The stage after ideating is prototyping. The concept of prototyping is seen as a process in answering questions and solving problems that have been developed in the early stages of a project. This process also includes the stages of making something, putting it out there and seeing what happens. We are then able to adapt it and add changes to it according to the interaction and feedback that we’ve been given in order to make it bigger and better.
In my case, the first feedback I received was actually a comment on my blog post on ideating, with the reader suggesting that I add the locations of each place since some of my audience might not be familiar with the areas.
In following this, I’ve gone ahead and added the locations of each place to my post as well as the location being in the caption as well. I’ve also tagged the Instagram pages of each of the places I’ve been to. By tagging the Instagram pages, I’ve gotten more interaction from these pages, such as The Smoking Panda, Bang Bang Izakaya Bar, Crinitis, and the Assembly Bar, as seen in the photos below.
In the journal entry written by Katie Bunnell on the Craft and Digital Technology, it was said that it’s important to pay attention to the ways in which we, as human beings, use and interact with digital technology.
To do this, I’ve recorded down the times of all my posts in order to try and find the best time to post for maximum interaction with my selected audience. Below are images of my post that received the most interaction. It is evident that the best times shown include 3:30pm, 4pm and 9:30am. However, I am looking into repeating these times in order to ensure more accuracy and reliability of these times. This will make sure these times are actually the peak hour for my audience, and not just a one off.
I’ve mentioned in my previous post on ideating that buying followers was an important decision that I had to make in the process of my digital artefact. I had always believed that an Instagram account with more followers will attract even more people as it may appear to be more legitimate and more qualified. I ended up buying about 500 followers. However, I soon began to regret this action after some research. Research shows that a higher follower count means absolutely nothing if these Instagram followers don’t interact with any of the posted content. In saying that, my follower count didn’t increase as much as I wanted to either, and in some cases, it even dropped – from having 78 real followers to having 571, in which 500 were fake.
In saying that, I tried to reverse this action by downloading more third party apps in order to remove these ghost followers, as shown in the images below. However, this was proven more difficult as these apps limit you to how many followers can be removed until needing to spend money.
Speaking of appearance, I look the liberty of looking into the importance of aesthetics on Instagram. Lauren Olsen talks about how the visual appearance of your brand will increase your connection to your audience. This is further emphasised by Shelley from Melbourne Social Co, who stated that an Instagram page with a consistent theme will allow your audience to recognise your style amongst the other many pages they follow. It is important that the aesthetics of your Instagram page reflect your personality as well as the contents of your page. In saying this, I decided to change my Instagram logo, as shown below.
My digital artefact, Drinks with G, is currently at the stage where it’s just existing in the digital world. As Travis Wall would say, it’s simply a weed in a pot plant waiting for someone to dump fertiliser on it – which may or may not happen. However, this is all part of the FEFO process: Fail Early, Fail Often. As a result of this, I’ve decided that while continuing with my current digital artefact, I’ve decided to start another one and see where this one goes.
My new digital artefact is also an Instagram page under the name Adventures w Gloz. This digital artefact has a more personal vibe to it, consisting of lifestyle and food content. The layout and design of this Instagram should be clean and neat. In order to achieve this, I will still be using the app, UNUM, as I did with my first digital artefact. The inspiration for this page include Instagram accounts of bloggers, such as Theresa Trends, Kathryn Tan, and Jess Conte.
An important learning factor is knowing the audience that you’re catering to. In my case, I had some trouble specifying my type of audience for Drinks with G. However, with this second digital artefact, I was able to pinpoint the main audience I am aiming to target, into a starterpack. Starterpacks are a great method in picking up patterns within an audience. They are a type of associative chain of objects that allow us to understand the life and reality of various individuals, or a group of individuals. As Kevin Kelly says “it has to fit with the product and the audience.”
In the timespan of a day, the interaction I’ve gotten from my second digital artefact is already better than the interaction I’ve gotten from my first digital artefact within the first few weeks. I do believe that knowing my audience plays a huge part in this result as I am posting content that is relatable and allow for easy connection. In comparison to this, Drinks with G is a little in the dark at the moment, in terms of its target audience. It’s too broad and not specific enough, and hence the content being posted is only connecting with a section of my audience, rather than as a whole.
As the end of the semester nears, I am excited to see where both of these digital artefact goes. It’s important to understand that it’s completely okay to abandon a project if it just merely exists in the digital world. However, before making this decision, I will be continuing with Drinks with G, as well as continue to start up Adventures w Gloz.
I look forward to the feedback within the next few weeks and hopefully, one of these projects will be more than just a weed.
– G
glozblog.wordpress.com 
I’m glad to see that your new Instagram is doing better and that you’re having more engagement. Putting your audience into a starter pack is a great idea, as you can target your posts more towards them and generate more engagement. In terms of aesthetic, I would suggest getting the app “preview”, it allows you to organise your photos and shows you what your Instagram would look like once your photos are posted so that you can have a better understand of whether or not your photos will work together. This worked well for me as I was so confused on whether or not the photo I was posted would go with my Instagram aesthetics. Maybe doing a vlog would also work well as your audience can see where you are going and your whole experience there 🙂
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Reading about your DA experience has been really helpful for me Gloria; I’m also using Instagram and I’m completely out of my element. I don’t use the platform often and really wanted to challenge myself, since it’s so popular and great for getting a message out there. As you say, utilizing features like tagging and location pins helps to build an interactive page. Interaction and engagement brings better results than just a follow number, as you’ve shown with your experiences in buying followers. It’s good to see you implemented a solution after your misstep instead of scrapping it and starting clean as I would usually do in the same situation, because sometimes it’s easy to get pedantic about overall aesthetic and presenting a product in its finished form. Both your experience and others make me feel more sure about sticking to my project and prototyping with the intent of receiving feedback and criticism (F.E.F.O). Also really love the new minimalist look of your logo, very effective. Recording post times in relation to engagement results is also very smart; I’ve been doing the same by posting everyday at different times (morning, midday, afternoon, night) and seeing which times get the most engagement. Peak times for posting differ from audience to audience, because each audience is from a unique demographic and location. The best way to determine peak times is through prototyping and experimentation.
As for suggestions, you could possibly branch out and share quick, easy and fun cocktail recipes on your instagram stories? You could make some really nice looking Halloween themed ones, since that’s coming up soon. Just an idea.
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I’m so glad your new direction is working out for you! I too, am at the stage where I think I should abandon my initial DA idea and create something completely different because I don’t really see it progressing much in terms of user interactions and receiving any feedback/indication of whether my prototypes are what people want or are looking for. After reading your blog, I’m not saddened about my original DA idea turning out to be a failure anymore. Your post has given me inspiration to start afresh! I mentioned in another blog that Instagram seems to be the platform of choice; one that allows you to gain the fastest and best interactions with followers. So you’re making the right decision choosing Instagram as the most fitting platform for your project. I also like your new aesthetic. It feels more lively, friendly and inviting. It’s also good that you’re taking better quality pictures. If you look at influencers who have a high following on Instagram, their images tend to be of high quality and edited to create the same guise as their other posts. Your new Instagram page is more relatable to me as I can see that you’re posting foodie pics! I personally prefer food over alcohol because it’s more enjoyable both to look at and devour, so I am more drawn to ‘Adventures w Gloz’. A suggestion is that you could rate the food you post or the places you go to, incase you have followers that want to experience the same thing but want to know if it’s worth investing their money in 🙂
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I really enjoyed reading about your DA, and feel as though I can relate to the struggles of having content that is too broad, and struggling to determine your audience as a result of that. I found that deciding on one key theme (food, travel, fashion) helped me, as I was able to attract a more specific audience. In saying that, I am continuing to post a range of things, but trying to have a majority of posts fit the same theme.
You also mentioned trying to track when your followers are most active, and what time of day would be best to post. To do this, I have turned my instagram into a business account which automatically calculates it for me! It’s honestly such a useful feature, and really easy to set up.
I look forward to seeing how both of your accounts go, as I think you have two strong ideas. 🙂
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Hey! I watched your first pitch in class and remember thinking what a seriously cool idea! The whole aesthetic of your blog seems really chill. And I like your inspiration behind changing your logo, I’m thinking I might do that too now! As for your posts, I do remember someone in class suggesting you to write small reviews in the caption. I really think that would be a good idea, because the drink may look delicious, but it’d be good to know if it tasted as good as it looks lol. However, I know you’ve been getting really good engagement from your audience, plus the places you have even been visiting! So I could understand there if you didn’t want to be posting a bad review for a really popular bar…I guess that’s just something to think about with how you want yourself to be viewed online. Other than that, love your aesthetic and the vibe! 🙂
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