Week 5 Part B: Learning about FaceBook Data Collecting

Reach and Engagement are two of the most prominent metrics of Facebook Insights.

Reach will show how well a company is making their products known and how successfully it is getting their posts into people’s newsfeeds. This is a great metric to consider if the company is trying to increase the number of fans or want a certain post to be seen by its followers. This is a good metric if the company wants to promote brand awareness. More people will get to know the name of its product, for example. Apparently, gaining organic reach has been significantly harder in recent years due to algorithm changes with Facebook’s news feed, so if the company wants to grow reach, it is worth exploring paid campaigns.

Engagement metrics are important to consider if the company is trying to build a relationship with their customers, increase their loyalty to the business, or measure customers’ intent to take an action, like purchasing your product. This is measured by the number of interactions made with the company’s posts – how many views, clicks, comments, likes, and shares it gets. Good engagement rate definitely leads to more exposure.

However, Reach and Engagement are not automatically related. High reach does not necessarily mean that engagement is high as well – it is possible to have high reach with low engagement and vice versa. Measuring engagement is primarily based on how compelling the post is to the target audience. And with higher engagement comes higher visibility for posts. It seems that in the majority of the cases, engagement produces higher rewards. This is because the Facebook algorithms favor content creation. Thus, a post that has a long thread of replies is more likely to be placed higher than one with two likes. Each reply is considered additional content, which means a virtuous cycle of likes, replies and shares. It may be worth creating content that has low reach but high engagement.

Based on my online research, Facebook Insights provides a unique opportunity for businesses to know more about their audience’s habits, as well as where they are from and what kind of lifestyle they lead. Facebook Insights is a powerful tool that can better service customers, but entrepreneurs must know what they are looking at in order to make sense of the data available.

Companies can learn more about users who took actions on their pages. It gives data on people who visit pages broken down by their age, gender, city, country, device and interests. It will also tell their activities on each page, such as likes and comments. It allows reaching ultra-specific customers by narrowing down the audience by demographics and psycographics. For example, instead of targeting everyone on Facebook, someone can be ultra-specific to the point of targeting “20-45-year-old married woman living in the U.S. who are interested in healthy food nutrition“.

It helps identify the content that customers like. It will show how different content on Facebook is resonating with the audience and how to identify the right topics and trends the audience wants. This information is useful for planning future content. For example, if the customer prefers video content and it has a higher reach and engagement on the company’s page, then future content investments should be more on video creation.

 

Note: I have commented on Nicole Lozano’s Artistically Ethereal Facebook page. No other member of my group has created a Facebook page as of this time. 

Week 4 Part B: Target Market

Dora Tapioca Crepe is a fast-food shop specialized in tapioca meals. It will offer an alternative nutrient-dense and high-energy source meal at affordable prices, made with organic, non-GMO and gluten free ingredients. It is cooked to order and can be filled with different fresh ingredients according to customer preferences. The first shop will be located in South California in the coastal neighbors of Encinitas.

In terms of demographic, the target customers are the residents in the age group of 18 to 50 from Encinitas and the neighboring districts of Solana Beach, Del Mar and South Carlsbad. The demographic includes mainly young families, high school and college students, millennials, generation X as well as people that work from home. The teenagers of the area are also more likely to bring their friends and use the tapioca shop as a hangout spot.

The psychographic of the target customer is the health and eco conscious population of this region. Active outdoors and sports oriented people. Surfers and other water sports influencers. People engaged in yoga, meditation and other holistic movements. People that are community-oriented. Dora Tapioca Crepe also aims to target customers who have adopted the off-premises trend. Offering quick food deliveries, pick-up areas and contactless. According to City-Data, fifty percent of Encinitas residents report that their diet is generally healthy. People living there eat an average of four "ready to eat" meals per week. These meals are prepared away from home in places such as restaurants and fast food places. 

Week 4 Part A: Sprouts and Cream of the Crop

Cream of the Crop is a natural food market featuring quality produce, clean label groceries and vitamins. It has only one store location in Oceanside. It is a family owned and operated company that has been in business for over 25 years. Target customers are the residents in the age group of 24 to 55 from South Oceanside and the neighboring district of North Carlsbad. The demographic includes mainly young families, millennials and generation X with higher household incomes. The psychographic of the target customer is the health and eco conscious population of this region. Active outdoors and sports oriented people. People engaged in yoga, meditation and other holistic movements. People that are community-oriented.

Sprouts is a natural food and farmers market. Their first store was opened in Arizona in 2002. Today they have grown to more than 370 stores and over 31,000 team members. Similar to other natural food grocers, Sprouts’ target customers are their store neighbors’ residents in the age group of 24 to 55. The demographic includes mainly married females at higher income levels. The psychographic of the target customer are individuals with strong diet or health concerns, who are looking for fresh, minimally preserved, or otherwise processed products made with local, environmentally friendly ingredients.

The websites of the two companies have in common the same type of products and tend to bring the same visitors, given the similarity of their target customers. However, from a web design and functionality perspective, their websites are very different.  

Sprouts website has a well thought structure and is quite functional. It provides a nice homepage where visitors feel welcomed. Simple and easy navigation. Clear menus, with high quality images and product descriptions. Easy access to deals and special offers. Online order menus, with store location, shopping lists, pick up or home delivery options. It provides a lot of content on making healthy decisions, creating an opportunity for affordable organic and fresh food, helping customers adopt a healthy nutritional diet. Their About page builds trust with customers and tells the company’s story.

The Sprout logo uses font in the color green. Their site also has the color green in different shades, interchanging with white in the background of most sections. The color green has strong associations with nature and brings to mind plants, grass and trees. Green is often described as a refreshing and tranquil color.

In summary, Sprouts is a large grocery company with the financial resources required to establish an online presence.

Cream of the Crop, on the other hand, is a small family business. Its website is simple and in my opinion, serves to provide its customers with basic information such as address, operating hours and email/phone contacts. Their website needs some substantial improvement in all functional aspects to become an online sales platform. The main and central section of their landing homepage has the text going off the space, making it hard to read and a negative first impression. I like the name and the brand of this store. I think it has the potential to reach its target audience, but there is some major work to build a better online presence.

 

Week 3 Part B: Developing a Brand

I am working on a project to introduce the Brazilian tapioca as an alternative meal targeted to the health and eco conscious population of Southern California. A nutrient-dense and high-energy snack that is based on the cassava root, a superfood vegetable, naturally gluten-free, non-GMO and vegan. In addition, the tapioca flour provides a unique texture to the crepe - it is chewy and crunchy at the same time, making it difficult to compare it with anything else.

The word tapioca however has other different meanings in the U.S. and there is not a clear customer association to the Brazilian style tapioca. In order to better define the product, we are also including the word “crepe” to reinforce the idea of a shell or taco look.

When researching for a name for the shop – our brand – I looked for something that was easy to say (short and simple) and at the same strong to be memorable.  A Brand that could not be confused or reminded with other food brands.

At the same time, there is a family history behind this planning project. The tapioca crepe idea was born when my wife helped our daughter, Isadora, to overcome her allergy to gluten. When we moved from Brazil to San Diego, Isadora as a teenager had a difficult time adapting to the local culinary and few gluten-free alternatives. Therefore, my wife began making tapioca crepes for my family, and our friends loved them. We want to share our delicious, gluten-free Brazilian food with our community and the plan is to launch the Dora Tapioca Crepe shop. We named it after our daughter Isadora, who served as the inspiration for this new venture.

The shop website is under construction. For the brand look, we are using a font “trend” with a headings size at least two times bigger than the other description texts. The text color is black and the background color is a neutral light beige. There is a draft for our tagline and we intend to use it online to improve search engine optimization - Fresh and taste health food. Gluten free and high source of energy. Order online.

The Dora Tapioca Crepe brand wants to be a mission-based company that is passionate about the purpose of making and sharing real food, gathering with our community, and advocating for healthier lifestyles.

Blog Week 3 Post A

1. Choose two websites that you see as having issues to use and poorly designed overall.

Atari Best Electronics

• Identify at least three potential problems for visitors.

- Poor home landing page. Confused, large font text, inadequate layout, bad first impression for visitors.

- Menu page not friendly. Hard to find products/parts.

- No make an order button or it is almost impossible to find it (if there is one).

• Do these websites come across as being well designed with the end user in mind or not?

- I think the problems listed above are critical. It is very difficult to navigate on this website. Poor aesthetics, the quality of the content do not offer useful information. The poorly constructed areas will leave visitors frustrated and encourage them to leave.

• What could be improved on these websites and why would these improvements help?

- This website needs to be fully redesigned to survive as an online business. As it is, there is no way to improve. Must start over from zero.

Gates N Fences

• Identify at least three potential problems for visitors.

- The home page has too much information and not a clear menu to select product categories

- Product images do not offer detail and quality. Customers may not feel confident to make a decision and purchase. The lack of trust will make customers go after competitors.

- These are mainly custom products. Although online orders are available, in general, there are details and specifications that must be confirmed and price estimated to make customers confident and avoid surprises. Their contact page however, requires a great level of specifications, which potential customers may not have yet. Customers may give up and not send their contact (phone and email) for a salesperson follow up.

• Do these websites come across as being well designed with the end user in mind or not?

- I believe this website was designed with the mind of a technician and industrial manufacturer. Many information and technical details, but not functional for the customer. It is not visually appealing, polished and professional. It does not assist the customer guiding him through all the different company offerings.

• What could be improved on these websites and why would these improvements help?

- Improve design and make it functional. Using more white (or neutral colors) space, uncluttered layouts with quality photographs and graphics look will let the company’s message shine through and substantially improve the user experience. Work with marketing ideas to make a more inviting and easy-to-use contact form. Make it easy to engage, offer multiple points of contact: phone, email, social media. A Google map is a bonus. Open the doors for new clients.

2. Choose an additional two websites that you find easy to use and well designed.

Toyota

• Identify what they have done right.

Nice layout, excellent product images and videos. Easy navigation and friendly menus. Their shopping tools: build and price, search inventory, find a dealer, brochures and others, are functional and fast.

• Why do these websites come across as being well designed for the end user? Explain.

- It offers all information necessary for a customer to learn about their portfolio of products. It is succinct, interesting and new. The information comes on a series of subsequent stages as customer clicks and deeps into the product with a clear hierarchy. Everything supported by consistent professional images and written descriptions.

• How does their use of design, aesthetics and branding impact your reaction to these websites?

- The site is extremely professional, high quality and user friendly. It reflects the company, the quality of the products, services and ultimately the brand – one of the top three top selling automobile manufacturers in the U.S. and in the World.

Apple

• Identify what they have done right.

- The design of the website is focused on making it easier to navigate through different product categories. In Apple’s top menu bar, you see dropdown menus with quick links to more details on that category of products. Still, it is designed with an abundance of visual images and effects to show off their unique product design. Shopping tools are professional: easy product selection, clear descriptions, price information, shipment options, bag review and payment options.

• Why do these websites come across as being well designed for the end user? Explain.

- It offers all information necessary for a customer to learn about their portfolio of products. It is succinct, interesting and new. The content is informative but visual at the same time. Shopping tools are professional: easy product selection, clear descriptions, price information, shipment options, bag review and payment options.

• How does their use of design, aesthetics and branding impact your reaction to these websites?

- Stylish. Apple counts design as the foundation principle. It is the starting point of their development process for any new product. The gold standard in industrial design. Their website is no different.

3. Final wrap up paragraph on what you learned regarding the impact that the design and aesthetics made on you.

- Design and aesthetics have a profound impact on how users perceive information, learn, judge credibility and usability, and ultimately assign value to a product. A well-designed website can help form a good impression on prospective customers. It provides good user experience and helps website visitors access and navigate it with ease. Style does not replace substance, but style and substance in balance work much better.

 

 

Week 2 Part B - Business Research

Healthy Creations Cafe

1. https://healthycreationscafe.com/

2. Healthy Creations was founded in 2007 with the intention to present the San Diego community with an opportunity for affordable, organic, healthy food.  Nestled in Encinitas, Healthy Creations is a growing small business. They have a website with a digital menu and online orders. There is no visible social media links. I did a research online and I did find a link to then on Facebook, Yelp and TripAdvisor.

3. Facebook: they have around 1.600 followers, with an average rating of 4.6/5.0 and 162 reviews. Their last post was in March 2020. Yelp: they have an average rating of 4.5 stars and 484 reviews. A healthy score of 93 out of 100. 388 published photos and their last review was on Dec. 22, 2022.

4. Very limited use of Social Media. It seems that most customer relationship is conducted on in person visits to the store. There is definitely some opportunities to explore social media platforms to increase customer audience and repeated visits and orders.

Choice Juicery

1. https://www.choicejuicery.com/

2. Considered as the largest vegan restaurant chain in San Diego County with 6 store locations. Choice Juicery was founded in 2014 in Carlsbad Village. They are most famous for their superfood smoothies and bowls. They have a website with a digital menu, store locator and online orders. There are links to their Facebook and Instagram pages. My online research also showed links to Yelp, TripAdvisor and the most used food delivery platforms.

3. Instagram: 12.2K followers; 2.300 posts, with at least 2 new ones every week. Facebook: 4.5K followers; it seems a very active account and new posts are placed simultaneously with Instagram. Rating 4.3 and 386 reviews. Yelp: they have an average rating of 4.5 stars and 147 reviews. An excellent healthy score of 96 out of 100. 160 published photos and their last review was on Sep. 07, 2022.

4. The use of social media is adequate to the restaurant size and locations. It seems that many posts are designed to bring customer to their stores. The restaurant’s goal is to create an amazing experience with every guest who walks through its doors.

Plant Power Fast Food

1. https://www.plantpowerfastfood.com/

2. One of the first plant-based fast-food contenders, Plant Power was founded in 2016. A vegan version of traditional fast-food drive-thru brands. The concept was first launched in San Diego. The company now owns or franchises 11 restaurants and a food truck operating throughout California. They have a website with a digital menu, store locator and online orders. There are links to their Instagram, Twitter and Spotify pages. My online research also showed links to Yelp, the main food delivery platforms and many vegan food websites.

3. Instagram: 113K followers; 925 posts, with at least 1 new post every week. Their post seems to attract the interest of followers with many positive comments. Facebook: 23.7K followers; it seems a very active account and new posts are placed simultaneously with Instagram. Rating 4.8 and 427 reviews. There is a link to their website for online orders. Twitter: 1.6K followers - not active and frequent as Instagram. Last post was in July 2021. Yelp: they have an average rating of 4.5 stars and 1090 reviews. A healthy score of 95 out of 100. 983 published photos and their last review was on Dec. 01, 2022.

4. They have accounts and pages on some of the most popular social media platforms. I personally, think that their website design, images and description deserve some improvement. Their customer reviews are generally positive.

Einstein Bros Bagels

1. https://www.einsteinbros.com/

2. Einstein Bros is part of Panera Brands, one of the nation's largest fast casual restaurant companies. It offers freshly baked bagels, breakfast sandwiches, lunch sandwiches, coffee, and catering services. It has 684 stores in 44 states in the U.S. They have a website with a digital menu, store locator and online orders. There are links to their Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube pages. My online research also showed links to Yelp and the main food delivery platforms.

3. Instagram: 36.1K followers; 754 posts, with at least 2 or 3 new post every week. Facebook: 663.9K followers; it seems a very active account and new posts are placed simultaneously with Instagram. Rating 3.9 and 301 reviews. There is a link to their website for online orders. Twitter: 10.1K followers – very active with almost daily posts. Yelp: reviews are based on each store location. Their store in Rancho Bernardo, for example, has a medium average rating of 2.5 stars and 238 reviews. A healthy score of 94 out of 100. 158 published photos and their last review was on Jan. 01, 2023.

4. They have a thoughtful and comprehensive fast-food restaurant website. It covers a wide range of features and information including food menu and nutrition, store locations, online orders, reward program, contacts and FAQ. The company maintains active social networking on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. The company has a paid page on YouTube, and mobile apps on Apple and Android. I can’t think of anything else that could be done in this case.

Subway

1. https://www.subway.com/en-us

2. Subway is an American multinational fast food restaurant franchise that specializes in submarine sandwiches (subs), wraps, salads and drinks. It has over 41.000 stores in 104 different countries. Their U.S website is built with excellence in terms of product descriptions and image, easy navigation and all necessary information to provide a good user experience. There are links to their Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube pages. My online research also showed links to Yelp and the main food delivery platforms.

3. Instagram: 1.3 followers; 790 posts, with at least 2 or 3 new post every week. Facebook: 22,612.4K followers; it seems a very active account and new posts are placed simultaneously with Instagram.

Twitter: 29.1K followers – very active with almost daily posts. There is a link to their website for online orders. Yelp: reviews are based on each store location. Their store in Downtown, San Diego, for example, has a medium average rating of 2.5 stars and 86 reviews. A healthy score of 95 out of 100. 24 published photos and their last review was on Jan. 04, 2023.

4. A Multinational with a professionally designed and maintained web and social media presence.

Summary

Nowadays, every business has some web presence, in the form of a website and accounts/pages in social media platforms. The depth of such presence varies according to the size of the business and the financial resources available to invest.

The maintenance of online channels require money, people and time to support a continuous communication with clients and potential customers. It is evident that large corporation such as Einstein Bros (Panera Brands) and Subway have the resources to invest in marketing and customer relationship. The use of online resources such as a website and social media platforms are well-developed tools and their interaction with customers is constant and proportional to their reach of operations.

Not withstand, smaller operations are capable to provide more authentic food experiences to their customers. They offer better healthy dining alternative, which reflects in their higher ratings and customer reviews, when compared to the traditional large national and multinational fast food chains.

 

Week 2 Part A: Write a Positive Comment

Costco - Calrsbad Warehouse

I enjoy my visits to Costco. Their product selection, variety and price discounts are excellent and are always changing, which makes each visit a unique one. I try to go there without any time pressure so that potential difficulties with parking, store overcrowding and long paying lines do not become a frustration. To me their customer service is great. Easy merchandise returns and they always have welcome words and a smile. I am a happy Costco member.

Stabucks - Del Mar Heights 

Every afternoon I pick my daughter up at Starbucks after she leaves school. It is the kids’ favorite hangout place. It is always clean and a safe location. All attendants are kind with the children and orders are prepared with a reasonable time. They have great service. Not the ideal meal from a healthy nutrition perspective, but it is okay as a quick refreshment after a long school day.

Week 2 Part A: Communication between Business & Consumer

Given the expansion of computer and mobile technology, the increased use of the internet, websites, online stores and other advanced technology solutions, the communication and overall relationship between business and customers has become much more frequent and personal.

In this regard, social media has provided a platform where businesses, of any size, are able to network and communicate with customers. Instead of simply trying to sell their products or services, the business is able to create relationships and get customers more accustomed to the brand.

When I read a review, I am usually looking for answers to my questions and concerns. Not everyone has the same point of view. A good review is always positive, but a bad review is not necessarily negative depending on each customer preference. In general, every business has good and bad reviews. To me the average rating and the total number of ratings are good indicators to make a business evaluation. Sometimes, I start my analysis with the bad reviews. See if that customer negative experience is important and a deal breaker to me.

Other than vacation rentals, I do not post many business reviews (maybe it’s a cultural behavior). However, I recognize the importance of business reviews and I do check it for everything that is not a commodity (the same everywhere).

As a business owner, I would post a few words of appreciation for good reviews. Bad reviews would receive my apologies and I would try to establish some posterior contact to solve the problem or implement the proper correction to avoid it becoming something recurrent.