My First posts using Hootsuite

In my previous post, I discussed using Hootsuite to post to multiple social media websites. I  thought I posted the post, but I'm realizing now that I forgot to actually click schedule.

So this is my take two attempt. For this one, I wrote "test" into the post box and instead of scheduling the post, I posted immediately by hitting  "send now" option.

Here are the results:

Facebook Post

 

Twitter Post 

 

LinkedIn Post 

To view a post on Linkedin, you have to hover over  "profile" at the top,  then scroll down to "your updates." 

I have to play around with Hootsuite to become more efficient and proficient at it, but I made my first post! The biggest benefit is time and effort saved when you post to multiple websites at once. You do not have to log in to 3+ social media sites to post, you just need to connect them to your hootsuite and then Viola, you can post! 

Using Hootsuite to post to multiple Social Media Sites

Hootsuite can act as a hub for all on one's social media accounts. This can also work really well for a company's for that matter.  Users can post content to multiple social networks at once and schedule ahead of time to post.

This screenshot from Hootsuite.com shows what the free Hootsuite account includes

The free version allows you to post on up to three social media networks at once. At any time however, you get to choose which social networks are posting content.

For example, I linked my Facebook account, my LinkedIn, and my twitter to my LinkedIn.

In addition, you can track various aspects on Social media. For example, I created a stream that allows me to track anytime my username "AnnieP122" comes up on twitter. I do not have a large presence on Twitter, but here's an example of a post that appeared in my twitter stream for my username. 

What I am looking forward to most is the ability to schedule posts. Content can be created in advance and then scheduled to be posted in the future. This way you can schedule a post marking the 25th anniversary gala of an organization you work a month in advanced.  In addition you can schedule regular posts leading up and providing more information about the actual 24th anniversary gala creating buzz with limited work and need to constantly remember to post every few days. 

Here is my first Hootsuite post. I scheduled it to be posted at 11 am and to be posted to my Facebook and my twitter. 

The Parachute Way of job hunting

The Parachute way is an alternate way to approach the job hunt that is not just writing a resume and cover letter and sending it out into the world.   Instead of focusing on the job market, you think about yourself, who you are, and what you most want to do and then find an organization that matches you.  I'm a little unsure about this method because it is so different than the traditional job hunting method.

Instead of waiting for the company to have  a vacancy, you should approach the company through a person who knows both you and the company, regardless of whether they're actually hiring or not.

It's worth a try in my opinion, even if it's hard to find your true following. You could end up finding a job that you absolutely love for years upon years to come, and that's pretty incredible.

Achieving Credibility on the internet, Is it all about Aesthetics?

Achieving credibility on the internet is just as complicated than achieving credibility in person. In a way however, achieving credibility between the two are very similar.  A Stanford study by Stanford Web Credibility Research  found that design of a website had the highest affect on credibility. Aesthetics are very important when it comes to websites. This applies to the real world because if you do not look presentable or like you "fit" whatever job or idea you are presenting, it's much harder to gain an audiences trust. If I saw a person dressed as bozo the clown discussing astrophysics, I would be very confused.  Table 1 below shows other parts of a digital website that affect its credibility. The actual content of the website including motive of the company and information are the next important part.  In the grand scheme of things, Aesthetics superficially of the website and the way content is presented are important in a consumers experience with a website. 

        
(Fogg et al., 2003). 

I think it's worth pointing out that at this point in time, this study is indeed a little dated. I would argue that it is still relevant because the extent to which we use the internet has changed, but we still prefer websites that look clean, professional, have good content, and are easy to read. 

If  would like to reference the full article,

Fogg, B.J., Soohoo, C., Danielson, D.R., Marable, L., Standford, J., & Tauber, E.R. (2003) How do users evaluate the credibility of Web Sites? A study with over 2,500 participants. Proceedings of DUXU2003, Designing for User Experiences Conference.

LinkedIn- Yes, It can help you meet people and find a job!

LinkedIn  can be applied both to an individual hunting for a job, but also to businesses and brands pushing their products and services.  Having a strong individual presence on LinkedIn can also help in establishing a presence for a business or company.

Important things to do on LinkedIn

• build your own network!
• use LinkedIn to aid in finding work
• Create and join LinkedIn groups
• Add examples of projects to expand your LinkedIn portfolio
• make posts and provide updates

Don't abandon your profile on LinkedIn! It's a representation of you and should show your product. If you manage a LinkedIn page for a company, it will likely link to your profile. 

One thing to note is that if you're trying to create a LinkedIn profile for a company, you should have an official website and a company e-mail address.  LinkedIn also allows for businesses to create advertisements. 

The best way to understand LinkedIn is by using it! For that reason, I finally added a profile picture to my LinkedIn and am in the process of updating it and expanding my network.

A well updated Linkedin should include:

• A summary of who you are
• work experience
• volunteer experience
• Links to projects  to create a digital portfolio. 
• skills
• connections
• endorsements 

The best way to keep a LinkedIn account updated and accurate is to schedule time in intervals like once a week for 20 minutes or even 30 minutes a month.

So, go try to make a LinkedIn and see what connections you can find! 

Advertising on Facebook and Through E-mail

To the people staring at their phones in private and public places,

Cell phone users are everywhere.

Yes, I mean everywhere. I challenge you to walk past a strip mall or restaurants during lunch time and count how many people you see on your cell phones.

A Facebook study found that  smartphone users on average spent 2.5 hours every day on their smartphones. The most used application was e-mail followed by Facebook.

I'm not sure how accurate the time spent on smartpohones actually is, but it is important to realize that people are constantly connected to their phones. Smartphones act as alarm clocks, calenders, reminders, a way to communicate quickly, and a way to access the ever growing internet.

That being said reaching potential customers and supporters through Facebook an e-mail can add to a companies marketing campaign.

To reach a company through Facebook, you can make an advertisement for a small cost. Read more about how to do that here. This blog will focus more on the analysis of when one has actually created an add and is beginning to get clicks.

This figure from the ad manager dashboard shows that my advertisement spent its lifetime limit of $5 and ran between Oct 6th- 11th with a focus of clicks per minute. It was also targeted towards the United States, China, and India with a demographic that had interests in social media marketing and social media.

This is a breakdown of the total clicks and reach of my advertisement by age and gender. My add reached and was clicked on mostly by young people between the ages of 13-17 years old and predominately more men clicked on my add than women.  I reached 10,504 people, but only 48 of those people actually clicked on the advertisement and followed the link to my website.

By clicking on breakdown and changing it to by country, I can see that all of my clicks came from India. That is also where my add had the largest reach. I purposely chose to add India and China just to see what would happen. I did not think it would skew my reach so heavily towards India and China. My advertisement only reached one person in  the United States.  This does show that it is important to tailor your advertisement towards your ideal audience. If you want to reach mainly people in the United States, be careful about adding other countries.

The problem with Facebook is that once you create the advertisement and get people to visit your page, you can't really control if your new fans are actually receiving your content. You can however,  link a mailing list to your Facebook page or website. If people subscribe to the list, your content will be delivered directly to their e-mail list.   MailChimp is a great way to do this.  This doesn't necesarily mean a person is reading what you e-mail, but the content is delivered to the person's mailbox.

How active should a company be on social media?

Social media seems to revolve around the idea of getting more followers and deciding what and how much to share with your followers. Social media frequency strives to find how often posts should be made on social media.  I admittedly try to keep a distance from social media in my personal life and don't post too often. That being said this is a caveat when posting-- it's hard to tell how many people your posts are actually reaching. Moreover, posting too often could lead to saturation with diminishing returns.

An article on by buffer you can find here attempts to quantify how much we should be posting on social media.  It seems to be a common theme that  posting on social media consistently is important.

I'm  a little skeptical about the suggestions for ideal number of posts per day. The stats are interesting, but they are also from 2013 they also seem to focus on top brands and companies. Buffer's best practices include a certain amount of posts until engagement with an audience begins to drop and taper out. I feel like this in theory sounds like a good starting point, but it  might not be as applicable to a completely new company as it does to an already established company. Companies also begin to see diminishing returns after a certain amount of posts. For example in a 2012 study by Track Social, researchers found that after three tweets engagement begins to decrease.

I like that all of the data to find frequency of social media and it's effects is so readily available, but I feel like in some cases maybe variables need to be controlled for a little more to avoid confounding factors.  In this article there is some detail about the methods and parameters used, but not all that much.

In my opinion it comes down to finding out what works for ones company. There is no single or proper way to do social media. If there was, we would all be experts. In reality, the world is always changing and so is social media. It's unrealistic to be one person and have pages on all platforms that are kept active and up to date. It's more important to find out what platforms work to best reach your audience and what's the optimal activity level for your specific audience.