In Class Lab (Week11)

The three websites that we chose to work with are:
Maybelline http://www.maybelline.ca/
L'Oreal http://www.lorealparis.ca/_en/_ca/home/index.aspx
M.A.C http://www.maccosmetics.com/



Maybelline: This site uses social media to let users follow their most recent updates and information
http://www.youtube.com/user/MaybellineNYCanada.
Maybelline's Facebook page was easy to use, when you first sign on there is an arrow that points to the "like" button. This enables users to see the entire page and gives them a chance to win prizes from Maybelline. Maybelline has many users and is very good at intereacting with those users through wallposts. Their facebook page includes photos, videos and discussion. They have really made good use of all tools on Facebook.
In addition to Facebook, Maybelline also uses Youtube to promote their products/services. They have designed their Youtube page with a Maybelline background and have included a bio of the company. Maybelline includes many videos of photo shoots and projects they have recently work on.


L'Oreal: Similar to Maybelline, L'oreal has both a Facebook and Youtube account. http://www.facebook.com/lorealpariscanada, http://www.youtube.com/user/lorealpariscanada.

L'oreal makes very good use of their Facebook page, the pictures are bright and appealing. They interact with their users on a daily basis and include many photos of high profile events that they have sponsored. They also make very good use of all the features that Facebook offers. L'oreals youtube account is also very well put together, the background picture represents their brand and products well, their videos are up to date and relevant and they include a bio of their company.
One negative aspect of L'oreal's social media usage is that they currently are registered for a Twitter account, but there is no link to follow them on their main homepage.


M.A.C: has a variety of social media tools including Facebook, Twitter and Email.
http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=189493901088820 (could not obtain link to twitter account)
A negative aspect we came across was that their social media is hidden in the bottom right corner in a pop up menu. We also tried to connect to their facebook page and came across a few problems: 1. You needed to immediatly register for their e-mail newsletter and an error occured when trying to sign in.
Another negative aspect we found was that their list of social media did not include a Youtube link.
Aside from these negatives, we found their Facebook and Twitter to be used optimally.

Perez Perspectives

PerezHilton Scorecard according to :

Customer perspective
 The users of Perez Hilton are very loyal, there is an option to sign up to receive daily feeds. These feeds are updated on a daily basis to keep the user entertained and informed on the latest celebrity gossip. Perez receives a lot of user feedback in which he is able to filter out what information the users want to see, and what is not as interesting. The secondary navigator located on the right side also helps the user see what is trending and most popular so that the user does not have to scroll through the whole website to find it.

Internal perspective
 Perez Hilton does a very good job online services. He understands his core user and includes most frequently watched videos, stories and pictures. This help a user who wants to see what is the most up to date and interesting information on the website. Perez also includes a "trending" button on the top of the site to indicate what topics are the most popular at this point in time.The site opens with ease and all the features are up and running.
The website includes sharing options and links to social media which tracks what people are sharing and what their opinions are on the stories that are included. The website has many hashstags for popular words and related topics. Listed at the bottom of the site is "Perez FAQs"(http://posse.perezhilton.com/static/faq.html), this helps user to communicate any problems they might be having with the site or problems with the registration process. In this FAQ section, many different topics are covered.

A glance at the core user

 If I were to assign a personality to the core user of the PerezHilton website it would have to be:

                                                                   "Trendy Tally"

Tally is a 25 years old girl city girl that lives in dowtown Toronto.  She is friendly,outgoing, popular and loves being up to date with the latest fashion trends. Tally is still in college but works part time to fuel her love of shopping. Tally would be ranked as middle income because she recieves financial support from her family while in school. 

Tally's interests include shopping, hanging out with friends,music, exercise, sports, dancing, biking, reading, watching movies and hanging out with friends.

Tally's goals include moving to L. A. to work as a Marketing Executive for a fashion company or high profile magazine such as Vogue, or Style.

Tally's pet peeves are bad weather, having to search for long periods of time on the internet for things that she wants and when websites don't update their content on a regular basis

Tally is an extremely confident and able internet user, she grew up in the age of computer technology so she is very up to date with the latest computer applications and ways to search the internet. 

Tally is a value shopper ;she frequently checks her favourite clothing websites, and gossip columns to keep up to date with the latest trends

Tally's specific goals for using the internet are to find information on trends and the fashion industry and to find the latest deals.

 

Perez at a glance

The website I chose to analyze is Perez Hilton.com. This website is a celebrity gossip blog site created by gossip columnist Perez Hilton.

Some features of the website that stand out are the user friendliess. This homepage is really well catagorized, at the top of the page you lets the user choose the topic that they are interested in such as "Coco Perez"(http://cocoperez.com/?from=PHnavbar) which is a page dedicated to celebrity fashion and "Fit Perez"(http://fitperez.com/?from=PHnavbar) which is dedicated to fitness and healthy living. Perez also includes a page that is dedicated to the latest videos(http://perezhilton.com/tv/?from=navbar), photos(http://perezhilton.com/galleries/index.php?from=navbar&pgid=166835, shopping (http://www.merchdirect.com/perezhilton) and a search option and a trending link if the user is looking for something in particular.
Another great feature of the website is the design. The colourful and playful designs make it very interesting to look at and the pictures entice the user to read the story that follows.

In addition to the celebrity gossipcontent and the design, Perez Hilton is a portal site and does a great job of cross promoting. Along the right hand side of the website there are adverstisments, banners, and links to various sites. If Perez Hilton believes a product is good, it will also get a mention within the content of his page.

In contrast to the features and design, there are also a few things that PerezHilton.com can improve upon. Some of the advertisments are mixed in with the content which is a little distracting. I think Perez should have kept the format simple and kept the advertisments to the right hand side. Another negative about the website is the fact that the other websites are mentioned a bit too much. They are found at the top, bottom, side of the page and everything seems to be a link to another site. This can be a little confusing if you are just visiting the site for the first time, you may accidentally click links and end up on other sites.

http://www.perezhilton.com/

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