CSIT155_S18:MullenC

This semester in social media class has opened my eyes to the possibilities that social media has and can offer in the business aspect. I believe that I can rely heavily with my photography business on social media to be my main platform for exposure and for business connections. I believe that it is important for me to stay consistent and frequent when it comes to using social media and therefore I need to put out a lot of time and energy into making my posts which I have not been able to do lately. I've learned my social media can work towards you or against you depending on how much you post. When I have been posting frequently I have seen how many people I reach that are new potential clients but then on my off-season and when I don't frequently post I see that it can be negative and show people that I may be not as productive or as efficient as other photographers, therefor they are not booking with me. I believe that if you put in the effort or if you intend to start

I have learned that Facebook is the best program for me to use as a photographer. I think the second best platform would be Instagram because it showcases my work and it is a great portfolio for an online audience and both are great for the constant daily user. The platforms that I think are better that would use less frequent attention would be Pinterest and Tumblr. They would still have a great effect and showcase my work and therefore having a large audience but not need daily attention. I also think using an online portfolio such as Behance or Adobe portfolio work in my benefit and uploading current content frequently showcases consistency and productivity in my work and my business. I've been following all of my classmates and I think that the majority of them are being very productive and beneficial in the post in the strategic way they compose themselves online and on social media. I believe that the ones that are producing more content are definitely getting more views

With Google analytics and with the Facebook business aspect analytics we can definitely determine that the more I post on my page or pages the more effective my reach is. The more that I have in terms of content for people to read and see definitely determines the amount that any platform makes my content visible for people to see. I have not been able to post as much lately but whenever I post any of my photography I get a jump in all of the statistics in the analytics platform. I joined my two photography business pages on Facebook and by doing so I got a large jump in my audience for a prolonged period of time because those people were viewing my photography more often and seeing different photos that they have not seen before. By not posting more new content they fell off and stopped being engaged in the pages. I tend in the future to post more content and set up more scheduled posts, therefor reaching more people and continuing the engagement of my audience and showing people t

When it comes to advertisement, good design is definitely key and very important. If you use the wrong text or the wrong images or wrong colors it could definitely interfere with potential clients because of the reaction at first sight. Many people don't realize they are turned off by the appearance of the advertisement because they have not taken a design class but due to something in the human brain we can be triggered and repelled easily if something is off. Certain colors together or fonts or poor design can be distasteful and if they don't come across as professional you will not attract any clients. In terms of the Facebook ads I believe that letting them give you the guide is generally the best unless you are a promoter or some sort of graphic designer. For myself as a photographer, I feel they are all good ads to run but probably the best one would be to promote my page to get more likes. The more of an audience reach I have the more people see me the more the pot

To start This week, I went on to Facebook to find five photographers who use ads. A lot of the photographers I follow are more nature photographers and do not use ads so I had to use the advanced search to find photographers who use ads on their page. The majority of photographers who use ads due primarily portrait or wedding photography and they run many ads to try and draw in more clients. A lot of the ads are created in a way to appeal to a very wide audience they don't have any harsh colors and they have generally nice writing and generally are running promotions for discounts or first-time clients.   In my opinion it is probably beneficial for them and it is not a lot of extra effort. A lot of photographers gain clients by word of mouth and ads are a great way for other people to share your promotion or your ad to reach a greater audience. The majority of ads I found are very subtle and don't use much imagery. They use soft colors and elegant text to be able to not c

I think there are varying reasons to use different platforms of social media. Facebook is definitely the most popular and widely used because of its expansive elements catering to different business types. Adding additional social media platforms and linking them to each other are always a good method when building your business. As long as your posts are written and designed professionally and appropriately it is a good idea to have as many as possible without overextending the quality of your pages. As long as you can keep up with your activity on your pages you can have all of them and also have them connected which will increase the reach and increase your audience and promote your business. For my photography business I started with a new Facebook page then after I redid my Instagram to match the Facebook elements and be consistent. Once both pages were up and running I then created a Twitter and Tumblr which then we're linked and connected with my Instagram and Facebook. I

Part 1 I definitely think depending on what business you have newsletters can always a good idea. They keep the customers and audience involved and connected to the business and in some cases can be a friendly reminder. They are a great way to give new information or inform the customers of a promotion going on or give coupons. Newsletters can be somewhat annoying though because sometimes there isn't important information on them and they just get thrown away. I believe that whatever your intent or goal is with the newsletter, it needs to be direct and concise and also get the attention of the person that's receiving it and make them have a reason to hold on to it. For me as a photographer I would plan on doing either a once a month or once every 3 months. I would probably have some sort of coupon or promotion going on and also share some new events or information that has happened in between newsletters. They would be beneficial for my business to remind the customers an

Part 2 When making categories I believe that for me as a photographer the most beneficial categories would be my photos or my gallery, reviews, and current news or special offers. I feel like those are the best categories because showcasing my work let my audience know what I'm capable of, having reviews shows them that I have had clients that do appreciate and like the work, and I believe that the current news or special offers is good because it shows that you're staying up-to-date on your blog and active and it's also a good way to try and get someone to use my services that may have not before.

Part 1 I feel like adding personal interest or some personality to your blog post could be beneficial depending on what business you have. For me as a photographer it's definitely a good idea and worthwhile and completely normal. In doing some research the most popular personal blog posts by professional photographers are product reviews, location ideas, tips and tricks on different forms of photography, and current news.  Being more personal in your blog gets the audience's attention and makes them feel better connected with you which in turn helps get more clients and reach a larger audience. When you are being personal or sharing your own opinion, it is a good idea to not talk political, religious or aggressive and stick to things that are associated or connected with your business and what type of business you have.

Week 9: Twitter Chad Mullen After setting up my Twitter account I had to do searches to find people that I knew and wanted to connect with but also searches to find accounts that were relatable to photography and photographers and pages that would help with my business and be beneficial for me to see their posts. After finding some people that I personally knew I tried to follow the photography path, so I used the key terms of Photography, Photographers, San Diego Photographers, and some personal names of specific people I wanted to follow. I started finding too many people so I only followed photography companies I knew and the most popular photographers in San Diego and ones I personally admire. After researching how and what to put in a list I made three lists to start. One is called “Photography” and it’s a list which contains photography companies and pages for photography information and services. I made one called “Photographers” containing all the pages of photo

As a photographer it definitely helps to use a social media with visual support, that way you can show your photography for people to see and get more reach and audience. Instagram and Facebook are definitely the best for showing visual support as far as photography goes but also that way you can also get clients to contact you through them as well. I believe visual support in all social media is very important that way it catches the reader or the audience's eye and attention. The best photography and photographer’s pages or the ones with the most viewers and followers upload content daily and generally multiple times a day to catch the eye of the audience and to make themselves more prevalent online or on that platform. They use it in a way to get their name out there and by posting content regularly and often they gain more of a presence on that forum and that way people see their content more than others. A lot of the most famous photographers use multiple forms of social med

I am a photographer so social media is one of the best tools to use to promote myself and gain a larger audience. I feel Facebook and Instagram are the best two platforms to use for photographers because they have many elements that are beneficial and can be properly utilized by both the business but also our audience. Facebook uses tools like groups, adds, and recommendations for other pages and Instagram uses images, stories, adds or informative posts, and hashtags to enhance your page. The Pinterest platform is great for research, ideas, sharing content, and some networking. I love the Instagram platform and use it most for my photography. It is great for displaying content and work, finding or releasing information, networking and gaining an audience and customers. The Tumblr platform is good for sharing content and interests but it’s also good for networking and showing work. I feel the Snap Chat platform can be used for many purposes but the best use is networking and conne

Week 7: Engaging your Customers: Facebook Strategy- Part 2                                                                    Activity:  Scheduled: I posted these photos to show my work and to get a better reach on Facebook. I hope to get my viewers interested by displaying a lot of my work.

Week 7: Engaging your Customers: Facebook Strategy Part 1 Chad Mullen I choose to like Amateur Photographer, PetaPixel, PhotoPlus, Outdoor Photographer Magazine, Digital Photographer Magazine, Popular Photography, and Shutterbug Magazine. I choose those pages because I am a photographer and I read the magazines and use these companies. Using the like feature gets me exposure and shows similar interests with other photographers and publications and in turn it may help lead to getting my work shown by them.

Week 6: Setting up a Facebook Business Page Part 2: post reach and post engagement Chad Mullen When you start a business you generally start a social media to promote your business but what is the best way to get seen and gain popularity. Well when it comes to Facebook there are many factors to being successful but the two best elements to focus on are reach and engagement. Reach measures how many people have actually seen your post. If your audience isn’t involved you don’t have priority to be seen in their feed so you may be missing views you should have so if you stay engaged and post frequently there is a greater chance to be seen or you can use the paid promotion posts to increase your reach exponentially. Facebook defines engagement as viewer activity such as clicks, comments, likes and shares. These are the people that are actively viewing your page. A highly engaging post leads to increased activity and increased viral reach. Engagement is largely driven by th

  Target Market Analysis for Consumers of photography and physical imagery. My target audience, at least the ones who are paying my bills, are probably the age 16 through 80 but can be narrowed down depending on style the photographer decides to produce. I generally find people around 16 through 20 predominantly want professional portraits and head shots. Ages 20 through 50 are generally wanting special event photography like their weddings, showers and other special events but also, they will be wanting their children photographed as babies all the way to their own weddings. the 40 through 80 clients tend to not be as large of a market as 16 to 60 but still occasionally pay for events and portraits but with this audience you get a lot more architecture photography jobs which is very profitable. The target audience for photography is vast but can be affected or condensed by the style the photographer produces. Generally, clients want the images printed out and sometimes framed fo

I choose to visit the restaurant websites because my son doesn’t use dippers anymore but we go to restaurants so it seemed to be the more appropriate choice. Also, it’s a service type website so as a photographer selling a service more than the photo products it seemed to be a more relatable option. When I first visited the websites, my first observation was the different food they sell which is obvious but my observation at first glance of the visual aesthetic of the websites were, the Chili's website is a lot cleaner and more organized and the Teri cafe was more busy and artsy. I feel both were created by professionals but they used a website making service. The Chili's website seems more like a cookie cutter template and like a premade layout. Whereas the Teri cafe website seems more original and unique like it had more creative influence and input from the company. It is also probably still a premade layout but it appears more like a customer website. I think Chili's

Week 4: part 2 Chad Mullen I commented on the blogs of Jackson_Iana, Particelli_Blair , Trantham_Jordan The first website I choose is https://www.miracosta.edu/ It is laid out nicely so that it is easy to navigate through to find and access the information you are looking for. The visual aesthetic is nice and they used colors that work for a school website but also are complimentary colors so they are easy on the eyes. The text is easy to read and is consistent throughout the whole website. I visit this website because I attend the school and have to use it for my classes but I choose it for this assignment because its probably my most visited website and also a site we all know and use. I feel the website is created very well but if I was to change anything it would be refining the information that appears when you need to use the search bar because sometimes its hard to weed through to find what I’m looking for. Another improvement would be formatting more mobile acc

Week 4 Part 1 I feel the Penny Juice website is one that can use some work. I feel the layout and access is mediocre but the fact that it looks like it was laid out in 10 minutes is the issue. I think the colors clash and its ok to use many colors but they all need to be in the same color field and have to be arranged correctly. The links and information I think is well done but I think it is very plane and boring I also noticed they only have a Facebook which is also very plain and a telephone number to call so not a lot of ways to connect with them but they display information well. When I went to the gatesnfences website I jumped back and was very uneased. It is very chaotic and unorganized at first glance. There is endless information laid out in an unorganized fashion. The side links are all the same colors so you defiantly need to know exactly what you are looking for, there is no direction or assistance. The Apple website is in my opinion the best and cleanest. It is l

Week3 Part2 I commented on Wojcik_Michele, Particelli_Blair, Brock_Stacy blogs. 1)Adorama (photography store) https://www.adorama.com/ Facebook- 15min., Twitter- 45min, Google+- 35weeks, YouTube-vast video upload 3 hours but they have channels that are constant, Pinterest- can’t tell but there’s a lot on there, and Instagram- 3hours I found out about this company though social media and they have a huge following. They are a company that have reviews on photography products and videos that can educate people on photography and they sell and rent many different products. They use social media to educate and spread information and draw in customers and they use their website to sell their products. I feel they are utilizing social media very well and that is a major reason the business is so popular in the photography world. 2) B&H https://www.bhphotovideo.com/ Facebook- 3hours, Twitter- 28min., Instagram-21hours, YouTube- 20hours, Tumbler- 4hours, Soundclou

WEEK 3A I personal have never communicated with any business using social media but I have had some interaction experiences. one time there was a Boba tea shop down in San Diego and they were doing a contest type event where if you went down and purchased a tea from them, then took a photo of the tea and something around the store, and posted the photo on Facebook you could win a free tea. So, I went down and took a photo and posted it and got a free Boba tea. Another experience I had was I won tickets for a pool party in Las Vegas. It was a contest on Facebook where you “like and share” to be entered in the contest to win 2 free tickets to a pool party for EDC week in Las Vegas, fortunately for me the contest was kind of rigged and my friend was friends with the person running it so 3 friends and I won the tickets which was amazing. The only other communication for me would be using platforms with reviews like Yelp. I feel those are great platforms for businesses to use because t

I commented on Trantham_Jordan,  Particelli_Blair, and  Jackson_Iana posts 

Week 2: Overview of Social Media My belief is every social media excluding some websites have primarily been made for personal uses but most of them have evolved to be personal, businesses, and many more uses. They are designed to help accommodate the human species in a modern and technological world. There are endless social media platforms for personal and business use including Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn,Tumbler, Pinterest, Behance, Etsy, etc. Tumbler and Pinterest seem to me like the most used for personal use. The majority of people on those forums are just posting all the things they like. I follow a lot of photographers and nerdy things on Tumbler and Pinterest and it is all just people posting what they like or want and is is rarely used to sell anything or even to promote any business.  I feel Facebook is the most useful social media platform for businesses to promote themselves. As a photographer I feel Instagram is the best social media platform to use t

I commented on  Vitalie_Nick blog,  Mezacook_Jennifer blog, and  Particelli_Blair blog

I chose to use this template because I am a nature photographer and I feel like this was the best template that represented me. I love the blue and black colors together and feel it is a powerful dominate color pallet that shows I am a strong professional. As a nature photographer, I like the tree image in the template. The colors in the image mach the rest of the template very well. I enjoy going on hikes and photographing trees and nature. I feel by using this template my posts will be able to be easily accessible and laid out in a very clean and organized manner so that my readers can navigate my blog easily.