Week 12B Business Specific Tools

 I am still unable to comment with my blogger account. 

I read the first four blog posts on the class link and I think, in general we all decided to go the same path and use similar took. The biggest difference, by far, is what type of business and the effects the tools have. My proposed business is a non profit so I’d keep my usage to a minimum across the board in order to keep costs low. 

Businesses that are based around making sales will focus on things like rating sites, whereas someone in my position could use review sites as well to pass along the good word about experiences we provide. 

Week 12A Using Business Specific Online Tools

 In a business class last semester I had to create a full business plan as a continuous final project and one section of that was creating a Google identity. One tool not listed, but that I used and would be very helpful is Google Voice. Its important to have a dedicated business line, however immediately buying a new phone/phone line isn’t always feasible for a business. Google Voice is a great way to have a second dedicated line. 

The next took would be the Good Business Services where you can post your business profile. Not only can you get your full information out, advertise your website, and collect reviews but you can tract metrics about search and return data. 

Google Maps is a great tool, linked to a business profile, where your business will show up when a location is viewed on Google Maps. It also allows you to be included, by radius, in search results for certain types of businesses or keywords. 

There are Google Reviews, and they are super useful to show the customer feedback about your business. Outside sites like Yelp are great for the same reason. 

Week 11B Marketing With Other Social Media

 Blogger will let me log in to post, but when I attempt to comment it says my profile can’t be verified and to please contact Google services. 

Week 11A Marketing With Twitter and More

 Personally, I already use LinkdIn, however as a nonprofit business I would choose to do the same! LinkdIn has been really wonderful for connecting with my coworkers thus being able to connect with others who share similar career paths and thoughts about the career sphere of my life. Its also a very professional atmosphere so you don’t have to worry about the issues you face with Twitter and TikTok environments. 

As a nonprofit, LinkdIn would be an amazing way to connect with other nonprofit workers, executives, and creators. I also feel that it would be a professional environment to foster a relationship with and connect with potential investors. On this platform there is also a much higher resource of career oriented articles, knowledge, and discussion. 

More casual social media like Twitter and Tik Tok foster great customer engagement if you need exposure and sales. To a degree its good PR for a non-profit, but overall I don’t think professional and needed connections can be made as easily those ways. 

In conclusion - I plan on building my LinkdIn presence and eventually using it more full time if I decide to start a non profit at some point. 

Week 10A Researching Email Marketing

 I would definitely have a business newsletter go out monthly! With social media and the way businesses can connect now, I feel like a weekly newsletter would be a bit overboard and dry. However, I would use a monthly newsletter to update followers on the biggest events of the month, highlight big upcoming news, and share a wrap up of sorts for the month. 

Biggest Events of the Month could cover the biggest posts we shared, what special events were done, or highlight special things we did that month. 

Big Upcoming News would be a great way to show off whats coming, garner interest for projects, ask for donations, get volunteers, and connect with followers who may be interested in participating if possible. 

Wrap Ups would cover the general feeling of the month, update on donation goals, share thoughts from volunteers, the business, and those who got help. 

Week 9B Using Categories

 The categories I would use for my blog (the most probable useful avenue of these options for me) would be Activities, Daily, Donations, and Outreach. 

Activities: I would use this category to organize posts that detail the needed materials, instructions, and tips/tricks about different activities that we do. Think of it as a how-to or tutorial section where followers can do some of the projects we are. 

Daily: Daily looks into what activities were done, any day to day updates. This is a large category that would cover daily or every other day posts. 

Donations: This would be a way to thank people or companies who make donations and show whats helping us grow!

Outreach: This would be a category to highlight volunteers and the people receiving our services.  

We would be able to grow followers who want to do our projects, who want to volunteer, and who enjoy following our progress!

Week 9A Blogs, Vlogs, and Webinars

 I think that a personal touch should be added when delving into subject matter that is trying to create a personal or emotional connection with the reader. I don’t think that personal touches are inappropriate for business postings as long as its moderated and used appropriately. I would be much more apt to trust a business if I felt like I was personally connected with them. 

For my business, I think it would be a great way to bring people into our non-profit and get them engaged with our mission and even potentially volunteering or donating! This personal touch would also be helpful in spreading the word of what we do and would be really helpful in engaging with social media audiences. I’m not sure I think there is any business that wouldn’t be helped by being more personable in their social media. During the early stages of the pandemic health and science businesses shared personal stories to get their message across. Banks can highlight the families and small businesses they help.