MARKETING
6 Important Skills For Remote Job Seekers
Employees are quitting their 9 – 5 jobs for remote jobs that pay more and also allow them to spend more time on things they like.
The COVID-19 pandemic which took the world by surprise has made companies begin to think that the future of work is remote. So both companies and job seekers are beginning to adapt to it.
According to a report, 16% of companies around the globe are fully remote, while 62% of workers aged 22 to 65 claim they work remotely at least occasionally.
However, working remotely isn’t easy. There are skills you need to develop as a remote job seeker to fit in properly. Even companies that will hire you will test you to see if you possess these skills.
In this article, you will discover 6 of them and why you need them to make the best out of your remote job.
Who Is A Remote Job Seeker?
A remote job seeker is someone that wants a job that allows them to work from anywhere around the world. Such persons are interested in something other than jobs that require them to be at the physical office or get a work visa.
They are after jobs they can do from the comfort of their homes with smart devices and internet connection. The aim is to work at their own pace, earn more, and be free to attend to other things they care about.
Why Do Remote Job Seekers Need Skills?
Companies that hire remote workers want to be sure you are equal to the task. You can confirm this on job blogs, and job boards where companies list the skills they want from remote job seekers.
Keep in mind that nobody monitors you, unlike in a physical office. So you need skills that will prepare you to deliver on the job to meet the yearnings of your clients and employers.
Let’s look at the skills.
1. Comfort With Using Digital Tools
High-paying remote jobs will require you to know how to use digital tools. By this, I don’t mean your smartphone or computer, but rather software, tools, and programs that ensure you deliver a quality job. Many companies have their virtual meetings on Zoom or Google Meet.
You should be conversant with these tools and their features. For example, you may be asked to share your screen in a Zoom meeting to evaluate and appraise the job you have done so far.
It could also be that you’re to co-host a webinar, and make presentations using a whiteboard for illustration.
Interestingly, you can learn how to use all these tools on your own for free. Some of these tools have free trials and free plans. Sign up and play around with them to understand their features and how to use them in meetings and webinars.
2. Communication Skills
Video and phone conferencing, and exchanging emails, are key ways of connecting with your colleagues remotely to deliver on a project. And they require that you have communication skills. During video and phone calls, you should know how to make contributions, ask questions, and take feedback.
Verbal and non-verbal are two types of communication skills that are key in remote jobs. Verbal involves the tone of your voice, while non-verbal involves facial expressions and eye contact. All of these come to play during video conferencing.
For emails and text messages, learn how to respond, showing your understanding of the content. Consider the time when you want to email your team for an urgent response. Keep in mind, they are likely to be in different locations with different time zones.
3. Ability To Work Independently
Remote work isn’t like an on-site job, where you sit next to your colleagues and work dependently. It requires you to develop the ability to work independently without relying on the support of another person. Of course, nobody is there to hold you by the hand, and you’re expected to meet deadlines.
To develop this skill, take remote internship programs when you see one. Though some companies that are open to this pay little or nothing, it’s a way of building yourself to work self-sufficiently on a given task.
The benefits are numerous. You increase your focus on a given task, which helps you meet up with deadlines. You can work at your own pace, knowing that you can handle any task anytime without waiting for someone to help you.
4. Self-motivation
Motivation is key to boosting your productivity. It’s a fact that there will be times when you will feel down and find it hard to concentrate.
But what do you do when the manager you work under won’t be there physically to motivate you?
You’ve to motivate yourself.
While it’s hard, there are ways you can do it. Celebrating your wins is one of them. Say your manager commended you via email for the latest job you completed. It’s enough to boost your morale and get you motivated. Another is not to overthink tasks you think are tedious. Breaking them into bite-sized goals is the way to motivate yourself to get them done.
5. Cybersecurity Awareness
When you are working remotely, you make use of your smart devices and internet connection. Scammers who want to gain access to sensitive details are always ready to attack you at any opportunity.
That’s why you have to be cybersecurity conscious. This is a skill you must possess to keep safe, otherwise, you can cost damage to the company you work for.
A good approach is to lock up your home office to prevent unauthorized access. Another is to avoid public internet connection. If you must, use a VPN to protect your activities. Create strong passwords and use 2-factor authentication if possible. You may consider taking free cybersecurity courses on platforms like Udemy and Alison.
6. Time Management
One advantage of remote work is that you have control over your time. And one tends not to plan with time, which leads to not meeting up with deadlines. Learning how to manage your time is an important skill. Have your remote work schedule and keep to it.
Know when to spend time with family and when to lock up yourself in a corner to complete your task. Consistency with completing jobs before the deadline is a work ethic that can make your employer increase your pay or offer you more perks.
Conclusion
Landing that high-paying remote job will be a mirage if you don’t possess the skills that will make it happen. Keep in mind that you will do trial tasks to confirm you have these skills before companies hire you. We’ve shown you 6 of them in this guide. It’s up to you to start learning them now, so you won’t be taken unawares.
MARKETING
YouTube Ad Specs, Sizes, and Examples [2024 Update]
Introduction
With billions of users each month, YouTube is the world’s second largest search engine and top website for video content. This makes it a great place for advertising. To succeed, advertisers need to follow the correct YouTube ad specifications. These rules help your ad reach more viewers, increasing the chance of gaining new customers and boosting brand awareness.
Types of YouTube Ads
Video Ads
- Description: These play before, during, or after a YouTube video on computers or mobile devices.
- Types:
- In-stream ads: Can be skippable or non-skippable.
- Bumper ads: Non-skippable, short ads that play before, during, or after a video.
Display Ads
- Description: These appear in different spots on YouTube and usually use text or static images.
- Note: YouTube does not support display image ads directly on its app, but these can be targeted to YouTube.com through Google Display Network (GDN).
Companion Banners
- Description: Appears to the right of the YouTube player on desktop.
- Requirement: Must be purchased alongside In-stream ads, Bumper ads, or In-feed ads.
In-feed Ads
- Description: Resemble videos with images, headlines, and text. They link to a public or unlisted YouTube video.
Outstream Ads
- Description: Mobile-only video ads that play outside of YouTube, on websites and apps within the Google video partner network.
Masthead Ads
- Description: Premium, high-visibility banner ads displayed at the top of the YouTube homepage for both desktop and mobile users.
YouTube Ad Specs by Type
Skippable In-stream Video Ads
- Placement: Before, during, or after a YouTube video.
- Resolution:
- Horizontal: 1920 x 1080px
- Vertical: 1080 x 1920px
- Square: 1080 x 1080px
- Aspect Ratio:
- Horizontal: 16:9
- Vertical: 9:16
- Square: 1:1
- Length:
- Awareness: 15-20 seconds
- Consideration: 2-3 minutes
- Action: 15-20 seconds
Non-skippable In-stream Video Ads
- Description: Must be watched completely before the main video.
- Length: 15 seconds (or 20 seconds in certain markets).
- Resolution:
- Horizontal: 1920 x 1080px
- Vertical: 1080 x 1920px
- Square: 1080 x 1080px
- Aspect Ratio:
- Horizontal: 16:9
- Vertical: 9:16
- Square: 1:1
Bumper Ads
- Length: Maximum 6 seconds.
- File Format: MP4, Quicktime, AVI, ASF, Windows Media, or MPEG.
- Resolution:
- Horizontal: 640 x 360px
- Vertical: 480 x 360px
In-feed Ads
- Description: Show alongside YouTube content, like search results or the Home feed.
- Resolution:
- Horizontal: 1920 x 1080px
- Vertical: 1080 x 1920px
- Square: 1080 x 1080px
- Aspect Ratio:
- Horizontal: 16:9
- Square: 1:1
- Length:
- Awareness: 15-20 seconds
- Consideration: 2-3 minutes
- Headline/Description:
- Headline: Up to 2 lines, 40 characters per line
- Description: Up to 2 lines, 35 characters per line
Display Ads
- Description: Static images or animated media that appear on YouTube next to video suggestions, in search results, or on the homepage.
- Image Size: 300×60 pixels.
- File Type: GIF, JPG, PNG.
- File Size: Max 150KB.
- Max Animation Length: 30 seconds.
Outstream Ads
- Description: Mobile-only video ads that appear on websites and apps within the Google video partner network, not on YouTube itself.
- Logo Specs:
- Square: 1:1 (200 x 200px).
- File Type: JPG, GIF, PNG.
- Max Size: 200KB.
Masthead Ads
- Description: High-visibility ads at the top of the YouTube homepage.
- Resolution: 1920 x 1080 or higher.
- File Type: JPG or PNG (without transparency).
Conclusion
YouTube offers a variety of ad formats to reach audiences effectively in 2024. Whether you want to build brand awareness, drive conversions, or target specific demographics, YouTube provides a dynamic platform for your advertising needs. Always follow Google’s advertising policies and the technical ad specs to ensure your ads perform their best. Ready to start using YouTube ads? Contact us today to get started!
MARKETING
Why We Are Always ‘Clicking to Buy’, According to Psychologists
Amazon pillows.
MARKETING
A deeper dive into data, personalization and Copilots
Salesforce launched a collection of new, generative AI-related products at Connections in Chicago this week. They included new Einstein Copilots for marketers and merchants and Einstein Personalization.
To better understand, not only the potential impact of the new products, but the evolving Salesforce architecture, we sat down with Bobby Jania, CMO, Marketing Cloud.
Dig deeper: Salesforce piles on the Einstein Copilots
Salesforce’s evolving architecture
It’s hard to deny that Salesforce likes coming up with new names for platforms and products (what happened to Customer 360?) and this can sometimes make the observer wonder if something is brand new, or old but with a brand new name. In particular, what exactly is Einstein 1 and how is it related to Salesforce Data Cloud?
“Data Cloud is built on the Einstein 1 platform,” Jania explained. “The Einstein 1 platform is our entire Salesforce platform and that includes products like Sales Cloud, Service Cloud — that it includes the original idea of Salesforce not just being in the cloud, but being multi-tenancy.”
Data Cloud — not an acquisition, of course — was built natively on that platform. It was the first product built on Hyperforce, Salesforce’s new cloud infrastructure architecture. “Since Data Cloud was on what we now call the Einstein 1 platform from Day One, it has always natively connected to, and been able to read anything in Sales Cloud, Service Cloud [and so on]. On top of that, we can now bring in, not only structured but unstructured data.”
That’s a significant progression from the position, several years ago, when Salesforce had stitched together a platform around various acquisitions (ExactTarget, for example) that didn’t necessarily talk to each other.
“At times, what we would do is have a kind of behind-the-scenes flow where data from one product could be moved into another product,” said Jania, “but in many of those cases the data would then be in both, whereas now the data is in Data Cloud. Tableau will run natively off Data Cloud; Commerce Cloud, Service Cloud, Marketing Cloud — they’re all going to the same operational customer profile.” They’re not copying the data from Data Cloud, Jania confirmed.
Another thing to know is tit’s possible for Salesforce customers to import their own datasets into Data Cloud. “We wanted to create a federated data model,” said Jania. “If you’re using Snowflake, for example, we more or less virtually sit on your data lake. The value we add is that we will look at all your data and help you form these operational customer profiles.”
Let’s learn more about Einstein Copilot
“Copilot means that I have an assistant with me in the tool where I need to be working that contextually knows what I am trying to do and helps me at every step of the process,” Jania said.
For marketers, this might begin with a campaign brief developed with Copilot’s assistance, the identification of an audience based on the brief, and then the development of email or other content. “What’s really cool is the idea of Einstein Studio where our customers will create actions [for Copilot] that we hadn’t even thought about.”
Here’s a key insight (back to nomenclature). We reported on Copilot for markets, Copilot for merchants, Copilot for shoppers. It turns out, however, that there is just one Copilot, Einstein Copilot, and these are use cases. “There’s just one Copilot, we just add these for a little clarity; we’re going to talk about marketing use cases, about shoppers’ use cases. These are actions for the marketing use cases we built out of the box; you can build your own.”
It’s surely going to take a little time for marketers to learn to work easily with Copilot. “There’s always time for adoption,” Jania agreed. “What is directly connected with this is, this is my ninth Connections and this one has the most hands-on training that I’ve seen since 2014 — and a lot of that is getting people using Data Cloud, using these tools rather than just being given a demo.”
What’s new about Einstein Personalization
Salesforce Einstein has been around since 2016 and many of the use cases seem to have involved personalization in various forms. What’s new?
“Einstein Personalization is a real-time decision engine and it’s going to choose next-best-action, next-best-offer. What is new is that it’s a service now that runs natively on top of Data Cloud.” A lot of real-time decision engines need their own set of data that might actually be a subset of data. “Einstein Personalization is going to look holistically at a customer and recommend a next-best-action that could be natively surfaced in Service Cloud, Sales Cloud or Marketing Cloud.”
Finally, trust
One feature of the presentations at Connections was the reassurance that, although public LLMs like ChatGPT could be selected for application to customer data, none of that data would be retained by the LLMs. Is this just a matter of written agreements? No, not just that, said Jania.
“In the Einstein Trust Layer, all of the data, when it connects to an LLM, runs through our gateway. If there was a prompt that had personally identifiable information — a credit card number, an email address — at a mimum, all that is stripped out. The LLMs do not store the output; we store the output for auditing back in Salesforce. Any output that comes back through our gateway is logged in our system; it runs through a toxicity model; and only at the end do we put PII data back into the answer. There are real pieces beyond a handshake that this data is safe.”
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