Week 10C: Cooments

I have commented on the blogs of Tiffany Lehman, Sophia Ludyjan, Antonio Russo

Week 10A: Newsletters for Email Marketing

In this weeks' post I will be discussing different strategies the Makers Space can use for email marketing that involve periodic newsletters, and I know just the kinds of things that would excite other makers to jump on board. Some content ideas could include:

• Welcome emails - 
• This will be important since patronage at The Makers Space is member based so there should be some up-front accessible information about the services we provide to each new member. The email would include links to rules, safety practices, obligations, resources, our calendar, and ways to get more deeply involved.
• Birthday/Holiday -
• This will be a great way to keep our members engaged and also make them feel appreciated. This being based on membership, and also being a community with similar passions, its important at least for me that this can feel like a family. These types of gestures foster that culture. Plus, it'd be cool to wrap an offer into this such as a free month of storage somewhere around the space.
• Technical Updates - 
• These emails are most likely going to be a necessity for the operability of the business since there will be a lot going on and sometimes things come, incidents happen, and members will need updates on this information (and not all bad). This can pertain to new equipment coming in, software updates, machine maintenance, outages, downages, upages (jk), etc. Updates like these will need to happen as they come but are still great marketing tools to current members because they can include cool alternatives that can promote less used equipment and further engage constituents.
• Monthly Newsletter -
• This where the life and excitement of The Makers Space can shine. In this newsletter we'll let people know what's new happening in the space, especially what sorts of cool things people are working on. There can also be a monthly tutorial rollout where we focus on a certain tool or process; wouldn't it be cool to learn how to temper metal?? This also doesn't have to be limited to members and can be for anyone interested in learning how to make. I feel like the monthly frequency also gives members enough time to actually produce content, and gives us achievable goals to meet.

Week 8B: Delving Into Twitter

This blog post will detail the Makers Space's first dive into Twitter. 

When initially creating the page, Twitter automatically drafts a list of potential pages/accounts to follow which I decided to go along with. Although, I'm considering doing a pruning of these initial follows as many are as relevant to the goals of the Makers Space. Part of this was that my initial search terms were too general, as I was limited to 'furniture' and 'design' which I can do better than. This is where the advanced search feature comes in handy. My initial search terms were the same as before but now I have the option to limit the search to an exact phrase such as "furniture design," "industrial art," and "design fabrication" all of which were much more specific and gets me closer to the people who would be interested in Maker services. These phrases yielded really good search results but when getting perhaps too specific ("industrial furniture design") then too few or no results begin to show up. The people that were turning up included designers, some fabricators, furniture stores, fabricators, and industrial artists and enthusiasts which were exactly my market. 

Lists on Twitter are similar to the aim of the advanced search results in that the object is to quickly get to the accounts relevant to achieving what goals you have for social media. The difference would be, put in relative terms, you pick the search term and that stands as the list title and then pick pages you follow (your results) to put into those lists. The utility comes in when you can actually use these lists to filter your feed to see just what user's pages are relevant to that specific search term you use. The ones I chose were furniture and industrial design. I was okay with making them general since I have yet to acquire the following that would require anything more particular. And this feature is pretty cool. I can quickly respond or retweet any page I want to gain rapport with. 

The most popular time to tweet is in the morning, probably between 8 am and 9 am since pacific time leads the other US time zones. This also would make the most popular time and heaviest opportunity for engagement around 11 am to 12 pm generally.

Week 7B: Businesses That Get Viusal

Hi, All. In this post I will look at 4 businesses that do work related to the Makers Space and look at how they utilize visual platforms to promote what they do. In such design and process heavy work, where there is a lot to learn and see, visual platforms would certainly help market this business. Videos especially, are going to be key in relaying how cool it is to be involved in what we do. This is why the businesses that we're going to look at use them the most and we're going to use some hard numbers to represent this.

TechShop - 

I actually just googled this company and seems pretty big. They do exactly what the Makers Space does which is offer memberships to use their vast inventory of machines to help makers make. They have locations in San Francisco, Pittsburgh, Detroit, and several other areas. Although fairly large, their dedicated Youtube channel (the only visual platform they've invested in) only has 21 videos, which are somewhat few in between. Although, the last post was fairly recent and very well produced which may mean that marketing is being kicked up some notches. Their subscriber to viewer ratio is pretty large which means engagement isn't very well addressed but this is a niche market so that may contribute. Their comments section is also pretty underutilized.

Platform(s): Youtube
Followers/Subscribers: 339
Views: 10,917
Posts: 21
Last Post: 2 weeks ago

Noisebridge Hackerspace -

Despite having only one location in the heart of San Francisco, this group is also pretty big and have delved deeply into their social media platforms. This includes healthily utilized visual platforms that also perform has high post engagement and reach. Each platform is updated regularly, at least a couple times a month, and is mostly for the different events that they have going on or events they attend. An area of improvement would be their comment sections of posts/photos. They are pretty far and few in between. Seeing as how they have a lot of videos they've amassed, it would probably behoove of them to launch a YouTube channel. They have enough material for it to be a hit. Their member base specifically on their visual platforms is also waning, and its another place that a YouTube account would help out. The platforms that they have chosen don't record views in a way that is readily available.

Platform(s): Tumblr, Flickr, Github
Followers/Subscribers: +100
Views: -
Posts: +1000
Last Post: 1 weeks ago

The Tinkering Studio -

This is another San Francisco based group of artists that, similar to the previous spaces, is an arm of the Exploratorium where visitors can come explore, create, and learn how to 'tinker' as they say. It is going to include a lot of the same materials but appears to be more craft and electronic based than industrial as the above two are. They also utilize a couple different visual platforms. Their social media accounts are also very well utilized and trafficked. Part of this, aside from the amazing content that's features, is how much content they pump out of their visitor's work. You can also tell that production value was a an important goal with the content they produce. The views were also somewhat abstract to keep up with but it's probably easy to surmise they their reach and engagement are far reaching as the traffic on their site would suggest.

Platform(s): Vimeo, Instagram
Followers/Subscribers: +2000
Views: +1000
Posts: 990
Last Post: 1 week ago

Hack Manhattan -

In avoidance of beating a dead horse, Hack Manhattan is yet another brand of hacker/maker space, only its based in New York City. It also offers the same theme of DIY tools, classes, exhibitions, and following. One thing I didn't mention is that many of these spaces are organized as non-profits, such is the case with this business. It is a little smaller than the aforementioned places but still has the same benefit with using their visual platforms. Although, the reason I thought it beneficial to list is that it actually hasn't made a big investment in visual social media platforms to promote their business. The closest thing they have to this is Github but this serves a mostly similar utility as Dropbox but perhaps this is to their advantage. Also character to these spaces are membership fees or at least a robust funding source which this space isn't as clear about. The community also seems a bit tight-nit as their is a member application process, and fees that are much more modest than their peers. Perhaps keeping a more 'local' and low profile suits them and they don't feel the need to engage with social media as much.

Week 6B: Upcoming Facebook Posts

In this post, I want to give a heads up of a couple of relevant websites I feel fellow Makers would be interested in, to be shared on the Makers Space page. 

The first will be a guide on how to use a CNC machine. Many don't know the vast power and versatility of these machines and the entire website is an awesome resource but this particular page will be a good a beginners intro to how to use one, as well as tools that Makers will need. I also like the design of the site, its very simple and easy to navigate. The second is a general resource site for technical needs, and the page I posted on it teaches a very basic way to wire LED lights. It doesn't quite work for every situation but is quite a good jumping off point.

Week 6A: Facebook Featured Likes

On my accompanying Facebook page for the Makers Space, I have recently engaged in 'featured likes' which are pages liked by the Makers Space that will be promoted when people visit. This should prove an exciting opportunity as the added recognition of these potential colleagues can boost my own recognition and standing in the fabrication world. The pages that I have liked include:

• DP Design + Fabrication - David Polifko
• Digital Fabrication Network - Dfab Net
• Tyler Speir Bradford: Furniture Design
• Bay Area Interior Design
• IA Interior Architects
• California Closets Bay Area
• Anyon Interior Design

And there are certainly more to come. I chose these pages because they are represented by individuals that are directly, secondarily, or indirectly involved and adjacent to the fabrication of custom furniture and similar industrial arts. Some are interior designers and their businesses, other fabrication spaces, custom furniture designers and stores, or artists themselves. To connect with these individuals should be exciting.

Facebook Insights: What it Means for Business

Post Reach vs Post Engagement

Whenever we talk about analytics in social media, we are going to run into the concepts of post reach and engagement which are simply jargon detailing how effective your social media marketing strategies are. More specifically, but succinctly:

• Reach = how many people see your brand
• Engagement = How many people interact with the brand (likes, comments, shares, etc.)

Who we are reaching and engaging with would typically be defined by their demographic data, including age, gender, race, etc. Many social media platforms will have analytic tools that would help provide this data. One such is Facebook insights which will be discussed in more detail shortly. 

The goal is to have the reach lead to engagement, which should ultimately lead to direct engagement with the brand, be it buying a product, utilizing a service, or the like.