Business Research

Studio West: studiowest.com

Studio West is a state of the art music studio in San Diego. The studio has housed artists such as Lil Wayne, Jason Maraz, among other notable names. They provide a multitude of services including music recording/mixing, audio restoration, voice-over, video & music events, among a huge educational program. They are a sole proprietor local business with one location with about 12 people on staff.   

Studio West has a Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and a deactivated Youtube account visible at the bottom of their website. These are the diagnostics of the social media platforms: 

Facebook: Nov 8, 2020... 2,584 followers.... 

Twitter: Sep 12, 2018... 308 followers... 

Instagram: Nov 11, 2020... 1681 followers... 

Youtube: N/A

At first glance, it seems to be that Facebook is this company's most used platform. I think there are many good reasons for that. Not only do they get the most activity on there, but they seem to take full advantage of Facebook's many features. One that this company uses constantly is the events feature, which will allow for additional exposure to its many events that it hosts. Twitter has the least followers and activity, and I think this is expected. Out of all the platforms this company uses, Twitter seems to be the one less tuned for this company's social media content. Most of this firm's content is conveying visually all the different instruments and accessories they have to entice customers. Twitter's predominantly text format doesn't fit this model as well as other platforms, and well of course they have way fewer followers on it. In the comment sections of various platforms, you can see the replies to various customers. 

300 Entertainment: https://300ent.com/

300 Entertainment is a record label that has signed many of the hottest artists out. Including the likes of Megan Thee Stallion, Young Thug, Gunna, $not to name a few. This company is a sizeable corporation, though not on the level as some other more prestigious music groups. 

They do have Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. Here are the metrics:

Facebook: Multiple posts daily. 40k followers

Twitter: Feb. 6...54k followers

Instagram: Multiple posts daily. 267k followers

YouTube: Feb 4... 47k followers

This company seems to have a more conservative approach to social media. Their SM links are nowhere visible on the website and required me to go to their FB page to find their other links (another reason why FB is so important). Facebook and Instagram are by far their most used platforms, with their content more or less mirroring each other. Twitter seems to have a smidge less activity, with a few days here and there with no posts. YouTube as a platform is meant for the more dedicated supporter, and it is very clear here. These videos have a very low view count with a high average duration time. It is clear that their YouTube is there to showcase all of what 300 Entertainment has to offer, rather than using it as a promotional tool. This company does not reply to customers. 

Lysol: lysol.com

Lysol is a company that specializes in disinfectant solutions. This is a huge company with a brand name that most can identify with. 

Lysol has Facebook, Pinterest, and YouTube all visible at the bottom of their website. 

Facebook: January 29... 2M followers

Pinterest: January 2021... 2.1k followers

YouTube: Nov 19, 2020... 18.7k

Facebook is easily this company's most-used platform up until recently. Up until March 2020, the Lysol account was updating with posts every few days. After March, only one post has been made to its FB page. I find this interesting as the follower base on FB is astronomically higher compared to its other platforms. Pinterest is an interesting choice to get involved in. The way they use Pinterest is an interesting one. Most posts follow the same formula, a picture with text explaining how Lysol can provide and ensure clean surfaces. It's confusing why they don't "recycle" some of this content to other platforms, as they seem to be updating this platform consistently. The YouTube channel is filled with commercial-esque type content, with the only other format being "Lysol® + Mommy Bloggers". Though for two years, the YouTube account has been strictly posting:30-1:00 minute ads that garner many more views than they do have followers. They don't seem to be interacting with customers ever. 

Apple: apple.com

Apple needs no introduction as one of the biggest corporations in the world. This inherently makes their SM approach interesting, as can a company navigate SM with such a broad range of users. Their SM presence is humungous, with millions upon millions of followers across its many accounts.

Facebook: 13M followers

Twitter: 5.9M

YouTube: 13.8M

Instagram: 25.1m followers

Apple is a very unique company, with very unconventional methods and practices across many different aspects of their company. Nothing speaks more about Apple's MO than its SM marketing strategy. If you look at their Facebook or Twitter, there are no posts there. On Instagram, you'll find that posts that are "fan" content, videos, and photos shot on iPhones. This leaves no content across most of their social media that is promoting products, On its YouTube page is where the company puts most of its advertising effort. the company will update it with various bits of content. Some being official press conferences, promotional ad content, short narrative stories. This isn't the whole story, however. Apple has many more accounts such as @applesupport and @applemusic that are immensely more active and interacts with users consistently. 

Lyrical Lemonade: https://lyricallemonade.com/

Lyrical Lemonade is a video production company that specializes in music videos. The company prides itself on finding new up n coming artists to showcase to its millions of followers. They have the following social media accessible at the bottom of their site:

Facebook: Sep 13, 2019... 60K followers

Youtube: 2 days ago... 16.8M followers

Twitter: Daily posts... 871k followers

Instagram: Daily posts... 3.8M followers

This company's SM presence is very interesting to me. As a company based off of music videos, it is to no surprise that YouTube is the account with the most activity. This is how the fanbase is made, this is the product that this company outputs so it makes sense. Twitter and Instagram had very similar posts, many of which having the same pictures. Facebook is extremely interesting to me, as the company seems to have left it dead in the water. It is unclear if they decide not to post because of their limited following, or they have a limited following because of the lack of up to date content. They do not interact with fans on the accounts.

One of the most interesting things I realized during this exercise was how content differed from platform to platform. Twitter and Instagram more or less have the same functionality. So it was unsurprising that most of the content was mirrored across both platforms. Facebook is a platform that is always going to have the most customization and advertising features. Many of the posts I saw on Facebook couldn't be made on other platforms. This includes events, map location, old live streams among others. On Pinterest, I saw a lot more text content, something that is frowned upon on the other platforms.

Something I also thought was interesting was the activity among the different platforms. Companies (with exception of a couple examples) overwhelmingly put more time and effort into their Facebook pages. Most had hundreds of posts with a very robust and built page with information available at a glance. Instagram I'd say had the second most activity, with a tie amongst YouTube and Twitter. Youtube is an interesting platform, however, as the content posted here is MUCH different than that posted on others. Activity on YouTube is expected to be less because on average it takes more time to create a full-fledge video than it does a simple promotional animation or graphic

I think my consensus is this after completing this activity. Facebook is the holy grail of SM advertising. This platform has so many features and ways to interact with its overwhelmingly big userbase that it simply can't compare to the others. Instagram and Twitter are much of the same, with most companies on average having more posts and followers on IG. YouTube is a special platform that most do not update on a regular basis but has the ability to create and keep existing customers excited and informed.