Week 8: Final Week

I cannot believe that we are already in the final week of the course. It’s even harder for me to imagine that I will be starting my first day of my last semester of college in a few weeks. This course being my first client (“freelance”) work, I am very pleased about my finished documents. Everything went very smoothly over the course of the semester, and I am glad that we have a VCT course that allows us to receive this type of experience.

Currently, I’m working on putting my book together and it’s crazy to see just how much work I did in such a little amount of time. I’m excited to print out the book to see the final copy  and use it in my portfolio to help get other work opportunities.

Week 7: Client Interaction

This week was very busy for my client and I. My clients were busy with running their business, working their other jobs, and attending the fair with their kids. I was busy working this week, packing, and moving into a new apartment. With that said, Hootsuite.com worked out wonderful for me this week. On Monday I was able to set all the Facebook and Twitter updates for the rest of the week. I was able to speak with the client beforehand to come up with specials they wanted to offer this week. If my clients would like me to continue to run their social media for them, I will purchase the advanced Hootsuite.com account that will allow me to save posts and schedule them for months at a time.

Friday I was contacted on the Barnside email account from a lady that would like my clients to sponsor an event. I feel that all of the social media exposure is helping get my client’s business out and informing local people. I called my client about the offer and they are going to work with the woman. This would be another way to get great exposure out for the business.

My client was able to sign off on one of my final comps. My plan is to finish up the flyer at the beginning of the week to allow for edits before the end of the week.

I can’t believe the class is already over. I’m excited to put all my modules together and see all the progress I have made for Barnside Creamery.

Week 6: Client Interaction

This week I’ve been busy working on my final piece for this project, the End of Summer flyer. Currently I have been sketching thumbnails and working on finishing my two final comps. I plan on sending out the two comps today for a final evaluation from my client. Next week I will take the feedback and produce the final flyer.

I spent most of the week working with my module and creating a form to send out for external evaluation. From my data, I realized that people are having a hard time finding the Facebook and Twitter page. I spoke with my client a couple weeks ago about designing a page with this information for them to put in the window, informing people first that there is such a thing, and second where they can go to find it. I wanted to create something simple that would match the other documents but would also inform people. Hopefully this will help with some of the confusion. Below is the design I came up with.

As always, this week I continued to use HootSuite.com to manage my Twitter and Facebook posts. I’ve been reading up on businesses using social media and I decided to conduct a little experiment. Interaction on the Facebook and Twitter page is usually quite minimal, and I want it to increase. Everyday I usually have the specials being posted around lunch time and they receive the most impressions around 11:30 am. Through out the rest of the day, no one really interacts with either of the sites. This week I decided to come up with a second post to be sent out later in the day in hopes to receive more interaction from customers. I didn’t know what time would be best, so I set them all at different times throughout the week. Monday’s second post was sent at 5:35, Tuesday’s at 6:30, Wednesday’s at 5:30, and Thursday’s at 4:30. So far, Monday’s time had the highest number of impressions, followed by Tuesday’s time. From this data I’ve decided that more important posts should be sent at the beginning of the week around 5:35. Hopefully this data will help in the future to know when to post information. The Twitter page did really well this past weekend and beginning of this week. We were followed by 5 more people and were mentioned 3 times! I know it may seem minimal, but for a small business this is great progress. With the 3 mentions, we were exposed to 0ver 400 new followers (which could turn into customers one day)! Overall, I am very pleased with the progress of the social media pages.

Next week I will finish up the flyer, and work on any requests that the client makes.

Week 5: Client Interaction

Last weekend I was able to go out to Barnside Creamery and meet with the clients. We spoke previously about me doing some photography of their store and ice cream shots for the menu. Luckily, I was able to go out there on the perfect summer day. I took about 60 photos and worked all week editing and uploading them to Facebook. I also was able to use one of the images for a last minute flyer I created for ice cream month. I recently found out that the month of July is National Ice Cream Month and that this Sunday is National Ice Cream day. I also uploaded these pictures to the Facebook site using the Menu app (which is something I previously talked about) so menu items are paired with pictures. I plan to use some of these pictures for the end of summer event that I am talking to the clients about having, I will make a flyer, and any other items needed.

Here are some photos I took:

This week I also continued to use HootSuite.com to manage all my posts for Faebook and Twitter. After talking with the clients it seemed that no customer coming in was talking about the new Facebook and Twitter, so I decided to make a sign for them to hang in the window. This will hopefully make more people aware that they are available on the web.

I ran into an error this week as well. When I created the first Facebook page I made it say Barnside Creamery, LLC. The current one I post from is just Barnside Creamery. I found that the LLC site had 5 check-ins and 10 likes. I was hoping to find a way to delete it to avoid confusion, but transfer over these things to the current page. After searching I found that I could, but I had to prove that I was the administrator of the pages. They had to call the number listed on the page, which is the store number. I had to call the clients and tell them about this so I could receive the 4 digit pin to combine the two pages. The client was very helpful and happy that I was taking care of the issue. It was a very simple process to follow and now there is only one site, the Barnside Creamery page.

Week 4: Client Interaction

This week, I spent more time focusing on finding a way to manage the social media sites that I have created for my client. I realize that I might not always be there to show them what things are, or how to do stuff like upload an image. My goal was to find one application that would allow me to manage everything at once, and I finally have found HootSuite. HootSuite.com is a social media dashboard that allows you to manage everything at once without switching back and forth. It also saves all passwords and allows for easy uploading. The service allows you to manage sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Foursquare, and WordPress sites. It creates tabs for you similar to Safari that have each individual site with all the site’s features listed.

This allows me to easily see all my posts, mentions, and direct messages from clients. Probably my favorite feature of the site is the Publisher. This allows me to create messages ahead of time and schedule when they are posted to the different sites. Currently, I have all of the daily specials set up so they post at 11 A.M. every day. The application allows you to do this by the month, but that is not available with the free download. I believe the upgrade is around ten dollars a month. If my client wishes me to continue updating their sites, I would defiantly consider upgrading my account. I set this account up though for the client so they are still able to use it after this semester.

On another note, I have started my thumbnail sketches for the flyer I am designing. Since the summer is when they receive almost all of the business for the season, I am working with the client on ideas for having a end of summer event that will probably take place before school starts in August. As of right now though, I am looking at design layouts and trying to come up with ideas for how I will create the flyer.

Week 3: Client Interaction

This week, I have been busy updating my client’s Facebook and Twitter page with new information and trying to get more customer activity. We are now up to 61 likes on Facebook, any of you reading this that haven’t liked them you should! I have started posted the daily specials daily on the site’s wall every morning. Although they are already listed in the information section, it gives a reminder to those that haven’t seen it. I have also been in contact will some employees and have asked them to “check-in” while at work to draw more attention to the page.

When logging in to the client’s twitter page, it was sad to see how many followers we didn’t have. But then I had an idea. Since they are located in Oak Harbor, Ohio, I decided to follow Oak Harbor’s Twitter page. From there, I got to take a look at people they follow and who follows them. Some of the big business in that area were listed and I began following them. In return, I have received 5 new followers!

For a small ice cream place, I feel that I am spreading information wonderfully to customers in that area.

This week, I also started designing a gift certificate that the client had asked for. During research, there are almost no “well designed” gift certificates. I wanted to create something that will be appealing, and stand apart from the rest. At first I wanted to have a bunch of color to make it stand out, but I realized that they will probably be printing these in house, and be paying for the ink themselves. Since they have a low budget on printing, I figured I could save them some money by using mostly black with a little bit of color. I will be sending the comp to the client today, so it can be approved by Tuesday of next week.

Here is my comp

I had a discussion with my boyfriend about putting the Barnside hours on the gift certificate so if someone receives one as a gift, they know how late the store is open. I don’t have the hours on this comp, but what do you guys think?

Next week, I will continue to update both social networking sites and start my ideas for the flyer.

Week 2: Client Interaction

This week, I received materials back from my client to better update the social networking sites. She was able to send me the menu for Barnside, and a list of daily specials. To add the menu to the Facebook page, I wanted to find a application that would allow for easy upload and make it manageable for the client. After searching I found MenuTab for restaurants. I am in love with this application, it is so easy to use and creates a great finished piece. You start by adding food categories, and then add descriptions and prices. While you add, it generates a full menu! I really liked the application because it allows for single prices, multiple price, opitions, and sides. The application also allows you to add pictures of each item that will display next to the list. I am going to talk with my client about taking food item pictures to add to the site. Overall, it was very easy to use and will be manageable for my clients after the semester.

Here is a photo of a portion of the generated menu!

I also received the daily specials from my client. I was hoping to find a similar application for Facebook that would allow me to add these with a neat feature. Currently, I have found nothing that I think will work. (If anyone knows of anything, please let me know) Since I’m still looking but wanted to get them up, I added the daily specials to the info section of the Barnside Facebook page.

With 55 likes in a week and a half, I think I’m off to a great start on the Facebook page!

Week 1: Reading Response

One of the most important lines in the first couple of chapters in Making Things Happen is, “The trick is to learn as much as possible from other people’s failures.” Project management is the key to making projects organized and to make sure everything runs smoothly. When projects don’t, many forget to go back through the process to see where and what went wrong. Individuals can learn a lot from other people’s failures. They can learn what to do right to be successful, and what to avoid that can cause project problems.

Projects and project management activities differ in every situation. Some are large and require many people, others are smaller and require a couple people. Another thing mentioned about project management is that everything is always changing. Project managers need to be always changing and adapting their thoughts, feelings, and ideas about projects and the people working on their project teams. They also need to keep up with members of their team and make sure they are excited about the work that’s being done.

Scheduling is another big topic when you speak of projects and project management. According to the author, scheduling is done for three purposes, to make commitments, encourage everyone to see their work as a part of a whole, and to provide a tool to track progress. Just as we use the rule of thirds in design and photography, we should use the rule of thirds when scheduling. One part is design, the next for production, and the third for testing.It’s important to create a schedule that is factual and obtainable. Most schedules fail because they are created with unattainable goals. Since sometimes you do not know everything that will occur in a project, you need to a be good estimator.The better you can estimate, the more likely you will have a schedule that will work to your and the project’s advantage. It’s also important to keep track of your schedule and continue to estimate during a project in order to help adapt the project’s schedule.

Week 1: Client Interaction

This week I started my first ever client work with Barnside Creamery located in Oak Harbor, Ohio. Barnside is a new business that first opened in 2010. Because the family is just starting in their business adventure, they haven’t had much time to focus on marketing and promotion. I spoke with the client to develop a plan for this semester.

First, they needed an email account set up that was strictly a business account. I created a email account for the business using Google mail. The account is set up in the owners name so that they have access to the account and password.

My next task that was discussed with the client was their online presence. They are in the middle of working with another person to develop their business website. My plan was to make sure they had a social media presence on the internet. This week I created a Facebook and a Twitter page. I had already begun posting to both and have been marketing the pages in order to receive support from current customers. Facebook especially will allow them to spread information to a mass audience for free. I also like using Facebook because you can see daily people accessing your page, along with weekly and monthly stats. I am still waiting to here back from the client on any more information they would like to include on the pages.

I also spoke with the client about creating new brand identities, such as a new logo for the business. They also asked if throughout the semester I could create promotion materials like gift certificates and flyers for events.

Throughout the semester I will be managing the email, Facebook, and Twitter accounts. I also discussed with client about visiting the business and taking pictures that can be used in promotional material. In addition, I will be producing “on the fly products” that the client requests.