Wk13-A: Online Advertising - Analysis of the Marketplace

      Due to using Facebook extensively in my personal life I see a lot of advertising and sponsored posts coming through my feed. Videos of their product in use usually catch my eye the quickest or posts that I don't initially realize are ads due to their casual nature. I tend to read or watch posts that use a lot of colors or no audio if they have an auto-playing video. I tend to find most auto-playing videos annoying as I'm usually listening to music or watching/listening to youtube while I browse and I find videos pause what I'm listening to and it can be rather jarring. Often when I click on the ads I am brought to the item in question through along convoluted URL making it difficult to share with others. 

     I am, unfortunately, extremely susceptible to advertising practices -- I see new shiny and I want new shiny; chicken nugget commercial? I need nuggies -- and do my best to keep aware of advertisements I interact with and why. Radio, TV, billboard, and magazine ads are my biggest trouble in life as I am less easily able to ignore that 'need' tugging at the back of my mind versus scrolling by a post or image and not paying attention to or hearing it. 

Wk12-B: Business Specific Tools

 

     As I've said, I utilize Twitch extensively between Whatwolf and Power Gamers. It is a great place to find people with similar interests and build or join a community. In the two years that I have been streaming, I have made a handful of friends from different walks of life and even other countries. I'm fortunate in that it has become a source of money for me; I've received one payout so far from Twitch on Whatwolf and I can't explain the joy I feel knowing I was able to be productive and make money while just playing games. As mentioned previously I am also aiming to look into Tik Tok for art videos once I feel more settled into my space. 

Wk12-A: Business Specific Online Tools

 

     With Whatwolf and Power Gamers I'm a little limited in what is applicable to them when it comes to online business tools. Things like Linked In, Yelp, and Google Business or Maps would, I believe, require much more information than necessary for them as they aren't 'businesses' in the truest sense of the word. That being said, with Power Gamers we can eventually utilize Spotify and other similar podcast hosting companies and both Power Gamers and Whatwolf use Twitch extensively. I'm considering branching into Tik Tok with Whatwolf when I have my art studio back together and make painting videos.

Wk11: Marketing with Twitter, LinkedIn, Social Influencers

     For this post, we will be focusing on Whatwolf. My personal Twitter transformed into my public persona Twitter when I decided to connect my various 'brands' across sites with my art freelancing. I don't use Twitter as often as other people, I feel, it tends to be a little overwhelming to me but most Twitch streamers I interact with use it extensively. Due to this, my Twitter goes into periods of inactivity when I'm not actively streaming or otherwise putting on my persona. 

     That being said when I do use Twitter I find that it meets a range of needs for me. I had my previous streaming program set up to automatically tweet out a link to my stream when I would go live with a message I could customize. I would also use it to interact with other streamers or my audience through my 'mosh' persona. I've found that Twitter did a lot to help grow my community and channel towards the beginning of my streaming career. 

     I don't use Linked In for Whatwolf, I haven't looked into it as a viable option for Whatwolf though I do have one for my own personal job history and searching. I tried to keep my Whatwolf things separated from my real identity for a really long time as I began a lot of the work on it as a minor and worried about personal safety. It feels weird to me to lay claim to my personal endeavors in a more 'professional' manner after keeping them apart for so long.

     With regards to Social Influencers, I do believe that they could boost Whatwolf quite heavily. I'm currently working with a friend and her small business to make physical merchandise for Whatwolf and Power Gamers. Once they are completed I plan to place a small order of each product to reach out to other streamers I know to see if they would be interested in advertising my product in exchange for me advertising theirs. It's a long shot but it could open some good conversations.

     In the end, however, I think it would do more for mosh/me to be an influencer in some capacity. I already have two partnership deals with local distilleries Henebery and Misadventure to have what we will call 'Industry' streams where I sit and talk to the owners about the companies, what they do for the community, and more while having a drink with them and playing games with the community like Jackbox. I hope to raise more awareness for community issues and other small businesses to help get their name out and thrive.

Wk10-B: Developing an ENewsletter

We have a newsletter now! 

     Check this cool as heck stuff out!!

*have not posted on other blogs at this time

Wk10-A: Researching Email Marketing

 

     I think that both of my businesses could do well with a newsletter, honestly. For Whatwolf I could utilize it every few months to give updates on what art pieces I've put out, new products, and other announcements. With Power Gamers, we could perhaps send out a newsletter monthly with a written update of the past few adventures to help catch people up and keep them caught up if they are unable to watch every Saturday night. 

     Unfortunately, with Whatwolf, until I am creating things/products reliably I'm quite stuck in how much visual and informational contact I can have with that audience. Power Gamers has a rather active presence but I don't have the time currently to keep an active record of each session and then edit it for readability. That being said, I'm really going to consider these ideas moving forward. 

Whatwolf Newsletter Content Ideas

• Art Updates - Thumbnails/links to Instagram or Facebook posts, themed series thumbnails, 'sneak peeks'.
• Merchandise Updates - Between Redbubble and my new distributor, Honey Inkwell, I have a lot of merchandise I am getting ready to start listing for sale.
• Life Updates - Due to health issues, etc, a newsletter would allow me to quickly update my audience on my absences. 
• Coupons/Specials - I could perhaps include coupon codes or commission specials within the newsletter as a bonus to those subscribed. 

Power Gamers Newsletter Content Ideas

• Art Updates - Thumbnails/links to Facebook or Twitter posts, 'sneak peeks', silly session doodles, etc. 
• Merchandise Updates - Between Redbubble and my new distributor, Honey Inkwell, I have a lot of merchandise I am getting ready to start updating and listing for sale.
• Written Synopsis - A written overview of the past sessions between newsletters to keep the audience caught up with the party's adventures.

Wk9-B: Using Categories + Analytics

 

     Due to being quite sick recently, I haven't made as much content as I would like. For my two scheduled posts for this assignment, I used the duplicate option on two of my favorite artworks I've shared on my page. I added to the captions and put a note that included the original captions and scheduled them for two times I know I tend to have decent traffic. 

     For my whatwolf page, I plan to begin doing 'paint or draw with me' videos, either live via discord or twitch or pre-recorded and posted to my Facebook and maybe a youtube account if I go that route. Essentially they're just real-time videos or streams of a person painting or drawing, either on personal work or commissions they owe and chatting about their life or telling stories and interacting with the audience in the case of streaming. 

    My primary categories for my whatwolf business are art and video games, so those will be my main focus to enhance my audience. Twitch has a growing art scene that I can start working into and look forward to branching out into the world of art videos.