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Social Media 

Individual Project

In this module, students were tasked with executing a live social media campaign spanning 12 weeks to enhance their specialised skills or those they aimed to refine further. The anticipated learning outcome was to expand their network and garner attention for their artistic endeavours. By building an engaged audience, students were encouraged to invite them to the Transmedia exhibition held at the end of the year.

1. Utilisation of Social Media

  • Industries' Use of Social Media 

  • Social Media Users ​

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2. Development of My Brand 

  • My Brand Name

  • My Brand’s Personalities and Values

  • Logo (Colour Palette and Fonts) 

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3. Social Media Marketing Strategy 

  • Target Audience

  • Social Media Platforms

  • Account Inspiration

  • Posting Plan

5. Development of My Social Media​

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6. Reflection 

  • Positive

  • Negative

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7. Further developments

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8. Reference / Bibliography

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Contents

Utilisation of social media

Why do industries use social media?

Social media advertising is crucial due to its extensive users, precise targeting, cost-effectiveness, and engagement potential like customer interaction. When companies positively interact with their customers, it fosters brand loyalty and customer relationships.  Also, social media platforms offer analytics tools that provide valuable insights into campaign performance. Additionally, consistent presence on social media helps build brand awareness and shape public perception. Sprout Social revealed 70% of consumers feel more connected to brands with active social media presence.

What is the number of social media users? 

According to Dixon (2023), as of 2022, the global social media user base exceeded 4.59 billion individuals, with projections indicating an ascent to nearly six billion by 2027. Moreover, data from 2024 revealed that individuals spent an average of 143 minutes per day on social media. Remarkably, countries such as Brazil led in SNS usage, with individuals spending almost four hours per day on these platforms (the image below from Statista.)

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Development of My Brand 

Brand Name :  

UGA Animation Studio

Uga is my cat's name, and he was named by taking the initials of cats which I used to have (Uni and Gaji). Through caring for him, I discovered the true meaning of love and found the strength to overcome numerous challenges. From this experience, I learned that even seemingly insignificant things can hold immense value and significance to certain individuals. Inspired by this, I aspire to create animations under the brand “UGA Animation Studio” that uplift people, infuse them with energy, and bring joy. My goal is to offer works that empower individuals to conquer obstacles and find enjoyment in life's journey.

What are my brand’s personalities and values?

According to Adobe, brand personality encompasses how the brand conveys its values and beliefs to its patrons through interactions. Thus, forging emotional connections with individuals is imperative in establishing brand identities. Through my artwork, I want to captivate audiences, drawing them into a realm of the extraordinary, and evoking the sensation of being lost in a different world. Since I was a child, I have loved manga, animation, and movies. What captivates me about these is that they take me to completely new worlds and adventurous realms, making me forget about reality. It can sometimes bring to mind warmth and nostalgia, while at other times, it offers thrilling adventures. Thus, through my artwork, I want to give the audience a feeling of excitement and enjoyment while also making them think about life.

 

The branding impression that I particularly aim to convey to the audience through my work includes:

  • a sense of nostalgia and warmth

  • delicacy and sensitivity

  • excitement and wonder

  • curiosity and imagination

Logo/Colour Palette/Fonts

Logo : 

To enhance brand recognition, I began by designing a logo for my brand. Initially, I utilised the Microsoft Bing Image Creator, an AI image generator, for reference. The images below depict the generated designs.

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Among these images, I particularly favour the composition of the one left for several reasons:

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  • The hand-drawn style illustration

  • The grass detail on the ground

  • Since my previous logo featured a black cat, incorporating the black cat on the ginger cat's back felt fitting.

My previous logo

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For these reasons, I chose this image as the primary reference and utilised Adobe Illustrator to finalise my logo. After completing the logo, I gathered feedback from my colleagues. Based on their feedback and my critical analysis, I focused on enhancing the visibility of my brand name "UGA" and adjusting the fonts to create a warmer feel.

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Before the Feedback

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Finalised Logo

Font :

In terms of fonts, I aimed to convey a sense of warmth to the audience, aligning with the brand identity. Therefore, I opted for handwritten-style fonts. For instance, the fonts displayed below are utilised in my logo.

Goodlife Family - Serif Bold

HOT-Gekai 11kk Family - Regular

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Gekai.png

Colour :

To ensure consistency across my work and posts and to create a cohesive impression, I chose colours with low saturation. The accompanying colour palette illustrates the saturation levels of the selected colours.

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Social Media Marketing Strategy

Who are the target audience of my work? 

To prepare for posting on social media, I initiated the process by defining the target audience. My target audience is typically segmented into three categories: 

 

1st. Teenagers and young adults who like animation and seek entertainment and fun content. 

When compared to other generations, young audiences are often more active on social media platforms. Therefore, it would lead to heightened interactions between audiences and my brand through likes or comments. Additionally, when young consumers have positive experiences with a brand, they're likely to keep supporting it as they get older. This helps build long-lasting relationships with customers.

 

2nd. Creator and studios. 

Getting the audience of other creators and animation studios means the connection in the animation industry. Since I am looking forward to any placement to enhance my skills and knowledge of animation, the connection can be utilised for finding the place and getting advice from them for improvement. 

 

3rd. Companies or clients. 

To make a strong portfolio, I want to increase my professional projects and showreels. The appearance on social media can increase the opportunities to get commissions and clients. 

Social Media Platforms

In this module, students were mandated to utilise LinkedIn as one of the platforms, alongside selecting an additional platform of their choice. To grasp the demographics of users on each platform, I employed the statistics published by the Pew Research Center (2024).

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This table (image above) illustrates the distribution of users across various social media platforms in the United States by age group in 2023. From this table, Instagram and YouTube have emerged as the most utilised online platforms among individuals aged 18-29, who constitute my target audience. When contrasting the characteristics of YouTube and Instagram, it is evident that YouTube primarily features long-form content, whereas Instagram enables users to upload both videos and images. For these reasons, I opted to utilise Instagram as my preferred social media platform. Additionally, concerning LinkedIn, the most engaged users belong to the age group of 30-49. Accordingly, this finding aligns with my secondary target audience, which primarily comprises employers or professionals in positions of authority.

Account Inspiration

To formulate a posting schedule and establish the desired style for my Instagram account, I referenced several accounts and got the sources of inspiration. Here, I’ll mention three creators.

@thisuserisalive

Columbo is an illustrator known for frequently sharing fan art of characters from popular movies and animations. Her artworks are notable for how they vividly depict characters, which makes them seem lifelike and full of emotion. One particular aspect I wish to emulate is her consistent art style, despite her use of a variety of colours.

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@y_u_e 

YUE is a Japanese illustrator who combines watercolour and digital drawing techniques in her work. She frequently employs thin lines in her illustrations, evoking a sense of delicate and ephemeral beauty for the audience. Additionally, she enhances the charm of her illustrations by paying close attention to details such as eyelashes and hair.

 

@rabia.turkoglus 

Rabia Turkoglus is a Turkish 3D modeller and animator who is passionate about creating cosy environments, characters, and food scenes in her animations. Her artwork gives the audience feelings of warmth, comfort, and relaxation. What stands out to me is her skilful use of lighting and rounded shapes, making everything feel soft, as well as her consistent use of warm colours throughout her work.

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Upon reviewing these Instagram accounts, I found that consistency in art style, regular posting at least once every couple of weeks, and maintaining patience and continuity in posting are crucial factors in attracting and engaging audiences.

Posting Strategies

Drawing inspiration from the previously mentioned accounts, I devised a plan spanning six weeks from March 27th to April 30th.

My decisions include:

  • Publishing a minimum of 15 posts on Instagram and 10 posts on LinkedIn

  • Adapting a casual tone for Instagram posts and a formal tone for LinkedIn

  • Gaining 50 followers and connections on each social media platform

  • Ensuring consistent posting at least once every couple of weeks

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LinkedIn-image-sizes.jpg

To prevent pixelation and image distortion, I ensured the correct sizes for images and videos by referring to Hootsuite (the images above are borrowed from Hootsuite).

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Additionally, here is an outline of my posting plan (image on the left): I intended to showcase a variety of art styles and skills by sharing both 2D and 3D works. Each row on Instagram will consist of three posts, so I planned to alternate between posting with a white background and a dark background for each row.

Development of My SNS 

Over the past 12 weeks, I have posted 12 times on Instagram and 5 original posts along with 4 reposts on LinkedIn. On each platform, I aimed to showcase skills in both 2D and 3D and engage with the audience through features like liking, commenting, and reposting.

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Instagram

Linkedin

Also, research taught me the importance of using less popular hashtags. If a hashtag is too popular, it may get lost among numerous other posts, leading to reduced views. By putting this in mind, I ensured to utilise a variety of hashtags on each platform to reach broader audiences. In addition, I aimed to demonstrate brand integrity by engaging with the audience through replies.

The exemples of utilising hashtags and replying (Left: LinkedIn, Right: Instagram)

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Reflection

Positive

The points that went well within my social media campaign are:

  • Visual Consistency on Instagram

  • Utilising Hashtags

  • Utilising Post Scheduling Function 

Regarding Instagram, alternating between posts with a white background and those with a dark background for each row proved beneficial for maintaining consistency and creating a visually organised appearance as I planned. Additionally, utilising hashtags to augment impressions also proved to be a beneficial strategy. In fact, nearly 90% of the reach of a particular Instagram post, which garnered numerous impressions, originated from hashtags (image below). Furthermore, I occasionally utilised the 'scheduling post' function on LinkedIn, which has proven to be effective.

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Negative

On the other hand, the areas where I could have done differently include

  • Time-management

  • Consistency of posts 

  • Timing to post

In terms of time management, I was able to maintain a posting schedule on Instagram, with regular posts every couple of weeks. However, I struggled to do the same on LinkedIn due to hesitancy stemming from a lack of confidence in my content and a limited familiarity with the platform. As a result, I procrastinated and ultimately failed to maintain my planned posting schedule on LinkedIn, ending up with only one post by week 9. However, after seeking advice from the lecturer and referencing classmates' posts, I began reposting content with my comments. My focus shifted towards educating the audience by sharing valuable information gathered from connections within the industry. As a result, I received some impressions through reposting, and it also made me feel less pressure to post frequently.

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Secondly, while the first impression of my Instagram posts appears consistent, there was a lack of content consistency due to posting both 2D and 3D art with very different styles on the same account. Regarding LinkedIn, I did not plan the posting schedule thoroughly, resulting in disorganised content. Furthermore, because I shared posts only when the content was completed and randomly, I did not consider the optimal timing to maximise impressions. Consequently, there were significant fluctuations in audience impressions depending on the posts. 

 

To address this issue, I had to research the best times to post using various social media tools like Hootsuite (image below), taking into consideration time differences across different countries.

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Further developments

Although this campaign appears relatively successful, there are numerous areas for improvement to enhance audience engagement. While I defined the target audience and content to post before starting this campaign, I did not utilise the 'design thinking process' due to my lack of awareness of its existence. According to Dam (2024), design thinking is separated into five stages. Therefore, by utilising the idea, empathising and defining users’ needs, forming ideas and making prototypes to test, I can help develop self-promotion in the future. Additionally, posting questionnaires for feedback using stories on Instagram would also be an effective way to expand connections.

designthinkingprocess

Toonz Academy defined a current trend in the animation industry as the integration of 2D and 3D technologies, a field I am actively pursuing. One of the sustainable development goals advocated by the United Nations (SDG17) emphasises collaboration and partnerships to facilitate the sharing of knowledge, expertise, and technology.

 

 Looking ahead, my aim is to further contribute to the proliferation of 3D content and enhance public familiarity worldwide with it through my social media. When I initially began learning 3D, I encountered numerous pioneers who generously shared valuable insights. However, I felt that the complexity of the content and knowledge posed significant challenges for newcomers. As a result, I aim to simplify this process by sharing information in a more accessible way, making it easier for people to start learning 3D.

reference / Bibliography

Address

University of Winchester

Phone

07547668449

Email

karin.nakane@outlook.jp

Connect

  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn

©2024 Portfolio Karin Nakane

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