1 Building a Photography Community Using Social Media and Content Marketing Shelisa York Weber State University 2 Table of Contents PROJECT BRIEF ........................................................................................................................... 3 History ....................................................................................................................................... 3 Relevance to Professional Communication ................................................................................ 3 LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................................................................... 4 AUDIENCE ANALYSIS ............................................................................................................... 8 SWOT Analysis .......................................................................................................................... 9 Audience Analysis and SWOT Conclusion ................................................................................ 9 GOALS, OBJECTIVES, STRATEGIES ...................................................................................... 10 Timeline for Project (Appendix A) ........................................................................................... 11 Resources Needed ..................................................................................................................... 11 Financial Needs ......................................................................................................................... 12 Ideas to off-set costs ................................................................................................................. 12 PROJECT SUMMARY ................................................................................................................ 12 WEBSITE AND SOCIAL MEDIA SITE DESIGN ..................................................................... 13 Facebook ................................................................................................................................. 14 Facebook Campaigns ............................................................................................................ 15 Total Performance and Cost of All Campaigns .................................................................... 16 PINTEREST ................................................................................................................................ 16 CONTENT MARKETING ........................................................................................................... 17 ESTABLISHING APPEARANCE AND REAL-LIFE COMMUNITY ...................................... 18 VIDEO CREATION ..................................................................................................................... 19 SOCIAL-MEDIA REFERRED WEBSITE VISITS .................................................................... 19 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS ........................................................................................... 20 Review of Original Goals (see pg. 10) ..................................................................................... 21 Suggestions for Future Business-Related Social Media Projects ............................................. 22 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................. 24 SIGNATURE PAGE .................................................................................................................... 26 APPENDICES .............................................................................................................................. 27 3 PROJECT BRIEF This project is designed to build a social community and Web presence for a startup rental photography studio with social media as the vehicle and engaging content as the engine. The purpose of the project is to create awareness for the business, increase reach, build brand loyalty, and ultimately begin to make a profit. By creating engaging written and visual content for potential customers while optimizing this content for search engines, we will be able to achieve our goals in time. History For the last seven years as a semi-professional photographer (I do it for pay, but not for a living), I have dreamed of having my own studio but lacked the funds and space. Without one, I’ve had to turn down or cancel outdoor shoots due to unpredictable weather. To fix this issue, I bought lighting equipment, backdrops, and props, which I found to take up a lot of house space—and time. I eventually found it more and more difficult to get paying photography jobs because of the influx of “professional” photographers who charged lower prices. To remedy the high competition for photography jobs, I decided to bow out. Instead, I wanted to create a do-it-yourself photography studio that is complete with lighting, backdrops, and props, so all the photographers of the community could use it to create or enhance their portfolios. This dream began development unexpectedly. Four other Master of Professional Communication students and I founded Blink Studio in May of 2012. We agreed to use my business idea as a model during an MBA entrepreneurship course in which we were enrolled. Blink Studio won over the class and instructor with its members’ attention to detail, understanding of issues, and delivery. However, a vital piece of the business model was missing. The class didn’t take community building and Web presence into account. All our hard work would be wasted if customers could not find us. When Willie Sutton (an old bank robber) was asked why he robs banks, he said, “Because that’s where the money is.” For this project, using social media is relevant because “that’s where our customers are.” Relevance to Professional Communication Because one must use various forms of communication strategies to reach a defined market, a Web presence and community creation are vital to professional communication. These forms can include blogging, writing white papers, tutorials, creating videos, keeping a website optimized for customer’s search engine use, maintaining one or more social media sites, and supplying them with fresh content. In the course of the MPC program a few classes take precedence in building my final project. In the Writing for Professional Communicators class, each person picked a topic to write a how-to guide or tutorial. While others wrote on how to write white papers, press releases, articles, grants, blogs, etc., I wrote a paper on how to use search engine optimization to get your business, yourself, or 4 your website discovered. This gave me a good reason to further investigate my new-found interest in the topic. Coupling my paper with some of the content-related papers others wrote, I intend to create a spread of communication pieces to achieve the goals of my project. These will include written articles, creating memes, written photography tutorials, blogging, infographics, and slideshares. The Strategic Communication class also furthered my understanding and knowledge base in social media, marketing, and public relations. The reading in this class taught me the difference between push and pull marketing and the significance of each, which enabled me to gain an understanding of old and new marketing strategies. With that, I researched and created a social media marketing plan for a small local business, which gave me practical experience working with a client. Creating this plan was all-inclusive with audience identification, SWOT analysis, creating business communication goals, and developing message strategies. The class in New Media centered mainly on video creation, editing, and finalizing. In this class I was able to learn several techniques and theories behind shooting quality video including angles, timing, meaning, and audience analysis. This class also gave me the practical application for video that will be used to create motivational and engaging “join us” videos for Blink Studio. And lastly, an independent study class called SEO Copywriting has blown my mind with the practical assignments and strategy for reaching a customer in their world and in their words. Using search engine optimized content writing for all content on the website, you can increase your search engine ratings making it easier for customers to find you. The trick is to use the words your customers would use in the search engines to find what they’re looking for and inserting the words throughout your content, where appropriate. This class has been invaluable. These four classes have paved the way to use my passion of writing for my final project in the MPC program. I have read a lot, but have little experience, so creating an online presence and building a social media community are a stretch for me. Knowing it will be live, active, and measurable is exciting yet scary! With my project, I intend to use the information and practical skills I’ve gained in the MPC program to begin building these things while Blink Studio is in its infancy. It’s almost time to put down the pen and just do it. LITERATURE REVIEW Social media has changed business forever by making reaching the masses much easier and more cost effective than entrepreneurs from yesteryear could have ever imagined. Sandeep Bhanot defined social media as “the use of Web-based and mobile technologies that turn communication into interactive dialogue … using highly accessible and scalable communication techniques” (Bhanot, 2012, p. 47). On a personal scale, reconnecting with friends and long-lost family members is simple, as is gaining knowledge of local, national, and international news. Businesses didn’t see the value in the phenomena initially, but now many businesses have jumped on the social media bandwagon and taken advantage of the cost savings. Compared to traditional marketing, it is expensive and therefore less available for startups as a result. As words, ads, and daily deals now travel through complex webs of people with lightning speed, entrepreneurs can share their own story online and reach their target audience using social media. 5 The 2010 Global Regus Survey found that an increasing number of businesses are joining social media sites. Forty percent of businesses had a presence on social media sites. Even more exciting was the discovery that this rate grew 7% by 2011 (Global Regus Survey, p. 1). More and more businesses are devoting portions of their marketing budget to social media though many have a largely dormant social media presence. Olivier Blanchard says, “Being in social media serves no purpose unto itself … [your] presence must either solve a problem for the organization and its customers or result in an improvement of some sort” (p. 27). Having a social media account alone will not increase sales without continuous activity. Simply having a presence is “the equivalent of being listed in the white page section of the Yellow Pages. Customers can find you, but for answers to questions or for more substantive information, they will eventually demand more” (Andzulis, Panagopoulos, & Rapp, 2012, p. 307). Giamanco and Gregoire agree that “choosing not to be present in social networks puts your company and your salespeople at a competitive disadvantage” and costs them a 24% increase in time spent prospecting for new customers (July-August 2012, p. 93) because there are no more time-consuming cold calls. Businesses (74%) reported that participating in social media is essential, though 61% believe that it still must be combined with traditional marketing platforms (Global Regus Survey, 2011, p. 2). When compared to older methods of marketing, social media “allows firms to engage in timely and direct end-consumer contact at relatively low cost and higher levels of efficiency than can be achieved with more traditional communication tools (Kaplan & Haenlein, January-February, p. 67). The traditional tools for marketing include one-way communication and push marketing tactics such as advertisements, television and radio commercials, and printed materials. Blanchard states, “This works if the objective is to create awareness, but it falls short of creating loyalty for an organization or a cause” (2011, p. 26). According to Oren Gil-Or, the reason that these types of marketing have become less effective is due to “a lack of trust in an ongoing effect of deceptive advertising” (Gil-Or, 2010, p. 8). When businesses use this one-way communication it can often be considered “vendor polluted” which carries less credibility. A 1987 study by Brown & Reingen surveyed 118 social ties in regards to word-of-mouth advertising for three piano teachers with similar experience in the same geographical area to determine how their students (or parents) decided on a teacher. This study on the strength of social ties on decision-making behavior found that family and close friends have more influence over a person’s decision-making behavior than weak social ties such as commercial sources (Brown & Reingen, p. 357). However, Taining Yang’s 2012 study, 25 years later, surveyed 256 continuing education students about their Facebook interactions role on their consumer decision-making behavior. They found that while close friends still enhance the message receiver’s attitudes toward a brand, commercial sources enhance the message receiver’s brand attitudes and purchasing behavior (Yang, 2012, p. 57). This is great news for businesses using social media, but learning how to connect via social media requires a nontraditional approach. The old rules revolved around a general audience, but, with new marketing practices, we identify our customer base and decipher their needs because we will speak to and interact with them directly. In other words, we build relationships. Andzulis, Panagopoulos, and Rapp say that understanding the customer is the first step in the sales process because it is where we “gather knowledge, generate leads through prospecting, and determine [their] communication styles” (James "Mick" Andzulis, Panagopoulos, & Rapp, 2012, p. 311). 6 By the time marketers are introduced to new customers, they already know all there is to know about those businesses because they have also done their research online. Giamanco and Gregoire concluded that “today they [customers] typically complete most of the purchase journey before having any contact with sales” (July-August 2012, p. 90). For this reason, it is important that we ensure that the content they come across is high-quality and correct. “Find out what they would like to hear; what they would like to talk about; what they might find interesting, enjoyable, and valuable. Then, develop and post content that fits those expectations” (Kaplan & Haenlein, January-February, p. 66). This information is gained by participating in forums, blogs, and social media for online information. Focus groups may also be used to gain additional information. Using the info gained about our customer, it’s possible to build loyalty, answer questions, solve problems, and assist them through the buying process. While doing our homework on them, they are doing their homework on us and there must be quality information to grab their attention. Handley and Chapman have found that, before making purchasing decisions, “your customers read blogs, they Google their purchases, and they query followers on Twitter or friends on Facebook” (2011, p. 5). “Who you know is now trumped by what you know about who you know” (Giamanco & Gregoire, July-August 2012, p. 92). Know how they might feel, what they think about (in regard to what you have to offer) and appeal to them in a conversational manner with personality. As Peter VanRysdam notes, “Most people would rather read a novel than a textbook, and customers are no exception” (2010, p. 117). All content should be posted on your website and linked to social media to increase site traffic (Handley & Chapman, 2011, p. 6). Company content might include blogs, podcasts, videos, e-books, whitepapers, webinars, and more. Giamanco and Gregoire show that tying this content to social media will provide great results (for customers and SEO as circulation of the content increases site ratings (July-August 2012, p. 93). This process doesn’t guarantee sales, but that is not what today’s social media marketing is about. You must give without the expectation of getting anything in return, though customers are “surprisingly responsive to short messages sent via social media” (p. 91). Blink Studio can be discovered by writing good content and using search engine optimization to raise awareness of the studio’s existence. Using SEO to build brand awareness on search engines is vital. In order to accomplish this, marketers must conduct research on the terms customers are entering into the search engine. Taking the information gleaned by studying the customer, businesses are better equipped to use the tools such as Google’s Adwords. Adwords enables marketers to build a keyphrase list so you can insert the phrases in the writing for your website and all of your written materials. When writing for the Web, Ingrid Cliff states that businesses have two audiences: the customer and the search engine. By writing using identified keyphrases, search engines will rate content higher, and customers will be better able to find those businesses as a result. If phrases have high relevancy to a business’ site, that business will rank higher. The closer the match of searched terms to the terms found in the actual content, the more likely it will be that a business will be found (Cliff). Peter VanRysdam states, “Finding a happy medium between a customer and search engine, your blog will yield the best results for your company” (2010, p. 117). SEO has gotten a bad rap historically. Gerry McGovern disagrees with the use of SEO and states, "It makes things uncomfortable for the reader who has to sift through abnormal amounts of identical terms to get to what they’re looking for on a site (McGovern). The Google filter Panda Update actually 7 knocks off most low-quality sites that are stuffed with keywords and possess no quality content (Sullivan). Keyword stuffed articles do not gain popularity in search engines like they did in the past. Quality writing means creatively writing for all of your content and moving beyond the keyword stuffers of yesteryear. Matt McGee wrote: “The quick and easy stuff isn’t going to work [anymore]. Focus on quality and do stuff that will last for the long haul. Quality and hard work, along with patience and persistence, will give you a shot” (McGee). Quality content that is optimized for search engines can be applied to every form of content, including video. In Heather Lloyd-Martin’s October, 2012 article, When Video Content Means Bad News for Your Site, she maintains that content creators can optimize videos with written content by writing a transcript of what is said in the video or simply summarizing the video’s points while including key search terms before posting it on a site. Not everyone has the time to sit and watch a video, but many people like to scan writing for what is important to them (Lloyd-Martin). The line between creating a Web presence, social media marketing, and search engine optimization is becoming thin. Lee Odden wrote, “Useful social content (blog, video, images, audio, etc … ) that cannot be discovered via search is a lost opportunity to reach an audience that is looking (Odden). Lloyd-Martin’s article interviewee, Jennifer Evans Cairo, states: “Social media will always be part of search engine marketing and good SEO will always be incorporated in social media. For a good integrated marketing strategy, the two will help drive each other to boost the overall brand” (Lloyd-Martin). Odden agrees with that by writing, “The role of SEO in a social media effort is to directly influence discovery of social communities or content via search (Odden). Once a customer locates what they’re looking for, keeping them engaged and filling their needs becomes the focus. While bringing information and entertainment to customers, the marketer must understand the social media platform chosen to engage with customers. Twitter is limited to 140 characters and most people use that to get across a catchy tag line with a link to content posted on their sites such as pictures, infographics, articles, or tutorials. Twitter can be a research tool for finding what is being talked about in your industry (via #hashtag searches) and to find articles to answer business questions and find resources. Peter VanRysdam wrote that Twitter is best used for reaching out to existing contacts, searching for people talking about your industry, following people who attend the same events you attend, and to locate leaders in your industry (2010, pp. 196-199). For greater resources and room, another platform may be a good choice. Facebook has unlimited possibilities for engagement. VanRysdam points out that users can “share a picture, blog post, or other piece of content to their [Facebook] wall from your site without ever leaving your page” (2010, p. 207). Customers now share your content on social media right from your website and help spread information. According to an article written by Kaya Singer in March, 2012, fan pages are for building relationships with customers, not to simply sell. She says to put in a sales pitch infrequently and avoid negativity unless you’re offering a solution, but most effective approaches focus on building relationships by asking thought provoking questions and establishing yourself as an expert through the information shared. Further, she states that sharing fans’ posts and commenting on them helps to build relationships (Singer). This brief literature review has illustrated the importance of building relationships by providing quality content in various forms. The two-way communication model of social media opens many new doors for 21st century businesses to accomplish this. Although the marketing tactics of the past were poised to earn sales with a general population, the social media generation of marketing is based on 8 providing information, educating, answering questions, and solving problems with a specific audience that is interested in what your business has to offer. AUDIENCE ANALYSIS The primary audience for Blink Studio is made up of semi-professional photographers who use photography to make money or save money but do not use photography as their full-time profession. A secondary audience for Blink Studio is professional photographers whose main income is through photography, and who wish to have a studio without the expense of maintaining their own out-of-home facility. Non-scientific audience research included an online survey sent out randomly on Facebook to photographers’ pages that are located from Davis, Weber, Box Elder, and Cache counties in Utah. Subjects were “cold called” (messaged) and asked to visit Blink Studio’s website, watch the brief video, and answer the survey questions. They were also asked to pass the survey on to other photographers they know. It’s unknown how many people the survey reached, but there were 38 responses. The first few questions pertained to their knowledge of camera settings and their ability to use manual controls (necessary for studio use) so we would know how “semi-pro” or “pro” they really are.  38 people completed an online survey (though many skipped one or more questions) o 28% have their own studio lighting and 42% do not o 5% borrow lighting and 22% don’t use lighting  Of these, 74% are interested in learning how to use studio lighting  53% use Photoshop Creative Suite, 46% use Lightroom  74% consider themselves “natural light photographers” (no artificial light sources) o They do not use off-camera flash for their shoots  42% said they are planning to buy studio equipment and 57% said they are not  24 of 38 respondents said they would use a rental studio o 66% said they would use it once per month o 11% said they would use it 2-3 times per month Phone interviews were conducted with an additional 16 photographers. These interviews were known personally by the interviewer to be professional or semi-professional photographers.  13 of the 16 said they would use a studio  11 of 16 considered themselves semi-pro, however, 7 of them said that photography was a part-time income and they had no other personal income, 9 have full-time jobs (not photography) and do photography on the side  Pains or inconveniences noted from those interviewed include: o Having to set up a makeshift studio in various parts of their houses (kitchen, living room, garage) 9 o Having to set up and take down o Having to load and transport equipment to clients’ houses, unload, set up, etc. o Only being able to shoot outdoors and having to cancel for bad weather and not shooting much in the winter o “Everyone’s a photographer” so quality goes down and so does price o It’s hard to stand out in the enormous crowd o Don’t know how to use lighting effectively SWOT Analysis Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities Threats No rental studios in Weber or Box Elder counties Limited funds Newness attracts attention (with enough publicity) Other well-known photographers copying our idea Low overhead: rent cheaper than bigger studios in SL and Utah counties Not enough content to start with Ability to write fresh and engaging content from beginning Competition from bigger companies with more money and resources Create social opportunities for customers locally No brand recognition yet Use MeetUp.com to create F2F activities around studio Lack of time to accomplish everything Ability to offer private studio access (unlike larger companies in SL and Utah counties) Less equipment to start with Build loyalty around convenience initially and move up from there Locals may be loyal to other studios (that are farther away) Audience Analysis and SWOT Conclusion As stated in the literature, it is imperative for us to know our customers’ pains and inconveniences in order to create relevant content that will engage them by easing or solving their problems through various forms of creative content. The information-gathering phase gave me a list of pains that I can use to begin creating this content. Other customer issues will arise and be incorporated into this plan over time. The SWOT analysis made me realize even more that creation of content and building a Web presence is going to be a long process, and building clientele will not be easy. However, every startup starts somewhere. I do think that the niche market for Blink Studio will be well served by our services and will offer a great community on the Web and during in-person events sponsored through MeetUp. We are able to offer low-cost rental as compared to other companies that charge high rates. I also realize (in the threats) that this is a three-person job and I will be doing the majority of the content curation myself during my 200-hour project. 10 GOALS, OBJECTIVES, STRATEGIES Goal 1: Gain as many active followers as possible  Objective: Create a customer base by generating leads  Strategies: o Get friends and relatives to post about the service on their social media accounts o Search social media for local photographers, let them know about the service o Attend others’ MeetUp groups that revolve around photography o Get thought leaders to promote o Produce ads for Facebook classifieds pages (Northern Utah Classifieds, etc. ) o Post event information (MeetUps) Goal 2: Excellent SEO and content curation  Objective: Fulfill customers’ needs/solve their pain with direct calls to action  Strategies: Research photography topics and … o Write at least one blog post or article per week o Pin posing ideas and tutorials on Pinterest o Create at least one video approximately two minutes in length o Create relevant infographics o Q&A content (i.e. How to … , Why … , which … )  Use for research: https://freekeywords.wordtracker.com/keyword-questions/ o Link all content on Facebook and Twitter after posting it on the website and post all infographics/pictures to Pinterest o Create Slideshare/Podcast Goal 3: Get user-generated content on social media and website  Objective: Encourage customer activity  Strategies: o Contests  i.e. Vote for your favorite picture! Winner gets free studio time. Invite your friends and family to vote o Coupon offers o Offer incentives for on-site written reviews of studio o Ask questions about photography that encourage them to answer o Polls o Encourage guest bloggers o Post a slideshow o Post a video o Write a caption for this picture: ____________ (creating memes) 11 I created these goals following the research completed during the literature review and past classes. The goals create an abundance of work though research, writing, and other written and visual content curation to engage customers in two-way communication via social media and events. All content will be created for search engine optimization, which begins establishing a Web presence through regular posting and engagement. Timeline for Project (Appendix A) Daily:  Reputation management: Check blog, Facebook, MeetUp, and other social media accounts for activity and respond accordingly  Add (pin) resources for customers via Pinterest (posing ideas, camera help, and tutorials) Weekly:  One or two blog posts per week on website o Any type of content: written, visual, contests, event promotion, infographic, slideshow, podcast, etc.  Six informational articles or webpages, up to 500 words, posted to website  Optimize all content with keyphrases, metatags, and titles  Link all of the above to Facebook and Twitter (and others, if applicable) after completion in order to drive site traffic, increase reach and brand awareness  Check measurement statistics Monthly:  Report measurement statistics and record Bi-monthly:  Hold at least one photo studio event to encourage sharing information, increase education, build a community and brand loyalty (i.e. lighting class, photography class, camera equipment yard sale, pet photo shoots, model shoots, lunch or dinner events, guest speakers, etc.). Resources Needed  Guest bloggers  Local thought-leader support  Lighting instructors (either donate education OR charge nominal fee to studio OR attendees)  Guest speakers 12 Financial Needs  Promotional ads o Facebook ads, price varies depending on campaign choice o PPC (pay-per-click) advertising on Google, price varies  Social media monitoring software costs o Some are free and better ones are paid (haven’t determined which I’ll use yet) Ideas to off-set costs (may be used)  Become an affiliate for others’ businesses to earn money to pay for my own campaigns (Amazon, B&H Photo, Pictureline, etc.) With research completed, clear goals in place, and a reasonable timeline, I set out to grow awareness and loyalty to this start-up business. With a limited timeframe (less than three months) in which to work, I hope to be able to begin seeing results that will fulfill the overall goal of the project. By using the skills and abilities I’ve gained through the Master of Professional Communication program, I intend to build a community of photographers around My Blink Studio through the use of social media and content creation. These efforts aim to educate, inform, and convert semi-professional photographers into customers of My Blink Studio. In the following project summary, I intend to give a brief account of both online and in-person efforts used to achieve these goals. Links will be provided to view the social media sites and content that was created as part of the project. PROJECT SUMMARY My project comprised of videos, ads, and other social-media content as well as countless personal blog posts that I used to gauge my progress. The goal of the project was to build a social community around a start-up company that provides studio space, props, and lighting for photographers to rent by the hour or with a monthly membership. By properly segmenting and choosing the target market in the project development stage, I hoped to engage them through social media and build their loyalty to the studio by increasing the sense of community with fellow photographers. This paper will outline each aspect and describe the progress of these efforts. Though social media presence and content marketing take longer periods of time to achieve success than was allotted for my project, much was accomplished despite several unexpected obstacles. Aesthetic design of the website and social media sites was something not originally factored into my project proposal. These changes were necessary to make the landing pages visually appealing to the users. In addition to visual improvements, the website needed work to make it more user-friendly and 13 simpler to navigate. With one page leading to the next through appropriate linking strategies, I hoped to increase the click-through rate and ultimately get people to sign up or send an inquisitive email. Data from Facebook Insights and Google Analytics were used to track statistics of all the social media and content marketing efforts and will also be discussed in this summary. WEBSITE AND SOCIAL MEDIA SITE DESIGN Before launching any social media efforts, the website needed a facelift and a more professional look. I added pictures to galleries to display studio work with the hope of converting lurkers to renters. Prior to this project starting, the site only showed a homepage with sparse writing and one video that was created in an MBA entrepreneurship class. Though these site-building efforts weren’t factored into my proposal, they became part of it immediately. Completion of the website included doing all the search engine optimization (SEO) copywriting for each page and interlinking all the pages. As you can see by looking at My Blink Studio’s webpage, it has grown exponentially. The efforts included writing the main pages labeled Home, The Studio, Membership Plans, Schedule and Pay, Galleries, Blog, and Contact. Within these pages, I was able to use the knowledge gained from the SEO copywriting course I took in fall of 2012. Doing so ideally increases the chances of the studio showing up in search results. After creating the pages, I used internal links to create a smooth transition from one page to the next to answer all possible customer questions and end with a clear call to action. Sometimes this action was to schedule and pay and other times it was to ask customers to contact the business via email. The Schedule and Pay page needed to be linked to an online scheduling service and PayPal account, so I found an affordable service and was able to make the page complete. In order to fill in some blank space and possibly monetize the site, I signed up for an Amazon affiliate partnership and designed the widgets visible on the right side of the page. This included getting the sizes of the boxes correct and to get the color scheme in line with the site. To date, this effort hasn’t brought in any money, but I also didn’t spend a lot of time writing posts that included Amazon links. After getting the site ready, it was time to turn my efforts to social media site design. The Facebook banner was done prior to starting the project, but I spent an entire weekend working on a new logo design to replace the white box you can see on the banner of both the website and Facebook page. After being given the green light to design the logo any way I wanted, and making it clear that the design would be similar to the current design, my partners did not want to use it. So after spending tens of hours on the logo design and realizing my efforts were for naught I abandoned ship. My proposed logo can be seen below with additional variations here. 14 The next move was to design the MeetUp.com banner and page to describe and give a geographic location to the MeetUp group, as suggested by the owners of the site. The banner you see accomplishes all of those things (purpose, location, objectives). My Blink Studio of Ogden gives the title and location, while the images on the banner show studio photography equipment. Once the banner was complete, I designed the page, created administrators, linked up My Blink Studio’s PayPal account, wrote the goals and purpose, then listed My Blink Studio as a sponsor. I also linked MeetUp to Facebook, and the website. Facebook By completing the audience analysis prior to this project, I was able to determine who the target audience was, but interestingly enough they aren’t the ones that kicked things off for My Blink Studio. Facebook numbers were initially comprised of friends and family who “liked” the page out of sympathy or curiosity. As I began writing and posting information, I wasn’t receiving any interaction. I turned to MeetUp.com and organized the first MeetUp as a dinner meet-and-greet at a local restaraunt on January 17th. With about 20 people in attendance, I was excited until learning that only about four people out of 20 knew how to use their cameras well enough to use a studio or even produce professional-looking results outside the studio. Not losing faith in my audience analysis yet, I switched gears in my social media efforts while still keeping my eye on the target audience—semi-professional photographers. Facebook growth has been slow but started to gain some activity toward the end of the project. For two months, the only person that liked any posts was my mother. I continued to link every article and artifact that I wrote to Facebook, only to be met with grim loneliness. It dawned on me what the problem was—friends and family are the ones who “liked” the page, not photographers. I decided to run a brief Facebook campaign for two days in hopes of achieving more interaction and “likes” from real photographers. As a result, things began evolving. 15 Facebook Campaigns The first ad I created to run on a Tuesday and Wednesday and was targeted to get more “likes” on the page. Prior to the ad running, there were 103 likes and afterward there were 114. I promoted a post for our MeetUp group’s “Portfolio-Building Model Shoot” event; it was viewed 2,073 times. The following week I ran another similar ad, but this time I ran the ad from Friday night to Sunday night and increased the population I was reaching out to. I received four phone calls, a text message, and an email on Sunday, and 29 additional likes on the page. Facebook’s administrator guidelines suggested there’s more activity on weekdays, but I found that wasn’t the case for My Blink Studio. The statistics for the ad ending on March 3rd are not included, but you can see the statistics for the first ad here: The chart illustrates:  A 25% increase in likes during the first ad  The amount of times the studio was “talked about” went up 169%  The studio’s reach went down to 5,476 after the first ad ended 16 Additionally, to assure that I was hitting the correct demographics (within 50 miles of Ogden, Utah), I included conclusive statistics in Appendix A to confirm this is occurring. The majority of our activity is coming from Salt Lake City north. Total Performance and Cost of All Campaigns  Get Real Photographers 1 and Promoted Event 1 ran February 19-21 and together landed eight new page likes. Statistically, though, there were a total of 11 likes on Facebook and more traffic driven to our MeetUp group. Facebook considers the statistic only if the consumer clicks on the link and likes the page in succession  Drive Traffic to Site ran February 26-28 and was linked directly to our website’s home page. The campaign got four clicks, according to Facebook Insights  Get Real Photographers 2 ran March 1-3 and landed us 19 likes  In total, I spent $65.72 for 216 clicks The expense of running the campaigns to increase page likes was worth it if they are invested photographers who will use the studio. After receiving multiple contacts, I find it safe to say that things are beginning to work in favor of the studio. The goal is to provide potential customers with tools to make in-studio photography a pleasant experience. PINTEREST Pinterest has been a great tool to use to drive traffic to our website and to provide posing tips, camera tricks, tutorials, and inspiration to our customers. I created numerous Pinterest boards and split them into categories for easy reference during a photo shoot. Though Pinterest is world-wide and not location specific, clients of My Blink Studio have an easy tool to refer back to when they run out of ideas during a photo shoot. My following on the site grows as I pin and get dozens of repins and a few “likes” each week. I have pinned My Blink Studio’s original pins in the mix as well and have been pleased with the response on my content marketing efforts. To date, I have created 23 boards, 651 pins, and earned 60 unique followers, none of whom are friends/family. 17 CONTENT MARKETING Social media efforts began with writing articles or blog posts and artifacts created in Photoshop then optimized through writing, linking throughout the site and other articles, and including metadata and researched keywords to help online search results. The purpose was to draw in lurkers to see more of the studio’s offerings or to at least get conversations started. Since I realized I was working with more of an amateur level of photographers, I had to write for them as well. I wrote the following blog posts/articles/tutorials and more to feed the audience and hopefully grow it. http://myblinkstudio.com/turbo-boost-your-portfolio/ http://myblinkstudio.com/iris-blur-tutorial-photoshop-cs6-my-blink-studio-ogden-utah/ http://myblinkstudio.com/virtual-tour-of-my-blink-studio/ http://myblinkstudio.com/bad-lighting-examples/ http://myblinkstudio.com/photography-studio-lighting-indoors-and-out-in-ogden-utah/ http://myblinkstudio.com/top-10-uses-for-studio-photography/ http://pinterest.com/pin/338403359470317884/ http://myblinkstudio.com/a-photographers-world/ http://myblinkstudio.com/av-mode-practice-assignment/ http://myblinkstudio.com/tv-mode-practice-assignment/ http://myblinkstudio.com/understanding-camera-modes/ http://myblinkstudio.com/tips-for-studio-photography-with-makeup-artist-and-model-utah/ https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=614629955221056&set=a.479313888752664.130549.460271020656951&type=1&theater&notif_t=like https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=618355721515146&set=a.479313888752664.130549.460271020656951&type=1&theater Each post took significant time and effort. For some, this included creating the title picture in Photoshop (the picture in the top left corner that appears when you share it via social media sites). Where appropriate, the articles were linked with other articles or pages on the site and out to My Blink Studio’s social media sites. My goal for this information is to educate but also make it easy for people to convert to customers. Each article gives links back to the site’s pages so buying in is only a click away. 18 Sharing this newly created information on Facebook appeared futile due to lack of interaction. However, Google Analytics tells a different story. Appendix C shows more than 2,874 page views with 602 site entrances. I concluded that people followed the links but didn’t return to the social site to leave feedback after viewing the content. Further, some of the content was repinned on Pinterest multiple times. However, this analytic doesn’t discern where the traffic came from. By continuing to build the blog, I will further establish the studio’s page as a place to go for information. ESTABLISHING APPEARANCE AND REAL-LIFE COMMUNITY In December, as I began creating the website and establishing a base for my future content, I found it necessary to participate more in photography events, which I’d hoped would get my personal name and My Blink Studio circulating. I’d been a member of several photography MeetUps for about a year, but had never attended. One group, Salt Lake Fashion Photographers, had an up-coming Meetup on December 9th and needed people with portable lighting to attend. I paid the $40 fee and headed down to “Naughty or Nice Christmas Shoot,” where I was able to meet and mingle with several photographers, models, and makeup artists. It was a fantastic event and I took some tasteful boudoir shots that would further get my name out there. By getting to see how the MeetUp organizer of the group did things, I was able to make mental notes for My Blink Studio’s future groups. MeetUp.com at My Blink Studio of Ogden By the time December was over, I had nearly completed the website, added a few pictures of my own as studio examples, and was getting ready to finally launch the Facebook page and begin posting. I had created the banner for the MeetUp group (as described earlier) and designed the page. I created the first event which was a meet and greet style event at a local restaurant. Three days after the page was complete, the administrators sent it out to 100 MeetUp members along the Wasatch Front who are interested in photography. Our numbers started climbing. I began posting links to the group on Facebook and created a contest there as well. The winner was to be announced at the MeetUp on January 17. The contest had nearly no participation with our winner receiving only 11 likes, but it was still a great place to start! To enter the contest, they had to post their best portrait shot and get the most likes on their photo to win four free hours of studio time. At the first MeetUp, we ate dinner, talked about photography of all types, and had drawings for photography-related prizes that I purchased for the event. Afterward we went to the studio for a quick walkthrough. A fellow classmate and co-owner of the studio did a time-lapse video of the MeetUp event. I made connections with two photographers and one ended up helping me with the next MeetUp. My partners hosted the next event at the studio on February 9th for those interested in trick photography, where they were dropping items into a fish tank. I think it went well, but was unable to 19 attend. Once pictures were posted on MeetUp, I posted a couple to Facebook just to show that studios can be used for things besides portraits. The final MeetUp done as part of my project was a large undertaking. I searched for two models, a makeup artist, and hairstylist for the “Portfolio-Building Model Shoot” held at the studio. This is where my interaction in the other MeetUp group back in December really helped out. I had become interactive with this other group and vested time and effort to maintain relationships. It wasn’t difficult to locate the people I needed to help out and they worked in trade for getting to further build their portfolios as well. Some great pictures are posted on the site as well as our Facebook page. VIDEO CREATION Part of this project included creating two videos. The first video shows how to process a model from beginning to end through clothes selection, signing a release form, and getting her prepped for the shoot, including makeup and hair done by a licensed cosmetologist. The purpose of this video was to increase knowledge about what can be accomplished with a good model and makeup artist. The second video shows a photographer actually doing the photo shoot. The purpose of the second video was to show the varying results you can get in-studio with both one- and two-light setups. Showing these videos provides enlightenment to semi-professional photographers who may see studio lighting as cumbersome. The video shows the ease of achieving professional results. Preparing for the video shoot was intensive, but with a little help it turned out well. Using the resources I’ve gained through other photography groups and Facebook pages, I posted in search of a photographer, makeup artist, and model to help me by participating in the video project. I explained that the videos could get them good exposure and they can use them in their own blog posts or websites. I selected a photographer from Utah County and made arrangements for a model and makeup artist. For two weeks prior to the shoot, I brainstormed, planned, and storyboarded repeatedly. This undertaking was scheduled for February 16th for four hours. The total time it actually took to get set up and shoot was six hours. Editing was a blast, but it was difficult and time-consuming. The model talked really fast, which made it hard to cut between shots, as you’ll see, but the photographer and makeup artist parts went fairly smoothly. Part One: How to Work with a Model and Makeup Artist Part Two: How to Achieve Photographer and Model Success in the Studio The resulting blog post: http://myblinkstudio.com/tips-for-studio-photography-with-makeup-artist-and-model-utah/ SOCIAL-MEDIA REFERRED WEBSITE VISITS 20 I thought the initial efforts with my project would bring disappointment. However, I was surprised looking at the statistics that there was actually great upward mobility. I measured the success of social media efforts that drove traffic to the website via Google Webmaster Tools. Google Analytics Network referrals for three months (Appendix D) show where the website’s social traffic originates, how many visits per site, how many page views, visit duration, and how many pages per visit. These two charts show that Facebook is the biggest contributor to My Blink Studio’s statistical data with 156 referrals over the three-month period. Pinterest came in second with 135 referrals. Because I’m targeting local traffic (within 50 miles of Ogden, Utah) Pinterest’s statistical information is only to determine how much interest in the site is generated by the unique content created. The primary benefit of Pinterest for My Blink Studio’s community is the wealth of tutorials, information, and posing tips that can be stored neatly in one place for easy reference. MeetUp’s numbers were higher (24) in January than February (14) because that is when our memberships started coming in and it has slowed as the numbers have stabilized. The overall statistics confirm that My Blink Studio was beginning to make headway in a long process of building followers. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS The goal of my project was to build a photography community by use of social media and content marketing. Building an interested audience and enough content to keep them happy and educated can take a very long time. For the time period granted to complete the project, I was able to get much accomplished, though I was not successful in achieving much interaction largely due to the suspected low amount of semi-professional photographers located early on. Had I been able to start on the project’s purpose immediately, rather than spending time on building the website and page content, the odds may have turned in my favor. The first month was spent building the website pages with keywords, relevant metadata, and concise page descriptions for Google to crawl in order to improve the overall search engine optimization and usability of the site. Part of building the pages included setting up accounts, locating partners for scheduling programs, and adding Amazon widgets for monetization and visual appeal on the homepage. Additionally, making the site appear more professional and put together required countless hours of adjusting colors, font sizes, titles, subtitles, and margins according to things I learned in an SEO copywriting course and research done during the proposal-writing phase of my project. After creating the website pages, I began making the site more user-friendly and full of information. I linked pages together in a coherent manner to increase click-through rate and simplify the site’s navigation. Each page included a direct call to action (sign up or email for information). Because social media marketing isn’t successful when you’re always pushing a sale, I created content for the site to engage and educate. This content included multiple articles, tutorials, memes, and adding my own studio photography to the picture galleries. I was successful in creating content for the website, but 21 getting it seen and interacted with on social media sites was much more difficult than anticipated. The old adage “Build it and They Will Come” did not apply here. Another goal of the project was to increase user-generated content on social media. This type of content was attempted once on Facebook in the form of a portrait contest which induced very little interaction. The person that won the contest came to use her free studio time and didn’t know how to use the manual controls on her camera or even how to access them. Again, this showed lack of attracting the target audience. I’m determined that the audience analysis wasn’t wrong, but that the title “photographer” is subject to loose interpretation in today’s digital age. User-generated content wasn’t attempted again on Facebook beyond asking a question or two that went unanswered. A severe lack of interaction with other posts made me shy away from allowing anyone I was currently attracting to post anything for fear that their obvious lack of knowledge would scare away the target audience, should they begin to appear. Instead of retreating altogether, I decided to run ads with the hope of recruiting semi-professional photographers to the page. It wasn’t until I ran these ads that I felt I may have finally been reaching the target audience. After running the ads (described earlier), I felt the excitement of knowing my efforts were beginning to pay off as evidenced by the increase in emails, phone calls, and “likes” by presumably ad-targeted photographers. Unfortunately, My Blink Studio’s online sites took a lot of prep time and weren’t ready for ads to be run earlier in the project. Had I been able to run the ads earlier, the project’s ultimate goal may have been more successful. Another area where the project was beginning to accrue success was with efforts to build a community of photographers. In about 8 weeks’ time, My Blink Studio on MeetUp.com held three events. The participants were beginning to forge friendships as evidenced by the positive feedback given and received by those who chose to post pictures from the events to the site for review or give constructive criticism. MeetUp.com’s relationship successes carried over to Facebook and I began to see more interaction between the people who had met face-to-face. The project was overall successful with content creation but failed to achieve the amount of interaction desired. Referring back to the S.W.O.T. analysis (pg. 8), the threats to the business were accurate and effected the overall success of my project as well. These threats included limited funds, lack of content to start, no brand recognition, and equipment requirements. Review of Original Goals (see pg. 10) The first goal of the project was to gain as many active followers as possible. I achieved this goal through the strategies as outlined. I was able to get friends and relatives posting about the studio and sharing content. I joined groups and participated in conversations and events with photographers around Facebook and MeetUp.com and posted links to the studio’s website as well as links to articles and other content. I posted to classifieds pages on Facebook where many photographers advertise their 22 services, and also posted an ad on KSL classifieds (a local news station). Further, I asked a local thought leader with a large following to help promote and he was unwilling without paying a fee. The second goal was to have a website that included excellent content that was optimized for search engines to make it easier for people to locate us online. I was able to create the content and webpages with researched keywords (from a class in fall 2012) and successfully showed up in some search results. My strategies to achieve excellent content were great in theory, but overzealous due to time restrictions. I wrote numerous articles, webpages, made a very useful Pinterest page, and created two videos in the term of my project. Time didn’t allow for other items I intended to complete such as slideshares, infographics, or a question and answer page. It was definitely out of reach to write one article or blog post per week. And lastly, my third goal was to get user-generated content flowing through the studio’s social media and website-based blog. This goal wasn’t achieved to the extent I anticipated. There were no comments to interact with in regards to articles written, and the one contest I ran got little interaction with nearly no results. MeetUp.com showed some user-generated content by those who attended photography events then posted their images for others to view. I attempted to get some interaction by posting links to others’ photography-related content as well, but to no avail. I believe that had I been able to run Facebook ads much sooner, there would have been more interaction with semi-professional photographers. I did meet the objective for this goal (encourage customer activity), but the strategies for increasing user-generated content were not met. Suggestions for Future Business-Related Social Media Projects For future endeavors of students attempting a similar project, it is highly advised to pick a business that is already established and begin content-marketing and community-building efforts immediately. If building and implementing a plan for a new business, expect the unexpected and plan spending time in areas not thought of in advance. However, though it did put time constraints on the project, building the site from scratch had many pros. I was able to write the pages with search engine optimization in mind rather than having to attempt to rewrite pages already in place (as would be the case with existing businesses) to achieve the same result. I was able to create links and calls to action without having to get permission, and designing the site any way I wanted was a definite time saver overall. Future creators of a social media project should either expect to start at least two months earlier with a total of 5 months of usable time or use an existing and established business to achieve optimum results. Items Not Factored into Timeline or Original Proposal  Photography and Photoshop time (creating banners, logo, and studio pictures in the name of the studio)  Building the site in full and fleshing it out 23  Being financially responsible to pay for all scheduling software on the site, MeetUp costs, Facebook ads, and purchasing equipment to meet minimum studio standards for professional photography Total time spent: more than 327 hours Total money spent: approximately $1000 Links to sites: http://myblinkstudio.com/ https://www.facebook.com/MyBlinkStudio http://pinterest.com/myblinkstudio/ http://www.meetup.com/My-Blink-Studio/ 24 REFERENCES Bhanot, S. (2012). Use of social media by companies to reach their customers. SIES Journal of Management, 8(1), 47-55. Blanchard, O. (2011). Social media ROI (p. 27). Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc. Brown, J.J., & Reingen, A. P. (1987). Social ties and word-of-mouth referral behavior. Journal of Consumer Research, 14(3), 350-362. Cliff, I. (2011, May 3). Web copywriting: How to write copy for your website. dejanseo.com.au/web-copywriting-how-to-write-copy-for-your-website/ David Meerman Scott. (2011). New rules of marketing and PR (p. 12). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Giamanco, B., & Gregoire, K. (July-August 2012). Tweet me, friend me, make me buy. Harvard Business Review, 88-93. Gil-Or, O. (2010). Building consumer demand by using viral marketing tactics within an online social network. Advances in Management, 3(7), 7-14. Global Regus Survey. (2011). A global survey of business use of social networks. Regus Business, (1), 1-16. Handley, A., & Chapman, C.C. (2011). Content rules (p. 5). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. James "Mick" Andzulis, Panagopoulos, N., & Rapp, A. (2012, Summer). A review of social media and implications for the sales process. Jouranl of personal selling & sales management, 32(3), 305-316. Kaplan, A. M., & Haenlein, M. (January-February, 2010). Users of the world unite! The challenges and opportunities of social media. New Horizons, 53(1), 59-68. Kaplan, A. M., & Haenlein, M. (January-February, 2010). Users of the world unite! The challenges and opportunities of social media. New Horizons, 53(1), 59-68. Lloyd-Martin, H. (2012, October). When video content means bad news for your site. Retrieved from http://www.seocopywriting.com/content-marketing/when-video-content-means-bad-news-for-your-site/ McGee, M. (2012, October 16). Matt McGee on SEO and small business search marketing. Retrieved from http://www.seocopywriting.com/content-marketing/matt-mcgee-on-seo-small-business-search-marketing/ McGovern, G. (2012, September). The perils of search engine optimization. Retrieved from http://giraffeforum.com/wordpress/2012/09/09/the-perils-of-search-engine-optimization/ Odden, L. (2009, April). Social media and SEO: 5 essential steps to success. Retrieved from http://mashable.com/2009/04/15/social-media-seo/ 25 Singer, K. (2012, March). Tips to write good Facebook posts. Retrieved from http://www.awakeningbusiness.com/blog/tips-to-write-good-facebook-posts/ Sullivan, D. (2011, May). Why Google Panda is more a ranking factor than an algorithm update. Retrieved from http://searchengineland.com/why-google-panda-is-more-a-ranking-factor-than-algorithm-update-82564 VanRysdam, P. (2010). Marketing in a web 2.0 world. Ocala, FLA: Atlantic Publishing Group, Inc. Yang, T. (2012, Spring). The decision behavior of Facebook users. Journal of Computer Information Systems, 50-59. 26 27 Count Down: 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 X 12/3/2012 12/10/2012 12/17/2012 12/24/2012 12/31/2012 1/7/2013 1/14/2013 1/21/2013 1/28/2013 2/4/2013 2/11/2013 2/18/2013 2/25/2013 3/4/2013 3/11/2013 3/18/2013 3/25/2013 4/1/2013 4/8/2013 4/15/2013 4/22/2013 4/26/2013 Post-Graduation Photography Studio and equipment x Written Work Webpage FAQ x Webpage Homepage x Article/Tutorial 1 x Article/Tutorial 2 x Article/Tutorial 3 x Promotional Video Begin shooting x Edits complete x Posted to SM sites x MeetUp Group Begin promotion/ gather members x Event 1 x Event 2 x Other Content Memes Contests These will be random with one or several a week and will be posted to blog along with blog posts (1-2 per week) and linked to SM sites Captions Surveys Measurement Google Analytics x x x Final Write Up x Defense Meeting x Graduation x Appendix A 28 December–January Demographics January—February Demographics February—March Demographics Appendix B 29 Appendix C 30 31 WEBSITE MONTH FACEBOOK PINTEREST MEETUP TWITTER YOUTUBE VISITS DEC. JAN. FEB. 36 46 69 4 53 68 0 21 14 0 0 8 0 0 1 PAGE VIEWS DEC. JAN. FEB. 167 199 322 15 86 120 0 147 98 0 0 14 0 0 4 DURATION DEC. JAN. FEB. 4:40 5:29 7:58 :58 :54 1:16 0 18:53 4:45 0 0 :16 0 0 :53 PAGES/VISIT DEC. JAN. FEB. 4.64 4.33 4.67 3.75 1.62 1.76 0 7 7 0 0 1.75 0 0 4 TOTAL NETWORK REFFERALS FOR DECEMBER, JANUARY, AND FEBRUARY Appendix D