Blog Post Week 2 Part B: Business Research

 YoungLA

#1. https://www.youngla.com/

YoungLA is a fitness based clothing brand. They are very popular when it comes to the fitness community. They currently have 619,000 followers on Instagram and growing exponentially. Instagram is the main social media platform that they use to advertise themselves.  They're a United States based business, located in Los Angeles, California. There are many links available on their website. However, they do ship their product internationally. They post multiple times a day on social media via Instagram. Their last post was just four hours prior to me writing this on 9/06/2022. In my personal opinion, the way YoungLA uses social media is phenomenal. They have hundreds of Fitness Influencers that consistently wear and post their products on Instagram, Tik Tok, and Youtube. They react and interact very well with their fanbase. I've posted to my Instagram story tagging them and they've always replied to my Direct Messages. They actually just recently came out with YoungLA For Her which are clothes directed towards females. Which made me very happy, along with others I assume, because now my girlfriend and I can both wear YoungLA to the gym.

The Dragons Lair

#2. https://www.thedragonslairgym.com/

The Dragons Lair is my personal favorite gym. It's located in Las Vegas, Nevada. They are one of the most known gyms in the United States. The main social media platform that they post on is Instagram where they currently have 137,000 followers. Their only location as of right now is in Las Vegas. Their website is very appealing to the eye and super easy to navigate. They also sell their own apparel through their website. The website has various links that lead you to their social media platforms, apparel, training programs, etc. On social media they're not super consistent with posting, about every 3 to 5 days, but that is still a lot more active than other gyms post. They also constantly post once a day on their Youtube channel. Their last Instagram post was on 9/01/2022 and their last youtube video was today 9/06/2022. They're definitely more active on their Youtube channel but they are definitely still consistent on Instagram. On Youtube they like a lot of viewers comments which shows that they do interact with their fanbase. When it comes to their Instagram though, not a lot of interaction. The owner will reply to a comment every now and then but thats about it. I believe they should be more active on Instagram as well as create a Tik Tok account. Advertising through Tik Tok is the best thing for business' at the moment. Overall, their social media and website is ran very professionally and is very enticing to view.

Gorilla Mind

#3. https://gorillamind.com/?g_adtype=search&g_keyword=gorilla%20mode&g_network=g&g_acctid=340-477-2009&g_campaignid=12227809866&g_campaign=BR_Search_BrandName_US_GOOG&g_adgroupid=118095628718&g_adid=595300426048&g_keywordid=kwd-358040198090&wickedsource=google&wickedid=Cj0KCQjw39uYBhCLARIsAD_SzMSuPZa_B8IPE8UJYP9ur3Jl3Um1EDU20-WZOwTB5JhLh0O7flfatc4aAr34EALw_wcB&wickedid=595300426048&wv=3.1&&gclid=Cj0KCQjw39uYBhCLARIsAD_SzMSuPZa_B8IPE8UJYP9ur3Jl3Um1EDU20-WZOwTB5JhLh0O7flfatc4aAr34EALw_wcB

Gorilla Mind is a supplement company which is based in the United States. I've been using their supplements for years and haven't had a single complaint. They're also an extremely popular company known by many gym goers. They are surprisingly very active on social media. Most supplement company's aren't as active when it comes to social media. They typically post once a day but occasionally once every two days. They're last post was today, 9/06/2022. Gorilla Mind currently has 220,000 followers on Instagram. They do in fact ship their products internationally. The website has a link to their Instagram page but it is a bit hard to locate unfortunately. Other links lead you to their outstanding variety of supplements, a page where you can apply to be an affiliate, and a help section for contacting customer support. The owner of Gorilla Mind has his own Instagram page (MorePlatesMoreDates) with 602,000 followers! He shares posts on Instagram multiple times a day. His Youtube channel has a substantially larger following with 1.41 million subscribers. Absolutely Insane! He posts on his Youtube channel once a day. On the Gorilla Mind Instagram page they're very consistent with replying to comments on Instagram and Youtube as well. They're use of social media is absolutely astounding to me. They are extremely active, frequent with follower interaction, and professionally ran. Overall, I'd want my future business' social media to be ran very similar to Gorilla Mind's.

Darc Sport

#4. https://shop.darcsport.com/

Darc Sport is the second fitness based clothing company I've chosen for my research. Coincidentally, I learned that they are based in Riverside, California. They also ship internationally. I recently discovered their product about a year ago and I'm so glad that I did. Not only do they sell clothes but they also give out powerful inspiration. Their modo is, "Never F*cking Give Up". Their Instagram posts are once a day and consist of their merchandise, Inspirational messages, and treating their fanbase like family. Their last post on Instagram was today, 9/06/2022. Treating your fanbase like family is very powerful to me because it shows that the company genuinely shows love to the people that give Darc Sport strong support. Instagram is the only social media account that I could find. They have 712,000 loyal followers on there. The energy that the brand gives off is honestly extremely welcoming and a very cool thing to see from a company in my opinion. The website is a little bit different from most though. They only have their full website available when they are coming out with new clothes. You can still view their website when there's not clothes coming out but it's mainly just browsing through sold out items. The only link they have available is to their Instagram page. In terms of them replying and interacting with their fanbase, they are very similar to YoungLA. I've tagged them in multiple posts and stories on Instagram and they always reply back. They also reply to many comments on their Instagram posts. The way I see Darc Sport is how I would see my future business. Very professional, active, and their interaction with fans is really quite unbelievable. Only con is that their only form of social media is Instagram but it's working for them very sufficiently so why try and fix it if it's not broke.

Zoo Culture

#5. https://www.thezooculture.com/

Zoo Culture is another popular gym known worldwide located in Los Angeles, California. I've never been there myself but I've been wanting to take a trip there ever since I learned about it. Zoo Culture's only social media platform is Instagram where they have 224,000 followers. Like Gorilla Mind though, their owner is even more popular. His name is Bradley Martyn. Owner of Zoo Culture gym, Raw Gear apparel, as well as hosts his own podcast. He consistently posts on Instagram, Youtube, and his podcast. On Instagram he has a whopping 4.1 million followers, 3.03 million youtube subscribers on his main channel and 337,000 subscribers on his podcast channel. All of his accomplishments and companies are outstanding but I mainly want to focus on Zoo Culture. On Instagram they post once a day but don't interact with their followers at all. Their last post was today, 9/06/2022. Granted they only get a median of 20 comments per post, I would've thought they'd interact at least a little bit. The website is also bland and boring to me. Only showing different membership costs and a link to the Raw Gear website. I really wouldn't consider structuring my website and Instagram page like them. They both look very appealing but lack a lot of information. I'd love to see them interact with their fanbase and maybe add some more detail to their website. 

After looking into these five companies, I've seen many pros and cons with websites and social media accounts. Some seem to be more professional in all aspects of their company. Others seem to be more nonchalant through their websites and social media platforms. Although I am aware that these companies have achieved great success by using their own formula. 

The websites I looked into really intrigued me because I've never taken the time to thoroughly observe them. I could see that the companies that had a well structured and professional website are far more popular than the ones that weren't so detailed. For my future business' website, I'd make it appealing, professional, and have useful information for the websites visitors. 

The social media accounts that are ran by these companies also took me aback. The ones that interact with their fanbase and post on a consistent basis are much more successful in terms of followers and supporters. It genuinely surprised me to see some of these companies have very little to no interaction with the people that are supporting you. In the future for my business' social media pages, I'd want to interact with my followers as much as possible. As well as have an eye grabbing presentation. 

Overall, I'm really glad that we had this assignment. I learned a lot of useful information that I know will greatly benefit me in the future. I discovered so many things that I never would've noticed without having done this research. I even feel more confident in my future abilities when it comes to running a website and social media page. I'm sure it was truly an eye opener for the others that looked into their desired business' as it sure was for me.