Tuesday 28 February 2012

The Generation Y consumer; What we Expect From Brands

Maggie Murithi

By Maggie Murithi
Multi media University. 
www.facebook.com/maggieshesh
Generation Y or millennials  as we are commonly referred to are people who were born in between 1980 to the early 90’s. We are the current youth ,a key market for several products and form a crucial part of the voters in Kenya.We  form a bulk of the informed shoppers who stick to tight budgets while still managing to stay trendy and cultured. We're looking for inexpensive versions of the items we desire and durable versions of the items we need. A good number of this group is cash strapped; so we desire products we cannot afford; however we also work tirelessly hard to get our hands on them. This means that brands should strive to communicate to this group as in a few years our income levels change drastically and can actually buy what we desired.
Here’s an article on Building Relationships with Gen Y

Ninety five percent of the Generation Y are members of a social network. That's our preferred media interaction. Thirty seven percent access the web from a mobile device.  This completely changes the when, where and how brands need to connect and interact with this generation. Sixty four percent of Gen Y creates content in some form of another, more than twice the percentage of all web users. Potentially we play a significant role in developing or expanding a brand’s story. To put it bluntly, if you're uncomfortable with marketing to the Generation Y, or refuse to understand our unique demographic, your business will not see 2020. To understand Generation Y is to overcome many obstacles in the retail industry.
 
The youth shall almost eternally dominate most of the African population in the near future.We have however been criticized in the past and presently and various terms used to describe us by the elder generation and religious leaders’ e.g  A lost generation, a generation of instant gratification, others even say there is no hope for a future generation. On the brighter side I think that there are a lot of opportunities and talent in us that could be harnessed. Generation Y has been described as tech literate, aspirational , impatient, very materialistic, with a strong belief that money can make us happy. Well that’s true!!We spend on fashion, relationships, cars and entertainment.(Cool products& services.) We define ourselves by purchasing products and brands that helped establish oneself as an individual. We spend on brands that portray our self image. Why do some of us feel that partying in Westie makes you look cooler? We buy trendy clothes, we all want to hang in out in cool joints and desire fast cars. These things do define us! 
All factors held constant, most products targeting generation Y if well handled, in such a manner that they have an edge over their competitors-having good marketing and branding techniques are going to thrive.
Generation Y is viewed as being very dynamic and opinionated and there is a dilemma on how to reach them, sustain their loyalty and lock them in as customers.
Here are a few tips that could help you understand the Better!

Today’s youth love experiences
I know most of you agree with me that there are times you just want to try out something so you have a story to tell to your friends, or just for the feeling. Experiential marketing is hot these days, since it makes us feel as part of the brand. It gives us a chance to interact with the brand. Safaricom Live, Equity Ndio Hii hapa, Coke parties rock as some of the campaigns by various brands that had huge success. There’s a huge difference between just telling people about the features of a brand and letting them experience it. I experienced this a few days ago when I was walking home past a young guy who was selling skirts, he waved at me asking me to buy one that he was holding, and I calmly told him siku ingine si Leo(I can’t buy it today I will buy it another day).He did not take that for an answer he followed me  and said, ”sista kujaribu ni sare,sikwambii ununue”(sister am not telling to buy it just try it on its free) i actually did try just to get rid of him, besides, I was in no particular hurry, but when I wore it I began seeing it as mine, and even  fantasized to match it some tops in my wardrobe  after viewing the reflection on the mirror. After no much thought, I just bought. A lot of women are impulse buyers, but most importantly we buy products that look good on us.
Generation Y loves fun.
They just love their life…something to do with this is enough bait; it just attracts them like moths at the sight of light. I especially love the most recent one by Coca Cola Company, it’s a good shot. Guys vote for their party or event so as to get coca cola sponsorship, the competition aspect as guys vote is enough fun, and the party is another mile covered altogether.

 Event marketing
Sponsoring youth events or campus functions serves the purpose even better and reaches a wider group , this can be effective when introducing a new brand to the market. Organizing youth events also takes you ahead of the pack. I always admire safaricom especially the rugby sevens, Kenya Breweries and football.


We are your R&D TEAM
 If your brand  targets the youth have them in your marketing department, since we are more familiar with the trends and what we want, we know what our peers want to see, hear, and even experience. Most of the senior managers in the Marketing departments are not as tech savvy as we are; therefore a few brands are pushing in ideas that just won’t work. Multinational companies at times try to try out ideas locally that have been successful elsewhere. It’s purely wrong to assume what worked In west Africa or closer here in Uganda can be applied successfully in Kenya.
My Starbucks Idea blog is one of them. Starbucks opens up the blog for members to share product ideas. Members then get to vote or comment on the idea.  As the idea gains attraction among members, it gains the attention of the company. However in Kenya Corporate blogging is DEAD!
It’s a perfect example of what they call crowd sourcing.
The benefits of crowdsourcing include:
  • You can explore problems inexpensively and quickly.
  • You can tap a wider audience of talent than what your business or organization has in house.
  • You can gain insights on your customers by listening to the crowd.
  • You can build your brand as the community engages in common tasks like idea creation.
Give us a chance to win
I love gifts as much as I love those who give them to me. In other words they might just develop some consumer loyalty. We love free samples, buy what’s on offer, on sale and give aways. That’s why we have several deals companies in Kenya now. Such as Rupu, Sasa deals, Zetu deals and Mocality deals. Companies are also giving away prizes on social media platforms to keep their pages active and with traffic.

C.S.I as opposed to C.S.R
I think co-corporate social investment, creates a longer lasting effect than cooperate social responsibility….everyone likes to feel that someone cares for them anyway. Am talking about the equity Bank wings to fly Foundation here, if I was touched by the initiative I believe that any other person was…this might just make me want to be loyal to them since I feel that am helping so many others through them. Ndio Maana Mimi Ni member!

Go online
Converse with them don’t just talk to them. Be active, highlight on the unique and extrinsic features of your brand and build on them. Most of the online community is dominated by the youth any way. From Facebook, to Twitter, to Google Plus, they are all popular sites that you should be leveraging. Create profiles on each of those sites as they are a good source of traffic and they’ll create new opportunities for you to keep in touch with your consumers. Summarizing a study from L2, that Generation Y is more prone to connect to brands digitally than any previous generation before it.Young people are more into social and digital media than older people.

I value your feedback a lot so get in touch with me through
 margiewm.muriithi4@gmail.com 


How to Get Hired On social Media.

In my last article titled How to get hired faster, we discussed the 8 Tips of how to get Hired faster.
However I got several questions on how to use social media in job seeking. I shared my expertise with the few people that made an effort of connecting with me on Facebook and LinkedIn. I felt I needed to write an article on How to use Social media in job searching.
Networking online gives graduates access to an otherwise hidden job market, and a large proportion of graduates are already actively pursuing these opportunities. Maintaining a professional presence on LinkedIn, Twitter and facebook will give job seekers a major advantage.   
Read more on my previous article onThe three hallmarks of Personal brandingonline because it matters in your success here.

Here’s my advice on how to use various platforms.
LinkedIn
Build a network with industry experts, professors, people who share the same interests, and people you have encountered in professional occasions. Recommendations can help a job seeker to validate and promote his/her personal brand on this platform so seek one from your previous boss, Peers and colleagues in companies you have worked in. Ensure you also complete your entire profile, such that it says “100% complete.”The other cool thing on LinkedIn is “See who Viewed Your profile”. It notifies you who checked out your profile, the company they work for and further shows how many times your name pops up in searches on the platform. This shows that people are interested and checking you out.Better still it gives you names of people who visited your profile and which companies they are from  and I send messages to the people to engage them better and ask for opportunities.  Depending on your connections and industry LinkedIn also suggests jobs that you may-be interested in. You can also join professional groups in your industry because members do post vacancies there. Participate in discussions on these discussions too.Finally do follow companies that you may be interested in working for because once in a while they post opportunities on their pages. You also get a chance to connect and forge new relationships with employees working in the company already.

Twitter
Twitter has become the ultimate utility to connect directly with recruiters and employees at companies you want to work for. I use it to follow people who didn’t accept my friend request on Facebook or experts who have already reached their friend limits. This helps me see what they tweet about and engage them once in a while. The best time to be on Twitter is early in the morning (6-9am) when guys are most active and discussing important issues. I also check into twitter in the evening to see what experts in my industry are talking about abroad. The beauty with twitter is you can customize your profile and get a username that perfectly depicts what you do. Look at my twitter handle here @KenyanMarketer

In case you are not on twitter, after you create your profile start following other people and companies in your industry. Perform keyword searches related to what you do and start following 100 to 200 of those people each day. Start tweeting about topics related to your industry you’ll notice that after a few days 20 to 30% of the people you follow will follow you back. You can start manually un following the people who don't follow you back or if you don't have the time you can use a service like Tweet Adder. Remember it’s not about the numbers, so don’t follow 10,000 yet you just have 50 following you back (I did this mistake too). Share content in your area of expertise; give value to others, that way people can follow you back!

Facebook
Just before I dive into discussing on how you use this tool in job seeking ,I want to share with you the Implication of the facebook timeline that we are in or being migrated into. One can easily check who you were in2008, 2009, 2010 and 20011 by just one CLICK! You did post dirty stuff while you were in campus, before you got saved or quit drinking and it’s all there and so accessible! So it’s advisable to go back there and clean it up!!!Your employer might as well take a LOOK!

Here’s what you do;
Friend thought leaders in your industry. Although a large percentage of the people will not accept your friend request, at least 10% of them do. Start engaging with your audience by posting stuff on your wall more so about industry news and events related to your sector. To create the most engagement post things that are short and during times you think your "target friends" are online. Updates that end with a question encourage interactivity and encourage a discussion. Start commenting on your friends updates .If you leave a good comment most people check your profile! I do this so often especially to ‘friends’ that I haven’t met drive traffic them to my profile. These vary from business people I admire, journalists and guys in the 25-45 year bracket in my list who hold good positions in the corporate world who once in a while post opportunities on their profile. Another good way is to comment on business pages that have massive traffic. The beauty of this is if I leave a good, well thought comment, Like Minded people send me friend requests. Once I accept them I nurture the relationship, get to know them better. I have been able to meet several amazing people this way. Business pages also do post jobs and vacancies so please like the pages too! Finally remember your profile is not a BILLBOARD. Do not promote whatever you sell 24/7. People hate THAT. The more you share valuable content i.e. less marketing messages, the more you get in return. Be sure you only share content that adds value to your community – content which they’ll find useful

Blogs.
I have written about blogging in my previous post; it’s a nice way of sharing your thoughts professionally and in a better manner. It also helps you build credibility and reputation and shows your expertise on a certain field. It’s a good way of showing you understand certain topics or issues in an industry. As your blog grows and you have good hits, if people like what you are talking about you can land major contracts, make revenue from adsense and recognition. As a blogger  you’ll often have to do a lot of research online as you write your posts; so it’s a good way of ensuring that you read widely on topics you blog about.This is beneficial to you because you add on to your knowledge and sharpen your skills.
You can also write guest blog posts on other blogs and leave comments on blogs that you read. If people feel that your comments are detailed and insightful not only will they keep on reading your comments, typically they’ll also head over to your blog or connect with you.
YouTube
Construct a video resume and upload it. You may also create a Youtube Channel where you post all your videos besides the resume depending on the industry you are in. Very few people have good video resume actually, so they serve as a differentiator in the recruiting process. A good video resume is short, describes the value you can contribute to a given position, explains why you’re the best person for the job and talks about your background in a story-like format. If you are a designer, photographer, artist this would really work for you . You may also place samples of your work on the video. If you are coach, consultant or an expert in some field, uploading “How to Tutorials” will do.
Then place your Keep in Touch system on the video. Do you want people to follow you on Twitter? Should they email you?
Next week I will write on Social Media Etiquette. I  hope by now you realize how important  social media  in your life. The article shall basically highlight on things you shouldn’t do on Social Media. There are a lot of small things that you assume that leave the wrong impression of you.





Wednesday 22 February 2012

The Importance of Personal Branding

In my last post i talked about How to get hired faster.I am very delighted you all enjoyed and found my tips useful.The response was overwhelming,a lot of emails came in,i made new friends on facebook,connections on LinkedIn and new followers on Twitter.(Lets keep In touch)
I would also like to thank Career Point kenya for posting my article on their blog. I couldn't have reached such a wide audience!I also wish to thank everyone who shared the link with friends,Thanks for the RT's too and comments on the blog!I got a lot of questions on How to use Social Media in Job Searching and my next article will handle that squarely.
On this post we discuss Why Personal Branding Matters.
We live in a hyper competitive world and standing out in today’s crowded market place is essential.

Despite constantly competing for attention the one thing that makes you stand out from your competitors is your Personal Brand.It’s the influence and attention you command.The image you potray,how you look and how you present yourself in public.
Its basically what is unique and valuable about you. Better put as “what do people say you are when you are not there”You are more like a CEO or a brand manager of the Brand called you!
In today’s environment a lot of people don’t buy the product, they actually buy YOU. By this I mean, do people find you trustworthy, are you reliable? Can you meet strict deadlines and deliver? Can people depend on you?Thats why you will find guys squeezed in one bar and the next one is empty.Its not in the flat screens or loud music!! Your staff or employees play a big role in this!
Use personal branding to distinguish yourself from the rest, Basically why should you be hired and not the rest? why are you the best for a certain position, opportunity, scholarship or a business contract. A good education may enhance this, if you are well connected you stand a better chance,but all these factors don’t really count much. When you are hired, people interact with you not your papers or impressive grades.
Your competitors can’t copy the essence of who you are, How you present yourself online, write emails, updates you post, business etiquette, public speaking and presentation skills. These are the differentiators.
Late Hon Michuki(R.I.P)
Are you known for the right reasons?What comes to your mind when Nelson Mandela is mentioned,The late Hon Michuki? What will you be best remembered for?Louis Otieno murder allegations are on the media; He denies killing the lady, can people trust his side of the story? So seek to create a powerful personal brand that exudes influence, confidence, credibility and persuasive power.


The three hall marks of a great personal brand are 
Authenticity,consistency and packaging.

Authenticity
An authentic personal brand must be unique and resonate with your target market. If Derek Bbanga is mentioned, it immediately clicks "Public image consultant" Oliech,Mariga,Kipchoge keino? Do your friends really know who you are? I am a marketer more interested in social media, people approach me for help if they need assistance with social media and various aspects of marketing. Can someone recommend you for a position, speaking engagement  or a trainer for a specific issue? Can the people around you be your brand ambassadors? Remember if the guys close to you feel you do crappy stuff or you aren’t that good in something, chances are that no one will talk to others about you!!Are you the type of person that can be headhunted for a senior position in a multinational?Is your track record reputable,are you well respected by your peers?


Consistency.
The best brands are consistent with their brand promise and that shouldn’t be different with your personal brand. Your brand extends to your employees, customers, the media and even the general public.If your personal brand isn't consistent to reinforce reinforce your brand, your key public's (Parents, friends,wife,girlfriend,clients etc ) will become dissatisfied.
Social media is a powerful personal branding tool.What do new friends,connections or followers find on your profile?Can people find reliable information on your profile?Twitter is really good for this,Aly Khan will tweet about Financial issues,Larry madowo,Jeff koinange are media guys…others have established their presence as Tech savvy people such as Moses Kemibaro,Neil patel and they consistently tweet about issues in their industry! Are you that consistent?Are you at one moment tweeting about food,restaurants and the other time you are sharing links on conservation and wildlife? The next day you are Re tweeting links to dirty photos? 
If you want to achieve consistency on social media you might consider connecting your facebook account to twitter and LinkedIn so that whatever you post on LinkedIn appears on your twitter and then on Facebook...But this may vary with what you do on social media on different platforms.For example i use Facebook to keep in touch with my close friends and family,promote certain products targeted at the 18-28 year market,I use Twitter to keep in catch up with what's trending,current and fresh.Its also a good site where i get Links on whats currently fresh on Social Media and Marketing.I get to see what other experts in the industry are saying about various issues while LinkedIn is for making professional connections because many professionals are not active on Facebook and while LinkedIn might have much fewer users, the professional mentality and the ability to network with like-minded people, is much more valuable.All in all ensure that your brand presence in these platforms is consistent.


Packaging

Finally package yourself well (The clothes you wear) to engage your market. This silently influences your audience. Dressing here doesn’t mean wearing suits to every meeting or interview!
In my line of work I offer my services to people in different sectors and backgrounds. If I am going to Homeboyz radio, doing jeans and a Trendy T shirt may make Mike Rabar like my product, If I am pitching to IT guys, a bit of geekish looks work for me. Wear something that your audience associates with.If you are going for an interview for a field job a casual look would work. Shows the employer that you really understand what your job entails. If you are interviewing for a UN position based in Dadaab,why wear suits?If you are speaking to teens I don’t suggest you wear baggy sagging jeans,however you need to put on clothes that bring out the best of you.
For ladies here don’t put on  short tight fitting skirt suits,You may impress a few men and blow their minds off, but what if you find 3 women and 1 man on the panel? A lot of Insurance sales girls dress this way to get the guys interested in their product and probably sign up!!Well a good number of them have confessed to me that they ended up getting countless date offers from Married men who don’t want to buy the insurance but want the “product” so don’t take the interest away from what you are promoting!!!
Do you agree with my points?Is there something you would like to add?or something you differ with?


Follow me on Twitter @Kenyanmarketer
Www.facebook.com/MuthuriKinyamu
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Sunday 19 February 2012

My 8 tips will get you hired faster!

After four years in campus, guys are now all over the Internet filling up aptitude,reasoning and numerical tests.Printing bureaus around campus are doing good business churning out resumes for students in the final year. Well that’s the traditional way of doing things. Everyone does that!!Worse still those paper resumes go straight to the Shredder a few seconds after you leave.So don't waste your money dropping them everywhere.Save trees!!Don't print them!!! 
A few get hired through this method. P&G, EABL, Nation Media, KQ, safaricom, The UN, Microsoft or Coca cola will not employ the whole class on 2012.We would all love to work for these companies and organisations but they have just a few slots. Missing a chance here doesn’t mean you aren’t the best. It just means you should look elsewhere!!A lot of firms in the medium sized companies’ category offer amazing careers and growth opportunities plus a reasonable pay package. So to start with let’s not jam P&G servers by all applying for jobs there!!!
A month ago I was recruiting human resource for a start up company my former boss had launched. I posted the vacancies on dealfish, and after 20 minutes the vacancies went viral!!Every Kenyan job site had the vacancies; The cover letters started flowing in; Following the advertisement on blah blah..i hereby submit my blah blah…. I got applications from the young, the old, the educated ones, guys in big companies, Calls were also countless. Everyone gave it a shot!!!
In just 3 days I had got over 350 emails for the two vacancies!!I had the courtesy to go through half of them and send out regrets and humbly say “We are glad you took your time to apply for this position, however we regret to let you know that you were not shortlisted. We have kept your resume in our database in case we need someone with your expertise in future we shall contact you.(Makes an applicant feel appreciated and gives him or her the energy to keep on applying). Finally I got 15 CV's that I liked and the rest as they say is history!!
This is what happens when you apply for jobs that are in the public domain!!
As you go through my tips,some of you may ask,but where does this guy work?has he made it in life to give us these tips?NO! I just have a little bit of experience in job seeking.My advice might help a few of you do it smarter than me and avoid mistakes i made.

Here are my tips!!

1.Have great cover letter
If you have to go traditional then invest your time In having a great cover letter. Template cover letters don’t work of you are serious about being hired.
Research shows that few or no people download let alone View attachments so for the 15 CV's I got, the cover letters were extremely nice. Made me feel like I wanted to know this guy better!!So that prompted me to open their attachments. If I liked what I read there too. Then I gave them a chance to interview with us!
2.Network,network,Network
Me,Bob and Wes the Marketer
By networking I do not mean going to state dinners, paying for expensive conferences or hanging out in expensive joints to meet the elite of the society. These people also go there with their selfish needs so not unless you are really cool and set to meet them, don’t do it that way. Those CEO’s we meet rarely remember us next time we bump into them. Your business card mostly will end up at the Dry cleaner if it was forgotten in his suit.
Networking here simply means knowing people around you. These guys will introduce you to people they know. Attend fairly priced events, concerts,clubs, theatres, free networking and coaching forums.etc. At these places you meet the kawaida Kenyan. These kawaida Kenyans know a lot of other guys. So if you impress them, they have lots of opportunities to offer!!!When I worked at shade systems, I met a guard who worked for the Canadian Embassy. These offices are not accessible to all and sundry, but because I knew the guard I got a pass at the gate(really Quick). With the pass I had the chance of presenting my proposal to the right guys in the procurement office. Most secretaries’ snob you, lie to you that the boss isn’t in, whereas he is right inside. Just imagine if you knew that pretty face? You’d get direct access to the boss!!!
3.Use Social Media!
Social media is a powerful social branding tool. If I check out your profile on Linked In, Facebook or twitter I should tell that you are a financial analyst, customer service expert an artist or a designer.
If I check out @alykhansatchu  i'll directly know what the guy does, Ruskin Onyambu, Josh Komoth, Wes the Marketer and several others are also a perfect examples
Everyone is on social media today, when you apply for jobs, guys check you out on Face book. Once in a while they send you a friend request to see your behavior. Are you the kind that talks about the weekend parties on a Tuesday morning? Do you have photos of you terribly drunk on your birthday right there on Facebook? What are your updates? Do you talk about women? The strip clubs with coolest mama’s? Don’t put it up all there!!
Add people in your industry, these guys frequently share out vacancies they have! Join the right interest groups; participate in discussions on various groups On Linked In. If your arguments hold water, someone may contact you for an opportunity.
Social media is also a good Keep in touch system. So once in a while check on your past buddies, colleagues at your former work place. Just know what they are up to and where they are. Occasionally you can meet them up for coffee or beer the boys way!
4.Start a blog!
Starting a blog may be a challenge to some of us, But my blog has worked for me! Its a good referral point and in most cases people don’t ask for my transcripts when giving me jobs or contracts!!!It’s a nice way to avoid the embarrassment from the D’s you have in accounting!!
A blog also helps me share my thoughts on various issues and topics. Such a forum is important if you also want to establish your authority in a certain field. It helps you share your knowledge with the rest of the world. With good hits, you can reach a good audience and sell yourself to the world. If you have the energy , drive and passion to start blogging go ahead and start one. Don’t do it for Google ad sense or monetise it at the beginning!!!

5.Ask
Most of us guys forget to ask for opportunities. You have really made that good impression but you forget to ask for a chance. Could be simple as…if you need someone in the marketing department at company XX , please notify me.
I randomly send my professional profile to new connections on Linked In. Introduce myself, what I have done and what my area of specialisation is and I clearly state it in my email that if an opening arises at company XX please feel free to submit my resume or profile for consideration.
This is tricky if done improperly and may not yield results. However what does it cost you to try it out!
Check on your friends, ask them to alert you when opportunities arise in places they work ; let them know you are looking for a job. Pass your resume to them. However don’t keep nagging your friends or acquaintances, uncles, relatives to get you a job…Every Kenyan has his or her own problems, priorities and issues. So let them help you. Don’t make it their work to GET you that job. Chances are they won’t!!!
6.Use your Appeal
Nyagz 4th Marketing@ UON
If you are beautiful with all the curves in the right places, why don’t you just drop your resume in person? If you are lucky to get past the dumb beautiful secretary at the reception go right ahead to the HR and give John the HR assistant your resume!!Do it professionally but use the ‘right amount’ of your sex appeal. John could be saved, dating or gay!!So much of this could also sell you as cheap, plain and stupid! Smiling sheepishly at john is also a turn off!!!Do it nicely, make sure John wants to recommend you to his manager because he wants you around the company and thinks you'd make a good colleague. Ladies get date offers every time, however it’s a bit foolish to just drink beer and dance the whole night.Sit the guys down, discuss some good professional issues with them, let them know you are intelligent, could be about the recent happenings in your industry, get them to discuss that(Shows you are updated)ask for their insights give them your opinion.
Maybe after two or three dates you can ask about any vacancies they might have or their recruitment process. Remember this guy or chic in some cases is interested in you so you can leverage on that to land a major deal!!However don’t forget it’s a date, not an interview or an audition!

7.Look Good!
Ruskin  UON and Peter Mwangi Of NSE
Everyone wants to hire a good looking guy or lady to represent the brand. If you are targeting to work in the marketing, sales or  PR departments..You need a bit of investment in how you look, because besides the good grades the person has to be Like able!!You don’t have to worry much about this, but at least a smile changes 30% of how you look!!So put it on!!
For guys dressing could set you apart here, clean shaved beards, a nice scent and a good sense of humour could get John interested in you. Chat him up, know what club he supports? If he is a gunner, empathise with him, if he looks easy; ask him about his take on Nyeri women?
8.Hit at Them
This is my favourite because I recently got an opportunity to work with a major multinational company’s (Read Coca cola) because I told them how they were messing up with their social media platform.
This may not work for everyone but if you are a marketer, designer, advertising or communication graduate, you may apply this!if you are keen, you will notice certain mistakes that companies make. As marketers we discuss commercials or campaigns that several companies run. If it’s a hit. Send an email to the marketing department, congratulate them for the good job. Point out certain aspects of the ad or scenes in the commercial where you felt they got it really on point!!If it was a miss, point it out to them squarely!!!Write down the mistakes articulately and spell it out to them. Give them reasons and recommendations or give them suggestions on what they can do differently next time!!Then attach your resume quietly!!They'll forward it to the HR and recommend yo!!!
If you have a blog, post your thoughts on it. Share it with your audience on various social media platforms. Chances are if the company didn’t want to hire you, a competitor will want to hire you!!

9.Take The experience first Money will come in later
After you finish campus don't expect to land a job with 100k plus salo..there are there,yes...but they competitively hire the best!!be reasonable...chances are some of us will become interns first,put on probation for 3 to 6 months on a meagre salary.This shouldn't demotivate you.
If you arent lucky to get a job straight away, do your internship diligently...work hard,impress your bosses and dont forget to ask for positions you feel you qualify for.
If you did well on that probation period,chances are that you will be hired.However if you feel you are too experienced to be an intern,why don't you ask for a permanent position?Tell the panel that you would like to work for firm XX but not on internship because of reasons YY. If they feel you are worth it...they might as well give you a contract right away!!Every company wants to hire and retain the best.So if you fit the bill and you got the balls...Turn down the internship and ask for what you want!!Same thing applies when you are negotiating a salary!!
Since my second year i have worked for different firms in different industries. In some cases all i got was 10k if i was lucky!! or nothing,but i have also had the lucky breaks where i had a good salary and bonuses plus a company car assigned to me at 22 years!!!
All these jobs gave me a chance to meet new people and taught me a few things you probably don't know!!
My point here is...don't look at what they are paying you,focus on the other side of the coin..The experience you are getting,the growth opportunities available at the firm,do they offer good training programs to employees? I get job offers from time to time and share them with my friends on facebook however most of the guys ask me"How much are they paying?" My dear friends....if you had a business,how much would you pay an inexperienced graduate?with good grades got from dubbing exams on google and reading the last minute?(Be reasonable.)
Seize up these offers,volunteer,do free stuff...these activities sharpen you,give you the soft business skills you never learn from class and better still they help you fill up your resume.You will be surprised to see that a good number of graduates have only been polling clerks or referendum officials at the last general election or managed to be enumerators in the last census!!!
Are there other ways we could use on smart job seeking?Please share them with us.

Here are two Video resources to help you further!!!

Friday 17 February 2012

10 tools to help you measure the effective of your social media campaigns

The following tools will help us manage, monitor and measure your social media campaigns efficiently and effectively.
  1. IceRocket – Keep tabs on who is saying what about you, your brand or your client on the web, Twitter, video and more with this free buzz search tool.
  2. Kurrently – Free social search engine that shows you what’s being shared on Twitter and Facebook. Clean, simple interface. Free.
  3. Blekko – Allows you to narrow your social media searches with “slashtags.”
  4. Klout – Measures awareness across multiple social platforms like Google+, Facebook and Twitter. This site is really growing and you need to watch what it does.
  5. Socialbakers – Monitor and measure your Facebook stats with their Engagement Analytics PRO or Engagement Builder PRO.
  6. PostRank Analytics – Helps you measure and improve social media audience loyalty by identifying influencers and measuring off-site engagement.
  7. Social Mentions – Set up alerts for certain keywords that you get when people use that keyword on the social web.
  8. Friend or Follow – Want to know who’s following you and who’s not? This tool is for you. Can be a little tricky when it comes to cleaning up your list, though.
  9. Instagram – Great way to treat and share your photos with your social networks. Combine this with Blurb and you can make great promotional books cheap.
  10. Board Tracker – Follow customers who are more likely to spend time on message boards than other channels. Remember, forums are social media, too. 
What other tools do you know of?Please share them with the rest of us.

5 ways to Create A More Engaging Facebook Page

 Kenyan companies,public figures and brands in general all have facebook pages however in 2012 social media has gone beyond just being Facebook friends and sharing funny videos you found on YouTube.  Today, social media has become a platform with the ability to change the world.

In kenya for example we are currently No.3 top tweeters in Africa behind S.A and Nigeria with a Total number of internet users at 10,199,836 25.9 % population with Internet Access.This is massive.
Kenyans are freely tweeting away and updating their thoughts,gossip,rumors and hate speech. Recently a top media personality updated something controversial about Whitney Houston's death and her fans reacted angrily. She went ahead and labelled them as LOW IQ face book users. Such incidences ruin one's reputation online.
Remember how the Nancy Barasa village market incident was treated on social media?The cases of men battering in Nyeri?
People share anything on these platforms. To some companies it is now a PR nightmare as bad news is shared and re tweeted quickly.One unhappy influential customer can dissuade 5000 friends on her list to avoid a certain product.

However when these same customers are delighted with your products or services they form the best brand ambassadors for your brand.Politicians have flocked various platforms to woo voters and Social media will play an important role in swinging the Youth vote. 
Hence companies and individuals should post engaging stuff  to keep their fans and followers coming back to the page for more.
Here are a few tips...Enjoy!
1. Be unique

There’s nothing worse than a bland Facebook page. Think long and hard about how your page can be different. Remember, your page is one of at least 60 things that an average Facebook user is giving attention to. It’s important that your page is unique and stands out from the rest.
You can never go wrong investing time and resources into a great design for your Facebook page.Think creatively about how you can add value to Facebook users. Can you give them something? Can you provide them with help, or resources? These are the things that will get people joining your Facebook page and keep them coming back.
2. Don’t use a generic landing page
Facebook allows you to customize what page different types of users land on. You can show people who have never been to your page before a completely different message than people who are already fans on your page. It’s a great idea to show potential users a page specifically tailored for them. It might give a little background about your company or site, and would give them a great reason for joining.
Never let new users land on your Wall. The Wall doesn’t really tell anything about your brand, and it won’t have much impact on new visitors.You can get a super cool designed landing page Here
3. Give something away quickly
Your die-hard followers won’t need any reason for joining your fan page. But if you’re trying to really grow your Facebook presence, consider giving resources back to your community and niche. This allows you to reach other potential fans within your niche that might not have known about your Facebook page.
Check the Safaricom official Fanpage or Coca Cola kenya Pick a few lessons there. 


4. Use a large profile picture

People on Facebook want to see photos. So make sure your page has a large photo of your company or brand as the profile picture. This helps with branding and adds trust to your profile.


5. Tag fans in photos
If you’re somehow able to take pictures of your customers, tag them within the picture. Many people have Facebook notifications that alert them when they’ve been tagged in photos, and this will bring them back to your page.
Not only are you giving back by adding photos, you’re also keeping your brand planted firmly in the fan’s mind.Tagging photos also helps increase a page visibility on facebook. I have previously used this strategy to sell events and products by tagging celebrities and guys with good numbers on facebook.The response has always been awesome!!
Check out how i do it here
What other ways can you engage your audience on social media?
Please share that with us..
have a blessed weekend.