SOCIAL  MEDIA  MARKETING  EVALUATION  

Dr.  Atkins  –  ENG  496   Jenny  Peed   Matthew  Sherdan   Letha  Woolard  

SOCIAL  MEDIA  MARKETING  EVALUATION   EXECUTIVE  SUMMARY   For this report our team evaluated several aspects of the social media marketing efforts of Coastal Cupcakes. We analyzed the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of your business’s marketing patterns. First, the Web 1.0 platform was analyzed. Coastal Cupcakes uses the Web 1.0 site www.coastalcupcakes.com. The website is easily found online, and has an appropriate URL for the business. The biggest strength of this platform is that there is a functioning website. However, many changes can be made to improve the functionality and visual appeal of the site. Visually, the site is cluttered and has way too many colors to make it appealing. A sleeker, more simple design without the large brown borders along the side and the ornate toolbar would be more appropriate. Fixing the issues with the web addresses on the secondary pages, and keeping the news links up to date would also be beneficial to your business. All of these recommendations can be found in more detail in the supplementary report below. Second, the multiple social media platforms were analyzed. The biggest strength of the Web 2.0 platform is the Facebook page, which is personalized and kept up-to-date. However, it lacks photos of the storefront, staff members and customers, which could add to the personal feel. Also, the Web 2.0 presence is severely lacking on other sites, like Twitter and Instagram. The bio on the Coastal Cupcakes Instagram is not interesting, or informative, and there have been no post updates in months. There are a few strengths with the company Twitter account, but the weaknesses of lack of followers and promotion far outweigh them. Focusing on two Web 2.0 sites, specifically Facebook and Instagram could significantly improve the success of the business. Finally, the search engine optimization of Coastal Cupcakes was analyzed. Specifically, we used Google’s guide to search engine optimization as a reference for our analysis. Both social media marketing and the website’s construction (Web 1.0) were looked at to determine our findings. We studied SEO basics such as the use of keywords within the company’s website construction, and the use of creative content across social media platforms and the website. Whether or not the website is ‘findable’ by Google’s web crawlers, or ‘bots’, and the website’s compatibility are the primary considerations in these findings. Finally, this SEO report makes recommendations on ways the company can improve results and boost site traffic. All of these findings and recommendations can be found in the supplementary report below. Our final recommendations to improve your business’s social media marketing are to redesign and resolve the issues with the Web 1.0 website, focus Web 2.0 efforts on Facebook and Instagram, use an index to organize content making the site more user friendly and navigable, and correct html, keyword text and html tags that will make the business easier to find for bots and users.

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TABLE  OF  CONTENTS   Web 1.0 ............................................................................................................................... 4   Strengths ......................................................................................................................... 4   Weaknesses ..................................................................................................................... 4   Social media ........................................................................................................................ 4   Facebook ......................................................................................................................... 4   Twitter ............................................................................................................................. 5   Instagram......................................................................................................................... 5   Social Media Search Engine Optimization ......................................................................... 6   Strengths ......................................................................................................................... 6   Weaknesses ..................................................................................................................... 6   Keywords, Website, and Content SEO ............................................................................... 7   Strengths ......................................................................................................................... 7   Weaknesses ..................................................................................................................... 7   S.W.O.T. Summary ............................................................................................................. 8   Strengths ......................................................................................................................... 8   Weaknesses ..................................................................................................................... 8   Opportunities................................................................................................................... 9   Threats............................................................................................................................. 9   Final Recommendations...................................................................................................... 9  

 

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WEB  1.0   Strengths   The biggest strengths with the Coastal Cupcakes website is that it is easy to find, and functions fairly well. It is clear that the website is associated with the Coastal Cupcakes business in downtown Wilmington, NC, and the website features a “Home” section with general updates about the business, like new products. The “Menu” and “Gallery” pages feature decent quality pictures of the products and events where they have been featured. The address, phone number and store hours are easy to find on the site, and there is a link to the business’s Facebook page, which is kept up to date. Weaknesses   However, there are many weaknesses associated with the Web 1.0 site. First, there is no consistency with fonts, colors, or overall website design. Nearly every page features multiple different typefaces, in different colors and sizes. Second, the overall design of the page is not visually appealing. The main heading bar featuring the business logo is fine, but contrasts too starkly with the toolbar beneath, and the dark brown spaces along the edges of the page. These dark spaces serve no purpose, and waste space that could be filled with content. Third, the home page is overall too long. The user has to scroll too far down to see all of the content, much of which is repeated on other pages. Having a simple homepage with a sleeker design would be more beneficial for the user. Fourth, the “News” page of the site has not been kept up to date. The most recent news article was posted over two years ago. Finally, not every page link is consistent. When the user clicks on the link titled “Shop,” it brings up a page about weddings, with the URL “coastalcupcakes.com/weddings.” The toolbar labels need to be consistent with the pages they are connected to.

SOCIAL  MEDIA   Coastal Cupcakes has three Social Media or Web 2.0 accounts: Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. After analyzing all three accounts, we have divided up each account into their overall strength and weaknesses. Facebook   There are several strengths associated with the Facebook presence of Coastal Cupcakes. They have a logo of a cupcake that is simple and outlined in blue, representing both cupcakes and the coast. They incorporate this logo into their cover photo along with the name of the company. They post more frequently on Facebook than they do on their other accounts and have 6,927 people (currently) that “like” their page. Unlike their Instagram, they post a larger variety of pictures and content. They recently had a “cupcake and wine pairing” with “The Fortunate Glass,” which shows they are active members in the area’s small business community. They also have posted their new “flavor rotation” for each week, and we found a post about the owner closing the bakery earlier this year, but is now back by customer demand. If someone makes a comment, Coastal Cupcakes is quick to respond and tag the individual. Their Facebook page feels 4

like a more personalized atmosphere than their other accounts. There are quite a few comments with direct responses from Coastal Cupcakes showing that their business is trying to engage with their customers directly. The Coastal Cupcakes Facebook also has several weaknesses. Some of their posts are random, for example, on February 16th they posted “Hope everyone is able to get out and enjoy this absolutely beautiful day!” –which is very positive, but there is no accompanying picture of “the day,” the shop, or the cupcakes. In fact, there are no photos of the shop, and as customers, we would like a visual of that downtown atmosphere. Additionally, we would like to see who the faces are behind the cupcakes. When getting a dessert you want to feel welcomed and excited, and their Facebook lacks in showing the viewer the experience. Additionally, there are no photos or albums of these parties or gettogethers they have. Twitter   Strengths of the Coastal Cupcakes Twitter account can also be identified. Their Twitter is consistent with the same cupcake logo and their blue background lends to their overall theme. There is a link to their Web 1.0 site and they have a good amount of tweets (2,140) and a good amount of followers (2,333). They have pictures on their Twitter that are not on their Facebook or Instagram, which is good for their social media content diversity. They have been on Twitter since 2008 showing that their company has been on social media for a good amount of time. They provide a link to their Facebook with almost every post, unless it’s a post with a photo link. Weaknesses can also be found on the Twitter. They post the same content as their Facebook and do not retweet anything except for “promoted tweets” which appear to be ads. They do not have any "likes" or retweets. They only follow 226 people and have only “liked” 26 other accounts. We do see how their Twitter account is benefiting the company in any major way. Instagram   We believe that having an Instagram account is a strength in itself. It’s extremely important for this business to have an Instagram since it would truly showcase Coastal Cupcakes and could give them the potential to be the “vacation destination” or “local shop” that they should be. They have made a recent post, which is good because their last post was in September of 2015 (perhaps this lacked a bit when the owner closed the shop) so it’s good that their account is back and in action. They use the same logo as their profile picture as they have on their other accounts, which keeps it consistent and makes them easy to recognize. They have a link to their Web 1.0 in their “bio” and have a decent amount of followers (433) and their cupcakes look appetizing in their photos. There are also weaknesses with the Instagram account. Overall their account is not what it should be. Out of the three accounts, Instagram should be Coastal Cupcake’s goto for posting, sharing, and gaining as many followers as possible. There is a lot of competition in the area, both in downtown Wilmington and the surrounding areas, such as: Britt’s Donuts in Carolina Beach, Gigi’s Cupcakes, and WakeNBake Donuts, which has almost 7,000 followers. The account lacks personality compared to their competition. There aren’t pictures of customers, there are no contests (which most business take advantage of on IG to interact with customers) and there are no hashtags! Their posts are 5

few and far between. During the month of May, 2015 they only posted once. Their biggest weakness could be their “bio” because it simply states their location and that is all. It is not inviting and does not give any individuality to their business. Overall their account is inconsistent and more time and effort should be put into their Instagram if they want their business to reach its full potential.

SOCIAL  MEDIA  SEARCH  ENGINE  OPTIMIZATION   Strengths   They have pages or accounts on four of the ‘major’ social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Google +. Social media is connected through the website using a Facebook feed allowing visitors to connect with them. Users can ‘like’ the business on Facebook through the site, which will help their digital word of mouth and drive their popularity while improving their SEO. They post roughly one to two times per week on both Twitter and Facebook, which is recommended. Coastal Cupcakes is on G+, which is vital to small local business and their SEO. G+ will automatically improve search results in Google Places, which provides users with all the local businesses in a location and places them on Google Maps and Locations. The company yields favorable search results in Google Places as they often rank in the top ten when certain keywords are queried in a search. As a result, users who Google them can easily find the business when searching for local businesses. Weaknesses   Overall, the company lacks a cohesiveness between their social media marketing and their website. The site allows users to connect on Facebook, but that is the only social media platform that the website is connected with. This negatively affects SEO in that users can’t easily follow them on Twitter, G+, or Instagram, and would have to go out of their way to do so. These social media accounts aren’t linked with one another, which also impacts SEO. When the company makes announcements on Twitter, they tweet links to the information on their Facebook page instead of their website. This is costing their SEO since Twitter followers aren’t visiting their site when they click these links, but instead are just viewing the same info on their Facebook page. Moreover, their Twitter profile bio offers only one link and that’s back to the website, so it doesn’t offer a link to their Facebook page. This is a glaring inconsistency in their social media marketing techniques since they tweet links to the Facebook page and not the website, but then only offer a link to the site and not the Facebook page. This lack of organization can confuse users or followers which negatively impacts SEO and website traffic. This of course can ultimately lead to a loss in revenue. The business isn’t on Pinterest or LinkedIn, which are two important community building social media platforms that help connect the brand with customers. This is undoubtedly a detriment to their SEO and search results. With items and niche products like decorative cupcakes, they should most certainly be on Pinterest since that’s a popular

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social media platform for sharing creative products and connecting with similar types of businesses that offer similar products and services.

KEYWORDS,  WEBSITE,  AND  CONTENT  SEO   Strengths   To start, the website is designed and managed by an outside company which specializes in digital marketing and branding. This is recommended for many smaller businesses just starting out and trying to build a market and improve the popularity of a brand. Google analytics are used to monitor SEO. The webmaster has embedded an analytics code across the website which allows them to track traffic and ultimately determine the best strategies to employ. Keywords are used in the right ways for most pages and various html tags. Search results are generally favorable when their keywords are queried. They often times appear near the top of a search engine results page (SERP) when a user is searching for keyword terms such as ‘cupcakes’ and ‘bakery’ with Wilmington NC set as the location. The terms that yield the best search results include the following: • Cupcakes – 2nd • Wedding Cakes – 4th • Desserts – 8th • Wedding Desserts – 4th Coastal Cupcakes is findable with these keywords since most appear in their webpage URLs and page titles. These descriptive keywords in URLs help with SEO by making it easier for the Google bot to find and index the website. This has boosted the business’s page rankings on search queries. The website also does well keeping the page titles under the recommended 60 characters, and their html