Tools
Canva, Photoshop, Premiere Pro
Descriptors
Branding, Prototyping, Researching, Professional Writing
Project Context
During Spring semester of my Sophomore year I took a professional communication and digital rhetoric class. This class had a focus on creating a content strategy plan for an organization of our choice. Because of my own interest in fiber arts and my hobbies, I ended up choosing Miami University's fiber arts club, Hook Yarn & Needles.
Problem
Hook Yarn & Needles isn't a super well known club on campus. They have an Instagram, but the content could vary in the visual branding and look disorganized at times.
Solution
Researching their current strategy, creating my own branded mockup posts, testing these new posts, and writing a content strategy plan that the student organization could follow.
Initial Research
The first step after picking what organization I wanted to focus on was to see what they were currently doing and whether or not those things were or weren't working for them. I started by collecting screenshots of 30 Hook Yarn & Needles posts from Instagram. Additionally, I collected at least 5 posts from University of York's fiber arts club Facebook and Instagram.
Following the collection of these posts, all of these posts were coded, making sure to note time and day of post, likes, comments, genre, etc. to determine patterns of what did and didn't work for them currently.
Finally, a rhetorical analysis was written with my coding data and post screenshots consistently referenced throughout. Recommendations were provided at the end of the analysis of what Hook Yarn & Needles should continue doing or take inspiration from other organizations such as University of York's club. In addition to a rhetorical analysis, a one pager focused specifically on Hook Yarn & Needles was created with a branded look to put all of the most important data into a visually appealing context.
Mockup Post Creation
After discovering what Hook Yarn & Needles was doing that did or didn't work well for them and making recommendations to improve their content, a core strategy and messaging framework were written following the identity and values that best fit the organization. As a club that is open to anyone and heavily focuses on making a welcoming and relaxing space for crafters, it was vital this was reflected through the mockup posts too.
Following the core strategy statement and messaging framework I created eight mockup posts of content that would do well on Hook Yarn & Needles Instagram according to what I saw during the coding process. All of these posts were also designed with a specific visual identity in mind as Hook Yarn & Needles visual identity was one of their weakest points.
User Testing
All eight of these posts in addition to some of the collected Hook Yarn & Needle posts from the very beginning of the project were put into one document and questions were written to understand what viewers of their social media were looking for. All three of the testers were people with some level of interest and/or experience with fiber arts and/or Hook Yarn & Needles. They were also college age students, meaning they fit directly into the demographic of people viewing Hook Yarn & Needles content and engaging with the club both online and in person.
Utilizing the notes taken during each interview, a usability report was written referencing the testing documents, the posts created by me, posts from Hook Yarn & Needles, and finally, recommendations based off of the main research questions that this user testing was based on.
Content Strategy Plan
Following testing was bringing everything throughout this project together into one cohesive content strategy plan that the organization could reference for any future content. This plan included the branding that had been consistently used for all of their posts. It referenced all of the written documents and pieces throughout the semester, such as the rhetorical analysis and mockups. Finally it made recommendations specifically in reference to the areas of substance, structure, and governance.
Another major component of the content strategy plan, which is also included at the very end, was a posting schedule that the organization could reference. This was similarly styled to match the organization brand that was created during this project process. It also referenced times and days that had been found to work best for the organization based on coding at the beginning of the project.
Conclusion
This project was an incredible learning process for me. Not only did utilize some experience I already had in aspects such as usability testing but focused in a new context, it also taught me new skills such as social media content creation and branding. It showed me how many different aspects come together when creating an effective social media campaign for organizations of any size.
It also was great continuous practice towards professional writing. Ensuring that each document that was a part of this entire process was professional and backed by specific research.