Author: shuiandy

My top three question that want to ask a senior leader of my organization are:

1. As we have over 3,000 followers now, how to introduce our company’s product to followers, to turn these followers into customers in a more efficient way? 

The ultimate goal of any eCommerce brand using a social media platform for marketing should be to amass a following that’s willing to spend. The first goal of our brand in social media platform – increase brand awareness has been completed. At this time, we have over 3,000 followers right now, every post of our company’s social media account has hundreds of likes. However, these posts just provide tips and suggestions to target audience on finding a job, we didn’t introduce our product to customers yet. We need to find a way to include our products on our new contents.

2. How many members will you plan to add to the social media marketing team?

As our business on social media platform grows, we need more members to accelerate the work process. We need more members to respond comments, analyze customer needs, and create contents on other social media platforms. 

3. Which social media platform do you think is our next station?

RED is a good social media platform for increasing brand awareness, but we need a new platform to expand our business to more potential customers. We need to determine which platform our audience uses by looking at the demographics of the users on each platform. What’s more, each social media platform has its own personality and ways of communicating. We need to create contents that matches target platform’s personality.

I am excited to be an employee of Bay Street Staffing, Canada’s leading boutique recruitment agency.

Canada is now the world’s third-leading destination of international students, with a staggering 642,000 foreign students. According to statista, 116,935 international students at year’s end in Canada came from China in 2020. This number was a significant drop due to COVID-19. As the pandemic is going to end this year, we can expect more Chinese students landing Canada in the following years. On graduation, they possess a potent set of attributes for any employer: a coveted diploma, language skills, and the kind of ambition that brought them to Canada in the first place. Many of them intend to stay in Canada and build a career.

The biggest challenge for these Chinese students is how to get a job after graduation, many Chinese students find it is hard to find a job by themselves due to a lack of working experience and language barrier. Our company plans to extend our business to help Chinese students studying in Canada find their first job.

Helping Chinese students find a job abroad is not a new marketplace. There are hundreds of Chinese study abroad agencies in Canada, their business includes helping students to find a job locally. However, as a local company in Canada, our company has better resources. We have reliable relationships with large companies, we can introduce our customers to the hiring managers directly, which makes our company more competitive in this market.

The main issue of our company in this business is brand awareness. Chinese agencies know how to marketing to Chinese students, they know which social media platform has the most Chinese users, and they know what marketing content that Chinese students want to read. To increase our company’s brand awareness in Chinese students market, our company needs a marketer who really knows about the Chinese market, and makes Chinese students get to know our company’s business.

As I presented in my last blog, my work during these co-op term is to create new content on Chinese social media to increase our company’s brand awareness of Chinese students studying in Canada. To achieve this goal, the first step is to choose one Chinese social media platform to get started with our business. Our candidates include:

– INSTAGRAM

Instagram relies on photos or videos for conversation. As a result, this platform works really well for visual-based businesses, like art, food, retail, and beauty. 

– DOUYIN(TIKTOK CHINA)

DouYin is known for its short-form videos. The platform is useful for targeting the 18-24 age group and building brand awareness.

– RED(aka Xiaohongshu)

RED is an Instagram-like Social Media Platform. 80% of active Red users are women and Red’s primary customer base consists of young females between the ages of 18 and 35. Using texts, pictures, and short videos.

After careful consideration, we decided to choose RED as our main social media platform.

1. After investigation, the MAU(Monthly Active Users) of oversea Chinese users on RED is higher than DouYin and Instagram.

2. RED allows users to upload videos and photos, which provides more ways to achieve our business goals compared with DouYin.  

3. RED’s suggestion algorithm is based on the user’s geography location, which allows more users in Canada to see our post.

Our second challenge is choosing the right medium for our business. Firstly we tried to record videos to teach target audiences tips for job searching and writing resume, but we got only a few Likes.

We found that users like written content rather than watching a 5-6 minutes video. Because our target audience doesn’t have time to skim through a video in hopes of finding the information they need, they can easily find keywords in written content. We switched our content to articles and split the article into several photos. As a result, each of our new content got hundreds of Likes, and our social media account got more and more followers.

After two months of working, our company’s RED social media account’s followers increased from 6 to 3000, total “Liked” numbers increased from 5 to 26,000. My manager was surprised that I can get so many followers within only two months.

As a current student of George Brown College, I was happy to take Digital Media As a current student of George Brown College, I was happy to take Digital Media Marketing course with Wendy Greenwood. Wendy invited speakers who have years of experience in digital media marketing industry, and each of the speaker explained one digital media marketing strategy using their own experience and understandings. This course gave me a chance to deeply understand digital media marketing strategy such as Loyalty Marketing, Influencer Marketing, B2B Marketing strategy, Public Sector Marketing, Performance Marketing and so on. Wendy also invited some alumni of George Brown College to share their industry experience and knowledge with us.

The speaker that inspired me the most is Ashley Walsh. She is the Account Director of North Strategic, she has been working in social and digital media for over a decade. She has been with North Strategic/Publicis Groupe since 2018, working as a social media and influencer lead for clients such as American Express, Sobeys, and Samsung. She introduced Influencer Marketing and it’s potential in today’s world.

According to this presentation hosted by Ashley Walsh, I got to know influencer marketing is a game changer for brands marketing during pandemic. With the rise of the attention economy, we see a new form of exchange where brands seek and attain customer attention by producing appealing, entertaining content. Influencers who share your values and embody your brand can be more beneficial to work with as it is better to reach a smaller group that are likely to buy your product or engage with your brand, as opposed to thousands of people who don’t match your target audience. Influencer marketing became a very efficient and important strategy for a company to promote their brand. And soon, what I learned from this presentation really did help me to find a job.

How did I grow my Network and Resources via LinkedIn

This semester is my last semester as a student in George Brown College, so at the beginning of the semester, I realized that I need to build my network and find resources to help me in finding me a job. Thanks to the course “Content Marketing” that I’ve taken in last semester, which teach me how to polish my LinkedIn page and grow my connections.

Here are some tips about polishing your own LinkedIn page.

• Upload a Profile Photo. Profile photo is an opportunity to convey your personal brand, it’s your first chance to communicate that you are friendly, likeable, and trustworthy.
• Tell your Career Story in the About section. This is not the place for a dry list of past job titles, especially if you are seeking a full time position. It’s also a missed opportunity as a recalculator to leave this section blank.
• Make sure your profile is complete Don’t leave large areas of your profile blank such as your career summary. You want to ensure your skills are fully showcased.
• Volume of Connections. Don’t be shy to connect with others. I sent connect requests to my classmates, former colleagues and professors of my university. More connections means your profile have more chance to be viewed.

Next step is to find job opportunities. I set alerts about “digital media marketing jobs” and “human resource management jobs”(which was my former job), and actively submit my resume when new job opportunities available.

How did I got my jobs

After several times of failed interviews, I got an offer about an unpaid Human Resources internship role at GAOTek. I accepted this offer, because I think I can learn about how to work and collaborate with colleagues from this job. But I didn’t stop here, as it is an internship with only requires me to work 20 hours a week, I realized that I can find another part-time job which is closely related to Digital Media Marketing.

I joined an LinkedIn Group called “Jobs in Toronto for Chinese”, and actively looking for someone who is an recruiter or hiring. Also, I connected some group members to grow my network.

Several days later, I got an in-Mail from Joe, who owns a staffing company in Toronto. He told me that he launched a new project this year, and need someone who speak Chinese and has background in both digital media marketing and human resource. In this role, I need to promote the company in social media such as Facebook, YouTube, WeChat and Chinese social media such as Weibo and RED. I need to write a plan to prove my ability to get this job. Thanks to the course “Digital Media Marketing” and Ashley Walsh, who give me a chance to get a comprehensive understanding about Influencer Marketing, I was able to write a step-to-step Influencer Marketing plan to promote Joe’s company in Social Media, and made two presentations including Social Media Platform analysis, brand positioning, content topic list, and bidding strategies. Joe was very satisfied with my plan and he offered me a part-time position for now.

Here’s what I learned during job hunting:

• If you want to kick start your career in a new industry, don’t give up your past experience that was in different industries. Maybe there is a position that need having experience across multiple industries and you will be the top candidate of that position.
• Joining a group is a great way to grow your network, it gives you the opportunity to strengthen connection with like-minded individuals. Share your skills, experiences to the group and you may find a job waiting for you.
• Always be prepared and don’t afraid being failed. Difficulties will make future success sweeter. I was rejected tens of times before I got my first job, focus on what I can control, and learn not to worry too much about things that are out of control.

As a current student of George Brown College, I was happy to participate
in Alex Kim’s presentation and have a chance to talk
about B2B Marketing in-depth and it’s potential in today’s world.

Alex is the alumni of George Brown College, he specializes in Campaign
Strategy & Planning and Marketing Technology. He has four
years of experience in Digital Marketing, including three years in B2B.

B2B has various of features different from B2C
B2B and B2C marketing both need to by hyper-targeted to get results, but this can be a big challenge in particular for B2B brands. B2C campaigns can reach any potential customer who would be interested in their product, even if that person theoretically wouldn’t be the buyer. In B2B marketing, you need to appeal to a specific individual or small group of individuals within the business. These are the decision makers.
● Longer sales cycle: In many sectors, an initial B2B purchase is likely to result in years of future business. The typical lifecycle of a satisfied B2B customer is therefore far longer than that of a B2C ecommerce customer.
● Companies often know their audience: In B2B marketing, the logic of the product and its features is more important. Understanding the buyers and how they operate within the confines of their organizations’ procedures is crucial.
● Relationship driven marketing – long term: B2B purchases are often ongoing relationships with the vendor — the business can’t just dispose of the product if they don’t like it. This makes it a much more significant decision for a client, and B2B marketers need to be mindful of that.
● Content is more informational: Unlike a B2C audience, B2B customers expect to be “catered to” by sales and marketing teams. What can it do for a business? What can’t it do for a business? What does the customer need to know to be successful with your product? These questions are more important for B2B customers.
● Demonstrate organizational benefits vs. individual: B2B is about people using the product more than it is about the product itself.
● Frequent cross-sell/upsell opportunities: Selling to an existing customer is always going to be easier and cheaper than pitching to a new one. as you know the customer, you have an insight into what they like and don’t like, and how their business may benefit from what you’re offering.

Pipeline marketing combines sales and marketing data to focus on converting leads and prospects into customers instead of continuing to generate more leads. Entrepreneurs can use pipeline marketing to make their sales process more efficient and less costly.

A buy’s journey is the journey or buying process that consumers go through to become aware of, evaluate, and purchase a new product or service, and it consists of three stages that make up the inbound marketing framework: awareness, consideration, and decision.

It is important to deliver practical and relevant content to B2B customers. You should identify customer’s want, and answer most relevant information based on their needs.

I was heard about B2B and B2C marketing long time ago, but I never think seriously about them, and what are difference between them. Thanks to Alex, his presentation and explanation was clear and detailed, he gives me a chance to get to know the benefits and opportunities of B2B in deep.

Recently, I was happy to participate in Ashley Walsh’s presentation and have a chance to talk about Influencer Marketing in-depth and it’s potential in today’s world.

Ashley Walsh is the Account Director of North Strategic, she has been working in social and digital media for over a decade. She has been with North Strategic/Publicis Groupe since 2018, working as a social media and influencer
lead for clients such as American Express, Sobeys, and Samsung.

Covid has changed everything, but it is not a bad thing for influencers. Influencer marketing is expected to grow to be worth $13.8 billion in 2021, it will be a great chance to influencers to expend their market. Influencer marketing has changed in several ways during the outbreak. Firstly, influencers have had to shift gears in terms of their content creation and focus on the stay at home economy — so what do influencers see around their homes, from activities to hobbies, that their followers can relate to at this very moment. Secondly, the pricing of influencers has dropped from 30% to 40% even though there has been a surge in online viewership. Viewership has doubled for Instagram Live and Facebook Live. Hence, it is a perfect time to take advantage of the surge in online activity and online shopping.

Choosing right influencers is very important for success. In marketing, having a plan equals more success.  Define and track the goal of influencer marketing and how an influencer can help the brand reach said goal. Whether it’s to generate sales, grow brand awareness or something else, clearly define the brand’s goal before searching for and hiring influencers.

Authenticity and trust are two terms best used to describe influencers, and these people can be the game-changer for brands to step up their marketing plans and develop long-term relationships with customers.

1. Influencers will step up as content creators

Production and creative agencies are the saviors for brands when it comes to creative marketing. But with their doors shut, brands now have to reach out to Instagram micro-influencers for high quality editorial content at a low cost. Brands are now interacting with influencers to create content that powers the brand’s whole marketing mix.

2. Social media boom-growth of live content

Live content is becoming a COVID-19 boom. Instagram Live, in particular, is thriving in the social distancing space, with views and mentions of IG Live on Instagram, and Twitter skyrocketing by 526%. Instagram Live is a feature that influencers use to reach out to young people who are hungry for new content. 31% of young consumers say they’re watching more live content on social media. In view of this, brands are making live influencer content a marketing priority, a trend that’ll last after COVID-19, too.

According to this presentation hosted by Ashley Walsh, I got to know influencer marketing is a game changer for brands marketing during pandemic. She showed and explained influencer marketing in several aspects. She showed how influencer marketing thrived during pandemic, helped us to differentiate between influencers and content creators, influencers and advocates, and how to ensure success in this market. I learned a lot from this presentation and I really thank George Brown College for giving me this chance to talk wigh Ashley.

As a student from George Brown College, I am very happy to attend Lia Grimberg’s presentation about Customer Loyalty and Insights.

Lia Grimberg is the former Senior Director of Loyalty and Analytics at Loblaw Companies Limited. Lia is a data-driven marketing expert that translates customer needs into 1:1 personalized marketing communications that drive an improved ROI. She has almost 20 years of experience, both practical and theoretical, client and consulting, in the retail and financial services industries.

As Lia said in presentation, top companies collect various types of data when customer using their products or services, including contact data, transaction data, web browsing data, loyalty data, etc. The biggest reason why so many companies collect consumer data is that it helps them to get a much better understanding of the way their consumers behave online, define their overall demographics, and identify the ways in which they can improve the overall customer experience. 

Data protection has become such a vital part of business success that it’s even changing people’s purchasing power. As Lia mentioned, 77% of Canadians have some concern about their online privacy, only 40% of consumers state they
feel comfortable with data exchanges. Data privacy has become so important that it is now directly tied to customer experience. 

Lia explained that data that companies collect should follow legal standards, ethical standards, policy standards and good judgment standards, and the collected data should be safe, how data is used should be controllable.

Customer loyalty is something all companies should aspire to simply by virtue of their existence: Loyalty is an invitation to a mutually beneficial
long-term relationship. Customers convert and spend more time and money with the brands to which they’re loyal. These customers also tell their friends and colleagues about those brands, too which drives referral traffic and word-of-mouth marketing. Customer loyalty also fosters a strong sense of trust between your brand and customers — when customers choose to frequently return to your company, the value they’re getting out of the relationship outweighs the potential benefits they’d get from one of your competitors.

Relevance is a very important part in a customer loyalty program. Lia showed a research that

I really like this type of career, based on what I learned from Lia’s presentation, I think this job focuses on customer obsession, it combines data analyzing and strategies to figure out what customer really needs and want. The goal of this career should be establishing a good and trustable relationship between companies and customers. I could expect that this would be a challenging, but very interesting career.

As a mobile phone addiction patient, the first thing I wake up every day is to pick up my phone. My daily life is inseparable from mobile phone and various convenient apps. So, let’s follow up my mobile day and see if there is anything interesting.

My Daily Routine

Morning

Cleaning the room, feed my cat, open Apple Music to listen to music and Podcast as background music.

After cleaning, I will make a cup of coffee, check emails with Spark, open LinkedIn, WeChat and Facebook to browse information, and reply to emails and messages that I haven’t reply.

Before lunch, I will use facetime video call with my family, and then start to prepare lunch.

Afternoon

In the afternoon I will use Microsoft Teams for class, but usually I choose to use my MacBook, because there is a larger screen that can open more pages at the same time, making class more convenient.

After class, I will use Starbucks or UberEATS to order a cup of Frappuccino or bubble tea to pick up and go out to get some fresh air.

In my free time, I will go through Instagram to see what my friends are doing recently, and post photos or video on it.

Evening

In the evening, I will finish my homework first, maybe read a book or turn on the Kindle after dinner, and then open YouTube or Netflix to watch some of my favorite videos and dramas to kill time.

Before going to bed, I usually like to check DealMoon to see if there is any fancy product and good discount. After that, I will open TikTok to watch short videos of food, travel, and pets casually to end a beautiful day.

5 Apps I Used Most and Micro-Moments

1. WeChat

WeChat is the online chat app that I most used. Unlike North Americans who use WhatsApp, Snapchat, and Facebook messenger at the same time, Chinese people only use WeChat on their daily life, so the app I use the longest every day must be WeChat. 

My WeChat micro-moment

• I want to communicate…with my families and friends
• I want to know…what recently happened with my friends

• Microsoft Teams

I use Microsoft teams almost every school day to have classes, it becomes the most-used online meeting app on my phone.

My Microsoft teams micro-moment

• I want to talk…to my professors and classmates
• I want to have…a meeting with my team members

• Instagram

Instagram is my favorite social media app and I use it super frequently.  It is a wonderful app that I can share my daily life with my friends.

My Instagram micro-moment

• I want to know…what’s celebrities’ lifestyle
• I want to buy…something fashionable
• I want to share…my photos with friends

• TikTok

TikTok is my most-used short video app, normally I use it to kill time.

My TikTok micro-moment

• I want to watch…funny animal videos 
• I want to know…what’s the most fashionable memes

• Netflix

Its my most used video app to watch shows and dramas, it really helps me to relax after one day’s study.

My Netflix micro-moment

• I want to watch…newest dramas and movies
• I want to be…relaxed and happy

Mobile friction

Out of these 5 apps, I feel like Netflix is where I experience the most mobile friction. The competition between different video apps is very fierce, causing the copyrights of TV series and movies to be scattered on each app. Sometimes I open Netflix and want to search for a drama, but the copyright of this drama does not belong to Netflix, so I can’t search it and have no idea where to find it, that’s really a pain point for me. I must use Google to search which video app can watch the show, that makes me feel very inconvenient.

Marketer’s perspective

The conclusion drawn from my user behavior is that I spend a lot of time on mobile apps every day. It can be said that without a mobile phone, I will become at a loss as to what to do. This may affect the communication between me and my family and friends in real life.

But from the perspective of marketers, people relied on mobile apps, and apps become indispensable in people’s lives, which proves the success of mobile apps. Users are willing to invest a lot of time on mobile apps, which gives marketers more marketing possibilities.

For example, when customers use social media apps, they are very easily affected by subtle influences and make consumption. Therefore, on Tik Tok and Instagram, more and more product recommendations and advertisements give users great psychological hints and attract them to consume. Users not only use them as social and video apps, but also move their functions closer to shopping apps, that’s the reason why Instagram and Tik Tok attract users to spend more time on them and create more profit.

Improving customer journey can make advertising and recommendations more personalized and segmented on this basis, which not only can satisfy customers more micro-moments, but also allow users to get more suitable product recommendations and increase the probability of their purchase.