Week 6

App Smackdown #2

    For the second app smackdown, I chose the app called Neighbors.  Neighbors is a platform that is associated with the famous security doorbell known as Ring.  Once you have you Ring doorbell installed or any other Ring devices, you can connect to the Neighbors app and it allows you to connect with your neighborhood.  You put in your location of where you live and it allows you to see post from other people in your town.  The app allows you to post recordings from your Ring devices and share them to your neighborhood to keep everyone safe.  Most of the posts are about suspicious people, hit and runs, and even lost dogs.  When I came across this app I thought it was one of the best ways to connect with your neighborhood as well as keeping everyone safe.  

Light Bright and Polite

    In chapter 3 of "Light Bright and Polite", the author talks about how important messaging is for social media marketing.  The author brings up a great point when he talks about how even thought you tweet about Christmas, you might be missing all the other holidays that occur during that timeframe.  He suggests that you plan out your posts at least a week in advance if you are the head of the social media department for your company.  He even said it was ok to retweet other people’s posts about certain things as long as its light bright and polite.  One of the things the author said that helps him is creating a social media calendar in a spreadsheet, this way you can fully plan out your posts and what you want to say.  The biggest and most important thing that one should do while posting on social media is having multiple people proof read it and make sure the post is professional.  With these tips and tricks, you will see success in social media marketing.

What is Microsoft Away?

    Most people are familiar with Microsoft office and their presentation platform known as Powerpoint. Microsoft actually has a secondary presentation platform known as Sway.  Powerpoint's main purpose is to present information in an entertaining way, but sometimes the presentation can be too hectic with the amount of information the presenter might put on their slides.  The purpose of Sway is to really get the main points across and kind of tell a story efficiently.  Microsoft created Sway to really help audiences stay focused on the presentation and entertain them.  The interface is set up in a very interesting and unique way unlike anything Microsoft has ever created.  The interface is very similar to a timeline and Microsoft made it this way so it people would feel like this has a certain flow or story to the information they want to present.   Sway is a very useful presentation platform and it is very easy to use.  Microsoft did an awesome job withe the simplicity of the platform as well as the efficiency in the way the information is presented. 

Alternatives to Powerpoint

    Powerpoint is one of the industry’s leading presentation platform, but it also costs money to use.  Instead of paying the fee to use Powerpoint, there are plenty of other powerful and integrative presentation platforms that you can use for free.  One of the easiest platforms to use is the platform created by Apple known as "Keynote".  Keynote has a very simple interface and it is very easy to master the platform.  Keynote creates wonderful looking presentations, the only down side is that you have to own an apple device to take advantage of Keynote.  If you love Microsoft Powerpoint but don't want to pay for it anymore,  the platform known as WPS Office is right up your alley.  This platform is extremely similar to powerpoint and you’ll know exactly where everything is if you are used to using Powerpoint.  It is free to use but the only drawback is that it is add supported.  You are forced to view small adds every once in a while in order to create the presentations that you want for free.  Overall, There are many presentation platforms out there that are great and free to use, your choice just comes down to wether or not you want to pay to create. a presentation.  

How to Make a Proper Business Powerpoint

    Presentations for business are very important and you never want to blow your chance with your boss because of a terrible presentation.  The first tip is to stop using clip art.  Clip art is outdated and Powerpoint gives you very appealing designs and templates for inserting pictures.  You want to use pictures to grab the attention of your audience but you never want the pictures to be too overwhelming to the point they are distracting to everyone.  Another great tip is to stop using sound effects and transitions.  Both of these effects can become very distracting and non appealing to the audience.  You always want to keep it very simple and straight to the point.  One of the most important things that is stressed all the time for presentations is that you want to always keep the information on the slides very short and straight to the point.  If you have too much information on one slide, the audience will become bored and not pay attention to what you’re  trying to present to them.  The last important tip is that you always want to make sure that. your font is big enough for everyone to see.  People won't bother paying attention to the presentation if they can't even see the text on your slides.