Facebook Self-Evaluation

Facebook Final Evaluation

Through the many courses I have attended at Dixie State, self-evaluations have become an expected assignment in the class curriculum. It is one of the harder tasks for me to complete because I have trouble being objective to my own work; work that I believe is some of my best. However, over the years I have become better at doing so and accepting positive criticism in hopes of becoming better and improving on all of my skills.

As I sat down to type this self-evaluation, which pertains to my Facebook page that I created earlier in the semester, MLA-Photography I became worried. I realized had not followed up with my Facebook plan, which I posted earlier on this blog. I have been paying close attention to my Facebook page, but I lost sight of what my particular target market was, or perhaps it changed?

As I continued reading, my Facebook plan I came across the personas I created for my page. Immediately I began to rethink the direction in photography I had taken. Most of the personas I had written were dead on with the type of customers I have had and the type of photographs I have been taking.  However, I was disappointed, in myself, to find I had not met one of the specific personas I had created, the outdoor enthusiasts.

As I developed my mission statement, I began to think of what set me apart from other photographers; better yet, photographers in Southern Utah. Instantly I recognized the lifestyle that I live, and how I could pull my photography skills into that setting in order to develop original pictures. As an outdoor enthusiast: avid rock climber, mountain biker, Jeep driver, motocross rider, and hiker. I realized I go many places other people don’t go, and those that do, aren’t willing to pack along a 3k+ camera and equipment. This gave me the upper hand in these departments and broadened my horizons in customer selection.

Overall, I failed my attempt at hitting the market where my photography could have taken off most. A disappointment, yes, but it’s not too late to continue my ventures and start conversing with people who enjoy outdoor recreation like myself; capturing them in an environment they love so they can continue to hold on to the memories for years to come.

In conclusion, MLA-Photography has become a great side business and something I have enjoyed doing over the past few months. I’ve upgraded some of my equipment and purchased business cards in the process which continues to help get the word out. Also, a huge shout out to Facebook, the king of social media in my book. Without you, I would have not been able to get my work out and share it with the people who enjoy seeing it most.  With all failures aside MLA-Photography will become a great success if I continue to develop my marketing technique and engage users with the content I am posting.

To all the other Facebook page owning, photo taking, photo editing, camera users out there: I look forward to your competition. 

Facebook Metrics

Facebook Metrics

Facebook insights might be one of the most useful tools I have ever used; it has helped me mold my marketing campaign and business to fit the needs and wants of my customers. However, I found the information gathered by Facebook much easier to use within their interface, the charts and graphs helped me understand the content a lot better. Once I exported the information to Microsoft Excel, it became more difficult for me to read.

As I reviewed the insights I was impressed at what I saw…MLA-Photography has really began to take off with the help of Facebook, and all of my content is being viewed in some form.  As I pulled up the demographics of my page, I wasn’t surprised with what I found. Nearly 60% of my page ‘fans’ are female, and only 40% are male. 75% of my fans fall between the age of 18-24; this is no surprise since I have been inviting friends from my personal page over to ‘like’ MLA-Photography, as well as posting it to my personal status. Majority of the ‘likes’ on my page are based out of SLC, where I grew up and know people, with a few scattered around St. George, Washington, West Jordan, and even a few in Italy and Canada.

According to the insights of MLA-Photography, my page has been viewed nearly 1,400 times within the last 3 months. Most of my interaction happens between my fans and the Facebook Wall. From the wall my users generally click on my Photo’s tab, which means I am directing users in the correct direction for my page. Majority of my page views also come from Facebook users that are logged-in, as opposed to page visitors that may not hold a Facebook account or be logged-in alike. I’d like to attribute some of those clicks to KCSG.com; I did some freelance photography for high school football and sent in my photos which they put on their website. They then hyperlinked my name to my Facebook page, MLA-Photography, and it accounted for 16 hits. Also, RME4x4.com, a forum for offroad enthusiasts, rounded up 9 people, and Google rounded up another 8 because of my Google ads account.

Posts made by MLA-Photography have been viewed, through the News Feed, have totaled over 18,000 in the last 3 months.  As stated above, most of the traffic that visits my page have gone directly to my photos, exactly what I want. I have received the most views and impressions on my two wedding albums, I attribute this to my 60% female audience, many of which are getting engaged, just married, or looking for wedding photographers. However, I have received the most feedback from a Wall post thanking my customers for their support and all the comments they have posted on my photos.

Media consumption graph and insights show nothing. I’m unaware exactly how they work, but mine is a flat. I haven’t posted an video or audio so I know that part is right. I have posted multiple photos in multiple albums. I believe this only works if you post a picture/video/audio from a link to your personal webpage or another site. I also posted a poll and had one hit on that. I quickly learned that those didn’t work.

I did not reach my goal of 160 likes by mid October; I only had ~110 likes. However, it is December 3^rd and I just surpassed 180 likes…slow and steady wins the race. 

Contextual Impact of Social Media- Aggregator Anonymous

As we have been discussing in class, social media has become a milestone in our communication practices as time has passed; and it looks bright in our future. Social media has also had a significant effect on the way individuals choose to view their news as well.

In the light of Occupy Wall Street, a protest advocating “equal economic treatment/justice,” http://www.thestreet.com/story/11274879/1/what-occupy-wall-street-wants-in-30-seconds.html social media has played a huge role in getting the word out. There seems to be a lack of major news stations getting out the information on this event, especially in the western states; thousands of miles away. The majority of the coverage I have seen on Occupy Wall Street is due to citizen journalism, Youtube.com being my major source for information. However, through researching this movement I’ve found other great sites that are home to citizen journalists and have become my primary way of receiving my news. Although, to figure out the validity of the news, research needs to be done, making it more time consuming. This site, http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/7-citizen-journalism-websites-crowd-sourced-news/, outlines a few of the sites I use.  “Citizen Journalism websites gives us an opportunity to speak as interested observers. It is freedom of speech without any censorship in its unadulterated sense,” stated the author.

In addition, having citizen journalism increase in popularity at such a rapid pace; I feel that news stations are beginning to lose their effectiveness, especially in the younger generation. Sites such as Twitter and Facebook are becoming a more popular way of receiving news, as well as news aggregators like Pulse and Flipboard.

This article, http://news.yahoo.com/social-media-aggregation-comes-occupy-wall-street-204006749.html, also talks about Occupy Wall Street and the approach social media has been taking towards the issue.  “Keeping tabs on the latest development has now become simpler with the launch of Occupationalist, a social media aggregator that combines constantly updated content from Tumblr, Twitter, Google Video, Meetup.com and Foursquare into a single page.” Best of all, the webpage is made and operated by college students at the University of Colorado; perhaps those most familiar with the social media movement in today's society. 

I think social media is one of the greatest innovations of my time, and thanks to the internet for making it all possible. I also am proud to see other citizens acting as journalists with the intention of bringing everyone closer together and becoming aware of what goes on in the world. Major media groups would have most likely overlooked the police brutality videos captured at Occupy Wall Street. Social media has had a huge impact on my life, I can’t wait to see what it has in store for future generations.

Facebook Ads

My three potential Facebook ads are as follows:

1. Great photography, affordable prices! Don't break the bank for memories.

2. MLA-Photography: Making moments last forever. 

3. It doesn't have to be complicated and boring. Just have fun!

Facebook Plan

Plan your approach and present the plan to the class. Develop your social media presence and promote your agenda via pages, groups, with specific content strategies, and create demand through social media ads and integrating campaign approaches through other social media channels such as Twitter.

 

The page I chose to develop for Comm 3480 allows me to share my photography with everyone on Facebook. It is called MLA-Photography (Michael Levi Arnone). I have created several albums that I will be updating regularly as I book more photoshoots in the future. My purpose of this page is to hopefully bring in some more business and get my name out a little more. It is a very accomplished feeling to share special moments (weddings, birthdays, newborn, sports, etc.) with the individuals who hire me.

To direct more people to my page I also shared the link to my personal Facebook page and a few close friends. I was rather impressed with how quickly the word spread and the page began to take off. I plan to continue updating the page with new pictures and status' in hopes of bringing more attention to my page.

 

The mission statement for MLA-Photography is as follows: Spine-tingling photography sparked by the fireworks of life. MLA-Photography captures winning shots every time.

 

Persona's

Persona #1: Stephanie Acres, 20, is planning her wedding and just realized she forgot to book a photographer. She doesn’t have much time or money because her budget has already been met. MLA-Photography offers a great alternative for her dilemma.

Persona #2: David Stib, 27, enjoys all sorts of extreme sports (rock climbing, snowboarding, paintballing, motocross) and wants to do a photo shoot at some of his favorite locations. The locations he has chosen are only accessible by hiking. MLA-Photography knows what it’s like and caters to all extreme sports enthusiasts no matter how intense the sport.

Persona #3: Mandy Phipher, 39, is mother of two children: one boy, one girl. Her son is in little league football and she wants some action shots of him playing, but his games are 30 miles away. Her daughter is a dancer/ model and wants headshots and dance shots done all in one location. MLA-Photography can capture all of these photos in a timely manner without breaking the bank.

 

Goals:

 

Based on how many 'likes' I've already had on the page in a week, I would like to estimate my goal at 160 friends by mid October.