Word of the week

The Japan-America Society of Alabama (JASA) posts weekly Japanese Word of the Week (WOW) to their social media pages to contribute to their mission of sharing Japanese culture with Alabama. These words connect to traditional Japanese practices, events, and seasonal significance. I was responsible for creating the visuals for each post.

First Post

For my first WOW post, we selected ‘Momijigari’, which translates to autumn leaf hunting. This aligned with the time of year as the leaves were just starting to change, making the word relevant to the consumer’s current environment.

In this first post, I wanted to maintain the same format as previous WOWs to gauge the audience’s perception of the current format.  

The Data

Facebook

Facebook has the most followers, with 2.7k, compared to their 666 followers on Instagram; yet, Instagram has seen the most interaction between the two. 

My first post on Facebook received 304 views and 10 interactions, whereas on Instagram, the interactions are doubled. I believe this is because Instagram has a younger audience, mainly college-aged students looking to learn Japanese, who benefit more from the WOW. 

Although this post did not outperform Instagram, it did slightly better than the previous WOW, with 256 views and 3 interactions. 

Instagram

Instagram was able to reach 410 views with 20 interactions. While these metrics outperformed the previous WOW, which reached 310 views and 4 interactions, I began thinking about how I could improve the future of JASA’s WOW. 

Please view the below SWOT Analysis for WOW. 

SWOT

Strengths

  • Informative
  • Meets cultural exchange initiative
  • Short-duration video
  • Images/videos that correlate to the word

Weaknesses

  • No prompts for interaction with the post
  • Becomes repetitive
  • The posts look identical
  • Lack of audio

Oppotunities

  • Add music to prompt interest in post
  • Add questions to the caption and stories
  • Change color style
  • Could feature someone saying the word or utilizing it in conversation

Threats

  • The initiative will not meet the educational goal
  • Could lack professionalism 
  • Viewers lose interest in the content 
  • Loss in followers 

Action Plan

To improve WOW and gain better interaction, I have thought of the following solutions:

  • Focus WOW on Instagram
    • The platform has a younger audience with an interest in learning
    • Facebook seems to be looking for organization updates rather than interacting
  • Utilize Instagram story for a quiz on WOW
  • Place questions in the caption to encourage interaction
  • Add audio to posts to add appeal
  • Promote WOW at school events/Japanese clubs
    • JASA occasionally speaks at universities, so promoting WOW at these events will help gain followers and interaction with posts.

WOW today

We have started including more opportunities for interaction by adding questions to the captions of each of the previous WOWs. While the metrics have remained about the same so far, we have seen more interactions and saves of the videos compared to the previous WOWs. As a result, the social media pages have seen a growth in interaction and page visits.

Due to the JASA’s annual business forum planning and event, we have not been able to meet with university students directly. However, starting in January, JASA will be presenting at several university clubs and hosting its biggest community event, the Cherry Blossom Festival. We hope to see an increase in followers and interaction after implementing the remaining parts of our strategy plan.