Build a Website - What Me?

When we were set the task of creating a web site I must admit to thinking this was going to be impossible given my skills level and the time constraints I was under (making my Christmas stock). So after an initial panic attack I set out a plan of action. My solution - small bite size pieces of a task are far less scary (and more manageable) than trying to envisage the whole project.

Step 1.
The decision on what web site to build was an easy one as I was in the process of setting up a Social Enterprise to promote the development of quality crafts in Wales. The timings of the tasks for this course have been amazingly and so very useful for me! So beginning with the design cycles investigative stage I did online, desk and real time (visiting craft events and talking to crafts people) research into similar organisations, promoting crafts and running craft fairs flagged up a number of interesting points:

1. The name Wales Artisans is unique.
2. There is no other organisation, in Wales, working for the benefit of its members by keeping stand costs to a minimum and helping fledgling crafts businesses develop.
3. There is a gap in the market for an organisation that does not allow imported goods to be sold at events.
4. There is a gap in the market for professional craftspeople who want to exhibit at quality events but are excluded from many as their craft is not contemporary enough.
5. There is a gap in the market for an organisation that assists in the business development of crafts people.
6. Other craft event organisers are not utilising the power of social media.

Step 2
Checking out the availability of the domain name was essential to start off with as there's no good creating a logo if you don't have the name! Thank goodness for the logical thinking of the Design Cycle as the first name choice 'Welsh Artisans' was taken, so I bought the domain name Wales Artisans. I chose this name following Amanda Hill's advice to have a name ad URL that says where and who you are and what you do. Also because we would be more able to attract funding and assistance for a social enterprise with 'Wales' in the title. As a strap line I chose Special Pieces, Special People, Special Prices.

On the module about branding I learnt that a brand is how we are perceived from what people see and the logo therefore needed to show our identity, personality and image. Considering our session on visual language (semiotics) I thought very carefully about the colours, fonts and symbols that would underpin a positive brand, what we do and what we stand for. Using the colours red and green to reflect the welsh aspect of the organisation I chose a strong, yet more artistic font to give a professional and 'arty' brand image. Without having learnt about branding and semiotics I would not have considered all the elements in such depth when designing this logo.

As this is a new organisation the brand image needs to give the viewer a quick, clear understanding of who we are and what we do. So I decided to also use the wording "Promoting the Growth of Handcrafted Products in Wales," on all web, social media and marketing material. This continuity of wording and image across all online and traditional marketing material is important in establishing a strong brand image and engagement with people who are interested in quality crafts (both crafts people and potential buyers). Instantaneous recognition of what we do and who we are is very important if we are to grow our membership and public following for our events. Building a recognisable brand is therefore dependent on a clear and strong brand image which I am confident this logo achieves.

Step 3
Developing a design brief was the next stage. Using the design cycle I investigated other designs of organisations in the craft promotion and events arena. This identified that a number had strong brand images such as the Wales Craft Council and Rural Crafts but were no longer developing the organisations in line with their original remit or ethics e.g. the Wales Arts Council now take members who are not crafts and are into mass production such as Usbourne Books! Without an understanding of your values, what your want a web site to do and communicate, the outcome will never be strong and effective as a brand image.

At the Tuesday evening FDSM session, where we were discussing our web site ideas, I wrote down and articulated the following objectives that the Wales Artisans web site should achieve:

1. Professionally promote the new organisation
2. Communicate it's aims and objectives and encourage new members to join
3. Create a directory of members with links to their web or social media presence
4. A professionalism that encourages collaboration with other organisations
5. The promotion of Wales Artisans Events
6. An integrative approach with social media to drive traffic to the web site

In terms of its overall design I determined that it should:

• Look professional
• Reflect its ethos of handcrafted and not boght in products
• Reflect its Welsh origins in its colours
• Visually demonstrate the 3 areas of handcrafted produce that members make
• Craft
• Food and Drink
• Art and Photography 
• Look artistic to reflect the nature of the organisation

Whilst it was pointed out that this may be a little over ambitious for our task, I knew that all these elements would be required for the new organisation or it would not work well as a new web site. In my opinion it is not good for any brand image to start off with only part of what is required. Always up for a good challenge I decided to find a way to achieve all of this effectively. 

Step 4

This was definitely a huge step outside my comfort zone - finding the right platform on which to build the web site and then building it. Following some research into Dream Weaver and HTML, Wordpress and Web Development Templated platforms I felt like Goldielocks in the house of the Three Bears. 

The first bed (platform) was far to hard for me to handle! I had some experience of watching a web developer use HTML and Dreamweaver when I commissioned my first web site to be developed. I looked at it again. It had the highest level of functionality and flexibility to completely design my own web site but for a complete novice it was very complicated and far too scary! In my opinion I would have needed significant training and time to be able to master this platform. So, after careful consideration I decided that my personal time constraints, plus the fact that I do not see myself as needing this skill in the future, meant that learning a whole new language and platform like this was not justified for me. 

WordPress was the second bed (platform) I came to. This was was much better but still too lumpy! Having tried to use this platform when developing my first FDSM blog I remembered how much time I spent on it, the frustration I felt at how complicated it was and the reason I moved to another platform (Blogger)- I did not have enough time to learn the use of this platform and I wanted something I felt comfortable and confident with. In many ways WordPress gives you lots more functionality, though not as much as Dreamweaver. HTML can be used to give even more design and flexibility but I was looking for a bed (platform) that was far more comfortable and suited to my needs. The research continued.

So my solution was to look at the templated platforms. Firstly I went for Yola as I had seen this demonstrated at a presentation by Google and it looked really user friendly. To begin with, this was right and so I began to develop my Wales Artisans web site on the platform. I had progressed to the stage of having 3 pages done when I hit a snag or two! The first was that I was not happy with the fact that it really did look like a templated design. Secondly, I wanted to change a colour but found, with Steve's help, that I needed to use HTML for this and many other adaptations I would want in the future. This was a no go area for me as I needed complete functionality for the future where I could manage the ongoing development of the web site myself. With no money in the organisation and limited funds in the future, it was not feasible to develop a site that required someone else to be paid to work on it.

Thanks goodness for my merry band of FDSM mates! A few of them mentioned wix.com as an alternative template platform. Oh my goodness! Now I had found the perfect bed (platform) for me. This one was super comfortable. The thousands of free templates to choose from were well designed and definitely did not look like templates. The functionality for future web site development included online shop, videos, apps, social media plug ins, to name just a few. If you pay for the 2nd level of annual subscription it gives you the ability to do far more including making the web site mobile friendly, a definite must for the future. It also has a function to work in HTML if required and it is FREE!

In just one day I put together the full eight page web site that ticked all my original objectives. I was thrilled! All the functionality and design requirements were there at my fingertips.  With help from my fellow FDSM students I made some refinements to the wording and design such as the continuity of the photos from one page to the next. There is still work to be done on inputting the meta data so that the search engines can more easily find the website when it goes live. Also the present Facebook page which is a closed members only page needs to go live and a twitter account started. I am aware that this is all too much work for one person and so shortly I will be handing it over to a new Wales Artisans member who makes beautiful wooden boxes and also has a background in IT and social media. Together we plan to develop a social media strategy which he will manage and implement. (Phew, thank goodness for volunteers!) 

I also shared the web site with some of my networking contacts. This led to the Welsh Assembly Governments department in charge of developing businesses in Wales getting in touch with me. The outcome of which is that we are looking into a joint collaboration of developing Artisans Events and also start-up craft business training to get people off social benefits and into business.

The proof of the pudding is in the eating, as they say. Developing this web site has already achieved 5 of the 6 objectives I set out at the start of this project and the website has not even gone live as yet!
 

Evaluating the Use of the Design Cycle

I was excited to start this module on Digital Branding and then daunted when it did! There was so much to take in, from consideration for the visual language of Semiotics to the importance of a digital branding strategy and its links with a marketing strategy. To begin with I found this, linked with my need to design or redesign a logo and learn how to use Photoshop and iMovie, somewhat overwhelming. The reason for this is, if I am honest, having to design or redesign a logo and learn new software packages scared the pants off me! It's probably because I am a perfectionist with OCD tendancies and I hate not fully knowing what I am doing and subsequently getting things wrong. But as they say, you don't learn unless you actually take action and sometimes fail.

I set out with the belief that I do not need to use any model to help my create process. Never having used it I did not think I needed it. So I took action to examine this belief and decided to tackle the Task 2 Brief of designing/redesigning a logo by systematically using the Design Cycle. Starting in the investigative stage I had identified the problem that my friend, a musical director and vocalist had no logo or brand image and so she needed one created from scratch.

This is where my intention to take a logical approach  using Convergent Thinking went straight out the window! My mind automatically went into Divergent Thinking with instinctive visuals of what the new logo design would look like, coming to mind and being transferred onto paper. Before I realised it I had skipped the design brief and design specification stages. Or had I?

On going back to the design brief and specification stages I realised that instinctively I had formulated a design brief subconsciously using "Green Light Thinking" (connecting pieces of information together subconsciously). How did I come to this conclusion? Once I had written down a design brief I found the initial logo design almost met the full brief. (Isn't it fascinating how fast the mind works?) However, going back and consciously thinking through the design brief, using Convergent Thinking, did enable me to refine the logo even further.

Because of my focus on using the Design Cycle I made myself stay in the planning stage longer than I  normally would have done. Why did I make myself do this when all my instincts were wanting me to get on with the design? To be honest, I was experimenting to see if the Design Cycle, when used in a more constructive way, was any better than my own way of creating instinctively. To my surprise I found that by making myself do more research into other logos, colours, images and shapes the finished logo was far more professional. Why was I surprised? Probably because I love the creative process much more than the research.

Boy, was I wrong! The more I got into the research the more it stimulated my creativity, enhancing the original logo design into something I would have never achieved without the time spent on research. Point to self: DO MORE RESEARCH - IT HELPS AND I LOVE DOING IT!

Once I got to the next phase of the Creative Cycle (use the appropriate techniques and equipment) I found that I had no choice but to use logical Convergent Thinking because this was completely new territory for me. I was now into the realms of learning how to use Photoshop, and way outside my comfort zone.

I really became frustrated at this point because my preferred learning style is to have someone physically show me what to do and I then replicate it. Online tutorials and You Tube videos make me feel inadequate and useless. Why is that I wondered? Just had an 'Aha moment'! It's because when I am so under confident, as I am with new technology, I need more than tuition. I need affirmation that I am on the right track and doing OK! This keeps me calm and stops me going into panic mode. It also stops me focusing on the belief that I can't do it, which then prevents me from learning effectively. Wow, that was a new piece of self-discovery - very interesting!

My thanks therefore go to Adam and to Sarah who both helped me learn enough about Photoshop to create a new logo for Jo and gave me the positive feedback I needed to overcome my techno fear barrier.

The penultimate phase of the Design Cycle (evaluate the product or solution) is one I usually don't take much time over. Or do I? Again I am realising that I make a shift back into Divergent Thinking here. I have an instinctive feeling when all the responses have come together and something is right or ready. It's like I just know intuitively and subconsciously that all the planned elements have come together and are just right.
However, for this task I went back to the design brief and checked that I had covered all points. This was a useful process but it took time and added no benefit in this case. I also had lots of great feedback from members of the group which I found really useful, even the constructive criticism, and it all helped with the final design.

So now I am undertaking the final stage "Evaluate the Us of the Design Cycle". I have to admit that I was wrong in my original belief that using only Divergent Thinking is the best way for me to use my creativity. I can see this now because by going back and spending more time in the planning stage and the evaluation stage I have learnt more, enhanced my creativity and strengthened my critical analysis skills as demonstrated by the completed logo and it's match to the design brief. I realise now that I started out thinking that the Creative Design Model was good in theory but not in practice. Why did I think that? Probably because I didn't think I used it and thought my instinctive creativity was better than any use of a model. (How conceited!)

The reality is that I do use all parts of the model but some of it is from a subconscious level and I dance around it in a way that is more flexible and allows for the free flow of my creativity. This is good for me as to be constrained by the rigidity of a model and having to use it's flow exactly, stifles my Divergent Thinking and creativity. This was clearly demonstrated by the fact that so soon after making the decision to use the Design Cycle, in a logical way using Convergent Thinking, my mind automatically switched to creative design mode (Divergent Thinking) without a thought out design brief or specification, yet the initial logo was almost fully in line with the subsequent spec and brief.

Using the Design Cycle constructively by consciously checking that all areas of the model have been well  covered ensures nothing is missed out of the design process. It also enhances creativity by feeding you with more ideas as demonstrated by my extra work on research and planning which lead to me using an image of a wavy flow of music.

In conclusion, I now see that my belief that I do not need or use a design cycle is wrong. Whilst this exercise proved to me that I use all aspects of the model instinctively, I now see that using it consciously through Convergent Thinking enhances my use of Divergent Thinking. It therefore offers a valuable model that enhances the creative process and ensures the project is well evaluated.       

Digital Branding Begins.....

Digital Branding, Semiotics, the Cluetrain Manifesto; had I entered the second module of the FDSM for it only to be delivered in another language! No, I just had lots of new things to learn.

Semiotics


Now here is a very interesting topic - the study of signs. I never realized before just how much a logo or sign says subliminally. The colour, shape, symbolism, language, emotive response all need to generate a message that links with the corporate image, market, philosophy and ethics for the brand image to be congruent and effective.
In this new age of digital branding achieving the right branding strategy is even more important. Customers are now communicating and listening in ways that quickly uncovers any incongruous messages. This means that digital branding is now holding businesses to account for the messages they give out and the actions they actually take. In other words it is the customer who can make or break a brand, no matter what the company is saying through  its branding strategy.  Powerful stuff!

Digital Branding v. Regular Branding
Digital branding takes regular branding to a whole new level by the power of the voice of the people. Digital branding is a massive subject and a whole mind-shift away from regular branding. But it must not be forgotten that the two go hand in hand. 


With it's 95 points the Cluetrain Manifesto highlights the changes of mindset and strategy that are required for effective digital branding. I particularly relate to these manifesto points that need to be considered when developing a digital branding strategy:

12. There are no secrets. The networked market knows more than companies do about their own products. And whether the news is good or bad, they tell everyone.


18. Companies that don't realize their markets are now networked person-to-person, getting smarter as a result and deeply joined in conversation are missing their best opportunity.


75. If you want us to talk to you, tell us something. Make it something interesting for a change.

Digital marketing is a whole new ball game and you have to be 'in it to win it'! For me that means a comprehensive strategy for my business that links my regular branding with a new digital branding strategy. Point to self - Use the following questions to develop my new strategy:

• Why am I looking to use social media?
• Who do I want to reach?
• How will I listen?
• What would success look like?
• What are the social objects?

These were the questions posed by Carl and Tom from Native HQ in their Digital Branding Masterclass. This was a most valuable session highlighting that visual branding is only a part of brand strategy, which now also encompasses:

• All communications on and off line
• Graphics and print
• The relevance of your relationships
• Influencing the right people
• The choice of social media platforms and how well you use them
• The development of relationships with prospective and present customers
• A listening strategy to identify opportunities and turn problems into positive outcomes
• The ethics of the business and how it actually works

                                                             Shifts in Branding

Regular branding, as demonstrated in this visual, is limited compared to digital branding. Through social media a brand is now defined by the customer. This means it is imperative to monitor conversations across all social media platforms, related to the business. As in face to face conversation the importance is on listening in order to understand, build relationships, solve problems effectively and develop a business in line with customer needs. 

Businesses can now engage with people at a level and frequency of communication never envisaged before the development of social media. Yet it is in this effective engagement, with so many people, that new business opportunities reveal themselves. 

The power of social media to affect business may be massive but so are the opportunities that it offers, with the right strategy. Digital branding and its strategy, if managed well, will help a business grow and prosper faster than regular branding alone and businesses that ignore it do so at their peril!  

 

From Technophobe to Social Media Madness!

Task 2 is over and the end of our first FDSM module on social media platforms draws near. It really has been a journey of unexpected discovery for me. A technophobe and social media novice at the start of this course, I can't believe how much I have learnt over the past two months. So what have I achieved in this time frame?

Having evaluated many social media platforms, for their relevance and effectiveness in my business Chrissie Designs Jewellery, I decided to focus my attentions on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest. To begin with I did not appreciate how these platforms worked in a business context, let alone how to use them as part of a social media marketing strategy. However, even with this confusion I found myself  hooked on the research and development of these three platforms and my new business web site.

The online research for the two course tasks increased my learning curve exponentially. This, linked with the timely launch of my web site spurred me into further action. Suddenly, how to use Facebook clicked. With the help of the analysis found in Facebook Insights I began to write posts that people engaged with; a competition to increase 'likes' and 'shares', engaging photos of unusual jewellery and celebrity jewellery, photos of my latest jewellery designs and video from You Tube on jewellery trends. I even experimented with the new Facebook Timeline movie. All of a sudden I was engaging in some great communications with my followers. It was fun!
  A Google seminar and free one to one analysis of my new web site gave me even more to think about and take action on. Having already set up Google analytics myself my new web site was given the once over and found to be in great shape, according to what Google is looking for. Some advice on SEO and how to create  effective links with other web sites and to all my platforms also helped.

So what have been the tangible achievements of this first module in my foundation degree in social media?

1. The launch of my web site linked to the social media platforms that are right for my business - Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest
2. A Facebook presence that in one week saw my 'Likes' increase by 56%, 'Friends of Fans' up by 72%, My 'Weekly Reach' up by 949% and the 'People Talking About' up by a massive 2,500%
3. A Facebook Timeline video, a poll and a competition to engage people all created by myself
4. Registration and profiles put on several relevant directories
5. Invitations by two other online businesses to guest blog for them about jewellery.
6. Best of all I have had my first online customer!

Not bad for an eight week course! None of it would have been possible though, without the help and support of our tutors Paul and Adam or without the University of Glamorgan leading the UK field and developing this pilot degree course in the first place.

Thanks guys you have been inspirational!.

Reflections on Week 6

Well that was not what I expected. It was so much better! Not being a fan of statistics I was not to bothered that the lecturer had let us down at the last minute. I did feel for Adam though as it is awful when something like that happens and you are the organiser. Still, I know how useful the presentation would have been so hope it can be rearranged for a later date.

In the end the evening proved to be most useful on several fronts. I don't know about the rest of you, but I have been missing the opportunity to talk face to face and get to know my fellow colleagues. By encouraging us to break into small groups and just talk, the evening was a winner! Not only was I learning about social media in my discussions but also getting to know people I had hardly spoken to before.

Building relationships is always easier face to face - well it is for me. Social media is really great but it is very different. Engaging people through asking questions on line means you miss out a vital part of the structure of how we normally communicate. This is the part called pastiming - social chit chat about ourselves, the things that we enjoy, are interested in and that 'feed our souls'. Whilst this can be done to a certain extent through social media, by asking questions and creating competitions to engage others, it is much harder work. Well I find it is! I suppose the difference is that face to face communications are instantaneous. It takes much longer to develop relationships with strangers on line. Note to self - this is obviously a lesson in patience that I need to learn!

So to conclude. My thanks to Adam for allowing us to chat. For me the evening proved most useful in developing my relationships with colleagues, gaining lots of useful social media info, and thanks especially to Emma I came away full of fantastic ideas for my blog and web site. There was a great deal of sharing and I hope my input with colleagues I spoke to was as helpful as Emma's was for me.

Finally, Steve and Emma suggested that we have a social get together over the summer, for some more social nattering. Great idea guys! Count me in.

Reflections on Week 5

Another really interesting session. Barry was a font of knowledge about celebrity sponsored tweets. I have to admit that I had no idea they existed. Also loved his 'Snicker Snail'! Nia's presentation about 'For Luca' showed graphically how social media can spread the word about a cause or a business in an amazing way. I liked the idea of 'Sneaky Peaks' (photos) of something in its stages of production (think this was from Steve's presentation). Note to Self - Use this 'Sneaky Peaks' idea on my Facebook page.

Mike's presentation about GoPro really set me thinking about how much I need/want a new camera - must start saving! Also liked the idea of the social media icons being down the right side of the screen of GoPro's web site. Note to self - try this out and see how it looks on my web site (not sure if it will work for me but liked it) They also run lots of competitions which got me thinking.

Emma's presentation about MLE really highlighted the power of You Tube. Note to self - need to think creatively about what type of videos I can make and put on You Tube. Another good reason for needing a GoPro - I'm very good at convincing myself about spending money!

Loved the way that Nathan demonstrated how Innocent Smoothies engage with children and how they have kept their web presence looking like a small business when they are now owned by Coca Cola - impressive.

The final part of the evening was devoted to a presentation on how Etnies uses social media most effectively. Then we were given a case study. We had to look at how Cardiff Comedy Festival uses social media and what they could do to improve its use. This for me was the most instructive part of the class. I learnt how my approach to using Facebook and Twitter is not engaging people enough. I had followed the lead of what my competitors in the jewellery business are doing and that is mostly telling their contacts about their latest designs and offers. Note to self - look at more jewellery social media sites.

Following the class I spent some time researching more silver jewellery web sites and looking at how they use social media. This was partly to check out if I had missed something when researching for my first presentation and also to find a company to study for my second presentation. The process was very informative. My initial research identified only very large businesses, such as H. Samuel and Fossil, as users of social media. As popular brands they appear not to need to entice engagement from their followers by running competitions, and asking them questions. Most of their postings are of new designs and ideas to which their followers responded, most freely, with their comments .

As a small and new business the case study taught me that I need to change my tactics if I want to increase my followers from the present number of only 30! So I have developed a campaign that will include competitions (with a prizes of a piece of jewellery) to encourage more 'hits' and 'likes', jewellery tips, a quiz on gemstone information, a prize for my 100th follower on Facebook and one for the 50th Follower on my Chrissie Designs Jewellery Blog. Any more ideas would be gratefully received!

A most amazing turn of events has also taken place which I will be writing about, later today, on my Chrissie Designs Blog . Without giving too much away (for the full story read my other blog ) I have been having remarkable success with Pinterest! Within 48 hours of pinning a photo of a bracelet and ring worn by Gwyneth Paltrow I have had 16 likes and 42 re-pins! Not sure how good that really is but I am thrilled with it. A majority of those 58 contacts are on Facebook so I sent them each a message thanking them for their interest and telling them that I will be pinning more soon, including a new board on bridal jewellery. It turns out that many of these young people are brides to be and have wedding pinboards. By following these and any jewellery pinboards I can get a feel for what styles of jewellery they like and are possibly buying. Great business research! All in all a most productive week.

Web Site Launch Helped By Task 1

Time to reflect on my first FDSM Task. To be honest I think this task was the one that got me really hooked into social media. When I started researching web sites with online jewellery sales I was amazed to find that 1/3 of them were not engaging with social media at all. Most of the others were just dabbling (as I was) with Face Book and Twitter. However, some of the big names were getting into it seriously.It was Fossil, the watch, jewellery, clothes and accessories company that caught my eye as they were very actively developing relationships with their customers. Looking closely at all their customer communications I found that Face Book, Twitter, You Tube and Pinterest had the most activity. I was also interested to find that they were using Twitter as a customer query and complaints interface so that they had instant access to deal with any problems. Point to self - speedy response to customers is a high priority.

I really liked their blog as it was full of interesting and beautiful photos, with not too much writing. It also surprised me that there was very little selling done. Their blog was there to interest and engage customers - not to sell to them. Point to self - make my Chrissie Designs Jewellery blog interesting and about the amazing coincidences/experiences I am having on my journey developing my new business.

Finally, I discovered their Life-Style page with over 60 photos and links. This particularly interested me as not only did it give them a second bite at the cherry to promote things like their Blog and You Tube videos, it also linked to other people's blogs, photos, web sites. This promotion of other businesses was something I had never seen before in this way. It made for a novel and interesting page which for me highlighted the fact that their web site was not just about them and their products. Note to self - nice touch for the future on my web site.

Through undertaking this task I also discovered web analysis and the graphs behind FaceBook etc. Very interesting - Note to self - look at analysis for my web site. Having just this week launched my web site

www.chrissiedesignsjewellery.co.uk

This task could not have come at a better time!

So what did I learn from this first task and what actions has it prompted?

1. Varied Social Media platforms are important on a web site to develop relationships and increase traffic to the site. Action: Communicate on Twitter & Face Book every day at least once
2. The importance of web analysis Action: Research web analysis tools
3. Don't use Social Media to sell, just develop relationships with people Action: Create an interesting Blog that engages people to talk about their experiences in life
4. You can have instant contact with customers and respond to their queries / problems immediately to keep relationships positive. It is also good for other people to see how well you are responding to any problems/issues. Action: make my Twitter & Face Book pages more business rather than personally focused.
5. A Life Style page gives you lots of opportunities to link to and promote other people's blogs, photos and web sites. This allows you to develop a more interesting web site that will engage more people and increase the flow of traffic. Action: Develop a list of blogs, web sites and photos of things I like and develop my own Life Style page.

Think that's enough to be going on with for now!

Information Overload!

Maybe I was just trying too hard to retain as much information as possible from Amanda Hill's presentation at Tuesday's Social Media class, but by the end of it I was more confused than ever! Don't get me wrong, Amanda was a font of knowledge and obviously knows her stuff inside out and back to front. The problem is that so early in this course there are huge chunks of knowledge and information missing from my personal database (my little grey cells). Sadly, so much of Amanda's very valuable information was lost on me.

Thank goodness she is coming back in year two as I am sure I will pick up more things when I have a sounder knowledge base.

However, my social media mates came to the rescue this morning in the form of their blogs. I found both Barry's and Jeff's blogs really helpful in unraveling some of the things Amanda had been talking about. Barry's was especially helpful with a number of useful links to platforms with brief descriptions of what they are.

Chrissie Designs Jewellery web site is almost ready to be launched www.chrissiedesignsjewellery.co.uk. So I am now able to sift through the information overload and use some of Amanda's precious gems. Getting high in the Google rankings is a top priority, so making sure the web site title and the first 40 words (as well as focussed meta dates) are good ones is my first job. After Amanda told us that the 3 most used words in searches are cats, chololate and sex, I noticed that she had put two of them, (cats & chocolate) in her description on Facebook. Wonder if anyone else noticed that? Note to self - follow her example!

Sorting out my lists on Facebook is another priority. With two target markets for my jewellery - women over 50yrs and Brides to be, I need to make very separate lists in order to use social media effectively in my target marketing.
 
Developing a small business is time consuming. You have to be a 'Jack of all trades'. Social media is just one tool to be used along side traditional marketing and so it has to be very time effective. That's why my next action will be to set up Hootsuite so that I can consolidate my message posting to FaceBook, Twitter and Linked In.

My web developer and I are also looking at ISSUU for developing a newsletter/brochure. With its ability to link and share content it seems the most effective platform for increasing activity and trafic for my web site.

Finally, I am going to put some pin boards together using Pinterest. This will be a very useful platform for driving more trafic and potential customers to my web site. With its online shop, the greater the traffic to my web site, the higher my sales potential. Well that's the theory, now to put it into practice!

Reflection

It is almost 3 weeks since the course began so I think it's time to reflect on what I have done and learnt.

                                                                                                                 Firstly, I have to say the whole thing has surprised me. Before this course I had always avoided anything to do with computers that I thought would be difficult and frustrating. After all I have two daughters with IT degrees and a really great guy building my new web site; so my philosophy was why do it myself if others more skilled could do it for me!

I have to admit that the past weeks have not been without their frustrations, especially getting to grips with Goggle+. But compared with what I have learnt and how versatile Google+ is, it has been more than worth it.

I have mastered and now really love using the circles to communicate with only those people I want to 'talk' to. The support and feedback from people in the group has been so very helpful and motivating. They have helped me through my frustrations with Google+ and Blackboard.The most fun I have had was in being able to develop a digital presentation in real time with my fellow group members. It was awesome!

Last week I began my blog. To start with I chose to use LiveJournal as I had previously run a blog using Blogger, when I had a book published. On reflection, having written my first entry, I wondered if there was a blog within Goggle+. On finding it I began to explore its capability and found it to be much more user friendly than LiveJournal, so I switched.

I found the Google+ Blogger functionality far better because it has the capacity to automatically save work as you go along Its design function, in my opinion, is easier and has more scope than LiveJournal. It's layout is also easier to get to grips with. This of course may be because I had already used an older version of Blogger and was becoming more comfortable with Goggle+ formats. I especially like the new gadget functions available on Blogger. Being able, not only to personalise my blog but also make it more accessible and interactive with others has many positive advantages:

1. Google+ Badge to get more recommendations for my site in Google & to search and grow my audience on Google+.
2. Follow by Email - making it easy for readers to follow my blog by email.
3. +1 Button - Allowing visitors to  recommend my content on Google Search and share it on Google+.

So what else have I achieved? Well, having downloaded a whole realm of apps onto my iPhone. I am now utilising more of my phone's functionality as a tool for utilising social media in my daily life. The research I have undertaken, into my online clients use of Social Media, has also been most useful and has prompted my decision to, over the coming year:

1. Write a blog for Chrissie Designs Jewellery (which I have already started)
2. Develop several collections of my jewellery photos + other great photos on Pinterest
3. Create a series of You Tube videos of my work and some 'How To' videos
4. Sell my jewellery on Esty & Folksy creating links between my web site and their's

In conclusion I am excited about how much this course is helping me connect, communicate and be supported by others, and how it is already helping me plan and develop my new business. I am loving the blogging again, which has brought me back to my love of writing. I am hooked on Google+ which has really surprised me. And finally I am like a little sponge eager to soak up more knowledge and information about social media. That is my greatest surprise!

Working Through Frustration!

This was definitely me yesterday! Google+ is not the most user-friendly platform I have worked on. However, once I found the presentation documents I was off. This was easy to use as it is very similar to PowerPoint which I have lots of experience on.

The frustrating part of Google+ for me is how to communicate and share things with my team. Still not perfectly sure about it but I somehow managed to share the presentation with two of my three team members. That was the point I began, at last, to love Google+! Three of us working on our presentation all at the same time and communicating live via the message box was awesome!

I next turned to starting a blog. Following the publication of a book I wrote some years ago I wrote a blog for about 18 months so this is not new to me. However, I do feel I could gain from some help on the design front! I look at other blogs and wonder "How Do They Do That?" Point to self - must ask for help in this area.

To begin with I set up my blog on Live Journal which was very easy to use. Then I decided to switch to using the blog on Goggle+. I prefer this as it all links together and is easily accessed by my fellow students. It is also better as you can keep saving what you are writing as you go along, without publishing it. With Live Journal I lost a whole bunch of writing which sent me back into frustration mode again.

Using this blog has also proved quite motivational. Having communicated with my study team members that I had started my blog, I found the message had gone to others in the group. Still not sure why this is. Note to self - must sort this out! Anyway, I had some lovely supportive feedback from some of the group. Note to self - must check out some of their blogs and support them.

Also started did more research on my competitors web sites to see how they are using social media. Will leave my reflections on this for another day though.

Reflections on Becoming A Social Media Addict!

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I'm off and blogging!

chrissiesis

April 10th, 16:32

Current Mood:

energetic

Well, here I go then. Who would have ever thought I would be doing a degree in Social Media. When I turned up on the first evening I thought I had signed up for an 8 week course on Social Media not a 2 year degree course! The thing that surprised me was that by the end of the evening I could not wait for the next week and was fully committed to the two years. Having never been to college or done a degree I suppose it was about time I did one and caught up with my two daughters who both have IT degrees.

What really got me hooked is the fact that the degree is practically based and I can use it in my jewellery business. The timing is perfect as next week I am about to launch my web site and online shop. Not having enough hours in the day, already, I really appreciate the minimal amount of writing that is require.

So to my reflections. I am still getting to grips with Google+. It is not as easy to navigate as FaceBook but I can already see its advantages. I like the use of the circles as it keeps things private. Must get my web cam set up on my lap top so that we can get the live chat working. Not managed to work out how to find the 'Blackboard' as yet so some more work is needed on exploring this. I must learn to ask others for help more - one of my downfalls is trying to do things on my own! So this course is going to be good for me on different levels. Anyone reading this who can help me find the 'Blackboard' please get in touch.

Have already started researching online jewellery shops to see who is using social media. I can't believe how interesting I found it and how much I learnt in just 30 minutes! It turns out that one of the Social Media platforms highlighted on last weeks course - Pinterest - is used by a couple of the sites I looked at. This was so useful as on the course I could not get my head round how Pinterest works. Having seen how Pia and Links of London use it to display their latest collections I can't wait to set one up for myself. Also in this first search I found two web sites through which I can sell my jewellery and so increase my reach - great!

So to sum up my reflections I am already learning how to use a new social media platforms - Google+, have thoughts and plans on some I can learn more about and use in my business - Pinterest & You Tube and most importantly I am really enjoying this!