Earlier this semester, the BCM302 cohort pitched our project concepts for the digital artefact we will engage with for the rest of this session. This is the second peer review blog post in which I will analyse the project progress of 2 students, offering constructive feedback and reflection on the progress of their project.
Peer 1: Maddy Hawkins ‘Socially Maddy’
Maddy’s project has been progressing quite well since my last review, with her concept and utility continuing to be the key strengths of her social media management service. In my previous review, I suggested that Maddy synchronise her aesthetics across her different project channels to demonstrate consistency to her audience. As such, I can see that Maddy has taken this advice and revamped her Instagram page in line with her chosen brand colours and tone of voice while offering sophisticated and practical information to her audience. This can be seen as a conscious decision she made through her Week 7 Twitter update.
It is also notable that Maddy has been inactive on her TikTok account for about a month – demonstrating that she may be focusing her methodology on her Instagram channel to offer utility to audiences. I think it will be successful for Maddy to concentrate on one channel if she finds it overwhelming to maintain both successfully. Jess Della-Franca (2022) offers a useful article on the importance of channel selection and how to go about this.
Twitter and Content Genre Discussion
In her last Twitter update in Week 7, Maddy discusses focusing on her Instagram content and creating a portfolio of work that she can offer to potential clients. This was the first update I saw throughout her weekly updates that directly addressed the intended service she will offer; social media management consultations. From this, it could be concluded that Maddy is focusing too narrowly on the channels used to advertise her service when she should be attempting to find and work with clients. I think it will be beneficial for Maddy to create a work portfolio (see tweet) and start focussing on client scouting to demonstrate successful utility and methodology through her project.
Either way, the content Maddy is producing fits into the ‘Skills Service Genre’ as she continues to utilise her expertise and offer this information as a service through her Instagram to relevant audiences. If Maddy struggles to get clients, it may be possible to redirect the project into an advice page for social media managers, with examples of this seen in @sunnysocialcollective and @thesocialtwenty on IG.
Indeed, Neal Schaffer (2020) agrees with this sentiment, stating the importance of firstly developing influence with real Instagram followers before monetising this influence through paid services. If Maddy decided to make her Instagram content the focal of her project, this would be a successful way to develop an audience that will want to purchase her services once an established trust is built. This is an important aspect of the skills service genre and the FIST framework.
Peer 2: Annesha Edwards ‘Annesha’s Day’
Annesha has demonstrated substantial progress since the last project review, having created her cooking e-book, ‘Annesha’s Plate’ as well as beginning to produce videos on her TikTok @anneshasday for desired lead generation and engagement. It is clear that Annesha has successfully identified the personal utility this project offers her, seeing a big spike in project engagement following my previous project review.
With this, Annesha has also demonstrated student collaboration, as seen through her gaining a TikTok marketing plan from a fellow student, which offers helpful advice on utilising the platform successfully within her identified project methodology. As such, Annesha has demonstrated that she has moved beyond the initial stages of the design thinking process, now with a functioning prototype to test and reiterate.
Twitter and Content Genre Discussion
With the E-Book now created and content being generated across her TikTok channels, my main suggestion to Annesha would be to experiment with content variation testing as part of the prototype testing and reiterating phases of design thinking. Indeed, a main affordance of TikTok is the requirement to post regularly and consistently – which may be hard to maintain with regular cooking videos as the only content style being posted. As such, Annesha could experiment with different kinds of content on her TikTok feed to maintain consistency by developing a variety of content pillars (discussed by Goodman, 2022); such as UGC content of friends making/reviewing her food, relatable trendy content related to the cooking niche or even useful cooking hacks.
The E-Book that Annesha has created demonstrates attention to the chosen aesthetics matching Annesha’s target audience for her prototyped product. With this, Annesha has successfully produced within the ‘Information Management Genre,’ following the advice I offered in the first peer review. Following on from this successful first prototype, it may be beneficial for Annesha to use TikTok as a feedback loop to test out which recipes her target audience responds to in order to develop the E-Book further. Indeed, this is a technique used by Ryan Hatch (2021), stating the need to implement “continuous feedback loops that inform your design and development process from start to finish” when creating a digital product within the information management genre.
As stated in my previous peer review, it will be beneficial for Annesha to critically analyse the affordances that TikTok can offer her in this feedback process. One way to get feedback on TikTok is through generating user engagement, with this article by Kolsquare (2021) offering different ways to do this.
Thanks for Reading, and Remember to Keep it Sweet!
Keep it Sweet with Kira Sweet 