Denny's exceptional social media?

Denny's, the 24/7 dinner is using social media in the most hilarious way, and it is effective. They are creating a very unique voice for there company to use in social media. That voice is a weird quirky offbeat, and it is working in there favor. Utilizing all form of major social media having a large following on sites such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and the one I hear the most about, Tumblr. The way I think they are so effective is the content they put out, across all the sites carries the same voice. Though sometimes they just recycle content they generally do a great job of customizing for the platform they are using. On top of putting out fresh, fun content constantly, they also don't bombard there followers with right hook after right hook. Often hiding there right hook amongst there funny quirky humor. I also think they do a great job of communicating and listening to their followers.  Though there is stuff they can be doing better the main ones I see are things like never putting there logo on any photos, out of context they might be hard to recognize as Denny's photos. They also have a problem with hashtags, on Tumblr they use too many hashtags, but on twitter they don't use any. Even with those problems they are still using social media extremely effectively.

Case Study

If you read my last post you saw me talk about Kellogg's NYC. Well for class I decided I was going to create a case study on that same café; hopefully I will not repeat myself.  So lets start with what is Kellogg's NYC? Kellogg's NYC is a cereal café that Kellogg's is opening up in time square. They are doing this in hopes to increase cereal sales, which has been seeing a slow decline. This café offers more than just a bowl of cereal, with each menu item being crafted by Christina Tosi from milkbar, and masterchef fame. These recipes blend a bunch of different interesting flavors into each bowl, and Kellogg's hopes this will encourage people to start experimenting with different flavors back at home. Shoot they even have a make your own bowl option at the café. Maybe you are wondering, hmm its in time square how much will this bowl cost me? Well the answer is 6-8 bucks. Yeah that seems outrageous for a bowl of cereal when you could buy a box of it at the store for the same price, but here is how they get away with it. First off location is key, they are in time square so a lot of  tourist which allows them to be more expensive because that is what people expect. Next they try and pull you in by playing on your nostalgia. I mean a lot of people haven't eaten cereal since they were young and Kellogg's knows that. So they created the interior of the café to feel like you are at home eating cereal. From the white brick walls, to the wood panel floors, even how you get your cereal. Once your order is ready you go to these numbered cabinets, open your number and pull out a grocery bag with your order in it. And so far they seem to be well received. Kellogg's is encouraging people to buy more cereal with this café by encouraging experimentation, inducing nostalgia, and showing people that it is more than just a breakfast food. This isn't the only purpose for it because it also gives Kellogg's the chance to interact with their consumers more directly and figure out what problems they have and how they can fix those problems. They have set up a great channel to listen to people through. I think this is a great thing. They are in a niche market, they are encouraging sales of their product, and they are listening to their consumers. Kellogg's is headed in the right direction and I can see this helping them immensely. Shoot I want a bowl of cereal just typing this up.

Ear to the ground: Listening to consumers

Doing an exercise in Social listening, using social media to listen to customers, and I decided to listen to what people were saying about Flame Paint, a brand of spray paint. First step was looking at its Value Proposition and I feel Flame's would be affordable, high quality, artist spray paint. Now scrolling through Twitter not a lot of people are saying too much about their products, but those that are seem to be excited, and happy about their purchase. People like Assid expressing his feelings with the short and sweet tweet "<3 flame", or Rachel Wood tweeting "Loving the vibrant teal and blackberry from flame paint today". So it seems they are being well received. If I were the brand manager for Flame Paint I would probably make more of an attempt to connect with these people. They don't have a lot of people talking about them which really allows them the chance to communicate and create more loyal customers by interacting with them. That's just my two cents though.

Article Review: Kellogg's cereal bar
Cereal sales has been on a slow decline over the recent years with people opting for a warmer, or less mess quick breakfast. The article stated that "sales of cereal in the U.S. have dropped from $12.8 billion in 2001 to $9.3 billion in 2015 according to market research firm Euromonitor International." This is a problem for companies like Post, and Kellogg's, but Kellogg's is trying to increase sales by getting into a niche market. That market is Cereal Cafes. There café named Kellogg's NYC was created in hopes of encouraging people to eat more cereal. According to Kellogg's "For folks who are eating cereal, 30 percent consume it outside of breakfast and more than half believe cereals are a great snack". I think this is a great idea and a perfect way to help stimulate sales, especially with the location, NYC, and the small market for Cereal cafes. There only major competition that I can find, within New York, would be KITH treats, a very similar café. Though you are paying around 6-8 dollars for a bowl of cereal Kellogg's is making it worth your money by creating signature bowls like "Life in Color", Fruit Loops topped with marshmallows, passion fruit jam, and lime zest. Even allowing you to substitute milk for ice crème or yogurt. I think this is a perfect example of what I am learning in BA 223 with finding a niche market, and listening to what people are doing and catering to that.

Blog One: The first post

ABOUT ME:
I am enrolled into the class BA 223: Principles of Marketing, and I chose to take this class as a substitute to for Figure Drawing, which is a requirement for my degree. I am finishing up my last term to earn my Associates in Visual Communications and felt this would help me understand how to market and grow my personal brand that I had developed last year. I am excited to learn about creating strategies and learning how to use social media to help me grow in business and have been always interested in advertising and am eager to learn more about it. I am very passionate about anything creative and love making things. Whether that be a painting, a song, a print, creating new characters, and almost anything that falls in between. I also love enjoying what others make, especially music. I am listening to music almost any chance I get and am always happy to find new and different music.

NEWS:
AT&T building niche streaming network. Scouring the internet for a relevant article I stumbled upon this gem on adage.com. It discusses AT&T's new streaming network called VRV. Do I know what it stands for, not a clue, but what they are doing is interesting. What they are doing is amassing large groups of popular channels on YouTube that they feel cater all to a similar audience and having them make exclusive content. This content of course accessed through a paid subscription. Essentially like YouTube Red. What they are doing different though is narrowing down the options. They are making contracts with content creators that they feel have "fans with overlapping interests like anime, video games and caustic humor." Some of these channels include Rooster Teeth, College Humor, Cartoon Hangover and Crunchy roll. I am interested to see how well this works because although most of these channels to have subscriber who pay for videos a large part of there fan base watch their free content. I think being able to offer these channels not only as individuals but also in bundles is a great idea which might help persuade there fans to start paying, but as with everything only time can truly tell.