Gabby's Marketing Blog

This week for class I read the article, " The Skills Companies Need Most in 2019- and How to Learn Them".  The article was very interesting in that it explained the skills that business professionals consider the most valuable in today's work environment. With the help of exclusive LinkedIn data, the most valuable soft and hard skills were identified. Soft skills refer to personal attributes like creativity, persuasion, collaboration, adaptability and time management. I found it interesting that more than half of senior leaders find these skills more important than hard skills. Not surprisingly, the hard skills listed refer to ones technological abilities. Because our world is becoming more and more digital, it would be beneficial to familiarize myself with these skills as there are a few I had not heard of before. All in all, this article helped me get a better understanding of the skills I may need to work on acquiring for the future. It would be in my best intere...

For class this week, I accessed HubSpot to familiarize myself with the website. HubSpot is an all-in-one marketing software that aims to provide tools for social media marketing, content management, web analytics and search engine optimization. After creating a free account, I was able to explore the site and get a better understanding of what it has to offer. The website, in general, is somewhat confusing to navigate. The tabs located on the top of the page can be confusing to a new user like myself. After some time clicking through the tabs, I was able to find practice courses and exams that may be beneficial in the future. While on the site I took a practice exam. Because I was unfamiliar with the content, I received a very low score. Moving forward, I will make sure to utilize the practice materials/videos before taking an exam as they may be very helpful.

Today I took the the Google Analytics certification exam. The exam consists of 70 multiple choice and true/false questions. To pass the exam, you need to answer at least 56 questions correctly. One nice thing about this exam is that you can pause it at any time and return to finish it within 48 of starting it. You also have the option to take the exam as many times as you need until you pass.  I did not have any prior knowledge regarding Google Analytics so this exam was tricky. I received a 64% on my first try. With this being said, I was surprised I didn't receive a lower score. My strategy with the exam was to make the most educated guesses with the limited knowledge I currently have. Considering the fact that this was my first try, I feel confident that, with more practice and knowledge, I will be able to pass this exam. Receiving a certification in Google Analytics will be extremely beneficial and something I can definitely use in the future.

Over the last few years, social media usage has skyrocketed and has ultimately changed how we live our lives. With this being said, investing in social media for your business is crucial in today's world. Maintaining a presence on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter etc... allows for more brand exposure, helps you connect with customers and boosts your leads and sales. On social media, you are more likely to make authentic connections with your leads and customers, rather than just delivering direct marketing messages. This strategy is something that consumers are generally more responsive to.  If you aren't already on social media, your company may be missing out on the chance to connect with customers and engage new leads. Considering there are over 3 billion social media users, marketing through these platforms will only help your business in the long run.

Keywords are one of the main elements of search engine optimization. SEO keywords are specific phrases that describe what your content is about, making it possible for people to find your site via search engines. Developing a list of keywords is crucial so that your site can rank above its competitors by drawing in the most searchers. Research shows that 95% of people only view the first page of search results. The right keywords can help generate organic traffic for the site so that more people are exposed to your site compared to other results. Overall, the success of your organic search efforts rely largely on how effective you are at discovering, researching, analyzing and selecting the right search engine keywords for your website. 

Welcome to my blog! My name is Gabby and I am senior at Benedictine University. I am majoring in marketing with a concentration in digital marketing. Web analytics can be extremely useful in digital marketing in that it may provide people/companies with important online metrics to better understand what they can improve to market more effectively on the web. Web analytics is the measurement, collection, analysis and reporting of data for the purposes of understanding and optimizing web usage. More specifically, web analytics focuses on website metrics like average time spent on a page, clickstream data, webpage functionality and many others. In general, web analytics act as an effective tool for both business and market research. Having access to these various online metrics can help a company grow faster while implementing fully informed business strategies.