jennaemersonsonlineportfolio.files.wordpress.com · Web viewFINAL PROJECT. Prepared for: CMA 4500. Prepared by: Jenna Emerson . Date: April 21, 2016

F I N A L P R O J E C TPrepared for: CMA 4500Prepared by: Jenna Emerson Date: April 21, 2016

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Industry Analysis_________________________________________________________4

SWOT Analysis__________________________________________________________9

Media Audit_________________________________________________________10

Target Audience_________________________________________________________12

Key Messages________________________________________________________________13

Objectives, Strategies, and Tactics______________________________________________15

Timeline/Calendar____________________________________________________________18

Budget Estimate____________________________________________________________________23

Evaluation and Expected Outcomes_________________________________________________25

Appendices_____________________________________________________________28

Blog Screenshot_______________________________________________________________________29

twitter Screenshot______________________________________________________________________30

Logo Design__________________________________________________________________________31

Speech Manuscript_____________________________________________________________________32

Blog Views Screenshot__________________________________________________________________35

Twitter Graphs________________________________________________________________________36

Presentation__________________________________________________________________________37

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Executive SummaryThere wasn’t a fitness blog that directly targeted college students. There is a

distinct need for a blog like the one I want to create because there is a gap in the market

and I feel that college students who are just starting their own journey need the

information that will help them the most. As college students, choices they make now

affect habits they will be into for the rest of their lives. I think I can bridge that gap in the

blogosphere because as an athlete and a college student I can write about things

specifically toward college students and help them develop healthy habits that will stick

with them for the rest of their lives.

The fitness blog industry is filled to capacity. There is tons of fitness on the

Internet and most of them have to do with someone’s personal journey. But one common

theme I found was that most of these people are in their later 20s and earlier 30s. There

weren’t very many college kids writing about their fitness journeys, if they even had one.

I saw a hole in the market, none of these blogs tired to reach college students even though

it has been proven that the habits that people establish in their 20s are the ones they

execute for the rest of their lives. I want to fill this hole by creating a blog that will help

these people find information that will help them start to lead a healthier lifestyle.

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Industry Analysis

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According to Breaking Muscle at breakingmuscle.com, the top three fitness blogs

for 2015 are Dai Manuel, Ross Training, and Sock Doc. Each blog has different tactics

that make them successful.

Dai Manuel created his blog in 2008 and it has soared to be the best fitness blog

you can find on the Internet. He was 15 when he decided he would no longer be obese

and start living a healthy lifestyle. Manuel used to be a Chief Operating Officer and

partner of Fitness Town Inc., where he helped his team and clients in eight retail stores

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and two commercial divisions. He lives out his passion for writing and sharing the best

health and fitness practices as the editor of the blog.

I think what makes him successful is that he talks about a wide variety of topics

from what to eat, how to recover, and different types of workouts. He creates a sense of

community by letting people join his tribe and he includes guest posts in with his own.

With this and how bright his blog is altogether, I think this creates an environment that is

attractive to people.

Rosstraining.com is the second best blog on the list, founded by Ross Enamait. He

is dedicated to excellence and innovations in high performance conditioning and strength

development. In his off time he is a trainer and boxing coach. He understands that what

may work for one athlete may not work for another one. He regularly updates the blog

and has an open forum with thousands of members. I also found resources that are

regularly updated by the community as a whole.

Although his blog is mostly about strength training and little about anything else,

he does a really good job of providing you with accurate information and great ideas for

workouts. What I like most about his blog is that he has a ton of video tutorials that

people can watch and see how to do the workouts. I find that very important because

strength training is all about proper form and you can’t always get it by looking at

diagrams or pictures of a workout.

Third on the list is the blog, Sock Doc. The site launched in March 2011 by Steve

Gangemi. He is a chiropractic physician who uses various holistic methods to restore a

person’s heath and get them back on their own road to fitness. He is called the Sock Doc

because he only wears socks or goes completely barefoot as often as he can, even in the

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office treating patients. The Sock Doc uses this blog to educate athletes about the benefits

of natural treatments and prevention.

There isn’t really any variety in his blog posts. The whole blog is about injuries

and natural way to treat them. Even without any variety, he knows what he is talking

about and is very knowledgeable. There is less sense of community but he holds

workshops and he does consults in his office and on Skype.

One blog I feel that would be a competitor is nerdfitness.com. The creator, Steve

Kamb, started the blog in the fall of 2009 and it has been featured on many lists as one of

the most popular fitness blogs. He does a really god job of marketing his blog so that he’s

just an “average Joe.” It works because he’s able to attract other people that are like-

minded. These people then to be intimated by the big lunks in the gym but they still want

to maintain a healthier lifestyle. What I noticed about his articles about his articles is that

he writes most of them himself. Occasionally he will have a guest or another person write

articles about food and other topics, but I found this to be very rare. He uses typical nerdy

themes in his articles. For example he calls his group, which you can sign up for, the

Rebels and calls the typical advice that you would get from the fitness experts the

Empire. It is a clear play off of Star Wars and helps set him apart from all the noise of

fitness experts. He does a really good job of showing different people’s transitions from

unfit to totally fit. It gives his site and methods credibility and establishes that what he is

writing about works. The one thing I don’t like about this blog is the color scheme. When

I hear the word nerd I imagine comic books and super heroes and I would have expected

brighter colors. The red, black and grey are dull for me.

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The second blog that would be a competitor would be workoutmommy.com. This

blog is about how a single mother of four boys finds the time to work out. The creator,

Lisa, started her blog in August 2007 after the birth of her second son. Before she started

her family, she was a certified personal. The first thing I noticed is the header with

pictures of her working out and flexing with her kids. It gave me a visual and put a face

and body to the name. She doesn’t include any guest writers on her blog so she writes

every post. She only posts three of four articles a month since she is so busy raising her

family. In a way, I think it’s good because her fan base is waiting and it builds up the

suspense. But on the other side of the coin, I feel like she could get a lot more content

through if she included other fit mom’s post. On the side bar she has links to her social

media sites, which I feel help her connect with more of her fans and draw them into the

blog.

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SWOT Analysis and Media Audit

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SWOT Analysis

StrengthsBackground in fitnessI Can write topics that

would pertain to college students

I have a lot of time to dedicate

Access to other students

WeaknessesI don’t know how to

make a blog right nowOther school work

might take time away

OpportunitiesThere are many fitness

blogs but none that target college studentsFitness community is

very welcoming

ThreatsMessage might not

reach target audienceBlog might get lost in the stream of all other

blogs

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Media AuditWhat the media is saying about fitness in the past six months is wearable fitness

technology and trends in the fitness world.

Wearable fitness devices can be used to track anything related to the body but the

most common things tracked are steps, heart rate and sleep. The most popular fitness

tracker is any from Fitbit’s line. With the introduction of the Fitbit Blaze and Aria it still

remains on top for the best new tracker and the best overall tracker from Wareble.com’s

study. When this trend was starting there were only a couple companies that were really

getting into this innovative technology. I decided to go with Nike’s Fuelband because I

liked that all my activity could be converted into one number I could track and I liked the

smartphone app that went along with it. But mine is fairly limited to what trackers can do

today. I can’t track my heart rate or my sleep and the button on the actual band is always

breaking.

There was one article from USA Today where a small Christian college from

Oklahoma is making freshman and transfer students buy the new Fitbit HR as a part of a

mandatory physical education class. Twenty percent of their grade is their ability to reach

10,000 steps a day and spend a 150 minutes in their target heart rate a week. While

outsiders think that it would make fitness less fun but the students like that they have a

class that can boost their GPA for very little work.

Just like in fashion or music, there are different trends that take place in fitness. In

the past six months, high intensity interval training, or HIIT, and body weight workouts

are the most popular. HIIT is when you only do a minute or two of a high intensity move

and they mostly last for a half hour or 45 minutes. I think these types of workouts are

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picking up steam because you get the most bang for your buck. You only have to work

for a short time and you burn more calories and have more metabolic effects than basic

running and strength workouts. Body weight workouts are mainly classified as moves

like squats and push-ups. These are popular because you don’t need a lot of room or

spend a lot of money to get a good work out.

As far as college fitness there isn’t a lot about actual workouts but there is always

an announcement for a new wellness center or gym that they are going to build or they

are letting students know what classes they offer.

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Target Audience and Key Messages

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Target AudienceMy target audience will include college students that are looking for information

about living a healthier lifestyle. Although I want to be able to target all college students,

I want to narrow it down to reach college freshmen and sophomores. They are just

starting college and are still learning how to deal with the responsibilities of having more

freedom. Many people in this demographic are known to make bad decisions regarding

their bodies. They tend to eat more processed foods, exercise less, binge drink, and

accumulate a lot of stress.

Most freshman and sophomore college students have grown up in the digital age

and know a lot about social media and the Internet. I decided to write a blog and to

promote the blog over twitter because I feel like that’s where I can find the most college

students. I also chose to write a blog because it would be the easiest for college students

to find a good collective of information.

Key Messages “Everyone’s body is different so you have to find what works best for

you.”

“Stay on the path of your fitness journey.”

“Motivation is the key.”

I want people to understand that the path to a healthy lifestyle isn’t always straight

and what works for one person won’t work for the next person. Everyone is unique and

has a different body type than maybe some of their friends or other people they see on the

street. I want my messages and posts to reflect that. People should realize that the fitness

industry is huge and they’re a ton of ways to work out. Personally, it’s always been about

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staying motivated to work out and to force myself to work out when it’s really hard. I

believe that it’s half the problem with not only me but also a lot of college students. In

my blog, I try to tell personal stories and share experiences so college students can realize

that I’m not another leader in the industry, that I’m one of them.

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Objectives, Strategies, and Tactics

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Objective 1. To gain 80 views on my blog by April 21

Strategy a. Link to social media

Tactic i. Create a twitter (@collegefitness10) to promote the blog

Tactic ii. Comment on other fitness blogs to achieve more visibility

Objective 2. To create 20 blog posts by April 21

Strategy a. Create blog (see Appendix blog screenshot)

Tactic i. Use WordPress

Tactic ii. Use analytics

Strategy b. Post frequently

Tactic i. Write posts on blog twice a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays

Objective 3. To gain 600 followers on twitter by April 21st

Strategy a. Being active on twitter

Tactic i. Favorting tweets

Tactic ii. Retweeting tweets

Strategy b. Following more verified twitters to attract other smaller twitters

Tactic i. Research other twitters

Objective 4. To achieve a retweet or like from 5 different people on tweets by April 21st

Strategy a. Being active on twitter will attract more people

Tactic i. Favorting tweets

Tactic ii. Retweeting tweets

Strategy b. Connect with other twitters

Tactic i. Like tweets in hope of them doing the same

Tactic ii. Retweet other tweets in hopes of them doing the same

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Timeline/Calendar

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January 2016

Select

Year:

2016

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

1 2

3 4 5 6 7 8 9

10 11 12 13 14 15 16

17 18 19 20 21 22 23

24 25 26 27 28 29 30

31 Notes:Blog and Twitter created

February 2016


1 2 3 4 5 6

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Blog post

Active on Twitter

Blog post

Active on Twitter

7 8 9 10 11 12 13Active on Twitter

Blog post

Active on Twitter

Blog post

Active on Twitter


Blog post

Active on Twitter

Blog post

Active on Twitter


Blog post

Active on Twitter

Blog post

Active on Twitter

28 29Active on Twitter

March 2016


1 2 3 4 5Blog post

Active on Twitter

Blog post

Active on Twitter

6 7 8 9 10 11 12

21

Active on Twitter

Blog post

Active on Twitter

Blog post

Active on Twitter


Blog post

Active on Twitter

Blog post

20 21 22 23 24 25 26

27 28 29 30 31Blog post

Active on Twitter

Blog post

Notes:

April 2016


1 2Active on Twitter


Blog post

Active on Twitter

Blog post

Active on Twitter

10 11 12 13 14 15 16

22

Active on Twitter

Blog post

Active on Twitter

Blog post

Active on Twitter


Blog post

Active on Twitter

Blog post

24 25 26 27 28 29 30

Notes

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Budget Estimate

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Staff time:

2 to 3 hours twice a week for 11 weeks blog writing= 44 hours

20 minutes twice a week for 11 weeks favorting/retweeting on twitter = 7 hours

and 20 minutes

Total staff time= 51 hours and 20 minutes

Blog Writing73%

Social media27%

Budget Estimate(Staff Time)

Budget Estimate:

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Evaluation and Expected Outcomes

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Objective 1. Overall, To gain 80 views on my blog by April 21

Reached 81 views on April 14th

Also achieved 15 visitors and those are people that have looked at the blog

multiple times

The most viewed was the homepage/about me section

Objective 2. To create 20 blog posts by April 21

I will have created 20 posts on April 19th

See Appendix Blog Views

Objective 3. To gain 600 followers on twitter by April 21st

I have exactly 600 followers on April 15th

See Appendix Twitter Graphs- twitter impressions

Objective 4. Attain 5 likes or retweets on twitter

achieved 8 retweets and 32 likes between 37 tweets

See Appendix Twitter Graphs- Bar graph

I think my tactics on social media worked to achieve the views on my blog but I

don’t think I reached the target audience that I set out to reach. I found the fitness

community on twitter was very supportive and they were looking at my blog. A lot of my

followers on twitter were older and there wasn’t anybody that looked like they were in

college. I should have spent more energy trying to follow more colleges and college aged

people instead of just targeting anybody from the fitness community. Overall, I achieved

all my objectives and thought that my initiative was a success. this was a really great

experience and I learned so much. When I started I didn’t have any clue what I was doing

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and I just took it step by step. Now I feel really confident that I can do things like this. It

has made me really hopeful for the future.

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Appendices

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SpeechI wrote a speech to give at a college conference for another tactic to inform more college

students. The main points are why it’s important to be healthy and some tips to help

achieve that.

Good morning. As we all know that we are here to celebrate this special occasion,

I would like to speak over the topic of health and fitness. In this competitive and crowded

world, everyone has forgot to take care of his or her health. They start a run in the early

morning (to earn money for their family) that only ends in the late night. People do not

have a little bit of time for themselves. They only earn money, eat and sleep. They do not

know that to keep this body healthy, we need to involve in the daily physical exercises

and cleanliness of body. There is a common saying that “health is wealth”. It is very true,

it is only our good health that remains with us in our bad times and helps us to face all

challenges of the life. Health is the most valuable and precious things for every individual

in the life. Good health is the state of complete physical, mental, social and spiritual well

being without any suffering.

Being a healthy and fit person require good natural environment, healthy living,

healthy food, daily physical exercises, and personal cleanliness. All such things facilitate

good health for long time. On the other hand, an unhealthy environment because of the

over population, industrialization, and pollution causes bad health and mental

disturbance. Bad health always threatens the life as it brings many dreadful diseases such

as heart attack, cancer, hypertension, diabetes, hepatitis, AIDS, kidney failure, liver

problems, etc.

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Now a day, people are suffering from various mental disorders because they are

spending their full time in racing to blindly earn money, to earn fame, win aim of life and

achieve big status in the society.

Everyone’s life has been hectic because of the huge level competition in each field.

Earlier people were used to of enjoying the nature’s beauty and enjoying the different

colors of life. But now, people are working in very stressful condition without any

satisfaction that is hindering the physical and mental fitness thus, people is suffering

many diseases. Physical fitness and healthy diet are very important for getting a healthy

and tension free life. People should eat very simple and light food (rich in vitamins,

minerals, and proteins) with green leafy vegetables, fruits and milk. Food rich in fruits

and fresh vegetables reduces the risk of cancer, cataract, diabetes, heart attack etc. People

should avoid eating fast foods, oily foods, soft drinks and fatty foods. Everyone should

follow good eating and exercise habits such as:

Eat breakfast at time and in large amount and light dinner 3 hrs. before sleeping.

We should be a nibbler and not a foodie.

We should practice eating fresh salad with meal.

We should not keep ourselves starve for long time or overeat subsequently.

We should avoid fast foods and canned foods.

We should eat heart friendly foods like yellow, orange and green vegetables and

fruits.

We should reduce the intake of food and exercise more as the age increases.

We should go for daily light and heavy physical exercises by keeping in mind the

structure of body.

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Regular exercises enhances basic metabolic rate that increases absorption of

digested food and burns extra body fat by improving vital organs functioning.

We should practice yoga and meditation at home on daily basis.

We should go for proper sleep at right time and follow early to bed early to rise

regime. We should take care that; never sleep with stress, never sleep during the

day, always drink warm milk before going to bed.

If you want more tips and tricks check out my blog College Fitness 101. Thank You

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jennaemersonsonlineportfolio.files.wordpress.com · Web viewFINAL PROJECT. Prepared for: CMA 4500. Prepared by: Jenna Emerson . Date: April 21, 2016

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