All posts by hayleydunn

Social Communities – How the world uses Social Media

Social media is a global phenomenon, creating many social communities but which countries are the biggest users?

It is no surprise that the UK is the country with the most internet users; it has in fact got a higher percentage of internet users in terms of population than the U.S, though closely followed by Japan, Germany and lastly, France.

Statistics on global internet usage may be helpful for a range of reasons, but what may really be of interest to company’s wishing to promote and trade on a global level, is the use of social media in different countries.

It seems Twitter still has a long way to go; with approximately 13% compared to 70% of usage numbers on Facebook, Twitter in the UK and the US is far behind – something which promoters in these countries may want to bear in mind! However, tweeters seem to be plentiful in Brazil and Japan with around 30% usage.

To take a look at these statistics in more detail, please visit the below link:
http://wallblog.co.uk/2011/09/26/how-the-world-uses-social-media-infographic/#ixzz2HDyQG458

Brand awareness- ROI of Social Media

Calculate the ROI of Social Media

The greatest social media platforms can generate a return even higher than a TV Commercial. Fan pages, Facebook and Twitter accounts present the opportunities for staff to speak to visitors, strangers to introduce themselves and friends to communicate.

Campaigners raise brand awareness and whilst some followers will listen, messages aren’t usually passed on. However, studies show that bloggers and readers who engage often meet face to face and some users may also share branded content with friends.

Once the shop has closed, a retailer measures their ROI through the number of sales they have made. This can also be done by the social marketer. There are five elements involved in determining the commercial success of social media:

** Number – Count the number of ‘’Likes’’, the number of downloads and the number of views.

** Time – Tweets, retweets and comments take time and lead to other friends taking time to digest them too.

** Trust – The strength of digital communications amongst consumers to judge their closeness. A good way to quantify this on Facebook is the comment-to-like ratios of fan posts: the greater the ratio the more intimate friends shared the brand experience.

** Sentiment – Filter through comments and look out for specific words.

** Income – Know the demographics of followers.

To read about measuring the ROI of social media in more detail, visit http://www.briansolis.com/2012/10/calculate-the-roi-of-social-media/

University internship abroad

How will an overseas University internship boost your career prospects?

In an increasingly competitive market, many students are looking for work experience in addition to their academic studies. An internship gives students the opportunity to put the theory they have learnt into practice and gain the experience of how real-life organisations are run and the challenges they may face.

Whilst it will be a lot different to the lifestyle that many students will be used to, the hard work and long hours are likely not only to give you an experience of professional employment, but also improve your C.V. therefore making you more attractive to prospective employers.

An internship in your home country is great, but an internship in a different country is a totally different thing. Out of your comfort zone and away from family and friends, the idea at first can be daunting; though many who embark upon this experience learn new and interesting things, gain a unique perspective and broaden their horizons.

Not only will you get the chance to meet new and different people whilst experiencing a different culture to your own, you will get the opportunity to pick up a different language – another way of making yourself a more attractive recruit. Internships are a great way to make yourself stand out but an internship abroad shows employers you can work under pressure in a totally different environment, whilst promising you a real memorable experience!

For more information go to http://www.i-to-i.com/overseas-internship-career.html

Emerging Economies

Putting you in touch with an ‘’Emerging Europe’’

passport 2 trade
Reaching Europe

Why not allow your business to benefit from several markets with millions of consumers? – All of which are only a couple of hours away in ‘’Emerging Europe’’. Why target those markets which are further away when you can focus on those which are closer, less risky and much easier to penetrate! There are opportunities in a variety of sectors from Energy, Infrastructure, Security and Defence, Retail and many more.

Some more developed than others, ‘’Emerging Europe’’ consists of nine emerging economies: * Austria * Bulgaria * Croatia * Czech Republic * Hungary * Poland * Romania * Slovakia * Slovenia

Benefits of doing business in Emerging Europe for UK businesses:

* Only a short distance from the UK, reasonable flight prices mean that business connections can be made, especially for those SME’s seeking low cost travel arrangements.

* Emerging Europe provides a range of markets, from developed to developing, but all have the long-term potential for growth.

* Be risk averse and do business in a country which is EU regulated, most of the markets are and are therefore much less risky than developing markets beyond Europe.

For more information on ‘’Emerging Europe’’ and how your business can get help see the UK Trade and Investment website below. http://www.ukti.gov.uk/export/howwehelp/item/394780.html

European Countries – European culture

I came across this website when searching for differences in European culture.

It does outline some differences such as the food, the politics, the education but what I found more interesting, and more fun, was it had a list of all the European countries and when you press on a country it has various facts about that country, some of them random, some quirky, some quite useful for when you come across Christiano Ronaldo and can congratulate him for his people [The Portuguese] being the first colonial power to abolish slavery.

Did you know that Czech people are the heaviest consumers of beer in the EU, the Czech Republic also has the most Hospital Beds per EU inhabitants. Coincidence?

It also has sections about the Economy, History and the basics such as population and capital city.

On the home page you can also access lots of other articles such as Gastronomy, History, Science and popular articles. For instance one of the popular articles trending at the moment is “The origins of of red hair” Along with “Diseases, traits and conditions SNP’s” and “Best restaurants in Lyon, Berlin, Bruges”.

So you can see this is a wealth of information in one place and if you find a topic that’s a little bit dry you’ll be sure to come across one which will be a little humorous and put you back in the mood to read on about the cultural history of Europe.

You can also follow them on twitter: @Eupedia

http://www.eupedia.com/