Kristin’s CSIT 155 - Spring 2024 Class Blog

Here we are at the VERY end of the semester, and I am still trying to catch up. The world of social media is vast and ever evolving. Navigating Facebook over the past few weeks helped me realize I am using it all wrong. I am more savvy with Instagram, which is interesting since I used to feel like I had no use for it personally. Now that I have a business, I am more comfortable with Instagram over TikTok. For personal reasons, I do not use X (formerly Twitter) and Threads feels forced. I can't delete it, though.  If I'd had been able to stay on track with this course, I know I would have gained some followers and seen an increase in activity on my socials because with the few posts I've made, the response has been great. My use of social media has not changed, but I feel more comfortable with them. I'm still not quite ready for video, but I know I will get there soon. I'm excited to implement the e-newsletter, as I have quite a few topics I want to explore with my c...

Blogs are valuable sources of information. It would be useful in a massage therapy business to showcase different techniques, answer questions and provide insight into the industry.  Over the last couple of months, I've noticed that clients come in and talk about all sorts of things like alcoholism, mental health, fertility issues, kids, and death. This list is not exhaustive, but I've seen a need to start sharing more information about self-care. Self-care is more than massages, facials, waxing and hair appointments. Self-care is also an internal process, and that should be tended to just as much as the external.  Blogs that have more of a personal touch are good for the types of articles I would like to write, but speaking about techniques would be more fact based and would not necessarily have a need to be personal. 

I’ve reviewed three accounts and found that the use of hashtags is different among all of them.  My Healing Spa uses quite a few hashtags that are pretty much similar in each post. Except what ever muscle or part of the body the post is referencing. Their posts are mainly showing different massage techniques, but they seem pretty generic. That could be why there is not very much engagement. My Healing Spa:  https://www.instagram.com/myhealingspa/ This account has about 14K followers. They post to Instagram about every day and get a few hundred likes per post and not very many comments. This seems disproportionate to the amount of followers they have. Hands with Grace also uses a lot of hashtags in their posts but they are more tailored to the post. They start global then niche down. This account has an organic following and it shows in the engagement.  Hands with Grace: https://www.instagram.com/hands.with.grace/  This account has 332K followers. They post to Instagr...

It is quite interesting how other businesses use Instagram. I reviewed two major accounts in two separate realms one is a beauty account,  Fenty Beauty by Rihanna  and the other is a media company,  Earn Your Leisure . They both have massive following and approach their content creation differently.  Fenty Beauty by Rihanna   12.9M Followers Product based business Uses both static and video imagery. The content is very artsy. Has the ability to shop from the Instagram post Fenty Beauty was created by global superstar, Rihanna. She has a team of people that have helped her launch a billion dollar empire. There is not much she can do wrong. The most effective promotion they have is Rihanna herself.  Earn Your Leisure This account posts mainly Reels with some static photos.  The reel content comes from the YouTube videos of the emerging and established content creators they promote.  The educational content is an online interactive community that inc...

My existing Instagram account is:  https://www.instagram.com/phoenixrisingholistictherapies I use video, photos and graphic images to post to my main feed and I share other creators content to my story. My Instagram account has 123 followers, and I am following 108 of them.The accounts I follow are mostly businesses, but there are a few friend accounts I felt too bad not following since they followed me. None of the social media accounts I have are very effective, but that could be due to the inconsistent posting to my accounts.  My daughter used to run my social media and posted a couple of times a week. Now that she is working for someone else, I am back in charge of my accounts and have stopped posting as often. According to Meta Business Suite, the last time I posted to Instagram was 153 days ago. Yikes! That’s more than 4 months ago. I would say that this account might be more effective if I actually used it.  As for Hashtags, I do use them. I try to always use #phoe...

 I have created and scheduled three posts for Facebook and Instagram. They are all image posts. Scheduled Facebook Posts This first post is a fun image meant for other massage therapists. We all watch our clients struggle to keep their arms on the table, and I found a tool that would be very useful to other therapists if they needed it. Sharing that info will bring comradery to the page. The second post will post at 6AM Monday morning. It is an inspirational quote meant to foster joy for the present moment. I post inspirational quotes from time to time, and they always do well on Instagram. I haven't focused much on my Facebook page, so hopefully this will start to draw more following.  The third post is a post referencing the Memorial Day holiday. I am contracted with the VA as a Community Care Network Provider for massage therapy. I am also a Navy wife as my husband served in the Navy for 20 years and I served along with him for 15 of those years. It is important to remember...

Phoenix Rising Holistic Therapies is a solo massage therapy and wellness studio that is looking to align with Facebook accounts that align with the six dimensions of wellness (physical, emotional, intellectual, social, spiritual, and occupational) or are directly related to massage therapy and can provide valuable insights, tips, and professional growth. These are the accounts I have followed.  Mindful Link: https://www.facebook.com/mindful.org   Focus: Focuses on mindfulness practices that enhance emotional and spiritual wellness, providing insights into stress reduction and mental well-being. Wellness Mama Link: https://www.facebook.com/WellnessMama   Focus: Covers a broad range of wellness topics, including natural living, nutrition, and holistic health, which support physical and intellectual wellness. American Massage Therapy Association (AMTA) Link: https://www.facebook.com/AMTAmassage   Focus: Offers resources, continuing education opportunities, and professio...

Data analytics is an important part of Social Media Marketing. Facebook tracks these two metrics: Post reach: Where what you post reaches out to an audience as a post in the feed. Post engagement: Where the viewer actually connects with the post, either by liking, sharing or commenting on it. Post reach is important because it measures how many people you are actually reaching. Depending on the hashtags you use, you can expand your reach to different communities than what your niche falls in. Post engagement is important because it measures true fans. Those people that are really interested in learning more about your brand.  Post reach allows you to learn who sees your content. By gaining more insight into who sees your content, you are able to tailor your posts to the communities that see your content most. Post engagement teaches you about what your fans actually like from your content. That information is valuable because you can produce more content that will actually get seen...

Massage by Jeanevive: https://www.facebook.com/MassageByJeanevive   Followers: 218 Massage by Jeanevive uses Facebook to communicate with customers. She posts at least once monthly. I like the posts she makes as they are inspirational and would intrigue me about her business. I think she could post more often, but the content is nice. Here cover photo states what her business is about. Her calls to action are used appropriately. After reviewing her content, I have more ideas about what types of things I can post about.  Sun Massage: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063768047182   Followers: 6 Sun Massage doesn’t use Facebook often. The last post was made in August 2022 and post before that were at the inception of the page in 2020. They do not efficiently use the platform at all. What I can learn from them is to not be inactive.  LaRue's Massage & Bodywork Spa: https://www.facebook.com/laruesmassageandbodywork Followers: 1.1K LaRue’s Massage & Bod...

I started the Facebook business page for Phoenix Rising Holistic Therapies LLC, January 31, 2023. I have 107 followers, the majority of them are friends in the industry.  During the roll-out phase, my daughter was finishing up her time at Mt. San Jacinto Community College with a degree in Marketing. Her goal was to work as a Social Media Manager, so she began using my business as her first account. She ran the Facebook, Instagram and TikTok accounts for my business. During her time as the manager, the activity on the three accounts was higher than it is now. She helped me out until July 2023, when she got a job at a start-up. That left the running of the accounts to me. My last post was January 2024. The reason I was excited about taking this class was because I needed to work on posting more to my social media accounts. I will be taking what I learn and apply it to my social media accounts.