Fresh Content: Six Months On

This week marks the start of my sixth month working with the Fresh Content team.

It would be super cliche to suggest that the time has flown by... but it really has.

Leaving Birmingham City University after finishing my degree was a promising, albeit slightly frightening, time! I set myself the goal of securing a job by Christmas time. I aimed to apply for everything related to my degree and interests until September and if I had no luck by then, it would be time to widen the search and look for any form of employment. There's bills to pay, after all!

After just my second interview, I secured employment with Fresh Content in September 2013. Getting the call that Friday afternoon was a fantastic way to start my last weekend of being unemployed!

Fast forward six months and I've had some of the most fantastic opportunities to put my skills and education to the test, some great challenges to handle and a lot of fun along the way.

From working on the first Digital Marketing Show, to managing content for the Digital Marketing Magazine and writing content and managing social media platforms for clients, I've had the chance to put both aspects of my role (Event and Content Marketing Executive) into action.

It's been stressful, busy and manic at times but I've had a fantastic few months here and I look forward to the next 6 months and the exciting 2014 we have ahead of us with a move, more events and new content.

You can follow us on Twitter and or follow my professional account for more updates throughout the year.

Have you recently started a job? What have been your best bits so far? Share below!

3 Free Online Tools to Help your Business in 2014

As business heads increasingly online, we should be looking to the internet as a tool to help business productivity and practices this year. There’s an abundance of platforms, systems and tools out there to help any-size business from small to large.

Here are 3 key tools that we think every business should be using in 2014:

Social Media Management Tools

When you’re busy with your business, the last thing you need to be worrying about is if you’ve sent that tweet or how your Facebook is looking. Social media management tools are great for businesses and organisations as they allow you to collaboratively execute campaigns across multiple social platforms from one secure, web-based dashboard.

Platforms such as Hootsuite offer great free systems (although you can opt for a paid for premium service if you want to) that are streamlined, easy to manage and straightforward. You can integrate your key social media networks such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and even Google+. Send updates, start campaigns and forget about social stress.

 ...if you want to read the rest and find out about two more great, free and online tools that can help your business this year then head over to Midas Touch to read the full article I wrote for their blog.

Midas Touch is a network for UK entrepreneurs and business owners. Running your own business is likely to be the most challenging thing you do, so it is their aim to help make things a little bit easier. What's more, membership is free!

Have you found any fantastic free online tools that have helped your business be more organised and productive? Share them by commenting below!