The, Race, And Gender - 1512 Words

Sometimes people find themselves trapped between the lesser of two evils, struggle with which to identify with. These â€Å"choices† though not really choices at all, are given to people everyday and we are forced to suffer or benefit from the consequences of each choice. Now, these are choices that we, ourselves didn’t even pick ourselves, but rather the accident of birth and genetics chose for us before we were even ourselves. The choices I speak about here are the ways in which people deal with intersecting realms of class, race, and gender. Some say that we lose a part of ourselves when we attempt to change how people perceive our class or race, but can we truly change who we are? And do we lose a part of ourselves by trying to be something else? One could fit into a multitude of different labels, and they will have to adjust their persona for each one. For example, a person could be a woman which already relegates them to lesser than a man, or so our society and hi story says. That woman could then be a race other than white, which drops her even lower, and she didn’t choose either of those â€Å"adversities†. On the flip side, one could have been born into the world being a white male with wealthy parents. This male will not have to face the same struggles as the non-white female. Though there will still be struggles for the male, those struggles will still be different than the non-white female. Oppression isn’t a competition, but the fact that non-white, non-male persons haveShow MoreRelatedRace And Gender And Race1409 Words   |  6 PagesThe idea of race and gender is an idea that has been socially constructed. Society has created roles for race and gender, they are determined by what society thinks is appropriate for the gender or race. Some people argue that certain behavior roles are based on gender where as others may believe that it is based on race. I will first discuss how in today’s society we promote to stop racism yet it is still happening everyday, and people are just blind to see it. Creating a role for race is racism,Read MoreGender And Race And Gender889 Words   |  4 PagesGender and Race What is gender and how is it defined? Gender and its definition have been argued over for decades, by the religious, scientific and civilian community. Everyone has created their own definition and their opinion on how to define gender. From a nonscientific perspective, gender is defined by society, which is based on anatomy and basic aesthetics. Determining an individual’s gender based on their anatomy was the common practice in western society since the early 1950’s when televisionRead MoreThe, Gender, And Race1292 Words   |  6 PagesIntersectionality is the practice (law) of looking at the overlap of a gender and race regarding an individual. In most practices before intersectionality it was common practice in law to group a gender together or an one race together in belief that they all had the same struggle and searched for the same outcome. Which was misguided and instead of handling one gender or race for instance (black people as a whole) looking at someone s gender and race as a package (black women not just all women). This new practiceRead MoreRace and Gender1803 Words   |  8 Pagescolor. Those who want to dismiss the notion of the social construction of race normally do so due to their inherent bias to attribute dysfunctional behavior in minority communities due to a racial makeup instead of addressing more systemic problems that plague these communities. Countless studies reveal that lower income people of all groups tend to follow the same negative trajectory. Racism is the belief that one race or culture is superior to another, regardless of biological evidence that negatesRead MoreRace, Class And Gender1032 Words   |  5 Pages IN WHAT WAYS DO RACE, CLASS AND GENDER SHAPE PRACTICES AND EXPERIENCES IN PRISON? DRAW ON THEORIES AND EXAMPLES/CASE STUDIES TO SUPPORT YOUR CASE. OVERVIEW This essay will explore how race, class and gender shapes practices and experiences in prison. Firstly, a discussion of prison in general is necessary. In other words, what constitutes prisons, its aims and objectives and prison culture (Reeves, 2015). Currently there are 38,845 prisoners in Australia (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2016)Read MoreClass, Gender, And Race1083 Words   |  5 PagesClass, Gender, and Race in To Kill A Mockingbird: Is Mayella Powerful? In the book â€Å"To Kill A Mockingbird†, Mayella Ewell is the conflict of the story. To challenge herself to see if she is powerful based on class, gender, and race. Mayella is powerful due to her race; however, she would not be powerful due to her class and gender. One might think she is powerful over all; however, she does not have power in the eyes of some readers. Proceeding on to see if Mayella has power in race. Mayella EwellRead MoreRace, Ethnicity, And Gender783 Words   |  4 PagesRace, ethnicity, and gender has been a significant topic discussed throughout many years. However, it can has its negative cognectation because people feel superior to other people due to their race, ethnicity, social class and gender. There are many philosophical theories that relate to these discussion such as white gaze, one drop rule, and five faces of oppression. Moreover, these theories also applies to my ethnicity which is Dominican. Even though race is not a real concept, due to the factRead MoreGender, Race, And Class957 Words   |  4 Pagesafforded by primarily white, rich males. The media in the United States has made a lot of progress towards showing gender and racial equality on TV but America still has a long way to go. As of 2015 white men still have a patriarchal ranking in media compared to women and minorities. This essay will be discussing how intersectionality, such as gender, race, and class, play a key part in gender roles in TV media today. Luxury is the main focus in Volvo Cars US’ commercial for their new Volvo XC90; butRead MoreThe Prejudice Of Race And Gender1365 Words   |  6 Pagesthe same time it was the only way to get by and get ahead by complying. The narrative is a powerful representation of social conflict that existed during the 1930’s and 1940’s and is portrayed by the discrimination of race and gender. In this analysis you will see how race and gender are associated and how sometimes the combination can constrain one another. In this society the narrator and all his schoolmates are seen as lower than the â€Å"big shots† and when the narrator goes to give his speech forRead MoreRace, Gender, And Class1501 Words   |  7 Pages How did race, gender or class evolve in America in economic and social terms? Was race or class most important in shaping Colonial America and how do they interact today? Has the very idea of Class become almost synonymous with race (or ethnicity)? I would like to begin my research about immigration from what is was back in the day until modern times. Immigrants play such an important role in American History. People from different countries arrive to â€Å"The New World†, searching

Psychological Criticism Of The Cask Of Amontillado

Lillianna Pinnock Professor Sheridan 7 December 2017 Research Paper Edgar Allan Poe: The Cask of Amontillado Psychoanalysis is the search for evidence for unresolved emotions, psychological conflicts, and whatever else may be hidden in perplexing literary works. Psychoanalytic criticism showcases what has been suppressed by the author’s conscious mind. The author’s sexual conflicts, family life, childhood traumas will be camouflaged in symbolism. One story that lends itself particularly well to this form of criticism is The Cask of Amontillado and throughout the story there are various literary elements that play a major role. Poe’s The Cask of Amontillado is a chilling tale of revenge told from the perspective of a demented narrator†¦show more content†¦What could drive someone to commit an act as unfathomably cruel as burying another person alive, many readers wonder. Although the answer to this question has escaped readers for centuries, an application of Freudian psychology helps to unearth some answers. Freudian psychology subscribes to the notion that the subconscious –the part of our brain that, unbeknownst to us, controls many of our behaviors–is divided into multiple parts. Montresor is the protagonist in The Cask of Amontillado. He would be an anti-hero or quite possibly the villain protagonist. Fortunato would be the antagonist. Since Montresor was the narrator, very little information was given in regards to Fortunato. In the beginning , when Fortunato is first introduced into the story, he is dressed like a fool. Fortunato’s addiction to wine led him to vul nerable to Montresor’s compelling offer of the Amontillado. The setting of The Cask of Amontillado factors into the criticism. The beginning setting describes the carnival. A place of â€Å"supreme madness†(Poe 2) was in full swing. Reading on the setting grows darker, damper, and colder. As they journey through the catacomb, Montresor and Fortunato move into smaller and smaller—and fouler and fouler—spaces. This suggest that, as they move father away from open air, they are alsoShow MoreRelatedPsychological Criticism Of The Cask Of Amontillado1134 Words   |  5 PagesThe Cask Of Amontillado Human beings naturally have a limitation of patience. When that limit is being put to the test a friend may easily be seen as a foe. A foe that might unknowingly be facing their untimely demise. In the story â€Å" The Cask of Amontillado† written by Edgar Allan Poe, the character Montresor has been supposedly wronged by Fortunato. Causing Montresor to contrive a plan to kill Fortunato. Through the story we are given the perspective of Montresor, whose character changes fromRead MoreThe Cask Of Amontillado By Edgar Allan Poe1575 Words   |  7 PagesIs there anything that someone could do to you that would cause you to commit murder? Could you get away with it? Montresor is the murderous narrator who has committed the perfect murder in just such a tale, â€Å"The Cask of Amontillado.† Montresor plots and kills an unwary friend/foe during carnival time for motives that are unclear. The author of this tale, Edgar Allan Poe, influenced by his somewhat tragic life and o ne of the most influential Gothic writers, uses symbolism and irony to show the multitudeRead MoreComparing Fall of the House of Usher and The Cask of Amontillado1299 Words   |  5 Pages Introduction The Fall of the House of Usher and The Cask of Amontillado are two of Edgar Allan Poes most well-known and noteworthy stories. This paper compares and contrasts the two stories and provides and outline as well. The Fall of the House of Usher is based on terror just as The Cask of Amontillado (hereafter called Cask) is based on terror but there are many different components that Poe uses that contrast with the Cask, and they will be pointed out. According to Brett ZimmermanRead MoreThe Cask Of Amontillado By Edgar Allan Poe1303 Words   |  6 PagesIn Edgar Allan Poe’s â€Å"The Cask of Amontillado,† the narrator recalls an extremely significant time in his life, and takes the reader along with him. Throughout the story, one experiences a perfectly planned murder which took place over fifty years ago, and still no one has discovered what truly happened to poor Fortunato as he was chained to a wall in a room that was then closed off, and torched to death due to all the nitre in the walls. As the story goes on, the reader can see some of Poe’s unfortunateRead MoreThe Final Days of Edgar Allan Poe by Roger Francis 1732 Words   |  7 Pagesoften show signs of mental insta bility, like the old man in â€Å"The Tell-Tale Heart† and Montressor in â€Å"The Cask of Amontillado†. Since tragedy was prominent throughout Poe’s life, his work reflects the darkness ingrained by continuously being faced with adversity. Poe’s mental stability also comes into question when analyzing his works. The use of his unreliable narrators and their psychological issues present the questions of Poe’s own mental capacity. Because of the tragedy that occurred in Poe’sRead More Motication for Premiditated Murder Essay1612 Words   |  7 Pagesâ€Å"The transformation of a psychological obsession into an aesthetic principal earned Poe his reputation as a principle innovator of the 19th century short fiction† (May). Edgar Allen Poe’s gruesome style of writing used connects him, and raises the social issue of motivation for murder within our jury trials. This is a widespread process of figuring out within a case in every country across the world. Motivation can be explained as the general desire to do something. â€Å"The Tell Tale Heart†, by EdgarRead MoreThe Cask Of Amontillado By Edgar Alan Poe1074 Words   |  5 Pages Edgar Alan Poe s short story The Cask of Amontillado is the typical example on how revenge can cause a man to murder without a conscious. This shouldn’t be anything new to someone is versed in Edgar Alan Po’s literature because he is best known for his tales of mystery and macabre. Merriam-Webster definition of Macabre can be described as, â€Å"having death as a subject: comprising or including a personalized representation of death †. It can be said the character Monstresor has revenge saturatingRead More Poes The Cask of Amontillado: A Psychological Analysis of Characters1226 Words   |  5 PagesPoes The Cask of Amontillado: A Psychological Analysis of Characters Widely regarded as E. A. Poes finest story, The Cask of Amontillado depicts a deed so horrific that for many it defines evil. Edmund Clarence Stedman said of Poes writings: He strove by a kind of divination to put his hand upon the links of mind and matter, and reach the hiding-places of the soul. Even though 20th century theories of psychology would not be formulated until many years after Poes death, he neverthelessRead More Comparison Between â€Å"The Cask of Amontillado† and â€Å"The Tell-Tale Heart†2120 Words   |  9 Pagesâ€Å"The Cask of Amontillado† and â€Å"The Tell-Tale Heart†. Poe was infatuated with death, disfigurement, and dark characteristics of the world. He could mix characters, setting, theme,and mood in a way that readers are automatically drawn into reading. Both of these short stories have the same major aspects in common. The narrators in both works prove to be similar in several ways. In â€Å"The Tell-Tale Heart† the story is told through a psycho narrator; both stories contain apparent psychological imbalancesRead MoreEdgar Allan Poe And The Cask Of Amontillado1384 Words   |  6 PagesWhat makes Edgar Allan Poe work unique? Other than being a strange individual, Poe has become a remarkable literature writer. The Raven, Annabel Lee, and The Cask of Amontillado are just a few of Poe’s work that staples the theme of gothic literature. This essay will allow you to see the gothic elements Edgar Allan Poe uses through his most common poems. Gothic literature has many elements which play into its definition. The actual definition is a style of writing that is characterized by elements

History gcse - Truman Doctrine and Potsdam conference free essay sample

The Potsdam conference was held in July 1945 and was the second allied inference after the defeat of Germany. Roosevelt had died and had been replaced by Truman, who was aggressively anti-communist and Churchill had lost the 1945 election, Stalin being the only leader remaining the same. Harry Truman, the president of USA was much more suspicious of Stalin than his predecessor, Roosevelt. So, at Potsdam, the tensions below the surface at Yalta about Eastern Europe and reparations came out into open disagreement as Truman and Attlee had different ideologies to the previous leaders.America had recently developed the atomic bomb and wanted to impose authority over the USSR, but Truman did not inform Stalin about this, leading Stalin to become furious as he had believed he had been tricked. Britain and France were also not happy with the amount of reparation -? they believed that a prosperous Germany was less likely to want another war than a weak one. We will write a custom essay sample on History gcse Truman Doctrine and Potsdam conference or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Stalin had replaced the mixed communist and non-communist Polish government so that it was entirely communist.Truman was most angered by the fact that Stalin had replaced the mixed communist and non- unionism polish government so that it was entirely communist. As a result, this meeting was effectively where the problems started because Truman saw this act as posing a threat to capitalism towards the western side and the development of the atomic bomb angered Stalin as USA was effectively the superpower. However, the Truman Doctrine was more important because it was an indirect conflict between capitalism and communism during 1947.Communism had now spread into more countries in Eastern Europe and as a exult it seems more important in that the Cold War had now developed into a competition between influencing countries with communism or capitalism. The USSR was expanding quickly much to Britain and Americas distaste. The Truman Doctrine showed that America were committed to containme nt and that it was deeply keen to play the leading world role highlighting the role America was willing to play in global affairs, marking a reversal of the Aquas traditional policy of isolationism. It showed that that Truman was aggressively anti-communist; much more than the Potsdam conference. The aim of it was for USA to support any nation threatened by a communist takeover. For example the USA gave $400 million of aid to Turkey and Greece to try to stop communism spreading. A civil war had started in Greece in 1946 between the Western government and communists Truman wanted to give the government all the help he could. The Truman doctrine showed the world that communism wasnt the only option in order to regain a stable economic position and that democratic freedom had benefits too.

Stockholder Stakeholder Approaches to Corporate Social Responsibility free essay sample

An assessment of the competing claims of the stockholder stakeholder approaches to corporate social responsibility, and a look at similarities and differences of each type of approach to responsibility. This essay will discuss the competing claims of both the stockholder and the stakeholder approaches to corporate social responsibility. An explanation for corporate social responsibility will be provided and arguments will be put forward for similarities and differences in the stockholder and stakeholder approaches to this movement. Evidence to support these arguments will be provided throughout the essay. From the paper: Before discussing the competing claims, it must be understood what is meant by the term corporate social responsibility. Corporate social responsibility is just one aspect of business ethics and has become increasingly important for companies operating in the global economy. It is a fast developing and increasingly competitive field. There is no single, commonly accepted definition of corporate social responsibility but it generally refers to the idea that businesses are accountable for the effects of their actions on the community and should seek socially and economically beneficial results. We will write a custom essay sample on Stockholder Stakeholder Approaches to Corporate Social Responsibility or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page It involves operating a business in a way that meets ethical and legal standards as well as meeting public expectation. Decisions taken by managers need to satisfy the needs of the community and companies must be accountable for the way in which their results are achieved.

Hemoglobin essays

Hemoglobin essays One Of Life ¡s Great Proteins  ¡V Hemoglobin Hemoglobin is a protein, which is one of the four basic biological molecules of life. Proteins have many functions and are versatile molecules. They are important for building and repairing cells and tissues and also as enzymes that are used in catabolic processes within an organism. Hemoglobin is the main substance of the red blood cell and it helps red blood cells carry oxygen from the air in our lungs to all the parts of our body. The other three molecules of life are carbohydrates, lipids, and nucleic acids. Proteins can also be called polypeptide chains because they are made up of subunits, amino acids that are linked with peptide bonds. Since hemoglobin has such an importance to the function in our bodies it has an importance in our society as well. In order to understand how and why hemoglobin is essential one must understand the chemistry behind this molecule. There are thousands of different polypeptides due to the variety of amino acid arrangements in forming chains. Amino acids are organic compounds that have an amino group, a hydrogen atom, and a carboxyl group attached to an asymmetric carbon (a carbon that has four different groups attached to it with covalent bonds). In all amino acids these three groups are always present. It is the fourth group that always differs and makes all of the different amino acid structures. This group is known as the R group because it changes for every amino acid. There are 20 basic amino acids that are found in proteins the simplest being glycine (R group = H). See Figure 1 for a view of the amino acid structure. The number and arrangement of these amino acids is what determines different polypeptides. The carboxyl group of one amino acid bonds with the amino group of another amino acid to form a polypeptide with a peptide bond. Every amino acid can be classified as either polar or non-polar and consequently hydrophobic or hydrop...

Introduction to the Coase Theorem

Introduction to the Coase Theorem The Coase Theorem, developed by economist Ronald Coase, states that when conflicting property rights occur, bargaining between the parties involved will lead to an efficient outcome regardless of which party is ultimately awarded the property rights, as long as the transaction costs associated with bargaining are negligible. Specifically, the Coase Theorem states that if trade in an externality is possible and there are no transaction costs, bargaining will lead to an efficient outcome regardless of the initial allocation of property rights.† What Is the Coase Theorem? The Coase Theorem is most easily explained via an example. Its clear that noise pollution fits the typical definition of an externality, or a consequence of an economic activity on an unrelated third party, because noise pollution from, say, a factory, a loud garage band, or a wind turbine potentially imposes a cost on people who are neither consumers nor producers of these items. (Technically, this externality comes about because its not well defined who owns the noise spectrum.) In the case of the wind turbine, for example, its efficient to let the turbine make noise if the value of operating the turbine is greater than the noise cost imposed on those who live near it. On the other hand, its efficient to shut the turbine down if the value of operating the turbine is less than the noise cost imposed on nearby residents. Since the potential rights and desires of the turbine company and the households are clearly in conflict, its possible that the two parties will end up in court to figure out whose rights take precedence. In this instance, the court could decide that the turbine company has the right to operate at the expense of the nearby households or that the households have the right to quiet at the expense of the turbine companys operations. Coases main thesis is that the decision reached regarding the assignment of property rights has no bearing on whether the turbines continue to operate in the area as long as the parties can bargain without cost. How Does It Work in Practice? Why is this? Lets say that its efficient to have the turbines operating in the area, i.e., that the value to the company of operating the turbines is greater than the cost imposed on the households. Put another way, this means that the turbine company would be willing to pay the households more to stay in business than the households would be willing to pay the turbine company to shut down. If the court decides that the households have a right to quiet, the turbine company will probably compensate the households in exchange for letting the turbines operate. Because the turbines are worth more to the company than quiet is worth to the households, some offer will be acceptable to both parties, and the turbines will keep running. On the other hand, if the court decides that the company has the right to operate the turbines, the turbines will stay in business and no money will change hands. This is because the households arent willing to pay enough to convince the turbine company to cease operation. In summary, the assignment of rights in this example didnt affect the outcome once the opportunity to bargain was introduced, but the property rights did affect the transfers of money between the two parties. This scenario is realistic: In 2010, for example, Caithness Energy offered households near its turbines in Eastern Oregon $5,000 each not to complain about the noise that the turbines generated. Its most likely that in this scenario, the value of operating the turbines was greater to the company than the value of quiet was to the households, and it was probably easier for the company to proactively offer compensation to the households than it would have been to get the courts involved. Why Would the Coase Theorem Not Work? In practice, there are a number of reasons why the Coase Theorem may not hold (or apply, depending on context).  In some cases, the endowment effect could cause the valuations elicited in negotiation to depend on the initial allocation of property rights.  In other cases, negotiation may not be feasible either due to the number of parties involved or social conventions.

Demonstrate how people draw on social representations in making sense Essay

Demonstrate how people draw on social representations in making sense of their career trajectories. Draw on theoretical and empirical work in your response - Essay Example tremendous impact from these social representations, such as the need to conform and identify with similar groups of people, to act within the context of rule systems, and to be shaped by human relationships in our decisions. Occupational pursuits structure a large part of people’s daily social relations. How, then, does one come to choose the path of one’s career? In this paper, we will explore this very question, using the concepts of social representation and examples drawn specifically from an interview conducted with Bryony, a 19-year-old second year university student (see Appendix for interview transcript). systems of values, ideas and practices with a two-fold function; first, to establish an order which will enable individuals to orientate themselves in their material and social world and to master it; secondly, to enable communication to take place amongst members of a community by providing them with a code for social exchange and a code for naming and classifying unambiguously the various aspects of their world and their individual and group history. (Foreword) A social representation, then, is a kind of social knowledge which is shared by individuals through communication. It is practical in the sense that it is aimed at mastering real problems and issues, and is situated within unmistakable contexts faced by different groups of people in different positions. The manner in which one happens to be living ultimately directs the extent along which identities and relations unfold, and essentially defines social representation. Moscovici argues that there is a connection between the self-directed individual’s choices and his notions of the family, institutions, and professional categories, which determines possibilities for action, and eventually the destiny of each individual as well as society as a whole (International Balzan Foundation, 2006). Individuals essentially organize their experiences in the social realm, in situational dynamics

Reasearch Paper on the Book A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway Research

Reasearch on the Book A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway - Research Paper Example The work was published after Hemingway’s death and as a consequence is often considered unfinished. It was edited extensively before it was published with editors wanting the work to appear in a form which Hemingway would be proud of, rather than incomplete. It is likely that Hemingway would have written and edited the novel further had he lived. Written in simple sentences and with non-complex structure which is typical of Hemingway’s work, the book focuses on the content itself, telling a story of Hemingway as a young, often struggling, artist. Before examining the themes of the book it is important to understand how the two versions differ, as there is significant difference between the two published editions of the book. These differences can potentially blur the themes of the novel, despite the attempts of editors for both versions to stay true to Hemingway. The Restored Edition, which is the version which is being considered in this study, is an edited edition of the book which was released 45 years after the publication of the original work. The changes were made by Hemingway’s grandson, and consists of reordering of some of the stories, the restoration of some portions of the book that were cut from the original and the removal of some edits . In the forward by Sean Hemingway, he considers that the difference between the two editions is much like the differences between different versions of the Bible. There is no way of knowing what the original intent was of the author, thus both versions are different interpretations rather than one version being correct and the other not. The overarching theme of the novel which ties together the stories and the characters is that of hunger. This hunger is not just hunger in the physical sense, but also in the artistic and the emotional sense. The title of the book draws reference to this theme, suggesting that Paris itself acts in some measure to sate this hunger. Likewise, Paris can be conside red a moveable feast in the manner that the memories that are made in Paris stay with the person and influence them for the rest of their life. Paris is by many counts, a city of fantastic opportunities, of art, culture and food. Because of this, it can become a feast which one can deeply indulge in. Early in the book, the author extensively describes his physical hunger. He had given up journalism in order to focus on his art and as a consequence he had no money and little food. He spoke of the way that walking along the sidewalk one could smell the food that people were eating. He considered that being hungry was good for discipline and that it helped him to understand art. He had a clearer, sharper view when he was hungry and found that he saw beauty much clearer. At this point he is married, and hides from his wife the fact that he does not plan on eating for the day, instead telling her that he is eating out with friends. This physical hunger is not consistent across all the st ories, instead, the focus shifts to artistic and emotional senses of hunger. Throughout the stories, Hemingway wanders the city as an artist looking for inspiration and stimulation. He moves from one such event to another as if they were meals through which he is seeking to fill himself. He appears to feast on the gossip, the scandal and intrigue that surround him, using it as fuel for his writing, and for his passion.

The Microsoft Case Essay Example for Free

The Microsoft Case Essay Why was Microsoft investigated for antitrust behavior? Microsoft is a huge, established, well known computer software manufacturer. They were investigated for antitrust behavior after allegedly abusing their powerful position as the leading suppliers of computer operating systems. Microsoft developed a monopoly market structure because the software which they created was only compatible with Microsoft Windows operating systems. Back when the internet was introduced to the public, Microsoft provided Internet Explorer for free, bundled with Windows operating systems. This was a strategy to eliminate any competitors so they were obviously not perfectly competitive, therefore their case involved imperfect competition. Microsoft’s monopoly was protected by the applications barrier to entry so many competitors feared to try to enter the market. Microsoft also had the ability to increase their prices above marginal costs without losing many customers so they were the price makers, and they also had market power. With that being said, some people may say that Microsoft was a pure monopoly because they were the sole producers of the computer software market and there were no close substitutes. On the other hand, some may say that Microsoft was a natural monopoly because they earned their powerful position by over driving their free market competitors. Before Microsoft grew so big, there were some economic observers that claimed that economies of scale would give Microsoft an unassailable lead that would result in monopoly. (Economides, 2003) I agree that Microsoft was trying to gain monopoly power in the computer software industry due to all of the evidence. Microsoft totally dominated the computer software industry for which they had great strategies to do so. Monopolies can cause many negative effects on our economy such as higher prices, less jobs, it can put other companies out of business, and it can cause producers to be intimidated to enter the same industry. Monopolies can also cause productive inefficiency, allocated inefficiency, diseconomies of scale, and x inefficiency. However, a monopoly can be a good thing, especially for a business. Being the leader or the giant of a particular industry can make owners, managers, and employees feel  very secure with their company. Although a monopoly can cause overpricing, it can also cause price reduction for which would cause other companies to not be able to compete. A monopoly can also be a good thing because the high profit can be used to fund research capital investment spending. Lastly, economies of scale, international competition, and they have the power to be the price makers.

Police Brutality :: Use of Excessive Force by Police

In recent years, police actions, particularly police abuse, has come into view of a wide, public and critical eye. While citizens worry about protecting themselves from criminals, it has now been shown that they must also keep a watchful eye on those who are supposed to protect and serve. This paper will discuss the types of police abuse prevalent today, including the use of firearms and receipt of private information. I will also discuss what and how citizens' rights are taken advantage of by police. For these problems, solutions will be discussed, focusing on political reform, education, and citizen review boards. These measures are necessary to protect ourselves from police taking advantage of their positions as law enforcement officers with greater permissive rights than private citizens. Because of this significant differential, all citizens must take affirmative action from physical brutality, rights violations, and information abuse. Problems arise, however, when one side is told what to do by another, as there is bound to be conflicting viewpoints. In regard to police abuse, there will be many officers who feel that their job of fighting escalating street crime, gangs, narcotics violations, and other violent crimes is difficult already, and that worrying about excessive policy for abusive behavior will only further decrease their ability to fight crime effectively, efficiently, and safely. Citizens, however, have been caught up in this gung-ho attitude, and police are more and more often crossing the line of investigation and interrogation with abusive behavior. This abuse must be monitored so that police do not forget who they are serving--not themselves, but the public. This means that even the criminals, who are a part of the public, have certain rights, particularly, civil rights. All citizens must be aware of these rights to protect themselves against over-aggressive officers who take advantage of their pos ition as badge and gun holders to intimidate and abuse civilians for personal or departmental goals. Such conflicts have significant implications on departmental and administrative policy procedures. One of the main police abuse problems is physical brutality. The main goal here should be to get the police departments to adopt and enforce a written policy governing the use of physical force. The policy should restrict physical force to the narrowest possible range of specific situations. For example, their should be limitations on the use of hand-to-hand combat, batons, mace, stun guns, and firearms. However, limiting polices' actions will bring much debate, especially from police officers and administrators themselves.

Sales Report Hema

TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION3 COMPANY ANALYSIS (external + internal + SWOT)4 INTERNAL & EXTERNAL ANALYSIS4 HISTORY OF THE COMPANY4 HEMA’S STRUCTURE4 VISION OF THE COMPANY4 MISSION STATEMENT5 TARGET GROUP5 HEMA’S STRATEGY & POSITIONING6 FINANCIAL POSITION & COMPETITION7 PRODUCT-MARKET COMBINATION8 MARKETING MIX8 TRENDS IN RETAIL9 SWOT ANALYSIS10 STRENGHTHS:10 OPPORTUNITIES:11 THREATS:12 MARKET RESEARCH13 THE 7C’S OF EFFECTIVE WEBSITE DESIGN13 QUALITATIVE RESEARCH15 SALES PROPOSAL17 Executive Summary17 Our understanding17 YOUR COMPANY17 YOUR NEEDS17 DESCISION CRITERIA18Our Solution19 FOOD SECTION CLEANLINESS IMPROVEMENT19 PRODUCT RESTOCKING19 Conclusion19 COST AND BENEFIT ANALYSIS20 REFERENCES23 MYSTERY SHOP REPORTS24 NATALIA ROJAS24 VICTORIA TORRES24 MAIKE BOUWER24 ANNA ZAJAC25 CELIA BAUMGARTNER26 ANOUK VAN NULAND26 INTRODUCTION In September 1926, the dream of  two Jewish entrepreneurs  Arthur Isaac and Leo Meyer  opened their first store on the Kalverstra at. The company became a part of the Maxeda group, which renamed from Vendex KBB. It owns Bijenkorf, Hunkemoller, V&D, Praxis, Plan-it and Brico, Dixons and many other stores.In 2007 Maxeda sold HEMA to a British company called Lion Capital LPP. The company primarily focuses on leveraged buyout  investments in Europe. HEMA has expanded into other European countries, with stores in  the  Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg and France. In this report we made a sales analysis of the Hollandsche Eenheidsprijzen Maatschappij Amsterdam, HEMA. HEMA is a Dutch discount retail chain that is characterized by relative low pricing of standard housewares, which are mostly made by the chain itself in beautiful and innovative designs.HEMA offers a very wide variety of products, from books and housewares to food. HEMA is located all around the Netherlands, with in total 445 branches and thousands of employees by March 2011. We analyzed HEMA from different standpoints; we analyzed the ho usewares product section and also the food section. We visited in total 12 different stores all in different locations of the Netherlands from Amsterdam to Maastricht and we did qualitative research by analyzing the company’s external and internal environment. The goal of this report was to find out what HEMA can do to improve sales.COMPANY ANALYSIS (external + internal + SWOT) * INTERNAL & EXTERNAL ANALYSIS HISTORY OF THE COMPANY HEMA is a company with long tradition. The first store was opened on Kalverstraat on 4th of November 1926. Two Jewish entrepreneurs, Arthur Isaac and Leo Mever who have witnessed the hardest economic crisis of that century, conceived the idea. They have seen a lot of people struggling and having difficulties to make ends meet so their concept was to create a shop with different household items of affordable price but still maintaining a high quality.Thanks to Alfred Goudsmit, the director of Amsterdam-based Bijenkorf, this dream became reality and H ollandsche Eenheidsprijzen Maatschappij Amsterdam (known better as HEMA) was set up. The formula was so successful that recently new stores were opened in Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg and France. Additionally, in 2007, HEMA was sold to a British company called Lion Capital LPP. * HEMA’S STRUCTURE HEMA’s structure has changed over the years, as two different groups have owned it, and each one of them had a different way of handling their operations.The Dutch company identifies itself as an adapter, because wherever they open a new store they try to fit into the new environment and implement products that are applicable for the target audience they are pursuing. Additionally, the CEO  and shareholders play an important role in all forms of decision making for the company’s processes and changes, being constantly informed of any new ventures being pursued. * VISION OF THE COMPANY HEMA has clearly stated that what drives them toward attaining goals is the need to adapt to what consumers really want, in this constantly changing environment. We are driven by our business goals in everything we do. Consumers’ needs are changing and we continually adapt to those needs†. Over the time HEMA has been developing its brands, and now have more products than what they had when they opened their very first store. MISSION STATEMENT According to official website, HEMA’s mission statement consists of the following: â€Å"The HEMA style can be summarized in two words: ‘exceptional simplicity’, by which we mean that our products are both simple and exceptional. Long before the term ‘home brand’ was invented, we were creating and manufacturing our own products†.This concept should be applied not only to products they offer but also to services. HEMA’s mission is to turn day-to-day products into something exceptional and yet affordable. Another aspect is to recognize the continuously changing customer s’ need and satisfy them. TARGET GROUP Originally, HEMA's market segment was mainly the middle-low class with its consequent medium range income. However, over the years HEMA has attracted more individuals with a higher income, due to the guaranteed quality their products offer at a very affordable price.HEMA states that its target group are men and women of all ages and socio-economic classes as everyone can find there something for himself. However, different surveys have shown that the majority of the audience  is mainly  between the ages of 14-32, identifying young  parents,  and students as part of this segment. Lately we can note HEMA’s tendency to focus more and more on younger customers by different promotion techniques and actions. For example, they recently made a contest for students that were studying any form of design, inviting them to create a new HEMA product with their own fresh ideas.In this digital age, all companies must be aware that if the y truly want to succeed they must reach their target group through up-to-date methods. Therefore, HEMA reaches most of its customers through TV commercials, Internet, magazines and even direct mail. The most important of these, in this modern time and age, has to be its main website, which not only allows customers to shop online but also provides all the information necessary on current promotions and activities. HEMA’S STRATEGY ; POSITIONING As said above, HEMA’s aim is to make people’s life a little more convenient, independently of where they live.That is why the company is planning on expanding across Europe and probably also further. HEMA’s executives believe that the formula they offer is a good product and could go global. The company’s strategy is to captivate new trends and adapt to customers. To be so successful it is essential to have motivated and dedicated staff. To achieve it the relationship of trust and commitment must be created. That is why all decisions, which are being made, are based on belief that all employees are entitled to respect for dignity, individuality and diversity.The positioning of HEMA is based on the distinctiveness of its designs, which are done in-house by HEMA designers, and all the products at HEMA are HEMA branded (in most cases), which makes it stand out in the market by being immediately recognizable to customers. The competent price is another factor HEMA sells as a positioning point, although competition has made its low prices seem relative in comparison to all the other options now offered at the same price range or at even lower prices. HEMA often underlines its will to act with social responsibility.Thus, also the way of producing and delivering goods to customers is of high importance. The corporation uses a â€Å"naturally HEMA’’ approach to protect the environment. Whenever it is time to change the uniforms of their employees, they recycle and use them for so mething else, instead of throwing them into the garbage can. Moreover, in each one of their stores they practice a recycle culture and waste collection programs. FINANCIAL POSITION ; COMPETITION HEMA has been one of the most favourite Dutch stores in the Netherlands, and gradually is gaining hearts of other markets abroad.In the Dutch market, HEMA has 445 stores, in Belgium 62, Germany 8, Luxembourg 3 and France 7. In total HEMA has 10,000 employees, of which 80% are women and the remaining 20% are men. Currently the company is participating in a project called â€Å"return to sender†. However, it does not seek to make a profit by selling these products; it rather strives to support fair trade in third-world countries making sure that profits return to the manufacturers by means of development projects and education in the regions of origin.Hema achieved quite good results in the year 2011 especially if we take into consideration the challenging conditions. It had to face dec lining non-food retail spending, increasing competition, higher raw material prices as well as declining consumer confidence. Compared to 2010 (loss of 18. 3 â‚ ¬mln), net sales increased by 3%, and so did the net profit rising with â‚ ¬11 mln, mainly because of lower financing costs. According to the statements released by HEMA, the share in all categories improved. The company continues on investing, in 2011 spending â‚ ¬57 mln (amount comparable to 2010).However, the profit margin suffered (0. 5% lower in comparison to 2010) due to increase in price of oil, coffee and cotton. Total capital after the acquisition by Lion Capital is estimated on â‚ ¬1. 4 billion, of which 35. 4% is financed by shareholders. As far as competitors go, HEMA has found its largest competition against Jumbo Groep Holding B. V and Koninklijke Ahold B. V. , which comprises itself of Albert Heijn, Etos, and Gall ; Ga. , among others. Additionally, other competitors in retail include Kruidvat, D;A , and Zeeman. PRODUCT-MARKET COMBINATIONHereby is sum up of the best and the worst of HEMA's products, according to each box/category of the matrix: STARS-â€Å"Le Lapin† tea kettle| QUESTION MARKS-HEMA Beauty| CASH COWS-Sausage (worst)| DOGS-| MARKETING MIX Price Based on an overview of the online website, www. hema. nl, the price of products ranges from as little as . 50 to as much as 250 euros, specifically for the bicycles. However, most products range under the 20 euros or less mark, especially when it comes to its office supplies, cosmetics, beauty products, and foods & beverages.They also use many discounted product prices to boost sales. Product The products offered at HEMA are of a great and wide variety, and are divided into clothing, accessories, cosmetics, skincare products, office/school supplies, domestic appliances, home items, textiles (curtains, duvets, etc. ), food & beverages, and finally, its photo printing service, exclusive to only some HEMA stores. Acco rding to the principles of its product mix, the products themselves are not necessarily all consistent with each other, as their diversity is large.The depth of some of the products is also not as varied, though HEMA tries to have in most cases at least two different variations, mostly in price range/quality or color presentation, of the same product. Promotion HEMA is avid in its promotion of products, especially those that are discounted from week to week and new to the store. They use, as mentioned above, TV advertisements, billboards, employ the use of social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Google+ and Pinterest, and as well as Internet advertising through their online website. Place HEMA products are sold at HEMA stores and online at www. hema. nl.There are several variations of a HEMA store, ranging from very large warehouse style to small outlets in train stations and airports. Also, specialized stores are popping up recently, such as HEMA Foto’s, HEMA Beauty , and a HEMA with only its ready-made food, in a similar â€Å"to go† style as its competitor Albert Heijn. The products are sold directly, passing on from HEMA's own suppliers in Hong Kong and Shanghai to the stores for selling. TRENDS IN RETAIL For 2012, several trends were present in the retail business in general. Firstly, the investment in mobile applications and services has increased enormously over the past year.Customers are now able to find store locations, prices, customer reviews and eventually order said products all through their mobile phone. With the continued modernity of cellphones, it is no doubt this trend will keep on climbing and showing its importance in the retail business. Another trend this year has been the stagnant sales due to the low economy in recent times. Customers are spending more on necessary products rather than retail, and it is of great importance for retail companies to find a way to demonstrate the added value and worthiness of the pro duct they are selling, as well as placing it in a competitive price range.Additionally, globalization has taken over the world and influenced greatly on retail. More and more retail companies are encouraged to expand themselves abroad, giving them the competitive edge they need to succeed. Lastly, another trend related retail is that economic times and high prices are forcing stores to become more compact, which has actually been well received by customers, who do not wish to wander in a thousand square meters to get the one product they need. SWOT ANALYSIS * STRENGHTHS: Dutch citizens have been acquainted with HEMA since 1926, which means that a large quantity of the population is attached to their brand. They have one of the most important  advantages that a company can have: loyal customers. * HEMA can be proud of its customer-oriented and committed staff, people who do their best every day achieving at the same time high customer satisfaction. * Contrarily to majority of retai lers, HEMA sells its own original brand. The company has its own design department, where highly educated employees come up with new ideas and improved products.What is more, HEMA involves its customers, among them, young talented design students who are given chance to participate in new-product creation. * Own laboratory where all the products are being strictly tested before arriving on store shelves. * Highly creative marketing team often coming up with interesting actions and promotions attracting new customers and retaining the old ones. * Good advertising and multi channel communication with customers. HEMA broadcasts its own TV commercials, distributes leaflets, sends e-mails, newsletters and of course has a well organized website where web shopping is available 24h/24. Ability to track new tendencies and adapt them in a short period; introduction of innovative fashion or an incorporation of a cafe/restaurant into stores is one of many examples. * HEMA takes into considerati on the environment during production and logistics processes. It strives to reduce amount of energy used for transportation as well as production, limits packaging to minimum, takes care of material used and the possibility of their recycling. * Offers a great diversity of household products at quite affordable prices. * Great attention toward a customer and putting his satisfaction first.Thus, each customer that is not satisfied with service provided can claim for refund. * HEMA stores expand with a high rapidity, even monthly. * Demonstrated support for various initiatives such as FAIR TRADE, Return to Sender etc. WEAKNESSES: – Although HEMA claims to produce its products in an ecofriendly manner, still a considerable number of products are made of hardly recyclable material. This aspect should be reviewed by HEMA departments and new solutions should be implemented and comply fully to company’s mission of social responsibility. Based on the market research made, HEMA product quality is not the highest in most cases, especially if comparing it to other products with the same price tag. – HEMA is currently in the process of suffering from the so-called â€Å"commodity trap†, in which its fellow competitors are selling the same comparable products HEMA does, at lower prices. – In reference to our surveys, the cleanliness and neatness of the HEMA stores can be improved upon, as well as a better control of restocking products that are being sold. HEMA’s great range of products, though a great strength, is also a great weakness, as the management of all these products can become overpowering, and the previously mentioned quality and cleanliness control become more difficult to handle. * OPPORTUNITIES: – Its current owner, the London-based private equity firm Lion Capital, has been trying to sell the company since 2011, but there are still plans to, in a year or so, retry its selling proposal. The main stakeholder in this would be Royal Ahold NV, who currently is the owner of the biggest chain of supermarkets in the Netherlands, Albert Heijn, amongst other investments.Pairing up AH and HEMA to sell their products together could prove itself as an incredibly profitable business synergy of brands. -As mentioned before in the retail trends, HEMA could take advantage of the recent mobile phone apps boost, and include an app version of their online store for mobile users to buy the products directly on the go. They already offer their HEMA Photos services online, but could work more on this growing trend to improve sales. -Even though HEMA has a claim on the Corporate Social Responsibility as a company, they could move even further with their actions by actively timulating sustainability amongst their suppliers. Not only does this actively pursue good, it provides a new selling point for customers who believe in sustainability as an added value to a product purchase. Sustainability in companies itse lf is a growing trend, considering all the education new generations have had over global warming and the threat of the carbon footprint. * THREATS: – With the recent economic crisis in 2012 with the European Union and the budget cuts, retailers in general in the Netherlands, with HEMA included, are suffering from these cuts.The Dutch government will boost the highest value added on consumer goods to 21% from 19% before the austerity measures were in place. This will affect most businesses who handle goods that are not foods or beverages, and even though HEMA does have a part of its business focused on that, it is mostly a mixed retailer. – Dutch consumer confidence has hit an all-time low since 2003, notably dropping 1. 3% in February 2012. – Due once again to the austerity, Dutch households are facing stagnant salaries with higher retail prices, which means the consumer spending will be reduced. As mentioned before in the opportunities, its current owner, Lion Capital, has been trying to sell the company since 2011 but has so far been unsuccessful to reach its desired 1. 5 billion euro asking price. There are still plans to, in a year or so, retry its selling proposal, which would provide instability within HEMA due to the change of ownership. Of course, it can not be determined whether this change will be beneficial or not, but it most certainly would be an adjustment to the company, and sales might suffer from it. MARKET RESEARCHThis section consists of an extensive and thorough market research analysis of HEMA, a multinational retail chain that caters several products in different areas of Europe. The report begins an explanation of its target group. Consequently, there is an analysis of the 7 C’s of web, and a final conclusion is provided. The overall objective is to obtain a full understanding on the views, and behaviors from HEMA’S customers, and how these influence within their purchasing decisions. TARGET GROUP Orig inally, HEMA's market segment was mainly the middle-low class with its consequent medium range income.However, over the years HEMA has attracted more individuals with a higher income, due to the guaranteed quality their products offer at a very affordable price. The audience  is mainly  between the ages of 14-32, identifying young  parents,  and students as part of this segment. HEMA is focusing more and more on younger customers by different promotion techniques and actions. For example, they recently made a contest for students that were studying any form of design, inviting them to create a new HEMA product with their own fresh ideas.Moreover, they are also reaching youngsters through their parents, personalizing their own product is a key advantage to them. In this digital age all companies must be aware that if they truly want to succeed they must reach their target group through up-to-date methods. Therefore, HEMA reaches most of its customers through TV commercials, I nternet, magazines and even direct mail. The most important of these, in this modern time and age, has to be its main website, which not only allows customers to shop online but also provides all the information necessary on current promotions and activities being organized. THE 7C’S OF EFFECTIVE WEBSITE DESIGN In order to look into the 7 C’ S, a required observation of HEMA's main website (http://www. hema. nl) was necessary to regard how each one the forms of effective design were implemented. Context- The site's layout and design is dynamic, very colorful and appealing to the senses, making it an effective tool for marketing. Content- Varied is the most proper way to describe their content. Community- HEMA allows customers to interact with each other by participating in contests, activities and promotions, as well as allowing them to voice their suggestions and complaints.Customization-Since customers can subscribe themselves and create themselves an account, it is possible to have their own customized web page, because the web site will display their most recent purchases and tailor itself automatically each single time. Communication-Their web page uses a two-way communication Connection-The site is linked to other web pages, such as YouTube, Twitter and Facebook. This enables the user to check HEMA’s account in these 3 web sites and to show their most recent acquisitions by uploading pictures of the items. It creates a special bond between the customer and the corporate.Commerce- When there is a purchase of items, the options on payment are several, and allowing the customer to decide what is his or her best option. In acknowledgement of the before stated reasons, HEMA does make a full use of the 7 c's. QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH SURVEY ANALYSIS The questionnaire will probe the following 9 questions: 1-Do you ever shop at HEMA? 2-If yes, how often? 3-Do you like HEMA, neither like it nor dislike it, or dislike it? 4-How clean are HEMA sto res? 5-Compared to its competitors are HEMA’S prices more reasonable, less reasonable or about the same. -In terms of quality, how good are HEMA’S products 7-Description of HEMA in 3 words 8-On a scale from 1-10, which overall grade would you give HEMA 9-In a maximum of 3 words, please tell us on what you would like HEMA to improve After a survey collection and thorough analysis took place, the results were the following: 1-Do you ever shop at HEMA? 95. 2% of the people interviewed admitted to have ever shopped at HEMA. 4. 8% had never shopped at HEMA before. 2-If yes, how often? From the 95. 2% whom claimed to have ever shopped at HEMA, had 94. % purchase goods at the store once a week, the remaining 5. 6% went to the store at least 3 times a week. 3-Do you like HEMA, neutral, or dislike it? 19% of the interviewees likes HEMA a great deal, 47. 6% like it a moderate amount, 14. 3% like it a little, 19% are neutral 4-How clean are HEMA stores? 19% believe the stores are clean, 61. 9% say they are moderately clean, 14. 3% state that it is slightly clean, and 4. 8% think it is not clean at all. 5-Compared to its competitors are HEMA’S prices more reasonable, less reasonable or about the same? 47. 6% believes the prices are reasonable, and a 52. % that they are less reasonable than the ones of the competitors. 6-In terms of quality, how good are HEMA’S products *90. 5% said the product quality was good, a 9. 5% said they were awful. * QUALITATIVE RESEARCH For the qualitative research, we went on a field trip to several HEMA’s to get a few in depth interviews with their customers. At the quantitative research, we mostly ask fixed answer questions to get structured answers and get clear statistics from it. The qualitative is quite the contrary, we ask open question thus not trying to persuade the customers by giving them several options as answers.We asked the following questions that are relative to the marketing research: 1. What are your experiences when shopping at HEMA? The majority of the interviewees were more than positive about their experiences. Not one had a negative experience at one of the HEMA’s. One claimed that they even have everything in the little HEMA’s in the small villages outside of the big city: â€Å"It is unbelievable (and quite scary) how accurate they know us, costumer! † Another costumer: â€Å"The employees are always friendly and helpful, even though they cannot satisfy our needs as costumers. † 2.How would you describe the quality of the products? Here again, the majority is very satisfied about the quality of the products. â€Å"The price/quality ratio is fairly good. I know what to expect from the products. Let’s take a their china for example, I know their bowls won’t last a lifetime. If I want bowls that last a lifetime I will shop at Georg Jensen. This way I can change my china more often and get a fresh new look in the kitchen. à ¢â‚¬  All the interviewees were satisfied with the products bought, though most of them take inconsideration that the products are not the best on the market. 3.What is your opinion about the tidy/cleanness of the stores? Positive feedback: â€Å"The stores look clean†, â€Å"Well organized†, â€Å"Good structure of the placement of the products† Negative feedback: â€Å"Too many products cramped into too little space†, â€Å"Quite mess at the sales shelves†, â€Å"The floors are dusty, though this problem appears in most shops†. The opinions on this question are fairly divided. The bigger shops seemed to have more negative feedback, due to its large variety of products. The overview was lost and the employers were having troubles keeping the shelves organized and the store clean.Response Summary Criteria-8 people were individually interviewed for more in-depth findings, and 40 answered a survey. SALES PROPOSAL * Executive Summary For HEMA a Dutch discount retail chain, which is characterized by relative low pricing products mainly made by the company itself, the customer’s opinion and view about the company is the most important. Time by time, the company has been including new products and ideas to the company trying to make it more attractive to buyers, and then is when the food section came to HEMA becoming its pride with products such as â€Å"rook worst’, Tompouces and pies.However, after having done some research in different locations of HEMA, we found out that even though customers like the food of HEMA, most of them think that the cleanliness of the food section is not positive. Another fact is that since HEMA is characterized by having all kind of self developed articles concentrated on daily necessities, people like to go there whenever they need something especially â€Å"urgent†. According to our research, it happens often that products are not being restocked frequently. This leave s the client with a sense of emptiness after having travelled the whole store in search of that needed product. Our understanding YOUR COMPANY HEMA is a company that makes life fun and easy in an inexpensive way. In HEMA you will find the remarkable combination of â€Å"only the best items for everyday life, with its own especial design, for surprisingly low prices† and with a staff that is always ready to help you with pride, commitment and with love for their company. YOUR NEEDS HEMA is a store where customers go mostly when they need to find something in particular, for example house ware products, school accessories or to have the 1euro breakfast. Customer who go to HEMA, mostly know what they are looking for and what they can find at HEMA.Therefore, HEMA needs to be always prepared to receive these customers, by knowing and having in advance what they are looking for. HEMA needs to create an especial importance to restocking of products. Since most HEMA’s is a lar ge store, where you mostly spend more time than in a particular store, clients do not like to go there, looking for something they know HEMA provides and not finding it because of restocking issues. Makeup, stationery, and house ware tools are some of the sections that have to be always filled. HEMA has a rather small food section, however it is famous for the good taste and low price of their products.The 1euro breakfast, the famous worst and the pastry attract fixed buyers day by day to the store. However, after our research we found out that clients were not especially happy with the cleanliness of this section. Most of the time workers who receive money are the same ones that fixed or deliver the food, this without changing or wearing hand gloves. There must be in HEMA a clear differentiation between the person who is handling the cash and that who is touching the food. In the case that this is the same person there should be a imminent use of hand gloves for each of those actio ns. Prioritized list of needs: More frequently restocking of HEMA products. * Improvement of cleanliness in the food section. DESCISION CRITERIA Key Decision Criteria| Importance(High, Med, Low)| 1. Product Restocking| Med| 2. Food Section Cleanliness Improvement| High | * Our Solution FOOD SECTION CLEANLINESS IMPROVEMENT * For the food section the solution is the implementation of gloves for all employees; enough gloves to be changed after a certain amount of time. Another solution is the distinction of the person working at the register and the person handling and preparing the food. There should not be one person who can use cash and prepare food at the same time.If necessary and for the variation there could be shifts so the employees can also perform different activities, however for one employee the shift should not chance more than once daily. Example: Natalia receives payments from 9 to 12 and then from 12 to 5 she prepares food. PRODUCT RESTOCKING * For the restocking probl em, there could be more frequently revisions of the products that need to be restocked, maybe once a week. Then the making of a product criterion should be made, recognizing which products are the most sold and therefore have to be always available.After the identification of those products, there should be made an agreement that within certain time (for example 2 weeks) those products will be delivered to the store, regardless of the already in store stock of that product. * Conclusion Our group chose HEMA as company for the importance of the store to the Dutch market. HEMA is a story with many years of experience and long trajectory in the market where customers go to purchase good quality products, with personal and innovative designs all for average low prices. Even though we did not find almost any negative points of the company and we were very leased with many aspects of HEMA such as the employees treatment towards customers or the large scale of products they offer, we all a greed on the fact that there are many times that the desired product by the customer is not in stock or the low use of gloves and cleanliness when attending the food section. These two are aspects that are rather easy to improve and that could increase the customers experience and loyalty for HEMA, of course also growing sales of new and fixed clients. COST AND BENEFIT ANALYSIS Last year HEMA obtain great results in an downsizing economie.It has maintained their position within the retail industry by winning the ‘best retail yearprice by ING’ again! Ronald Putting, CEO: â€Å"I am very proud that I can tell you that we, despite a tough economic year, have been continuing our strong line of growth. During the past year HEMA celebrated its 85th anniversary! Thus we have the recent openings of Gare du Nord and Gare Saint Lazare and next to those we already have several successful stores in France. HEMA has grown into an international retail company that continues to grow, with a strong brand that is appreciated by our customers both at home and abroad.This appreciation was once more when the consumer Netherlands HEMA in 2011 chose to best store. In 2011, market conditions were challenging and are expected to deepen the crisis in 2012. Consumers will have more need of a shop where they can rely and which also continues to surprise. A shop where the staff is ready to help consumers with special designed products of good quality and for a low price. So every day we try to make the daily lives of our customers a little bit more fun and easier. † A few figures of the year 2011 – Consumer sales went up to EUR 1. 02 million – Net sales increased just as in 2010 by more than 3% to EUR 1,150 million – The market share of HEMA in all categories improved – The operating result (EBITDA) remained virtually unchanged (euro 155 million) – 47 new stores were opened: 33 in the Netherlands, 8 in Belgium, 2 in Germany and 4 in France. Improvements that can be made In our sales proposal you can read that the most important thing we think that HEMA can improve are: 1. Product restocking 2. Food section cleanliness improvement Lets start of with the product restocking.To sum up the stocks in the store are not at neat as it should be. Some products are placed in the middle of the corridor, which gives a messy appearance of the whole store. In our opinion the manager who is responsible for the product division and visual standards should be educated about this particular subject. HEMA could decide to give those managers some extra training. For improvement of the HEMA food section employees can be trained by a dutch company called HACCP Direct. This will cost HEMA â‚ ¬69,- per store and they will receive a HACCP certificate that is needed to sell food in Holland.Because HEMA is already licenced to sell food the certificates are not necessary to obtain again. But we do think that some extra training is neede d and can be obtained by following an online course. This course will obtain the following subjects: 1. The importance of hygiene and the HACCP method 2. Personal hygiene 3. Cleaning, waste and vermin 4. Temperature Control 5. Furnishing of business premises 6. Purchasing, Storage and shelf life 7. (For) preparing, presenting and serving After these two points of improvement we believe that HEMA is right where they want to be, HEMA wants to be number one.The best in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg, France and beyond. HEMA believes that the traditional Dutch success formula of special simplicity with everyone. Anywhere in the world: from city to countryside, from Amsterdam to Tokyo. ING Retail Year price HEMA was chosen by the public overall winner and may have a year long Retailer of the Netherlands'. With an average score of 7. 50 won HEMA in October 2011 even though the audience in the category Baby & Children. HEMA scored during the first round of the high aspect Va lue (7. 92) and Price level (7. 83).During the second round of voting – where the public could vote only on the 26 category winners – HEMA earned fifteen percent of the total number to earn points. HEMA won this award in 2003 and in 2008. In 2005 won the Jury HEMA Price Retail. Special HEMA Beauty shops HEMA opens two beauty shops named HEMA Beauty. HEMA Beauty has been opened the 12th of October 2012 in Amsterdam's Kalverstraat and the day after the opening of the HEMA beauty store in the Barteljorisstraat in Haarlem took place. Now HEMA customers can come in for all their makeup, skincare, inspiration and personal advice. REFERENCES ttp://www. hema. nl/hema/over-hema. aspx http://www. hema. nl/SiteCollectionDocuments/HEMA_corporate_EN. pdf http://www. hema. nl/SiteCollectionDocuments/HEMA_corporate_EN. pdf http://www. hema. nl/hema/about-hema. aspx http://www. hema. nl/SiteCollectionDocuments/HEMA_corporate_EN. pdf http://www. returntosender. nl/en/about/partners htt p://www. hema. nl/hema/voor-de-pers/persberichten. aspx http://www. retail-business-review. com/companies/hema-b http://www. sas. com/news/sascom/2012q1/industry_spotlight. html http://berenschotstrategies. wordpress. com/2011/04/06/hema-in-de-commodity-tra/ ttp://www. marketwatch. com/story/dutch-retailer-hema-no-longer-on-block-sources-2011-06-22 http://edepot. wur. nl/167998 http://www. bloomberg. com/news/2012-05-08/dutch-retailers-face-profit-blow-as-taxes-chill-spending. html http://www. hema. nl/hema/over-hema. aspx http://www. psbydila. com/hema-beauty http://www. haccpdirect. nl/haccp-cursus/ http://perssupport. nl/apssite/persberichten/full/2012/03/27/HEMA+rapporteert+positieve+resultaten+2011 * MYSTERY SHOP REPORTS NATALIA ROJAS Maastricht and Leiden Comparing the two HEMA stores that I visited, I came to different conclusions.First it was appealing to me that both stores were clean and were being cleaned at the moment, so in both cases was the cleaning good. In the food counter in Leiden, even though I bought a closed product, which is a bottle, I did not see any of the employees wearing gloves at any moment, at Maastricht I passes by the food counter as well in the breakfast hour, but I did not see anybody with gloves either. That means in both Leiden and Maastricht the employees were not clean enough in terms of food. In Leiden I was looking for a whiteboard, I asked a girl if they had it, and she said that not in the moment.She knew about what I was talking about so she was acquainted with the store products which is good. the product I was looking for was not there but they had a similar option. In Maastricht I bought a blanket and in the casa I asked the girl if she knew if the blanket was good enough for the Winter to which she responded good enough saying that it has a level 3 which means that it is pretty good for pretty much all seasons, so I was satisfied with my blanket. In Maastricht though the girl in the casa was trying to get rid of people fast because it was pretty much a rush hour and there were a lot of people on the line.However I was satisfied with the product information and personal service at both locations. In conclusion I would say that HEMA employees are well trained and know enough about the products and the store, even though all the products that I needed were not there that is something that can happen everywhere. However probably the cleaning in the food section should be improved at all times and everywhere. VICTORIA TORRES Kalverstraat and hemareguliersbreestraat After analyzing patterns from one HEMA to another, we conclude that; hygiene should become more of a priority.Both locations shared the same pitfall, which was not wearing gloves when in contact with food nor when touching money from the customer. However, employees are well trained and able to answer questions about their product line, for instance the materials used to fabricate such product or its’ origin. Moreover, the answ ers were quite well formulated in acceptable English, bearing in mind that this is not their mother tongue. In a nutshell, the personnel are competent enough, yet sanitization is not as efficient as it should be. MAIKE BOUWER Vleuten and Utrecht Vleuten is a small town right outside Utrecht.Only recently it has opened a HEMA store where the basics are being sold. There were two employees working in the store when I entered. The first one greeted me right when I entered the store. The second employee was busy filling the shelves but still managed to say good morning when I passed by. Both staff members were wearing a HEMA shirt with black pants. The first employee helped me find the duvet covers, knew exactly where they were placed and which one I needed. Though observing the first employee helping another customer at the ‘food section’ she did not wash her hands, neither was the use of cloves involved.Overall the HEMA in Vleuten is a neat store where everything is in pl ace and the employees are friendly. They know the store very well, reasoning that the store is fairly small and has fewer products than the big stores in large cities. The food section, which one hardly can call a section, was not very hygienic. HEMA could improve their hygienic matters by using cloves or wash their hands before touching the food products. Though the employee used a tang to take the sausage and did not get in contact with the sausage self. In general, the small HEMA in Vleuten is a well-organized store with well-trained staff.In comparison with the HEMA in Vleuten, the HEMA in Utrecht is huge. The store is two stories high and is very elaborated. While walking around for a while through the shelves, none of the employee bothered to greet me. Even though I had not received a good morning, the employees looked neat and were all wearing the same outfit. The food section in Utrecht is quite large though the hygiene is not well thought through. No cloves were used when I ordered my sandwich. Wondering if it was a coincidence, I stayed around the food section to observe the others ordering their food.None of the employees washed their hands in my time of observing. The other sections of the store were clean and organized however the food section is certainly a weakness. They could improve by wearing cloves and changing them regularly. Another advice I would give HEMA is to introduce freshly prepared food instead of pre-rolling sandwiches. ANNA ZAJAC Amstelveen and Schiphol The HEMA stores I decided to visit are situated in two different places. One is Amstelveen, peaceful outskirts of Amsterdam and the other, International Airport – Schiphol. I was curious if there could be a difference in service delivered by the employees.As my report demonstrates, I have encountered a major interest, help and friendliness in the store situated in Amstelveen. In both situations the employees were kind and eager to help me. The first one helped me to find a model of a product I was searching for while the other prepared something that I probably should have done on my own. Both had no problem with speaking English with me and made me feel comfortable from the first moment. What is more, I was surprised by a discount I got at the checkout. The store overall was rather clean and kept in order. When it comes to the second store my impressions are a little less positive.The stuff was less cheerful and in some cases they could not answer my questions at all! The level of English was surprisingly lower than that of Amstelveen’s employees. It should be other way around considered that every day thousands of tourists pass through Schiphol Airport. Aspects I would like to seen improved are the employees’ awareness of the products they sell (FairTrade, for example), their readiness to deal with the customer and nicer attitude as well as better command of foreign language. There should be more pressure on keeping food fresh (it coul d be kept in special containers or coverages). CELIA BAUMGARTNERBijlmer Arena and Ferdinand Bolstraat The HEMA chain and concept is a wonderful idea that has spanned great success overtime. However, there are some points that could be worked on based on the day-to-day administration at their shops. The store has a very self-serviced mindset, but perhaps if they worked towards improving their availability to customers, they would be able to improve their sales even more. Also, training employees is of great importance, and it would be nice to see a consistency in the quality of employees working at HEMA, considering it is rather jarring to have good and bad experiences from the same brand store.Product placement is ideal, and we know HEMA is aware of this, as they go to great lengths to display products on â€Å"discount† (they simply happen to be that price the whole time, but they make the customer feel as though they are buying something less expensive). It would be greatly improved if they would work on becoming more neat in their display arrangement, and once again, have more staff on hand to do all the arrangements, the same way AH is always stock full any time of the day.Not only would the displays look more lively and inviting, but it would give HEMA a greater opportunity to sell if their products are actually there to purchase. ANOUK VAN NULAND Kinkerstraat and Nieuwendijk I have visited two stores one in the Oud-West area of Amsterdam and one in the city center. To start of when I entered the store there was nobody to great me. They were all busy with doing their own tasks and were focused on that and on talking with each other. Even tough that’s not what you expect when you come in to a store, in store like this it is fine by me.It just a feeling you get when you are in a store they are very friendly when you ask something and they enjoy their job. I think that’s the most important thing there is. Next to the atmosphere in the st ore there are some practical things I would like to point out. The division of the stores is not really practical. Some large articles do deserve a bit more place and in the middle of the walk there were lots of items on display which gives the stores a messy appearance. The foodarea of the HEMA in the Kinkerstraat was a bit messy. Different kind of ingredients on the same work plate.Nevertheless the food tasted fresh and with good ingredients. The sales person was wearing plastic gloves when she picked up the food, but unfortunately she also received my money with that same hand. I do not think that’s quit hygienic. ——————————————– [ 1 ]. http://www. hema. nl/SiteCollectionDocuments/HEMA_corporate_EN. pdf [ 2 ]. http://www. hema. nl/hema/about-hema. aspx [ 3 ]. http://www. hema. nl/SiteCollectionDocuments/HEMA_corporate_EN. pdf [ 4 ]. http://www. returntosender. nl/en/abo ut/partners [ 5 ]. http://www. hema. nl/hema/voor-de-pers/persberichten. spx [ 6 ]. http://www. retail-business-review. com/companies/hema-b [ 7 ]. http://www. hema. nl/SiteCollectionDocuments/HEMA_corporate_EN. pdf [ 8 ]. http://www. sas. com/news/sascom/2012q1/industry_spotlight. html [ 9 ]. http://www. sas. com/news/sascom/2012q1/industry_spotlight. html [ 10 ]. http://www. sas. com/news/sascom/2012q1/industry_spotlight. html [ 11 ]. http://berenschotstrategies. wordpress. com/2011/04/06/hema-in-de-commodity-tra/ [ 12 ]. http://www. marketwatch. com/story/dutch-retailer-hema-no-longer-on-block-sources-2011-06-22 [ 13 ]. http://edepot. wur. nl/167998 [ 14 ].

Crime and Wheel Conspiracy

â€Å"Conspiracy is an agreement between or more persons to engaged jointly in an unlawful or criminal act, or an act that is innocent in itself but becomes unlawful when done by the combination of actors. † (Dictionary, 2013) There are three different types of conspiracy that can be present during a criminal situation. The first is called a Wheel Conspiracy, which involves one person as well as a group of people that participate in separate things that are considered illegal where a shared purpose is present between the people in the group. Legal, 2013) For example Rudy working for Ron who is one of the biggest bosses in charge of the drug cartel in Miami Florida was asked by Ron if he would confront one of his buyers for money that was owed to him and if the money was not present he was ordered to kill him. Rudy did what he was asked, because Rudy did this he was involved in a wheel conspiracy because he is technically considered the â€Å"middle-man†. He is the one that is doing the crime but there is an agreement between him and Ron who is in charge of the operation and he is protecting Ron by doing his dirty work. Another form of conspiracy is called â€Å"Chain Conspiracy†, this is most likely to involve some type of drug transaction and there is a series of people that are involved. (APSU, 2010) For example Eric meets with the distributor Jack to pack up a pound of cocaine and meets with John and Ed to transport it to Ron that has made an agreement with the distributor for it to e sent. If they are caught during this process this would considered a chain conspiracy because you have the distributor that is involved, the person that is packing it and the people that are transporting it all involved in this crime. Another is called â€Å"Combination Conspiracy† † occurs when the hub has very few organizers with multiple objectives and the chains vary substantially in length. † (Flax, 2005) For example th e gang MSU which is located in many areas of the United States have committed many murders. A local gang member is taken into custody because there were six dead bodies found in NYC. The investigations could not prove as to whole exactly was responsible for these crimes we just knew that MSU was responsible for the crime. This is considered a combination conspiracy because there are too many gang members that are involved and there is no clues or hints that are leading to the leaders of the gang.

Free Essays on None_Provided

The Declaration of Independence is considered one of the most important documents in world history because its effects were felt around the world and not only in its place of origin, the United States. While blacks used context from the declaration to challenge slavery in the United States, the French used its ideals to start their own revolution. The Declaration of Independence can be seen to be one of the few documents that had a profound impact on the world, and this can be easily seen because of the changes it brought forth. The Declaration of Independence was a document made by several delegates of the U.S. in 1776. It was simply made as a document that declared the independence of the 13 British colonies in America. On July 4, 1776 the Continental Congress adopted the Declaration after a few changes were made to it. Even though I think the Declaration’s main purpose was to declare the colonies independent, there were many other ideas the declaration addressed. There are many important ideas in the Declaration of Independence. These ideas such as: rights, freedom, liberty and happiness have become the foundations of American society and have helped shape the â€Å"American identity†. Power, another abstraction that reoccurs in all major parts of the Declaration plays equally important role in shaping â€Å"American identity†. One forgets the abstraction of power because it appears in relation to other institutions: the King, the earth, and the military. Even though power is addressed very indirectly in the declaration its existence is still valued. All of these important abstractions collectively have led to major changes in the world. A very simple phrase: â€Å"all men are created equal† which is included in the Declaration of Independence was quickly used by blacks in the U.S. to question slavery. They wondered if all men were created equal then how could one man own another man. We can give the Declaration credit for starti... Free Essays on None_Provided Free Essays on None_Provided The Declaration of Independence is considered one of the most important documents in world history because its effects were felt around the world and not only in its place of origin, the United States. While blacks used context from the declaration to challenge slavery in the United States, the French used its ideals to start their own revolution. The Declaration of Independence can be seen to be one of the few documents that had a profound impact on the world, and this can be easily seen because of the changes it brought forth. The Declaration of Independence was a document made by several delegates of the U.S. in 1776. It was simply made as a document that declared the independence of the 13 British colonies in America. On July 4, 1776 the Continental Congress adopted the Declaration after a few changes were made to it. Even though I think the Declaration’s main purpose was to declare the colonies independent, there were many other ideas the declaration addressed. There are many important ideas in the Declaration of Independence. These ideas such as: rights, freedom, liberty and happiness have become the foundations of American society and have helped shape the â€Å"American identity†. Power, another abstraction that reoccurs in all major parts of the Declaration plays equally important role in shaping â€Å"American identity†. One forgets the abstraction of power because it appears in relation to other institutions: the King, the earth, and the military. Even though power is addressed very indirectly in the declaration its existence is still valued. All of these important abstractions collectively have led to major changes in the world. A very simple phrase: â€Å"all men are created equal† which is included in the Declaration of Independence was quickly used by blacks in the U.S. to question slavery. They wondered if all men were created equal then how could one man own another man. We can give the Declaration credit for starti... Free Essays on None_Provided Child Psychology Child Analysis Overview: Upon pondering whom to choose for this assignment, I came to the conclusion that I would use my younger cousin Kristy Germinario. Kristi attends my former grammar school, and thanks to principal Sister Mary Henry, I was allowed to sit in her class for an entire school day for observational purposes. Kristy was born on October 10th 1994 to her parents Guy and Giovanna Germinario. Kristy lives with her two parents, Guy and Giovanna as well as her younger sister Kayla, who is 5 years old. She gets to spend a lot of time with her parents because her mother is a schoolteacher, and her father owns his own business close to home. She is in Mr. Hamilton’s third grade class at Immaculate Conception School in Secaucus, New Jersey. She is about 3’10† and has brown hair and green eyes. Kristy is overall a wonderful asset to the class. She is always willing to help out at any given time. She constantly volunteers and is an active member in the classroom. In each domain that I will discuss, you will see Kristy’s strengths as well as her weaknesses. Kristy has mastered many of these domains, but can still use some improvement in a few. When a child enters third grade, he/she becomes part of an entire new world. Children in third grade begin to learn how to tackle increasingly complex tasks, become better at reading, writing, and math, and broaden their general knowledge of the world. At the same time, they are learning how to deal with a large amount of new emotions that they start to feel. In third grade, peers become an important source of companionship. At this age, students form many close relationships with the children in their class. Overall, Kristy’s personal and social development is particularly proficient. Kristy has formed many positive relationships with many of the children in her class, but is very close with two boys especially. One boy is Chase, a boy in...

49 Facebook Marketing Tips to Drive Better Results Right Now

49 Facebook Marketing Tips to Drive Better Results Right Now Facebook is the most widely used social media platform today. With over 2 billion active users, your organization has a lot of people to impress. But, with declining organic reach, succeeding on the platform is more difficult than ever. Whats a busy marketer to do? Try starting with these 49 quick tips for doing more effective marketing on the platform. Whether you’re a Facebook newbie or your organization has been active on the platform for years, this post is packed with actionable tips that will: Help you optimize your profile. Create posts that stand out and drive tons of engagement. Learn how to gather and analyze data to prove your efforts are working. And a whole lot more. So, dig in, grab some free templates, and learn some new Facebook marketing tactics you can implement right now. Theres bound to be at least a few you havent tried before. Download Our Facebook Marketing Templates Bundle Get everything you need to make your Facebook marketing a success including: A social media content calendar to start planning and organizing your posts. A Facebook marketing strategy template to help guide your social team through want kinds of content to post. A Facebook video marketing strategy guide to help your team decide what kinds of videos you’ll produce for your Facebook channel. An infographic on the best times to post on social media to keep on hand for reference. A social media report template to present the performance of your Facebook marketing efforts (and social media marketing across the board). A social media ROI report template to keep track of how much Facebook is contributing to your bottom line. Did You Know Makes Facebook Marketing Easy? is the ultimate all-in-one marketing and social media calendar to plan and publish every post. (Along with organizing everything else in your marketing strategy, too). With , you can: Plan your entire social media and marketing strategy in one place. Schedule all of your social media promotion (including Facebook posts) alongside all your other content and projects. Measure the results of your Facebook marketing efforts with built-in features like Social Engagement Reports. Want to see how it works? Snag a free trial and use it to try some of your new Facebook marketing tips. Table of Contents: The Full List of 49 Tips Optimize Your Profile Photo Optimize Your Cover Photo Add a Call to Action to Your Cover Photo Complete Your Facebook Business Bio Information Use Facebook Tabs Share the Right Content Mix Up Unlinked Posts Like Other Pages as Your Business Stay on Top of Facebook Updates and Changes Plan Posts in Advance With Set Clear Goals Establish Voice and Tone Create a Facebook Group Experiment With Video Posts Share Videos Natively Try Facebook Live Use the Poll Feature Try Different Types of Image Posts Optimize Links Use Facebook Post Targeting Use the Social Message Optimizer Avoid Cross-Posting Create a Facebook Event Post at the Best Times Use Best Time Scheduling Know How Often to Post on Facebook Use Monitoring Tools Create Facebook Ads Investigate Other Pages' Ads Add Social Sharing Buttons to Your Site Add a Link to Your Facebook Page in Your Email Signature Pin an Awesome Post to Your Page Publish User Generated Content Invite People to Like Your Page From Your Ads Run a Facebook Contest Partner With Influencers Tag Other Companies in Posts Target Your Audience With Facebook Product Sales Ads Boost Posts the Right Way Use "Dark" Posts Use Carousel Ads Cross-Promote Ads on Instagram Use Facebook Ads Manager Pay Attention to Facebook Analytics Use Social Engagement Reports in Track Facebook Referral Traffic With UTMs Test Ad Design and Copy Be Mindful of Customer Service Give Away Great Content For Free49 Facebook Marketing Tips to Drive Better Results Right Now via @Tips For Setting Up Your Facebook Business Page The first step in any Facebook marketing strategy is getting your business page set up. You may already have a business page up and running, but these tips can still help make sure your profile is effectively optimized. 1. Optimize Your Profile Picture The best way to optimize your profile picture is to: Use your logo. Make sure it’s a high-resolution photo and is still clear when it’s shrunk down to small size. Ensure it’s 180px by 180 px. For example, take a look at Target. Their profile picture is clear, even when viewing in a mobile app: 2. Choose the Right Cover Photo To ensure that your cover photo has the maximum impact, the photo should: Be the correct size at 828 px by 315 px. Relate back to your profile picture. The two should fit together. Be under 60 seconds if your team is using a cover video. For example, Lululemon uses an engaging photos of their product in use to showcase new yoga pants, their staple product: You can use video from events and other behind the scenes moments to showcase company culture and more in your cover photo: Posted by Concordia College on Monday, October 9, 2017 3. Add a Call-To-Action On Your Cover Photo Your cover photo gives you lots of space to play with, and it’s a significant part of your Facebook profile. Why waste that enormous amount of space when you can add a compelling CTA and encourage your audience to take action instead? You have three different options for your cover photo CTA. It can point to: 1) The like button: this type of CTA should be used when you want to grow your audience. It tells them directly what to do and keeps it simple because all they have to do is click. An example of this is one of Short Stacks previous cover photos: Facebook has changed their cover photo rules. We're showing you how to leverage these changes. This week we're demonstrating asking people to Like you. Stay tuned for more in the weeks to come! Posted by ShortStack on Monday, April 8, 2013 2) The follow button: The follow button is a bit different from the like button in the fact that audience members who choose this action have more control over when your content shows up in their feed. They can choose to prioritize your content, so it shows up immediately in their newsfeed or even get notifications each time you post. Your cover photo could be as simple as this one: 3) Custom CTA button: Facebook also gives you the option to add a custom CTA button on your Facebook feed that your cover photo can help drive your audience to click. To use this button, go to your Business page, and in the upper right-hand corner underneath your cover photo you should see + Add a Button: A pop-up window will appear asking you choose the type of button you want to put on your page: Each option has a series of different CTA’s to choose from. Your team will need to decide what action you want your audience to take to determine the right button type: Once you select your CTA, Facebook will walk you through how to choose the steps that you want your audience you take after they click that button. For this example, we wanted people to visit the website: After that, the CTA button should appear on your page: So what does a cover photo that’s point to a CTA button look like? This is one of the cover photos we had up that encourage people to click the button to sign up for a trial of our product: Recommended Reading: How to Write a Call to Action in a Template With 6 Examples 4. Fill in Your Facebook Business Bio Completely The final step in creating your Facebook business page is to fill out your biography. Facebook has a more extensive bio section than other social networks. The first part of your bio should include: The founding date of your company. Your mission statement. Contact information including phone numbers and email addresses. Links to your website. The next part of your bio is going to give your customers more information about who and what your organization does. It should include: A short â€Å"about us† section. A company overview. General information. A list of products and services your company offers. The final part of your bio is called â€Å"Story.† This is a space that your organization can use to explain not only how your company got started but what makes your organization you. 5. Use Facebook Tabs To Organize Your Content Facebook tabs are a great way to organize different content types and allow your audience to find the information they are looking for. A couple of things that marketers should keep in mind when it comes to using Facebook tabs: 1) Their location has changed: Before Facebook tabs used to be located right underneath your cover photo, and styled like how you would see tabs in a filing cabinet. Now tabs are located vertically on the left-hand side of your profile: 2) You can add in pre-made tabs to your Facebook page: To access those tabs go to the settings on your business page: Select Edit Page: Scroll down to Tabs: If you select Use Default Tabs Facebook will automatically choose the tabs that they believe would be the best fit for your page. Otherwise, you can add other premade tabs by scrolling to the bottom of the tabs section and clicking Add a Tab: 3) Build Your Own Tabs: Facebook gives admin and page editors the option to build their own tabs using the Facebook Developer page. This process can get complicated quickly, especially if you’re lacking coding skills. Fortunately, Facebook has a full tutorial in case your development team needs help getting started. Recommended Reading: The HTML Cheat Sheet Every Content Marketer Needs 6. Share Your Best Content If your reach, shares, and engagement are low, it could mean that your audience just doesn't like the content you're sharing. Fortunately, there are ways to figure out what your audience does enjoy. Once you find a winning formula, you can continue giving people what they want, and see more success. Look at your analytics to see what has performed well in the past. Try a new type of content. Image galleries, videos, Facebook Live, and snippets from infographics are just a few ideas to get you thinking. Once you have a post that's doing well, consider re-sharing it again later. If you're a customer, you can do this with ReQueue, a built-in intelligent social media automation feature: 7. Mix Up Unlinked Posts Facebook wants to keep users on its platform as long as possible. As a result, sometimes posts without links can perform better than linked posts. The logic is simple: if people are engaging with content completely within Facebook, they'll stick around longer than if a link takes them aways somewhere else. Now, if your goal is to drive website traffic, then you'll want to primarily post links. But, if generating brand awareness is worthwhile on its own for your company, then mixing in posts without links might help improve reach. Check out this example from BMW. There's no link, but those engagement stats look great: Sophisticated strength in each line and curve. The BMW Concept M8 Gran Coupà ©. Posted by BMW on Thursday, July 26, 2018 8. Like Other Pages Just like you can "Like" pages as an individual, you can also "Like" other pages as your business. There are a few reasons you'll want to do this: It allows you to get inspired by what other companies are posting about. You can interact and start building relationships with other companies, which may come in handy with other marketing activities. By liking and engaging with their content, they might be more likely to return the favor - resulting in increased reach for both you and them. To like another business as your page, start by finding the business you want to follow. On their page, click the 3 dots under their banner image next to the share button. Then choose "Like as your page" Keep in mind that you must be an admin on your business page for this to work. 9. Stay on Top of Facebook Updates and Changes Facebook changes frequently! Make sure you're aware of the latest updates. Here are some quality news sources to consider following for the latest announcements: Facebook Business News Social Media Examiner Social Media Marketing Updates from Marketing Land 10. Plan Posts Ahead of Time With a Social Media Calendar There's no sense in waiting until the day you plan to post to start creating content. Instead, use a social media calendar to plan all your posts in advance. is a perfect solution for this:Tips For Building Your Facebook Marketing Strategy Your team needs to have a strategy before you even start thinking of what text to include in your posts. Having a strategy helps your team avoid last minute posting and guessing at what is going to connect with your audience. 11. Set Clear Facebook Marketing Goals You’re on Facebook for a reason. You believe that being active on the channel will help your reach the business goals that your organization has set for the year. 1) Focus on what metrics you need to track to see if your Facebook strategy is contributing to the overall business goal: The metrics that you track for Facebook need to contribute to your overarching business goal. For example, if your overarching business goal is to increase your audience by 50% in the next year, one of the metrics you would track for Facebook is how many followers are you gaining. 2) Use the previous year’s data to influence the goals you set for the upcoming year: If your company has had an active Facebook page for a while, use the data from the previous year to help set your goals for the upcoming year. Going back to the followers example, you could check and see that over the course of last year, your page gained 100,000 followers. Your goal for this year could be to gain 125,000 followers, a 25% increase over last year’s growth. 3) Make sure that your goals are realistic: It’s easy to set high goals for your team. In fact, you want your goals to challenge your team. However, your goals also need to be realistic. That means that trying to triple your follower rate might be a bit out of reach, but growing it by 25% would be more realistic. 12. Establish Your Voice and Tone on Facebook The voice and tone that your brand carries online should be a significant part of any Facebook marketing strategy. What you sound like should be a reflection of who you are as a brand. 1) Develop your voice: Your voice should answer the question, what does your company say online? Developing your voice doesn’t have to be complicated, all you need to do is follow the rule of three by asking: â€Å"If I were to pick three adjectives that described the voice of my brand on Facebook what would they be?† Once you have those three adjectives, make a "this but not that" list: We are funny but not crass. We are professional but not stuffy. We are peppy but not obnoxious. 2) Establish your tone: your tone is going to be in constant flux because your tone is not just what you say it’s how you say it. It is the exact opposite of your voice because it’s going to change with every post you create. For example, if your company is experiencing technical difficulties and your voice is usually upbeat and fun, you wouldn’t want to sound like that when you’re letting your customers know what’s going on. They would expect you to be serious and let them know what’s happening, what steps your team is taking and when they can expect to see the site back up and running. 13. Create a Facebook Group Facebook groups are great for bringing potential customers together in one place and allow you to connect with them and help move farther down your funnel. To create a Facebook group, you need to: Choose a topic centered around a keyword that relates to your audience: Finding a topic that is related to a keyword that your audience is searching for makes it easy to find you. Make sure that your group description is up to date: Explain to your audience what the purpose of the group is and rules of what can and cannot be posted there. Keep a steady stream of content related to the topic of your group: It may be up to your social team to keep a steady stream of content for group members to talk about. Make sure that any content you share is reliable and accurate to help encourage discussion. To create a Facebook group go to Groups on the left-hand side corner of your Facebook homepage and click + Create Group: Name your group, and decide what type of group you will have. Open (meaning anyone can join), Closed (meaning people need permission to join) or Secret (meaning only group members can find it): Tips for Creating Better Facebook Posts Your business page is set up, and now you need to start filling it with content. Facebook has a variety of different post types that you can use to make an impression on your audience. 14. Experiment With Facebook Video Posts Videos have surged in strength over the last few years with Facebook investing more and more into video with Facebook Watch launching earlier this year. Some tips that your team needs to remember when it comes to your Facebook videos are: Keep your videos to about a minute and 30 seconds. Your audience has an attention span of about 8 seconds (which is less than a goldfish) meaning that your videos need to be short and to the point. Make sure the first 60 seconds are the most engaging.  Ã‚  Similar to YouTube and its "pre-roll" ads, Facebook recently started introducing "mid-roll" ads. This means your viewing experience may be interrupted by an ad after the first 60 seconds. If you really want your viewers to stick around to see the rest of your video, make sure the first 60 seconds hook them. Bear in mind, only videos longer than 3 minutes will be interupped with a "mid-roll" ad. Keep your topics related to your company. Don't create or share videos that aren't relevant to your business. That latest viral video craze might be funny, but is it going to strengthen your brand? If the answer is no, then don't do it. 15. Share Videos Natively This is similar advice to the point above, but it's important to mention. When you're sharing video content on Facebook, make sure you share the video directly on Facebook, rather than linking to your YouTube page or similar. With Facebook doubling down on video content, the site will likely reward you with increased reach if you share your videos natively. Here's a sneak peek at some of our own results when we share video content directly via Facebook. 16. Try Using Facebook Live Facebook Live use is up 330% since its launch in April 2016. Some best practices to keep in mind: Find a quiet place. Broadcast somewhere quiet so people can hear you. Keep your camera steady. No one likes a shaky video. Check what’s behind your subject. Double check there’s nothing in your background that you don’t want people to see. Don’t overthink it. When it comes to Facebook live, the simpler you can keep your videos the better. There are two ways you can broadcast a Facebook Live Video. One way is through your mobile phone. To use Facebook Live, go to your Facebook Business page in the Facebook app: Click the post button and add your text: Click the video button and look for Live Video: Hit start and broadcast your video. Once it’s complete it will automatically save to your feed: The other way to broadcast a Facebook Live video is on your desktop or laptop computer. To use your desktop, go to your Facebook business page and look for start a live video: Fill in the message that you want to send: Click Go Live once you're ready to go and you'll be broadcasting live. Like it's mobile counterpart, after your live video has ended it will archive itself and any fans that missed it will be able to see it again in your feed. 17. Use the Poll Feature Facebook Polls are a fun way to create engaging content on the platform. After all, who doesn't like to get their opinion heard? Facebook itself uses this feature for its #PetYearbook contest where users can vote on various categories like "Most Likely to Succeed" and "Best Hair". To create your own Poll, click the three dots under where you would normally create a post. Then, choose the option that says "poll". 18. Try Different Types of Image Posts to Make a Greater Impact Facebook images need to be the right size to make the maximum impact on the newsfeed of your audience. Facebook images need to be 1200px by 630px. There a multiple ways that you can add photos to your Facebook page: 1) Facebook albums: These are the traditional photo albums that you can use to categorize product photos etc. Facebook albums are great when you have a lot of photos that you want to add your page. Albums help keep them sorted and organized which make it easier for people to look through. Most Facebook albums will look like this: COBBERS WIN! 🠏ˆ Have a great rest of Homecoming Weekend! #cordmn Posted by Concordia College on Saturday, September 30, 2017 2) Multi-image posts: These are standalone posts that allow you to upload multiple photos in a single post but it does not create an album. Multi-image posts are great when you have smaller amounts of photos to add that don’t necessarily need to be categorized. Multi-image posts will look like album posts but they do not have an album title attached to them: Today was Twin Day at the office. Which pair is your favorite? Posted by on Tuesday, October 24, 2017 3) Facebook Carousel posts: Carousel posts are just like their ad counterparts in the fact that you can add up to five photos that link to a web page and allow people to scroll through them. Carousel posts are a great way to make an impact with images that also link back to your web page or landing page. This is what they look like: Posted by FB Carousel Format Creative Examples on Monday, August 15, 2016 Here’s how to use Facebook’s different image post options: 19. Optimize Links to Make People Click Through Facebook is a great place to link out to articles, landing pages and any other web content that your team creates. Some important things to keep in mind when you’re using links in your Facebook posts: 1) Shorten your links with bit.ly: If you’re going to include the link in your post, don’t post a massive link  with long tails of letters. Shorten them up using bit.ly. 2) Don’t worry about choosing a photo: Facebook selects the best photo for your links when you’re adding them to your posts. Due to some changes, you also won't be allowed to modify  the preview image when sharing a link. 3) If you want a cleaner looking post, delete the original link and enter your text by itself: Once you enter your link into your Facebook status and Facebook generates a preview, delete the text to enter your own. It’s important to note however, that if you delete your link from your text, it will still stay in your post. Setting up your links is as easy as going to bit.ly and typing in your link: Copy the shortcode and post it into your status update: Once Facebook generates a preview, delete the link and add in your text: Recommended Reading: How to Increase Visibility With Social Media Optimization 20. Target Your Audience With Each Facebook Post Facebook allows pages to target their posts towards certain audience members, much like how you target your ads. However, you can only access that type of target if your Facebook page has more than 5,000 followers. Facebook broke down how to access this free feature here. If your page is over 5,000 followers look for a site button on your post: Choose your demographics and hit save: You should see your targeting selections in your post: Did you know that when you use , you can use our Facebook targeting features to help your posts connect with the right people? To use this feature, go to your calendar and select Social Message Facebook: In your message, there is a small target. Click that and you’ll see a full list of different demographics you can target: Save your audience and give it a name: Click the target again and apply your new audience: 21. Use the Social Message Optimizer to Create the Best Facebook Posts In May we released every social media marketers' best friend, the Social Message Optimizer. This handy tool makes it easy to analyze posts before they publish. To use the tool, type your potential message into the analyzer: Hit Score My Message and you’ll get your score for each social channel: As you continue to scroll down the list you’ll see an overview that tells you want your message is doing well and what you can add to improve your score: You can keep scrolling down the screen for more information on how to improve your score. Once you know what to improve re-write your message and score it again: 22. Don’t Cross-Post Between Facebook and Other Social Channels Facebook makes it easy to cross-post between other social channels. If you have that feature enabled, turn it off. Cross-posting may make it easy for you to fill a quota of social posts, however, cross posting: Doesn’t allow you to customize your posts for each network. Will cut off text if the network has a limited amount of characters (Twitter). Comes across as lazy to audiences who are following you on multiple networks. In summary: Don’t post your content from Facebook across multiple channels. It may save you time, but it won’t save your engagement rates. 23. Build A Facebook Event That Encourages People To Attend Facebook events are a great way to reach out to your audience and get them to connect with you. There is information that always needs to be a part of your event description including: Place Time Directions or links to a Google map Tickets link (if needed) Check out this video for a quick how-to on setting up events in Facebook: 24. Post At The Best Times Your company’s organic reach is most likely on the decline. Due to the sheer number of pages on Facebook, and Facebook’s algorithm, the reach potential of your posts doesn’t exactly fall in your favor. That’s why posting at the right time is so important to gain the maximum amount of exposure: 25. Use Best Time Scheduling in To Post Your Messages at the Best Time Automatically If you’re not using for your social media scheduling you’re missing out on the ability to send your posts at the best time for your Facebook page automatically. Using the feature is simple. Craft a social post by clicking + and selecting Social Message: Craft your message and scroll to the bottom of the post and select best time scheduling from the drop-down menu on the right-hand side of your post: Recommended Reading: How to Create a Marketing Strategy That Will Skyrocket Your Results By 9,360% 26. Know How Often to Post on Facebook Posting at the right time is an important part of your Facebook marketing strategy, but so is the number of times you post. According to 20 different studies the best posting frequency for Facebook is ... Recommended Reading: What 23 Studies Say About the Best Times to Post on Social Media 27. Use Monitoring Tools There are quite a few options out there for Social Media monitoring, and each offers a slightly different benefit. Some, like Rival IQ, focus on benchmarking, which eliminates the need to bounce from channel to channel just to see competitor activities.  Tools such as this make it easy to see how your social media activities stack up against the competition. Others, like Brandwatch, allow you to stay on top of what people are saying about your company and visualize how your specific Social Media campaigns are performing. The downside? The learning curve can be a little steep as Brandwatch is built on boolean logic. Here are a few things to keep in mind when choosing the right monitoring tool for you: Write down your objectives:  Are you looking to see how your brand stacks up against the competition? OR are you looking to be in-the-know about what people are saying about your company? Making this distinction will help in choosing the right tool. Consider specific functions you need:  Some tools offer more powerful filters such as sentiment analysis, language breakdowns, and geographic location. Will you need these special features? Resources:  We're all on a budget... and some of these monitoring tools cost as much as a small car. Make sure you do your research beforehand so you don't fall in love with a tool only to realize there is no way you can squeeze it into your budget. Tips To Get More Facebook Page Likes Because of Facebook’s massive userbase, there's tons of opportunity to grow your audience on the platform. 28. Create Ads to Promote Your Page Facebook offers an ad set that allows you to promote your Facebook Business page and help people find and â€Å"Like† you. Ads like these are great if you want to: Grow your audience. Expand the reach of your posts. Attract new customers. Check out this video for how to get your promotion ads up and running: 29. Investigate Other Pages' Ads Did you know you can see all the Facebook ads other companies are running? You won't be able to see targeting or ad spent, but you can take a gander at their creative and see if they're A/B testing various copy, images etc. To see this info, navigate to another company's page. Then click "Info and Ads" on the bottom left-hand side. For example, we can see that HubSpot is running a few different ads and is potentially A/B testing copy and images against each other. (Leah, the example I found has more trendy topics. Might be worth mentioning?) There are a couple different reasons you might want insights into a company's Facebook ads. Analyze prospective clients: If you're an agency, this feature makes it easy to analyze a prospect's ad copy, creative, and website in order to make suggestions for improvement. Get competitive insights: Look at their Facebook pages and their clients’ Facebook pages. Are they doing anything wrong that you could do better? 30. Add Social Buttons To Your Website One way that you can attract a bigger audience to your Facebook page is adding social channel buttons to your website. You have a lot of traffic going to your website, exploring products and interacting with your company as a whole. If they like what they see you can encourage them to keep up with you on your social media channels. Some tips to keep in mind: 1) Make sure that your buttons are linking back to your social channels: Nothing is worse than when you click to follow a social link, and it takes you to the wrong social profile. Always double check your links. 2) Keep your channel icons in the same place on every page on your website: If you’re going to add social icons to any page on your website make sure they are in the same place for every page. 3) Update your icons if the social channel logo changes: Social channels will sometimes update their icon like Twitter going from a standard T to the Twitter bird. If your social channel icons are out of date, it can make you look out of touch with what’s happening with the network. 31. Drive Traffic to Your Facebook Page By Adding a Link in Your Email Signature Another way to help expand your audience is to add your Facebook page to your email signature. In Gmail, go to your settings: Type in your new email signature: Highlight â€Å"Facebook† and hit the link button. There you can add in the link to your Facebook page and type in the text that you want to be hyperlinked: Hit save. Then, check out your new email signature: Tips For Increasing Your Organic Reach On Facebook Organic reach has been on a steady decline over the past few years. Its increasingly becoming a "pay-to-play" environment. So what can you do that’s not going to cost your company a ton of money to increase the reach of your content? 32. Pin Your Content To The Top Of Your Business Page If you have a Facebook post that is: 1) Gaining a large amount of engagement from your fans. 2) Already has a decent amount of reach. It may be time to look at pinning that content to the top of your business page to help extend its life. This post will stay pinned to the top of your page for seven days. To pin a post, go to the selected content and click the small arrow on the top right-hand side of your post: Click Pin to Top of Page and the post will reappear at the top of your profile with a blue pin in the corner: Recommended Reading: 10 Fundamental Ways to Boost Your Facebook Organic Reach By 193% 33. Publish User Generated Content According to a Digital Intelligence Today article, 92% of people trust recommendations from friends and family above anything else. You can utilize that trust to grow your organic reach by sharing user-generated content. According to Salesforce, campaigns with UGC have 50% higher engagement rates. The more people engage with your content, the more it will show up in others newsfeeds. The more your content appears, the more reach you gain. Some tips to keep in mind when it comes to publishing user-generated content: Make sure that you give credit to the original publisher. Always ask if they want their content shared on your page. Let the author or reviewer know that their content will be published on your page. What does an example of a good UGC post look like? #TooshieTuesday 🠍‘ #Twins #dually #fordtrucks #F250 #F350 #liftedford #fordnation #alumiduty #liftedtrucks #trucknation... Posted by RealTruck.Com on Tuesday, October 10, 2017 34. Invite People To Like Your Page From Your Ads Here's a simple, but underused hack to increase followers. Running an ad is a great way to to get in front of a new audience, but did you know that you can also turn these individuals into more permenent fans of your page? All you have to do is invite them to like your page from your ad. First, bring up an ad that has several engagements and click to expand those engagements. Next, click to invite them to like your page. Naturally, not everyone will accept your invite, but those who have already liked your content will surely be more likely to convert into fans of your page. 35. Run a Facebook Contest To Increase Your Reach Okay, who doesn’t like free stuff? Running a contest on your Facebook page is a great way to increase your organic reach if it’s done correctly. Here some things to keep in mind when you’re creating your contest: 1) Make sure that people are sharing your posts. Engaging with content is great, but when people share your contest post. it ends up in the feed of all of their friends, easily tripling your reach. 2) Double check the images and text of your posts before you publish. The last thing you want is 100’s of people sharing your post with errors in your post. 3) Set a time limit. People will share your post like crazy which means that your team needs to set a time limit for how long people have to share your post. It will help create a sense of urgency and encourage your fans to take action now. 36. Partner with Influencers Influencers can help increase your organic reach by getting your name in front of their audience. According to Convince and Convert for every $1 you invest in an influencer you experience a $6.50 return on average. That’s nothing to laugh at. However, with influencers, you need to make sure that your intentions are clear. Remember to: 1) Make sure they include a PSA that their content is sponsored or an ad: The FCC is cracking down on posts from influencers who don’t identify that their content is being paid for by another organization. 2) Outline what their post needs to contain: your influencer content needs to be outlined before it’s posted including, accounts that need to be tagged, hashtags that need to be included and any images or media outlines that your influencer needs to create. 3) Connect with your influencers to gather analytical data: if your influencers are posting to their accounts make sure that your social team checks in to gather analytical data that your team can add to your report. Recommended Reading: How to Boost Engagement With Micro-Influencers the Right Way 37. Tag People and Companies in Your Facebook Posts A final way to increase your organic reach is to tag people and companies in your Facebook posts. Tagging helps draw people’s attention to your post and increases the chance they might share your content with their audience. Keep these tips in mind when you’re tagging: Only tag company’s or influencers if they're relevant to your content. You cannot tag personal Facebook accounts unless their settings are public. Don’t just tag people to get their attention, tag them because you’re either giving them credit for your content or you think it would be of use to them. Facebook Advertising Tips Facebook has a large variety of different advertising options that can get a bit confusing if you don’t know where to start. So we broke them all down for you. 38. Target Your Audience With Facebook Product Sales Ads One of Facebook’s newer ads features allows you to create Facebook ads for the products that your company offers. These ads are great if: You have a new product launching that you want to get in front of your audience. You have a large catalog of products and want to advertise them as much as possible. You want to categorize your products for the different members of your audience and target them for what they are looking for. Some other tips to keep in mind when you’re setting up these ads: Make sure your product photos are the optimum size at 600 x 600 px. Always keep your product feed up to date especially if something goes out of stock. Set automatic updates for your product feed. Check out this video for a brief tutorial on how to set up product ads:39. Boost Your Posts The Right Way Let’s say you write a killer Facebook post, and your audience is loving it. You’d want to maximize the life of that post, and you can through boosting it. But don’t hit the blue Boost Post button that appears. According to Hubspot, while that may seem like the easy way out, it’s better to boost posts through your ads manager. Keep these tips in mind when you’re setting up your boosted posts: Triple check spelling and graphics for errors Watch who you’re targeting, create custom audiences if you need to. Set a reasonable time that the post should be boosted. Check out Hubspot’s full breakdown: 40. Use "Dark" Posts Not to be confused with dark social (which refers to social traffic not tracked by your analytics tools), dark posts are targeted ads on Facebook. It's sort of like a cross between an ad and an organic post. Here's what you need to know about a dark post on Facebook: A dark post won't show up on your timeline, nor in the feeds of your followers. Instead, it shows up as sponsored content to the audience you're targeting. The dark post will still be visible under the "Info and Ads" section. You create a dark post in your ads manager account. Why would someone want to create a dark post on Facebook? For starters, it offers more in-depth targeting than what is available to organic posts, so you to create custom ads for each targeted audience segment. What's more, is that each audience will only see the ad that's designed for them. Dark posts keep your content feeds cleaner. Sometimes we marketers want to boost multiple posts, but don't what them to clog up our timelines. Dark posts allow us to create content that's targeted to specific demographics, while also giving our organic posts precious timeline real estate. They keep you from spamming your followers. Consider this...  as a follower, would you rather see 10 iterations of the same post or one dark post tailored for you? This video provides some insight into how to create your first dark post using Ads Manager: 41. Use Carousel Ads To Make a Visual Impact Carousel ads are another newer feature of the Facebook ad family and using them is great because it helps showcase a bunch of products or different features for a single product in one ad. Here are some things to keep in mind: Carousel ads always end with a link to a web page, so triple-check your landing pages. Use images that are optimized for the ad (i.e. 600 pixels and less than 20% text) Mix it up and add video. Facebook has a whole page dedicated to giving people ideas for carousel ads. If you’re trying to think of ways to get outside the box with your, check out the page for inspiration. Check out this video for some step by step help: 42. Cross-Promote Your Ads On Facebook and Instagram There are three main things that need to be in place for your ads to be able to be promoted on both channels: Your Instagram account needs to be connected to your business page on Facebook since the ads are run through Facebook ads manager. They must be viewable on mobile since Instagram ads are only accessible through mobile phones. You have to turn the Instagram ad feature on for each ad that you want to push to both channels. Facebook broke down how to use Instagram ads in this handy guide, or if you’re a more visual learner, check out this video: 43. Use Facebook Ads Manager To Keep Everything Organized The Facebook ads manager can help keep track of all of the ads you’re running on the platform. To access ads manager go to Insights Promotions Go To Ads Manager: In the ads manager, you’ll see different sections broken down by ad type. The first is just your standard account overview. This will include your total reach, ad spend and more for every ad you run: Campaigns break down your standalone ads and ad sets that are tied to a certain topic: Ad sets are multiple ads clustered around a certain topic, keyword, time and budget: Ads are your standalone ads that are focused on one keyword, one date range and one budget: