Social Media Monitoring and Analytics

A major part of social media marketing is starting conversations and putting content on social networks. However, another significant part of it is listening to what people are saying. A recommendation when working with social media is to see what people are saying about your social media messages so you can see how things are going.

Social analytics allows you to measure impact, such as number of likes, or conversations or even the performance of a particular page or account. This allows you to report how the social media efforts are going to clients of yours or colleagues. As well as, social analytics helps track the ROI of social media efforts, which has been an increasing interest for companies.

There are two types of media, one is "owned media" and the other is "earned media". "Owned media" is social media pages or "properties" that you control. For example, your blog, your Facebook page or Twitter page. It is where you post content and start conversations. The other aspect of media is "earned media", which is everything else. This is when people start their own conversations; or someone shares something you post with someone else.

Social media surrounds our everyday life, there is no escaping it. Therefore, it is an excellent opportunity to learn all about it and what it has to offer. When looking for jobs, social media monitoring and social analytics are excellent skills to have in order to put on your resume and have a better chance at getting hired.

Choosing Your Dream Job

We learned today that job-hunters get to choose where they end up working. Many people do not realize that they are in charge of their own life and get to decide where they get to work,
but realistically they do. The five steps that job-hunters have found helpful if taken in the correct order are:

First, you need to find out what careers or jobs your flower points to.

Second, you need to try on careers before you decide which ones to pursue.

Third, you need to find out what kinds of organizations have such jobs.

Fourth, you need to find names of particular places that interest you.

Fifth, you need to learn as much as you can about a place before formally approaching them.

All these steps allow you as a job-hunter to find the perfect job that fits your interests and allows you to succeed in your career of choice. Take a chance and explore your options before accepting a job because you never know what is out there unless you look.

Social Media Messages Using Hootsuite

Today we learned about sending social media messages out through https://hootsuite.com/. The first step to do is to connect all your social media to your Hootsuite account. By looking at the top left hand corner of your Hootsuite page you can see which social media accounts you have added. After adding your accounts you are ready to post. Hootsuite is a unique tool in which it allows you to select all your social media accounts and post to them the same message from one central site. 

For my first attempt at using Hootsuite, I decided to send the message of "working in social media, check out my blogger" to my Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter account (as shown below). However, the only thing that I recommend doing is to make sure once you post a message to your social media accounts from Hootsuite to check out how it looks on the social media sites. As you may notice, each social media site has a different look for how the post is viewed. Therefore, make sure to double check if the message you are trying to convey to your audience is really what shows up on your social media sites.  

Hootsuite

Hootsuite is an excellent place to use for "social listening", it gives you a sense of what people are saying about you, on your social media sites.

To get started you will want to go to https://hootsuite.com/login and start with the free account for now to see how you like it. Then enter your email address, name, a password you can use, your location, and click Create Account. It is that easy to make. All you have left to do is add social networks and allow Hootsuite to work its magic.

Hootsuite attempts to be helpful, as part of the setup process, so it will take you through a series of steps to help things get started. You do not need to watch everything, however, there is no harm in doing so.

Hootsuite allows for you to post on different social media sites from one central website. This tool is helpful to keep you organized and allows you to keep a regular stream of content going, especially when you schedule a post.

My advice to you is to give Hootsuite a try because you never know if you will end up liking it if you do not try it out in the first place. 

Twelve Best and Worst Ways To Look for a Job

What to do when your job-hunt isn't working? Never give up. Finding a job may be difficult, however, there are a lot of different ways to look for a job.You just have to find the best fit for yourself.

1. Looking for employers' job-postings on the Internet. This method works approximately 4% of the time.

2. Posting or mailing out your resume to employers. This works at getting you a job 7% of the time.

3. Answering local newspaper ads. This method works somewhere between 5% of the time, all the way up to 24% for those people looking for low-level salary jobs.

4. Going to private employment agencies or search firms for help. This apparently works somewhere between 5% of the time, on up to 28%.

5. Answering ads in professional or trade journals, appropriate to your field. Method works only 7% of the time.

6. "Job Clubs." The job-hunting success rate is usually around 10%, if that.

7. Going to the state or federal employment office.  This method works 14% of the time.

8. Going to places where employers pick up workers. This method will find you work 22% of the time, however, most of the time it will be a short-term job. Such as, for trades or construction.

9. Asking for job-leads. This is a great method to use because it works 33% of the time.

10. Knocking on the door of any employer, office, or manufacturing plant. This works best with small employers (25 or less employees) because the method works up to 47% of the time.

11. Using the Yellow Pages. This method might seem outdated, however, it still works approximately 65% of the time.

12. The Parachute Approach. If this method is followed, step by step, than it can work up to 86% of the time which is amazing to think about. You have a twelve times better chance of finding work using this method, than if you had just sent out your resume.

Every approach can help someone find a job, but not all approaches are successful for that one person. Therefore, my advice to you is try each one out until you find that perfect match and job that you love.

Facebook Ad Campaign

Facebook ads can be extremely useful when trying to promote a small business or a local band. Today in class we had to create a Facebook advertisement that promoted our blogs. I did not really know what to expect with having an ad on Facebook, however, it is interesting to see how many people actually may have saw my ad and clicked on my website.

By going to the manage ads tab on Facebook it allows you to see how your ad is doing. For example, my ad as of today has had 26 website clicks and 3,159 people who have potentially seen my ad. As well as, the average cost per website is $0.11. Looking at the overall performance thus far, I can see that 8 females and 18 males have clicked on my website. The age group that is seen the most with my ad campaign are those who are between the ages of 18 and 24 years old. Also, one of the most surprising factors that stood out to me was to see that all 26 website clicks took place in India.

I did not believe that my advertisement would do as successful as it has over a course of only 2 days, but I would have to say it has done an excellent job. All in all, Advertising is an excellent place to get started for a business, organization, or just for overall fun to become apart of the Social Media presence.  

Twitter

Twitter is an excellent example of a main network channel seen within social media marketing. The best way to understand Twitter is by looking at a Twitter page or more importantly making a Twitter account.

Twitter posts are limited to 140 characters each, so the general format is some kind of very concise comment, often with a link, either to an article or picture. the @ sign and # sign are unique graphics for Twitter because they enable people to basically notify another Twitter user of something connected or related to them.

Twitter is another source for customer service because many people tweet about products, and it is a good idea for a company to keep an eye on social media so they can resolve any problems that may come up with products before it gets out of control.

Creating a Twitter account is pretty simple, all you need to do to get started is enter your name, email address, and a password. Then you have to choose a username and follow the tutorial for Twitter and there you have it. Your new Twitter account is made and you are now ready to tweet.

Salary Negotiation

A golden rule when job-hunting is to make sure you discuss salary before you agree to take the job. Afterwards try to "negotiate" your salary so you end up with the best salary ever. However, you do not need to be scared because there are six simple secrets to keep in mind when trying to negotiate a salary.

1. Never Discuss Salary Until the End of the Whole Interviewing Process. If you really shine during the hiring interview, the employer may-at the end-offer you a higher salary than they originally had in mind when the interview first started.

2. The Purpose of Salary Negotiation Is to Uncover the Most That an Employer Is Willing to Pay to Get You.  The employer's goal is to save money when hiring. Whereas, your goal is to bring home the most money you possibly can. Therefore, it is good to have a range of money you are willing to accept in a negotiation in mind before the hiring process takes place.

3. Never Be the First One to Mention a Salary Figure. The employer is trying to pay the least they can for you and you want the employer to pay the most they can for you. If you mention salary first it might be at the low end of what the employer was planning to hire you for and they might accept your offer right away without further negotiation, which is not what you want. You want to hear what they have to say first and then negotiate from there.

4.  Before an Interview, Do Some Careful Research on Typical Salaries for Your Field. Do research online and off in order to see the salaries for particular positions, occupations, or industries. This research gives you a good idea of what salary is appropriate to negotiate.

5. Research the Range That the Employer Likely Has in Mind, and Then Define an Interrelated Range for Yourself, Relative to the Employer's Range. When negotiating you want to be somewhat on the same page as the employer because this allows you to negotiate a better salary. Before you go in for the interview, figure out an "asking" range for yourself. This asking range should "hook in" just below the employer's maximum, then go up from there.

6. Know How to Bring the Salary Negotiation to a Close; Don't Leave It "Just Hanging." Salary negotiation is not finished unless benefits are discussed as well. Make sure you come to the interview with an idea of benefits that are most important to you. Also, always get the negotiation in writing with a signature because you never know if the employer will forget what you discussed during the interview when it comes to your salary.

Tips About Interviewing

Interviews can be intimating for anyone, especially if it is your first time. However, by following these sixteens tips when being interviewed there should be no more fear present.

1. There is no such thing as "employers." This means each "employer" is different from the next individual, therefore, no one can generalize "employers."

2. An interview should be prepared for, before you ever go in. This means do research on the company you are interested in so they see you really want the position and they are impressed that you took the extra time and effort to find out about the company.

3. Honor agreements. Make sure if you are the one who asked for the interview you set a time limit and stick to that time. This shows you are a woman, or man of your word.

4. An interview for a job is a lot like dating. The interview is to decide if the employer as well as yourself want to both "try going steady." Both get to learn a little about each other before making a drastic decision in life.

5. Questions to expect from them, then questions to ask. "Tell me about yourself" is an important question asked because it gives room to answer and can truly make a person stand out from all the other perspective candidates for the position offered. Make sure to talk about experiences, skills, or knowledge you have, that are relevant to the job trying to be filled.

6. During the interview, determine to observe "the 50-50 rule." Make sure you talk 50% of the time and then listen the other 50% of the time. This makes the interview run smoother and more efficient.

7. In answering the employer's questions, observe "the twenty-second to two-minute rule." Do not drag an answer on too long because this makes the interviewer not as interested. Keep it short and to the point.

8. The employer is primarily concerned about risk. An employer is afraid that once they hire you you will not end up working out. In many cases, you cost the employer a lot of money. Prove the employer wrong and show them how you will be dedicated to the work at hand.


9.  It's the small things that are the killers, in a job interview. Your appearance and personal
habits are what stands out during an interview, therefore, dress appropriately and have confidence in yourself.

10. Be aware of the skills most employers are looking for, these days, regardless of the position you are seeking. Employers are looking for people who are dependable, have a good attitude, are driven and have a great sense of enthusiasm, are punctual, can handle people well, and use language effectively.

11. Try to think of some ways to bring evidence of your skills, to the hiring interview. Bring portfolios of the work you have accomplished in life that also relates to the job you are trying to fill.

12. Do not bad-mouth your previous employer(s) during the interview, even if they were terrible people. This is excellent advice to follow because future employers wonder what you will say about them if you end up not working out for the company.

13. Throughout the interview, keep in mind: employers don't really care about your past; they only ask about it, in order to try to predict your future (behavior) with them, if they decide to hire you. This means talk about your past in a positive way and assure the employer you are a dedicated individual really for anything life has to offer.

14. As the interview proceeds, you want to quietly notice the time-frame of the questions the employer is asking. This allows you to measure how the interview is going. Which gives you a good sense on whether or not the employer likes you or not and sees you as a potential employee.

15. Before you leave the (final) interview there, assuming you have decided that you like them and maybe they like you, there are five questions you should always as: 1. "Can you offer me this job?" 2. "When may I expect to hear from you?" 3. "Might I ask what would be the latest I can expect to hear from you?" 4. "May I contact you after that date, if for any reason you haven't gotten back to me by that time?" and 5. "Can you think of anyone else who might be interested in my skills and experience?"

16. Thank-you notes must be sent after every interview, by every job-hunter.  By doing this, many employers can recall you and see the interest you truly have for the company.