My digital artefact is a health and fitness blog which comprises of recipes, reviews, motivation, and a place where people can ask questions freely and discuss the topics with likeminded people. TT Health and Fitness is an Instagram page where content is produced daily to the younger female community who are passionate and interested in keeping fit and living a healthy lifestyle (my target audience). My DA offer my audience content which is inspiring, helpful and interactive.
My problem statement was “users who are interested in keeping fit and living a healthy lifestyle need a platform where they can discuss and share ideas, as well as learn new ways or exercising and maintaining their health, because it is important to create a community where people can share and guide each other on a path to a healthy lifestyle”. I have not changed this statement as of yet but know that it is subject to change as I continue with my digital artifact.
“Prototyping is an integral part of Design Thinking and User Experience design in general because it allows us to test our ideas quickly and improve on them in an equally timely fashion” (Dam, Siang, 2019). The prototyping stage of my digital artefact involved testing new platforms as well as ways to improve the quality of my content. Firstly, I have started to use more hash tags in my captions to reach my niche audience. I decided to use hashtags such as health, fitness, vegan, smoothies and others depending on the post after reading an article about how hash tags can expand your reach (https://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/instagram-hashtags/). I have noticed since doing so that it has helped me gain more likes and followers, and reach my specific target audience. Additionally, these hashtags have helped to reach well-known brands. An example of this is where @keepitcleaner, has commented on my post. Engagement has also been increasing due to the way I caption my posts. By including questions, I am able to initiate conversation between myself and my users.
Originally I had hoped to post daily to my Instagram, though I haven’t kept up with this up until now. I have created a schedule which will help to keep me on track and continue to post daily. This schedule will also allow me to maintain an Instagram feed that has structure and variety.
I came across an article that discussed 9 ways to increase Instagram engagement. (https://later.com/blog/how-to-increase-instagram-engagement/). Some suggestions that were mentioned included starting conversations with Instagram sticker, writing longer captions, optimizing Instagram stories, scheduling Instagram stories, pay closer attention to hashtags and collaborate. I have started to create longer captions on my Instagram as well as creating more engaging Instagram stories with stickers and questions to increase engagement.
My feedback loop has also been very beneficial. Receiving feedback has helped me immensely in figuring out what type of content my users want to see. I have asked for suggestions via twitter and Instagram through the use of polls.
I tweeted asking users who used TikTok as I was interested to see if was something that my audience used on a regular basis. Feedback from this was that majority of my audience does not use the app, therefore I have decided not to expand my DA to TikTok.
I received other great feedback which made me think more broadly and consider different options. Based on this feedback I decided to iterate my process by creating a Pinterest account. By choosing topics such as health and fitness, clean eating, nutrition, healthy snacks, and recipes for my home feed, I am able to filter what topics I see and make sure the content is relevant. I believe the next step for expanding my digital artefact and reaching a greater audience would be to create YouTube videos showcasing my work. But for the time being I am going to focus on Instagram and incorporate my Pinterest account.
Additionally, I proposed that I would use my WordPress blog to add any additional information including full recipes and reviews. I have created a page on my WordPress which includes a recipe that has been made by me and is showcased on my Instagram. In coming weeks, I aim to create an alternate WordPress solely for my digital artefact which will include more recipes, reviews and motivation. I will also upload more recipes more frequently as well as a wider variety of options.
Content curation is “adding your voice (and value) to a handpicked collection of content. Gathered from a variety of sources, around a specific topic, that you publish and share with your fans” https://blog.hootsuite.com/beginners-guide-to-content-curation/. I have started to use content curation as a way to share information I have read with my audience. Content curation is a great way to be recognised as an expert, it’s easier than creating your own, show you’re in the game, grow your network, grow your business and stay informed. My Pinterest account has been a great place where I can access informative pictures and information to share to my audience.
Be sure to follow me on Instagram to keep up to date with my process! @tt_healthandfitness
Tahlia x
Tahlia's Blog 
Hey Tahlia, I really like your DA and it seems like a lot of other people do too!! I like your idea of taking to twitter to ask your audience if branching out to multiple platforms would be a good idea. I’d like to try something similar with my DA and what other platforms my audience would be interested in seeing my content. Best of luck Tahlia!
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Overall this post and your DA idea are wonderful! I’ve seen some people on the BCM twitter feed producing some similar ideas that you may want to check out just to get some inspiration from! You’ve done really well in addressing what content your audience wants to see in terms of polls and Instagram votes, etc. This is a brilliant idea as many people out there (including myself) are looking for easy and healthy recipes to contribute to our diets! I think this project has so much further potential, especially the way you choose to interact with your audience, speaking of audience have you considered checking out platforms like Reddit and Pinterest to generate a larger audience or even spark some ideas for yourself? Great post! I’m super keen to see your finished DA!
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