Hootsuite

This week we were to connect our social media web pages to Hootsuite and complete a course related to setting up our dashboard.

Our class created our own Hootsuite accounts towards the beginning of the semester. Now we are able to start using it because we have set up multiple social media profiles (Twitter, Linkedin, and Facebook). We were to go to our dashboard and add those social networks to Hootsuite by logging into our accounts and connecting them through Hootsuite, which was very easy.

A small portion of my Dashboard

Now that I have all 3 social networks in place, I can go ahead and make a post.

Posting an update to showcase my blog

By clicking on the calendar button (the 2nd button on the right hand side), I am able to actually schedule when my update will post. So if I want to, I can make multiple updates today and they will automatically post spaced out however I decide to schedule them. I clicked on the Send Now button since this is my first one through Hootsuite.

Surprisingly enough, I had gotten 20 new page views on my blog that day. I'm lucky if I get 1 or 2 on a normal day! With that said, I think Hootsuite is a great website to use to schedule posts on social networks.

Ch. 6

This chapter is about what to do when your job hunting just isn't working.

Bolles begins his chapter with quotes. I find this quote, originally said by Franklin D. Roosevelt, quite inspirational,"It is common sense. To take a method and try it. If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something." When applying for jobs and having interview after interview without luck, it is easy to feel hopeless. Bolles specifically says 3 times to "never give up." You need to not try harder, but find a different strategy to work with. Maybe the one you're using just isn't as useful as another way.

There are 2 ways to hunt for a job, the Traditional way and the Parachute way. The Traditional way is the way we've always done it. Put together a resume, get it out there for companies to see, and if someone gets back to you, then that's great it worked! Then there's the Parachute way where you begin with yourself and not the job-market. Once you realize what you love to do, you must approach the organizations that match that. Except you must approach through what they call a bridge person. Someone who knows them who also knows you to put in a good word for you. So really, when Bolles says you should use a different strategy when one fails, the Parachute way is the other strategy to try.

The last half of the chapter gives a list of the best and worst ways to look for a job. Some of them are using strategies from the Traditional way, and normally don't work. Some of them are pretty successful most of the time. As he goes through his list, he gives percentages of how often that method works when job-hunting. 11 of those approaches work at a range from 5%-70%. The last (but not least) approach is the Parachute way, which is proven to work 86% of the time!

Ch. 5

This Chapter in What Color Is Your Parachute? is about the 6 secrets of salary negotiation.

1.) You should only ask about salary after the organization has given you the job. If they ask you before or during the interview, it's a good idea to just go around the subject until they have made their decision. I would have never thought to do this. I always assumed we should answer every question they had without hesitation.

2.) You have the right to negotiate with the employer what you should be paid. For example, the employer could very well pay you $30 an hour, but will try to keep you down to just $18 an hour. So the range you have is between the $18-$30.

3.) It is a very bad idea to be the one to mention the first salary figure. Even if you're hired, and they ask, "What kind of salary are you looking for?" You should not answer with wages in mind. According to the book, you should respond with something like, "Well, you created this position, so you must have some figure in mind, and I'd be interested in first hearing what that figure is?"

4.) Doing research on the salary range for your position in that company is the smart thing to do. It prepares you. When the employer throws out a number for you, be aware if that number is on the high or low end of the salary range that you researched. By doing this, it can help you gain thousands of dollars per year more pay than you originally would have made! Bolles provides multiple websites to visit when researching.

5.) "Research the range that the employer likely has in mind , and then define an interrelated range for yourself, relative to the employers range." Then the book shows us a table to better understand what that means. So really, if a person below you makes $45,000 and a person above you makes $55,000, then the range for your job would be anywhere between $47,000-$53,000. So the numbers are slightly above the lowest salary and slightly below the highest.

6.) After talking about salary, ask about benefits! It is an important subject to speak about before closing the deal. Also, once the employer tells you your benefits, you should get it in writing and have both of you sign it, because a lot of times, they will forget what they told you or sometimes they are "playing a game," as Bolles words it. I never thought about doing this before because once the employer tells you what benefits there are, that's what I assume is actually going to happen and there should be no further actions regarding the benefits. I always thought they'd just know how to take care of it (but apparently not!). Bolles ends with stating that you have every right to ask for this and a lot of times employers have no problem with it. If they refuse, then there is something wrong.

Stanford Credibility Study

This week, the class talked about what people looked for when determining how authentic a website was. We looked at the article How Do People Evaluate a Website's Credibility? 

In the study, people were to leave comments about the 100 different websites that they evaluated. The table below shows us how frequently certain categories were brought up.

Table 1 from the article

I find it interesting that over 46% determined credibility by design look. How the website looked were the top 2 concerns brought up in the 2,440 comments. I guess in this day and age it is important to keep an updated look or at least have an attractive layout (even back in 2002 when this study was taken!). I'm sure if this study was taken this year in 2015, that percentage would increase. Now that I think about it, it's based on first impressions. It takes a fraction of a second to decide if you like or don't like what you see. So the look and structure can determine whether a potential customer stays to look through your site, or look for another.

The next 4 concerns come to no surprise to me, which is related to information found in the websites. How the website represents itself and how much information is given about them is probably the most important categories to focus on. You can make a website look as pretty as you want, but if the information you provide about your business is not useful or accurate, then it just won't be as successful.

Creating a Facebook Ad Campaign

This week we were to create a Facebook Ad Campaign showcasing our blogs.

We were to go to facebook.com/advertising and select the tab "Send people to your website." We were to purchase a $5.00 lifetime budget for a few days (10/8-10/10). We were to include India in our locations we wanted to reach to increase our chances of clicks we might get. We also added Social Media Marketing and Digital Marketing to the interests section, so it would be relevant to who ever were to notice the ad.

After the Campaign ended, I was able to see my results in the graphs that show how much I spent and how many people it has reached during the time limit.

Graph regarding the amount of website clicks within the 3 day campaign

Graph regarding the amount of clicks and views between men and women separated by age groups

I noticed going through my insights, a majority of the people reached were in major cities like Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, and New York. I also noticed that the majority of clicks the ad got was on 10/9, with 9 views.

Articles Regarding Post Frequency

Our class was to read these short articles,

1.) Infographic: How Often You Should Post on Social Media?

2.) Smartphone users check Facebook 14 times a day, study says

They refer to how often we should post on social media in order to gain or keep the followers interested in the updates we are posting.

Reading the Infographic article, they show a graphic of how many posts on average that brands should post a day. I found it really interesting that Pinterest was the most frequent postings, with 5 a day. Oddly enough, Facebook was only at 2 posts per day "before likes and comments begin to drop off." How funny that is considering that Facebook is the most widely used social network in the world, according to the second article above, "70% of their study group accessed Facebook from their phones- to catch up on news feed updates, mostly- and 61% used it daily." About 14 times (on average) a day to be exact. I guess less is more in the world of digital advertising. There are so many other companies trying to get their name out there that it becomes overwhelming to the users, so they end up ignoring most (if not all) ads that come their way. 

Ch.4

Chapter 4 begins by giving 3 examples of interviews. These interviews depend on what you are looking for and who you are talking to.

1.) Interviews for fun and practice: talking about interests 

2.) Interviews for information: when talking with employees who do the job you are exploring

3.) Interviews for a job: talking to employers 

All 3 of these interviews are also known to be just conversations! The 3rd one is an intimidating conversation, but it's not so bad once you are well prepared for it. Bolles provides 16 tips about the 3rd type of conversation. I will talk about a handful of them that I think are interesting.

For example, there is no such thing as "employers." I thought to myself yeah right. They have that power to hire me. If they're not employers, then what are they? He then explains why they aren't. They are individuals with different personalities and you cannot predict if they would hire you or not. Person to person, your personalities might mix well or they might not. You just don't know. It is also a good idea to do some research about them before you go in for the interview. They are curious to know what you think of the company and this will always be very important (it could cost you the job). When an employer says "Tell me about yourself," they want to see how you respond to an unstructured question. Never should you respond with, "What do you want to know about me?" This is never an attractive response. What they are actually asking how the skills or knowledge you have that might fill the requirement for that job. When it comes to speaking with the employer, half of the time you should talk, and the other half the employer talks, keeping the conversation a solid 50-50. Factors like appearance, hygiene, and habits of biting nails or twisting your hair can really affect the employers opinion of you. Even if you have those bad habits only when your nervous, try to control them when speaking with the employer the first time! I know I have a terrible habit of biting my lips and avoiding eye contact as I speak. In addition, eye contact, body language, and manners really can make you or break you during an interview, as well as a firm handshake. That can make all the difference! Not to mention it is also frowned upon if you bad mouth your previous employers.

Before you leave the interview, a few questions you will want to ask them is, "Can you offer me this job?" "When can I expect to hear from you?" "May I contact you after that date, if you haven't gotten back to me by that time?" You must always send a thank-you note after the interview. This can make you stand out compared to others applying for the same position.