Final Blog Post

     I certainly have a new appreciation of social media and how useful and powerful it can be. I am definitely making better use of Facebook ads even though I am not quite sure yet what works best for my business. I do intend on experimenting more in the next six months with different ads and boosting posts to see what garners a better response.
      I have also been putting out more tweets as well as a bit more on Instagram now that I feel more comfortable posting on those sites. I can't say that I have seen a huge increase in customers in the last three months but I think that it probably takes longer to see the results. I have had some more client interaction and response to things I post and I have also had more organic likes for our business page.
     One of my takeaways from this class is the importance of asking everyone to like our Facebook page as well as asking for it on every piece of paper we put out including schedules and gift cards.
And of course, you need to be likable and make your business and product likable to get those likes.
     I also now understand the power of blogging and how much it can help your SEO optimization. I find the blogging aspect quite challenging because of the time and effort it seems to take to write an article that is useful and engaging. I know it really helps to establish yourself as an expert on a specific topic but what if you don't feel like an expert? Perhaps just an educated opinion would work so I might do some research and then attempt a blog.
     I also learned the importance of actually engaging the customers online and asking for their feedback as well as responding to every comment, negative and positive. When you know what really matters to your customers, you can plan events and promotions based on that feedback rather than spending money on expensive ads, trying to figure out what they want after the fact. I am really inspired to use these social media tools to grow my base of students and give them valuable information on yoga or whatever else they let me know they want to know more about.

Week 15 Wrapping up

      For my yoga business, I enjoyed using Facebook even though I have not seen great results from the ads. I can see where it really helps to stay connected and in touch with your clients on Facebook. It is also easy to share upcoming events and information about classes on Facebook. I will continue to use that medium and experiment with different types of ads until I see some better results.

     I like using Twitter because the limits on the characters seem to make it easier to post little snippets and pictures and it doesn't feel like that great a time commitment so I can do that almost every day. 

     My goal is to utilize YouTube much more because it can really give potential students a feel for the classes we offer and also introduce them to all the teachers at the studio.

     My plan for the next six months is to try one different ad each month on Facebook to measure which ones get the most response. I will continue using Twitter as well and after the 6 months on Facebook, I will try the advertising on Twitter. My long term goal is to get some videos made for YouTube. That will be the most time-consuming and probably expensive since I need to buy a good video recorder. I think I will need at least 2 hours a week to work on the video and another 2 hours a week to post on Facebook and Twitter. Now that I know a bit more about social media, I want to make it more of a priority to post interesting articles and engage my clients. I think I will look into hiring a social media assistant as soon as possible because it really takes up quite a bit of time to do it well.

Week 14 B Facebook Analytics

     I created an ad to raise local awareness of our business. I ran it for 7 days and spent $49.96. The statistics say I reached 6018 people with 13,423 impressions at a cost of 3.72 per impression. I don't know that it inspired anyone to contact the business because I usually ask how someone heard about us and no one said Facebook so that is a bit disappointing.
     My page views went up by 55% and I have 11 more page likes but I think most of those are from my lovely classmates. I reached 331 people in that week so that is up by 67% but my post engagement is down by 96%. Total video views are down by 33%.
      The picture of a cop arresting a cat for being too cute had the most engagements and reactions as well as a video on why it is never too late to try yoga. The insights are very useful to have so you know who you are reaching, when and what topics seem to be the most popular. I think with some more practice I could get better at the ads but right now it is more trial and error.

Week 14 Google Analytics

     For my yoga business, the audience report in Google Analytics would be useful to know the age and gender of customers clicking on the website as well new versus returning customers. It also tells you where your customers are coming from geographically. Having this information can tell you if you are reaching your target market and if you need to change your advertising approach. It can also help you identify new audience targeting opportunities.
     The Acquisition Report informs you how people are finding your website. Is it organic, meaning they typed in some keywords and your website popped up or is it direct traffic where they are familiar with your website? It might also be a paid search as in Google AdWords or they might be linking from social media. This information is useful in deciding what is helping potential customers find you.
     The Behavior Report lets you know what people do once they reach your site. How long do they stay and which pages do they find more compelling than others? It can also let you know what day and time of day they visit most often so you can schedule your changes or new information based on that. Perhaps you need to add more compelling or interesting content to keep their interest.
     You can also add custom settings if you want to track very specific details about your customers. There is so much information you can track but first, you need to know why and what you will do with the information.

Week 13 Facebook and Twitter Ads

     My Facebook ad objective is to build local awareness of my business. An objective is the point or purpose of the ad so you should ask yourself what you hope to achieve with the ad before placing it.
I included pictures of the studio and different teachers, hoping to drive traffic to my website.
     I also posted a Twitter ad offering a free yoga class for those looking to de-stress during the holiday season. I am hoping to promote a special event happening this month at the studio. It makes sense for my business to focus on people interested in healthy living, yoga, fitness, and meditation so I used those keywords to set up the ad. I think specific offers in the ad would also work well for my business such as offering a discount on classes or a free week with a link to the website so they can claim the offer.


I made screen shots of all the ads but I cannot paste them here because they are saved as Word documents so it won't allow me to insert them as images. If anyone has a suggestion to remedy that, please let me know.

Week 12 Facebook Ads

     What is so great about Facebook ads is the ability to target your audience by age, gender, and location so you don't waste money trying to market to someone who has no interest in your product or service. I think my business could use the Post Boost for special events and workshops to generate more interest without going over budget.
     Also, driving traffic to a 'Buy Now" page that features information on how a specific pose can help a certain ailment could be a useful tool for filling classes by offering a deeper discount for classes during days that are not at full capacity, perhaps using a call to action button to make it easy to sign up for the class.
     I like the idea of reaching people on their birthday and offering something special like a free class or a percentage off a purchase.
     Promoted tweets on Twitter using visuals like photos or video could be very useful in increasing followers and website traffic. The key to advertising on social media seems to be making it social versus a strong push for sales because people are on there to connect with others, not to buy stuff.

11B Yelp and Groupon

     We do have a Yelp Account and we have 4 reviews. We also have a coupon offer on Yelp but have not received any interest so far from that. I can't say that it has helped us much at all. I notice that the studios that have paid ads tend to have a lot more reviews so perhaps that is the key to Yelp, pay them for advertising to show up in the searches. We come up 22nd on the list of yoga places in Oceanside, which doesn't make any sense since yoga studios in other cities come up on the list before us. I believe that is probably connected to not paying for an ad.
     I have also tried a Groupon coupon and we did find a couple great students that have stayed with us. My experience with Groupon as well as Living Social is the majority of users are really looking for a discounted price and a lot of them go from studio to studio, using up the coupons but don't stay for long. It is good exposure, however, I think it makes it harder for the client to transition to paying the full price for yoga classes. I have found it's better to offer my own special discount on classes rather than such a deeply discounted price.