#NECSOCIALFINAL

[ldaniel7646-blog]

Final Assignment- Childhood Cancer: St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital

In this paper I will be talking about childhood cancer and how these children’s parents use social media to get the word out and try to understand this deadly disease. St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital is doing their best to stop childhood cancer.

             Join St. Jude in the fight against childhood cancer. Donate today! No family receives a bill for treatment, travel, housing or food, because all a family should worry about is helping their child live. St. Jude has treated children from all 50 states ad from around the world. Treatments invented at St. Jude have helped push the overall childhood cancer survival rate from 20% to more than 80% since it opened more than 50 years ago. St. Jude use several social media platforms. There are many other hospitals who specialize in different types of childhood cancers, but I feel that St. Jude is the number one hospital when your child needs help. St. Jude uses social media as a great way to let parents know what they are doing to help these children.

               Social media represent important resources for parents to engage with experts and peers over survivor-ship health. Facebook is the most commonly used social media platform. In a serve in January of this year, parents reported high levels of social media use, with 80% reporting daily use. Facebook was endorsed by 76% of its users, Twitter and Pinterest by 59%, Google+ 52%, and Instagram by 40%. Over 420,000 childhood cancer survivors (CCSs) are alive in the United States, and in 750 adults is a childhood cancer survivor.

               Social media represent particularly promising platforms for the design and delivery of high-quality survivor-ship health information to parents of young CCSs. Social media are presently untapped resources for parents to engage with experts and peers over long-term survivor-ship health. Social media have emerged in the past decade as ubiquitous, innovative, and potentially powerful tools for health information sharing and health behavior change. Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation has a social media toolkit. They say “social media is an easy way to raise awareness about the deadliest form of childhood cancer.

               They have a Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram account. 13 children and teens are diagnosed each day with a brain tumor, more children die of brain tumors than any other cancer, and survivors often face lifelong side effects and years of tests and treatments. The PBTF’s research portfolio is paving the way for better treatments, increased survivor-ship and a higher quality of life for children and teens. The Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation said “our Research Advisory Network, comprised of the top childhood brain tumor experts helps statically shape our research funding program for maximum impact”. St. Jude children’s hospital treats the toughest childhood cancers and pediatric diseases. St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, founded in 1962, is a pediatric treatment and research facility focused on children’s catastrophic diseases, particularly leukemia and other cancers. The Cancer Center received its NCI designation in 1977 and was awarded status as a comprehensive cancer center by NCI in 2008. St. Jude has a staff of more than 4,000 including over 160 researches who are part of the Cancer Center. They are engaged in a broad spectrum of research including discover-oriented basic science research. The Cancer Center supports five major programs that are organized with the specific intent of translating basic science discoveries into creative therapies for children with cancer, while minimizing long-term side effects.

   References

   Ward E, DeSantis C,     Robbins A, et al. Childhood and adolescent cancer statistics,2014. CA     Cancer J Clin. 2014; 64:83-103

Hudson MM, Ness KK, Gurney     JG, et al. Clinical ascertainment of health outcomes among adults treated     for childhood cancer. JAMA. 2013; 309:2371-2381.

Oeffinger KC, Mertens AC,     et al. Chronic health conditions in adult survivors of childhood cancer. N     Engl. 2006; 355:1572-1582.

Phillips SM, Padgett LS,     Leistering WM, et al. Survivors childhood cancer in the United States:     prevalence and burden of morbidity. Cancer Epideniol Biomarkers Prev.     2015; 24:653-663.

Armstrong GT, Oeffinger     KC, Chen, et al. Modifiable risk factor and major cardiac events among     adult survivors of childhood cancer. J Clin Oncol. 2013; 31:3673-3680.

Slater ME, Steinberger J,     Ross JA, et al. Physical activity, fitness, and cardiometabolic risk     factors in adult survivors of childhood cancer with a history of     hematopoietic cell transplantation. Biol Marrow Transplant, 2015;     21:1278-12183.

Children’s Oncology Group.     Long-Term Follow-Up Guidelines for Survivors of Childhood, Adolescent, and     Young Adult Cancer. Monrovia, CA: Children’s Oncology Group; 2013.

Ford J, Barnett M, Work R.     Health behaviors of childhood cancer survivors. Children (Basel) 2014;     1:355-373.

Tonorezos ES, Sharp L.     Health promotion for adolescent leukemia survivors. Pediatric Blood     Cancer. 2013; 60:893-894.

Elliot DL, Lindemulder SJ,     Goldberg L, et al. Health promotion for adolescent childhood leukemia     survivors and ehealth. Pediatric Blood Cancer. 2013; 60:905-910                          

11.   https://www.stjude.org/give.html?sc_dcm=236375153&sc_cid=kwp70571&source_code=IIQ181010008&ef_id=CjwKCAiAyfvhBRBsEiwAe2t_i_wnE9tmqavy7pK_DBhUUzDPNmL-xrVZbHcHraPsXcIwtcWvVIdFmxoCU-kQAvD_BwE:G:s&s_kwcid=AL!4519!3!322242235581!e!!g!!st%20judes%20charity%20rating

@necsocialmedia

[fulltiltworld]

Bombas Socks

In 2013, entrepreneurs Randy Goldberg and David Heath stumbled across a Facebook post that mentioned a serious need for socks at homeless shelters around the country. Sock are the #1 requested clothing item at homeless shelters. They decided to launch a sock company called Bombas. Bombas promoted for every pair of socks sold they would donate a pair to the homeless. Bombas has worked hard to develop a line of premium, high-tech, fashionable socks, between $12 and $18, that customers would want to buy.To date, more than ten million pairs have been donated. (Bombas About Us, n.d.)

Bombas is primarily involved in the clothing industry. Goldberg and Heath were made aware of the need for socks through a Facebook posting and continue to reach out via digital social media as well as radio and TV commercials. (Elizabeth Segran, 2017)

Randy Goldberg and David Heath used a mission-based model to stand out., pitched their one-for-one charitable business model on Shark Tank in 2014. (CNBC Make It, 2017) They went into the Tank seeking $200,000 in exchange for 5 percent equity. They ultimately accepted a $200k investment from FUBU founder Daymond John for 17.5 percent. Sales from the beginning were primarily online sales, Google, Amazon Prime, eBay, Bing (Bombas Socks, n.d.). The mission-based marketing is dependent on a cause that helps customers feel like they’re making a real impact. The mission based strategy was for every pair of socks sold, one pair will be donated to a person in need, and to bring awareness to homeless crisis that effects every community especially lager cities. /BOM-BAS/ derived from the Latin word for bumblebee. Bees live in a hive and work together to make their world a better place. They're small, but their combined actions have a big impact on the world.  That's why their mantra is bee better, and slogan “ Better socks, Better world, Bee better, hence the Bee symbol on all their socks.

Employees from the Bombas headquarters in New York had come to donate socks. While the brand sends thousands of socks to 750 organizations around the country, they occasionally drop them off in person. It’s a great way to bond as a team, Bombas also believes it’s really important to connect with the people we are serving as a company, because it reminds us about our mission. These interactions have helped Bombas better serve the homeless. It was through the feedback they received from the community that they decided to reengineer the socks they would donate to the homeless. While regular Bombas socks have a special seam that eliminates the bump at the toe, for added comfort, the donation socks have a reinforced seam to make them more durable. The socks are treated with anti-microbial technology, so they don’t need to be washed as frequently and deter fungus. Also, these donation socks only come in black, which is more stain resistant. (Elizabeth Segran, 2017)

Bombas is trying to pave the way for other companies to have in-person giving experiences. Bombas is uniquely equipped to do this, since it has built relationships with homeless shelters and the nonprofit sector. Many companies have time and funds set aside for employees to contribute to charitable causes. Bombas has been creating ways for other brands to dip their toe into the world of social good. Bombas created an event called “60K day,” which was based on the concept than on any given night, 60,000 people in New York end up at a homeless shelter. The plan was to bring individuals from 60 of New York’s hottest companies to visit a shelter and hand out 60,000 socks. The companies included were, Birchbox, Thinx, Kind, Casper, Classpass, Harry’s, Maple, and Spring, among more established brands like Gap, LinkedIn, Shake Shack, and Kenneth Cole.

Bombas launched another program called “Skip Day,” where it invites New York-based companies to take advantage of Summer Fridays and flexible summer hours to volunteer to serve the homeless community. Bombas makes it easy for individuals at companies to jump right into the work. Employees from different companies can gather and assemble bags of products that the homeless need to get through the hot summer months, such as cold bottles of water, ice pops, and wipes. They then go out into the streets to hand these out. These visits are also reinvigorating to employees, since it puts a face to the people they are trying to help with their business. It also gives meaning to their everyday tasks–like making spreadsheets and calling suppliers–when they return to the office.

Online ratings and reviews are as follows, Bombas Socks   with a 4.8 star rating. Google Express - Need Shoe Accessories. eBay (Bombas Socks, n.d.). Amazon Prime with an average star rating of 4.8, (Amazon Prime, n.d.).  Clothing at JCPenney , 4.6-star rating. (JC Penny, n.d.). rockemsocks.com, Shark Week Socks - Rock 'Em Socks (Sharks, n.d.). lululemon.com, lululemon Official Site . (Women's Socks, n.d.) hollisterco.com

Hollister Co.  (Shoes & Accessories, n.d.). findsimilar.com The Sock Accessories Outlet  (sock accessories, n.d.)

Facebook 317 K followers, reviews are 5 star ratings on glassdoor (Glassdoor, 1028) Twitter has 12.9 K followers, joined 2011, (Bombas Socks, n.d.), Instagram shows 64.9 K (Bombas Socks, n.d.), Pinterest has only 3,092.

I believe the overall social media marketing strategy of Bombas, a buy-one, give-one brand is brilliant. Offering a high quality product with a 100 percent guarantee, and knowing your expense contributed to a worthy cause, but it was also about starting a broader involvement about homelessness, and providing a model for other companies to replicate about how to get involved with their communities. Other companies can use their own particular areas of strength to contribute in their own unique ways. Birchbox, for instance, has been donating boxes of beauty products–from shampoo to nail polish–to homeless women. Harry’s has been donating razors to people in need and funding charities that serve veterans. Shake Shack has been enlisting its staff to donate food to the hungry after work. These social media posts and activities spurred other less socially involved brands to consider how they can help.

Randy Goldberg and David Heath stumbling across a Facebook posting, passionate about working towards a great cause providing a top of the line quality product, and using one-for-one model pioneered by the shoe brand Toms, and using the power and full resources of social media. At this time, the only recommendation that I would recommend for more recognition towards their cause would be to advertise more on TV. But this type of advertising is a lot costlier than the power of the internet.

References  

(n.d.). Retrieved from Amazon Prime:  https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_3_6?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=bombas+socks&sprefix=bombas%2Caps%2C148&crid=17YMN

Bombas About Us. (n.d.). Retrieved from Bombas: https://bombas.com/pages/about-us

Bombas Socks. (n.d.). Retrieved from Bing:  https://www.bing.com/search?q=bombas+socks&qs=FT&pq=bombas&sc=8-6&cvid=A281E9CF60814D43AD63994E91F77A22&FORM=QBLH&sp=1

Bombas Socks. (n.d.). Retrieved from Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bombas/

Bombas socks. (n.d.). Retrieved from YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNr5Uh1qIeU

Bombas socks. (n.d.). Retrieved from YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BG2MDlfz1yU&t=9s

Bombas socks. (n.d.). Retrieved from YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRHMYB4f2iI

Bombas Socks. (n.d.). Retrieved from Twitter: https://twitter.com/bombas

Bombas Socks. (n.d.). Retrieved from eBay:  https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2380057.m570.l1311.R1.TR10.TRC0.A0.H0.Xbombas+.TRS0&_nkw=bombas+socks&_sacat=11

Bombas Socks. (n.d.). Retrieved from Amazon Prime:  https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_3_6?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=bombas+socks&sprefix=bombas%2Caps%2C148&crid=17YMN

CNBC Make It. (2017, June 7). Retrieved from ENTREPRENUERS:  https://www.cnbc.com/2017/08/21/shark-tank-investor-daymond-john-won-big-with-bombas.html

Elizabeth Segran, P. (2017, July 27). Moving the  Needle. Retrieved from Fast Company:  https://www.fastcompany.com/40445016/how-one-sock-brand-is-helping-startups-step-up-their-social-good-game

Glassdoor.  (1028, October 30). Retrieved from Compant Ratings:  https://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Bombas-Reviews-E1605933.htm

JC Penny.  (n.d.). Retrieved from Shop Departments:  https://www.jcpenney.com/g/women/N-bwo3x?pageType=X2H2&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=paid%20search&cid=paid%20

Leighton, M. (2018, September 19). Retrieved from  Business Insider: https://www.businessinsider.com/bombas-socks-review

Sharks.  (n.d.). Retrieved from Rock'em: https://rockemsocks.com/collections/sharks?gclid=Cj0KCQiArenfBRCoARIsAFc1FqeikZpZSurmyDJFVpZV29-6JLjeGuz4EjOdCdAYSsDjnK2zzU5-UX8aAjUhEA

Shoes & Accessories. (n.d.). Retrieved from hollister.com:  hollisterco.com  Visit Website Hollister Co.® - Cyber Monday Starts  Now_BMM_C&gclid=Cj0KCQiArenfBRCoARIsAFc1FqfC0_gFi2onusCvV2XAb7ednLpG8493

sock accessories. (n.d.). Retrieved from findsimilar.com: https://www.findsimilar.com/search?q=sock+accessories&cid=4146&campaignid=954831731&adgroup_id=44215909901&keyword=kwd-296541545240

[dabigdogle-blog]

#NECSOCIALFINAL

Children Miracle Network

     The Children Miracle Network Hospital is a non-profit organization that raises money for children’s hospitals, medical research, and community awareness of health issues children face every day. Founded by Marie Osmond, John Schneider, mick Shannon, and Joseph G. Lake by putting together a telethon that raised about $4.8 million for 22 hospitals. Since 1983, CMN has raised over $5 billion to help more than 10 million children who have been served by the organization. Of all the money that is donated 12% of it goes towards equipment and 88% goes towards special services.  

     Children Miracle Network service 170-member hospitals that provide 32 million treatments a year to children across the U.S. and Canada. The organization depend on donations and community supports to help make it possible for all sick children to be cured of any sickness that keep them down. Social media provide a platform for people all over the world to be able to donate and give back to children who have no one else to count on. People across social media accounts can pass on real time information that provides an opportunity for others to see first hand the struggles the children go through and in return they donate and get others that they relate to, to donate also.  Children Miracle Network is a charitable industry and social media uses this industry to raise funds through donations by its account holders in which the funds are donated to the appropriate hospitals to fund research and family needs for the child being serviced https://chfrichmond.childrensmiraclenetworkhospitals.org/.

     The Children Miracle Network has several social media platforms that they use to help promote awareness and fund hospitals to help save many lives. CMN uses Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and YouTube to spread awareness and get donations. CMN Facebook page has 380,427 people like in their community and 363,325 people following https://www.facebook.com/cmnhospitals/?ref=page_internal. On CMN’s Twitter account there are 17.8k tweets, 4,540 following, 35.4 followers, 43k likes https://twitter.com/cmnhospitals. On LinkedIn CMN has 9, 309 followers, this site can also be used to help people find jobs within the hospital pertaining to their skills  https://www.linkedin.com/company/cmnhospitals. On Instagram, CMN has 957 posts, 47.8 followers and 554 people following https://www.instagram.com/cmnhospitals/. And lastly, CMN has 21, 362 YouTube subscribers on its page https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEPj015XSgEXe7a9BggujWg.

     The Children Miracle Network would use all their platforms equally. After doing careful research and looking at the information provided on each platform the organization dispatch mostly the same content to all the platforms. From the data above there is a lot more engagement within the Facebook network, with twitter coming second. For the Children Miracle Network Hospital to reap full benefit they must distribute the same amount of information for the users can stay updated. Their strategy is to connect to as many people as they can to gain as much funds possible to keep replace equipment and to be able to provide service to as many children as possible.

     Social commerce strategies are ways that marketers can approach social commerce (the ability to buy and sell) among the people they engage. There are six key contributors to social commerce. According to Tuten & Solomon (2018), “Social commerce offers enables the marketers to monetize the social media investment by boosting site and store traffic, converting browsers to buyers, and increasing average order value. It solves the dilemma of social media return on investment. Social commerce applications result in more data about customer behavior as it relates to the brand. Social shopping applications enhance the customer experience and makes sharing brand impressions easy. Finally, brands can keep up with the competition, and maybe differentiate themselves from others in the e-commerce space (p. 305).”

           Children Miracle Network uses social media communities, social publishing, social engagement and social commerce. The promote their site and engage with account holders and they post ads on their page to support and promote the network. Building relationships and sharing awareness converts into transactions of donations through social media by the people from the many connections and word of mouth communication.

     Children Miracle Network has many critical relationships with many groups and individuals. CMN partners with Walmart, Costco, Panda Express, Ace Hardware, Credit Union for Kids, Speedway, Marriott, ReMax, Rite Aid, Publix, DQ, Loves, Giant, Circle K, IHop, McLane, Delta, Marriott Vacations Worldwide, Stripes, Sunoco, Wawa, Phi Delta Epsilon, Log a Load for Kids, Phi Mu Chapter, Direct Energy, Casey’s General Store, CO-OP, Kirkland Signature, Great Clips, Driven Brands, Kiwanis, CDW, Cefco, Coca-Cola, United Networks of America and General Mills https://childrensmiraclenetworkhospitals.org/our-partners/. All these businesses contribute and/or raise funds to help the cause. Everyday someone get service or by products from these businesses and a percentage of the revenue is donated to help create hope for the future for the kids in the hospital and their families.

     People and individuals are very optimistic about the outcome of these treatment and the overall view of the hospital and their staff. Families and friends show extreme gratitude for the people who donate, the relationships they build with outside support, and the time the staff and doctors take to improve the lives of innocent children. People love and fell great to be apart of the brand.  

https://twitter.com/ChildrensRVA/status/1057711432454864896 Image from Twitter about children lives being out of this world.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dU8wQBIM_A In this video Miss Colorado 2018-19 expressed her gratitude for having the honor to be apart of the journey of a teen who is going through cancer and not wanting to cover it up with wearing a wig.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twcA3Mr-rKE#action=share In this video Josh Sunquist shares his story now about his recovery from cancer when he was 9-years old. Because the Children Miracle Network helped him and gave him another chance at life, he wants to spread the word about making donates.

https://www.facebook.com/donate/338137406743945/ This Facebook share a birthday wish from a young girl named Kayla Lacoste. She wants to raise money because life means a lot to her and she wants to make sure she can support save kids lives.

https://childrensmiraclenetworkhospitals.org/re-max-olson-estates-hosts-two-fundraisers-for-cmn-hospitals/ Re/Max is showing their fundraising event and how effect they were to raising funds.

     Overall, the Children Miracle Network has provided valid information, stories and testimonies from their organizations that promotes itself. To others life matters and they want to find meaningful ways to contribute to their child, their friend and/or family. Providing people with the tools they need to support and engage with the kids and their families is memorable and they want to cherish every moment.

     Using social media brings millions of people across the globe together for a great cause. CMN is promoting their brand and they are also giving people opportunities to get involved and donate right from the social media page. Overall, the strategies they are using does not need to change and no recommendations are needed. When a person access any of the social media site to look up information about Children Miracle Network they can tweet and post message about the organization and their friend will pass the information along. Also, individuals can donate right from the page. It is a great honor to present this information for many to read and gain knowledge of the organization and to donate.

 References

Tuten, T. L. & Solomon, M. R. (2018). Social media marketing (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA:

Sage Publications. ISBN: 9781526423870.

https://chfrichmond.childrensmiraclenetworkhospitals.org/.

https://childrensmiraclenetworkhospitals.org/re-max-olson-estates-hosts-two-fundraisers-for-cmn-hospitals/

https://www.facebook.com/donate/338137406743945/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twcA3Mr-rKE#action=share

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dU8wQBIM_A

https://twitter.com/ChildrensRVA/status/1057711432454864896

https://childrensmiraclenetworkhospitals.org/our-partners/

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEPj015XSgEXe7a9BggujWg

https://www.instagram.com/cmnhospitals/

https://www.linkedin.com/company/cmnhospitals

https://twitter.com/cmnhospitals

https://www.facebook.com/cmnhospitals/?ref=page_internal

[demetragiblin]

Health & Beauty.

The Ordinary is a skincare line that is wanting to help women and men of all ages to be able to have an affordable skin care products they can depend on. “The Ordinary is an evolving collection of treatments offering familiar, effective clinical technologies positioned to raise pricing and communication integrity in skincare. The brand was created to celebrate integrity in its most humble and true form” (Deciem, 2018, p. 1). This company’s foundation is built on honesty and integrity. “The Ordinary is "Clinical formulations with integrity" (Deciem, 2018, p. 1). 

The Ordinary is one of the brands from Deciem. “We are an umbrella of brands focused on advanced functional beauty. Commonplace technologies are referred to as groundbreaking and insensible pricing strategies confuse the audience, disguising commodity technologies as advanced. The Ordinary exists to communicate with integrity and bring to market effective, more familiar technologies at honorable prices. The Ordinary takes pride in honesty, fights innovation stagnancy in the industry” (Deciem, 2018, p. 1). 

“The Ordinary, are free of parabens, sulfates, mineral oil, methylchloroisothiazolinone, methylisothiazolinone, animal oils, coal tar dyes, formaldehyde, mercury, oxybenzone. DECIEM does not test on animals and does not pay others to do so. For this reason, none of our brands are sold in mainland China since such sales require animal testing for registration purposes” (Deciem, 2018, p. 1).

I found their products from a fellow friend that also has a beauty page on Instagram and decided to use their products. She was actually sent their products for free to advertise for them on her Instagram account. Who wouldn’t want to try affordable products that are honest and wonderful for your skin? 

“It is important to note that these individuals are not simply marketing tools, but rather social relationship assets with which brands can collaborate to achieve their marketing objectives. Over the last decade, we have seen social media grow rapidly in importance.  According to the August 2017 Global Digital Statshot from We Are Social and Hootsuite, 3.028 Billion people actively use social media - that’s 40% of the world’s population. Inevitably these people look up to influencers in social media to guide them with their decision making” (Influencer, 2018, p. 1). It’s wonderful that they are using the resources of influencers to make their products known to everyone even internationally.

They don’t use all of the Social Media platforms that are available to them. Social Media is critical for what they do because the company is based in the UK and getting their brand out there is highly important for the success of their company. Consumers need to be able to know about their products and read reviews. 

They are only active on Facebook and Instagram. Instagram being their most active account and mostly used when communicating with their consumers. They have done some interviews with the founders of their products but do not have a YouTube channel.

http://www.refinery29.uk/2017/07/164157/deciem-founder-brandon-truaxe-interview

I think it’s standard for health and beauty to be active on all social media networks to help grow their brand and get their products out there. “While serving its primary purpose of connecting people, social media also plays a major role in connecting marketers with customers. Social media marketing is on the rise, as this type of media gains importance in the industry and shows potential for further development. Investments in social advertising worldwide are forecast to grow from around 32 billion U.S. dollars in 2017 to approximately 48 billion U.S. dollars in 2021. The United States is, by far, the largest social media advertising market in the world, as more than 14.8 billion U.S. dollars were spent on social media ads in the country in 2016 alone” (Social Media Marketing, 2018, p. 1).

They have been focusing on using influencers and Instagram to expand their Social Media marketing. I had messaged them asking where I could find their products other than Sephora and they let me know I would soon be able to access their products from Ulta as well.

“Deciem is a Canadian born beauty company with 10 product lines, ranging from skincare to health supplements, founded in 2013. Products are sold mainly through their own stores, department stores, e-commerce, and select retailers. Deciem manages all aspects of their supply chain including operating their own laboratory and handling their manufacturing, sales and marketing infrastructure all in-house. Deciem’s products are hugely popular with millennials and speak to consumers looking for functional products based on science. When Deciem launched in 2013 they had 1 product and 3 employees. In 2014 after just over a year in business their sales reached $50m, with 4 brands and 30 products. They continue to grow at rapid speed with 10 product lines and over 300 employees operating from their Toronto head office” (Deciem, 2018, p. 1).

Deciem has used their social media platforms to build an authentic connection with their followers in order to drive sales and customer loyalty while maintaining an excellence in customer service that you just don’t see anymore. They provide lengthy detailed social media posts that are informational, honest, sometimes vulnerable- often times exhausting!

Deciem tells the story of their company by maintaining a conversation with their followers instead of speaking at them. By responding to almost every comment and mention from there 282K Instagram followers they have been able to cultivate an intimacy and connection between their company and its audience.

They are definitely dedicated to serving their consumers and correcting any mistakes they have made. They strive to support and be there for their customers individually. I do think they could expand their Social Media marketing by using other networks like Twitter and YouTube to help expand their brand. I also think it would be helpful for them as well to better utilize their Facebook page for to promte their products and explain what they do as well. But with The Ordinary still being an up and coming brand they are doing a wonderful job offering affordable honest products for all. 

DECIEM. (2018). The Ordinary | Clinical Formulations with Integrity | A DECIEM Brand. Retrieved from https://theordinary.com/about

Deciem: A Case Study of the Beauty Industry's Biggest Disruptor | Vancouver Digital Marketing & Design. (2018, February 22). Retrieved from https://transparencydigital.ca/deciem-a-case-study-of-the-beauty-industrys-biggest-disruptor/

Influencer. (2018). What is an Influencer? - Factors that define a Social Media Influencer. Retrieved from https://influencermarketinghub.com/what-is-an-influencer/

Social Media Marketing. (2018). Topic: Social media marketing. Retrieved from https://www.statista.com/topics/1538/social-media-marketing/

http://www.deciem.com/

https://www.instagram.com/deciem/

https://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2017/06/16/why-estee-lauder-invested-in-multi-brand-skincare-brand-deciem/#32b6f0ab7a27

http://www.wired.co.uk/article/beauty-startup-deciem-brandon-truaxe

http://observer.com/2017/06/estee-lauder-deciem-brandon-truaxe-profile/

@necsocialmedia

[ashleyrparent-blog]

NIKE

The company that I choose to analyze is Nike. Nike is a brand that started way back in 1964 and was previously known as Blue Ribbon Sports. The company’s name was then later changed to Nike by cofounder Phil Knight. Nike sells all types of sports gear. From baseball gloves to soccer balls and sweatbands to golfing shoes. Whenever you think of the word “sports” Nike wants you to think of their name. Nike is in the retail industry with a specialization in sports gear, as I said above.

           Social media is critical to what Nike does because they are looking to market to middle aged and younger adults as well as children. Most of Nike’s marketing is done through social media because that’s where most of their consumers are based. The norms/standards in the retail industry are higher than any other industry I think. You constantly need to be updating your social media sites to keep the consumers entertained because they are always going to be viewing retail sites to see the next best thing.

         Nike is mainly seen on Instagram and Twitter, and they also dabble in Facebook. The common trend with Nike are their campaigns. For example, Nike will pick a certain campaign, the “unlimited” campaign and then they will make all their most bases around the single campaign for the length of them promoting the products associated. These campaigns allow Nike to use serval different athletes to promote different points of view.

        These athletes, mentioned above, are shown in short videos that help promote the same product to a different target market. For example, LeBron James might wear a sweat band to attract basketball consumers while Serna Williams might wear that same sweat band to attract tennis consumers. This is a very smart marketing technique.

           Nike’s work is constantly flowing with influence and impressions. I personally think that Nike is one of the most influential brands in today’s world. Nike, as a company is always promoting race, gender and age equality. You will very very rarely, if ever, see a Nike commercial that ends up becoming controversial on a global scale due to discrimination. Nike makes it known to promote all walks of life.

           For example, Nike has created a video, ad, that promotes transgender people. In the video a transgender is shown to be the first ever to compete in men’s Olympic event. The video consists of someone talking at a man asking him if he thought he was strong enough or good enough to compete amongst the other men. Then the voice asks Chris if he ever thought about giving up and he says “yes, but I didn’t.” This commercial was to promote Nike’s Unlimited campaign, unlimited courage.

           Some data that I found consists of...

Prices of Nike Shoe’s:

The overall social media marketing strategy of Nike is great. I think Nike offers something that a lot of other companies fail to provide of just simply don’t even try to provide. In this day and age, it is very important that companies promote equality. We have come into a space where everyone should be accepted and companies are beginning to realize it’s important that the follow where we, as a whole are going and I think that’s exactly what Nike is doing.

Nike has done a great job of promoting themselves through social media. They’ve done this through quotes, posts, stories and short videos. This social media mix has allowed them to keep up and even surpass their competitors in some ways. I don’t have any recommendations to help Nike out with their social media strategy because I think they’re already doing a great job. Monday, Aug 6, 2018

[jojopoop1985-blog]

Progressive: My Final

Ok, so I decided to do my final assignment on Progressive Insurance because I liked the commercials. In fact when you think of Progressive, you tend to think of those hilarious commercials that are just too funny to ignore. Now, assuming you’ve been living under a rock for about a decade or two, Progressive sells insurance.

Apparently, social media is more important than I thought for an insurance company. According to Digital Insurer, “ Brands in these industries have both substantial audience growth and content engagement on social media, indicating highly impactful social content” (https://www.the-digital-insurer.com/insurance-industry-benchmarks-b2c-social-media-impact-report/). More oddly, according to Socialnomics “Insurance companies have long leveraged social platforms for marketing and brand building, but now they also are finding that social mediums furnish a bounty of data that can be used to improve the underwriting and claims process,” (https://socialnomics.net/2012/10/19/how-social-media-is-transforming-insurance-company-practices/).

Now, Progressive seem to be mastering social media. In an article by CMO (https://www.cmo.com/features/articles/2013/12/11/how_progressive_got_.html#gs.kO3WWZU):

Progressive Insurance has been killing it in social, where it has had a presence for five years. Its corporate Twitter account, @Progressive, has 23,122 Twitter followers and 190,000 Facebook friends. Not impressed? Flo, the fictional character who has appeared in more than 50 Progressive television commercials since 2008, has 21,908 followers on Twitter and a whopping 5.3 million Facebook friends. On YouTube, Progressive has 7,376 subscribers, but its videos have been viewed more than 21.5 million times. 

According to a marketing strategy and innovation business leader (which I guess is fancy talk for social media dude) at Progressive in that same article stated that “As a company, we’ve always had the belief that customers should be able to interact with us in their channel of choice,” and then went on to say that “Social media is another means for customers to engage with our brand,” which to me indicates that they are using social media to engage with the customer at their level, as opposed to trying some convoluted way of trying to interact with the customer, especially in an age where everyone has a social media account of some kind. It’s just easier for Progressive to be on social media.

Now their social media campaigns have actually have been quite successful. In the CMO article, Progressive believes that “by engaging an audience and curating a conversation with them, we can grow advocates and extend our reach to our customers and potential future customers.” An example of this successful strategy is their Dress Like Flo Campaign for Halloween. In the CMO article:

It gave Progressive Facebook fans an opportunity to share photos of themselves dressed up like Flo. On Twitter, Progressive sponsored the hashtag #dresslikeflo. And Progressive loves the idea of promoting Flo at Halloween parties, with thousands of walking billboards.

Granted, this hasn’t done much to improve their services. According to NerdWallet, (https://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/insurance/reviews/progressive-auto-insurance-review/#Complaints) “Progressive had more than the median number of complaints to state regulators for auto insurance in 2017 relative to its size, according to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.” So, while they do have a very successful social media strategy, they do need actual improve in their actual services and products they offer.

[adri10sworld-blog]

Purple PurseVerified account          @PurplePurse      Purple Purse is an initiative of The Allstate Foundation to financially empower domestic violence survivors. Donate here: http://bit.ly/1WPgcTTPurple Purse by All State

This organization is to help women gain their financial independence from a abusive relationship. Often women who are victims of domestic violence are also victims of financial abuse. This is where their spouse, or significant other takes away all monetary resources. Leaving them with absolutely nothing for them to be able to get away from that situation.

Many victims of domestic violence often stay with their abusers due to not being able to provide for themselves. 1 in 4 women (24.3%) and 1 in 7 men (13.8%) aged 18 and older in the United States have been the victim of severe physical violence by an intimate partner in their lifetime. Females ages 18 to 24 and 25 to 34 generally experienced the highest rates of intimate partner violence.

https://www.purplepurse.com/the-issue/domestic-violence-financial-abuse.aspx

https://www.facebook.com/purplepurse/

https://twitter.com/PurplePurse

Purple Purse

Verified account

         @PurplePurse      

Purple Purse is an initiative of The Allstate Foundation to financially empower domestic violence survivors. Donate here: http://bit.ly/1WPgcTT

https://twitter.com/PurplePurse/status/1012437123910262784

https://twitter.com/YahooEnt/status/1011027460354400256

         Purple Purse supports those affected by domestic violence.      

Allstate Foundation's commitment to helping victims of domestic violence through financial empowerment began in 2005. Our trustees saw the staggering facts about the issue and committed to using our financial expertise to make a difference. Since then, the Foundation has invested more than $60 million and trained nearly 11,000 advocates to help more than 1.3 million survivors take steps toward financial independence. Our program is named Purple Purse because a purse represents the center of a woman's financial domain, and purple is the national color for domestic violence awareness.

Introducing Purple Purse ambassador, Serena Williams.

Purple Purse is teaming up with tennis champion, entrepreneur and philanthropist Serena Williams to raise awareness for the often invisible role financial abuse plays in trapping victims in harmful relationships. To help spread the word and raise funds, Serena designs an exclusive purple purse each year that will be used by nonprofits affiliated with Purple Purse for fundraising.

                             "Standing up for women's rights has long been a passion of mine. I hope people will join the Purple Purse movement and work with us to end abuse against women."            

—Serena Williams

Introduction

Welcome!

It's easy to tell if you're being physically abused, but financial abuse is more subtle.

Ending a relationship with an abusive partner is a big step. This course provides information to consider before you do. It will explore what an abusive relationship is and steps you can take to protect your safety. While it doesn't have all of the answers, it's a start.

The Allstate Foundation has adapted its hard copy Purple Purse Moving Ahead Through Financial Management curriculum into this web-based version that you can watch, listen to and learn from. The curriculum was developed by The Allstate Foundation in partnership with the National Network to End Domestic Violence, and has been academically validated by Rutgers University. For additional information regarding any of the topics discussed, you can download the curriculum at PurplePurse.com.

The information provided in this course is intended to be general advice for those in an abusive relationship. But not everyone's situation is the same. If you need specific advice, contact a domestic violence advocate or visit http://www.thehotline.org. You may also contact a financial advisor or attorney.

Curating key findings from across the country

We're constantly curating data from nationwide studies to help us learn more about abuse. Here's what we've learned.

                                   3            women            

each day die from domestic violence injuries

                                               3M            children            

witness domestic violence each year

                                               No. 1                        

cause of family homelessness

Conducting research of our own

In 2014, Allstate Foundation commissioned the Silent Weapon: Domestic Violence and Financial Abuse survey to look at everything from public perceptions of abuse to those who've experienced it themselves. See what we found.

                                   66%                        

believe domestic violence is a serious issue for the US

                                               78%                        

are unaware financial abuse is a form of domestic violence

                                               97%                        

think financial abuse is unlikely to be recognized by an outsider

https://youtu.be/1qZXcKpP7cA

Tennis superstar Serena Williams has only been a mom to Alexis Ohanian for less than a month, but she’s already making strides to be a positive role model to her daughter by teaming up with the Allstate Foundation Purple Purse campaign as a designer and ambassador in honor of National Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

“My dedication to ending violence against women has grown even stronger since the birth of my daughter just a few weeks ago,” Williams tells PeopleStyle. “One way I am working to make this crucial societal change is by joining forces with Allstate Foundation Purple Purse, which aims to end domestic violence against women through financial empowerment.”

Every year, the Allstate Foundation launched an annual Purple Purse that you can win by donating $10 towards empowering women to break free from an abusive relationship through financial education, job training and readiness, and small business programs for survivors. The fundraising effort’s critical: on a single day last year, more than 12,000 requests for emergency shelter, childcare and financial aid from women suffering from domestic violence went unanswered due to lacked funding.

Looking for more style content? Click here to subscribe to the PeopleStyle Newsletter for amazing shopping discounts, can’t-live-without beauty products and more.

     You Might Like          Meet Jordin Sparks' Son DJ! Why She Chose Natural Birth and How Her Husband Dana Isaiah HelpedMeghan King Edmonds Reveals the Names of Her Newborn Twin Sons                                                    

This year, Williams designed her first handbag for the Purple Purse campaign, following in other famous ladies’ footsteps like Kerry Washington, who has been an ambassador and designed a purse for the Allstate Foundation Purple Purse campaign for the past three years.

RELATED PHOTOS: UPDATED! Beauty Brands That Give Back

Williams’ handcrafted Italian leather handbags (which are valued at $400) come in two designs — one deep plum and another more vibrant purple — which can be entered to win in a weekly sweepstakes. “It’s sophisticated, but also spacious enough for carrying everyday essentials,” Williams says. “It is my hope that the lucky recipients of this handbag will wear it proudly as they help get the word out around this inspiring cause.”

http://www.thehotline.org/resources/statistics/

https://twitter.com/PurplePurse

https://people.com/style/serena-williams-purple-purse-domestic-violence-awareness/

Purple purse has all their social media outlets covered. From Facebook to Twitter, they are active, and constantly posting news on changes, who has joined the cause. It is important for a non profit organization to stay on top of social media, because it is a sure way to reach the public. The internet keeps the conversation going.

Staying relevant may seem like a hard thing to do, because it seems like sometimes people are not very attracted to who you have chosen to represent you. Yet at the same time, when choosing a spokesperson you want someone is going to be warm and inviting. Specially when it comes to matters a delicate as domestic violence.

[megaradbouquetcycle]

Final Assignment: Marketing Blog Tumblr Post

Dollar Shave Club is a company founded by Michael Dubin and Mark Levine in 2011. According to all of their social media profiles Dollar Shave Club is about, “Dollar Shave Club makes and delivers everything you need to look, feel, and shave like a million bucks--without paying it” (Dollar Shave Club Twitter). The products that they sell are broken into several categories oral care, shave, shower, hair style, skin care, butt wipes, and traveler (Dollar Shave Club Products). The products are delivered to customers’ doors and are available in the United States, Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom. “Quality blades sent to your door for a few bucks a month. Built by a guy tired of forgetting/refusing/needing to buy overpriced blades each month” (Dollar Shave Club AU Twitter). The products are part of a membership, by signing up customers can choose which razor and other products that they want to receive monthly from the company. “Deliveries arrive on your schedule. Pause, skip, or cancel any time with just a few clicks. That’s level 9 yogi flexibility” (Dollar Shave Club Home Page). This flexible monthly schedule is listed as one of the three reasons that people should join Dollar Shave Club on their website.

Social media is critical to what Dollar Shave Club does, since they have no store and revenue strictly comes from sales through their website. Dollar Shave Club is part of the consumer packaged goods industry, specifically the razor and toiletry industry. As an online company advertisement through social media is the norm for the industry. As part of the razor industry and grooming or toiletry industry there is also frequent social media advertisement.

           Dollar Shave Club holds accounts on all the top social media platforms including Pinterest, Google+, YouTube, and Facebook. As well as holding three separate accounts on twitter, Tumblr, and Instagram. The three separate Twitter accounts are for the U.S., the U.K., and Australia. They have separate Instagram accounts for the U.S., the U.K. and a behind the scenes look at Dollar Shave Club. With the U.S. twitter account seeming to be used the most out of all of their social media accounts. Their top three accounts with the most followers are their Google+ with 564,626, their U.S. Instagram account with 109,000 and their U.S. twitter with 83,000 (Dollar Shave Club Google+, Dollar Shave Club Instagram, Dollar Shave Club Twitter). The three Tumblr accounts seem to feature be pretty much the same content. Though two of them have not been used in three years and the third account has not been used in four years. All of their social media accounts besides the YouTube and Tumblr accounts have been last posted on this month within the last week. The YouTube account was last posted on, on March twelfth of this year.

           Their overall strategy seems to be seen as relatable and humorous by their target customers, men. Though they also have a smaller percentage of female customers. They also give helpful grooming tips, like how to deal with ear hair, with infographics. Their latest strategy of posts seems to be humorous web comics. These posts are shareable and those shares could result in sales for the company. Dollar Shave Club has experienced going viral in the past with their first ad on YouTube “Our Blades are F***ing Great” going viral back in 2012. This gained them twelve thousand orders within the first forty-eight hours. The company also received two awards for this video one from Adage for “Best Out-of-Nowhere Video Campaign” and a Webby Award for best Fashion and Beauty website (Crunchbase). They also sponsor a wide range of popular, and a few up and coming Youtubers’ videos. Their objective in all of this is to sell their products.

As far as social commerce strategies Dollar Shave Club implements social share tools, recommendation indicators, testimonials, and user forums. They encourage and facilitate influence and impressions through widespread social media use. Altogether I was able to find thirteen social media accounts on seven different social media platforms. Spread across these accounts they feature ads, articles, infographics, reviews and testimonials, web comics, and links to their website where customers can purchase their products. There are also sponsorships from YouTubers that bring in more views than the company’s own YouTube channel, which has no subscribers. Social Blade has rated them with a C+ with a subscriber rank of 22,984,057 and video view rank of 56,167as well as a Social Blade rank of 723,249 (Social Blade).

The relationship that Dollar Shave Club has formed through their sponsorship with YouTubers has been critical. As I have mentioned they sponsor a variety of YouTubers from those that are very popular and thus have a larger audience like Philip Defranco and H3H3 Productions. As well as YouTubers who are just starting out or are up and coming such as Eddy Burback. Another critical relationship is the one that they have with their Instagram followers, specifically to the U.S. Instagram account. This is because they have a large following on this social media platform. They are also very active on their U.S. twitter account that also has a large following. As well as their relationship with their Facebook followers, who account for their biggest following across all of their social media platforms with 3.5 million followers (Dollar Shave Club Facebook).

           A majority of the ratings that are found online are positive. But a recurring complaint is that the razors seem to dull faster than other brands, such as Gillette. According to Consumer Reports, the Humble Twin, which is the cheapest razor offered by Dollar Shave Club, rated the poorest when compared to Harry’s Truman, Dollar Shave Club’s The Executive and Gillette Shave Fusion ProShield. With The Executive landing in the middle with Harry’s Truman and Gillette coming in first (Consumer Report). Their Facebook pages hold a lot of reviews including one from a user named Allyson Furst, “How has no one mentioned your adorable packaging?! I joined last month and am never going back, the quality is amazing!” (Dollar Shave Club Facebook). The company’s Pinterest account features a board that is dedicated to customer reviews and unboxings. Among them is Tiana C.’s review, “My husband and I are members! Have saved so much money and love the Bathroom Minutes that come with! Highly recommend the Dollar Shave Club!” (Dollar Shave Club Pinterest).

Like I mentioned before humor is a common thread in Dollar Shave Club’s content as can be seen in their posts and comments on their various social media accounts. This includes the fourth example, which is of their content, a sentiment analysis based on their social media platforms shows that Dollar Shave Club wants to be seen as humorous, entertaining, and amusing. As can be seen in their latest web comic depicting where their shave butter comes from. This web comic can be seen posted on several of their accounts, the one I included is from their twitter account. The last example comes from their website where reviews from customers are featured. As is typical reviews ranging from one star to five stars are listed. Overall the company averages at a rating of 4.7 out of 5 stars (Dollar Shave Club Reviews).

My overall assessment is that the social media marketing strategy for Dollar Shave Club is very effective. This can be seen from when the company first started out and their first ad went viral. It can also be seen in the large number of followers that they have across the various social media accounts that they hold. So, the strategies that they are using to engage customers are working at the moment.

As far as recommendations for Dollar Shave Club’s social media usage goes I would recommend that they promote more of their U.K. accounts. In my research on their website all of the links for their social media accounts go to their U.S. accounts. So, if they want to increase traffic to their U.K. accounts or their Australian twitter account they should include links to them on their website. The same goes for their Facebook account since it also only links to their U.S. social media accounts. I would also look into the subscriber situation on YouTube. I subscribed to them and when looking at their profile it did not display a number showing their subscribers. I am not sure if in reality they have zero subscribers, if they are choosing to not display their number of subscribers, or if there is an error in the YouTube system. Though I doubt the first one since it should at least display my subscription.

Reference List

Byrne, S. (2016, April 25). Which Shave Club Has the Best Razor? Retrieved May 5, 2018, from https://www.consumerreports.org/razors/which-shave-club-has-the-best-razor/

Crunchbase. (n.d.). Dollar Shave Club. Retrieved May 5, 2018, from https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/dollar-shave-club

Dollar Shave Club. (n.d.). Home Page. Retrieved May 5, 2018, from https://www.dollarshaveclub.com/

Dollar Shave Club. (n.d.). Our Products. Retrieved 5, 2018, from https://www.dollarshaveclub.com/our-products

Dollar Shave Club. (n.d.). Reviews, Retrieved May 5, 2018, from https://www.dollarshaveclub.com/reviews

Dollar Shave Club AU Twitter. (n.d.). Dollar Shave Club AU. Retrieved May 5, 2018, from https://twitter.com/DSCAustralia?lang=en

Dollar Shave Club Facebook. (n.d.) Dollar Shave Club Community. Retrieved May 5, 2018, from https://www.facebook.com/pg/DollarShaveClub/community/?ref=page_internal

Dollar Shave Club Google+. (n.d.). Dollar Shave Club. Retrieved May 5, 2018, from https://plus.google.com/+DollarShaveClub

Dollar Shave Club Instagram. (n.d.). Dollar Shave Club. Retrieved May 5, 2018, from https://www.instagram.com/dollarshaveclub/?hl=en

Dollar Shave Club Pinterest. (n.d.). Tiana C.'s Review. Retrieved May 5, 2018, from https://www.pinterest.com/pin/143411569360028573/  

Dollar Shave Club Twitter. (n.d.). Dollar Shave Cub. Retrieved May 5, 2018, from https://twitter.com/DollarShaveClub?lang=en&lang=en

Social Blade. (n.d.). Dollar Shave Club. Retrieved May 5, 2018, from https://socialblade.com/youtube/user/dollarshaveclub

[chenicka-blog]

Farmer’s Market

Farmer’s Market- Final assigment week 7

I have chosen farmers market for my final assignment in my blog post because my plan is to invest in my hometown Hinesville Ga. I have searched small business websites and Farmer’s Market is not listed. However, organic products are a growing industry but farmers are still competing with chain supermarket and convenience. With more people worrying about what they are putting in their body Farmer’s Market will make a strong come back. Farmer’s Market also "known as the Greenmarket" is one of the oldest organizations to direct marketing. Farmers Market is retail marketing selling homegrown foods directly by farmers to consumers. Social media is critical to Farmers Market because the vendors are meeting one or two times out of the month in my hometown.  Farmer's Market has a locator and Facebook page to announce the dates when and where they will be located with a locator so the consumers won't miss the market's  events. Without social media, the consumers would miss all the events Farmer's Market were having. Sadly that has happened to me on several occasions because I didn't have my hometown's Facebook page with the communities events. Farmers Market is a food industry that was replaced by brokers and chain supermarkets for high volumes of food production. “From this study, it was determined that 66,700 farmers serve 2,760,000 customers per week at farmers' markets. In addition, 19,000 farmers use farmers' markets as their sole marketing outlet. Farmers' markets reported retail sales of approximately $900 million. This represents 93 percent of total sales. Customers spent an average of $17.30 per week at farmers' markets (2002).” However, Farmer Market have been increasing sell in the past two years by cutting the middleman and sell directly to the consumers. The other reasons for the increase in profit are because more consumers are changing over to more plant-based diets. The vegetables and fruit market contains products with little or to none pesticides and herbicides which are known to cause health problems with daily use. Most importantly farmer is able to retain fruits and vegetable shelf life longer if the vendors are able to serve their community locally. Farmers Market uses social media to announce events online, show pictures of quality products, and prices of products. By displaying products highlights the freshness and show what is in season and show them a fresh take on an old classic by walking on a street than in a general store. However, blogs and widely used for markets that are most active with communities posting recipes, tips and events are used widely on Twitter and Facebook. The objective for the blog to give the consumers a chance to find a bargain and the products that will be sold at the marketing event. Farmers Market, a strategy is to get the community more involved so they block off a roadway within the community. They placed booths with vendors with all kinds vegetables, fruit, meats, music and art. Farmer’s Market has much potential for high sales rate due to buying at markets encourages attention to the surrounding area and ongoing activities by providing outlets for local products, farmers' markets help create distinction and uniqueness, which can increase pride and encourage visitors to return. “Utilising the framework of Conventions Theory, it assesses how producers and consumers coordinate their mutual expectations in order to circumvent the uniform standards of ‘conventionally’ produced food and create new production–consumption spaces.(2006)”

   In my opinion, the strategy that is being used in Hinesville Georgia is not advertised enough. I believe social media can have more impact on the vendor's sales using other social media website and use them consistently responding or blogging like the rest of the vendors in different Farmer’s Market districts. Sales are not often guaranteed for vendors and they can take a large financial burden if their product is not sold. The vendor has come up with selling more than one group of products but a variety of product can reduce financial burdens. However, the most effective financial success is when vendor come together to combine all products to keep the consumers motivated to buy more the products that are presented. “Research showed food value chains”, an innovative business model in which agricultural producers, processors, buyers, and other supply chain members form collaborative, transparent partnerships that intentionally attempt to combine financial success with social benefit”(2002).    

In the last two years, Farmer's Market has introduced more product of high-quality products such as handmade soap, oils, art, and music. Also, vendors create a relationship with their consumers to keep coming back. Most of their blogs are published in the town's newspapers to publish the quality of the vendor products the consumers love. Hinesville Farmers Market was given 4.6 stars out of 5 on Facebook. Twitter has over a hundred Farmer's Market listed with several states and communities but Hinesville Farmer Market is not listed on Twitter. However, Hinesville Farmers Market blog in showcased within the Liberty County of Commerce. New residents within the area use the site to find information about our town but it has not been updated since 2015 leaving the page with no rating.

Reference

Payne, T. (2002). US farmers markets, 2000: A study of emerging trends (pp. 1-40). US Department of Agriculture, Marketing and Regulatory Programs, Agricultural Marketing Service, Transportation and Marketing Programs, Marketing Services Branch.

Guthrie, J., Guthrie, A., Lawson, R., & Cameron, A. (2006). Farmers' markets: the small business counter-revolution in food production and retailing. British Food Journal, 108(7), 560-573.

Brown, A. (2002). Farmers' market research 1940–2000: An inventory and review. American Journal of Alternative Agriculture, 17(4), 167-176.

[roberterosejr1-blog]

Under Armour | #WEWILL

Under Armour Social Media Assessment

Introduction:

Under Armour is a performance apparel company founded in 1996 by Kevin Plank, a former University of Maryland football player. He had a plan to design and produce a t-shirt than could provide compression while wicking the perspiration off the body instead of absorbing it. He was tired of always having to change his cotton t-shirts during practices. He set out to find a solution to this problem of the shirt absorbing the moisture making the shirt uncomfortable. After extensive research, he designed a shirt with synthetic fabrics that kept the athlete cool, dry, and light in hot conditions.

All the players in the sports apparel industry attempt to saturate social media platforms with their products using famous personalities in their marketing. All major sports apparel companies have Twitter accounts, YouTube channels, Facebook pages, and Instagram accounts. They use these accounts to introduce new items, share fitness ideas, and promote their brand with their followers.

Overall social media use:

Being in the highly competitive sports performance apparel industry, Under Armour utilizes Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, Pinterest, Tumblr as well as RSS feeds in its social media marketing strategy. Social media is important to their marketing strategy to get their product out to the consumers using the spokespeople who promote their brand. Under Armour is also building a fitness community with the acquisition of MapMyFitness and MyFitnessPal and the development of Connected Fitness and fitness devices like Healthbox.

Under Armour has loaded up its website with different Instagram account links to different product lines. This platform looks to be the primary social media platform used to reach the public. Instagram allows them to post photographs and videos that motivate people and promote the specific product line. They do utilize Twitter as a way to promote product launches to their large following. Under Armour promotes the use of mobile devices to compare prices, reaching out to users with promotions, and YouTube for research.  

Social commerce strategy:

Under Armour utilizes a social commerce strategy that targets 13 to 24 year –olds that encourages this base as well as other companies to provide feedback about the brand on social media. Using social media they introduced the “Ultimate Intern Program” that generated over 10,000 inquires and over 5,000 applicants on Facebook and Twitter. Two finalists were chosen to join their marketing team to share the companies brand messages and values using social media. This campaign alone helped to add over 120,000 new Facebook fans and over 4,000 Twitter followers increasing the total number of followers to over one million. Under Armour also utilizes Instagram to generate brand awareness of their different lines of apparel that encourages customers to share about the product in posts. The website and all social media platforms allow for the user to contribute their opinions about a product.

  Under Armour also utilizes business relationships within communities, college sports teams, professional sports teams, and individual athletes. They spread the message that if you want to achieve something big, you have to work for it and it will require hard work. By selecting athletes that are young and emerging in their prospective sports, Under Armour can reach their target demographics. Keeping with this target audience, they flood social media with their brand utilizing videos, tweeting about new merchandise, and sharing photographs of sports stars in their brand.

Data:

The Instagram post promoting the “Inspired By Misty Copeland Collection” targets women and generated a positive response from the comments and elicited over 18,000 likes. (https://www.instagram.com/p/BZRvnI7htvG/?taken-by=underarmour) The Under Armour Jordan Spieth President’s Cup golf shoe twitter photograph post generated buzz on whether the golf shoe will be made available to the public. There were a few responses of a political nature relating to the recent NFL protests.(https://twitter.com/UAGolf/status/913453535483875328) The Lindsey Vonn #UnlikeAny Twitter post video had 72 retweets and 234 likes after five days with a positive encouraging response from those who posted comments after viewing the video. (https://twitter.com/UnderArmour/status/913437655609700352) The Dwayne Johnson, The Rock, Instagram post received over 37,000 likes and all the comments were positive including people who were asking for this product line to be available in Canada and Abu Dhabi. (https://www.instagram.com/p/BVDdGyMBVyU/?taken-by=underarmour) The Tom Brady Facebook post on September 27th elicited a negative response from those who posted comments. The responses struck a political tone concerning the NFL protests and Under Armour’s support of the NFL. Most, if not all, of those that made comments were talking of boycotting Under Armour.

Assessment and recommendation:

Under Armour has worked to maximize their social media footprint targeting their chosen audience to promote their brand. They have utilized a plethora of social media platforms to extend their reach to their targeted customers including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube along with numerous fitness apps and RSS feeds. This approach adds to the cool factor to the brand.

I would recommend that Under Armour target the working class to increase their market share in the work clothing market category. This category has a huge untapped upside that could be dominated by the Under Armour product line. Blue collar workers (trades workers) including law enforcement officers and firemen will benefit from the performance line of apparel in their workplace. This is an area that Under Armour can extend the reach of their brand increasing sales and participation in research and reviews through social media. Under Armour needs to do some damage control over the recent political firestorm involving NFL protests and company political leanings. These can generate negative publicity that can hurt the company’s bottom line.

References:

https://www.underarmour.com/en-us https://brandongaille.com/20-sports-apparel-industry-sales-statistics-and-trends/                       https://www.inc.com/aj-agrawal/3-ways-technology-has-changed-the-sports-industry.html                                                  https://www.statista.com/topics/961/sporting-goods/          http://www.prweb.com/releases/sports_clothing_apparel/fitness_clothing/prweb8117767.htm                                                              https://www.scribd.com/doc/214502735/Under-Armour-Case-Study-analysis https://www.marketingweek.com/2016/05/04/how-under-armour-plans-to-become-the-worlds-biggest-sports-brand/ http://www.business2community.com/consumer-marketing/can-sporting-goods-retailers-athletic-apparel-marketers-engage-millennial-audience-01263049#ZO9pJjxz1qbJ0CAF.97                                        https://twitter.com/Nike                                                 https://twitter.com/UnderArmour                                 https://twitter.com/adidasUS                                                      https://twitter.com/PUMA                                                                    https://nrf.com/news/how-under-armour-and-warby-parker-win-social-media

#NECSOCIALFINAL

@necsocialmedia

[oilyfunbags-blog]

Young Living Essential Oils  @necsocialmedia

Young Living Essential Oils are 100% therapeutic grade oils.  Young Living sells many other products as well, but started with essential oils.  Most of their other products do contain essential oils in them.  Everything Young Living sells is clean and safe!  Meaning it is clean and safe for the environment, your body, your animals.  Being therapeutic grade means it is 100% blood from the plant.  It is distilled and has no fillers to make it cheaper.   Essential oils can help heal your body in a natural way, or keep you family healthy while germs are flying around during school time.  They can help clean your house in a natural way with out using a bunch of nasty chemicals.  

Young Living is in a MLM company.  Meaning it is a multilevel marketing company.  The impact of social media is huge for Young Living.  Every person that buys a kit and decides to sell Young Living heads straight towards social media.  It is the quickest way to let your friends and family know you started your own small business. 

Young Living has been an organization for over 20 years.  Gary and Mary Young Established Young Living in 1994.  They started with a small organic farm with the distillation process. Their first herbs grown were lavender, peppermint, Melissa and clary sage, in Utah and Idaho. Their vision was and still is “To bring Young Living Essential Oils to every home in the world.” (as cited in, Young Livings about, not dated) Young Livings Mission statement is “We honor our stewardship to champion nature's living energy, essential oils, by fostering a community of healing and discovery while inspiring individuals to wellness, purpose, and abundance.” (as cited in, Young Livings Mission Statement, not dated)

Young Living’s is a people-orientated culture.  A people orientated culture is value fairness, supportiveness, and respect for individual rights. These organizations truly live the mantra that “people are their greatest asset.” (as cited by; Tayla Bauers, Berrin Erdogan, not dated).  With People being their greatest asset, social media is peoples easiest way to communicate.  The employee is celebrated with ranks and rewards. When the employee is celebrated, they are respect and appreciate the business, and in turn they work harder.  The employee usually advances more rapidly because they feel appreciated.  A people orientated culture is a less stressful organization. With Young Living as you advance ranks you earn more money, and more prizes.  The Young Living team that supports you gives you even more encouragement.  If you are on the monthly oil plan you receive tons of free oils as well.  It allows you to try their products that you would never have thought about buying.  

As a Young Living distributor you get a “virtual office” account on www.youngliving.com.  As you use your virtual office it is a great way to keep in contact with your down line and know who has ordered and who needs to order.  From there you usually use Facebook messenger to keep in contact, due to the fact they can check it whenever it convenient them.   You can run your whole business online.  

On the Young Living twitter they have many different recipes,  one I am posting has many different reviews on it.  Everyone seems to love it.  (https://www.youngliving.com/blog/holy-guacamole/?utm_source=oso&utm_medium=tw&utm_campaign=guacamoleblogtwitter&utm_content=092917)   This is a beginners guide to meditating, not one person on their comments has one bad thing to say. (https://www.youngliving.com/blog/a-beginners-guide-to-meditation/?utm_source=oso&utm_medium=tw&utm_campaign=meditationblogtw&utm_content=092517)    Young living has posted about their seed to seal promise on YouTube.  Here is the link (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLQuvo1hxpo).  There are many reviews on the bottom of that YouTube video!  

Needless to say if one goes on Young Livings Twitter account or Facebook account you will find nothing but positive feedback from Young Living. Young Living sends out a a foundation team to help with hurricane victims.  #younglivingfoundation .  On Facebook sometimes you can write reviews, Young Livings does not have a review section.   I found a nice review online through google. (http://guessingalltheway.com/2009/09/young-living-essential-oils-review/)  Here is a nice 3rd party unbias opinion of Young Living. (https://hotmlmcompanies.com/young-living-essential-oil-reviews/).  Not one product out there is going to have perfect reviews.  There are bad reviews for Young Living.   This YouTuber believes Young Living is a scam.  (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CYDon4jhic)

Does a MLM business work?  Honestly it depends on how motivated the individual is that buys into it.  If one is neglectful of the business and expects it to grow, it will not grow on its own. You must be passionate about your business, and excited to share what you are selling. Social Media plays a huge part in how you share your Young Living business.  All it takes is a few pictures of diffusing, or a testimony on how the oil is helping you and you have people interested via social media.   Young Living thrive on their people to share about oils and other products to their friends and family.  People are their largest asset.  Gary Young started Young Living as a multi-level marketing business.  As Gary started small, he would travel to a different state each week and share the oils.(Young, 2015)  As the word got out, sales went up.  Gary has created an empire.  In 23 years, Young Livings has built headquarters in Australia, Europe, Canada, Japan, and Singapore.  The word has spread across the world without the use of commercials or advertisements!  Social Media has became a huge part of Young Living.  It has made it easier for people to join and spread the good word.  As the internet grew larger and larger so did Young Living.  

Multilevel marketing is a 16 billion dollar a year market.  People are realizing you can stay at home, and manage your own time.  There is no business drama that you get at the work place. If you fail, you failed because of your own faults. If your business isn’t not growing, it isn’t growing because you are not out there planting the seeds, and watering it.  You have a mentor, that you can listen to if you want. If you don’t listen to them you will probably fail.  Your mentor is in that position for a reason.  The only reason you fail is because of you, not anybody else.  The best part about a Young Living is that you can run the whole business off of social media.  Young Living is probably based 80% off of social media.  Many people like to go out and do classes.  I personally hate doing classes.  I have actually done a live class over Facebook, rather than sitting in front of a group of people you sit in front of your camera and teach oils!   

Young Living just started to created starter kits to accommodate every person.  You can buy a man kit or a baby kit, not just oils.  A few months ago that was my only complaint about Young Living.  Other wise I feel Young Living is doing an amazing job at what they do.  They wouldn’t have been in business for over 20 years if they hadn’t.  They keep us informed via social media the moment anything happens.  I know I can look on any source and find out what the promos are going to be for the month. They share recipes for food or hair mask ect to use oils in.  They do a great job via social media.  Going through Young Living I have learned so much about how important it is to use chemical free products.  I feel fortunate that it was brought into my life.  

Jessica N Abraham-Hogan (October 13,2015) People-Oriented Management: How it Can Help Your Organization http://www.talentzoo.com/news/People-Oriented-Management-How-It-Can-Help-Your-Organization/21657.html

Online CompanyWebsite (www.youngliving.com/en_US/company/about)

Online Company Website (www.youngliving.com/en_US/company/about/mission-statement)

Online Company Website (www.youngliving.com/en_US/company/about)

Online Journal (https://www.thebalance.com/multilevel-marketing-mlm-2947187)

Mary Young (2015) D. Gary Young the World Leader in Essential Oils

Connie and Alan Higley (2016) Reference Guide for Essential Oils

[katlynnmillerschool]

For my final assignment I have chosen Lush cosmetics. Lush cosmetics has amazing products ranging from bath bombs to tooth paste. They are a company that offers all natural handmade products, vegan friendly and 100% against animal testing. They donate money to local charities in the community and help people from all walks of life all over the world.  

Introduction:

In the early 80’s Mark Constantine and Elizabeth Weir started a company by the name of Constantine & Weir. The company came up with many bath and beauty recipes and were sold to a supplier called “the body shop”. Eventually the body shop padi 11million pounds for the rights of Constantine & Wier’s recipes. With the body shop buying all the formulas Mark and Elizabeth could not open another shop for five years, so they started a mail order company names “Cosmetics to go. The company ended up being sold.

Mark and Elizabeth ended up partnering with Mo Constantine, Helen Ambrosen, Rowena Bird and Paul Greaves and started hand making cosmetic products up stairs and sell them downstairs in the shop. They had been buying fragrances from another company, but found out the perfumes were not always pure so Mark decided he would create the perfumes himself. The launched a competition to give the company a new name and one customer suggested LUSH, which is defined as being fresh, green, and verdant. The name stuck. In December 2010 Mark and Mo Constantine were awarded the OBE in the New Year’s Honours list, for services to the beauty industry.

Why is social media critical to what they do?

Lush Cosmetics is very active on all of their social media platforms. Social media is critical to what they do because that is where they do most of their marketing. They use all of their social media platforms to reach out to their fans and interact with everyone. Their Twitter alone has 325 thousand followers. They also take advantage of Youtube and Instagram because most of their products are known for how pretty they are with all their rainbow colors, so they use these platforms to show how pleasing to the eyes their products are.

What industry are they in?

Lush is part of the beauty industry. They make cosmetic products and self care products. The beauty and health industry is huge and Lush keeps on top of it by using social media accounts and interacting with their fans as much as possible.   

What are the norms/standards for social media use in that industry?

The norms and standards for social media in the beauty industry is to promote your products, but not interact very much with fans. Such as Neutrogena which is a company I do not personally use very often but know people who do use their products but they have 47.5 thousand followers on Twitter and retweet some tweets but it does not seem like they interact with their fans very much where as Lush will retweet or even like or reply to comments you have made to them.  I think that is a big thing Lush has over other companies in the health and beauty industry is they communicate and interact with people which makes the company feel like a small home town company even if it's a huge world wide company, they still take time to interact with their customers. They also follow a good amount of people back on social media which I always think is a nice touch.

Overall social media use:

From what I can tell Lush has been using social media for a while they have been using Twitter since July 2008, Lush first YouTube video was posted 10 years ago ( 2007) I could not find out how long they had been using LinkedIn or Facebook. I also could not figure out how long they had been using Instagram because I scrolled all the way back to October, 1, 2014 but they there was an error loading and I got frustrated and didn't re try. They show a lot of pictures of their products because they are ascetically pleasing. 

What platforms do they use?

Lush cosmetics have every social media account you can think of. They have Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Linkedin, Tumblr,  Pinterest, and they even have a snapchat!  So it is very safe to say if you want to connect with Lush on social media you can.

What platform do they use most?

I looks to me that the Lush Cosmetics company are very active on every social media platform. They interact with their fans on everything and post multiple posts, multiple times a day. Their instagram has 3.9 million followers, 1784 posts, and they follow 1,800 people. Their Twitter has 325 thousand followers, 250 thousand tweets, and they are following 5,678 people back.

What are their strategies and/or objectives?

Lush Cosmetics strategies and objectives are clear first and foremost of course they want you to be seeing, thinking about, and talking about their products which is why they mostly post product photos. Secondly and just as important they want to get the message out that people should fight against animal cruelty. I feel like they have a very good balance of both objectives on Twitter. Scrolling through their Twitter history it looks as if they have a photo of a product, talking about a new seasonal product, or posts about #Savebcbears and bill S-214 which will make animal testing banned in Canada, they also have human rights posts such as the Lush staff joining #WalkForReconciliation and a post thinking of Las Vegas victims. So i think their social media objectives are well rounded. They also have a product called charity pot where all the profit from the sales go to a charity or gets put back into the community and the money staying in your town.

Social commerce strategy:

Wail I was researching I came across this article http://www.socialmediatoday.com/content/6-key-components-effective-social-commerce-strategy  I feel Lush uses a lot of these tactics in social media.

How do they encourage and facilitate influence and impressions?

Lush encourages and facilitates their ideas of helping others and being kind to animals by the use of social media and they way they create their products they are very open about everything they do and you can even go on tours of their factories. Every product is handmade by someone so no two products are exactly alike.

The create engagement through their content and interact with their fans. But most of all Lush relies on word of mouth, i would have never stopped in to the Lush store at the mall if I didn't have a friend tell me how much she loved their bath bombs. I tell people all the time how much I love Lush products and bubble bombs and have turned multiple people on to Lush. In fact even in this class Frances is now wanting to try Lush which I’m super excited for her to try. Word of mouth is so important to a company! They also have user generated videos with reviews of how much they love their products and their favorite ones. There landing page has everything laid out on it and is very easy to use and navigate.

Are there critical relationships with any groups or individuals?

Lush cosmetics has partnered with SO many charities, foundations, and people it's unreal.  I will link a page so you can see all of them but some of my personal favorites they have partnered up with are: Redefining Refuge which is a non profit service that helps sexually exploited and trafficked girls,FaunAccion which educates and empowers animal rights activists, and Missouri Prairie Foundation which conserves prairies and promote native plants in communities for future generations. Here is a link to the rest! https://www.lushusa.com/on/demandware.store/Sites-Lush-Site/en_US/CharityPot-Partners#sz=15&start=0&pid=partners&sort=new&type=all

Data:

Lush cosmetics has good reviews as a company in general and on individual products. I use a site called influenster quite often. It is a website where you try different products and leave reviews. Lush received 4.73 out of 5 stars based on 12,256 Reviews. https://www.influenster.com/reviews/lush-cosmetics

There are a lot of youtube videos giving reviews. Here is a video of one of my favorite Youtubers talking about her top Lush products: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gN6GAlJdzc

Here is a link to a buzzfeed article top lush products: https://www.buzzfeed.com/sallykaplan/im-a-lush-for-lush?utm_term=.riz33nVnb#.towvv8n89

Here is a link for Lush’s top products which all have reviews and stars. http://www.lushusa.com/best-sellers/

Here is a link for reviews on total beauty: http://www.totalbeauty.com/reviews/brands/lush

Assessment and recommendation:

All and all I think Lush cosmetics has it all they are a well rounded company on and off of social media. They give back to the community and interact with their fans and customers. They are a very “glass door” company you can visit their factory and see how everything is handmade. They also tell you where your money is going when you buy products such as the charity pot products. They have a huge following on all social media platforms and are on every social media platform available. I think it is very interesting they are on snap chat, which most companies are not so that sets them apart.

I don’t really have much advice for them they are doing amazing as a company on and off of social media they have partnered with a lot of groups and foundations and I feel like anyone who knows much about Lush knows they are trying to make the world better and spread their message of kindness for everything.

References:

Lush wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lush_(company)

Lush Twitter: https://twitter.com/lushcosmetics

Lush Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lushcosmetics/

Lush Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/5229458

Lush Tumblr: http://lushcosmetics.tumblr.com/

Lush Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/Lushcosmetics/videos

Influencer Lush review: https://www.influenster.com/reviews/lush-cosmetics

One of my favorite Youtubers talking about her top Lush products: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gN6GAlJdzc

Buzzfeed article top lush products: https://www.buzzfeed.com/sallykaplan/im-a-lush-for-lush?utm_term=.riz33nVnb#.towvv8n89

Lush’s top products reviews and stars. http://www.lushusa.com/best-sellers/

Total beauty review: http://www.totalbeauty.com/reviews/brands/lush

Lush mission statements: http://www.lushusa.com/Stories-Article?cid=article_we-believe-statement

Information on Lush charity pot: http://www.lushusa.com/on/demandware.store/Sites-Lush-Site/en_US/Charities-Show

Lush landing page: http://www.lushusa.com/

Lush animal testing policy: https://uk.lush.com/article/animal-testing-our-policy

[floridapeachy]

Uber is a newly developed organization that makes driving people around to their needed destination, easier and more efficient. That’s why I chose to talk about this company because they are changing the way we travel and how we travel. This company started out in March of 2008 in Paris when Travis Kalanick found it hard to hail a cab. So he came up with a an easier way to catch a cab, with just a touch of a button. Social media is a very critical aspect of what they do and how they do it because this Uber app allows a more flexible and new way for their Uber drivers to earn money. It even makes it easier for the people who choose to ride with Uber to catch a ride, pay for the ride, and even see who and what their Uber is driving. Since this is all done by an app on your phone, Uber uses social media to advertise and promote their business to people who are constantly online. With over a billion people in the world using online apps on their electronics; this establishes a way for them to continue to evolve and gain more passengers and even business from potential drivers. Uber is in the Transportation Delivery (commerce) industry. The standards use for social media in this industry is make a leverage in creating a sufficient two-way communication that enables customer feedback and response in real-time. You have to strategically to leverage technology and media to drive efficiencies and connect with core audiences, partners, and clients. But to bridge them together, social media and transportation, both depend on mobile technology to function.   2) Uber's social media use has been adding up points and followers for the past 9 years since 2008, but only slowly but surely have they've grown. Their Facebook page, both Australian and global, shows sporadic community management occurring, while on the Australian page they've removed the ability to post publicly on their wall entirely. On the other hand, they have a strong level of customer service both locally and globally on their Twitter page. Which I have noticed that their Facebook page is basically a platform for their base advertisement rather than an engagement page to communicate. They mainly use Facebook and Twitter for now and the mostly used social media platform would be Twitter with over 13.5 million followers. Their strategies they use on social media would be to relate their advertising with things that are trending in social media. But their objective is to basically try and stay popular amongst the social media trends. Both their strategies and their objectives are similar because they are trying to reach a common goal and that is too stay above the rest of the competing companies. 3) One of their social commerce strategies are their realistic expectations. When they first started out they used Facebook as a base platform to promote and establish their companies name. This was part of their starting point when they were first establishing themselves. The second social commerce strategy that they use is when they create engagement through their Twitter page. They use that page to interact with their followers and allow them to explore what the brand is all about and to keep up with the updates that are being posted. Their third social commerce strategy is generating word to mouth which they developed when they started doing before they created the app. That’s how you know they're becoming successful by how much people are talking about them. Their fourth social commerce strategy by using social proof for credibility like when they receive great views on Google and their social media pages and even testimonials from existing customers. Their fifth social commerce strategy is creating a carefully designed landing page, which is like using their Facebook page as a landing page. Facebook is their landing page because it has all their logos, opt-ins, existing clients, and their client testimonials. Their last social commerce strategy is something that they has made them so popular and demanding and that's there hassle free payment process. Which is all done by the app, where you would use your card to allow the payments to go through. They encourage and facilitate influence and impressions by having their Twitter page open to all people and allowing their followers to express themselves and their thoughts about the company. I believe their only critical relationship that they have is with the people on social media and other companies that are interested in partnering up with them, companies like Google. Uber's online ratings and reviews differ from each site, like the google play store are an average of an 4.3 star rating.( https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ubercab ) and Facebook has an whooping 10 million people who like the app, are mostly commenting on how their drivers' never come on time (https://www.facebook.com/uber/ ). The overall social media marketing for Uber was astonishing because they use the most popular social media site like Facebook and twitter, along with Instagram because more people are joining these social sites each day and becoming more popular. Their strategies are very familiar and trendy so that they can fit in within this modern and up-to-date generation. I would recommend that everyone who is tired of trying to hail a cab and anyone who is tired of carrying around cash, to call an Uber because they make private transportation easier for a lot of people.

References: 1) https://growthhackers.com/growth-studies/uber

2)http://www.socialannex.com/blog/2016/01/28/ubers-marketing-strategy-in-7-steps/

3) http://www.jeffbullas.com/2015/11/25/uber-targeted-social-media-strategies/

4)https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2016-08-18/uber-s-first-self-driving-fleet-arrives-in-pittsburgh-this-month-is06r7on  

5) Video : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bszvEIMVsIc&index=5&list=PLmVTG4mAK7nyRJieUysxG-ivhC1JB5M1l&t=2s

6) Video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hf_Y6KrFWms

7) Photo: http://pin.it/TiV0Oby

8) Quote: http://pin.it/b2rfv6G

9) Link: https://www.uber.com/fare-estimate/?referrer=gclid%3DCPGwo4Kn39MCFUfPMgodQOQDkA%26mat_click_id%3Df4bc90cafd386411bc24c9c4270bcf32-20170508-7336%26mat_tracking_id%3DCPGwo4Kn39MCFUfPMgodQOQDkA

[thelaw1013-blog]

Final Project-True Citrus

The company I chose for my final assignment was a company called True Citrus. The company specializes in unsweetened and sweetened products that contain crystallized lemon, lime, orange, or grapefruit. The company also produces a line of salt free seasonings. Social media is important to this company because they do not advertise often. I have never seen a commercial on television for this particular company. I find that they use the internet as their focus for advertising. I am a fan of their Facebook page. I see that they regularly engage their customers by posting fun facts and usage tips about their products. Recently they have posted a few videos that help show customers various ways their products can be used.

               True Citrus advertises their products as an alternative to sugary beverages like soda to juice. They offer a variety of unsweetened products like plain lemon, lime, orange, and grapefruit. They also offer a line of sweetened products like lemonades and limeades. True Citrus regularly engages their customers with posts on Facebook, Twitter, and via email. They send out emails with inspirational messages every Friday. True Citrus also posts on social media almost daily. They are committed to staying connected to their customers.

               True Citrus uses Twitter and Facebook as their core ways to communicate with their customers. Recently in honor of Cinco de Mayo they posted a video describing how to use their products to make a terrific guacamole. They regularly use both Twitter and Facebook to advertise their current promotions available for their online store. They also use both social media platforms to answer any questions that customers may have.

               True Citrus focuses on engaging their customers through Twitter. The company posts something on Twitter almost daily. Their objective is to let their customer’s know that their product can be used for more than just drinking. The post daily to let you know that you can also cook and bake with their products. The company also uses their social media accounts to let people know that their products are a healthy option for families and individuals that are active and want to stay hydrated. Since True Citrus does not advertise, they use social media as their venue to keep their customers informed.

               True Citrus has an online store which is www.truelemonstore.com. They use both of their social media accounts to advertise when they are having sales. They offer promotions like 40 or 50% off of your entire order each month. Since they are such a small company they offer steep discounts in order to drive trial. The company figures by offering low prices on their products they are more likely to have people try out products they may not be able to find locally. They encourage impressions by asking their customers questions in their posts. When the customers see the posts that ask questions, they may feel more compelled to interact with the company.

True Citrus is also interacting with a lot of marathons nationwide. They are participating by providing events with samples of their products. The events that True Citrus shares samples with will share their social media information, which encourages people to learn more about the company and their products. The company also has plans to work a company called Feeding America. True Citrus has pledged to donate a million meals to our nations needy within a year. They encourage customers to donate by promoting on their packaging and by using social media. They want to encourage customers to purchase their products, by showing that each purchase will give back in some way.

Customers post reviews about this company on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. On Youtube there was a post that shared a review about finding this product in a local Dollar Tree. The customer mentions that the product helped her to drink more water. The video has almost 1300 views. You can view it by clicking the following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1onwRS2keI&t=28s

Customers often posts pictures of themselves using the products. Here are two examples you can view by clicking the following links:

https://twitter.com/KatrinJarvis/status/859436714145845249

https://twitter.com/Inureyezicntsee/status/857768264528777216

Customers also posts reviews of this product on Facebook. You can view to reviews by clicking the following links:

https://www.facebook.com/candy.wigney/activity/10210638379973226

https://www.facebook.com/lora.huffman.52/activity/1671278632900414

Overall I think that this company is very in tunes with the usage of social media. The company works hard to keeps its customers engaged. They interact with their customers almost daily. They recently launched a contest called the “True Love My Life Sweepstakes”. They are asking people to post pictures of themselves enjoying their life both with and without the use of the True Citrus Brand of products. The top prize is one years’ worth of groceries and of course some True Citrus products. The company hopes to have people incorporate their brand into daily activities. They want to be known as a company that is a great and natural alternative to chemically flavored products like Crystal Light.

I would suggest that the company work on advertising more. They need to let more potential customers know that their product exists. They also need to work on where they place their products in the store. It is easy to find their sweetened products on the powdered drink mix aisle. Many customers seem confused about where to find their unsweetened products in retail stores like Walmart. The company places their unsweetened products on the baking aisle. I think that the unsweetened products should be placed on the juice aisle or in the produce section. Customers are more likely to pick up the unsweetened lemon and lime packets if they were in the juice aisle next to the bottles of juice concentrate. The company should also focus on more sampling. They should mail out samples and continue to provide samples to various events.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfalcJbuHWs&t=12s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TGJdLEKtG8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zE1oVOl6lIQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-zDOKW86LI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2K_EcUGm4i8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBhHhojMhgg

https://www.facebook.com/pg/TheTrueLemon/reviews/

https://www.truelemon.com/about-us/

https://www.truelemon.com/about-us/faq/

https://www.amazon.com/True-Lemon-Crystallized-Pack-2-82/dp/B002NSE684

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XC_mOsT-sLg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzpssZAVgjU

[juliayoung94-blog]

Walt Disney Animation Studios has a wonderful presence on social media. Not only do they break down the barrier between the audience and the studio, but they bring an experience to their audience that stays with them long after they have seen the films. Their films are more than films - they are a way of life. It’s no wonder that I’m who I am - I grew up watching these classic films.

If I were to make a suggestion for the studio and their social media marketing strategy, I would say this - cut down on the obvious promotion. Sure, you can promote the newest films, but why not do it in a fun way rather than making more than one trailer? If you bring the audience in to experience the movie instead of blatantly trying to sell them on it, it may work to your advantage.

[cool-ruth-harrison424-blog]

Final Assignment:  Cancer Research of America

The assignment I chose for finals are Cancer Research of America. The reason why I chose this topic, as I stated in my week 5 post it has been a few week since I’ve learn that my family member was diagnose with the childhood like leukemia. I would like to learn more about how scientist are going about to find the find a cure for the disease. Cancer is one of the most feared word in our society today. Childhood cancer is one of the worst disease that has an impact on children all across the United States. Cancer is the leading cause of death among children, and adolescents in the United States. Although, the substantial progress has been made in the treatment of several types of childhood cancer in the past five decades, progress against other types has been limited.

As long-term survival is achieved, many survivors of childhood cancer may experience long-term adverse effects from the disease or its treatment. Another challenge is that very little is know about the causes of childhood cancers. A small percentage of cancers in children, and adolescents can be linked to inherited genetic, abnormalities, or exposures to diagnostic or therapeutic radiation However, the role of environmental exposures, including infectious  agents and toxic chemicals, is unclear.

As a result, identifying opportunities to prevent childhood cancer may be difficult, the types of cancers children develop, and the biology of those cancers, generally differ from those of cancers diagnosed in adults. Most cancer among children occur at a young age, from three year old to first year of their life. Some of the well-known cancers are leukemia, brain cancer,and other nervial cancer. The disease takes over the body and spread from organs to organs. One of the treatment for cancer disease is kiom-therapy, which is conducted three time per week, and can be painful for some people.

The side effects of treatment, can range in heart disease, brain damaging or very light headed with shortness of breath.Cancer is a disease which will hang around in the body, and spread from rapidly to the other organs. It is costly to get therapy, with childhood cancer being costly they are non-profit organization which help fun the cost of the bill to help take the load off parent who can’t afford the medicine or to pay for therapy.

Increasing awareness is a huge step in advocacy and support in childhood cancer programs will help organization like the Saint Jude research to help scientist find the cure for the disease.  The medication for childhood cancer “leukemia”,  range in price of thirty five thousand per week in treatment, and the average lifespan in cancer treatment now range from four months to four years. The median cost daily for childhood treatment is one thousand per day, which is mostly paid by non-profit organization. After viewing some of the videos on you-tube and articles I now have more insight on how scientist are implementing to approach the disease as they are trying their best establish what are the main cause of the disease and to find a way to cure children in America once and for all.

https://www.cancer.gov/research/areas/childhood

https://www.cancer.gov/research/areas/childhood

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IU4A4h1ACJs