Cassie Tebo and Charlotte Tenebrini Steckart
COMM 317-0800
Brand: Canon
Counter Brand: Nikon
What are you going to do when preparing posts for different platforms?
When preparing posts for different platforms it is important to understand that content from one platform will not always translate effectively to another. Preparing content takes a lot of planning; tools like a social media calendar come into use when managing many different platforms with different media types. A content calendar helps keep track of the best times to post, has details of who is in charge of creating those posts, and when and where they will be posted. When creating media for different platforms it is important to research what type is the most engaging for your audience, and has the most success on the platform. Right now videos have become increasingly more popular on Instagram as well as carousel posts, so if I were to make content on Instagram I would try to utilize those features. Another thing to think about is whether the company has the funds to create paid media and if they are creative enough to receive earned media as well. Earned media is more valuable than paid media because when you have a lot of earned media it means that your audience is engaging more with the content and it is not just showing up as an ad in their feed.
How are you going to judge the effectiveness of different platforms in the future?
To judge the effectiveness of different platforms we need to analyze our audience that we have right now, and the audience that we may want in the future. After this then we can decide which platform is best at combining our demographic and the content that they interact with the most. In scale of importance depending on the size of the company, engagement can be more important than views so analyzing what type of media is the most effective on each platform is key.
Our tool will look at the 5cs of social media and compare whatever platform we decide on using to that tool to make sure that we are utilizing and choosing the best platform possible for the company we would represent.
First we would create a chart to make sure we have all of the information about the platform we are judging. This chart would ask about audience composition, traffic patterns, engagement measures and community sentiment. Then we would use our tool to tell us if the platform is the best fit with information we have collected.
Develop an evaluation tool to judge the effectiveness of your posts on different platforms:
Categories | Rating 1-10 (1 being low 10 being high | Explanation |
Coordinates
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Channels
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Content
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Connections
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Corrections
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Brand Analysis
Effectiveness/Analysis
When analyzing brand effectiveness we looked into 3 different types of social media both camera brands were using. Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. We then analyzed the amount of interactions each brand received on each platform and compared both of them using the 5cs of social media.
For coordination Canon beats Nikon. Canon has utilized YouTube way more effectively than Nikon has and is partnered with more influencers and catered their content towards younger photographers and beginners. Of course Canon has excellent cameras, they tend to market towards the aesthetic vs a tool. Nikon markets more towards professionals and eco conscious consumers. When looking at Instagram however, Nikon beats Canon. This is because the path to getting to their store is a lot simpler than Canon’s as the link to their website is right in their bio.
When looking into channels, again Canon is doing better at utilizing their channels than nikon. The photography corner of YouTube is quite large. Not only does Canon have their own successful YouTube channel, but many photographers on YouTube use their cameras over Nikon. This makes Canon widely successful because when you are watching an influencer photographer giving tutorials on let’s say portrait photography, their fans will pay attention to what camera they choose to invest in.
Content is perhaps one of the most important factors in a good social media strategy, and is also one of the things that can easily be messed up. Not all content translates to every platform. Canon is widely used for video production that is why they are so successful on YouTube and makes up for almost 50% of camera sales worldwide (Statistica). Both Canon and Nikon use photographs taken with their cameras on their social media platforms meaning they use both in house generated content and user/curated content. Canon also posts a lot more than Nikon does on both Instagram and YouTube.
Connections again are not great for canon when it comes to their instagram because it does not have a direct link from their Instagram to their website. However when you do reach Canon’s website you can find many resources on how to grow your following as a photographer using social media.
Corrections. The most recent social media gaff for canon was in 2017 when they were trying to promote a new camera and they decided to use 32 photographers to do this, however their mistake was that they did not include a single woman. All Nikon said in response was a short message on Twitter saying, “thank you for sharing your thoughts with us.” (NikonAsia). I think we can say that this was poorly handled. Canon however has not had a social media gaff since 2015.
Description
These two brands are currently very active on many social media platforms as you can see from the links provided on both of their websites:
We chose to compare the top 3 most popular social media sites and choose a “winner” based on likes, followers & subscribers, as well as the amount of content they are producing and putting out on the internet. Canon is the clear winner, as show in the chart we created below, but Nikon still does an excellent job with their social media strategy. You will see these referenced in the Appendix as well.
How could you describe the typical language choices the brands/organization typically make? They both are very inspiring brands that are very well done. The adjectives that we chose their cartoon characters after are well reflected in their content creation: Fun, bold, inspiring, proud, professional, elite, timeless, unique, high end, classic chic.
What tone do the posts of each brand/organization convey?
Similar to what was mentioned above, these brands convey a cohesive message across their platforms. They maintain their integrity throughout their place on the internet. They are the top tier model that others can aspire to emulate.
What is the purpose behind the SM posts implied by the brand/organization? (e.g., what are they trying to achieve?)
Sales - they are a business. They also want to gain the trust and respect of their followers and cultivate new relationships with a large variety of people and businesses alike. They want to gain more market share on Facebook, which is why the most there more often than Nikon does, because they are trying to grow. This shows initiative and dedication.
If you had to label the brand voices, what would they be?
Strong. Positive. Inspiring
Tentative Conclusions
Are the brands/organizations on the right platforms? Should they consider others such as Threads? Rationale.
Canon works harder for the younger audience to pay attention to them. Nikon works more to gain interest for professionals. Canon utilizes YouTube very well whereas Nikon does not. Canon could work on their connections from their website to their social media platforms whereas Nikon could work more at utilizing Instagram and content creators.
What rules of thumb can you glean from this deep dive about the effective use of at specific platforms?
Making sure the connections between different platforms make sense for the brand's goals. Nikon could use more of what Canon does by working with more diverse photographers and having them promote their cameras using YouTube.
What are at least 3 lessons learned from this deep dive?
1.) The two brands are very competitive. We believe they are very aware of what each other is doing, as they are actively trying to increase market share over their competitor(s). This is an important learning lesson and reminder to be mindfully aware of what our competition is doing so we know where to position ourselves and how to set our goals.
2.) Both of these brands are incredibly wealthy. They are world renowned, elite professional brands. They are excellent examples of what a team of talented creatives are able to collectively achieve when great minds, and skills come together. An apparent learning lesson entwined throughout their posts is that they are cohesive in their voice and overall brand. They are an inspiration for professionalism, cohesive content that is both awe inspiring and relatable, and we can see how we could hope to model our social media after their success.
3.) We know their goal is to sell their products, but one thing we learned through combing through their content is that it is possible to be sold without realizing it. They post beautiful pictures with creative comments and hashtags in order to cultivate a sense of community that doesn’t feel sales like. This is an excellent lesson in how to connect with users and gain their trust, which will in turn become sales.
Observations
List at least 3 observations about the initial results of the campaign that you would share with the client. Provide examples.
It seems that when the advertisements are focusing on leadership they receive less engagement than when they are talking about the employee perspective - specifically when they are talking about workers and their mental health. This could be because the book appeals more to employees than leaders.
The ads with the most engagement are the ones with photos of people in them. This could be because it is humanizing the information more than just the cover of the book. The ones with photos in them also are more interesting and eye-catching to look at. When speaking about color theory as well the book is blue - this often makes people feel emotionally cold when looking at the color blue - when the photos are taking up more space in the ad it brings warmer tones into it and could cause people to feel more trusting.
All of the ads ran for the same amount of time Feb 1- 14th. That takes the amount of time the ad was running out of the equation of whether the ad was successful or not.
Identify what’s “working” and what’s “not working”
Clearly what is working are the posts with photos of people in it coinciding with words about workers and their mental health.
Identify the current level of effectiveness of the campaign (e.g., Are these good results? Ads 6 and 7 are working the best for this campaign and ad 3 has the least amount of clicks. By looking at this I would say that the campaign has been successful but my recommendation would be to follow what the most successful ads have that the others don’t.
Ads 6 and 7 by far had the most reach, impressions and clicks.
Recommendations
It is our professional recommendation that you continue your ad campaign while discontinuing ad #3, and using ads 6 and 7 as a model for what has been working best thus far. We would suggest being mindful of color theory methods. We’d suggest using a bit more creatively crafted ads using some more yellows infused in your ads and lighter overall colors throughout. The ad language should be clear and concise, eye catching, professional and above all, intentional. The ad should reflect the platform’s unique voice that is relative to that platform’s audience. We also suggest making sure that the ads show people and mention mental health benefits and a great overall “well-being.”
Lessons Learned
When you have more than one ad campaign running at the same time you can compare what works and what does not easier because you have more data to work with.
Bottom Line: Words Matter. Visuals Matter. Quality Matters.
Ads should be bold and eye-catching to gain the attention of customers. They should use language that is statement based, not vague, but also not too many words. They should be clear, concise, and high quality, with great visuals.
Ads may need to be different on each platform. Each platform requires their own special audience, which then yields a unique ad indifferent from the other platforms.It is important that the ad itself is relative to what you are selling. The visuals and language should be cohesive with the product’s brand.
Sources
Sources:
Appendix A:
Social Media Comparison: Instagram
Canon has more than double the followers and two times the amount of followers than Nikon, making them the clear leader on this social media platform. Their images are stunning, bold, awe inspiring and leave their audience wanting more…this builds brand trust and loyalty. They are selling their product without making us feel like we are being sold to. It's very professional and creative, infused with elements of fun. |
Nikon’s content is very well done as well, but if you’re even judging them off of their first three photos you can see that the images Canon has chosen immediately captivates you, whereas Nikon’s look similar to an ad than something that would leave me wanting to scroll on for more. The clear winner in this category goes to Canon. |
Appendix B: YouTube
Appendix C: Facebook
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