Megan's CSIT 155 - Fall 2022 Class Blog

My newsletter was created, and the test email was sent 10/31 The blogs I commented on were:  https://csit155-fa22-pabloc.blogspot.com/2022/10/week-10-part-researching-email-marketing.html?sc=1667167243616#c928085801511113002 https://csit155-fa22-mitulskis.blogspot.com/2022/10/week-10-part-researching-email-marketing.html?sc=1667167532055#c420628453099220429 I tried to comment on more but none were updated to week 10 except these so far.

I think with my goals for my business, it would be realistic to send a newsletter out monthly. Later, if I have more bandwidth, I think weekly would be ideal, so I could do a weekly roundup of upcoming events in North County. However, monthly could be ok for the time being to do a monthly roundup. My business could definitely use a calendar of events, plus a spotlight on an especially cool event I went to recently. There might also be a section for new products I love or new businesses I love.  One of the newsletters I read regularly (Cup of Jo) has a quote at the end, which I always enjoy. It's generally something fun and female-related. And the newsletter itself is a great summary of what was on the blog that week. It's super well done. I could also include a comic or cartoon by someone like Grace Ferris. Of course, I'd want to include my social icons and perhaps an incentive if people share the newsletter. I read Katie Couric's newsletter every morning, and she has p...

I added the Google Analytics Gadget

I think I could use categories like "Family Activities," "Weekend Outings," Weekday Outings," "Staycations," "Near-cations" (my own name haha), "Favorite restaurants", "Hidden gems" and "Holiday activities."  I feel like these are things I'd want to see if I was looking for things to do. And if I could get sponsored posts or affiliate links, that would help my business grow; maybe even include a category for "Local products we recommend" or something.  I know when I was looking to take my family to Seattle, I googled "3 day itinerary for familes in Seattle," and I came across two blog posts that were super helpful. They also clearly had affiliate links and I'm sure get a ton of web traffic. So posts like that could be really beneficial from the business end for me if I can figure out how to get my search engine marketing down and maybe do some sitelinks/hone in on some good keywords f...

Adding a personal touch to a post seems to make sense when the business involves, well, people! So basically probably every business. I think the point made here is a good one-- it all depends on the tone of the piece. Obviously for something recreational like my business (sharing fun things for families to do together), it can be more casual and relaxed. But for someone whose business is, say, a funeral home, you're not going to be making puns and using a lot of exclamation points. It's going to be respectful and empathetic in tone. Perhaps the blog could be advice on writing an obituary or how to help someone who is grieving. I don't know why I chose this example, it's very dark! But it's the first thing I thought of!   Blogs or vlogs would absolutely work for my business. I can do more seasonal posts like "Top 5 pumpkin patches in North County" "Shortest lines for Santa in San Diego" OR more evergreen ones like "3 affordable staycation i...

I did a couple posts about things we did recently in the San Diego area that other families might enjoy: going to these vintage trailers in San Clemente (not technically SD but close to North County!) and checking out a Halloween house in Oceanside.  I used the hashtags #vintagetrailer #sanclemente #sandiegolife #familyvacay #campingsandiego #halloweensandiego2022 #oceanside and #oceansidecalifornia. I found them after following a bunch of other local accounts + through the research we did on other businesses (Part A). They were all specific to my business in that they were local travel or family related. I posted around 9am for both, honestly because that's when I had a minute before work! But I'll be experimenting with other times to see. I know for my job we usually post between 10-3 but I wonder if that's different for people with kids. Maybe they look at their phones after bedtime... around 9pm or something. So far I think it's just people in my class liking my pos...

I looked at some large businesses and some smaller businesses for this assignment: BigLittleFeelings, Busy Toddler, Transforming Toddlerhood, Nike, Amazon, and Main Street Oceanside. I know Instagram works effectively for BigLittleFeelings, Transforming Toddlerhood, and Busy Toddler since that's how they deliver content to people. I think it's their primary form of business actually besides course sales and book sales. They usually do reels or a carousel of images with text or images about how to do things like deescalate tantrums, help kids transition to things, etc.  For Busy Toddler, they seem to get a lot of likes on posts about a specific activity or on reels with advice. I don't really see them using hashtags. They have about 1.5M followers and tend to get around 30k likes, 500-100 comments for each post, and they post at least once a week.  Big Little Feelings posts regularly, usually daily or every couple days. Their last post was yesterday. They have 2.8M followe...

My classmates are doing some fun things already with their IG accounts. My absolute favorite is Inglourious Bagels. They clearly already have an established and very popular business. And their IG account is full of great photos of the food, videos, fun promotions and HILARIOUS, punny bagel names. I absolutely love it, and after visiting their page, I definitely want to try the bagels. I would say they are a great model to follow in terms of having attractive, fun and engaging content. My other classmates seem to only have a few posts up (like me) so far--mostly pictures of the products and a couple videos. I think all of these are more concrete businesses, so it's more straightforward what they're doing to promote their businesses. My business (which is not yet a business) will eventually probably only make money through sponsored content on social (similar to other sites I follow like St Louis Mom). Their Instagram is SUPER content heavy, with lots of reels using music, guest...