I decided to post my last blog about the company I work for and their current social media strategies. I also wanted to write about possible ways they can appeal to a wider demographic to potential gain a stronger following and increase sales across the board. The company I work for is Arhaus, which is a high-end furniture and home lifestyle store. The company has been around for 30 years and continues to grow nationwide, opening several new stores and warehouses each year. The beauty of Arhaus is that not only is the quality top notch but also when you walk into a store it’s very visually pleasing to the eye and has a creative atmosphere. Over the years the company has continued to grow, mainly due to new stores as well as their social media and marketing. Arhaus currently uses Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to showcase their product and ads to people from all over the country. They do a wonderful job when it comes to providing stunning photos of their furniture and accessories. Majority of our business comes from people seeing marketing e-mails and checking their Facebook and Instagram feed of new product and pictures.

I am very passionate about Arhaus and want it to continue to grow and increase the success it already has received. I do see some ways that the company is lacking social media wise and think with just a few changes the business could grow so much more. I would love to see Arhaus post more YouTube videos featuring product but also showing how things are created. Quality is one of the most important things to Arhaus and by showing product demonstration videos and telling the stories behind the creation of their product, I think this would really grab the attention to more customers. Romancing the product is a key selling point and sometimes just by showing and talking about the history, creation or where the piece was discovered in the world, could make the difference between someone choosing to buy it or not. Also, with the Arhaus Instagram I think they do a great job already with beautiful photos of furniture and home spaces but I do think it could be even better. Instead of focusing just on residential areas I think Arhaus could branch out more into commercial as well. We have some beautiful office, bedroom, dining and living furniture that could look great in hotels, restaurants and offices. This could be a major benefit to the company and really increase popularity and sales. Also, with Instagram and Facebook the company could do more contests and incentives to help gain more customers and followers. One of the things I enjoy that we promote through Instagram is take a selfie with furniture. We have signs in our store a couple times a year and whomever takes the most fun and creative selfie with that piece of furniture wins it! This seems to bring a lot more customers in and I think the potential is huge if we built off of that idea and did more throughout the year. Snapchat is something that we currently don’t use but with the growing popularity of the app I think this would be another great addition to Arhaus marketing. Arhaus could post short clips and behind the scenes of the company such as retail store employees, warehouse workers and even corporate office. Show how much fun we have and the young, vibrant feel for the company. I think this would be a great marketing strategy to bring a younger demographic in of first time home buyers and young businesses.

Social media plays such a huge role in advertising and marketing which we’ve learned a lot about throughout the semester, especially doing our client projects. When working on my client project this semester it made me think of how we focused on small/local businesses that even the major corporate level businesses could also gain a lot from the strategies and things we did for our client’s small business. With social media constantly expanding and new networks popping up daily, it’s important for all businesses to take advantage of what’s out there and continue to grow from the advantages of social media.

Over the course of this semester, I’ve learned so many things about my social media presence and how to improve my social media brand overall. Some of the main social media networks I use are Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram. These are the networks I use the most and the ones I’ve decided to reflect about. I never knew how important social media is in today’s society and job market and that they’re not just for entertainment and connecting with friends but also a great way to connect with future employers. Your social media can really play a major role in determining your future career and employer as businesses do look at these and are a first impression of you.

 LinkedIn is probably the most popular social media network when it comes to employers and companies seeking future candidates for positions with their business. Before this semester I really didn’t use LinkedIn for anything but an extra social media network I connected with friends and coworkers. Now I’ve posted a more professional looking profile that shows my work and education history in a clear and simple format. I believe that a profile that is simple and to the point but yet showing some specific information and details is what employers want. If your social media page or profile is loaded with tons of information, photos and postings then people may not take the time to look through and find the important things about you. Also, my profile image is just a nice photo of myself, not with friends, pets or eating food. This portrays a more professional image of yourself. The challenges I faced with cleaning out my LinkedIn profile and starting fresh was that I wasn’t sure where to begin. I basically erased everything and started fresh, which really helped me declutter and put the focus on myself. Now my LinkedIn profile is to the point and makes it easy for coworkers, companies and potential employers to see me and my professional background. Since doing this, I’ve noticed a large increase in LinkedIn profile views as well as professional connections. It seems as though my LinkedIn is being seen by more people and the more my connections grow the more people I potentially can connect with.

Facebook and Instagram are really for more of an entertainment use and way I keep connected to friends and family. I have made a few changes though and improved some things on both social media networks. Facebook I’ve had for 10+ years and I still use it daily. It’s my number one source for posting photos, comments and updates with friends and family as well as seeing what’s going on in the world. What I’ve done in terms of my Facebook network is that I’ve been more cautious of my postings and watching things that I post and share because once I post it’s out there for the world to see. I’ve never posted anything extremely horrible or bad but I’ve tried to be more professional and adult. I’ve realized that when I post, comment or share content that these could potential damage my brand and people could judge me in a negative way because of these. Also, I’ve been more careful on who I connect with and become friends with. I think it’s so much more manageable and easy to keep your connections and friends as just that and not to add several people that you don’t know or have a friendship with. Of course Facebook is a great way to meet new people but I don’t have to add everyone as a friend. This was my greatest challenge, going through and removing people I’ve never spoken with and filtering through friends that I actually have a friendship and connection with. Now I’ve noticed that I’m able to focus more on the people important to me and connect with quality people over quantity. Instagram is really just a fun social media app that I use to post photos and connect with friends and see what my friends, family and favorites companies and celebrities are posting. Before this semester I posted pictures of whatever and really didn’t think much of it. Now after learning new strategies of social media and branding, I’ve really made Instagram an outlet of posting photos of myself with friends and family instead of pointless items and things. I’ve gained more followers and liked images because of this. I really didn’t experience any challenges but noticed a big difference over the course of this semester with my Instagram account. By posting more quality images and experiences I’ve been able to connect with new friends and networks.

          This past semester has been both exciting and educational in terms of social media branding. I’ve learned several new techniques and strategies that have made improvements in all of my social media networks. It’s also been a great way to declutter my life and have a fresh start. I’ve felt that with the changes made to my social media networks based on what I’ve learned this past semester, I’ve grown my social media and myself into a young adult and put my high school social media times behind.

My client already has an active social media networking strategy and uses many different accounts such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. I think as far as the future goes for MASC and future employees, the more interactive the better. As mentioned on previous blogs the guys at MASC already do a great job with their social media networks and try to create an interactive atmosphere for their employees and customers. Since MASC is primarily an online retail store, it’s important for them to take advantage of all social media outlets since majority of their customers cannot physically come into their retail store to touch and feel the products. MASC does an amazing job with their “Masc Minute” videos on YouTube and they post links to them on their Facebook, Instagram and Twitter accounts so no one misses out on them.

The internal approach now and going forward into the future for MASC is to continue being as interactive as possible with videos and images. Make sure that future employee’s have the same passion that Jamie and Patrick, the founders of shop MASC have for men’s health and skincare. Their enthusiasm and energy will come across through videos and social media and will help grow the brand and increase customers and sales. The more interactive that MASC can be the better!

ShopMASC Client Report

It’s been such a great experience working with my client MASC and the guys who started it Jamie and Patrick. I’ve learned so much and hope to have helped them with continuing to grow their business and promote their products and expertise in the world of men’s skincare and grooming 🙂