What I’ve Learned Thus Far
Well, I started off with high expectations for this blog, and those seem to have dissolved into thin air! I’ve been learning a lot this semester but not telling you about it, so my apologies. I definitely have plenty to tell, though. It’s hard for me to even narrow down what has been the most enlightening, so I am going to do a “Top 5″. Fittingly, that’s one thing I’ve learned for every week that’s passed since I last blogged. (Jeez, I suck!)
1. Don’t rush research. Our group created two surveys using Survey Monkey to conduct our primary research. We discussed what information was important to glean from potential website visitors as well as contributing artists, and I spent a lot of time building the two different surveys. After I’d completed them, I honestly felt great about both of them and so we put them up on the web, promoting them on Facebook and Twitter as well as ArtyApt’s blog. However, just the next week, we discussed research via surveys in class and learned that we may have been a little premature in putting our survey up. Next time, I would definitely test run the survey with a few friends and a faculty member or advisor before sending it out to the masses.
2. Don’t rush in general. The competitive nature of our project has sometimes made us feel like we need to beat the other teams to something, but its really important to fine comb our choices before we go full speed ahead. With every choice we are making, we have to take a step back and ask ourselves: How does this fit into the big picture of making ArtyApt all it can be and managing the brand? How is this using our talents and skills?
3. When competition gets heated, remember the big picture. There has been a little bit of communication with the other two teams working with ArtyApt as of late. For those who are unfamiliar, there are three separate teams working on ArtyApt as their capstone projects. Our team is from the convergence sequence but the other two are strategic communication, so our goals and perspectives differ. If I were running this show, I would have divided up the responsibilities among the groups according to their strengths, but I’m not, so. It’s been interesting, to say the least, working on the same project with two other groups. Sometimes it can get competitive, but our purpose is not to compete with each other to be the best. “The best” for advertising students is probably different than it is for us, multimedia storytellers with distinctive and diverse skills. We have to focus on using our talents to do OUR best.
4. Still, competition can push you to be better and work more efficiently. There’s no denying that a competitive atmosphere can drive you to work harder. It reminds me of working out with a friend – when there’s someone there working alongside you, you don’t want to be the one to lag behind! While the multi-team dynamic has been challenging, its definitely been positive in some ways.
5. There’s nothing like results. Our next step is to recruit artists to contribute their art to ArtyApt. We plan to promote the artists with multimedia profiles and prominent links to their personal websites. I am also working in online marketing at Newsy.com and have really enjoyed getting results with my blogger outreach. I’m hoping to use the same strategies that I use in my email pitches to bloggers to get artists excited about what we’re doing at ArtyApt!
I promise I won’t let so much time pass before the next update – promise!
