SOCIAL MEDIA: CHANGING HOW WE DO BUSINESS

After doing some research and relying on previous knowledge, here are some of the uses of social media that I came up with.

Marketers these days are using social media to convey information to their target markets or consumers. Several companies are using Twitter this way, as a channel to get out news about their company. The positive from this kind of social medium is it spreads message in real time and it has the potential to spread virally. For example, stores like Whole Foods keep links to recipes and daily deals on their Twitter. Also several companies, like T-shirt company StreetWear, use blogging as a way to transfer information to their consumers about new designs, new releases, etc.

Another amazing use of social media is for non-profits organizations and support for causes in healthcare. Brands attempt to get as many fans as they can and get people to “like” their page on Facebook. One good example of this the Cervical Cancer Awareness Facebook page. People can “like” the page and find out information about Cervical Cancer as well as the preventative vaccine, Gardasil. It is interesting to note that Merck did not create a Gardasil brand page and ask people to become fans of their brand. I’m assuming they understood that most people would think it was strange to be friends with a big pharmaceutical product especially a vaccine. Instead, Merck went with a different approach and created a “semi” unbranded page called Take a Step Against Cervical Cancer; instead of being a fan of Gardasil, they ask you to be a fan of fighting cervical cancer. This is something very relatable since mostly everyone is a fan of fighting cervical cancer. The strategy was successful; currently there are almost 120,000 fans. The biggest advantage of something like a Facebook fan page is that there is a low barrier for people to join, it is easier for people to share and become “fans”.

Social media is also great for consumer research and community building. Facebook has become the ultimate diary for marketing research. Companies can see what music you like, what products you like, what movies, art, brands you prefer. Based your preferences they can create a persona for you and have ads pop up on the side that are relevant to you. One good example of a company that utilized social media to gather customer data was Atkins, the weight loss program. The company noticed that consumers that were using the Atkins program were getting online and talking about their attempts to lose weight, so the company created a social network to bring these conversations within the Atkins brand. Atkins created community.atkins.com with social network provider Powered; the site gives Atkins a two-way dialogue with consumers and provides members with tools to interact with each other and learn about the company’s products. The site does not actually sell products, its main purpose is engagement and building brand loyalty through communication. Currently the site has about 200,000 registered members and growing. Not only does this site provide a place for people to talk to each other but it allows Atkins to collect qualitative feedback to send to their development team and improve their products.

Finally, social media is great for customer service in specific industries. For example, Twitter is a popular place for customers to complain and require customer service; companies like Comcast and Best Buy have gotten great press from the customer service they are providing via Twitter. The service is in real time and provided by real people, its low-cost and shows a brand’s sophistication. Also, it can stop a disaster before it starts by fixing problems and attending to customer’s needs instantly.

Overall, social media is changing the way companies do business; it is generating more conversations between consumers and suppliers, it is speeding up the process of communication by working in real-time, and it is making companies more personable and accessible to consumers.

INNOVATION

Word #1: BRICK

When I think brick, I think construction, building. My grandpa actually built our house in Moscow himself out of brick. I also think fireplaces and brick used as decorative material. I think of a brick fence for protection. Also, I think of the brick design used for clothing, computer savers, posters, etc. I think of the visual appeal of a brick like layout. I think of beautiful architecture made out of brick and old brick ovens used to bake bread. Also in Russia it was common that the poor classes would have an oven right in the middle of their living room and it was a huge big brick thing and they would sleep on top of it for warmth. I think of brick used as decoration in the kitchen or any part of the house as a counter or part of a wall. It also makes me think of Legos and how we used to play with red legos as kids and build things out of them.
Uses for a brick: hit someone with, paper weight, as a unit of measure (mass, volume, length), put on head to practice good posture, put in backpack for training for a hike, use as a weight (lifting weights), build a house with it (or build anything really), use as a step to reach a high spot, anchor, sculpt out of it, smash things with it, use to pave a road.

Word #2: CUP

When I think cup, I think tea party. I think of drinking tea with my family in Russia and that hot cup of coffee I drink every morning. I think of the cup of sugar you borrow from your neighbor. I think plates and silverware and how it’s nice if everything matches. I think of those annoying sayings on cups like “World’s Greatest Dad!” and getting your picture splattered on a cup. It makes me think of the cheap plastic cups used for beer pong at parties. I also think about ceramics and making cups yourself out of clay. I also think of cup size, as in bra cup size. I also think of the World Cup and sippy cups.
Uses for cup: measuring device, jewelry (make jewelry out of parts of a cup), art (break the cup into pieces and make a mosaic out of it), to drink out of, to hold pens/pencils. Hold small items like buttons or jewelry.

Combined ideas:
1. Cup with brick design on it.
2. Cup made out of brick.
3. Brick wall with mosaic design on it made out of crushed cups.
4. Using a cup’s handle as a leverage to lift bricks.
5. Making a brick wall with a little cut out to store coffee cups.
6. Making a wall out of cups in a brick like formation.
7. Using both to make art. Using cup to mix paint in, then putting paint on a brick and stamping paper to make art.
8. Attach hooks to a brick and hang cups on it.
9. Make a coaster out of a small slice of brick. Or attach a cup to a small slice of brick so that its always steady when you set it down.
10. Put a couple of cups on a brick and work on your balance, as you carry it and walk.
11. Make a cup with the phrase “Brick House” on it.
12. Carve an image of a cup into a brick.
13. Make a brick layout on the ground (like a patio layed out in brick) in the shape of a cup.

14. Make a column out of brick, with a cup on top.

These ideas are kind of lame, but I had a really hard time coming up with combinations of these two objects. Some have been done before like the first one.

FASHION GOES SOCIAL

I am interested in studying the significance of customer insights in the fashion industry. The main topic of the paper will be the effect of social media on the fashion industry. I didn’t pull out my crop-tops until I saw an album on Facebook where my secret girl-crush Stacy was wearing a crop-top with shorts at Shakespeare’s Pub. The American Apparel ads which pop up on the side of my FB screen, actually intrigued me so much that I went into the store, even though before that I had walked past it on my way to class almost every day. And when I saw my friend’s blog post which featured the comeback of long socks, I went to Ross and bought them in almost every color. The paper will start off by demonstrating how significant social media has become in our apparel decisions. I would like to organize my paper in one of two ways. The first way would break up the report into different modes of social media such as Twitter, Facebook, and blogs and how each one of those has affected the industry. The other way of organization would be to break up the paper into groups of people such as the designers, the customers, magazine editors, and retailers and research how the social media giant has changed their outlook on the industry.

Some of the questions I’m hoping to explore are: 1) How do brands/stores retain customers in this oversaturated industry? 2) Do designers rely on customer insights to create their garments or does it come from an individual/personal inspiration? 3) How much to fashion buyers focus on trends on the street? 4) Are customers dictating what’s being sold in the stores or are stores dictating what customers are wearing? 5) As customers are becoming more picky, which stores are more successful, the ones that provide a wide array of products/styles for all different kinds of customers or the stores that provide a very specific, niche product? 6) How has the shift to environmentally friendly materials and animal-rights protesting affected the apparel industry?

This topic is extremely interesting to me because I am addicted to the fashion industry but I am also very different from most fans of the industry. I can look at fashion blogs all day and praise one designer or another for their contribution to the arts but I will never spend more than 20 bucks on a garment. I think this gives me an interesting perspective on the industry because not only am I a customer but I am also a critic. Also, I have many friends that are involved in the industry, designers, models, photographers and it would be interesting to study how social media has helped or affected them. Currently, I am the Art Director of UFG, University Fashion Group, a student organization at UT, and I rely on social media quite often in my position. I use Facebook to post flyers and attract new members, UFG relies on Twitter to post important updates and quick messages, and our website (universityfashiongroup.com) gives a description of our organization and our goals. It would be interesting to see how social media has impacted the industry and perhaps link it back to how it has affected UFG in terms of meeting turn out and ease of decision making and communication.

In terms of gathering and identifying customer insights, I believe that the fashion industry is one that relies heavily on the gathering of this kind of data. With other products such as equipment or cars, I feel like consumers often times go out on their own and do research to make decisions. With apparel, I believe that often times it is the job of those in the industry to influence the public and shape the trends for the next season and so forth. Simultaneously designers and stores are constantly getting inspiration and feedback from customers through this data to then alter their image, expand their lines or fix their marketing campaign. The relationship between customers and stores/designers is in the shape of a big circle. They influence each other and feed off the cumulative mix of ideas and perspectives. I am interested in studying how social media guides and stimulates this exchange.

The article “How the Fashion Industry is Embracing Social Media” found at the following link: http://mashable.com/2010/02/13/fashion-industry-social-media/ is written by Hitha Prabhakar, a retail industry expert. She focuses on the fact that recently fashion designers are embracing social media into their marketing plans by utilizing Twitter and Facebook to comment on their recent endeavors. For example, von Furstenberg is one of the most beloved and popular designers on Twitter, which has given her lots of authority in the fashion industry and has allowed her to shape the public’s opinions on several topics. The article states that some designers are apprehensive about turning to the web while others are embracing the communication with their fans through blogs and other sources of social media. The article also comments on the importance for magazines to upload material quickly, as it happens, on their blogs, websites, Twitter and Facebook pages.

Customer Experiences

Any time you spend money for a product or service you are having a customer experience. Whether that be the book you ordered online through amazon.com or the cappuccino you bought at your local coffee shop. Each experience is different and if the experience is good, it usually leads you to come back, in effect building brand/company loyalty. There’s a reason why the ipod and iphone are such highly demanded products. Though they do offer several key features, are they really superior to other mp3 players and smartphones? And how come when my dad bought me a brand new HP laptop, I felt a slight sense of disappointment that it wasn’t a mac?

When you buy TOMS shoes what are you really buying? Comfort? Style? Durability? How about recognition, customer service, connection to a network of TOMS shoe wearers, a sense of pride that you just gave a pair of shoes to a child in need, connection to a child, connection to a charity, connection to a cause. You are buying an experience. In class we talked about Strategic Experiential Modules, which are types of experiences a consumer can have. These include: Sensory (Sense), Emotional (Feel), Intellectual/Cognitive (Think), Physical/Behavioral (Act), Relational (Relate). What keeps these consumers loyal to one brand or one store lies not so much in the features of the products or services as much as the holistic experiences they provide.

As a daily consumer I have had all sorts of experiences with stores, products, company representatives, services, etc. One of the best experiences I’ve ever had as a customer was at Visual Changes, a haircutting salon in Katy, TX. Before I even arrived at the salon, I visited their website which was visually appealing and very customer friendly. I could look up different prices, photos of different hair styles and cuts, and the different levels of haircutters they had available. When I called to book an appointment, the representative was very polite and sounded excited. She helped me decide which haircutter would work best for me based on my need and my budget. Right away, she set up a good emotional experience. I was going into for my appointment with a positive outlook.

When I walked in, the salon itself looked very clean and funky. Lots of lights and good smells coming from the salons. Also, there were a lot of glass windows with people getting their hair done on display; I thought that was visually appealing and intriguing. The layout of the place was cool and while I sat and waited to get shampooed, I flipped through pages of picture books, which got me excited for my haircut. The shampooing process was relaxing and pleasant; definitely appealed to my sensory type of experience. The woman working with me was polite and funny.

In terms of a relational experience, I could really relate to the VC staff and salon in general. I could tell right away that the staff were really cool, young, hip people; lots of them had crazy colored hair and piercings. That’s similar to my personal style and I felt like this place was a good fit for me. I hate those really prim and proper, super-fancy, expensive salons where highlights cost like 100 bucks.

My haircutter, Harold, was a really cool mid-30s Hispanic guy, who was freaking hilarious. I swear, I wanted to ask for his number after our session because I thought he was so damn entertaining. Once again, I felt like I could easily relate to him. He listened to what I wanted and studied the photos I had brought in. At the time I had pretty long hair and I wanted to do something drastic and cut it really short but I was extremely nervous because I had never cut my hair above my shoulders. He helped me decide what kind of style would look best with my hair and calmed me down about the decision.

The haircut itself looked pretty awesome. I was pleasantly surprised. He even blow-dried and straightened my hair for no extra charge (I had paid only for a wash and cut). Here’s a photo of me before and after:

BEFORE:

AFTER:

The end result of my haircut was definitely an emotional and physical experience. I felt excited and happy about the haircut but also VC helped enrich my life. The haircut helped me feel more confident and beautiful and fresh which in effect helped enrich and better my interactions, my work, my social life, etc. The fact that I took a risk and had such a positive experience also helped shape my decision for future similar endeavors. If the experience had been bad, I might have never experimented with my physical appearance again. The VC experience gave me confidence in taking risks and trying new things.

PERSONAZ

During the past couple of weeks in class we have been studying personas and how marketers can segment a population into groups of people with specific characteristics to better target their needs. Marketers will study information like demographics, personality, hobbies, interests, dislikes, preferences, etc. By analyzing these specific nuanced descriptions, marketers can discover the consumers' hidden motivations, behaviors, and ultimately their unfulfilled needs.

The following is a basic definition of personas:
"Personas are fictional characters created to represent the different user types within a targeted demographic, attitude and/or behavior set that might use a site, brand or product in a similar way. Personas are a tool or method of market segmentation. The term persona is used widely in online and technology applications as well as in advertising, where other terms such as pen portraits may also be used." - Wikipedia

Creating personas takes time and requires detailed analysis. The five stages covered in Chapter 2 of The Persona Lifestyle are: conception and gestation, family planning, birth and maturation, adulthood, and retirement and lifetime achievement.

Though there are several ways to develop personas and collect data on consumers to get a better insight, one of the best ways, I believe, is to let people rant about themselves. You will get a lot of unexpected disclosures and juicy details by probing.

The following is an example of a persona for someone like me. Enjoy!

Demographics:

Age: 22
Sex: Female
Income: barely enough for food (Currently working about 10 hours a week @ $11/hr)
Heavy credit card user
In my last year at UT Austin.
Majoring in Marketing.
Minoring in English and Textiles & Apparel.
Living in West Campus in Austin, TX
Born in Moscow, Russia. Moved to Houston, TX when I was 7. Don’t consider myself an American.

Personality:

Last weekend I went to the Art Coop and bought about 10 canvases because they were on sale for 60% off even though I haven’t painted in over a year. I feel motivated once I’ve spent money on something.
I joined a cardio class through UT so that I would have extra motivation (a grade) to work out.
Yesterday (on a Tuesday) I went dancing downtown to Barbarella and danced until almost 3 in the morning even though I had my cardio class this morning.
I shop for clothing only at Buffalo Exchange or other thrift stores.
Craigslist is one of my best friends.
All of the electronics I own are gifts.
I try to make professional looking photographs with my cheap little digital camera.
I prefer to ride my bike.
I love being outdoors but I spend 90% of my day inside.
I cook. Mostly Russian food. Because I’m Russian….or salads. I love salads. Cooking your own food is cheaper and healthier.
I have been meaning to visit New York for the past 3 years but can’t save up enough money for a trip. (Sad part is it’s only like $300 bucks)
I consider myself a healthy person, but I do smoke cigarettes.
Most of my friends are male and foreign (not from US).
I blog daily about fashion, art, music, literature, etc.
My mom is my best friend.

Lifestyles:
AUDIO/VIDEO

Own an iPod

Home /Personal Computer- HP Laptop

Own an Olympus FE 340 digital camera

Use CDs to burn music for friends
Current phone can’t do anything but make calls. Not a fan of smartphones.
Watch movies for free online. Don’t own a TV. Usually watch HBO shows at friend’s place.
Love Project Runway.

OUTDOORS

Yoga
Biking (own a vintage road bike) Like to attend social bike rides around Austin.

Swimming at Greenbelt or Barton Springs

SPORTS AND FITNESS

Bicycling

Cardio class every Monday and Wednesday

Health/Natural Foods

Physical Fitness/Exercise
Dancing

THE ARTS

Cultural Arts/Events – I love to attend concerts but will not pay unreasonable amounts of money to see a band.
Favorite Music: Radiohead, Electronic, Jungle, Drum and Bass, Dubstep
Shows: a lot of my friends are DJs so I love going to local shows to dance and listen to good music.
Fine Arts/Art Shows/Galleries
Art: I love painting and drawing and attending local art shows.
Literature: I love poetry. Currently signed up for a Poetry Workshop. I love literature and going to coffee shops with friends to read.

Foreign Travel – I travel to Russia every summer. Would like to go to Europe.

HOME LIFE

Own a cat
Don’t spend too much time at home.
Like my place to be cozy and quiet.

OTHER INTERESTS

Fashion Clothing- currently interning for a Modeling Agency and am the Art Director for the UT Fashion Organization.

Design- learning how to use Photoshop and In-design to work on T-shirt and Poster designs for my organization.
Blog- I currently have a blog that update daily. Love getting feedback and posting cool new art/music/poetry.
Russian literature, music, films.
Kurt Vonnegut.
Sewing.

.

Keep it simple, stupid!

Who knew that by extending an umbrella a couple more inches and making it more of an oval shape as oppose to a circular shape, you could make some serious cash. According to Jeff Mulhausen, one of the five new design philosophies is simplicity. It’s interesting to me how with time the population has moved away from “GIVE ME MORE!!!” to “MAKE IT WORK!” People are not so much concerned that your bottle opener can cut through metal, as much as they want to be sure it can open a bottle. In America, we live in a world of abundance; anything we could possibly want, we can find it. Even the most obscure things like a star wars outfit for your pet lizard can be purchased with the click of a button; so now it’s time for companies to think basic. To survive in the modern market, they have to focus on things like universal design, a concept I found extremely interesting. Universal design focuses on designing products which are not exclusive to any group of people; one example I thought was really simple and logical was the new potato peeler which had a thicker handle and was comfortable for everyone to use, including people with arthritis.

Another concept that I think is extremely important, especially for marketers is designing for the majority. Living in the US, we assume that our opportunities for product design are limited by what the US population needs and wants; but if we look at the top 10% of the global population we will realize that most of the people in this world live in developing countries. One product, the hippo water roller, has been improving people’s access to fresh water; this is a cylindrical container with a handle that allows people to roll water from point A to B. Products like this make me question, “How come I didn’t think of that?” Answer: because it’s so simple!

I believe that incorporating a design philosophy into a marketing plan is always useful, UNLESS your philosophy doesn’t evolve with the rest of the world or you don’t have the means to carry it out. One of the things the IDEO HCD (Human Centered Design) Toolkit mentions are the three important parts of any good design: desirability, feasibility, viability. I think one of the important things design philosophy sometime leaves out is viability: can you make it happen!? Even if your product is strongly desired and very practical, if you do not have the means to make it, rethink your marketing plan.

The goal of any design is to empower the consumer and help solve a problem or tend to a need. As we discussed in class, the music industry has taken a rough blow due to their arrogance and love of their business model. They had a very specific philosophy, “sell by the album” which with time was no longer meeting the needs of the consumers. If their philosophy was more user-centered, they would have been able to take advantage of the new technology and new capabilities.

When I think user-centered, innovative products and services, one company comes to mind immediately, Apple. Henry Dreyfuss said, “Good designs become an icon.” Without doing research, I can honestly say that the Apple icon is probably among the world’s most recognizable images. But how did this company become such a big deal?

It had a simple, understandable, consistent message. Their commercials, their product designs, their array of products and advertisements, they all emphasized that Apple is different. I thought it was really interesting that a lot of Deiter Rams’ product designs such as the radio and the calculator look very similar to Apple’s iPod and the calculator that’s on the iPhone. Apple took the historical concept of KISS (keep it simple, stupid) and revolutionized the computer/music/entertainment industries. I think it’s interesting to note that before smart phones were created, there was no real need or demand for them. As we discussed in class, sometimes consumers do not know what they need (world of abundance); it’s the job of the marketers to go out and seek out problems to create opportunities. Next time you lose or break your iPhone and you’re left smartphone-less, thank Apple for the drug-like withdrawal symptoms.