8B Twitter Lists

     I started my search with the words yoga and cats because my first list is 'Yoga and Cat Lovers' so I found one twitter user that said she loves cats and yoga so I added her to that list as well as the San Deigo Humane Society and KPBS news. I want to promote our cat and yoga events also known as 'Meowga" that we have with the San Diego Humane Society so I thought that made sense. And maybe the news station will want to run a story about the event, which would be great exposure.
     For my second list, I used the word meditate and meditations and came up with Deepak Chopra, Hay House Meditations and Patricia Gift, VP of Editorial and Hayhouse Publishing. We also have a class called 'Zen Cats' that features meditation with Deepak and Oprah as part of the class, so I added Deepak and Hay House to my list because some of their subscribers might be interested in that class.
     I sent out some tweets for classes scheduled the next day as well as a wish for a happy Halloween.
I'm not sure about the best timing but I think a day or two in advance of an event or class works best because I find people tend to forget when it is longer than that time span.
Happy Halloween!

8A Twitter Updated

I already had a Twitter account for my business but it needed to be updated to match my Facebook account. https://twitter.com/ShantiKittiYoga 
So I switched out the header and profile picture and also updated the theme color, which is orange for the studio. It is important for the pictures to match to connect the profiles and make it easier for the potential customer to see the continuity of the profiles and imprint the brand in their minds.

Week 7 B Others Like Me

    One of my favorite yoga studios is Yoga Del Mar so I picked them to see about their social media. They have 1339 Likes on Facebook with posts almost every day. They receive 3 to 5 likes or comments on the posts. They have 159 followers on Instagram with 70 posts. Their Youtube channel is not used much. The last video was posted 3 years ago and they only have 3 videos. On Twitter they have 191 tweets with 131 following. It looks like the same posts on Facebook and Twitter so they obviously have that connected. I did not see any other social media that they are connected to.
    Yoga Oceanside has 674 Likes on Facebook with the last post being Oct 18th. They usually post every 2 or 3 days with 2 to 4 comments per post. Their Instagram account has 333 followers with 135 posts. I could not find a Youtube channel for them but they do have a Twitter account with 147 followers and 99 tweets. The last post was in June of 2013 so it is safe to say Twitter is not a priority for them.
    Black Sheep Yoga here in Oceanside has 1741 Likes on Facebook with posts every 2 or 3 days. The Twitter account seems to have been forgotten somewhat as the last post was on October 31, 2015. They do have 800 followers with 1752 tweets. They have a Pinterest account with 12 boards and it is connected to their Facebook page. On Instagram, they post almost daily with 943 followers and 813 posts. They have 5 videos on YouTube with the last one uploaded a year ago. They are the only studio that has links to Instagram, Google Plus, Pinterest and Twitter on their Facebook page.
    Finally, the Soul of Yoga has 8078 Likes on Facebook with postings every couple days and average response is 6 to 9 likes on the posts. On Twitter they have 869 followers and 115 Likes. Instagram has 21 followers but no posts yet.Their Pinterest account has 75 followers with 5 boards. On YouTube they have 310 subscribed with the last video uploaded in August 2016 with 49 views.
All the studios seem to use Facebook the most, with Black Sheep and Soul of Yoga being the most proficient with their social media use. I am inspired to start exploring Pinterest and using YouTube more efficiently.

Week 7 A So Many Choices

I believe YouTube would be a great visual aid for my yoga studio. It's a great way to introduce yourself and the other yoga teachers at the studio. I opened a YouTube channel and created a slideshow because I don't have any videos yet. When I create a video, I can use it to explain the various poses, including the correct alignments and benefits of each pose. This might inspire a potential student to come to our studio.
I was able to connect my Twitter account to the Youtube channel but was not successful with Facebook. Twitter and Instagram are very efficient and quick channels to post new events and reminders for classes.
I have not used Tumblr but I can see where it would also work with supporting our website with additional information and pictures. Pinterest would be useful since the majority of users are women and most of our clients are women. Snapchat would probably not be worth the time investment because the media disappears shortly and I would rather have the content stay available.
With so many choices, it is easy to get overwhelmed so I think it is best to focus on 1 or 2 visual outlets and do them well rather than trying to keep up with too many.

YouTube Video

Week 6 B Screenshot

I posted an event for Mellow Cats which is a restorative and deeply relaxing yoga class. Its seems many people are quite stressed over the upcoming election and are looking for ways to release some of that stress. I also posted an event called Meowga, which is yoga with adoptable cats. It is also a fundraiser for the San Diego Humane Society. We have so many cat lovers in our area so I think this would appeal to that group of people. Lastly, I listed an event called Off the Wall Yoga, for students looking to advance their practice with the support of the wall.

Screenshot

Week 6 A There's More

I am so excited to have found the More button on Facebook. Actually, I am discovering there is so much more to everything on Facebook. I chose to set as one of my featured likes the San Diego Humane Society because we have a cat theme to our studio and we also have an upcoming event with the Humane Society. They are bringing an adoptable cat or cats to a special yoga class so we can help get the cat adopted. I also chose Yoga Journal and Mantra Yoga and Health Magazine because they are a great source of yoga information.
Some of my other featured likes are Pier View Yoga, because that belongs to one of my teachers and I want to support her. I chose Soul of Yoga in Encinitas because they offer some wonderful workshops that we don't (yet). I also chose San Diego Yoga Festival and the Chopra Center for Meditation because most yoga students would probably also be interested in local events and meditation.
I can see where this can give your business more exposure because by liking other Pages and being a part of the discussions as well as making comments, other users will see your comments and some of the users might click on your link or visit your Facebook Page. Maybe they will even end up liking it.

Week 5B Bunnies and Cats Rule

A post reach is how many people see what you post while post engagement are those who engaged with the post in some way such as a comment, like or share. Knowing the difference is important to what your goal is in creating the post. If you want to let people know you exist and reach as many people as possible, you would want to be concerned with the post reach. If you are more interested in engaging with your customers and building customer loyalty, you would focus on the post engagement and how many are responding to what you posted.
Analyzing my own business page, Shanti Kitti Yoga, I can see that in the last 2 weeks, the highest post reaches came from pictures of sunsets, a poem by Pablo Neruda, a cute bunny video and a video explaining why your cat would feel like biting you. The most engagement came from the bunny video and the cat video. So I probably want to post more interesting videos to engage my customers.
If you love bunnies, click below to view the short video.
https://www.facebook.com/AnimalLoverscomm/videos/556505744545344/

Week 4B Shanti Kitti Yoga

     I 'd like to promote a business I currently own called Shanti Kitti Yoga. It is a yoga studio located on Mission Avenue in Oceanside. I have a business page on Facebook with 144 followers. I started that about the same time I opened the business, which was in April of 2014. I also have an Instagram account with 63 followers. I think I started that about a year ago. About the same time, I also opened a Twitter account and that has 81 followers.
     Our target market is women and men between the ages of 40 and 65 who are still active but have started to deal with the challenges of a changing body and/or old injuries. Our day classes are geared more towards stay-at-home moms as well as some retirees. Our evening classes attract more of the under 60 age group who are still working. Most students are interested in more flexibility and better balance but as they progress they become more interested in the spiritual side of yoga. Most of our students are college educated and interested in personal growth and development. I would say the majority of our students are Caucasian with a small percentage of Hispanics and a very small percentage of African Americans. We tend to have a much larger percentage of women than men in general. As far as income, our target market is probably an income level of at least $60,000.
The ideal client is interested in staying healthy and active as long as possible and sees the value of small classes and a community of like minded people.