Marla C's CSIT 155 - Fall 2020 Class Blog

It is all about sharing a message.   Sim ply put, on Facebook, Post Reach is how many people see (view) your post.     Taking this one step further, Post Engagemen t is how people interact with your post.  This includes, clicking on the post to read more, adding a comment, like the post and the golden gift—a share (letting others in their FB network learn about your post), for an exponential increase in reach!   The difference between reach and engagement is important as the later can multiply the number of  people learning about your Facebook page.  It would be quite useful to think about what your posts are about and how the reach and engagement differ between posts.  Then one can use what works best and repeat it.  This is all free, not paid ads.   Facebook Insights apply to paid advertising to reach specific market segments.  Then one would reach exactly whom they want and there is little waste (r...

I will be represent ting my own company, Marla Hope Designs, LLC. .   I have created and market the MarlaHopeBra™ , a post -surgical recovery bra for breast reconstruction patients.    My target market has a few a key audiences as follows: 1.       Breast cancer patients who have recently has breast reconstruction surgery.  The MarlaHopeBra™ helps women feel better inside and out in recovery since it has proper compression, very comfortable and they can wear their favorite clothes with it.   2.       Women who have had various breast surgeries non-related to cancer.  They like to feel feminine and not like a patient, so this bra is more like a comfortable sports bra to them with the proper compression for healing.  Please note the garments on the market are like bullet-proof vests; bulky and uncomfortable and women are reminded that they are patients while wearing them.   Targe...

T his week I compare two businesses in the same industry to differentiate between their target audiences based on the design of their websites.  Here are my findings: Rancho Vista Nursery: Initial thoughts:  Beautiful, thriving plants are shown.  Next to which is a blank farmshop from 2018.  Is this what it looks like today?  Why is that photo there?  It looks like they did not update their site,  I may have chosen a faint plant background to envelop the visitor and draw them in.  This theme looks a little disjointed.  The zig zag edges on the photo connotate sewing, not planting to me.  Is about us a link or is this one paragraph all they will tell me.  What an opportunity to showcase the people that work there since they have been in business for 40 years.  Maybe each person specializes in something and I would like to connect with them?  Good, they have an inte...

  Week 3 Part B: Developing a Brand   Development of my brand, Marla Hope Designs   Brand Identity: As a breast cancer survivor, I created a post-surgical recovery bra to help women feel better inside and out in recovery.  My brand is all about helping women on a really tough journey who are nearing the back to normal part; reconstructive surgery.  My message includes caring, optimism, femininity and hope (how coincidental that Hope is my middle name).  I decided to use my name as many fashion designers do so and my name totally fits my brand identity.     My target market when I started was women who have had breast cancer, typically 45-65 years and in a higher income bracket.  Since I started selling, the age, unfortunately now even includes younger women from their 20’s and up to women in their 70’s.  I also found that this garment is helpful for other segments, including cosmetic surgery, emphasizing the...

After reviewing all the sites, I chose to discuss the following websites as they stood out in various ways:   https://jamilin.com First, there is so much information on the page with so many font colors, it is extremely difficult to focus on any one item and it is not clear what this company considers the most important information on the page.  It seems that the information was added to the page without an overall concept. There is no contrast to help organize the page and the alignment is mixed, even within multiple sections.  Each page has a completely different design format and it is not apparent on how to return to the home page.  In addition, for some reason, multiple images do not load. I do not think this site looks professional as the photos, type and layout does not looked planned or created to direct the visitor in a logical path.  It appears that the company may be disorganized and perhaps their offerings are not quality. To impr...

 I had the pleasure of learning about various industries and how they use social media.  I learned this from and commented on my classmates' posts: -Julia Palomo -Engir Diaz-Aquillon -Cara Heise -Bertha Alvarez

This week I have researched five related businesses to learn more about how they use social media.  Here are the highlights of what I have learned: Ana Ono Intimates https://www.anaono.com Company information:   Revenues:  $1M with 6 employees.  International company in the mastectomy/breast reconstruction garment niche.  Started by a survivor in her 30’s.  Innovative and even went to New York fashion week and Soma carries their products. Social Media:     Links are on their website. Facebook:   post once per day, last post was 9/8/20.  They have 8281 followers and their posts are all about promotions under the guise of supportive comments. Pinterest:  They are quite active with posts and have 898 followers.  They are a verified merchant.  Boards include:  Lingerie and loungewear that offers comfort, beauty and community through breast cancer. #NEVERALON...

Communicating with businesses has changed over the years.  Today, there are more and quicker options available.   Years ago, if one had a problem with a product, they would have to start with a phone call and try to reach the correct person or leave a message (all during business hours!).  Quite often one would need to reach out to the manufacturer and get an address (not like there was the internet to look it up!) and write a letter.  Considering the times for snail mail, this added over a week to just communicate a situation.   Social media closed the gap in many ways.  One can check out their channels and see if another customer had the same issue and perhaps, they could fix it without even contacting the company.   Now, one can easily find out points of contact any time of day or night which significantly reduces times for resolution.  One can even message the company and may be lucky enough to get a quick respons...