My Professional Digital Brand

Assessment task details and instructions

Please note that you need to produce a report but this has to be based on practical tasks integral to this assignment:

a)      Critically analyse one competitor website / blog and use of content and social media 

b)      Create a digital marketing strategy and optimised personal digital footprint (including profile) sufficient to apply for a job of your choice. This has to include a number of social media profiles based on your justifications and one compulsory optimised blog post.   

c)      Document your work in an Individual assessment report which should include (see next page):

1.      Analysis

2.      Plan

3.      Implementaton (Combination of work done in sections 1 & 2)

The topic of the blog post is required to be focussed on:

How my time at Salford Business School has prepared me for a career in X* for the Post Covid World

*X is to be your career of choice. 

Individual Assessment Report structure:

Part A:  Analysis 50 marks:

       This should include identification of at least three main social media trends during this Covid-19 pandemic, providing narrative on notable changes to consumer behaviour by analysing the benefits, problems and challenges faced by businesses in using various social media marketing communication tools within complex global environments. 

       You must conduct a Search and Social Media Marketing analysis for the latest recruitment trends, notable changes in consumer/professional online behaviour and those key skills and attributes that are desired by potential employers, in the area where you would like to work/provide services for. Identify the keywords for main industry specific skills

       This should also include identification of a minimum of three key influencers and individuals who would make employment/hiring decisions or help in your application process

       Identify top ten of your competitors. You should conduct a thorough evaluation of their strengths and weaknesses in terms of their use of professional social media profiles how often do they engage? What are their forms of engagement? What can you learn from their behaviour using social media profiles analysis tools and techniques? From this list, you must identify one competitor website/blog in your chosen field of preferred employment and undertake a comprehensive review of their site ie keywords, images, video etc.

       Based on your analysis, identify the strengths and weaknesses and provide narrative on how you plan to utliise for you own individul website/blog. Develop your personal benchmarks that you would like to attain within the given time and set up monitoring processes

This section should include: literature review (at least five references to relevant academic research articles, reports and books) of latest thinking on keyword research methods and analysis methods of social media influencers. A tabular extract from Keyword Research. A tabular justification of keywords selected, screen shots of current competitors ranking for your primary keyword terms. You can use different tools such as Google Keyword research tool, Google Trends, Google Insights for Search etc.

For social media profiles analysis, you could select main profiles and evaluate the frequency of their engagement as well as the top networks and the type of information produced and consumed.

Part B: Plan 25 marks:

Based on your analysis,

       You must produce a Search and Social Media Marketing strategy (SSMM) for 12 months

       A practical SSMM plan that identifies you as an individual who is looking for to establish a career in this field and therefore become a recognisable brand

       This would include your online profile development with a view to being identified by employers as their preferred candidate of businesses who might be interested working with you – if for example you are planning to be self-employed etc

This section should include: –

Literature review (at least five references to relevant academic research articles, reports and books) on digital strategy development and thinking of legal and ethical implications of you being online.

Map out your target audience and how you will target particular networks and groups to channel your overall communications.

Your long-term plan or strategy what it is that you want to be known for and how this will help you in your future career.

Key SMART objectives – for your strategy implementation – using the Specific, Measurable, Achievable Realistic and Time bound indicators. These can be justified with industry benchmarks or examples of other profiles that you are using as a template or guide for your personal identity.

Critically justify the selection of specific Social Media Services. For example, if you choose Twitter how will it help your employment or business development? If you have chosen LinkedIn why have you joined it and how do you link it to Twitter if at all and why?

A Gantt chart – indicating the main tasks you will be engaged in to implement your SSMM plan with clear starting dates and it should start with the day the assignment was handed out and end in a year.

Risk Assessment outline the main risks, their potential impact and how you are going to monitor and mitigate these.

Part C: Practical plan implementation 25 marks:

       Your digital marketing strategy – As part of this process you have to implement your plan, an aspect of which has to be at least one optimised blog post, which will allow you to be noticed by the industry. Consider creating a profile on free platforms such as www.wordpress.com which allows you to install and customise a WordPress blog. Please show evidence of amplification and link.

       Key criteria for your assessment is the development of a digital marketing strategy focusing on content/messaging and implementation of as many SSMM techniques as appropriate for your Search Engine Results Page (SERP) positioning. For example, how you have approached search engine optimisation, social media (including video, audio, etc.) or mobile opportunities. The more of your profiles you manage to rank on the first three pages, the higher your chances of being noticed. The keyword for the SERP positioning is your first and last name for example Mirage Islam. At least one other primary keyword for which you have to optimise your profiles is that related to the industry that you have identified in your plan

       Based on your self-assessment you should draw conclusions on your performance and reflect how your profile could be improved (self-assessment form has to be included in the submission)

This section should include: –

Based on your plan (primary and secondarykeywords) demonstrate how you put the theory into practice by developing andoptimising your profile using appropriate online channels.

Screenshots of SERPS before and after youhave started your project highlighting your digital identities and explaininghow this will benefit you in the long term.

Screenshots of your different profiles andindication of how you have used your keyword research to optimise on-page andoff-page assets. For example, how you wrote your Twitter profile descriptionand used the primary keyword in the choice of your user name and linking toyour other online properties.

If you are using LinkedIn how you completedyour professional profile and how you identified the relevant user discussiongroups etc.

For the blog post you could take a screenshot and highlight in the code the positions of your keywords and theirimportance in helping you to rank for a particular keyword.

Self and Peer assessment.

(Total: 100 marks)

Assessed intended learning outcomes

Onsuccessful completion of this assessment, you will be able to:

Knowledge and Understanding.

1. Critically discuss the evolution ofonline marketing strategies and the latest trends and practices.

2. Critically discuss and evaluate websitesbased on their search and social media optimisation and digital presence.

3. Critically evaluate the principles andprocesses involved in developing integrated marketing communications, includingthe impact of technology and other environmental influences on marketingcommunications and the media.

4. Analyse the benefits, problems andchallenges faced by businesses in using various social media marketingcommunication tools within complex global environments.

5. Critically evaluate the principles andprocesses involved in developing integrated marketing communications, includingthe impact of technology and other environmental influences on marketingcommunications and the media.

6. Develop a digital marketing strategyfocusing on content/message leading to media/channel and tracking/measurementof implementation.

.

Self and Peer assessment

(Total: 100 marks)