I'm obsessed with Apartment Therapy's blog - here's why

I love learning about interior design and seeing spaces transformed. I recently started following Apartment Therapy’s blog and social media channels. 

According to Forbes, “Apartment Therapy is one of the most influential interior design sites on the Web.” Their content creates unique value by allowing readers to submit their own house tours. 

Apartment Therapy’s approach creates value for the customer because after they submit their house tour, other readers can solicit suggestions for specific improvements. Their target market consists of 20-50 year olds who are renting an apartment or own a house. 

They really engage their readers in many different ways, with their biggest campaigns in the form of contests that readers can participate in. Their highest followings are on Instagram and Pinterest and almost every day they share content that calls the reader to action by giving them a link to follow to learn more about the post or by asking engaging questions.

 I have to say that after analyzing all of their social media platforms, I am very impressed with the way they curate titles of blogs to engage their readers. Almost all of the titles have the word “you” in it, which catches the reader and immediately gets them thinking that maybe this article is interesting. 

Needless to say, browsing their site and home decor ideas has been what I've been doing in my downtime ;) 

http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/

https://www.instagram.com/apartmenttherapy/

https://www.facebook.com/apartmenttherapy/

https://www.pinterest.com/apttherapy/

YouTube Under Fire: Social Media Blog

One of the most amazing channels on the Internet that many companies fail to recognize in their social media strategies is YouTube. The impact of the content on YouTube was brought to attention this past week when their most popular personality, Felix Kjellberg, known as his screenname PewDiePie, was dropped from the site because of his content that included crude anti-Semitic jokes and references to Hitler. Kjellberg’s sponsors also stated that they would not work with him again because of his crude comedy.

This situation has raised many questions about the level of vetting and oversight that advertisers and media companies should have for social media influencers and the content they are creating. Many companies choose to work with social media influencers rather than well-known regular celebrities because they are cheaper to work with. However, I believe that the standards need to be the same for both groups of people.

If a brand chooses to work with a person it is important to conduct full audits, background checks and understand risks associated with them. In the instance of Kjellberg’s association, his sponsors and YouTube should have been paying more attention to the content he was posting for the world to see, because their name is attached to everything he publishes.

The internet is a great place to advertise one’s brand however, because it’s such a big place it is important to be frequently checking who you’re associating with and what image they are sending out. 

Learning the importance of social media audits

In the past two weeks, I have completed two full social media audits. I had never heard of a social media audit until my social media class and I learned that it is the process of reviewing what’s working, what’s failing and what can be improved upon across your social media channels. I conducted a content and user analysis audit on Magnolia Market’s social media platforms.

Conducting social media audits are necessary because it’s important to ensure that the content that is being posted has a positive impact on the business objectives. The main objective in an audit is to ensure that all platforms are on brand and the content being shared is reaching the target market and is engaging users. In conducting the audit of Magnolia Market’s social media I found that their image branding was not consistent and that they needed to update their profile photos to more professional images and ensure that all platforms were the same.

One of the main findings that the audit showed was that there were tons of users engaging with the Magnolia Market Facebook page by posting photos or comments on their page. However, Magnolia was not answering user’s questions or engaging with the users who took time to write them a note. My suggested future action for Magnolia Market was to increase engagement on all social media platforms so that users feel important. Through this assignment, I learned the importance of the content that companies choose to post.