Monday 30 April 2018
Thursday 26 April 2018
Meet Team Sprout: Shweta, Senior Software Engineer
Sitting down with Shweta, you quickly realize that one of her of most impressive qualities is her unique ability to balance highly technical knowledge with thoughtful communication. She has a knack for taking complicated data ideas and translating them in a way that her audience can understand, whether that is another engineer or a less tech-savvy person, such as myself.
Since joining Sprout in February 2017, Shweta has used her time here to not only grow in her career, but also take on new personal challenges. She is now a city organizer for Tech Ladies Chicago, has attended her first engineering conference and is building her experience as a speaker on topics that impact women of color and women in technology. Shweta has so many fascinating stories to share and I’ve captured just a few of them below.
Name: Shweta Kapur
Department: Engineering
Started at Sprout: February 2017
What is your role at Sprout Social and can you explain what you do in one sentence?
I’m a Senior Software Engineer on the Data Ingest squad. It is difficult to boil down what I do in one sentence, but I’ll give it a shot. I am responsible for gathering data from the social networks (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and Google+) and importing it into Sprout’s platform so our customers have the data they need to view and engage with social messages.
Before we jump further into what you do, can you share a fun fact about yourself so we can get to know you a little better?
I am both a mechanical and software engineer. While I have been programming since I was a young child, it was the Mechanical and Automation Engineering program in college that initially grabbed my interest. Courses taught me about everything from engines and turbines to mechatronics and robotics. However, following an internship at a railways workshop, I realized my true passion was to be a software engineer.
I still received my undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering, but went back for a Master’s degree in Computer Science, and ultimately took my first job out of college with a software firm.
Now switching back to work, what is one aspect of your job that is unique to your role or department?
Our engineering department generally consists of squads that focus on different pillars of the Sprout product. This includes engagement, publishing and analytics. The Data Ingest squad is unique because we are not focused on a specific pillar, but rather touch every aspect of the platform.
Ultimately, for everyone else to do their jobs, we first need to ensure they have the right data. This means my role comes with a lot of responsibility and dependencies. I need to anticipate needs and stay in constant communication with other teams to ensure I am providing the most value.
What is one of you or your team’s greatest successes from the past year?
In late 2017, Facebook changed the format for private message identifiers, which impacted how different squads were going to be able to access that data within the Sprout platform. Albeit, a small change in theory, this presented a huge challenge as it required us to not only adjust how we were going to pull in future Facebook private message data, but also how we were going to retroactively update historical data to match the new identifier format.
Most importantly, the end goal was to ensure that there would be no loss of data and little to no impact to our customers as we migrated the identifiers behind the scene.
The entire project took almost three months to complete and it touched almost every aspect within the Sprout platform. While we ran into obstacles throughout the process, our cross-squad team was able to work through them all and successfully make the switch. What was most rewarding about the project was that with more than 20,000 customers, we only received one support ticket in response to the change.
What is currently at the top of your bucket list?
Traveling to Ireland. I don’t know exactly where this desire came from, but I think the scenery is absolutely beautiful and, of course, who doesn’t want to drink Baileys in Ireland. Plus, if you turn the Indian flag clockwise and remove the chakra, it is almost a replica of the Irish flag, so I’m convinced that may have something to do with it.
Do you use any specific tools or have a routine that helps you stay productive?
As a team, we practice agile engineering using Jira, a project tracking software developed by Atlassian. Within this methodology, we work in two week sprints and focus our time and efforts on priority projects that align with our goals. This allows us, as a team, to more efficiently and effectively delegate our time to priority tasks.
Personally, I use a task management app called OmniFocus. I always have so many ideas floating around my head and by using OmniFocus I can pretty much do a braindump and quickly capture and classify my thoughts in one place. It helps me organize and prioritize without having to keep it all in my head, which also frees up space for me to concentrate on what project is in front of me.
Do you work at a standing desk or seated desk? Why?
Seated desk. I find it harder to concentrate when I am standing. I also do a lot of pair programming, which is when you partner up with another team member and sit together to tackle a problem as opposed to doing it on your own. This requires a lot of back and forth conversation as well as two screens so seated desks are typically the preference among myself and my colleagues for this type of work.
Lightning round! Answer the following with whatever comes to mind first.
Q: Favorite movie?
A: Guardians of the Galaxy
Q: Go-to karaoke song?
A: I stay far away from karaoke
Q: Favorite social platform?
A: Pinterest
Q: Salty or sweet?
A: Definitely sweet
This post Meet Team Sprout: Shweta, Senior Software Engineer originally appeared on Sprout Social.
source https://sproutsocial.com/insights/meet-shweta-kapur/
Monday 23 April 2018
Thursday 19 April 2018
Wednesday 18 April 2018
Tuesday 17 April 2018
Monday 16 April 2018
Friday 13 April 2018
4 Ways Sprout Helps Agencies Win New Business
Social has shifted how agencies approach everything from community management to collaboration. A one-size-fits-all approach to winning new business no longer works.
Today the tools and platforms that you use to power your client’s social strategies and communicate success are more important than ever. And no one knows this better than the agency professionals themselves.
We recently polled our Agency Network and Twitter community to learn how Sprout has helped our partners win new clients.
1. Threefold Data-Driven Marketing
“Social has helped our clients in several ways. We use Sprout for three main tasks: customer service (engagement). listening and lead generation. Packaged together, it ladders up to data-driven marketing.”
– Shane Ketterman, Founder, Rewire Digital
2. Brand Building Through Impressions & Reach
“Most of our clients are authors and consultants, looking to build their audience to grow speaking fees, earn media appearances and build their client base. So since direct sales attributable to social/online aren’t always possible for us, we look at key metrics like inbound speaking and media requests.
To generate those, we look at client social channels as their sizzle reel. Let’s show outlets and organizers what our client can do for their audience, both in performance and content. Social’s pivot to video has made this process even easier for us and only amplified the return on our client’s investment here.”
– Jonathan Jacobs, Partner, Digital Natives Group
3. High-Volume Workflow Management
When we’re able to show how our team can handle customer care and crisis communication for Fortune 500 clients with tens of thousands of incoming messages.
— Lucas Vandenberg (@LucasVandenberg) March 8, 2018
4. Targeted Messaging
“Geo-targeted social ads to drive new customers to book reservations at winery tasting rooms. Once they’re in the tasting room, there is a high conversion rate to becoming a wine purchaser and/or new wine club member.
Social ads to support promotional wine offers coupled with email campaigns, retargeting site visitors and customers. Quick case study… in a one-day wine case sale, we increased revenue by 40% over last year with increased email marketing and introducing targeted social advertising.”
– Ashley Cummins, Senior Account Manager, Astra Digital
Interested in learning more about how social propels agencies forward? Join our Agency Network on Facebook to start collaborating and chatting about all things digital.
This post 4 Ways Sprout Helps Agencies Win New Business originally appeared on Sprout Social.
source https://sproutsocial.com/insights/sprout-helps-agencies-win-new-business/
Thursday 12 April 2018
Growing Your Agency & the Power Of “No”
The agency world is a hectic, challenging, but incredibly rewarding place. Every second has significance and your client pool is a perpetual (and never dull) juggling act.
There are no signs of things slowing down anytime soon, considering the sheer volume of work associated with managing social media on behalf of clients today.
My advice for any budding agency that’s adapting to keep up and grow their offering is this: Shift your focus. Instead of chasing exponential growth, look to the bottom line. Instead of saying “yes” to every ask, start thinking about how to say “no.”
You Can’t Say Yes All the Time
It sounds counterintuitive, but saying yes to everything isn’t a sustainable methodology.
It works well in the beginning when you’re doing anything and everything to land a client and keep them around. But eventually you’re going to agree to something that you’re not prepared for and the facade of your “yes!” organization starts to crumble.
“Yes” won’t always scale. It’s an unfortunate truth when your business model is based on the notion that you exist to serve others. But today’s agencies can’t offer everything to every client.
There’s an art and a science in saying no to client asks when you need to. It’s shouldn’t be the norm, but it should be a measure you take to guarantee the success of your organization.
Establish some clarity around why you’re saying no before you jump into declining projects. When you’re approached with a new client, ask yourself: Can My Agency Provide Value to This Client?
A client comes to you because you’re the expert. It’s your job to know when what you’re able to provide doesn’t necessarily make sense for that client.
Similarly, it’s okay to acknowledge that as your agency grows not every new client will be a great fit for your business.
Focusing on what value you bring to each client can help you fully realize your core offering. Consider who your ideal client is and their needs. Zero in on what you offer and your market as specifically as possible and start to become comfortable with letting prospective clients know when your agency is not the best fit for them.
Your agency is a brand too, after all.
Revenue & Growth Aren’t Always Synonymous
Growth is what you want, but at the end of the day your eye should be on revenue.
Slow down and take in the position of your agency—if the revenue is coming in then you can steady your roll and not worry so much about ostensible growth. It should never just be about growing exponentially, it should be about doing right by the clients you have and protecting the quality of what you have to offer.
That isn’t to say that being more selective in your commitments and focusing on the bottom line means your agency isn’t growing. It’s a different perspective of success. Make smart choices and invest where it counts.
Expand Your Value
You’ve established your value and have been more selective about your commitments, but you are growing. Some agencies dive right in to scaling their clientbase without establishing the manpower and the resources to do so effectively, but there’s a big jump between delivering your best work to one client and delivering your best work to several clients.
And agency life means long hours, high pressure and deadlines—you can’t afford to dive in without some structure.
Once your team hits a certain size, you’ll realize it’s important to add a level of middle management so not all team members are reporting directly to you. This makes it clear for every team member that there’s a strategy in place and each individual can understand how they fit into that plan.
Don’t be afraid to pivot. For an agency that’s scaling, it’s important to know when it’s appropriate to push people and take them to their max vs. when to move on and hire new talent. There will always be problems to solve in this business. If you aren’t creating new problems, then you likely aren’t growing.
You want to grow your agency and provide exceptional services to your clients. Agency partner programs give you that advantage.
Partnering up can establish a backbone of support, resources and ensures that you can focus on delivering quality work, instead of getting stuck in the weeds with the tactical details of scaling.
Building and scaling an agency is an ongoing conversation with no single answer to success.
In the end, it doesn’t come down to what you want, it comes down to what your work for.
Growth requires you to put your agency’s core offering and unique story at the center of your strategies and to activate a team, tools, partner agencies, as well as a client base that will help you reach your own goals.
This post Growing Your Agency & the Power Of “No” originally appeared on Sprout Social.
source https://sproutsocial.com/insights/growing-your-agency/
Wednesday 11 April 2018
Tuesday 10 April 2018
Monday 9 April 2018
Thursday 5 April 2018
Wednesday 4 April 2018
Tuesday 3 April 2018
#SproutChat Calendar: Upcoming Topics for April
Spring is officially here! What better time to brush up on your social skills? Set some time aside for yourself this month to get some professional development in and join #SproutChat on Twitter to learn about a new social media topic or share best practices about one you’re an expert in.
This month at #SproutChat we’ll be covering an array of topics—everything from visual marketing to paid social media to nailing customer care.
Whether you’re well into your career or a novice in social, there’s something for everyone this month.
Wednesday, April 4
“Pay to play” is a commonly referenced phrase in social media marketing, but how do get started with this marketing tactic? Special guest, Amelia Tran, joins the chat to share insights on which platforms will benefit your brand with paid support and how to get started putting dollars behind your posts.
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Wednesday, April 11
When you’re a brand on social, it’s important to have your customer care strategy on point. This week at #SproutChat, we’ll be joined by Sprout All Star, Alison Massie, of Zendesk to talk about the necessary steps to take in creating a top notch social customer care strategy.
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Wednesday, April 18
What’s the best way to connect with your audience and create community for your brand? Live video. Take your audiences behind the scenes and show them a different side of your brand. Participants in this week’s chat should gain insights on how to go live on various social platforms.
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Wednesday, April 25
Thinking of ways to engage with your audience on Instagram in a way thats successful for your brand? Take your efforts to the next level and discuss best practices for marketing on Instagram this week at #SproutChat. We’ll cover features that you can tap into and get the wheels turning on your next Instagram campaign.
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This post #SproutChat Calendar: Upcoming Topics for April originally appeared on Sprout Social.
source https://sproutsocial.com/insights/sproutchat-calendar-april-2018/