Alexander Munoz

Nike is a very popular brand amongst a wide variety of ages.  This brand has done a great job through the years of positioning itself as more than just shoes; rather, a lifestyle.  It is hard to not walk in a mall and not see Nike logos in various athletic stores, or even department stores.  With this great level of brand awareness, Nike unfortunately drops the ball when it comes to competing and creating content through its Facebook Fan Page.

While Nike falls short in two of the four categories for social media engagement, it does do a great job at garnering feedback from fans, such as comments, likes, and shares.  All of these forms of engagement are important when measuring success and finding out if your message is really being reached.  Such a metric can be accessed through Facebook Insights.  For example, Nike can analyze each post through Insights to see how big of a reach, and what the response ratio is (given in a percentage).

However, the content that Nike does put out for fans are exclusive pictures, which may be candid photos of Nike-sponsored athletes, or more advertisement-based pictures.  In addition, they will also give information and links/pictures to new shoes or clothes.  Nike will also ask fans for input on who they think will win a game.

Nike also does use custom tabs, which is a feature that any current Facebook fan page should use.  This allows the page admin to create custom content for the fan page.  This content can be created through HTML, CSS, or uploading a simple graphic (520×800 seems to be the norm dimensions).  In addition to customized content, the tab icon can also be custom. Fan pages can also use more than one custom content tab.  In some cases, more than five are used, with each tab serving as its own message.  Nike’s custom tab features all Nike related fan pages, and fan pages for its sponsored athletes.  This features a well-designed layout and graphics, and the ability to like a new fan page, and still remain in the current custom frame.

Nike can easily expand its efforts by focusing more on content that allows its fans to create and compete. These two components can be intertwined if done properly. For instance, one strategy can be used through the custom tab feature.  Nike has an option for its clothing and shoes that allows for customization, which is a key component of millennial consumer’s shopping habits.  What if Nike could design a custom tab that allowed fans to create their own shoe design and be able to share the end result via Facebook?  In addition, what if Nike picked the top ten creations, and then had a contest that asked its fans which custom creation they liked.  Thus, the “compete” element is achieved through the “create” portion of the strategy.  The incentive of this contest would be a free pair of customized shoes to the winner of the most “liked” design.  The costs of this marketing campaign would be how much the shoes would cost to customize and ship to the winner.  Any promotional material would be done through Facebook, which are only soft dollar costs.

Nike does a great a job by receiving comments, likes, and shares.  However, some creativity by utilizing the custom tab feature in Facebook can really bring Nike’s social media efforts to the next level.

The issue about online privacy has grown over years. One of the initial concerns that I can remember as a kid, was the fear of having your identity stolen.  This hurt online marketplaces with weary consumers that did not trust the reliability. However, when new online payment networks such as PayPal emerged, this helped give shoppers confidence.  Along with this, PayPal became a standard medium of payment for online businesses.

Online businesses have started to display images that help give the online consumer confidence in their business. For example, businesses will now display PayPal logos on their website.  In addition, they also use encryption to help protect themselves, as well as the consumer.  Web browsers have also helped to aid this movement, by showing icons on the browser.   For example, browsers will show an icon of a lock, or even change the address portion from “http://” to “https://” (the “s” part to represent a “secure” address).  Banks have also helped in reducing online consumer apprehension, by offering improved programs for identity theft.  Personally, I have had Chase text or call me to verify a string of online purchases, in case it was not I who was making these purchases.  All of these efforts help create a safe eco-system for online shoppers.

Moving forward, just how online shoppers fill their cart now brings about new reasons for privacy concerns.  Online markets, web browsers, and even banks, have done a great deal to secure shoppers’ information.  However, with the increased use of smartphone devices, coupled with the ability to run apps for specific online marketplaces, being able to control your privacy is even more essential.  One of the main concerns about being able to use a smartphone as a way to shop means that if you lose it, you will lose the risk of losing not just contacts or your current high score on Angry Birds, but what about your saved passwords for Amazon, Android Marketplace, or even your banking app?  With the convenience of having saved passwords on a mobile device that you think only “you” would use, how much damage can be done?  Personally, I have passwords for all of my apps saved, except for Chase.  However, if someone were to abscond my device, they could easily purchase a brand new LED TV from Amazon, download numerous movies from Android’s Market place, bid on a signed Michael Jordan basketball on eBay, order meat lover pizza from Pizza Hut, and drop all of my players on my fantasy football team (is it bad that this last part is what I fear the most?).  As you can see, my life can definitely change if this were to happen.  Luckily, measures that can be taken to help prevent this are ways that I can control.

Users who have Near Field Communication on their phones are probably taking advantage of using GoogleWallet- the electronic wallet.  With GoogleWallet, all you have to do is tap your phone on an NFC enabled device, and viola- payment accepted!  Now imagine losing your phone.

Using web analytics is crucial to the success of a website.  This allows for tracking of current goals, and setting future attainable goals.  The benefit of analytics also extends to a marketing purpose of developing media kits.  For instance, if you are selling advertising, you want to be available to offer information of:

• What age visits your website
• What gender visits your website
• What are peak times of website traffic
• What areas on your web page get the most traffic

Offering this type of information will allow a company the ability to command higher advertising prices due to in-depth numbers that help the advertising purchasing personnel decide to purchase your advertising.

Page Views, Pages/Visit, and Bounce Rate

Knowing your statistics regarding how many page views your site has, as well as how many average pages are viewed per visit, as your bounce rate (single page views that result in leaving the website) is important.  This shows how much general interest that your website garners. Expanding on this idea, seeing how many average pages are viewed per visit can assist in assessing how well your content is viewed among your audience. The higher the page views/visit average can mean that your website is either:

• Designed properly
• Has engaging content
• Has enticing links

For instance, my pages/visit average is barely above 1.  That means that I will have a high bounce rate and should use more engaging content.

Visitor Location

Knowing where your page visits are coming from can help segment your information and identify new key markets.   This is especially helpful in retail. Being able to tailor your content regarding what geographic locations view your content the most is important.  This can be further extrapolated by being able to offer in-depth analytics for advertisements.  For instance, I have a few visits from the European region.  If I was looking to sell marketing space, I would be interested in advertisements that fit that geographic region‘s interest.

Top Pages

Knowing what top pages your site has can help identify what content is garnering the most attraction.  This can also be used to decide what a good landing page would be.  For instance, my top page viewed was my post about RFM.  If I was looking at advertisements, I would try to use my link as a target for RFM related searches.

Source of Traffic

Knowing the source of your traffic can help gauge efforts in SEO as well Google AdWords.  For instance, the majority of my traffic is driven from direct links.  As a result, I should look at modifying my SEO strategy to help in search engine related traffic.

Top Keywords from Search Engines

Knowing what top keywords result in page visits is essential in strategy will help when evaluating Google AdWords.  My site has has no keyword searches.

Surprising Analytics

Some of the information that surprises is the region related results of page views.  Unfortunately, this is mostly related to spam messages.

1. 

2. Target demographic: our target demographic can be summed up by two buyer personas

• Party Mom: female, age ranges from 22-65 that are throwing holiday parties.  This buying persona also most likely is very creative and trendy, also uses resources online for tips and ideas for throwing parties. The call to action entices the viewer of giving gifts during the holiday season.
• Creative gift buyer: female, age range of 16-65.  This persona is similar to the party mom, they seek out trendy, creative, unique gifts.

The gift that we offer goes beyond a tangible item, but also offers the intangible benefits of thoughtful and creative good fortune. The landing page we chose was:

http://www.fancyfortunecookies.com/Peppermint_Patty_Gigantic_Fortune_Cookie_p/gppmntpty.htm

3. Fortune cookie gifts

4. low competition

5. Global monthly searches : 16,600,000

6. None of the keyword suggestions fit.  All of the ideas provided by Google are refering to cookie recipes, traditional christmas cookies, etc.  Nothing about customizing, or even cookie gifts.  Therefore, 0 of the 100 ideas from Google will work in this scenario.

7.  When the max CPC is changed from $1 – $2, the amount of clicks increases from 74.95 – 91 to 87.82-107.33 respectively.  The estimated cost increases in this dollar difference to about $20.

1. It is relatively easy to find a job for a certain background.  For example, to find a marketing position for McDonald’s, it took two clicks.
2. It is extremely easy to find benefits.  Under the careers option, it is listed to the left, with subgroups for different subjects (1 click)
3. There is a lot of white space and limited graphics.  However, with a big corporation like McDonald’s you pretty much know what you are getting.
4. Overall, the navigation for McDonald’s career website is extremely easy.  Using the search function helps to narrow down a user’s end navigation, as well as relevant and important links to the left, such as:

• Business functions
• Employee benefits
• Recognition
• Diversity
• Contact information
• Hamburger university
• Search jobs

These are all key areas that are theoretically important to the user that is seeking employment from McDonald’s.

The spacing and layout is very easy on the eyes. The other feature that helps the ease of use of the page layout is the “bread crumbs” feature.  This helps the user backtrack to important pages.

The colors used are McDonald’s colors (red, yellow, white).  However, there is a lot of white space on this website.  This over-use of white space is typical for older web sites and downgrades credibility from the user’s point of view. If this site were to be re-designed, I would put an emphasis in reducing the amount of white used, and use more red.

McDonald’s lacks engaging content such as video or images.  The content is very boring and does not engage the user at all. Ideally, McDonald’s could feature videos that about the history of the company, testimonials of employees for each major department (marketing, management, product development, etc.).  This must be updated to be current with the social media age.

The overall ease of use of this career website is very easy, however, it lacks in engaging content and color design.

1. I  suggest:

• Adding video
• Adding graphics
• Reduce the amount of white, and increase the amount of red and yellow
• Feature positive testimonial quotes about careers at McDonald’s

Kraft’s site usability at first seemed very similar to McDonald’s.  However, it took about double the amount of clicks to find a job when compared to McDonald’s.  Another similarity is the amount of white space in both websites, as well as a  lack of engaging content.

A few elements that Kraft is missing where McDonald’s excels at is the use of bread-crumbs navigation.  Also, on the left side of the navigation under “careers”, links for Careers at Kraft, Our Culture, and Compensation, are all inactive.  This is unacceptable for a large company that is trying to recruit new employees.  What does it say about your web site’s reliability when “careers at kraft” leads to a 404 error; not a whole lot.

When comparing both sites, I would rather work for McDonald’s because their links are active and it is easier to find a position.

Since October is “Adopt-a-Dog” month, I felt it was fitting to create an ad for this purpose.  To convey this, I used the following elements:

• Grass pattern to simulate a realistic setting.
• I used a picture of my dog because it is current with the “adopt-a-dog” theme. Plus, Moochie is awesome, don’t you think?
• I used funny quotes from a dog’s perspective that wants to find a home.

The purpose of A/B testing is to take a creative, change one element, and test to see how the call to action differs.  Seeing which sample performs better is essential for recognizing what your market responds to the best, and continue to tailor your message to the audience for high reception.

The landing page I chose describes the adoption process.  I would have liked to have a page where it shows pictures of available dogs, but the site used frames and did not let me find a hard URL for dogs; it displayed all pets for adoption.  However, I believe that a landing page that outlines the adoption process will hopefully reduce any apprehension towards adopting a pet.  From there, the user can easily navigate to find a pet that best fits their lifestyle.

The metrics I would use for this testing are web clicks. Ideally, I would use the exact same content for the adoption process page, but make two separate URLs for the corresponding A/B testing. That way, the page with the most web clicks would be the most successful for the call-to-action response.

On Wednesday, we had a guest speaker, Ryan Eugene, speak to our class about the company that he works for that sells IT supplies to both businesses and professional photographers.  One of the key takeaways that he discussed was the use of the blog for his site. This additional use of media helps connect with his customers, stay current in the industry, and help drive traffic to the website.

Additionally, he discussed the importance of the proper layout and color scheme for the audience.  Instead of going with vibrant or flashy colors and graphics, he chose simple black/white/shades of gray look.  He chose this color scheme based on surveys that someone in the industry had conducted.  When trying to relate to your target market, tailoring your approach from message channel, medium of message, as well as color scheme, should not be overlooked. The end game in this is to encourage interaction among clients, and prospective as well.

To get interaction between these two markets, discussing relevant topics and featuring key merchandise is important for driving traffic to his website. When we asked how much this blog has added to increased sales, Ryan was unable to answer.  What I found interesting was his statement saying that it’s hard to track success of multiple types of advertising mediums and activities.  I was a little disappointed to find out that he could not tell us how much increased foot traffic (as a percentage) was brought by the blog.

Along with the use of a blog, Ryan also stressed the importance of proper layout website practice.  He gave us an example of It Supplies’ website layout and stated that it was outdated and that there was a lot of “white space”.  This is considered bad practice

Another use of the website is to analyze key searches.  He also stated this can coincide with proper SEO practice.  Analyzing keyword searches and the product results that it yields, it gives the webmaster useful insight to what its customers’ needs.

Ryan also said that his company uses Twitter.  However, his lack of detail as to what they use their Twitter account for strikes me as one of the big flaws that firms have in regard to social media.  This is may very well be an example of “technology for technology’s sake”, no real application and practice for technology.  One of the big uses of a Twitter account for companies is a channel of customer service.  The example in class for this was the Dell Cares Twitter handle.  This firm uses multiple accounts for multiple reasons, and does it efficiently in a great presentation for the consumer.

ItSupplies could very well use Twitter as a customer service channel, they could also post links to their blogs along with catchy editorial phrases to entice the reader and increase readership.  They could also use this account to post coupon codes.  StubHub’s Twitter account does not shy away from topical engaging conversation with its followers, asking such question as “what football game are you looking forward to this weekend”.  This type of engaging content is important.