Lydia Shenton-Smith's Blog

This week I have been working online with Emma and the other apprentices. We have covered the Digital Marketing Specialisms and have completed both the beginner and advanced Google Analytics courses and received our corresponding certificates.  Google Analytics has so many different features and tools so these courses have taken some concentration to grasp however I feel good about completing the final Google Analytics course next time. 

There has been a news story where WhatsApp will allow there to be a setting where messages will vanish after seven days. Where they say this will give  "peace of mind that conversations aren't permanent, while remaining practical so you don't forget what you were chatting about" I don't think this is a good idea as it doesn't allow for any backup of conversations and if you needed to go back for any reason, you wouldn't be able to.  This feature definitely  would not be useful for us at Arabella, as we have a WhatsApp group that all the staff use. If we needed to know the date of when something happened we would need access to the conversations way before seven days prior. 

Over the past few weeks, here at Arabella we have been extremely busy setting up our brand new premises. We have faced challenges through the move, however we are nearly settled in! This has been such a rewarding process as we begin to figure out the new dynamics between the staff in this new space. We can all work together and more closely, instead of being in between three different stores.  Now we are waiting on the exciting new drops of Spring, Summer 2021 stock to arrive! 

Here is another new Instagram feature that is currently in play in India. They are able to have an Instagram live with three guests.  We have done an Instagram live with Jianhui before who is one of our jewellery designers. This was lovely to do, especially in lockdown, as it allowed our customers to watch and get a feel for the designer himself.  I am not too sure if having three guests would benefit us greatly as the chances of us going live with multiple designers at once is very slim. However if the time ever did arise where it would be useful to go live with more people then it would be amazing to have that opportunity.  

Google is planning to create a feature called 'The Community Feed' where local businesses and Google users can make posts as well as the usual recommendations.  At Arabella, if we began updating our current Google My Business this could be a useful feature to grow and boost our Arabella Community. Adding to the amount of platforms our customers can reach out, chat and communicate.  I personally don't think that Google needs this feature, however for some businesses it could add another layer to the customer interaction.   

There is a new Instagram update coming our way! A private Instagram live feature, allowing us to have a new practice mode. This feature is one that would come in great use for our roles at Arabella.  At the moment, we are moving shops, therefore the settings in which we film our live shows has changed. Being able to complete practice runs to test new lighting and sound solutions would be helpful for us to reach the best quality for our live shows.