Facebook Page Analysis

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 Short Description

This book is a true story about how the marathon was a catalyst in changing my life.

Long Description

Losing everything was painful, but it started a journey which would ultimately change the direction my life. With each loss I kept longing for things to get back to where they were—to get back to normal. It wasn’t until I hit bottom that I decided I didn’t want things to be the same anymore. I couldn't go on living the way I was. I decided I needed something drastic to change the direction of my life—a marathon. With four knee surgeries already, my doctor would have advised me against it, but something inside of me told me I just had to do it no matter what the cost. And it would come at a price I wasn’t sure I was willing to pay—never being able to run again. 

Mission Statement
My mission is to share my story about how loosing everything helped me to realize I needed to change.  My hope is to inspire others to believe in themselves, to find the power they have within themselves, and to have the courage to become the person they have always dreamed of being.  The first step is knowing what you want.

Personas:  
MaryAnn is a 35 year old mother of three young children.  MaryAnn loves her family, but she finds herself yelling at her kids more often than she wants.  She feels guilty and compensates by sacrificing more for them.  

Gilligan is a 45 year old man who suffers from depression.  He is often tired and overworked.

Ginger is 50 years old.  She feels like she is solely responsible for the quality of her marriage.  She has the tendency to undervalue herself and her contributions.

Tactic Plan
 My plan was to post weekly, use a variety of posts, and post at different times of the day and different days of the week.

Post exerts from the book: I posted a few sentences from the book intended to draw the reader in-- just enough to make them curious.

    
Personal Videos:   Introducing the chapter and giving  a hint as to what it is about.

Contest: I Offered incentive to read and edit.  Chapter 3 Challenge.  There were three comments but only two people took the challenge.  The winner was a friend who I was unaware was reading my book.  

  

Funny Video I did this video with my family. It was the post which had the most reaches and most views.  Everybody likes to laugh. It took a little extra time and effort, but it paid off. 

Videos were by far the most effective

Facebook add   Interest and other demographics include: Women in the United States, Motherhood, Christianity, age 25-60.  The add ran from March 30th to April 6th. I originally thought about targeting both male and female. Early on, I talked to a few men about my book and they said everyone struggles with confidence and self-esteem in some aspect of their lives.  I narrowed it down to just women as I got into the campaign and realized my audience was void of men.  The book is my memoir written about a time in my life when I was a mother of young children. The story will resonate with people who are similar to me because they will be able to relate.

	Last Week	Previous Week	Trend
Total Page Likes	135	61	121.3%
New Likes	74 (66)	0	0.0%
Weekly Total Reach	2,087 (1,734)	448	365.8%
People Engaged	103	117	-12.0%

The page likes stayed pretty steady until I ran the the Facebook add and then my likes doubled.  I ran the add to get page likes and it was successful. It was exciting to see people who I didn't know view my Facebook site and become engage in my book.

The majority of my audience is women.  This is consistent with the add I ran because over half the likes came from the add.  The add was for women between the ages of 25-60.  Since the purpose of the add was to increase likes,  the add was successful.   

  Here is a list of the post on my Facebook page.  There wasn't a huge difference in the post reach; however the videos consistently drew a larger number of reaches.  The funny video had the biggest impact reaching over 445 people with 194 engaged.  

 

The blog statistics were not as detailed as the Facebook, but it did give me insights.  I wondered how many people visiting my Facebook page were actually viewing by blog and reading my book.  The numbers were considerably less which made sense because it takes a lot more time to read a book. A lot of Facebook users are just skimming. Although the numbers were less, they did have the same pattern. When my page got more reaches, my blog got more views.  The most activity on my Facebook was the most activity on my blog.  When people saw the funny video, they visited the blog.       

Conclusion
 I learned it is important to put your best foot forward. The first video I posted was only 14 seconds long. It reached 92 people and had 83 views.  I was nervous and the video was weak.  I wish it would have been stronger especially with that many people watching. I got better as time went on. The biggest reach was the Facebook add. It was fun to see people engaged who were not friends or family.  The other biggest reach was the funny video I posted. Humor is a great tool to engage people.

I found getting personal to be effective. Social media can be so unsocial. I had a hard time getting people to comment. When I dropped off the gift card to my friend who won the Chapter 3 Challenge, she raved about how much she loved my book.  I asked her if she would write something on her Facebook and share my page which she gladly did.

Valerie and a few others commented on how it helped when they asked people personally to like their pages. Combing Facebook with personal contact can help build a following. 

Facebook has a great way to track your advertising to see what works and what doesn't. A business can spend a lot of money trying different things.  A radio add can cost thousands of dollars and may be unsuccessful. Newspaper, Yellow Page adds, and billboards can be costly and can not reach nearly as many people as internet marketing such as Facebook nor can these traditional forms of marketing  target people as proficiently as the internet.  This campaign was interesting and insightful.  I learned a few things about what worked and what didn't.  

My BFF Mary Jane

Colorado Takes the Lead

Marijuana goes by many names-Hemp, Weed, grass, pot, ganja, hashish, wacky tabacky, Mary Jane and the technical name, Cannabis.  Marijuana has been around for a long time.  It has been used medically, recreationally, and spiritually for about 5,000 years.  Originally it was used in 2727 BC for medicinal purposes in China.   While other drugs are on the decline, Marijuana use is increasing.  “ In 2012, there were 18.9 million current (past-month) users ". It has become the most used illicit drug in the United States; however, that could quickly change as laws are being challenged and changed. Colorado was the first to legalize marijuana for recreational use on November 6, 2012. Colorado's action has spurred an outpouring of support for the weed reform.   Currently it is legal in twenty-three states and the District of Columbia for medicinal use.  Washington, Oregon, and Alaska have followed Colorado's lead to legalized recreational marijuana use.  

Physical Context
The physical context is Colorado.  Although recreational marijuana was legalized in 2012, it took lawmakers and regulators over a year to approve the opening of the first marijuana retail stores. On January 1, 2014, hundreds of patrons waited hours in long lines to legally purchase marijuana.  People came from several states and even other countries to participate what some called a piece of history.  Patrons cheered as marijuana purchases were held in the air upon leaving the store.  Colorado residents over the age of 21 can purchase up to an ounce of pot (non-residents are limited to a quarter).  It is illegal to take marijuana out of the state. Edible treats such as chocolate truffles laced with marijuana can be purchased at these retail stores.

Psychological context

With the legalization of such a popular drug, social media spread what pot enthusiast would say as the good news. Although a few sites supporting the marijuana reform movement reported difficulty using social media such as Canalawblog  who complained Facebook blocked them because of their anti-drug policy and Inquisitor  who back up canalawblog’s claim with a headline, “No Hoax, 2015 Legal Marijuana Ban by Facebook, there is no evidence social media is restricting any such activity. A Facebook search for marijuana reveals a plethora of sites. 

 
One popular Facebook site the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, NORML, was founded by Keith Stroup who openly admits illegally using marijuana since he founded NORML in 1970.  This Facebook site posts articles highlighting the success of the movement to legalize marijuana.  Many of the posts sensationalize the use of marijuana and minimize the risks. They create a feeling that marijuana is safe and morally acceptable.  There are articles posted on the site about how to use responsibility.  Another article on NORML's site is about a "hip" Rabbi who claims that pot is kosher and appropriate for the passover. This Facebook sites touts in 2012  Keith, NORML's founder, received the High Times Lifetime Achievement Award. Sounds pretty prestigious--A lifetime achievement award. But who is the High Times? High Times is a self professed news reporting site for pot users.  

Social media sites like these glamorizes marijuana use.  It also creates the illusion that marijuana use is socially acceptable and that everyone is doing it.  Jesse Walker commented about a full page marijuana ad placed in the New York Times. He said, [It] just doesn't sound all that bizarre anymore. That’s when you know a social revolution is succeeding: when it starts to feel banal."

Temporal Context: 
The controversy over the legalization of marijuana has been going on for decades. The digital revolution may very well be the catalyst for moving the country forward or backwards depending on which side you stand. Facebook and smart phone apps makes it easy to promote ones cause. Advertising through social media is inexpensive and can reach a large audience.  The use of citizen journalism is also an avenue of spreading information which can be confusing on both sides of the issue because of incorrect facts reported. Miss-information can not only be confusing, it can be harmful especially when making a decision about the use of a mind-altering substance.   

Cultural:
Marijuana was big in the sixties when the baby boomers were in there teen years.  Drugs and free sex were a rebellion to their parents strict rules and mandatory compliance. Marijuana was the road to freedom for these rebellious teens.  Fifty years later with the legalization of the drug of the sixties creates a whole new culture. In Colorado,"There are 698 storefronts you can walk into to buy medical or retail marijuana as of this April 20, more than triple the number Starbucks (216) in the state." The retail shops sell candy bars, brownies, vapors and other marijuana goodies and paraphernalia.  Michael B. Hancock, mayor of Denver, applauds the marijuana movement.  He commented,"Denver is a progressive city, a vibrant city, and it's incumbent on all of us to continue getting it right."  

Organizations such as Leafly contributes to the marijuana movement culture by integrating social media to promote and create a social network for pot users. Leafly calls itself the worlds largest cannabis information resource.  Their slogan " Just say know "  is a spin on Hilary Clinton's war on drug slogan "Just say no".  Business Insider has called  Leafly the"Yelp for weed". 

Their app for the Iphone and android won Geekwires app of the year award in 2014 and has over 2 million downloads.   WeedMaps is another pot-focused social networking app "which help users find pot dispensaries and review specific cannabis strains. '' There is even a dating app catered to pot users called "High There". If your thinking about making a career in the marijuana business, there's an app for that too.  Just released in March "Weedhire" helps job-seekers and employers in the cannabis business. All these new connections give the impression that if you not on board, you're behind the times. 

Social: 
The advocates for legalizing marijuana use positive terms such as: progressive, safe, and non-addictive.  They either carefully downplay the negative affects of marijuana or omit them altogether. A news article about a student who traveled to Colorado to try marijuana and then jumped to his death after eating a cookie laced with marijuana was minimized by stating it was the first reported case. Edible marijuana products come in candy bars, cookies,brownies and other mouth watering treats.  In a another news article, CBS reported about the dangers of these edible marijuana treats.  The article included stories of a man who shot his wife, a 10 year old kid that brought a marijuana laced treats to school, and kids selling marijuana laced brownies.  The article concluded by stating we need to be educated about marijuana and use responsibly. 


The norms about drug use are changing.  People who were once considered pot heads are now uniting with other users and,as one blogger put it, coming out of the closet. People who use pot now have a myriad of support through social media and cool new apps.  Hash tags, tweets, and instagram are being flooded with information which is often times misleading or incorrect. There are misconceptions that marijuana is safe and non-addictive.  Marijuana is a drug, and has been proven to be addictive especially in young adults. Marijuana has a large range of negative physical and mental effects that shouldn't be overlooked. 

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