Challenge

I run an online ecommerce fashion start-up. One of our most lucrative and economical  ways of acquiring customers is Social Media. Over the past few months I have noticed  our Social Media growth has slowed down and we are not getting as much  engagement as some of our competing brands. I have decided to use design thinking  and innovation to uncover what should we be posting on our channels to boost  engagement.

Selection

The tool I have selected is visualization and to answer the “what is” part of the problem.  Since the task at hand involves creativity and success of the activity will be by  creatively coming to a solution by all stake holders. As Ms. Angela Myer mentioned in  the lecture from week 1 “Visualization allows us to think and access pasts our brain,  part of our creativity we might not be using in conversation” which is exactly what we  needed.

Application

The first step to solve the challenge at hand was to gather all of the stake holders  involved in the social media posting process and create a visual flow chart of how  information flows to the customer from the organization. In addition to our in-house  team we also asked one of our customers to join the conversation to provide their  perspective. We began to create a flow chart by creating stick figures of our  employees and putting the different information and content buckets in shapes and  colours. The result of the exercise was as follows- The marketing manager provides  the social media manager with the information of new launches and trending designs,  the social media manager builds on it to provide an idea to the copy writer and the  graphic designer who create the discussed idea and submit for approval to the social  media manager who passes the creative along to the marketing manager. After the  entire approval process the social media manager posts the content on to the different  platforms that were represented in the shape of clouds. Finally, the content reaches  the customer who chooses to engage or not engage.

Insight

Upon creating this visual, the problem was clear and the entire team started to  discuss possible solutions. Unanimously the entire team agreed that the problem  wasn’t just what we should be communicating to the customer but more importantly  how we should be communicating. The visual representation forced the team to see  that the entire flow of information was complicated and inefficient. The team  uncovered four major problems- First, the internal team felt the feedback loop was  too long hence they were demotivated to provide feedback which would lead to  substandard quality of graphics and content. Second, the information loop should be  starting with the customer. We needed to listen and empathize to what the customer  is saying so we can create content that customers can engage and relate to. Third,  the social media manager did not feel empowered and felt the marketing manager  needed to trust her to approve and post final graphics and fourth, we were posting

the same content on all platforms where the customers were completely different. We  needed to tailor the content based on the audience.

Approach

The activity was highly beneficial for the team to see where we were going wrong and  to improve the internal process. We plan to use the mind mapping tool to interview  and segregate our customer profiles and personas so we can tailor our content and  products accordingly.


Challenge I run an online ecommerce fashion start - up . One of our most lucrative and economical ways of acquiring customers is Social Media . Over the past few months I have noticed our Social Media growth has slowed down and we are not getting as much engagement as some of our competing brands . I have decided to use design thinking and innovation to uncover what should we be posting on our channels to boost engagement . Selection The tool I have selected is visualization and to answer the “ what is ” part of the problem . Since the task at hand involves creativity and success of the activity will be by creatively coming to a solution by all stake holders . As Ms. Angela Myer mentioned in the lecture from week 1 “ Visualization allows us to think and access pasts our brain , part of our creativity we might not be using in conversation ” which is exactly what we needed . Application The first step to solve the challenge at hand was to gather all of the stake holders involved in the social media posting process and create a visual flow chart of how information flows to the customer from the organization . In addition to our in - house team we also asked one of our customers to join the conversation to provide their perspective . We began to create a flow chart by creating stick figures of our employees and putting the different information and content buckets in shapes and colours . The result of the exercise was as follows- The marketing manager provides the social media manager with the information of new launches and trending designs , the social media manager builds on it to provide an idea to the copy writer and the graphic designer who create the discussed idea and submit for approval to the social media manager who passes the creative along to the marketing manager . After the entire approval process the social media manager posts the content on to the different platforms that were represented in the shape of clouds . Finally , the content reaches the customer who chooses to engage or not engage . Insight Upon creating this visual , the problem was clear and the entire team started to discuss possible solutions . Unanimously the entire team agreed that the problem was n’t just what we should be communicating to the customer but more importantly how we should be communicating . The visual representation forced the team to see that the entire flow of information was complicated and inefficient . The team uncovered four major problems- First , the internal team felt the feedback loop was too long hence they were demotivated to provide feedback which would lead to substandard quality of graphics and content . Second , the information loop should be starting with the customer . We needed to listen and empathize to what the customer is saying so we can create content that customers can engage and relate to . Third , the social media manager did not feel empowered and felt the marketing manager needed to trust her to approve and post final graphics and fourth , we were posting the same content on all platforms where the customers were completely different . We needed to tailor the content based on the audience . Approach The activity was highly beneficial for the team to see where we were going wrong and to improve the internal process . We plan to use the mind mapping tool to interview and segregate our customer profiles and personas so we can tailor our content and products accordingly .