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Module 5- Assessment of an Organization’s Use of Social Media

Section 1: Introduction:

The Canadian Red Cross has a clear mission, which is to help vulnerable individuals in Canada and throughout the world. The network consists of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, and 190 National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. The company's values include humanitarianism, respect, safety, integrity, and inclusiveness. The Red Cross uses social media to build relationships with a variety of groups including volunteers, the community, and the media. As of 2018, the Canadian Red Cross has been targeting young Canadians through social media campaigns like "Be Part of the Equation", in hopes that millennial Canadians will feel a connection with their humanitarian organization (Dunne 2018).

https://youtu.be/BD40K5wSdlo

We chose the Red Cross because they are an older organization established in 1896, with a rich history; however, their social media strategy is not a good reflection of the company and all its success. This report will outline some of the main suggestions for improvement, by completing an audit and analysis.

Section 2: Methodology:

For the social media audit, we began by using our knowledge from WRIT240, specifically regarding identifying an audience and tailoring your writing to your readers (Module 1), designing strategies to convey a message effectively (Module 4), and ensuring an efficient design for conciseness (Module 5). We then examined their activity on their social media accounts. After reviewing, we compared their presence to UNICEF, another large charity organization, and made expert recommendations based on the gathered information.

https://www.redcross.ca/about-us/red-cross-videos/i-am-a-crisis-1 

Section 3: Results:

Section 3A: Analysis of Twitter presence

The Red Cross has a clearly stated mission on their Twitter profile, which has a total of 154,000 followers. The first thing we noticed was their lack of engagement with people in the comments, which compared to some of their competitors such as UNICEF, was severely lacking. It has been shown that 78% of engagement with an organization's tweets is through retweets (Ibrisevic 2018). As a result, Red Cross Canada can boost their engagement by designing re-tweetable tweets. The implementation of links to the Red Cross Canada website is important for engagement as people are more likely to retweet informational content than conversational tweets. When followers are directly asked to re-tweet, the re-tweet rate is 23x higher than usual. In addition, the Red Cross should also consider the usage of HD pictures especially if it is the banner picture on their social media accounts.  

https://twitter.com/redcrosscanada

Section 3B: Analysis of Instagram Presence

Instagram is undeniably one of the most important social channels around (Caitlin Hughes, 2018). The first thing we noticed on Instagram was that there were significantly fewer posts on Instagram, compared to Twitter or Facebook. Secondly, the type of content posted, which is typically photos or videos of people. Although these photos are good at demonstrating the work the Red Cross does, they should use more high-quality photos. As Red Cross Canada is looking to target a younger generation via social media, Instagram should be their primary focus, since 59 percent of online adults ages 18-29 use the network (Campbell 2018).

Red Cross Canada could benefit by adopting some of the tactics used by UNICEF. UNICEF is not only verified on Instagram, but they also have an established theme that is consistent throughout their page. Red Cross Canada should apply for verification on Instagram, demonstrating that Instagram has confirmed the authentic presence, subsequently making it appear more legitimate for donations. Red Cross Canada should enhance their engagement on Instagram by establishing a consistent theme throughout its profile like UNICEF. "If you create a theme and stick to it, people will associate that with your name, and that is the way your photos will become more recognizable" (Ganta 2019). To establish a theme, Red Cross Canada should include their logo or brand colours in every photo, to establish a consistent and recognizable theme. By introducing this, viewers will be more likely to associate the images with the organization, and a professional tone will be set when viewing the official home page.

https://www.instagram.com/redcrosscanada/

Section 3C: Analysis of Facebook Presence

The initial reaction on Facebook was that the content being shared is the same as on other platforms, such as Twitter. What was noticed, however, is that on Facebook there is minimal engagement with the posts, through actions such as re-shares or comments. Most of the posts receive 10-50 likes, accompanied by a minimal number of shares. This was quite surprising because if the company were successfully achieving its goal of spreading awareness of their humanitarian efforts, their results would include significantly higher engagement. Red Cross Canada could increase their engagement on Facebook by selecting more engaging cover images and updating them more frequently. To understand the message of the image, viewers currently have to click on it! The image should stand alone and convey what is meant to be felt, allowing for easy understanding. Finally, considering the organization’s foundation is built on bringing aid to unforeseen events, they should continuously update the cover image to reflect their efforts.  

https://www.facebook.com/canadianredcross

Section 4: Conclusion and Recommendations:

The Canadian Red Cross has successfully built brand recognition across their social media platforms, by showing their relief efforts. However, further analysis demonstrates a significant need for improvement. Firstly, the lack of engagement on all platforms does not encourage conversation, which is essential in spreading the word and continuing the Red Cross's mission. Studies have shown that once a target audience has been chosen, engaging with the audience is necessary to build trust and brand loyalty (O'Brien 2018). Additionally, the audit of their showed that the type of content used is quite repetitive, leading to a lack of interest in what the Red Cross is attempting to convey in their posts. Ultimately, this disconnect between the users and the company is the main problem which must be addressed to ensure the success of the Red Cross's social media strategy. Through the implementation of the suggestions including updated imagery, engaging with the audience, and establishing a theme, the Red Cross can significantly improve its social media presence.

Section 5: References

“Canadians Impacted by Disasters Are Going Digital, Red Cross Study Confirms - Canadian Red Cross.” Red Cross Canada, www.redcross.ca/about-us/media-news/news-releases/canadians-impacted-by-disasters-are-going-digital-red-cross-study-confirms.

“Helping The Most Vulnerable - Canadian Red Cross.” Red Cross Canada, www.redcross.ca/.

“Instagram Help Center.” Verified Badges | Instagram Help Center, help.instagram.com/854227311295302.

6 Reasons Why Instagram Marketing is Important for Your Brand. (2018, September 19). Retrieved April 3, 2019, from https://blog.iconosquare.com/why-instagram-is-good-for-business/

Campbell, Julia. “10 Secrets to Being Awesome on Instagram for Nonprofits.” The Balance Small Business, The Balance, 21 July 2018, www.thebalancesmb.com/awesome-instagram-tips-for-nonprofits-4115850.

Dunne, Melissa. “Canadian Red Cross Pulls at Millennial Heartstrings.” Strategy, 11 June 2018, strategyonline.ca/2018/06/11/canadian-red-cross-pulls-at-millennial-heartstrings/.

Ganta, Maria. “The Importance of the Instagram Theme.” Socialinsider Blog, Socialinsider Blog, 20 Mar. 2019, www.socialinsider.io/blog/the-importance-of-the-instagram-theme/.

Ibrisevic, Ilma. “10 Twitter Best Practices for Nonprofits - Nonprofit Twitter Strategy.” Nonprofit Blog, 24 Oct. 2018, donorbox.org/nonprofit-blog/twitter-best-practices-for-nonprofits/.

O'Brien, Tom. “Why Social Media Engagement Is Important for Your Business.” TimeTrade, 16 Aug. 2018, www.timetrade.com/blog/why-social-media-engagement-is-important-for-your-business/.

Paynter, Ben. “How Nonprofits Are Using Instagram To Tell Their Stories In A New Way.” Fast Company, Fast Company, 12 Jan. 2017, www.fastcompany.com/3066812/how-nonprofits-are-using-instagram-to-tell-their-stories-in-a-new-way.

Weeler, Chloe. “7 Ways Charities Should Be Using Social Media.” SpiderGroup, 10 May 2016, www.spidergroup.com/blog/ways-charities-use-social-media. .

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Module 5- Assessment of an Organization’s Use of Social Media: Person A

Group Opinions on Strengths and Weaknesses:

Samantha: One of the strengths of the Red Cross’s social media presence is its consistency. When a post is made on Facebook, it is always made on Twitter as well, and vice versa. The Red Cross truly excels in their Twitter presence, leading to one of its greatest strengths. Their interesting content, combined with their use of important and relevant hashtags is done exceptionally well, leading to an increase in engagement. One of the weaknesses, however, is the types of multimedia used. This weakness was mainly present on their Instagram, as the majority of their posts were simple pictures or videos of people. Their use of limited and duplicated multimedia is likely to cause a decrease in engagement on a particular platform.

Nicole: The first weakness is that their Instagram lacks a theme. Their lack of continuity between photos and the use of low-quality photos diminishes their credibility. The red cross YouTube channel does not take into consideration Canada’s cultural diversity with the vast majority of volunteers who are interviewed being Caucasian. A strength is that they provide employees and volunteers with a handbook on how they should present themselves on social media. This helps keep their core messages consistent throughout all forms of social media.

Rashmi: The first weakness is that their Instagram focuses more on portraits of the members of Red Cross, instead of focusing on pictures from the sites that they are actively working on. This can help them in generating more donations from people in Canada once the purpose is clearly established through real-life pictures. In addition, the quality of these real-life pictures also needs to be HD to gain more interest from their audience. They are also strong on SEO since keywords like “red cross” yields their website as the first result on Google.

Suggestion for Improvement: My initial suggestion for improvement is to create more engaging content through the use of Instagram stories, polls, and giveaways. One of the first things I noticed when analyzing the Red Cross’s social media presence, is their lack of engagement with their audience, which may result in an overall decrease in interest. The newest feature of adding links to the stories would be an excellent feature for the Red Cross to utilize, as it will allow for people to donate easily, or learn more about what the Red Cross is doing. By following and implementing this suggestion, this will help to engage more users who typically scroll through a series of posts, but have been shown to engage with links and stories on the platform. (Paynter 2017).

Section 1: Introduction: 

The Canadian Red Cross has a clear mission, which is to help vulnerable individuals in Canada and throughout the world. The network consists of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, and 190 National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. The company’s values include humanitarianism, respect, safety, integrity, and inclusiveness. **Nicole to discuss target audience**

https://www.redcross.ca/about-us/red-cross-videos/i-am-a-crisis-1

We chose the Red Cross because they are an older organization established in 1896, with a rich history; however, their social media strategy is not a good reflection of the company and all its success. Their role as one of the largest charity organizations in the world requires and deserves a social media presence to reflect their efforts.  This report will outline some of the main suggestions for improvement, by completing an audit and analysis.

Section 2: Methodology: 

For the social media audit, we began by using our knowledge from WRIT240, specifically regarding identifying an audience and tailoring your writing to your readers (Module 1), designing strategies to convey a message effectively (Module 4), and ensuring an efficient design for conciseness (Module 5). With this knowledge, we began by examining their presence and activity on their social media accounts. We reviewed each of the social media channels run by the Red Cross, taking note of how often they post, their engagement with users, and the types of posts. After reviewing and noting all of the points mentioned above, we compared their presence to UNICEF, another large charity organization, and then made expert recommendations based on all the gathered information.

Section 3: Results: 

Section 3A: Analysis of Twitter presence

The Red Cross has a clearly stated mission on their Twitter profile, which has a total of 154,000 followers. Some basic information includes the fact that they have tweeted over 13,600 times, and post multiple times every day. The first thing we noticed was their lack of engagement with people in the comments, which compared to some of their competitors such as UNICEF, was severely lacking.

https://twitter.com/redcrosscanada

Nicole and Rashmi to build upon this, identify more strengths/weaknesses, competitor comparison, and state suggestions**

Section 3B: Analysis of Instagram Presence

The Red Cross has its mission statement in both English and French listed on their Instagram profile, which has a total of 19,300 followers. Some basic information includes the fact that they have made 1,360 posts, which is significantly fewer than their posts on Twitter. The first thing we noticed was the type of content posted, which is typically photos or videos of people. Although these photos are good at demonstrating the work the Red Cross does, it fails to achieve the typical Instagram aesthetic pursued by many other Instagram feeds with a larger and more engaged group of followers.  

https://www.instagram.com/redcrosscanada/

**Nicole and Rashmi to build upon this, identify more strengths/weaknesses, competitor comparison, and state suggestions**

Section 3C: Analysis of Facebook Presence

The Red Cross Facebook page has a total of 132,650 likes and 133,408 followers. The initial reaction was that the content being shared is the same as on other platforms, such as Twitter. What was noticed, however, is that on Facebook there is minimal engagement with the posts, through actions such as re-shares or comments. Most of the posts receive 10-50 likes, accompanied by a minimal number of shares. This was quite surprising because if the company were successfully achieving its goal of spreading awareness of their humanitarian efforts, their results would include significantly higher engagement, especially with the number of shares.

https://www.facebook.com/canadianredcross

**Nicole and Rashmi to build upon this, identify more strengths/weaknesses, competitor comparison, and state suggestions**

Section 4: Discussion: 

After analyzing the Red Cross’s social media presence, the results demonstrate a need for improvement. First, the engagement with followers is limited, and nonexistent on most of their platforms. Studies have shown that once a target audience has been chosen, engaging with the audience is necessary to build trust and brand loyalty (O'Brien 2018). This lack of engagement on all platforms does not encourage conversation, which is essential in spreading the word and continuing the Red Cross’s mission. Additionally, the audit of their presence showed that the type of content used is quite repetitive, leading to a lack of interest in what the Red Cross is attempting to convey in their posts. Ultimately, this disconnect between the users and the company is the main problem which must be addressed to ensure the success of the Red Cross’s social media strategy.  

**Nicole and Rashmi to build upon this, and state suggestions, discussion about their results**

Section 5: Conclusion/Recommendations:

**Group to fill this in, once all analyses, and suggestions are completed**

Section 6: References

“Helping The Most Vulnerable - Canadian Red Cross.” Red Cross Canada, www.redcross.ca/.

O'Brien, Tom. “Why Social Media Engagement Is Important for Your Business.” TimeTrade, 16 Aug. 2018, www.timetrade.com/blog/why-social-media-engagement-is-important-for-your-business/.

Paynter, Ben. “How Nonprofits Are Using Instagram To Tell Their Stories In A New Way.” Fast Company, Fast Company, 12 Jan. 2017, www.fastcompany.com/3066812/how-nonprofits-are-using-instagram-to-tell-their-stories-in-a-new-way.

Weeler, Chloe. “7 Ways Charities Should Be Using Social Media.” SpiderGroup, 10 May 2016, www.spidergroup.com/blog/ways-charities-use-social-media.

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Module 4 Assignment- Twitter Essay

Exploring Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

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Module 4 Activity- App Analysis

Reviewing: Planny 2 

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The best way to achieve what you desire is by helping others reach their destination.

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“We are the victims of an illusion which leads us to believe we have ourselves produced what has been imposed upon us externally.”

—Emile Durkheim, from The Rules of Sociological Method

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#entrepreneur #Business #quotes #marketing #sales #advertising #startup #quotation #Smallbusiness #Onlinebusiness #businessmotivation #quoteoftheday #onlinemarketing #internetmarketing #digitalmarketing #hustle #motivatingquotes #BusinessQuote

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Always be Learning & Growing

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Assignment 2- Death by XOXO

Chocoholics, unite! 

Welcome to the wonderful world of chocolate—let us take you on a virtual tour of our company, XOXO. First let us ask you, death by chocolate anyone? 

So, what exactly are we?

You might be wondering, what exactly is XOXO? Well, our focus is selling the best chocolate you can find on the market. With three flavours sure to rock you, we know there’s something out there for everyone! Don’t believe us? Just try it yourselves! Not only is our chocolate fairly traded with Peruvian farmers in the valley, but our mission is to reinvent everyone’s favourite food. You can even stop by and take a tour of our chocolate farms, to meet some of the amazing farmers behind XOXO. 

So, how are we going to do this?

No—we’re not like every other company just saying that our product is healthy and different, but it really is! XOXO’s chocolate is filled with non-GMO, never artificial, and always real ingredients. We know how important non-GMO products have become, and we only want to provide the best for our customers!  The best part? It’s all sustainably sourced and fair traded. By caring about our farmers, we fight for their rights and ensure that no big factories are used. Directly from your purchasing power to their hands, we’re starting a revolution! We all know how important fair trade is, so let’s do something to help the cause, and purchase our fair trade chocolate!

So, what next?

Well, if we haven’t convinced you yet, just try some of our delicious XOXO chocolate. We hope you will join us in not only making the world a better place by ensuring your purchase contributes to the fair treatment and rights of our farmers but enjoying some decadent treats as well.

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Assignment 2- Impacts of Poor Writing: Death by XOXO- Person A

Summary: 

“Death by XOXO” is a food blog post that discusses XOXO, a chocolate and candy company. The writer identifies the unique selling point of this company, by explaining that it is fairly traded with Peruvian farmers, and hopes that by doing so, it will make the world a better place. By positioning the company this way, the writer is attempting to invoke a sense of empathy in the reader, that will make them want to purchase chocolate or candy from XOXO. Ultimately, XOXO’s blog is a summary of the company’s mission, the benefits of their products such as the ingredients, and the reasons for customers to buy. However, the poor grammar, structure, and sentences, result in the ineffectiveness of this piece.

Grammatical Errors: 

The first error that appears throughout the post is missing commas between clauses in the sentence. The second error is that nouns are often missing a determiner, such as “a”, or “the”. The third error is that there is punctuation, such as an exclamation point signalling the end of a sentence, but the sentence continues after that. Lastly, the blog post contains many sentence fragments.

Question for Person B: 

The writing seems to be quite unorganized regarding structure. Do you have a suggestion as to how we can restructure and reorganize it, so it not only flows better but the critical information, such as their mission, stands out more?

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Getting Yourself Out There

Hi, I’m Samantha Heller, and this is my blog!

I’m a third-year sociology major at Queen’s University, combined with a certificate in business, a TA for COMM231- Fundamentals of Marketing, and taking WRIT 240 (I know, it’s a pretty weird combination). I’ve always been interested in how people interact and why they interact that way (kind of the psychology aspect of sociology). I’ve also always been interested in the influence marketing has on people’s decisions, which is why I chose to take both sociology and business. When I’m not balancing my school work, you’ll find me with friends, at the gym, or on my phone (sadly yes, I’m one of those Gen Z’s who spends all day on their phone).

Surprisingly, I tend not to post as much as many others, but I do spend a significant amount of time scrolling through Facebook, Instagram (@sammyhells), Snapchat and Twitter (@samanthah1998). 

It may not seem like it at first, but both my major and my certificate make a course like WRIT240 extremely relevant for me. For sociology, the focus is on understanding the way society and humans interact with each other. Social media has come to play such a significant role in society now that it’s gradually becoming a large field of study for sociology students. Sociology plays a large role in the success of social media and is therefore extremely relevant to my field of study.

On the other hand, the certificate, especially the marketing course, has proven to be extremely relevant to a course like writing for social media.  

“Social media communities can have tremendous effects on marketing, branding and advertising”

Social media plays such an essential role in the world of marketing that learning how to write for social media effectively is a necessary part of any marketers toolkit .

“When used right, they (social media) can actually help us create and maintain some of the most important relationships we’ll ever have.”

Whether it’s keeping in touch, advancing your career, helping others through websites like GoFundMe, or joining movements such as #MeToo, social media helps keep everyone connected and supportive of each other, in a world where we might physically be so far apart. Learning how to use it and write for it effectively, is, therefore, an essential skill.

Hoping to one day enter into the field of marketing post-graduation, I could not think of a better course than WRIT240 to take. I’ve always been interested in writing, so combining that with my love for marketing is just the perfect option. Truthfully, I was undecided as to whether this would be a good fit for me, but as soon as I saw all of the learning outcomes and the skills I would learn from this course, I knew it was the perfect fit. Today’s generation needs to set themselves apart by having unique skills and attributes so having taken a writing for social media course, and creating a portfolio throughout the course I will be able to set myself apart.

Anyways, that’s it for now! This is me, this is my blog, and I’m excited for you to join me on this journey!