Megan's CSIT 155 - Fall 2022 Class Blog

This was fun! I am having a great time exploring my classmate's pages and seeing their posts. Here are the ones I visited/commented on: Amy Mather: https://www.facebook.com/Protein4PetsVista/ Kristy Yam: https://www.facebook.com/EncinitasDonuts Pablo Correa: https://www.facebook.com/PurpleTsunamiClothing/ I also posted a few things on my page ( North County Fam ) and scheduled a few upcoming posts (all below). I think these posts will engage my audience because they are fun upcoming events, include questions and utilize colorful, easy-to-view images. I'm curious to see how people engage with them!

These are the businesses I chose to like on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/saintlouismom https://www.facebook.com/SanDiegoFamilyMagazine https://www.facebook.com/SanDiegoMomsCo https://www.facebook.com/SanDiegoParent  https://www.facebook.com/CountyofSanDiegoParksandRecreation https://www.facebook.com/castateparksSD https://www.facebook.com/CityofOceanside I chose these businesses because they are either similar to my business or resources I could use for my business (in terms of looking for content to post about events in San Diego County). I'd say most of these pages post upcoming events using one or two images. I don't see a lot of videos being used. San Diego Family Magazine does contests, which get a lot of engagement, and things like "Best Fall Events," "Best Pumpkin Patches," etc. San Diego Moms does not get much engagement. Parent Connection has what I think are great posts, with lots of nice photos and events people should be interested in. But

When it comes to your reach on social, it's important to know how many people have seen your posts (and in what time period) to stay on track with your goals and see if some posts or ads are reaching more people than others. I tested this once for a website I write for called The Sunday Long Read. I wrote a couple ads for them and tested out different demographics to see how many impressions we got/clicks/etc. I didn't think one ad would reach that many more people, but it did! As far as posts go, it's nice to see if more people view them at certain times of day, on different days, etc. For my job, we usually do social posts on weekdays between 10-2pm because it tends to work best for our audiences (except for deadline-oriented posts). The insights tool also helps you learn your potential audience (with an ad), which is fun! Engagement is important because, even if you reach a million people, if they aren't interacting with it (clicking, commenting, etc) it might not be

The target market for my fictional business (NC Weekender or North County Fam) a site for tips and suggestions on affordable, fun things for families in North County to do) is parents living in North County, San Diego. I think it would generally be geared to parents somewhat similar to me:  30s-40s male or female has younger kids (under 10) single or married/coupled more progressive than conservative somewhat adventurous silly/fun/funny slightly outdoorsy doesn't take themselves too seriously! I think my perfect customer is anyone who is looking for something new to do with their small kids on the weekdays or weekends- and hoping to find something both enjoyable for the kids and for them. It's not going to just be a list of parks (unless the park is SUPER cool)! :-) * I don't know what's happening with my font in this post. It's all highlighted white and I can't figure out how to get rid of it.

I chose Sprouts and Cream of the Crop as my two websites. I would say the most obvious difference between the two is that Sprouts is most definitely professionally designed, while COTC is definitely homemade. Sprouts is very organized and has content that is regularly updated, whereas COTC doesn't seem to be regularly updated.  The more subtle differences are probably fonts and things like that.  I think both companies are supposed to appeal to generally the same type of person: someone who is interested in fresh, possibly organic, healthy, local, affordable food. That person is also most likely more progressive (in my experience). Sprouts has multiple locations, so that can appeal to anyone--while COTC is only one location and probably just for people who live nearby or have lived in Oside for a long time and have gone there for a while. I think for Sprouts, they are going for a playful, casual, fresh look on their site--and one that is user-friendly for their demographic. It'

So, I don't currently have a business, but one day I'd like to start something -- most likely either a writing/design firm or a site related to tips on affordable, fun things for families in North County to do. I feel like I've learned a lot about the creative world from my full-time job now at an agency, and it would be challenging/fun to see if I could do it on my own one day! I've also learned a lot about what to do with kids in San Diego since I spend a lot of time trying to find things for my kids to do on the weekend so we aren't just sitting around. I'd probably create a bunch of daily itineraries for fun things to do (formula = activity, special tips about the activity, then where to eat nearby) for every time of year--and my social media would be more focused on upcoming events for people to go to. For the creative agency business, I think my logo would either be my initials (MLM), so maybe MLM Creative or something more abstract like Wave Creative, Pis

I chose the Gates N Fences website and MGBD Parts and Services sites to review for my examples of poorly designed sites. I think it's safe to say that neither comes across as being well designed or with the user in mind. On both sites, there is a lot of clutter: too much copy on the Gates N Fences site and too many icons on the MGBD Parts and Services site.  Gates N Fences has super small text and way too much information on one page (no hierarchy). I don't know what their top services are or how to contact them, and there are about 50 buttons on the left side to access content that probably isn't necessary.  For MGBD I would say it needs more breathing room overall and some contrast with the images, colors/typography. There are too many differerent-colored links in there. The typography is blurry and hard to read over the images of the cars. The text also seems to be center aligned. There's no hierarchy on this page either. It takes a while to figure out what they do,

Big Duck https://bigduck.com Big Duck is a worker-owned cooperative that develops nonprofit brands and campaigns (similar to what my agency does). Like us, they are a national business with something between 20-40 employees (fairly small). Facebook: 3,400 followers. last post 8/24 Twitter: 10.9k followers, last tweet 8/25 They have links to their social in their website footer. I am interested in Big Duck because they are a competitor of my company and I'm curious about what they're doing with social. In general, it looks like they try to post often on social media, but they don't have a lot of engagement with people. They seem to use Facebook and Twitter most, and primarily to write informational blogs for other nonprofit fundraisers. Longreads https://longreads.com Longreads showcases longform journalism (articles over 1,500 words) and is a small company with around 15 employees. I believe their reach is international. Twitter: 296k followers, last tweet 9/1 Facebook: 127