A year ago, while still planning out my career, I was an intern with Beetle Press. Now, as a digital content strategist, I am responsible for creating, curating and developing strategies for written and multimedia content, such as press releases, articles, blog posts, infographics and videos. I also manage the social media platforms and propose new platforms for organizations and magazines to use to extend their reach.

I know that social media is key to content strategy for several reasons. It’s essentially free advertising, with the exception of paid “boosted” social media posts, and that makes it easier to come across new organic viewers, readers and users.

Digital is the way that marketing is headed, and it’s crucial to get familiar and get involved. Potential clients are already using social media platforms, and it’s a great way to reach them, better nowadays, when people are watching commercial television less and less.

Here are three key tips for social media success:

Know your current audience and your target audience(s). If you already have an established website, product, publication or blog, you already have an established audience; they are the people who are currently engaged with whatever your business or organization is offering up online and electronically. It’s important to research and understand the demographics of your existing audiences on Facebook, Instagram, your blog and website, to name a few, and determine new audiences you want to target. Then create content for both.

Separate your content in a way that makes sense. Organizing your content is extremely important, especially because, as noted earlier, you probably have more than one target audience. If you run a website that has content about technology, fashion and politics, it’s necessary to separate those content hubs. Some of your audience base wants to read all three sections, but others most likely only want one fact, or perhaps, two. Make it easy for different target demographics to find what they’re seeking. On social media, you can use different lists and sections, depending on the platform that you’re using. For example, Twitter offers a feature known as “lists” through which you can separate people you follow by categories that you choose, which makes it easier to sort through posts. If you have a large enough readership, you can even separate your social media accounts—The New York Times has separate Twitter and Facebook pages for its weekly Modern Love column, for example.

Know when, what and where to post. There is an abundance of research on the Internet about the best times of day to post on social media, the most effective SEO (search-engine optimization) keywords, and the typical formats of most viral content. Use all of that research to your advantage, and then keep your audience and intended audiences in mind. Is there a difference, according to research or personal experience, in when 20-year-olds are most likely to share a post versus when 40-year-olds are most likely? Do college students share how-to articles more often than middle-aged parents? Map out your current audiences and what types of content they share, when they share that content, and which social media platforms they’re using. In general, younger users are the most likely to be on brand-new platforms first, while it takes older users longer to learn and become involved on a social platform. If you’re concerned that a user may not know how to navigate your social media, make it easier for them by including an explanation of how to share your content.

Take advantage of the very cost-effective social media available to you, and experiment a little with how you use it to market your content and reach your viewers. Test by creating fun surveys, or offering contests with prizes involved, or asking for reader-submitted photographs. You may just find that there’s an unexpected way to reach your viewership that you hadn’t thought of before.

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The class was geared toward each student’s individual career goals and took steps to make our dreams a reality. We created our own individualized study proposals, and we worked on such skills as completing applications, networking and interviewing. Some students worked on applications to graduate school, while others focused on getting freelance clients.

The skills I learned will be useful in gaining entry into graduate school and in securing my first full-time job, but I realize these skills can also be applied over and over again by business owners and other freelance-based professionals, so I share these tips with you:

Fielding the questions. We learned how to present ourselves in a professional manner while being interviewed, and this is a skill a business owner will always need to call on. Every time you take a call from a new client, they are interviewing you to be sure you are the right person to tackle their project. New clients need to know about your skills and experience, so essentially, you will do new job interviews every week. It’s important to know how to talk about your line of work and your experience in a way that is confident, clear and succinct.

Conducting a good interview. We learned not only how to prepare for job interviews but also how to interview others. We wrote professional profile pieces on writers in our chosen fields (I interviewed and wrote about Janice), and this required us to come up with pointed questions and learn the art of follow-up questions. We needed to be able to get to the heart of the story. Knowing how to conduct an interview serves business owners well because you are continually interviewing new employees, interns or volunteers and must know how to get below the superficial level so you can truly get a sense of who a person is. Also, you need to interview your clients as well when you are first negotiating a new relationship as you need to be sure that each client is a good fit for your style.

Time management is key. Time management is another essential skill we learned that I know I will use throughout my career. Now I’m juggling multiple class assignments, but one day, I expect to be juggling multiple client projects as well as my own writing projects. Efficient time management skills are vital to any business owner or freelancer. Plan your day and in terms of breaking down your workload, and stick to the plan.

Networking is key. We’re also learning how to network with one another. We’ve had to shake each other’s hands, look over one another’s resumes and talk about our interview experiences. These are the kinds of skills we will one day apply to business networking meetings, client meetings, Chamber meetings. Business owners can’t grow their businesses without networking. Sometimes, it happens naturally in the course of doing your work, but it’s also a facet of your business that you need to make sure to spend intentional time on. Network, network.

Blogging grows a business. For the entire semester, we were required to regularly update a blog about a subject of our choice. We’ve learned that blogging can sometimes generate freelance work; for instance, one of my classmates was recently approached to write guest blogs, which may turn into paid work. Blogging shines a light on the work you do, and when used well, can call attention to your website, your products and services, your skills and experience, your clients and their successes. A well-written blog is like free advertising for small business owners.

Career Prep helped me gain professional skills that can be applied in graduate school and far beyond. I know I will continue to refine them throughout my career.

If you feel you are lacking these skills or need a refresher course, check out Westfield State’s course catalog, or look at a local community college. It’s never too late to develop these important tools.

The post Tips that Last a Career appeared first on Beetle Press.

Julius Koch USA’s leaders were looking to expand their products and services into new markets. That’s where I came in. I took the company’s ideas for potential new applications and researched whether there was a place for them in those markets. I spoke to the salespeople at companies that manufacture in those markets and learned about industry standards and consumer expectations.

As a result of this work, I learned a few very key tips about marketing along the way.

1. If you’ve been around your product, service or company too long, you may need to take a step back or ask for outside opinions. You know what your company has to offer, and you understand why it’s a great company. But you’ve also been around the product or service you offer for too long. When you’re trying to expand into a new market, it’s important to see what you already have to offer from a fresh perspective so you can see what else you have the potential to do.
2. Thinking outside the box involves learning what else is out there. Whether you’re looking to sell your product or service to a new client or are actively trying to get into a new industry, you need to understand what else is out there, providing similar services. It is only when you know what’s already in existence that you can find the gaps that your company can fill with its own unique offerings.
3. Learn the industry standards for the market you want to expand into. Distributors and consumers already have expectations about what to expect from a particular product or service. If you’re a shoe manufacturer, and you want to start manufacturing shoelaces as well, you have to find out what the industry standards are for shoelaces. You need to know what size they should be, what colors they come in, what materials they’re made out of. Once you understand the industry standards, you can have more confidence in whether your company is really capable of expanding its market in that direction.
4. Go straight to the source for information, and exhaust all opportunities. If you want to know whether there is a market for the new products or services you want to offer, the only real way to find out is to ask. No amount of background research will tell you if the world needs a new shoelace manufacturer or if there’s any need for new online blog editors. It requires actually calling the leaders of some of the companies you’ve been researching and asking them questions about their needs. Perseverance is key here; the more people you call to find information, the more likely it is that you’ll receive useful information.
5. Follow unexpected leads. During your market research, you may find that new companies are interested in your company catalogue, or that there are opportunities in industries you hadn’t considered. If they seem promising, don’t rule them out just because they weren’t in the original game plan. Investigate the possibilities, even the unexpected ones, to see if there are opportunities for success that you weren’t aware of yet.

Marketing research is a learning process – learning about the competition, about the current market, about where the needs are and about how your company can try to fill them. Once you’ve completed a thorough research phase, you’ll be in a much better position to understand what your company needs to do in order to improve and become more successful.

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When I was a high-school senior applying to colleges, whether or not an institution’s website was friendly and easy to use was one of the first things I noticed. Prospective students have no idea what a university will be like once they attend; they want to gather as much as they can from the website, social media sites, college tours and talking to current students as they can.

So I know how important the Westfield State website is.

So does Webmaster Alyssa Goodreau. She knows that university websites should be updated every three years or so to keep them fresh and relevant. Her commitment to the University’s redesign is apparent: “It’s not just about designing a visually appealing home page,” she told me when I interviewed her about the new site for the University’s magazine, Focus. “It is about bringing the Westfield State story to life in a vivid and friendly manner throughout the entire site.”

It can be difficult to allow users to really understand what the University is all simply with visits to its website, so Alyssa worked with various contractors to identify what the site need in order to draw users into the community that is Westfield State.

The new website has as a photo-of-the-day feature, which Alyssa says will give users a chance to really understand the heart and soul of the University, its students and faculty. There is also a “Today at Westfield” tab and direct links to the University’s social media sites, like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube. These give website users an inside look into day-to-day life.

Alyssa committed to upgrading the University’s website after identifying concerns about the old site, which she says was lacking in sophistication for today’s times and needed a search tool as well as a solid navigation structure.

She became the project manager of the redesign and worked closely with user experience architects, analytic specialists, creative teams, content strategists, programmers and developers and many University colleagues to make the redesign as smooth as possible.

Her ultimate goal was to improve the experiences of all users, especially prospective students.

After an intensive interview process during Fall 2013, the University partnered with NewCity, a Virginia-based company, in November to design a new, updated website.

The new site launched in mid-July and features a responsive design, remodeled site architecture and navigation layout, a more advanced search tool, implementation of the University catalog and customized search engine optimization.

Alyssa stresses that a website is never completely “done,” but instead will continue to grow, change and adapt to new and exciting challenges the University faces.

We at Beetle Press are excited about the University’s new face.

I’m a senior there this year, and Janice is a 1985 alum who has served as editor of the University’s magazine since 2001. We both have a lot of respect and caring for the University, and we want others to recognize it as soon as they visit www.westfield.ma.edu.

The post Westfield State has a New Virtual Face appeared first on Beetle Press.

One pre-event that resonated with me was the kick-off breakfast in February. During the breakfast, the tri-chairs for this year’s Relay were honored on stage, and it was amazing to see the many ways that they contributed to making the event possible.

There are too many reasons to list why Tom McCusker, 45, of Florence participates in the Relay For Life of Hampshire County.

McCusker has been a part of Relay since the third annual Hampshire County event and has been a tri-chair once before. He has been an active member of the planning team since 2001.

His inspiration comes mainly from knowing a family member with cancer. His sister-in-law, Donna, was diagnosed in late March of 2001 with stage 4 colorectal cancer.

Donna passed away shortly after her battle with cancer began, but she had heard about the Relay For Life and asked the family to make two promises: one, to take her to the event; and two, to start a family team after her passing. That team is now called Donna’s Darlins’.

Tom also walks for his father, who lost his battle with cancer as well, but he says that Donna was the reason he started to Relay.

Along with Tom, Wendy Payson, 45, of Southampton and Kurt LaPlante, 20, of Chicopee are also serving as tri-chairs this year.

The tri-chairs are incredibly motivated and passionate about helping the American Cancer Society raise awareness and dollars. They spend hundreds of hours together in a Relay season. They gather sponsors, oversee fundraisers, help to register teams and volunteers and plan the hundreds of details of the 24-hour event.

Wendy has been Relaying since the event came to Hampshire County in 1998; this is her third year as a tri-chair, and she has been on the planning committee for 10 years.

This year, Hampshire County is making the theme of the Relay “over-the-top circus.” The activities and events will be planned around this theme. The survivors’ tent at the event will be a Big Top-style tent, and teams are encouraged to host on-site carnival games as fundraisers.

Wendy says about the theme, “We feel it’s something people will really latch onto and have fun with.”

Tom hopes that the Relay this year will motivate people the way he has been motivated. One in three people will be diagnosed with a form of cancer this year, and this is part of what pushes him to do more, as well as Donna’s impact on his life.

The three tri-chairs hope to use events such as the kick-off breakfast and the innovative theme in February to “get the audience pumped to save more lives,” according to Kurt.

Almost all who participate in Relay share that sentiment. “I want to see an end to this dreadful disease,” says Kurt.

Tom adds, “Come to Relay to experience what we all know. We all need to fight to make it happen.”

Wendy agrees completely. “When I walk around the track in the middle of the night, it’s my chance to reflect on the lives lost to cancer, the many people struggling with the disease in this very moment and the incredible number of people around the track who have come out to make a difference. Together, we will find a cure. And I will be Relaying until that cure is found,” she says.

That inspires me to get walking for next year’s Relay.

To volunteer for Relay or to learn more about it, email hamprelay@gmail.com or visit www.relayforlife.org/hampshirecountyma.

The post Promotion from the Heart appeared first on Beetle Press.

It was 9 a.m. on a Saturday in late January and most high school freshmen were sleeping. Davis Caron-Vera and Matti Tacy of Northampton, though, were at the Relay For Life of Hampshire County’s kick-off breakfast to learn new ideas on raising money to fight cancer.

For these two 15-year-olds, the choice to put Relay before sleep was obvious because cancer has touched each of their lives. Davis’ mom, Celia Vera, was diagnosed with a rare cancer that affected her skull in 2000 when Davis was still a baby. Matti’s grandmother, Honey Tacy, passed away from cancer when she was very young.

Davis and Matti have both participated on teams with their family members before, but now they are picking up the cause on their own. The two currently co-captain their Northampton High School Relay team, One Step at a Time.

The two said their fellow teammates are also dealing with a parent, family member or friend who has or had cancer, and so they all understand the importance of Relay – that it’s not just a fun night in the park.

Having three survivors on their team this year – Davis’ mom and two others, one of whom is a classmate – helps drive the impact home. Matti described the experience as an “eye-opener.” She finds it invaluable to see that the money raised during Relay goes to “real people getting real treatment.”

Matti and Davis said their dedication to Relay comes in part from how inspiring it can be. Every year, there is a cancer survivors’ lap as well as a lap for the caregivers of those with cancer, and watching them round the track is moving for the teens.

“Even though you’re here, and it’s such a horrible thing…you still see the bright side,” Matti says as she describes the typical experience of a luminaria ceremony. “It’s still uplifting.”

Participating in the Relay For Life has been an inspiration for them. Every year, they find new reasons to come back and spread to others the hope that participating has brought them.

They tell stories like this: One year, Matti’s friend learned that his mom had passed from cancer during the Relay For Life. To show her support for him, Matti walked with him around the track for the remainder of the night.

“I look forward to Relay every year,” Matti said.

Davis said wholeheartedly, “Relay makes you realize how lucky you are and how thankful you are.”

To donate to Davis and Matti’s team email daviscaron@yahoo.com or m.tacy13@yahoo.com.

To volunteer for Relay or for more information, email hamprelay@gmail.com or visit www.relayforlife.org/hampshirecountyma.

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