Cryptobloc

Cryptobloc is a startup that wants to utilize blockchain technology to make trading easy and accessible. The site sums up Cryptobloc in their vision statement:

"To provide an open source, decentralized, social trading and investment platform that has an integrated marketplace where plugins such as financial indicators, trading strategies, exchanges, wallets, etc can be offered underpaid or free licenses and installed right from the app itself." 

The site www.cryptobloc.io is clearly new and largely underdeveloped. The site provides the premise of the tool but provides no means to engage with it. It feels like the site is more of an idea than a tangible, active company. Even in the early stages, it is vital to include some means of connection so that people who happened to reach the site can remain interested. In addition, while the buzz of bitcoin and blockchain remain, it is important to maximize on the opportunity to reel in potential customers.

An immediate plan for Cryptobloc, as a startup, would be to gain prospects. The best line of action for the company is to attach social media platforms to the site. This way as the company develops and expands, interested users can follow along.  There is a "news" tab on the site but access is allowed only with signups to the newsletter. Instead, the company should write and share news via Blogger or WordPress. It would also be interesting and serve as a source of legitimacy if the creators or employees wrote published articles on different journalism sites like Washinton Post or the Entrepreneur. Posting to sites like will also attract new target users and customers.

The company should create a twitter account first and foremost. Twitter would be best to engage people interested in Cyptobloc's platform and mission. Twitter works best for instant news sharing and quickly developing and changing topics like blockchain. The company should engage with leaders in the field in order to gain greater exposure.  Facebook will be the best site to utilize for paid marketing. Not only is Facebook proven for better monetary ROI but also because Cryptobloc may just find a large portion of its target on Facebook. It is true that Facebook is leaning towards an older audience, which is why the startup's desire for ease and access to trading will appeal to them. The company should post app tutorials and photos of the company here as well. In addition, creating a company profile on LinkedIn is a great place to attract serious customers because of the mature environment it creates.

Social Media Analytics

Techopedia accurately defines social media analytics stating :

• "Social media analytics (SMA) refers to the approach of collecting data from social media sites and blogs and evaluating that data to make business decisions. This process goes beyond the usual monitoring or a basic analysis of retweets or "likes" to develop an in-depth idea of the social consumer. Social media is a good medium to understand real-time consumer choices, intentions, and sentiments. The most prevalent application of social media analytics is to get to know the customer base on a more emotional level to help better target customer service and marketing."

Social Media Analytics relies on the use of various key performance indicators. These numeric metrics help measure the effectiveness of social media. Primary aspects to monitor are audience size, audience profile, reach and engagement, traffic, content analysis, community responsiveness, competitor benchmarking, and sentiment analysis. Here are some useful metrics that companies widely use today:

Recommended Tools to Use:

• Platform-Based: Facebook Insights,  Twitter analytics, Pinterest Analytics, Instagram Insights
• Management Tools: Hootsuite, SproutSocial, Agorapulse
• Solely Analytics Software: Simply measured, Rival IQ, Quintly Google Analytics

Tools like these allow companies to gather and monitor data. This data is then analyzed and made into a report. Reports are given to decision makers that can make the calls on where to improve, continue on, or stop efforts. This allows effective decisions to be made that can be supported by meaningful data.

Hootsuite Basics

Successful social media, as mentioned by Professor Todd Kelsey, is dependent on content. This is why it is important for social media marketers to produce content that will attract, engage, and retain their target market. While a tool like Hootsuite cannot automatically curate meaningful content, it can effectively manage it. Hootsuite is a social media management platform. It allows users or companies to integrate up to 35 social media accounts into a single space. This allows for ease and efficiency when utilizing various networks. The dashboard allows for scheduling, content curation, monitoring, and analytics. HootSuite has products that amplify or boost follower counts, provide insight into current audiences, and prove ROI impact of social media efforts.

Hootsuite is also helpful when attempting social listening. Social listening involves figuring out what others are thinking and saying about a company and its social media. You can use a feature called GEOFILTER to see what Twitter users nearby are saying about a company, within a 50-mile radius, for instance. The tool essentially uses keywords to search for tweets then filters out anyone farther than the stated distance. Another similar feature is the location stream option. This allows users to see who is posting what content within a specific location, like in the corporate building or international store. The location stream and geofilter are beneficial because they allow companies to assess what people in closest proximity feel and express about the company.

Often companies will initially post regularly, especially during important product launches or events, then slowly quiet down. The scheduler feature is probably the most helpful management tool on the platform. The Bulk Composer feature allows up to 350 posts to be prematurely created then published on a predetermined day. The Hootlet Chrome extension allows you to post short content instantly and without directly accessing the Hootsuite dashboard. All posts can be read through calendar view, which provides a visual to ensure proper dates will have postings. Ultimately, the schedule feature enables users to create content ahead of time, especially for days like Women's Day or Holidays like Christmas. This organizes postings, ensures uniformity across accounts, and inhibits gaps in social media activity.

Overall, Hootsuite is an established company that provides a unique service. While a single user or a small company may not find massive benefit in a platform like this, a large company with a greater reach and more social media accounts will find Hootsuite and companies like it indispensable.

Facebook Ads

Facebook ads are helpful in reaching different markets. It is important to understand all types of ads in order to gain optimal exposure. Here are the primary types of ads:

Link Click Ads: These ads are by far the most common and are effective in gaining likes. They typically contain a headline, 90 character ad copy text, and an image. Link click ads, like the name suggests, point to a landing page on a website or blog. These ads have the farthest reach including the right column, Instagram, mobile, and desktop newsfeed platforms.
Video Ads: These ads are essentially like link click ads except they feature a video. These videos can be continuously looping. The best performing ads, however, are typically short at 15-20 seconds long.
Boosted Page Posts: All posts made on a Facebook page can be boosted for around $5. Posts can have unlimited ad copy texts and will read "sponsored" at the top when they appear in users feeds. This is a newer go-to-method because target markets and bidding amounts can be customized.

Carousel Ads: This type of ad displays rotating images (up to 10) and an ad copy text of 90 characters. This ad is super helpful when trying to promote multiple products at one time. For instance, a new line of summer clothing can be advertised perfectly with this method.
Dynamic Product Ads: These ads essentially focus on remarketing. They heavily target users based on previous websites visited and actions. These ads require a product catalog and Facebook does the remarketing automatically.
Lead Ads:  Allow users to download an ebook or sign up for an email without leaving Facebook. This is perfect for gaining and attracting new users.
Collection Ads: These ads allow for quick, immersive mobile shopping experience because they directly display products/ apparel from a website. These ads are very limited in characters and only visible on mobile devices.

For more ads types and information on Facebook marketing, I highly recommend checking out this guide: https://adespresso.com/guides/facebook-ads-beginner/

Introduction to Social Media Marketing

According to the Massachusetts Dartmouth Center for Marketing Research, 77% of Millenials purchase something online or in-store after seeing it on Facebook. This statistic exemplifies the power of social media marketing. Product and brand exposure is built through promotion to social media users. This is essentially the role of digital marketing: to create awareness of products or services through consumer engagement. Companies use advertisements, contests, social/news reactions, videos and spotlights to grab attention. The goal is to create or post content that will be the most interesting and relevant to your target audience. Different tools can be used to access differing markets, for instance, Instagram is great for targeting travelers or foodies, while LinkedIn is vital for connecting with other businesses.

One sound piece of information from the book Introduction to Social Media Marketing is that the digital age is ever-shifting. What is relevant today, may not be relevant tomorrow. However, understanding the basics of certain solid platforms like Youtube or Twitter is an important baseline. Newer technology and spaces will inevitably emerge. It is always beneficial to approach social media with a learning attitude in order to constantly improve and stay up-to-date. For example, according to the Data and Marketing Association, Snapchat is now the fourth most used social media platform for brands, overtaking even Twitter. Facebook, however, is currently still number one!

Social media interaction has inevitably led to qualitative improvement for companies. However, the DMA has noted that "measuring ROI from social media marketing was ranked as the top challenge that marketers faced in 2016".  While this may be a current challenge, there are a growing number of internal and third-party tools that can help gauge quantitative success. For instance, HootSuite, Google Analytics, and Buffer are a few that are becoming more widely utilized.

https://thedma.org/marketing-insights/marketing-statistics/social-media-marketing-statistics/

Social Media

Today, social media has been revolutionary in shifting the way people view the world. The world has become a smaller place with trends, ideas, products, movements, and news being constantly exchanged effortlessly through the world. For the business world, this platform is an incredible way to connect to and access all stakeholders. Social media is powerful to companies because at its core is relationship building. People can now have genuine interactions with brands that they are personally interested in. When companies respond to user outreach, it shows that a consumer's voice is not only being heard but also being listened to. 

Of course, social media has plenty of other perks. At a baseline, it is a free tool that can be utilized to whatever strength required. Social media drives traffic to sites, creates brand recognition, builds brand loyalty, and ultimately increases sales. Sites like Twitter, Snapchat, Facebook, and Instagram are leading the industry. It is vital that any company that would like to stay relevant and connect with their target audience understand social media and how to market through it. Here is a new infographic from Hootsuite with some 2017 statistics.