PPD Task: Spread The Word (Pt 2) [Getting Myself Out There...]

TASK

PART 2: ONLINE PROFESSIONAL NETWORK


Using the existing range of social media available online set up and manage and appropriate professional network and network activities. 

Join - engage - update

RESPONSE

This is something I had already thought about, and had set up accounts on different online social media websites (see blog post), however, I haven't updated these, and so haven't promoted them to others. So now is the time to get my work on there, and to spread the word. I also should think about joining LinkedIn, Cargo and Coroflot. 


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So this was an enterprise/ppd target from a while ago, to actually join different social networks and websites where I can promote myself. So I've joined these, and I'm just trying to figure out how to use them before choosing some work to upload. Its all very scary as I still don't feel like I'm ready to show my work to the world, but I know that I need to start now to prepare me for applying for placements and looking for freelance work in the future. I'll update this post when there is content on these links and if I think of any more websites I should join.

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http://claudiagriffin.tumblr.com/

I've re-started my online presence with tumblr. There are so many themes to choose from, so I initially chose this basic one inspired by the cargo theme. People use tumblr like an daily blog but with this theme I thought it would be a perfect place to put my portfolio.

I decided to get some feedback from John:

Feedback:

- Put more about you, keep it professional but making it interesting and personal

- How to get in touch with you

- Put banner on, make it match with other work

Here are screenshots of me adding projects and experimenting with finding a theme that I like. I've decided against the cargo style theme as when you try to add more than one image to a photo set the images overlap as shown in the example below and this makes the colours horrible.

I've tried putting my banner on but I'm not sure this is working. My banner works well on my blogger blog but not tumblr because theres so much other stuff going on.

Eventually found a design I'm happy with and uploaded more projects and my new logo.

 

Even created about and contact pages to give more information easily accessible to my viewers.

I went back and added tags to make my work searchable. The annoying thing about tumblr is you can't see how many people have looked at your work. (I don't think!)

--- Since this, I've changed my logo design so updated this on my tumblr page. As this was the form of social media presence I finished first, this is what I included on my creative CV, so hopefully this will get lots of views so I need to make sure I keep it up to date!

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https://twitter.com/#!/CGriffin_GD

This is how my twitter looked when I had no idea what to do. I thought using a picture of myself would make it more personal but I don't think it looks professional and to be honest I don't want people I don't know seeing my face.

So now that I've created my branding I added that to it. I wanted to use my banner as a patterned background but thought it was too big at first so experimented with different sizes.

Decided to change my username from my old one to this new one, to make me seem more professional. Unfortunately my names already been taken!

Heres how its looking so far. I've been through and added loads of designers so hopefully will get lots of interesting updates from them and maybe even get in contact. This is all really new to me although some people my age love this kind of stuff!

I've deleted the old tweets, and uploaded a photo. I'm going to try and remember to tweet every few days to keep people interested and keep adding new people to. This seems a lot easier now that I actually have a portfolio of work to show.

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http://www.facebook.com/pages/Little-Griffin-Graphic-Design

I don't feel as confident about making a Facebook page as I do about promoting myself on the other sites. This is partly because not many other designers seem to have Facebook pages, and also because with Facebook I want to separate my personal from my professional life. I will still design this Facebook page anyway, so that when I feel confident in myself enough I can publish it.

My colours have gone scarily weird!

Got the colours right and started uploading photos.

Copied the about information from what I have put on the other sites.

This is what my Facebook page would look like. My branding is really clear and matches in with the set colours Facebook gives you for links and such.

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http://www.behance.net/claudiagriffin

Again I felt nervous about putting my work on behance. I'm aware of all the copyright problems people have so I'll only be putting work on after the projects finished or competition is submitted.

So I'd created this a while ago and this was how far I had got.

Now I've taken the time to learn how behance works I'm really impressed. You can change like nearly every attribute in terms of colour, which is perfect in making sure my colour scheme is obvious throughout. You can also link it up to your other social medias, so I can put my tumblr and my twitter and my Facebook (if i decide to use this) on there.

I've started adding projects and once again am impressed about how much you can edit, something I've struggled a bit with with the other's lack of customisation. 

You can link behance up with your other accounts so everything you publish gets maximum publicity.

I've added search tags to make my work easy to find when it is searched for. I'm really impressed with behance and wish I had started using it sooner. I'm quite surprised how many hits my work has got in a small space of time! Hope I get a positive comment or some more appreciations.

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http://www.linkedin.com/pub/claudia-griffin/51/459/73b

I've made a linked in after having it recommended to me in enterprise and ppd. I can't find anyone I know on it and it looks awful compared to how sleek things like behance look. I've linked it in with my tumblr and twitter and such so maybe it will get them some more views but I can't really see myself keeping this one up or getting many views from this.

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OTHER.

Here are other forms of social media to consider joining if I have time and if I consider them to be necessary:

Flickr? Cargo Website? Sell on Etsy? Pinterest?