Based on what we have discussed and what I have learned about visuals in relation to web content there are three things that I would change about the St Clair College website to improve/enhance the website to effectively market to potential incoming students.

Use authentic images: My first recommendation of what I would propose to St Clair College to improve/enhance the website for potential students is to use authentic images. After looking through the St Clair website I felt that it was lacking relevant images that showcase the college, the students, the programs and relevant images that reflect the experiences of what it is like going to St Clair College. Instead of using authentic images the college has used mostly low quality stock images and I find that there is just an overall lack of visuals on the website home page. 

The reason I would propose this to St Clair College is that by using authentic images they would be able to showcase the college in a positive light and use visuals that represent a fun campus and student life. A specific element of visuals that I would use to market to potential incoming students is to capture images of the campus and events such as sporting events. In one of our class discussions we talked about how students look for school spirit when choosing post-secondary and we went on to discuss how we didn’t understand why the college doesn’t highlight major events on the website and major wins like the men’s basketball team being the OCCA champions. The school spirit at the basketball games is something that I think would be very beneficial to be captured and displayed on the website that would effectively market to potential students. 

Some other forms of authentic images that I feel would effectively market to potential students are imagery provided by students to showcase the college from their perspective and images that highlight and resonate with the interests of potential students such as career-focused images or campus events.

Make the website more engaging: The second recommendation I have based on the college’s website in relation to visuals is that I would propose to the college to make the website more engaging to potential incoming students. From looking at the St Clair website it is not very visually captivating and has no visual elements that are immediately engaging to potential incoming students which is especially important because of the short attention span that people have when browsing the internet. The way that St Clair College could make its website more engaging to potential incoming students is by considering incorporating interactive elements within the website, specifically the landing page such as videos, infographics and animations. 

The main reason why I think incorporating engaging elements such as the ones I have mentioned is because based on what we have learned about visuals, viewers spend 100% more time on pages with visual content. Using engaging content on the website in the form of videos, infographics and animations is a very beneficial way of splitting up content and blocks of text to create a more visually engaging website. 

The type of content that could be shown using these elements that would appeal to potential students are things such as college campuses and facilities, student life, and activities that would give incoming students different ways to see the college other than just images. Also adding videos on the landing page will increase average page conversion rates by 86%. Overall by making the St Clair College website more engaging through the use of videos, infographics and animations they will be able to capture the attention of potential students and encourage them to take action or explore the site further. 

Add student experience: The final recommendation of what I would propose to St Clair College to improve/enhance the website for potential students is to add student experience to the website. Something that potential students are looking for especially when looking for a college is the opportunities that programs will provide for them and help them find their future careers. Showing proof of potential students and what they have accomplished is something that incoming students are likely going to be intrigued by because it helps build trust and credibility. 

Because visuals are so important to a website my recommendation would be to add different visual elements to the program page such as student success stories, testimonials and charts or graphs about the success of certain programs. By sharing these different elements on the website, incoming students are more likely to see the social proof of the college’s value and what they would be able to provide to them. 

By adding student experience to St Clair Colleges’ website they will be able to market to potential incoming students by showing them the opportunities the college can provide as well as building trust and credibility with real success stories. By using these different elements in the form of visuals such as images, infographics, statistics and video the college will be able to provide incoming students with confidence about their decision in choosing St Clair College. Overall adding student experience to the website is a great way to showcase the college’s thriving and active community that has a large network of supporters, graduates and alumni.

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Title: The Do’s and Don’ts of social media marketing 

Social media is a powerful tool for business owners to promote their brand, drive traffic to their website and establish a strong reputation. That being said there are some basic rules you should follow to ensure that you are using this tool to your business advantage. Here are a few do’s and don’ts of the social media marketing that you should keep in mind. 

1. Be authentic and transparent

• Connect with your audience in a conversational tone, and share real stories and insights about your brand to show that it is authentic and transparent.

2. Provide value to your audience

• Share content that is relevant and valuable to your target audience and your audience’s interests and needs.

3. Engage with your audience and respond to comments 

• Responding to comments and feedback is a great way to engage with your audience and it shows that you value them and their opinions.

4. Be consistent 

• Posting consistently can help increase the audience and brand awareness of your business. 

5. Format your content for each platform

• It is important to tailor your content for each platform so that they look like they belong on each separate platform and fit the size requirements. 

1. Use clickbait or misleading headlines

• Avoid using clickbait and misleading headlines so that you do not trick or mislead your audience because that can damage your brand’s reputation and break the trust of your audience.

2. Over-promote your products or services

• Social media should be a tool to build your brand awareness and create relationships with your audience by providing value. 

3. Ignore negative feedback or comments

• Use negative feedback that you receive as an opportunity to learn and improve and make things right. 

4. Buy followers or engagement

• When you buy followers you are essentially buying bots or fake accounts that will not engage with any of the content you post.

5. Don’t spam your followers 

• Limit and regulate the number of posts you share per day on each platform to avoid your audience being overwhelmed or bombarded with content.

• Why did you choose the specific image(s)? (3 Marks)

For my blog post, I chose 3 images that specifically go with my topic and what my blog post is about. For the first image, I chose a picture of someone using their mobile device with multiple social media apps displayed. The main reason I chose this image is that it is the first thing people see when they look at my blog and it paints a clear picture of what my blog is going to be about. 

The image itself reinforces the idea that social media is mostly a mobile platform that people use to connect with each other. Because this image reinforces the idea that social media is mostly a mobile platform it relates to the do’s and don’ts of the blog post and the idea of using social media as a way to not only promote your business but build relationships, connect with your audience and provide them with value. By using this image it draws the attention of the reader because when you use visuals it keeps the reader on your site longer than if it were only text. 

The other two images or infographics that I chose were thumbs up and thumbs down which go with the do’s and don’ts section of my blog. The reason I chose these two images is that they visually represent the do’s and don’ts of social media marketing in a simple easy to understand way. The green thumbs up clearly represents the do’s of social media marketing and the red thumbs down clearly represents the don’ts. Along with the thumbs up and thumbs down people also instinctively associate green with good and red with bad which is another visual element of my images that helps convey a message with minimal text.

• Explain in detail why the image(s) was beneficial for the post. (3 Marks)

The images that I used for this post were beneficial because they all catch the attention of the reader and provide them with a visual representation of what this blog is about while using minimal text. The image of the person holding a phone with social media apps open was beneficial for my post because it is relevant to the topic of my post and conveys the idea that this post is about social media and how to use it to connect with other people in a beneficial way. Because as I mentioned before this image of a person holding a phone with social media apps on it represents building relationships and connecting with your audience I feel that it was an effective way to visually support my message and make my blog post more engaging.   

The other images that I used that I felt were beneficial for my post were the thumbs up and thumbs down visuals or infographics. By using the thumbs up and thumbs down to separate the sections of content I feel that it is very beneficial for my post because it makes the post easier to read while also following the f pattern for readers. It also provides the readers with a visual representation of the do’s and don’ts because most people know and understand that thumbs up is good and thumbs down is red. Overall by using the thumbs up and thumbs down in my blog it was beneficial because I was able to visually communicate what my blog content was about and I was able to make my post more visually appealing and accessible which can help create an impact on my readers.  

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1. As discussed in class, please provide three reasons why visuals are important to web content. Please ensure you go into detail for each item. (6 Marks)

As we have discussed in class about visuals, the three reasons that I have chosen as why visuals are important to web content are: Visuals stick in long-term memory, transmit messages faster and they Improve comprehension.

1. Visuals stick in long-term memory: One of the reasons visuals are important to web content is because they stick in your long term memory. The human brain processes images easier than it does text which is why visuals are important to include in our content. As we discussed in class the use of visuals can help to make sense out of the content which increases the chances of making your content more memorable and also helps your audience remember certain elements that you want them to remember. The chances of visuals sticking in your long-term memory also increase over time, people are more likely to remember 65% of the visual content they see over the written content 3 days later. The reason for Visuals sticking in your long-term memory is because visual information is stored in your long-term memory whereas text is more often stored in the short-term memory part of your brain. Using visuals in web content makes it easier for users to understand and retrieve information from a website which enhances the overall website experience of the user. 

2. Transmit messages faster: Another reason why visuals are important to the web is that they transmit images faster than text. Based on what we learned in class images are processed 60,000x faster than text is in your brain. It has been proven time and time again that we process visual information better than text which is why visuals are so important to web content. Along with us processing images better than text, they can be used to effectively and quickly communicate important information to our audience that may be harder to understand in text form or that may not be seen because of people’s short attention spans.  For example, when writing web content it would be beneficial for us to determine if the information would be better understood in the form of text or a visual like a graph or chart. Overall using images is a great way to transmit your message quicker and also catch the attention of your audience because people prefer websites with more images. 

3. Improve comprehension: The final reason why visuals are important to web content that we discussed in class is that visuals improve comprehension. Visuals can help improve comprehension by making web content easier to understand and making it more accessible to viewers.  Based on what we learned in class, visuals have been found to improve learning by up to 400%. They also affect people on a cognitive level and simulate imagination which enables people to process information more quickly. What makes visuals able to improve comprehension for the reader is visuals can be used to improve written content by breaking up long passages of text, highlighting key ideas, and adding context or explanation when needed. Visuals can be very helpful for improving comprehension, especially on topics that may be more complex which will make your content more accessible for everyone. Overall visuals improve comprehension for the reader by breaking up long passages of text, making information more memorable and engaging for the reader. 

Ultimately using visuals is important to web content because visuals can drastically improve the user’s experience and make your content more memorable and accessible by transmitting messages faster and improving comprehension.

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