Visual
media would work somewhat for the purpose of marketing and selling Codex
Alexandria software, but in order for visual media to help sell the appeal of
Codex Alexandria software, the physical software must first be produced so that
pictures of this tangible software product could be posted to Facebook,
Instagram, Pinterest, and other social media websites where photographs are
more permanent and long-lasting (according to the page owner’s specifications,
of course). However, visual media cannot show all of the features and
capabilities of Codex Alexandria software, and how different the educational
programs that the company offers can be. The only way that this can be
discovered it if potential customers buy some Codex Alexandria software and
then observe what their experiences were like with using each individual software
program. These observations would instead best be displayed in written reviews
on more text-orientated platforms such as Facebook as social media websites
such as Instagram and Pinterest, which rely much more on visual media
(pictures, drawings, photographs, etc.) than the written word.
I
have done some research into how other companies (that are at least somewhat
similar to Codex Alexandria) have created their own successful profiles on
major social media websites.
For example, LearnZillion (https://learnzillion.com/p/)
is a company that creates educational curriculums and materials that are
tailored to fit state standards in different US states, especially mathematics
and literary materials. As of October 15, 2018, LearnZillion’s Facebook profile has 11,199 followers (https://www.facebook.com/LearnZillion/). The managers of the LearnZillion Facebook page
create 1 new post approximately every 1-2 weeks, and the company’s last
Facebook post was on October 7, 2018. The
company allows educators to review its products on the LearnZillion page, and
it posts images of company brands and ideas that it is associated with. The videos
post on the company’s page are aimed at teachers, which typically teach them
how to use LearnZillion products. In addition, written posts generally seemed
to be addressed to teachers and why and how they should use LearnZillion
products. LearnZillion’s Twitter profile
is almost as popular, and it possesses 9,016 followers as of 10/15/2018.
LearnZillion effectively uses Twitter by retweeting articles about student learning
success and study tips and retweeting Twitter posts by teachers praising how
using LearnZillion products has enhanced learning in their classrooms. Some of
the Twitter posts ask teachers about their experiences with LearnZillion
products. On Twitter, LearnZillion also advertises their curriculum plans and
retweet links to articles about the school districts successfully using
LearnZillion products to raise test scores. LearnZillion generally posts an
average of once per day every 1-3 days on Twitter, and the company’s last tweet
(not retweets from other users) was created on October 11, 2018. LearnZillion’s
“like” range is fairly large and they typically receive anywhere from 1-30
likes on each post. However, they generally don’t receive any written responses
from any Twitter users in response to their tweets. I could learn from LearnZillion’s
social media use by linking articles related to learning and education to my
Codex Alexandria Twitter account to make my own company’s interest in promoting
tech-enhanced learning seem more sincere and passionate.
The
second similar company that I examined was Rosetta
Stone (https://www.rosettastone.com/), one of the leading foreign language
learning software companies in the world. Overall, Rosetta Stone has used
social media sites quite successfully to attract thousands of new customers and
reach out to people who have already used their software in the past, although
the company stopped using Google + in September 2015. Rosetta Stone’s Facebook
profile has attracted 2,716, 273 followers, and its last Facebook post was on
October 15, 2018. New Facebook posts from the company appear approximately
every 7-14 days, and they typically garner 20-30 likes per post. Rosetta
Stone’s Twitter profile has attracted 91.7 K followers, and the company’s last
tweet was on Oct. 15, 2018A new post appears on the Rosetta Stone Twitter page
at least once every 1-10 days, and each post typically earns 5-30 likes.
Rosetta Stone Instagram profile currently has 19.9K followers, and the
company’s last Instagram post was on October 2, 2018. Posts typically appear at
least once every 3 days-2 weeks, and they typically garner 90-280 likes per
post. Meanwhile, Rosetta Stone’s YouTube profile possesses 50,304 followers,
and the company posted its latest YouTube video on October 10, 2018. Generally
speaking, the company posts a new YouTube video at least once every 1-2 months,
and these video generate anywhere from 5-200 likes per video on average.
Compared to content it offers on its other social media page, YouTube also
features additional interviews by Rosetta Stone language coaches and video
testimonies from happy Rosetta Stone customers putting their newfound language
skills into action. Surprisingly, Rosetta Stone Google+ profile has attracted
603,423 followers, although the company’s last post on Google + was on
September 2, 2015. When Rosetta Stone actively used the Google + platform, a
new post appeared at least once approximately every 1-2 weeks, and each of
these posts earned around 1-10 likes. On all of these social media platforms,
Rosetta Stone writes posts about cultural and historical locations around the
world, posts links to interviews with experts on various languages and
cultures, and polls users about their experience with language learning. I
admire Rosetta Stone’s ability to craft posts that are light-hearted, fun, and
not directly focused on selling their products. I also think that Rosetta Stone
has attracted a lot of positive publicity by posting lots of vividly colored
photos on its social media accounts. I think that such a strategy puts
potential customers at ease and ironically more likely to consider buying
Rosetta Stone software. I would like to incorporate more intriguing, fun posts
such as these on my Codex Alexandria Twitter account.
Additionally,
I also researched how Kurzweil Education
(https://www.kurzweiledu.com/default.html)
has used social media to enhance their reputation and generate more sales of
their specialized reading/literacy software for computer users with visual
impairments. Although Codex Alexandria would be focused on bringing software
from a wide variety of topics to students, I think that Kurzweil Education can
be considered similar enough to Codex Alexandria since both companies have a
similar goal of promoting literacy and encouraging a life-long love of reading.
The company’s popularity on social media is highest on Facebook, and 2,123
people follow the Kurzweil Education Facebook profile. Facebook posts appear
least once every 1-7 days, and their Facebook profile has acquired a total of
2,223 likes, which suggests that most of the companies followers have also
“liked” their page as well. Meanwhile, Kurzweil Education’s Twitter profile
boasts 777 followers, and it has acquired 432 likes. The company creates posts
at least 2 Twitter posts every 1-4 days. However, the company has hardly used
YouTube and Google +. Their YouTube channel, for example, does not appear to
have any followers, and it is unsurprising that their channel is not very
popular because Kurzweil Education is a fairly small, unknown company. In fact,
their few videos have only generated 1 like per video, or none at all. The
company published its last video on August 15, 2018, and all of the videos were
created either 2 months ago, 4 months ago, or a year ago. Their Google+ profile
contains only 5 posts, which were all created between August 18, 2014 and
January 6, 2015. Most of the Google +
posts were created between two-week periods between August 6, 2014 and August
30, 2018. Since their Google+ profile is sparse and has attracted little
attention, the company appears to have no followers on Google +. In terms of the content post to their social
media accounts, Kurzweil Education posts links to testimonies of customers who
used Kurzweil Education products, posts about information on dysgraphia and
dyslexia, and inspiring quotes about education. I admire how Kurzweil Education
has added many wise, but light-hearted quotes to its social media profiles in
order to seem like they genuinely care about the well-beings of their potential
customers. I think that sprinkling in a few quotes onto Codex Alexandria’s
Twitter profile would make the company seem more approachable, caring, and not
completely obsessed with selling its products.
The
fourth company whose social media presence I researched was Kaplan Test Prep (https://www.kaptest.com/),
a test preparation company in the United States that specializes in preparing
students for tests such as the ACT, SAT, GMAT, GRE, and LSAT. According to its
Twitter profile, the company has earned 249 likes from 456 followers, and it
typically posts at least one new post every 3-7 days. The company’s most recent
Twitter post was created on October 8, 2018. From what I have observed, though, Twitter
users generally do not post comments on Kaplan Test Prep’s Twitter page. Its Facebook
profile is significantly more popular and possesses 3,051 followers, while the
page has garnered 2,924 total likes. Judging from the proportion of likes to
followers, it appears that nearly every follower must have liked the company’s
Facebook page at some point. New Facebook posts appear least once every 3-5
days on average, but the latest Facebook post was made on October 8, 2018. This
Facebook account receives very few comments, and people tend to “like” posts
instead of responding to them. Kaplan Test Prep’s Instagram profile is even
more popular with its 4,902 followers, and its latest post was made on October
12, 20187. Kaplan Test Prep Instagram posts typically receive anywhere from
30-300 likes per posts, and a new post appear at least once every 3-5 days on
average. Instagram users generally have not left any comments on Kaplan Test
Prep’s Instagram posts, but this is perhaps unsurprising because Instagram is
more focused on displaying visual images than any written posts or responses.
One positive element that I have noticed about the company’s social media posts
is that they often praise specific people and congratulate them on the hard
work that they did to succeed at an internship, law school, or wherever the
knowledge that they obtained from Kaplan Test Prep eventually took them. This
element of personalization is something that Codex Alexandria would do well to
imitate in order to build long-lasting relationships with customers.
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