Intro to HOOTSUITE

After connecting the Weebly website to the Google Analytics account with the purpose to track its movement, now we got to make it move. To be honest, it is a bit annoying to be hopping from social media to social media sharing your website on one at a time. Well, Hootsuite is gonna make it simple for us.

Basically Hootsuite is a free website where you can register and use its tools to publish any type of content in all of your social media pages that you choose, at the same time. When you first register, Hootsuite is gonna guide you through the steps to learn how to use the basic features of it. It will teach you how to connect your Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, etc., to it. (You can only add two social media pages for free. The third one will request you to get Hootsuite PRO for some $$$). Anyways, once you have added them, it will look something like this..

In there you can see, I have chosen to see my current tweets and my Facebook timeline. If you see closely, you will notice I have shared my blog in my last Hootsuite session. I will show you how to do it.

Go to the top where you'll find a small box on the left corner that says "send to...". By passing your mouse on it, a box will drop with the different social media accounts you have your Hootsuite connected to. 

Select which ones you want to share stuff to. After you have selected them, right next to it is gonna be the message box. Type whatever attractive title will bring attention to your content, and at the bottom, add the link of the website you are sharing... in my case, I shared the link of my last blog post.

Click send, and automatically you will see how your content is being shared on your social media timelines... which you can see in the columns of your Hootsuite main page. Pretty easy to use and it really comes in a handy when working on Digital Marketing. 

How To Connect Your Weebly Site To Your Google Analytics Account.

Last week we talked about this great site where you can create you own websites with unlimited customization help. After creating a few pages and making it look decent for the online world, now it is time to track the movement of it. Here is where Google Analytics comes in a handy.

Just like we did with our blog's promotion week on Facebook- tracking every session, we will do the same for the site. Follow up a few simple steps.

First, go to your GA account to "Admin". There you will see the list of your current websites that you are already tracking. Where it says "Property" drop down that button and create select "Create New Property". You are gonna see something like this.

Second, give a name to your website so you will identify it every time you go into GA. Next, copy your websites link into the "Website URL", which you can find in the section of "Settings" under "General Settings". Click on "Get Tracking ID" on the bottom of the page.

Third, copy the "Website Tracking" script- that will be the one with the "script" at the top, followed by a bunch of random alien numbers and letters. Copy it and go to your Weebly site in the "Setting" section. Click SEO and paste your tracking script into the "Fooster Code" box.

AND THERE IT IS! Share it and give it 24 hours until it starts working.

What Color Is Your Parachute?: Chapter 8 (Review)

Chapter 8 talks about a big truth for the desperate job-hunters out there, a truth that may give you happiness for your professional life. "You Get To Choose Where You Work" is the title of the 8th chapter, and it gives you simple steps on how to do it. I'm going to explain the first step, which is in my consideration the most important one.

FIRST, YOU NEED TO FIND OUT WHAT CAREERS OR JOBS YOUR (SKILLS) POINTS TO.

1. Choose the top three of your favorite Knowledge or Field of Interest: e.g. Music, Management, and Marketing.

2. Then, choose your top five Transferable Skills, or in other words, remind yourself how skillful you are in your three Field of Interest options.

3. This step is very important for the continuation of the process. Take what you have done so far and show it to at least five friends, family members, or professionals whom you may know. Ask them what jobs or works this page suggests them . Ask them, "What career fields do these suggest to you?" Write down whatever suggestion they make and do the following:

EXAMPLE: Lets use the three Field of Interest options from above, and put those three favorite Knowledges on a series of overlapping circles.

Your mission is to find the center point where you can find a job that has all three your favorite skills included. Next step, recognize which one of the three is the one you have worked the most to and have more experience. Let's choose Marketing. So you go visit a marketing professional that you know (or set appointment with one. Pay them if necessary), and ask them how you can combine those three fields of interest in one.

Lets analyze the three of them so we can come to a conclusion for an imaginary situation. As, a marketing professional, you can create events that involve music, choose to promote musicians for certain label company, take care of the social media for musicians or bands that need promotions,etc. If you wanna include Management, then think about managing a musicians career, or create your own business where you give management assistance to different bands that may want to rise in the music industry.

4. Write down every little thing the marketing professional may tell you. You will need it for your job search.

5. After a week of doing this. Sit down and revise your notes. Find out what you like the most and see if that is a career path you are willing to choose. If it is, in the end it will be worth it.

After reading the other steps, you can strengthen your attitude toward the future you want and it will create expectations and motivate yourself to achieve it. This process is only one step closer to your dream job. 

Week 8 - What Color Is Your Parachute: Chapter 7 (Review)

Chapter 7 talks about 6 different ways that you can learn to describe yourself. The purpose of the chapter is to make the person who seeks for jobs to understand more fully who he is, therefore he can approach multiple job-markets. You must understand that you are a person who has different set of skills besides the one you use to find jobs. Understanding this can help you be open for other job positions that you never thought would be profitable; plus, you would perfomr your job with more energy because you are doing something that you really enjoy. 

The chapter goes down by describing yourself with a self-made question "I Am a Person Who..."

- Has had these experiences.
- Is skilled at doing this or that.
- Knows a lot about this or that.
- Is unusual in this way or that.

A different set of exercises inside the chapter will help you go through this questions easily and efficiently, so that by the end of your reading you would have found the truth of your prefered type of job, work environment, and co-workers.

Week 7 - What Color Is Your Parachute: Chapter 6 (Review)

"It's common sense to take a method and try it. If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something new." - Franklin D. Roosevelt. 

I start this blog with former president of the U.S. quote telling us to not give up, but to find some new way to reach your goals. It is perfect for this chapter that is titled "What to Do When Your Job-Hunt Just isn't Working" and a few little rules that I found here are:

- Never Give Up
- Never Give Up
- Never Give Up

In this chapter, the author explains that there are two ways to hunt for a job: The "Traditional Way" in which the job seeker behaves like a "job-beggar", thinking only what to do to impress them and only worry about their satisfaction in order to get the job. Then, there is the "Parachute Way", a method where your mind is more

selfish but for the good of your future. This method wants you to "figure out what kind of job you would die to do, before you go out hunting", and after getting a second or third interview, it wants you to be honest to yourself instead of desperate and answer the question, "do I like them? Do I enjoy this work environment?". And of course, end the interviews with a thank-you note.

According to the book, the "Traditional Way" fails between 50-86% of the times, while the "Parachute Way" has a success probability of 86% of the time. 

Apparently, this book has a secret recipe to find yourself a job... your dream job.

Week 7 - Weebly Experience

If you've ever thought on creating a website but don't know how to start or design it, then you must try weebly.com. Very user-friendly plus it gives you a wide variety of themes and background pictures for the type of environment you want to give to your website.

Last week I began creating my own website. The first step was to create a domain, or in other words create a name or URL. Then, you begin to choose the layout you want with the different options weebly has for you. Mine ended up something like this:

After you have done these two steps, the next one is to construct what goes in it. You notice that in the picture above I added a big "Welcome" and a quote from Lauren Fishburn about marketing. I did all these things by using the Build section. 

Beneath the Basic panel you will also find a Structure panel, which allows you to move things around your page, a Media panel that allows you to add HD videos, audio files, documents, etc. If your page is for business you also have a panel called Commerce. This gives you the option to tag things a product or Google Adsense.

Weebly's main page has a section calles 'Inspiration Center' where it gives you different articles on how to improve your website so you can experiment all of its features as full percent.

Although I am still trying to figure out what is the real purpose of my website, I don't feel in a rush to do so, therefore in the meantime I will keep experimenting with it. Once Im finished, I will connect it with my Google Analytics page so I can track it's movement. 

Week 6 - What Color Is Your Parachute: Chapter 5 (Review)

This chapter talks about how to negotiate a salary during an interview. It is an interesting chapter because, as a freshly graduated student from college, I didn't think I was in a position to negotiate salary (maybe I am not), but it is always important to acknowledge the fact that it is very possible to negotiate a higher salary than the one the employer thought you would take. The book shares 6 secrets which I have chosen a few to explain and make a short summary.

Secret #1.- NEVER DISCUSS SALARY UNTIL THE END OF THE WHOLE INTERVIEWING PROCESS... That means that when they have decided you that they need you and they are going to make an offer, then it is the time to discuss figures. Before, it would just give them the wrong idea that you are just here for the money and don't really care about the organization's mission and goals.

Secret #3.- DURING A SALARY DISCUSSION, NEVER BE THE FIRST ONE TO MENTION A SALARY FIGURE: Similar to secret number one, always wait for the interviewer to initiate the recompensation talk.If they ask you first "what kind of salary are you looking for?" try to get away from the question by responding 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". This strategy is for you to know from where to start going up.

Secret #4.- BEFORE YOU GO TO THE INTERVIEW, DO SOME CAREFUL RESEARCH ON TYPICAL SALARIES FOR YOUR FIELD... So, let's say you got a call to interview for the position of "XYZ", and after a few interviews the employer offers you a certain amount of salary for the job- let's say $30,000 a year. Now, you remembered that you searched online, e.g. "average salary for the position XYZ in (your city, or state)", and the results showed you that the average ranges between $35,000 to $45,000. Now that you know this, you are in a total position to negotiate your salary with the interviewer. Why is it worth it? Because by the end of the year you will be making $15,000 more than you would have if you hadn't done some research online.

Of course, all of this negotiating would be useless if by the end of the interview, once both parties had made a deal, you didn't suggested to sign a "letter of agreement". Why? because this document is a promise that all your effort and achievement in negotiating a salary won't be changed. You usually do this because the employer can forget, regret, or simply back off from what was agreed. And that is Secret #6.