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.

11A Other Media

     It's interesting that we are reviewing Google maps this week because just tonight I had a new client walk in saying she found Shanti Kitti Yoga using Google maps. That was the first time someone mentioned that. I don't use Google+ much, however, I can see where it would be useful in linking to other yoga communities and circles. I also learned about 'Hangout" which I would like to try for employee meetings.
     I am not a fan of Yelp but I can see where it would be beneficial to have great reviews on there. I have had a couple great legitimate reviews from customers that they decided were not acceptable based on their standards so they refuse to add them. I also don't appreciate the fact that you have to pay them to remove your competitor's ads away from your site, since they put them there to begin with.
     I have tried Groupon as well as Living Social and it has brought us a couple good clients, however, the majority were just looking for a discount and did not purchase anything after their coupon expired. I think those sites are useful for the exposure but in the yoga world, the student really needs to see the value of the classes and buying them at such a low price doesn't help them make that transition to actually paying for regularly priced classes.
     Linked In is a great tool for connecting with other yoga teachers and studios. You can use it to find teachers as well ask for advice from other studio owners.

Week 10B Comments

I commented on the blogs of Sherri Moore, Tiffany Lehman, and Charles Guzman.

10A Email Marketing

     For a yoga business, newsletters are a great way to stay connected with your group of students. Once a month or every other month I believe is sufficient if you have some valuable information. It is useful for sharing upcoming events as well as inspiring stories of how yoga has impacted someone's life. One of the newsletters I receive includes a short sequence of poses for a specific purpose, such as easing low back pain. Another newsletter I subscribe to also includes a couple delicious recipes relevant to the season or holiday.
     I think my students would enjoy information about the origin or purpose of some the poses we do as well as inspirational quotes or stories that uplift the spirit. They also enjoy jokes or funny stories having to do with cats and yoga. Information on anatomy and how different poses affect the body might also be interesting. Tips on staying healthy or losing weight are generally very popular topics as well. The key is short, sweet and to the point so they look forward to the next one.

Week 9B Categories for Blog

     What helped me figure out the categories was contemplating what the goal of my blog would be. My first objective would be to attract new students and persuade them to give yoga a try. My secondary goal would be to help current students grow their individual practice and keep their passion alive.
     So my categories would be the following:

1.  Pose modifications for the non-yogi or beginner
2.  Poses to decrease stress and promote deeper relaxation
3.  Specific poses to target and alleviate back pain
4.  Challenging poses for the experienced practitioner 
5.  Tips on meditation and creating a daily practice of meditation

Since most people are quite hesitant to walk into a studio, I think knowing that there are so many ways to modify a pose and making the practice accessible for any body type, would encourage them to think about trying a class. Most people are also interested in reducing their stress level as well as finding relief from back pain, so information on how yoga and meditation can help might pique their interest and motivate them to come in. For students already coming to class, blogs on new ways to approach a challenging pose are exciting as well as information on developing the spiritual self would also be appealing.

I commented on the blogs of Sherrie Moore, Mekiela Robinson and Mumontes.

Week 9A Blogging for Business

      Yoga is a personal and intimate experience shared with like-minded others also seeking inner peace and development, so it would make sense to share stories of how yoga has changed their body or their life. People are always touched by honest emotion but most are afraid to share their story in public. For a yoga studio, it makes a lot of sense to share the challenges as well as the joy of different individuals practicing yoga. It might inspire someone who is reluctant or intimidated to visit a yoga studio to give it a try after reading about someone who also felt the same way.
     Adding that human interest touch also reminds people of how much more alike we are than different and I think it helps people feel more comfortable and trusting when they read a refreshingly honest blog.  Blogging can also help you educate or inform potential or current students and help you establish yourself as an expert in the field. So even though you might not actually be an expert, you can probably still share something they don't know yet or perhaps just a different perspective. Over time, with accurate information, your reputation as an expert will grow.
     Adding that personal touch might not make sense if you are writing a blog on a technical explanation of something but I think for most blogs it makes sense and it makes it more interesting.

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.