“PhillyGemss” Instagram Account and Website
@PhillyGemss is an Instagram page focusing on all things Philly! From hidden gem restaurants and the best happy hour deals to art festivals and live concerts, this account will keep Philly residents up to date on all the city has to offer. As a girl living in Philly in her 20’s I am always looking for new places to try with my friends that are unique, aesthetic, and affordable. My account will highlight Philly’s best deals, like restaurant week participants and prices, as well as inspiration for making the most of your day-off. This will include information on local pop-up shops, art festivals, fun small businesses like Wine and Wax, a candle making bar in Philly, and much more.
I am very passionate about traveling and trying new restaurants, so giving recent and existing Philly residents an organized hub to find all the information they need on the city’s activities is something I am extremely excited about creating. My career goals are to work in digital marketing, so establishing my own brand and marketing my content through social media will be a great way to combine passion and profession. My account will be interactive and upbeat. I will mainly post short instagram reels highlighting my newest finds as well as occasional images of some of the events I attended.
Examples
Technology and Materials
Most of my project will be done through Instagram which I utilized a lot in my Visual Design class. For video editing I will be using PremirePro and for photo-editing I will use Lightroom. I also plan on using my coding skills I developed in Web Design to create a website for my brand. This website will be linked in the bio of my account so my followers have an easy, organized outlet to find links to purchase event tickets, view restaurant menus, etc. I will also be creating a design book, color palette, and logos for my brand which will be created using Canva which I have utilized in my COM and MKT classes.
Audience and Impact
My primary target audience are females age 20-35 living in the Philadelphia area. My account will have a girly theme to it which is why I predict my content will resonate with a female audience as opposed to male. I believe anyone who has recently moved to the Philly area will benefit from an account with weekly updates and reviews on Philly hotspots as well as under the radar finds. It will inspire people to try new places and give them easy access links to make reservations, register for classes, and more. This is also a great place for people who have lived in Philly for a while and are looking to find new places that may have never heard of before.
Prior Experience
I have a lot of prior experience with Instagram for both personal and professional use. As I mentioned before, I created an Instagram account for my Visual Design class with Aimee Knight. This account centered on managing user retention and engagement through different tactics like partnerships, reviewing analytics, engaging with followers, etc. In addition, I managed the social media accounts of Event Cadence, the company I interned at my Sophomore year. I used Figma to create weekly posts and used strategies to come up with a detailed posting schedule ensuring I was rotating the type of content I was posting for a well-rounded account. These tactics help with maximizing brand awareness and user engagement.
I also have prior experience with website design and publishing work on a professional site. In my Web Design class I learned how to code using Brackets to create a cohesive, balanced website. I was able to create multiple tab buttons making my website user friendly and easy to navigate. I have also published multiple blog posts on the Event Cadence website which has helped with organizational and communication skills to the brands followers.
Prior Content
Education
I believe this project combines the skills I have acquired in both my communications and marketing courses. I am using digital platforms and technologies I have utilized in my COM classes as well as designing and promoting a brand with the tools I have learned in marketing courses. I will be conducting a lot of research on my target audience in order to curate user-friendly content for my followers. I have managed an Instagram account for a prior COM course, so my background with that project will help me elevate my capstone project and take it to the next level. My experience with Canva will help me establish a distinct brand book to create a cohesive brand. My Marketing Research course has helped me utilize tools, such as DemographicsNow and IBISworld, to research the interests of a specific target audience.
Research
This project will require an extensive amount of research on both my target audience and on Philadelphia businesses. In order to understand my audience I will need to find similar accounts to mine, read through comments, and figure out the style of content this group responds to the best. I think analyzing similar accounts to mine will be the best way to gain information on my audience. I will also use tools I have used in my my marketing courses including IBISworld and DemographicsNow, to get a better understanding of the trends of my target audience.
This concept will also require weekly research on Philly events and restaurants. I already have some favorite spots that I want to highlight, but in order to stay up to date I need to take a look at Philly restaurant websites as well as Philly event websites to stay up to date on the latest events.
Timeline
The beginning stages of my project will mainly be background research. I have already begun the surface level research such as reviewing the pages of similar accounts and getting a feel for the type of content that performs well. The more in-depth research will incorporate technologies available to me through the SJU library. I will use these to obtain more information on Gen X and Millennial females to better understand their interests.
In terms of the structure of my account I am aiming to post 3 time a week, 2 reels and 1 image. I also want to utilize stories to highlight places I was able to visit as well as promote my new posts. For my content, I will try to visit and attend new events in Philly every other weekend to review for my followers. The other weeks I will use prior content and videos I have from places I have visited and reviewed.
For my website I will use Squarespace as my platform. I will allocate a few days each week to working on the main structure of the website. As we get farther into the semester I will update the content on my website in accordance with my Instagram posts By the end of the semester I plan to have an organized, cohesive website with sections for all events I was able to recommend and try out.
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