Here is my postcard! Simple and to the point!

• What did you learn from your client/reviewer? What did you do well?  What would you do differently next time?

I learned that my reviewer is right about uploading on Youtube! If you try and focus on quality videos, that takes a lot of time getting clips and editing it. I usually use iMovie on my MacBook to edit because I never had any luck on the apps that you can download on the app store. I film everything with a GoPro, so it is most accessible with the GoPro app or iMovie. She told me that I did well on executing posts on Instagram and Facebook, but there should have a bit more updating on LinkedIn. I think of Linkedin as a reference page for past employers, not the best platform for posting content daily. haha. Next time I would increase the time on my twitter and youtube account. People really like seeing the brand, so I need to document more than create!

I think I was most drawn into the engagement lessons in week 8. As I reference Gary Vee one last time, he says the success in his career was built through an important part of just engaging with the audience. He believes that the connection and relationship between you and a customer are much more valuable than a sale. The connection can lead to many sales in the future. Brand loyalty is everything in my opinion. In a TED TALK video, a speaker said something along the lines of “Get your audience to believe in why you’re doing it first, how you’re going to do it second, and then tell what you offer. Most other companies do this in reverse. Trying to sell people a product without any strong belief is where most organizations fall apart. Have a story or purpose for your product, then sell the dang product. With Clever Fools, I claim it to be a streetwear brand. But what makes up a true streetwear brand? Seriously! If you ask any other brands, what would their answer be? IDK probably. Clever Fools is a streetwear brand that has strength through the actual streets of the town. The streets are the voice behind the brand, from banners to fliers to stickers covering the city. People really dig the amount of time and effort we put to create a following not just through social media but through daily lifestyle.

I already signed up for the Hootsuite with Clever Fools and have been using it ever since we first learned about it.  Shout out to Professor Spilde!

Here is my certification!!!

Honestly, I learned a lot from my own business while working on my client project. I really dove into the idea of posting quality content for each social Media. In a recent podcast I watched by Gary Vee, he explains it is better to document than create on social media. Consistency is everything. He says, “Instead of posting one Instagram post, post seven to eight Instagram stories. Keep the audience up to date with all activity. They follow you for a reason….. to see what you are up too. There is a point of annoyance to the audience, but make sure you’re not over uploading. Also, I have learned that planning out the future posts will help in the long run. An editorial calendar allows me to manage the posts that I want to share. I hate being in that last minute situation and have to create and post something. Anything rushed will play a factor in quality. Trusting the process and taking your time to make sure you have a great post is well worth it. HootSuite has helped me post much more frequently. Once I got their app, it saved me so much time to post on all the different accounts.

Here is my client project:

client project alex trinkle (1)-2evfqob

Whenever I’m on my youtube channel or the Instagram account I use for Clever Fools, I always see promotional ads for things I would search up on safari. It’s crazy how they know what products I’m looking at and then advertise similar products hours, days, and even weeks later. I’m pretty sure it’s the cookies being placed on my computer that allows them to monitor my activity. Recently I have been watching Gary Vee podcast videos on youtube. He talks a lot about being an entrepreneur and the hardships of growing a business. It’s harsh, but I enjoy the realism out of it. I then see multiple ads promoting apps and software to help run a better online business. Also, I see multiple beginning ads from Tai Lopez and other very successful people trying to persuade us to sign up for their dealio to “BECOME RICH.” It’s not a scam, but their book or whatever they sell will not make you rich or give you a crazy amount of motivation to achieve your passion. These ads are effective because they match my lifestyle very much. I just signed up with QuickBooks; I have used excel to manage my income and expenses in the past. Quickbooks saves me a ton time, so I’m kind of interested in what other software companies can offer as well. They got my attention!

Companies can track the success of their social media ads by reviewing the conversions made or the follow count increase, run analytics to monitor optimal times to post content, and use demographics to monitor where your audience is coming from.

Here is my ad for the mockup:

#stayclever

Reflection 10 matches my brand so well! I just created a blog post about the relationship I built with Shark’s Surf Shop in Lawrence, KS. It goes in depth of the trial and error in order to establish connections in the business world. I think the collaboration of both Clever Fools and Shark’s matched up so well because we were unique. We are not doing the expected. We are creating a brand with originality and culture. There are a dime a dozen Kansas City brands; Clever Fools is built in Kansas City but holds characteristics of multiple foundations. People always ask why a surf shop in Kansas. Then they usually try show sarcasm in the idea of it. I think it’s so sick that the surf shop doesn’t give a crap about what the haters are going to say. It takes a clever fool to not focus on the negative feedback, but to focus on what we will achieve.

Website Blog Post:

https://www.cleverfoolsclothing.com/single-post/2018/04/02/Linking-Up-With-A-Midwest-Surf-Shop

Here is my status update on the blog post for two of my social media:

Content marketing includes posting images or updates to social media in a way that attracts customers. It usually involves posting high-quality images that focus on 1 item, not a category. Content marketing plays an important part for my clothing brand Clever Fools. I always try and post clean content that viewers can relate, understand, and connect too. I convinced the surf shop that sells my clothing to post higher quality photos. They tend to just post pictures of the apparel on their shelves. It shows off the product, but it doesn’t have the culture or lifestyle behind the clothes. I mean shoot!!! It’s a surf shop in Lawrence, KS??? You need to be able to back it up!

One example of successful marketing would be Mcdonalds and Uber Eats. I have seen many video ads and also billboard showcasing that Mcdonalds does delivery with Uber. It is never overdone, the ads are super simple and easy for the viewer to read. It shows usually a McDonald’s box and text reading ” Now Delivers.”

Another great example of successful marketing would be when I ran a spring break sale. I posted a picture of me holding up a hand-painted banner that reads, “Spring Break Sale” Once you scroll past it, you can easily understand that we are running a sale!

When asked to profile a successful social community, first thing that comes to mind is the clothing brand “TheHundreds.” I was very intrigued about what this brand was doing when i was about 13 years old. It did not seem like any other brand that you would find at the mall or local hip clothing store. The community behind TheHundreds was far built further than most through blogs, pictures, and the culture of Los Angeles youth. I consider them to be true and original for the concept behind their branding. What started out as a small office/store on Rosewood off of Fairfax Ave, turned into a clubhouse or social hotspot for the local kids. You don’t support Thehundreds just because you like the clothes, you support it because you like why they are doing it. The community was involved, for example: skateboarding, graffiti, surfing, etc. Thehundreds built a brand where they told stories through the apparel, which a community can relate too. This makes the social community successful because the popularity of the store grew tremendously. Fairfax Ave is known to hold the best streetwear brands to this day: Supreme, Diamond, HUF, thehundreds, etc. It sort of became a landmark to anyone who is slightly into streetwear. I can suggest tactics that include social gatherings to get the word out to people who may have never heard of thehundreds. Im not saying handing out free shirts at a college like what i do haha, but I’m referring to maybe doing lectures to the fashion majors at UCLA. That would give off motivation to the students as well as bring in support to the brand. I could apply this awareness to my client strategy by really getting in depth into the stories of the blog that I use on cleverfoolsclothing.com. The true supporters of my brand like to read up on how the brand Clever Fools is doing. Giving them behind the scenes tidbits of the brand will intrigue them to be more supportive! Or less supportive! LOL

My objectives from my “DO” item mainly focus on building a strong team that supports the idea of Clever Fools all day, everyday! This group would be able to increase the word of mouth about the brand within local colleges (where my target audience is!), local venues/stores, and their social media profiles. I recommend building a team that focus on one platform instead of it being sprawled out. Two-three people work and spread the word on facebook, then 2-3 people focus on instagram output, then twitter, etc…You get the picture. I want it to be an organized structure where people only have access to the platform I give them. I think this will work with the audience I’m engaging with because the teams I would build will be in the same demographic as my audience. The content will math their life-style, and reflect on what they like and dislike!

That video from Simon Sinek’s was really interesting! It made me change my way of thinking. I thing I will use one of his quotes for a media caption tonight. He basically told us that great leaders think differently than everyone else. Their logic is reversed. Instead telling an audience what you can buy, how you make it, and why you make; he states that great leaders tell you why they believe, here is how it works, and this is what we offer. The whole idea is to sell not to everyone, but to people with the same belief. That is your target audience.

Mission Statement:

Why: I believe owning a street wear brand must have culture and a story behind the name. I own a street wear brand that the streets wear the brand. Think about it.

How: People find out about my clothing brand through the street advertisement (fliers, banners, stickers, etc.)

What: We sell clothing that tell stories of our brand that you can relate too. (t-shirts, hats, hoodies)

Social Media Strategy:

To start off, I need to set goals for my LinkedIn and my blog. An easy goal I had was to make sure all the information is flawless and properly laid out. No one likes to review anything without a pattern or guide to follow. For my LinkedIn, I need to update that Clever Fools is in three stores now, not two. I want to add a brief description why our products meet the standards and exceptions of their customers. The metrics I would use are page views and performance of the site.

Those are just some of the metrics I would use. I would need to create a social media audit to find out how effective my blog and LinkedIn are. I will then organize leaders and establish rights to users that run the accounts for Clever Fools.

There is always room for improvement. No matter what. Content for my social media profiles is on the top of the list. I am not cool with posting a crappy photo that rains on the idea your chasing after. A brand must have a specific direction. They will meet that culture and way of direction by being involved in the scene. Doing footwork pretty much. Putting yourself out there to see your target audience react to particular methods of advertising. I wouldn’t say copy what other brands your audience is fond of, but to mimic style and make the idea yours. Take a concept and build off of it to make it yours. On the linkedIn account, I could put that Threadbeast has shown strong interest with Clever Fools. ThreadBeast deals with national streetwear brands that are carried by nearly every mall. To say that they think my product is up to those standards is quite impressive.

Also, I would create a schedule on how to manage the blog and the LinkedIn page. Therefore creating a timeline of content that shows the users that we are always pursuing the idea behind Clever Fools. Testing my marketing strategies and evaluating if more conversions or views from the LinkedIn andblog would be next

I updated my LinkedIn by saying Im in three stores now! For Facebook, I was able to schedule and post a picture through hoot suite instead of the personal account I use to use. For Twitter, I posted a couple more tweets to engage more audience.

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Hello blog readers! So far I have set up a numerous amount of social media accounts for my client, Clever Fools. I own the brand so it easy and interesting on seeing which programs work the best for my targeted demographic. I want to create a social media strategy that helps build a stronger connection to the users that look Clever Fools up.

I need to set goals for the future of my social media problems. I need to reach a certain amount of people each month to know that I’m staying consistent and truly care about putting products out there for the consumers. A checklist is a simple way I could improve when and how I should post my photos or statuses. Also, I must really make sure I know the audience I am trying to reach. Their behavior, habits, places of interests, etc. I think the consumer would rather buy from someone who they feel they can share an interest with. For example, a skateboarder would most likely buy from a Skateshop because there is culture behind that, going to Walmart to buy a skateboard does not give the same justice. Setting goals is not the only thing I need to work on.

Google analytics offers great ways to filter the audience I am reaching. I can limit the region and source feature where it’s coming from. I can find out where will my product fit the best. I can research that person to see their characteristics. What others brand do they like? What area of the city do they live in? But I must understand the competitors around me. Focusing on the patterns of the other successful businesses is a good idea. You can try to forecast trends that are one step above the competitors.

Next, I would like to build content that is really appealing to the users that follow my brand. I don’t like posting photos that are plain and feature no lifestyle of the brand. People do not actively like a post or retweet a post because its just a shirt on the counter. I like posting photos with people rocking the shirts in a youthful city culture. If users comment, I plan not to leave them hanging. People do not like to be ignored. I will make sure i interact with the users that follow us. Tracking these posts and analytics will be hard, but I believe I can improve the brand image by making these few changes! m

So to start off this post… I switched my clients. Instead of doing the surf shop I decided to do myself. Just because it would be easier to navigate my own data then the surf shop. I recreated my youtube channel, and posted one video of the guerrilla marketing we do with Clever Fools. It had about 400 views in the first 2-3 days when I uploaded it the first time. I think people either love or hate the advertisement around Kansas City. I also created a twitter, I should have a long time ago. Updated a few quick things on the Facebook page, as well as linked my Facebook to my Instagram. I deleted some of my more unprofessional posts, when I first started my Instagram. They were kind of cheesy, cleaned it up a bit. I could see myself implementing all media social medias at the same. Posting on all social medias through a software is much more easier then logging in and uploading to each on individually. I think over the semester I will learn how to control and stay consistent on rich and valuable content.

I think being an active engagement user is important. This strategy makes the consumers or followers feel important or special. Who doesn’t like to special right? Proactive engagement is cool too! You want to search for the people that have mentioned you before. A simple like or comment on their stuff means a lot sometimes! People like to be included! Hoot suite offers a lot of tips and tools to better your photos and style of your profiles.