Week #15 Wrapping Things Up & Looking Ahead

Social media definitely is not my strong point!  But I have learned some valuable information in this class.  I have learned that while it isn't my strong point it is vital for our business.  The many different social media sites can not only be time consuming but overwhelming.  I have learned not only how many different options out there, but also how to be a part of them.  For instance Twitter, something I knew nothing about and honestly never would of, or the possibilities of what a blog could do for our business.  While I have learned and even began these accounts, I still am not very comfortable with them.
The input from other students has been incredible helpful.  With many practical suggestions, especially the ones about establishing WordPress for our Website.  I would of never considered it because truthfully the company I work for has been told to redo our website because it is WordPress.  But I have been convinced that having a website that is able to be updated regularly instead of a "brochure" is very important in staying relevant and current with our customers.
I have also learned the amazing abilities of Analytics!  It is truly amazing to be able to see the amount of people that visit your site, or blog or Facebook page.  It is especially helpful to see when they leave, letting us know when we lost their interest or focus.
Facebook is a nice starting platform for me.  I was a little familiar with it personally, but not at all for our business.  It has actually brought some customers our way!  It is like a blow horn for word of mouth!  Which has been our primary source of advertisement since we started 18 years ago!  The business Facebook page has aloud friends to like our page, then their friends saw that the knew a contractor, which then circled them back to us!
Instagram was just something I thought was totally for fun!  Just another way to stay caught up with my teen and young adult children's lives.  Never ever considered it for our business.  But now that we are on Instagram, my daughters friend saw a post that my daughter liked and when her mom needed some work she suggested that her mom call Kaylee's dad!  So who would of thought with as little as I have used these venues they would have already produced a small trickle of referrals.
I believe once I get Gmail and our newsletter with Constant Contact going on a regular monthly basis that it too will bring us connections!

Week 14 - Future Strategy

The future strategy of social media for our company seems a bit over whelming so it really helps to just take it a month at a time.  I have gotten a lot of input suggesting that I research Wordpress.  So I am setting aside a week to make appointments and meet with people to work on our website.  While we begin to get it established I will be spending an hour each morning on learning more about Linkendin and getting connected with people and companies.  Then I will be spending and hour on Facebook, it is amazing how much time social media takes!  I want to be sure to schedule posts to go out weekly, but have learned that it isn't just about posting.  I need to be responding to comments and posts of other business owners.  I will also be working during those two hours on connecting my posts and linking everything to my facebook and website.  I will also be establishing posts on Instagram to link to our Facebook page.  We will be creating a monthly newsletter that we will designate 3 hours a month to.  I want to give enough time to the newsletter to make sure the information is new and informative.  So to wrap it up in a schedule, Monday to Friday I will be spending two hours a day on social media, I feel that will be enough time to get to each different site and yet not be too overwhelming.  I will be posting a scheduled Facebook post to come out every week and a monthly newsletter.

Week #14

Comments made on:
http://socalcomputerpro.blogspot.com
http://commonsenseflooring.blogspot.com
http://michellereneemusings.blogspot.com
http://jvspurzem.blogspot.com

Week #14 Planning Future Strategy

Before starting this class we had a construction company that had been in business for 18 years.  We had just recently got a website up, but have it monitored by a company, so it is seldom updated.

I have learned a lot this semester, some of it quite overwhelming.  It takes a good amount of consistent time and planning to have a good social media presence.  With that being said, I feel for our company gmail, and google docs are very important.  It would allow me to have a email with access to both myself and my husband and the obvious need for a possible office person to help with social media.  It will also give a calendar that we can access to establish goals and dates for putting information out.  I like the ability to be able to write a post in a google doc that can be edited by all of us.

I feel we should start by focusing on increasing our business Facebook page, until this class we didn't have one and I have realized how beneficial it can be to our business.  We will need to increase our posts.  I feel constant contact with monthly newsletters that can be streamed into our Facebook page would enable our customers and possible customers to be familiarized with the different abilities and projects our company does.  I will also be increasing our presence on Linkedin, getting our name out there, and increasing our reach is important.

Once we get into the flow of keeping these two pages updated I feel it will be a little easier to add Instagram and Pinterest to our routine.  Then they could all be linked to feed into each other.

Week #13 Facebook Analytics

I am still working on receiving enough likes to be able to do my analytics.

Week #13 Google Analytics

Google Analytics can be very useful for our business.  Especially Build Your Audience, because your audience is who visits your site.  Know your Audience is extremely helpful in order for you to know who your visitors are, you need to understand the people who visit your site.  No two customers are alike each is different but this enables you to understand their similarities, which enables you to know who to focus your site too.
Trace The Customer Path allows you to know the Where about customers.  The Where about customers are can be as critical as who they are. Tools like Traffic Sources and Visitor Flow help you track the routes people take to reach you, and the devices they use to get there, so you can meet them where they are and improve the visitor experience. It also allows you to understand where you lost them when you are analyzing the flow of where they got stuck or where they exited your site.
With the tool In-Page Analytics you are able to see how visitors interact with your page.  You can learn what they are looking for and begin to streamline your social media marketing to begin to reach them and have the maximum impact.            
           

Week #12 coupon

While we don't actually have products to do a discount on, we could do discounts.  Say Free Estimates, or 10% off your estimate with the a signed contract of a referred customer.

Week #12 Other Social Media Tools

What four additional online marketing tools do you believe could be important to the growth of your business? 

How could you integrate them into your current strategy?

There are so many online marketing tools and social media sites that it can be a bit overwhelming.  

I have learned that it takes a lot of time and effort to keep these sites maintained.  

But four additional tools that I think could help our business would be Linkedin, Google plus, Google Docs and Youtube.  Linkedin and Google plus could increase our circles of influence and reach, we have a personal Linkedin, so I feel we could easily expand it to the business.  I thing Google plus would give a not only additional but different circles of reach.  Plus I have learned a little about the benefit of google drive and google docs and feel that it could be a great benefit to our business.  When you are biding and designing jobs, often different contractors, engineers and designers need to see different parts of the job, whether it be different explanations, or bids.  Google docs allows you to upload into a program similar to Microsoft word, power point, and excel and create documents in them that others you chose to share with can also edit, which could be extremely helpful.  I think it would also benefit us to establish a you tube channel.  That way we could create videos demonstrating the process of different aspects of our construction companies abilities.  These videos could then be uploaded into our power points that were created in google docs and shared with other people who need to add to the bid or proposal, or uploaded and shared with the potential customer or client we need to demonstrate our business to.  

Week #11 Social Media Marketing

I think one of the greatest benefits of Facebook is Word of Mouth.  It is much easier to put a post or a call to action post on Facebook and get friends and family to like and repost, then it is to sit and make calls to everyone you know to ask them to share about your business.  It is about getting your business in front of as many prospective customers as possible.  So if you simply post on your page, ask 10 friends to post on theirs, and they have ten share, already your name is being put in front of more people then you could touch in one day without social media, and it is free.  Then same with Instagram, post a picture of your business or a before and after collage of work you have done and share it with your friends.  Let the picture do the selling for you.  Linkenden is another way to connect freely with prospective customers, and get your name out there.  Some one who has used your company or service or product and then posts and shares about it, that is great advertisement and it is free.

Week #11 Comments

http://commonsenseflooring.blogspot.com/

http://tltarkington.blogspot.com/

http://amandapolkcsit.blogspot.com/

http://jillchang47.blogspot.com/

Week #11

At this stage for our construction company, I think the best two choices would be Facebook ads.  One to bring more people to our website, and another to bring more people to our Facebook page.  At this time both of our sites have had very little use so I think it would best serve to get us out there.  Starting at the beginning with visits to our website and our Facebook page, then hopefully once our name is out there and more people are liking and visiting then we can start.  Doing more complex ads.

Week #10 Blog Post Links

http://briangilb.blogspot.com/
http://commonsenseflooring.blogspot.com/
http://socialmedia858.blogspot.com/

Week #10 Email Marketing

I would think a monthly or at least quarterly newsletter would be a great benefit to our business.  There would have to be a balance between homeowner and commercial client topics.  We could definitely touch on the typical seasonal topics.  Weather proofing your home for winter, adding rooms or remodeling for the holidays.  Hardscape construction for you spring and summer projects.  It could also go to the real estate companies we work with so that they have updates to keep our name in the for front of their minds when new clients come in.  

Constant Contact could easily help us sort and send to specific clients and potential clients.  

Week #9 Blogging for Business

 What kinds of categories you would use on your blog to stay organized and reach your target audience. How would these categories help the business grow?

I think to help organize my blog and reach specific targets I could separate by these categories:
Home Improvements
Bathroom Remodels
Kitchen Remodels
Room Additions
Custom Homes
Weather Proofing
Permit Process
Patio Covers
Design Process

These are different areas we specialize in, and I think separating them would allow people only interested in doing say a bath remodel or patio covers to be able to simple read that category instead of having to read streams of info about Custom homes or Room additions.

These are the names of the blogs I commented on, 
http://patriciavazphotography.blogspot.com
http://commonsenseflooring.blogspot.com
http://marleemarlee.blogspot.com
http://briangilb.blogspot.com

Week 9 - Blogging for Business

Blogging for Business - How personal should you be in your posts?  When does it make sense to add personality to a post and when does it not?
As it said in our homework, how personal you should be depends on the type of business you are representing and whose business your are posting about.  If it is a large business or you have been hired to post on behalf of a business then you should not be personal.  If your business is a sole proprietor, or you are a photographer, or singer, something along those, then I feel not only is it okay to be personal, but it may be beneficial.  Readers like to know the story behind the song or the photo or the piece of art.  For our business, construction, I think we have a bit of truth to personal and non personal.  I feel there are times when it will be okay to be personal and times when we need to just be factual and professional, not that you shouldn't alway be professional even when personal.  Say we are posting about kitchen counter top material types and the benefits of each type, I feel we stay factual, keep it to the information.  On the other hand if we post a picture of a kitchen we have remodeled and zone in on the counter top, we could go personal and say why we chose the type of counter top with the design of the cabinets.  Both personal and non personal posts in our blogs, is how I see ours.

Week #8 Get Visual - Let the Picture Tell the Story

The two companies I researched were Jackson Remodeling and Blackwood Design.  Jackson Remodeling is a similar company who does kitchen remodels.  They are very visual.  They have a website, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, and You Tube.  So I would say they are totally doing the Get Visual and it seems to be working wonderful for them!  The other company is Blackwood Design, which is a subcontractor of ours.  He has a website, Facebook, Intstagram, and Twitter Account.  The Visual media seems to be working well for him also.  I believe once we learn what content to use, the visual side of social media will work well for Turman Construction also.   I chose to start an Instagram account and link it to our new Facebook page.  I can see where You tube and even Pinterest could work well for us also.

Week 8 - Lets get Visual

The visual networks - are they right for you and your brand?
I think visual networks could be right for us.  It seems as though a picture or video is worth far more than just words.  We have only recently even had a website, but it is much easier to send someone to our website to actually see things we have built instead of trying to send them pictures of work we have done.  I think visual networks will actually work well for us, once we learn how to use them properly.

Compare the 4 most widely used visual platforms. Which would work the best for your product or service?  After looking at the different visual platforms I think Facebook will do well for us once our page gets more established.  Hopefully it will increase peoples curiosity to look into our website and see what our company could do for them.  We are currently not using any other visual platform.  I think   You Tube would give us the ability to show short little videos that show little clips of different aspects of our handiwork.  

Week 7 - Twitter

-Which search words you used to find your connections? Did you have to play around with more than one key term to start seeing the right results? Who did you end up finding?

The words I used to find my connections were contractor, construction, plumbing, plumber, electrician, and construction equipment.  It took me a while to play around and sort through the results.

-What lists did you create and why? How does creating a list on Twitter help you stay organized or reach a goal?

The two lists I created were construction equipment and construction new, because I need to stay up to date on new construction equipment and any construction news.

The second was on plumbers and electricians, because these are two areas that as a General Contractor I often sub out to different contractors.

Week 6 Building with Facebook

I still struggle with the content as to what to post.  So I decided to just schedule a few posts that show what we do.  Hopefully this will begin to build familiarity with us as a company.

Scheduled Posts

News Feed

Turman Construction

October 24, 2014 at 5:00pm · 

 · 

Turman Construction builds custom homes from the ground up! Let us help you create your dream home.

Turman Construction

October 31, 2014 at 5:00pm · 

 · 

Having started in constructions as a framer. I still love the process of building, each home according to the detail and design of each home owner.

Turman Construction

November 7, 2014 at 5:00pm · 

 · 

We take the time to understand your individual needs and desires for your home. Often families spend a lot of time gathered in their kitchens. We want this to be a place to enjoy family.

Week 6 - Growing Your Business with Facebook

I had a hard time choosing which pages to "like".  The pages I "liked" are mostly subcontractors that we have used in the past.  I found that even though some of our suppliers had pages, the pages didn't really have any information on them.  I am still trying to discover pages  that potential customers could be viewing.

Week #5 Post Reach vs Post Engagement

Since my business Facebook page was just created, I have not experience Facebook's Insight for my page yet.  My understanding is that Facebook Insight give you information and statistics on your Post Reach and your Post Engagement.  Post Reach is simple how many is has reached.  Which doesn't mean anything other then that your post was in their news feed.  It doesn't mean they read it or even actually noticed it.  On the other hand Post Engagement tells how many were actually engaged in one way or another.  Whether to simply "like" the post, or to click on it and open it further.  These findings can be very useful because it helps you understand who your target market is, and whether your posts are actually getting into the right news feeds and doing there job.

Target Market for Business

I am going to use my husbands business for my project.  My husband is a general contractor and owns and operated Turman Construction.  We have a website, www.turmanconstruction-design.com.

He started his business in 1997, but we have never used social media for his company.  I am taking this class to learn how to get his business into social media.

Target Market:
Any one needing construction done.  We do commercial and residential.  He does all aspects of construction, kitchen and bath remodels, patio covers, and custom homes.

Gender:  Male or Female
Income: Varied because if it is water or fire damage, their insurance company will pay for it.
Location: San Diego County
Family:  Single, Married, with children

Week #3 Two Websites I Visit Frequently.

I actually work on a computer all day as a bookkeeper so I don't search a lot of sites.
Mostly I use Wellsfargo.com, it is the bank I use for our personal and business banking.  I find it easy to use the pages navigate easily.

I also use Classicalacadem.com often because it is the school that I home school my daughter through. She attends class 2 days a week and is home 3 days.  So the website is our connection.  It not only keeps us informed on what is happening on her campus, activities, field trips, special electives.  It has a link to each grade level and their assignments for each day.  Within the website, is a Wiki which is a link to a complete assignment sheet for a full six weeks of every class and it's assignments.  Each teacher also had a web page link that is easy to locate and navigate.  It informs us of what it happening in class and what assignments they are completing each day.  Then each student has a google docs page and now in sixth grade everyone in my daughters class has a Blog!  Their blog is to share and work on their writing skills instead of Marketing.  I have to say she is better at it then I am!  Each assignment sheet also has links to different websites and video lessons for the kids to watch and learn from.  The only thing I struggle with is I feel sometimes it takes too long to open each assignment and then another website for a video, because even though they move quickly and smoothly, it still takes more time I think sometimes then old fashion paper.

Week #3 Aesthetics, Design & Branding

I chose techtorch.com.  Three potential problems I found are that it has the name of the company in the center at the top of the page, but I don't see a logo anywhere.  The home page has way too much going on and the font is too small. You have to scroll quite a ways down the page to get to the bottom.  The side bar has a lot of pages to click to and they open quickly, but I feel a bit overwhelming.
Two things that I found that they did nicely was they gave a lot of information on each tool and the specs for them.  They also make it easy to find the specs, and have clear pictures of what each tool and part looks like.  Their design impacts you as far as simplicity of website, you realize that that they are simply selling tools and tool parts and not into social media.

For richsoil.com/raising-chickens.jsp , the three potential problems I found were that even though it has its business name on top left it has another company right in the center at the top of the page. It also scrolls on for way too long.  It is also very busy.  The information needs to be possible on different pages instead of just scrolling and scrolling.
Two nice things were that it really does give a ton of information!  Adding videos was a nice touch.  Their design does impact you because even though there is a lot of information, you may choose to look somewhere where it is more organized.

Toyota was one I found very simple to use.  I have actually used it before  It has great pictures and good information to go with each picture.  The organization of it is clean and simple.  The links open and move quickly and smoothly.  The design of its website show that they put a lot of work into their products, which is important because it establishes quality when you are going to invest a lot of money into one of their vehicles.

Apple.com is very much the same as Toyota.  Shows quality, and care in their website, which gives you comfort in them being a quality company, which is important when you are investing money into a product.  Their site is clean, organized and efficient. 

Week #2 Five Business Websites & their Social Media

Barnes & Noble

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/

https://www.facebook.com/barnesandnoble

https://twitter.com/bnbuzz

https://www.facebook.com/nook

https://twitter.com/nookbn

Sea World

http://seaworldparks.com/en/seaworld-sandiego/

https://twitter.com/ClydeSeaWorldSD?from=Footer_Nav

https://www.facebook.com/seaworldsandiego?from=Footer_Nav

https://www.youtube.com/seaworldsandiego?from=Footer_Nav

http://instagram.com/seaworldsandiego?from=Footer_Nav

http://www.insideseaworld.com/?from=Footer_Nav&webSyncID=05b9a571-a6d8-9d20-2362-e57ab86c8bd6&sessionGUID=57691815-d886-ce17-5075-e270c9936b8a

Cox

http://www.cox.com/residential/home.cox

https://www.youtube.com/user/CoxCommTV

https://www.facebook.com/coxcommunications

https://twitter.com/coxcomm

https://plus.google.com/u/0/+coxcommunications/posts

Nordstrom

http://shop.nordstrom.com/

https://www.facebook.com/Nordstrom?origin=footer

https://twitter.com/nordstrom?origin=footer

http://www.pinterest.com/nordstrom/

http://instagram.com/nordstrom?origin=footer

https://www.youtube.com/nordstrom?origin=footer

http://wanelo.com/Nordstrom?origin=footer

American Plumbing

http://americanplumbinghvac.com/

http://www.yelp.com/biz/american-plumbing-heating-and-air-conditioning-oceanside

https://plus.google.com/+AmericanPlumbingHeatingAirConditioningOceanside/posts?hl=en

https://www.youtube.com/user/AmericanPlumbingHVAC?feature=watch

https://twitter.com/americanplumb

https://www.facebook.com/AmericanPlumbingHVAC

Week #2 Communication: Business & Consumer

      Of course I have had difficulty in the past with communicating with a business.   I believe social media, may have made it easier to communicate with them, although I did not use social media to contact them. I guess it depends on how large the company is, as to if you would actually get a personal response or just someone paid to answer disgruntled customers. I have had to contact businesses through their websites, and often just get an automated response saying someone will respond within a certain amount of time.  I do see how social media can help a company by making them easier to locate and research although social media can also hurt a company with the ease of being able to voice your dissatisfaction in front of a extremely large audience of potential consumers.  I know that the company I work for sometimes, goes over and above to please a dissatisfied customer, even if our company was not in the wrong, because a dissatisfied customer voicing the frustrations, in front of potential consumers could be more damaging to a companies social image then the fact of not being the one at fault.  I guess the saying "The customer is always right", is even more important to live by in a time when customers have the ability to use social media.
     I have used Yelp to research the customer service of many companies!  It is nice to read other peoples comments on things the company has done well, as well as the things they have not done so well. 

Week #1 Which social media platforms seem geared towards personal use and which ones seem to work better for business?

   Although I know very little about social media.  I do know that for me for personal I use Facebook and Instagram, both of which I have on private setting and both of which my teenage daughters set up for me!  I use them mostly to view pictures of family and friends and enjoy parts of their lives I may not get to see due to  time and distance.
   As for business, where I work they use Linkedin, Facebook, Twitter, newsletter and a blog!  Yet for my husbands construction company, which is why I am taking this class.  We are only on Linkedin, but I know we are not using it to its potential.  Which is back to why I am taking this class!  So I guess the platforms may vary on which business they are geared to depending on the type of business you have.

Week #1 Social Media

Would of never thought I would be creating and posting in a blog ever!  Let alone my first assignment.  Not quite sure if  I even have it correct.  I selected a simple template, because I honestly know nothing about blogging or creating a blog.  The extent of my social media is looking at my kids and friends on Facebook or Instagram and honestly my daughters set them up for me.  I seldom post on them just enjoy others posts. 

I guess I will need to venture to U tube to watch some videos of how to develop this to look more interesting then a word document.