business. Customers really want to see images and videos to create an experience for them. In turn, this will more likely persuade them to buy my product. To get a better idea of how other companies in my industry are using visual media it's a good idea to look at their Instagram pages. By checking their number of followers, use of hashtags, types of posts and engagement received on those posts, this may help me to better understand how I can utilize similar techniques to grow my following. One local cookie company is called The Cravory. They have 31.8k followers and they post just about everyday. Their latest post was 11 hours ago (March 19). I would think Instagram is effective for them at least somewhat. They really are only using photo posts. There are not any video posts and the engagement is pretty minimal compared to the number of followers they have. Most posts are getting less than 50 likes and zero comments. They use about 4...

I viewed many of the Instagram accounts in our class and I love that everyone is getting their business pages started. Whether they had them since before the class or are just starting out now, I'm very impressed with everyone's work. The three accounts from my group that I commented on were Jan Walker, Morgan McCray, and Sue Godwin. These three have entirely different businesses but all great concepts.  Jan Walker's Instagram is to promote a consulting business, Morgan McCray has a business where people can create their own Kpop outfits, and Sue Godwin has a no-kill animal shelter. Because of the different nature of each of these businesses, they would require each different types of posts in order to capture their target audience. Morgan McCray can have a more colorful and fun type of theme, where as Jan Walker would want something more serious, maybe more neutral colors, with a lot of business inspiration. Sue Godwin would want something with lots of cute photos, but als...

I currently already have an Instagram account for my cookie business. I tend to use the story feature to post updates of where I will be that week, such as when I'm at the Farmers Market. I will also use story posts when a customer tags me in their own story after they've made a purchase. I use normal posts to share photos and updates with the company. I post both videos and photos to keep it interesting. I find that posting solely photos can get a bit boring and my audience tends to enjoy seeing me in the videos. I find them both to be very useful. I tend to get a lot of engagement on my posts and I feel if I had some training I would be able to make even better use of this platform. Currently I have 2,689 followers and I can't wait to get more.  I have never really used hashtags, I suppose that's because I didn't know how to use them efficiently. I don't know what would be useful. I follow many other business profiles and personal accounts. Although, I need to...

So a while back, maybe in October or November I met with a guy who owns a co-packing business in South San Diego. I was interested in working with him to have his bakers do all my baking and packaging for my cookies. I had heard really great things from a number of people who work in the same commercial kitchen with me. Having the convenience of professional bakers who all the necessary equipment and accurate weight measurements to provide me with a consistent, packaged and sealed product every time was very enticing.  So I went and met him at his facility where all the magic happens and I was blown away by the amount of cookies they would be able to produce for me each month. I sat along side his bakers for 8 hours that day, watching them measure and mix and scoop and bake and then package and seal each cookie individually. It was an incredible experience and I learned a lot. Not just about how to better bake the cookies myself, but it opened my eyes to the world of food distribut...

So since I began my Facebook page last April I have barely used it. I found Instagram to be more of my "thing." So I guess I never really learned the ins and outs of Facebook. Until now, I never even looked at my post reach and engagement. From the research I've done thus far, post reach and engagement are very important to know in order to market your business. The reach is literally just the number of people who have seen your post. This is measured by how many screens your post is displayed on. This does not take into account any interaction with the post. The engagement then, means who is actually connecting with your post with likes, sharing, and commenting. The larger your reach, there is potential for more engagement. And vice versa, the more engagement your post receives, the more people you may reach. These are both important to know because it can tell you what kind of posts you want to use more often. The more engagement you get then you know people are paying ...

     When I first started my business back in April 2020 I also started my social media pages; Instagram and Facebook. At that time I was very active on Facebook because I was using the marketplace to post ads for my cookies. I was doing deliveries all over San Diego solely from orders I was getting on Facebook. So at that time my page was incredibly helpful.       Since then I have slowly gotten away from Facebook and aimed my focus more so on my Instagram page, however, they both still lack the quality I want them to have. I have said it before and I'll say it again, I am very unaware of how to effectively use social media for my business. I want to learn how to attract more followers and maintain a solid and consistent presence on both pages.       Besides the fact that I am not the best at managing my social media, another reason I am currently inactive on Facebook is because I am sort of at a stand still in my business. I am wo...

Over the last year since I started my cookie business, I have learned a little bit about who my target market is. My cookies are not by any means "healthy" cookies. I currently do not offer and vegan, gluten-free, or protein cookies so for now my target market is people who want a cookie dessert. They aren't seeking a healthy option. I have noticed that many moms buy my cookies for themselves and the kids. Another demographic would be young adults under age 25. I do attract some older folks also. They tend to favor some specific flavors over others more so than the younger generations.  I think I can learn a lot about my audience as well by doing polls on my social media posts. I can directly ask my followers specific questions about their preferences such as which cookies are their favorite? Would they like holiday themed cookies? Would they want the options of protein, vegan, and gluten-free cookies? Would they like the option to purchase individual cookies instead of b...