Week 8 Part A

 WARWICK’S BOOKS

            Warwick’s books is an independent bookseller in San Diego, they have around 5,000 followers on Instagram. They seem to post sporadically. The hashtags they posted seemed to be in line with the types you find on bookseller accounts. They would post hashtags like: YAboooks, newfiction, sandiego, and booksellerrecomends. 

Some weeks they post multiple times a day, and sometimes six days go by without the account posting anything. A lot of the content seemed sort of dry. The posts were often images of books, with a quick synopsis and whether they would recommend it. As someone who is really into literature, this sort of stuff interests me, but I’m not sure it would necessarily get engagement from someone who was not already a fan of the store. The amount of likes they got were anywhere from the 50’s to the 300’s, often falling somewhere between 100 and 200. They did not receive many comments. 

I think this account is a lesson in what not to do. Although they posted hashtags about books, the content they posted was often not the type of content made to get a lot of likes. Like I said before, this is a good account if you already like the store, but as far as building an audience, it needs better content. 

 

VERBATIME BOOKS

 

            Verbatim books is perhaps most comparable to Warwick’s. Like Warwick’s they are an independent bookstore in San Diego, but unlike Warwick’s they seem to be more effective at gaining followers on social media. The number of hashtags they give a post seem to differ depending on the post. On memes they often will have no hashtags at all, but if they post a picture of a book there will be all sorts of hashtags. There are exceptions to this rule. One of the memes they posted is about Dune, which just released in theaters and below they posted all sorts of hashtags. Some of the hashtags were, “Dune,” “Dunememes” and “Sci-fi.” I assume they put hashtags on the meme since lots of people were posting about the movie already. 

Verbatim books on Instagram have about 16.4k followers. They post very often on average around twice a day. Their last post was today. They seem to get in the mid 100s a lot, so about 500-700 likes on at least one of their posts per day seems like a certainty a lot of the time. So, around 1/32 followers are liking their posts daily. They seem to frequently get over 1,000 likes frequently as well. The most comments I saw on a post of their page was 28. 

I think something to be learned from their account is to have fun and attach yourself to trending topics whenever you can. They didn’t send out hashtags on whatever was trending all the time, but when something was relevant to their business, like Dune, they did post about it and went sort of crazy with the hashtags. 

 

BARNES & NOBLE

            Barnes & Noble, with 704k followers, had the most followers out of any account that I looked at. If you gaged how successful an account was by followers, I would say this account was successful, but if you’re gaging a social media account by how many likes they get per post, I would say this account underperforms. Most of their posts had likes in the 1,000 to 2,000 range. I think a lot of this is due to the nature of the posts. A lot of the posts seemed to be what you would expect from a big bookseller. They often did post a lot of hashtags (sometimes these even took up four lines). I have no idea if any of these hashtags were trending, but I’m sort of doubtful. Many of them were generic like, “mystery.” The most engaged post in terms of likes and responses was a quote by Winnie the Pooh with around 12k likes and 83 responses. I think it was because it wasn’t explicitly selling a product, but just posting a quote that people nostalgically remember. There was a much more communal response around that post. There weren’t that many hashtags on the post either. Even though I don’t think this account is great at getting likes, I do think it is good at informing potential customers. I left the account knowing more about what new books were out than when I hadn’t looked at the account. 

 

AMAZON BOOKS

 

            I was surprised at the number of followers on this account. It only had 67.8k followers, even though Amazon is one of the biggest booksellers in the world. It did not post that much. It often only posted 2-3 times per week. They hardly used any hashtags either. They kept using the same one, “bookstagram’ over and over. Sometimes they would hashtag other things like “giveaway,” but that was rare. The amount of likes they got for the followers they had wasn’t particularly impressive. They tended to get around 100 to 200 likes per post. The most liked posts on their account were quotes, pictures of celebrities, and “best of” lists. The posts with the most comments tended to be ones that asked questions.

 

LESSONS LEARNED:

 

1.     Whenever possible, hashtag your posts with what is trending. 

2.     Hashtags will lead people to see your posts, but unless you have engaging content people will not like your posts.

3.     Use lots of hashtags and vary them as well.

4.     Inform your audience about what you are selling in between the type of posts trying to get lots of engagement. 

 

POTENTIAL HASHTAGS:

Scifi, books, topten, StephenKing, shoplocal, SanDiego, indiebookstore, tbt, classics, mustread, bookstagram, mystery, booksoftheyear, bookseller, nationalbookawards, autumnreads, JamesPatterson,

Week 7 Part B

INSTAGRAM PAGE REVIEWS

Weed'em & Reap   

    This business opened their page with a very clever triptych that spelled the title of the business against some nice pictures of plants, which I enjoyed. The person running the site chose some very good photos to show of their products. They also used populars hashtags consistently in order to get more views. There was only one post where I think they used a few too many, but the hashtags mostly worked. I think if there's one flaw in this page it's that a lot of the posts are selling the product and it could be broken up a little more with images more purposefully made just to get engagement.  

PC Corp Repair

    I think this account had a good opening image. They weren't explicitly selling something, but they were referencing a minor fear that all of us have, which is having a cracked phone screen. It helped that it was really cracked, and this seemed to get a lot of engagement from the people of the class. I do not know if I would have done what this person would have done and made it the logo though. I think the person who made this page should post more images like this. I've seen images of busted laptops go viral, so I think they're onto something. 

Shoeper Laced

    This account had a good opening, asking its audience to email them pictures of their shoes. It made it about the customer, which set a good tone. A lot of the posts weren't explicitly selling, but just posting pictures of good looking shoes. I liked that they made albums of the shoes as well, so I could see them from different angles. If I was a fan of shoes I might be interested in following this account.

The Lucid Nap

    This account looks very active and has a good amount of followers already, so I guess they're doing some things right. They seem to have all sorts of content, like clips of their audio productions, and posts of their own personal adventures. They seem to have a lot of hashtags on every post which I think helps draw engagement (and maybe debunks a point I made in the first review). They also tag lots of different people related to their account. If theres something to be learned from this page I guess it would be that building and audience can take a network of social media connections. They were always tagging some account or business associated in their work/personal life. I guess another thing to be learned from this is to not necessarily be afraid of showing your life, especially if you work in something like media. 

Members whose accounts I commented on:

Regina Tompkins

Drew Estelle

Sean Conti

Week 6 Part B

The first post I scheduled was a book centered spin on the Charlie meme of It’s Always

Sunny fame. I did this just to get some fun engagement with my audience. I don’t think it will generate many reactions besides likes, but likes are good for me right now since I’m just starting this page. I also think it will make people more likely to follow my page if I post more content like this, since it brings fun and humor to people’s lives. 

The second post I scheduled was a question. I asked, “What are your favorite books that take place in San Diego?” I expect this type of post to get a lot more responses than the first. It will also probably give me a better chance to respond to comments. It alsostarts spreading my page's rep as a local bookstore. It’s like the first one, because I hope it will grow awareness of my page. 

The third post I made was an ad, but one that I think would theoretically get a good level of engagement. It’s a high-quality image of a coffee cup, with text over it that reads, “Get a free coffee from our café when you buy two books or more!” I think it’s a good deal, and one that might entice me if I was buying books, due to how expensive the often are. 

NAMES OF MEMBERS WHO'S BLOGS I COMMENTED ON:

Marcos Herrera

Nancy Williams

Gina Tompkins

 

Week 6 Part A

  

SAN DIEGO READER

            The San Diego Reader is a local magazine where San Diegans can often learn about the arts, and events taking place in their own community. The San Diego Reader is where I often go to learn about book readings in San Diego and probably where some of my future customers would look. They seem to break up postings to events with nice looking pictures of the city. Sometimes they break up the pace by posing fun questions, like, “What is the best brunch Item?” which got a lot of comments. I think they’re page does a good job at almost feeling like a time square, like their magazine.

 

SAN DIEGO UNION TRIBUNE

            The San Diego Union Tribune is perhaps the best source of information that San Diegans can get about what is going on in their county. Most of the posts that the Union Tribune makes are of articles on its website. A lot of the articles seem to be very California and San Diego focused. think not really that surprised by this, when people want to discuss the national news, they tend to follow CNN and the NYTimes. I think if something can be learned from their social media is one that was also in the book, that many times more people will engage with your content if you pose a question. A lot of the opinion columns posted begin with a question, which will tend to get more engagement.  It posts profiles of local artists and businesses. I think that any independent bookstore looking for publicity, would be wise to try to get in the paper. 

 

VERBATIM BOOKS

            Verbatim books is an independent bookseller in San Diego. I guess I am following this page to see how it appeals to San Diegans. A lot of the content that seems to get the most engagement on their page are funny memes. They also often post pictures of their store, which seems to get positive feedback. A lot of their posts about San Diego are very specifically about North Park, like one of volunteers working outside of their store.  I think one thing to be learned from this page is to be specific about the community you are in if you are an indie bookstore, in ways besides just posting an address. 

 

PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE

            Penguin Random House is one of the biggest publishers of fiction and nonfiction in the publishing industry. I followed this book mainly because it’s where you can learn information about its upcoming books. If I did run a bookstore, there is a good chance that I would want to share something from its page, or even maybe comment on some posts. There are all sorts of different types of posts in its page: images, videos of authors, articles, memes, and trailers of movies based on books that they published. 

            I think something to learn off this page is that you shouldn’t get monotonous. Even though all the media posted on the page was devoted to sell books, it was all done in a different sort of way that made the pace of the page a little more interesting. It was also very good at getting positive fan comments. A lot of the positive came when it posted humorous memes about books. 

 

BARNES & NOBLE

            I am following Barnes and Noble since it is still one of the biggest brick and mortar retailers of books in the US. It is the bookstore that most people know, and most people will compare your business to if they ever use it. I am essentially following them for posting strategies and to see ways that I can make my page different from theirs. 

            One thing I do think their page does well is respond to comments. They seem very active at directing their customers to private conversations. They also respond to positive comments about their products. They often call the customer by name, so their conversations feel more personal. Their posts seem to be a mix of straightforward bookselling and posts like, “Have you pre-ordered this yet??? Get on it!” I think overall, they do a good job making posts about not only themselves, but the customer and what they enjoy. 

 

 

NATIONAL BOOK FOUNDATION

            The National Book Foundation is a nonprofit organization that promotes literature by giving out awards every year. I decided to follow their website because they are often good at highlighting acclaimed writers that might not be that well known to the public. They’re the type of writers who probably would be eager to speak at an independent bookstore due to not only passion for the medium, but because of their sales are often not high enough.

            A lot of the posts on the page seem very professional, like there isn’t a personality to them. They often post profiles of authors on their page, not written by them, but by professional journalists at magazines like the New Yorker. They also link tickets to award events. This isn’t necessarily how I would market my business, but I understand why they do it. The National Book Award is a very prestigious award, and it probably would make the award a little less prestigious if it was throwing its weight around trying to be likeable. If there’s one thing to learn from the page, I guess it’s to have the page fit the business.  

 

SAN DIEGO WRITERS FESTIVAL

            The San Diego Writers Festival is an organization where writers hold seminars to teach each other how to write. I mainly made the connection to see if there were any local writers that I would like to invite to my business for events. Their page seems somewhat repetitive in terms of content Most of it was links to speaking events and live recordings of events. I don’t think their page gets enough engagement. They could try posting more fun content, like memes to try and spice things up. Despite this, I think the page did a good job at curating a community of writers. 

Week 5 Part B

             POST REACH AND POST ENGAGEMENT

Post reach is important for a business if they want more customers. The more people there are who know about a product or business, the more customers a business will have. Post reach will also give customers the chance to stay engaged. Post reach can also be important for retaining customers.  A customer who sees your post on social media, will have the chance to follow your businesses page for information.  A customer who follows your page, theoretically will see more links to buy things from you. 

Post engagement (likes, posts and comments) is important for your customers to develop an attachment to your brand. If your customer has positive interactions with you, you can turn your company from another faceless corporation into a company that people have an emotional attachment to. Post engagement is also important to gage what is in your customer’s heads. Getting into your customers heads will allow you to make better posts that get to the top of their feeds. 

Post reach and post engagement are both intertwined. If one of your posts gets a lot of likes, that helps it remain visible in people’s newsfeeds. So, the more post engagement you get, the more people see your post, which theoretically could lead to higher sales.  The more post reach you get the more post engagement you can get as well, potentially creating a feedback loop for maximum reach. 

What is to be taken from these points collectively? I’d posit that if you want to reach a wide variety of people on social media, you most likely will not do so unless you have high effort content. If you make safe bland social media posts, you most likely will never be interacted with that much, which can spell doom for a business that wants to spread awareness about itself. In the companies that I studied for my previous blog post, even big-name corporations like EA got low engagement from the customer when they put out a bland, obvious promotion. 

 

            FACEBOOK INSIGHTS

Facebook Insights is a powerful tool that it gives you very useful information about your customers. It gives you demographic data, like people’s ages and where they’re from, so you can tailor your posts so you can get maximum engagement.  It tells you what kind of posts are getting engaged. It tells you whether you acquired followers due to Facebook ads, or whether people arrived at your site organically. It tells you how many people you are reaching. It also tells you your maximum potential audience on the site so you can know whether you have more room to grow your page.

If I could just simplify what Insights does, I would say that it lets you know whether your social media strategy is working. A business page with low organic reach will probably need to purchase ads. If your audience isn’t online at a certain time, you’ll probably want to move your posts to a different time. If you want to grow your online engagement with a somewhat risky strategy (E.G snarky online persona) it will also let you know if it works (with several posts) before you take a deep plunge. It gives you the ability to adapt in strategic ways.  

 

THE PAGE I COMMENTED ON:

Sean Conti

Blog Week 4 Part B

The name of my business is “Balboa Books.” It is a fictitious book seller I have created for the class. This is a target market analysis that will be used to determine how the company should market itself on social media. 

According to publisher’s weekly, book sales grew by 8.2% in 2020. 751 million units of print books were sold and 251 million units were sold of Ebooks. Despite this growth, according to Statista, book sales are still 42% lower than they were in 2007. Although there is an explosion of books available, most do not sell that well. Most, actually, only sell about 200 copies per year. Books continued to be sold mostly by Amazon and Barnes and Noble in the United States.  

Although this looks bad for anyone wishing to start a new bookselling business initially, there is still an opportunity here. According to Ryan Raffaeli, a Harvard business professor, Independent bookstores have rebounded since their low point in 2009. Raffaeli studied why bookstores did not get essentially wiped out and he found three things that kept bookstores afloat and able to fend off competition from online retail, community, curation and covening. He writes that independent bookstores survived by,“stressing a strong connection to local community values.” They also survived by curating a selection of books that went beyond what was on the New York Times best seller list, and did so by developing personal relationships with the customer. The third aspect covening, was essentially to put on community events, like book readings, open mics, lectures etc. 

What are the consequences of social media use of my fictional business for this? Since this fictional bookseller is based somewhere in San Diego county, that means the account will market itself as much as possible as a part of the San Diego community. It will highlight events by local authors and artists at the store. It will interact with other explicitly San Diego accounts in a good natured and fun way. It should also market rare books not often sold by major retailers to give the store more of a unique feel. Overall, the account should feel like it is run by a person, not a faceless corporation.

Works Cited:

https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/bookselling/article/85256-print-unit-sales-rose-8-2-in-2020.html

https://www.forbes.com/sites/pamdanziger/2020/02/12/how-indie-bookstores-beat-amazon-at-the-bookselling-game-lessons-here-for-every-retailer/?sh=513985211a67

https://ideas.bkconnection.com/10-awful-truths-about-publishing

https://www.hbs.edu/ris/Publication%20Files/20-068_c19963e7-506c-479a-beb4-bb339cd293ee.pdf

https://www.statista.com/topics/1177/book-market/

Week 4 Part A: Defining Target Markets

    The difference between the two sites that I noticed right away was that Armstrong Garden Centers had high quality photography. It struck me as very aesthetically pleasing and cutting edge due to the slide show. A secondary thing I noticed as I scrolled down the page was that their website used fade-ins to present information. The site made it look like information was appearing out of thin air. There was a very nice sort of hierarchy to the page and it made sure the most important things could be found without scrolling down. The information it links you to is useful as well. You can see what plants they have before you go there.  

The second website had some nice photography, but it definitely didn’t look as nice as the first. It looked like it was done by someone who wasn’t a professional photographer, the banner image was slightly overexposed in parts and looked slightly out of focus. The text when you scrolled down was a little too small as well. It could use a bit more reorganization, the location and hours should be at the top. Although the homepage has small business charm, the site could use more links. There was nothing I could click on that would take me to their catalog of plants. 

One of the small differences between these websites is that RanchoVista mentions taking precautions due to covid. Even though it is the more barebones site, if I was a customer and choosing between the two nurseries, I might lean towards the one that was safer.

    I do think there is a bit of a crossover between the two businesses. I think if you’re the type of person who is really into plants, you’ll explore all your options in person regardless of how nice, or how basic a website a nursery might have. 

    The subtext for Armstrong Garden Center’s website could be an assurance they have what the customer needs. Their website evokes the sense that they have a wealth of resources and are a one stop shop. It has very nice photography, cool transitions and a very good use of repetition in how it presents you information. The other website made by RanchVista Nursery gives off a bit of a homemade vibe. The site doesn’t look like it was approved in a board meeting, but looks like it was made by a single person. It seems to be saying that you’re just not another customer. You’ll likely get to directly interact with the person who runs the nursery.