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At some point in the semester, we discussed SMS as it relates to mobile marketing. Over this past Black Friday weekend, I had the pleasure of receiving an influx of messages from Express to Tobi and any other brand whose terms and conditions I did not read close enough. When I first started to receive SMS notifications from companies, I thought they were being a little too intimate, but I quickly became used to it. I honestly read every message, but they do not make me more prone to shop necessarily. The only time SMS messaging converts me to an actual shopper is when I am already shopping whether it is online or in a brick and mortar. Even so, I am more easily converted when I am physically in the space to take advantage of the promotion.

Although some people consider SMS messaging effective due to its high open rate compared to other communication channels such as email marketing, I think it still falls short in some areas. I do not think that everyone should receive the same generic SMS notification from their favorite retailer. Instead, I think that SMS notifications should be configured to beacon technology to drive a more personalized and connected experience. The collaboration of the two tools may also serve as a way to increase in-store conversion rates and overall sales.

In my mind, I would be in the mall and receive a message from Express only because the transmitters from the beacon technology picked up that I was in the vicinity of a store. However, someone that was home would not receive that same text message from Express, if they were to receive one at all. Retailers could have potentially used this innovative idea over the Black Friday weekend as another way to drive even more sales.

Usually, people are shopping in stores on Black Friday. Retailers could have taken advantage of this by using SMS messages in a more meaningful way. Instead, I was receiving dozens of messages that merely collected dust during the big sale weekend. At one point, I was receiving so many notifications from retailers, I wanted to wail my hands and yell, “SOS, please someone help me”. One way for text messages to make more sense while I was home is to send me short abandon cart messages. Then, it would make sense for me to receive SMS messages.

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Black Twitter has the power to ruin your entire life. Yep. You read that right. YOUR LIFE. Alright, that may be an exaggeration, but you definitely don’t want to mess with them. If you are somewhat confused about what I’m talking about, take a look at the video below.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcSh2F8e__8]

Did you watch it? I sure hope so! It is imperative that you at least know what Black Twitter is before you read any further.

Alright, now that you know what Black Twitter is, you can kind of understand why Black Twitter is so powerful. The black people on Twitter openly discuss things such as politics, religion, and entertainment as they relate to the black perspective and experience in real-time. This has birthed many honest and open conversations whether good or bad, sometimes leading to someone’s untimely social media (sometimes IRL too) demise. Some people refer to this public dragging as cancel culture.

I am not sure if Black Twitter created this notion of cancel culture, but they for sure add fuel to the fire. If Black Twitter cancels someone or something, it may not be widely accepted. Nonetheless, a Black Twitter cancellation holds people and brands accountable for their questionable public social actions and puts the pressure on people to change said behavior. Let’s take the Shea Moisture, the beauty brand, instance into consideration for a second. Black Twitter felt that Shea Moisture failed to represent their core audience members in their 2017 ad. Therefore, the hashtag #sheamoistureiscancelled quickly began to trend. Many users declared that they were no longer going to support the company moving forward. Shea Moisture quickly pulled the ad and gave a public apology. I haven’t found any research supporting that the company lost any money from this scandal, but I would not be surprised if they did. I can make an educated guess that they surely did not get the ROI that they expected from the production of that ad.

That’s the power of Black Twitter in a nutshell. They are trendsetters that help to amplify things, such as cancel culture. They can pressure executives to make tough decisions and make you give up your favorite shampoo all with one viral hashtag.

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If you’re on social media, when is the last time you scrolled down any one of your timelines and DID NOT see a meme? It’s been a while, right? Let’s face it, memes dominate nearly all social media channels. Moreover, memes extend far beyond social media. They have slowly, but surely, taken over my DM’s, group chats, and iMessages as well. Who knew that a relevant or significant image with a small amount of text could provide such comic relief and entertainment? 

According to Rocheleau (2017), a meme “can be summed up as jokes told over photographs or cartoons, occasionally (or more often) in poor taste.” While memes are a fun distraction from reality, they also serve as a communicative tool for many. They can help to start conversations, help drive home a point, or help to smooth over looming conflicts.

Usually, memes are still shots of something with some sort of cultural significance that is constantly repurposed and tailored for a specific audience and shared (sometimes going viral). For example, take a look at figure 2. I’m sure you can think of a few different memes that fit each picture.

But, who should use memes? Technically anyone can use memes, but is it appropriate for businesses and brands to use memes to stay relevant and in front of their audience? I think it all depends on your audience. Klanderman (2018) says, “From a business perspective, if you’re on social media and having troubles reaching younger audiences or problems with engagement, this may be your “in.” I believe that if the brand uses memes in a lighthearted and tasteful way, it could be very beneficial. On the other hand, if a brand or organization misuses a meme, it could be very detrimental to their reputation and could risk being, for lack of better words, the latest victim of cancel culture. I think this most important thing for brands to do is to stay authentic and not try to insert themselves into a space just because something is viral. Not only do I believe that the brand must use memes in an appropriate way, I think it should relate back to the brand is some way to drive home the messaging and help to connect with the audience. Disney does a beautiful job using memes in my opinion (see figure 3).

Do you think memes are just a trend or are they here to stay? Can you think of another brand that uses memes effectively to reach their audience while staying authentic?

I feel like memes are so deeply ingrained in our culture that they will continue to be popular amongst everyone if used properly despite the introduction and increased usage of gifs(that’s a whole other topic for another day).

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Last week, I noticed my left AirPod would not pair to my phone. After Googling solutions and troubleshooting myself, I made the problem worse. Neither one of my Airpods would pair to my phone. To avoid going to the Apple Store, I started a chat with a support specialist. After chatting with two different agents, for two hours, I was told that someone would call me to help resolve my issue. The agent on the phone attempted to solve my issue by trying to see where in the process the AirPods would not connect; however, he was still not able to resolve my issue. He told me that he would send the transcripts and the data he collected to a specialist and get back to me on Monday. I was not happy with his resolution. It was Friday, meaning I would have to go all weekend without my babies. Unsatisfied with my experience, I decided to walk to the Apple Store to see if my issue could be resolved right away.

When I walked into the store, I immediately felt overwhelmed. No matter how many times I walk into the white open space, I feel lost. I scanned the room and attempted to find an associate, but luckily someone spotted me. After connecting my case to some fancy wires and an iPad, the store associate let me know right away that my case and left AirPod were shot so they had to replace both parts. Great! My problem was resolved instantaneously, but not so fast. The associate let me know that I would need to see someone at the Genius Bar, and that was approximately a two-hour wait. In my mind that made no sense, and from that point on, I reluctantly sat in the Apple Store observing and trying to figure out where Apple could improve their retail model.

As I sat and patiently waited for the system to let me know it was my turn at the Genius Bar, I observed little customers making purchases. Most customers ventured to the Apple Store with a problem that they expected to be solved. I sat, sat, and sat some more. I didn’t understand why I had to wait to see another person to give me a replacement AirPod and case. Why couldn’t the same associate that resolved my issue simply go into the back, grab what I needed, and let me enjoy my Friday night? That would be too simple huh? A more clearly defined, the streamlined process would potentially reduce wait times and get to the root of the problem faster.

Ding! It was finally my turn. I got up and approached the bar when the same guy that initially helped me said, “I got you, I checked you in already”. “Geez, thanks”, I thought to myself. He then came up to me with his fancy devices and let me know that the replacement pod and case were not in stock and would need to be ordered. They would be ready for pick up in two-five business days. So, I basically wasted about two hours in the Apple store just so someone could tell me my issue could not be solved. Sounds like a great way to spend your Friday evening, wouldn’t you agree?

Apple decision-makers need to get out into the stores and realize that the experience is not as glorious as they think. If they are not willing to get their hands dirty, they need to closely analyze customer journey maps to improve customer experience and subsequently decrease wait times. This may even be a crazy idea, but making sure that each associate is seeing the solutions all the way through. If the associate would have told me that the replacement parts weren’t available sooner, my experience would have been much more enjoyable. The root cause of the problem needs to be diagnosed properly so, the proper solution can be made, to improve the overall process. The following strategy should be implemented to help create a solid customer journey map:

• Actions: What is the customer doing at each stage? What actions are they taking to move themselves on to the next stage?
• Motivations: Why is the customer motivated to keep going to the next stage? What emotions are they feeling? Why do they care?
• Questions: What are the uncertainties, jargon, or other issues preventing the customer from moving to the next stage?
• Barriers: What structural, process, cost, implementation, or other barriers stand in the way of moving on to the next stage?

This simple and effective process would increase the in-store process. However, this is not a one-time stagnate solution. This needs to be done continuously so next time my AirPods decide to malfunction, I don’t have to wait two hours.

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Close your eyes. Imagine that it’s circa 2007. You run home from school, hop on the only desktop computer in the house, plug the phone jack into the modem, and log onto MySpace. You’re greeted by a ton of messages, friend requests, and new picture comments on your latest duck face selfie (see Figure 1). That feeling could very well be defined as the best feeling in the world, but obviously not better than getting a new pair of shoes. MySpace was the once the most visited website on the internet and kickstarted the social media era with 80 percent of social networking traffic.

“MySpace was the early winner and should have gone on to great glory.” (Hartung, 2011). However, as we all know, MySpace is now a thing of the past. Unfortunately, they were beat out by Facebook for various reasons, but I believe user experience was MySpace’s biggest downfall. I enjoyed customizing my personal MySpace page (we all can add coding to our resumes) and adding whatever song matched my mood, or so I thought. “MySpace was difficult to use for new users. Profiles could be customised to make them more attractive and personalised. But that meant there was lack of familiarity while navigating the site — every page looked different, and cluttered, even tacky. Add to that, it was tedious to use as many customized profiles were sometimes unreadable. Worse, many profiles had heavy elements with videos and music which made it terribly slow, that in turn led to a frustrating user experience.”(Rajaretnam,2017).

I was pleasantly surprised when I created a Facebook account and could not customize my profile. Nonetheless, I quickly conformed to the new social network’s UX constraints. I enjoyed the aesthetically pleasing, minimalist design. Sometimes, less is more. MySpace failed to implement key constraints to help shape their identity. MySpace also failed to outsource the development of their apps, leading to bugs and even more bad user experience. Furthermore, the structure of MySpace was too deep. Users had too much control of use, causing inefficiencies.

Looking back on my own experience on MySpace, it felt very juvenile after a while, and on the other hand, Facebook felt more mature immediately. For a while, I went back and forth between the two networks until I found myself logging into Facebook more and more. MySpace was constantly changing and no longer felt authentic. The main focus and goal of the site seemed to shift from the common user to music professionals.

I always wonder, if MySpace would still be thriving if it innovated, grew with its users, and were more concerned with user experience. Facebook, is the polar opposite of MySpace, but I wonder how long it will survive.

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Have you ever sat down with a financial advisor to discuss your financial future and implement a budget? No? Well, the experience can be daunting and quite boring, to say the least. Imagine sitting across with someone in a suit and tie letting you know that you suck at budgeting and spend wayyyy too much money eating out is no fun. Now imagine casually chatting with one of your best friends about your spending habits. Your best friend is going to be brutally honest but in a fun-loving way. Cleo, a chatbot, can be seen as millions of user’s best friend who keeps them on track. She makes talking about money fun by using a conversational interface, funny gifs, and emojis to enhance the user’s experience.

I recently signed up for Cleo to determine if it’s as casual and easy to sign up as the advertisements I’ve seen on my Facebook timeline claim. The chat interface portion of the app is designed to mimic an iMessage or text message thread. There’s no bells and whistles, just simple text bubbles with a pleasing, familiar aesthetic and minimalist design. The design and emojis follow real-world concepts, making the app easy to learn. The app also provides responses that you can click if you are unsure what to ask Cleo next, giving the user control and freedom of use. There are mixed reviews on Apple App-Store, with some

After securely linking my bank account to the app, I asked Cleo, “what am I spending?” and she instantly gave me a real-time break-down of my spending habits (see figure 1). The speed of the calculations was pleasantly surprising and more enjoyable than sitting across from your friendly financial advisor. Cleo also eliminates human interaction and the need to schedule appointments. However, I did notice that Cleo miscalculated how much I spent on bills in July. The bot only considered one bill that is on Auto-Pay. From my understanding, Cleo gets better with use, so I’ll wait to see if she picks up my PECO transaction next month. After reading reviews, it’s evident that Cleo May still have some bugs to work out, but users still appreciate the friendly conversations.

Overall, the app is simple to use and makes an intimidating topic such as money easy to understand. It helps users make more informed decisions about day-to-day purchases. Cleo proves that an app does not need the most intricate design and functionality features to be effective. “Cleo co-founder Barney Hussey-Yeo has always said that it is better to focus on building a better and smarter UI/UX than re-inventing the current account itself, even if the ultimate goal is somewhat the same.”( O’Hear, 2018). I’m anxious to see how much I’ll look to Cleo to painfully reveal my spending habits versus my bank app. Maybe banks should implement AI-powered chatbots to appeal to younger generations and increase usage.

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