Week #4 Target market

When discussing my target market with others, the discussion is rather short considering this is all new to me but I have a very basic idea. The main target I would want is anyone who plays video games no matter how old the gamer or his/her console. My business or rather people in the business world I'd want to also target would be businesses similar to Gamestop or Gamestop itself. But my target audience would be directed at mainly gamers. Again, whether they are old or young, mail or female.  

Week #3 Aesthetics Websites and the two I visit frequently

These are two of a few websites I use most often: www.tweetdeck.com and www.youtube.com. I find both of these sites to be very effective and perfect for what I need. I'll start with tweetdeck. When I role play I use twitter.com but since I role play quite a bit as different characters from different shows it can be a hassle to have to keep logging in and out of twitter accounts to respond to messages. With Tweetdeck I can connect multiple accounts to it, as many as I'd like, and use it like one big giant twitter account. Some of the features that make it easy to use and handle are the locations of very large easy to recognize buttons such as the tweet button, settings, manage accounts and add new columns buttons. With Tweetdeck I can also customize my columns as I see fit. Columns being things like my twitter timelines, mentions where people @me and talk to me and direct messages private conversations between users. All of this combines to make the perfect app for easy use again and again. The only thing I would change is if some of your accounts get suspended or removed the app would still work just as fast and not slow down as a result.

The other site I use frequently is YouTube. I find YouTube to be entertaining but also a way to learn about things I like on my own time. Since searching and such is so easy to figure out, consider its huge and at the top of the screen, I can easily navigate the site even while logged out of my account. While logged into my account, it's still easy-ish to navigate with the menus on the left, but since I only upload videos and thats about it, I don't see a need for the other functions as of yet. The fact I can always find episodes of shows such as Seconds From Disaster and Air Crash Investigators, is one of the many reasons I keep coming back. Apart from making the custom background more visible there is not much I'd change.

Week #3 Asthetics Design and Branding

Ive chosen http://tectorch.com/ and http://spotmetering.com/. First Ill start with Spot Metering. I find this site to be very confusing. First off the main page takes a while to scroll down and even load if you have a slow computer. Second is that this site needs an about page or just a simply explanation as to what they are about. Third and last is that the main page could be easily split up into several different headers and or links. However they are doing two things correctly. They have a header type system at least so not everything is jumbled together. The other thing is that its easy to find a way to contact the author which is normally what happens when you have a question or the sort. If it wasnt so cluttered on each page then maybe, and if I was into cameras, Id want to use the website and possibly his services.

The second site I chose was Tectorch. First off I see that the contact information is at the bottom which is good because you cant really miss it but is also bad because if you don't expect it to show at the bottom then you wont notice that its even there. Second is that the header is on the side of the webpage which is, in my opinion, a bad thing. If you have it off to the side, you take away space for more items in the body of your webpage. Third, is that   annoying little set of boxes, similar to what were ad type boxes but filled with nothing basically making them appear as two rectangular "box" lines on the home page. However like the previous site, they do have contact info, necessary if you wish to get in touch. 2nd is that despite the "headers" being off to the left, you at least not only have link-able headers you even have a "Main" subject header so you know what kind of tools you'll find underneath. I myself would move the headers to the center and horizontal, then make the headers become like pull downs so you can simply hit the arrow and it expands to give you more choices. I would also add some prices or a price list to get a general idea of what your bill, if you want what hes selling, might be.

Business list

1. Xbox Support https://twitter.com/xboxsupport1 Feburay 13th https://twitter.com/XboxSupport/with_replies Feb 14th https://twitter.com/xboxsupport Dec 6th
2. Anaheim ducks https://twitter.com/AnaheimDucks Feb 14th 
3. San Diego Jack FM 100.7 DSC Radio Show https://twitter.com/TheDSCshow/ FEB 13th
4. Buffalo Sabres https://twitter.com/BuffaloSabres FEB 14th
5. Slaters 50/50 Burgers http://instagram.com/slaters5050 feb 2015 https://www.linkedin.com/company/slater%27s-50-50?trk=tyah https://www.youtube.com/user/Slaters5050 May 2014 https://twitter.com/slaters5050 FEB 14th

Week #2 Social media and business

            My experience with businesses has rarely been negative. But even when it’s been negative it’s been a positive negative. Think of it more so as a learning for both sides, that is to say I learn something about dealing with this company, whoever they are, in a manner more than simply purchasing something and leaving and the company learns something about what went wrong and how to fix it based on my needs. But about the only social media and business related things I deal with is Xbox. I use Xbox live and sometimes I have had issues with Xbox live or apps ect on my Xbox. Since Xbox operates a twitter account, or I should say multiple twitter accounts, usually I can tweet them or I get posts related to any issues they are having, even the big stuff like Xbox live is down. Sometimes I have issues at night and sometimes I have issues that require me to look up the string of numbers to see what the definition of my problem is. Either way I have yet to have a totally bad experience where either I’m mad or they can’t help me and I’m screwed. Something like that. But I hope to never encounter that problem.

Week #2 Business Blogging

If your a business and you use social media and things like that to help the business you might also use the Google calendar. Goggle calendar can be good for using either within the company or to certain select individuals outside the company. Some of the things that one might share only within the company/employees is things like board meetings or other meetings between department heads and such. You might also see fun runs in parks where the run is meant only for those that work at a specific place, or, if the company is a rather large place, like an office building they might have a company picnic. But, things such as company picnics and parades might also be things you let a few people outside the company know about.

There have been several places that I like to shop at that possibly Id like to know more about. The 1st is one most have probably heard about if they know someone who games, Game Stop. I even once asked if they were hiring but nope, not at this time. The next place I like to visit is called F.Y.E. For your entertainment. A place that sells all kinds of DVD past and present. As in TV shows/movies past and present from things such as I Love Lucy to I Robot. They also sell CDs and DVD concerts of your favorite band as well as other odd items. Both of these may be a little more interesting to learn about.

A business owner regardless of what kind of business he/she runs might use the Google calendar for only a few reasons. The first reason is maybe he/she is upgrading to a more paperless system and wants to find a more efficient way to hand out memos to everyone. Or maybe the business owner Prefers the calendar because they only run a small business and the calendar is maybe the perfect tool for managing the little things around the office.

Whats appropriate and not appropriate for social media and business Week #1

When in a business whether at home or in an actual office setting, it's important to get noticed and to have a successful business. When getting noticed social media is a good way to go, along with TV commercials, billboards and other such items. When using social media though, you shouldn't just jump in with every social media service you can find as some social media websites are geared towards personal use over more business like use. Some websites like Facebook, Twitter, Pintrest and maybe even YouTube seem to work best for business.

Take twitter for example, although its only allowed 140 letters per post whether you openly tweet the company or directly message them, should they follow you back of course, or longer it you have twit longer which allows you to post more then 140 letters in your message, it can still be a handy tool to respond to your customers quickly. I read once about a lady who was in need of service but through calling couldn't quite get what she needed. So she ranted on twitter and not only did someone running the company twitter see this right away, they had either been linked or showed the tweet or something like that, they had a repair person out to her house within the hour.

Facebook is also a good use for a business. Most business will give you a deal if you like them on Facebook and its a good way to get pictures and info about your product or other business out. YouTube can be a good source as well. It's a good spot to put out short little videos either about your product or what you do.

There are however some social media sites that would not be a great idea to use. These sites can include, in my opinion, places like Tumblr, Blogger might be another and tiny chat. Blogger is mainly used to discuss one thing, sometimes in great detail. While this may be a ok think for business, its not necessarily the best way to reach customers in an effective and positive way. Tiny Chat isn't very helpful at all, though it may be like Skype in the sense that you can video chat while also using text, you don't have to download any programs. While this may seem good not all businesses are computer related so for a business like carpeting or painting or even something dealing in wood work, it's just not ideal. Lastly Tumblr is also a bad idea for businesses as well. Tumblr is like a site mainly geared towards sharing things you like or love. Not a good idea if your a business trying to contact your customers.

My Template Week #1

I have chosen the blogger template that I did for really only one reason, simplicity. Since our posts have to be easy to access by our teacher and possibly by other students then simplicity is the key. Although I may be familiar with social media, I am not familiar with blogger. Though I have been using blogger, it has only been for school related things. That being said I would someday like to play around more with blogger and possibly making something very cool out of it.

When picking any template with blogger try to theme it if you can towards what your overall writing will be. So if you are writing something silly then I would template your blog so its whimsical and silly but not in such a way as to where your readers can't find your posts. If your blog is for school, a more simple but maybe still some colors and functions would be appropriate as per what I've chosen. If a business then something to reflect what you sell maybe or what your about.