Sam's First Two Week Diary

Time flies! I've been at Pixelbuilders for a year now, and it's flown by so quick! To celebrate my one year anniversary, I thought I'd take a trip down memory lane and share the diary I recorded for my first two weeks here. Join me for a nostalgic trip...
 
Monday 4th July 2022
Monday was my first day on the job, so it's time to get on with inductions. I had the opportunity to get to know the place, had a tour and got to see the rooftop terrace. I met most of the team via Teams and learnt a bit about them all. It was a brief, but very warm welcome. My main task for the day was then working on getting to know our clients and understanding their socials, branding and values. 

Tuesday 5th July 2022
On Tuesday I took part in my first scrum meeting, where the whole team were together, discussing their plans and ideas for the day. Then I did a deep dive into Pixelbuilders. I read the Pixel bible, and got to know the company inside and out, as well as looking into a few of our competitors. I was introduced to some key marketing tools by Rachael and we went over what I need to know and how we post content for our clients. Then I finished the day off with a proper deep dive into our marketing client Summit Vans, which allowed me to come up with some new ideas and thoughts on how to take their marketing forward from a fresh perspective.

Wednesday 6th July 2022
On Wednesday I had an introduction to Kentico from Oli Webster. I learned about the ins and outs of the platform and i was able to understand how to work with this CMS in the future. In the afternoon I had the opportunity to schedule my first social media posts for MTech and Bracken to support their social media accounts too. Speaking of Bracken, I had the chance to sit in on my first data analysis meeting with Rachael and John from Bracken, learning some neat insights about their online performance, as well as understanding what we can change for the future to keep building on their key performance indicators.  

Thursday 7th July 2022
I got to grips with Umbraco and had the priviledge of being introduced to the platform by our resident Umbraco expert, Andy Boot. Oli Webster then set me some tasks to complete via Umbraco in preparation of the new site launch for Harrogate Neighbours. I also had a call with Gabbi and Rachael on Figma, and was taught everything I needed to know about this piece of software and how the design team use it to support our marketing activities. I had the opportunity to have a good play around with the platform and it was a really good learning experience.

Friday 8th July 2022
On the last day of my first week, I learned more about how the team here use Trello. I’ve used this platform before but I learnt how to use it for Pixel, so all the different columns, boards and protocals, including using Trello to supply breifs into the design team. We also had a team lunch and I got to meet everyone in person for the first time. Then in the afternoon I used my innovation time to brush up on some extra Google knowledge, in this case with Google Ads. We then headed over the road for Kristian’s leaving drinks and I was able to spend time with the team and I got to know some of them a little bit better.



Monday 11th July 2022
I started the week off on a list of tasks set on Friday for me by Rachael. I also had my first marketing meeting with Rachael, Gabbi and Ollie Webster. My first task was updating Chartford’s site and having my first go with Kentico. I made some simple text and image changes. Then I worked on my first blog, this one being for Bracken. I did some keyword research and wrote a blog on "top time management tips". A simple enough piece but one I really enjoyed writing. I ended the day researching the audience for a Chartford ad campaign that was due to be launched across Instagram and Facebook later in the week.
  
Tuesday 12th July 2022
I felt a little under the weather when I woke up on Tuesday. I took a COVID test as a precaution, and luckily I was already working from home because sure enough, I tested positive. I was well enough to work however. I had a few more tasks already on my to do list, so I continued with those first. I made some corrections and additions to the blog I wrote yesterday, and I worked with the design team to produce the relevant image assets to finish it off properly. I also wrote a draft of another blog for Bracken, this time all about Ilkley and what it's like to commute to and from the town. After that, I started work on a newsletter for MTech…

Wednesday 13th July 2022
I was feeling slightly better on Wednesday, but I’ve got a nasty cough. Me and Rachael did a final check on the Chartford Facebook ads. Rachael introduced me to the guys over at MTech via email and I requested some more information to fill in some of the blanks for their newsletter which I'd started work on yesterday. Then I did some CMS work for Harrogate Neighbours, creating a few well optimised meta titles and descriptions for the main webpages ahead of the site going live. I also did some CMS work for Bracken by changing some images on their team page, as well as uploading Martin’s latest blog to the Pixel site.

Thursday 14th July 2022
I was still testing positive on Thursday and I've still got a bad cough. Not great! Work wise, I did some amends on the Bracken blog from Tuesday, making it more concise, as well as doing some further research and making some worthwhile additions, which I really enjoyed. My first original idea got the go-ahead from Rachael which was really exciting for me to hear too. We planned to adapt some of Mtech’s blogs into small, bitesize slideshows for social media. I did some research and scripting for these, as well as starting to get everything together so I can get a brief into the design team so we can make this idea a reality. 

Friday 15th July 2022
The final date in the diary. On Friday I finished off some bits and pieces for Bracken and I did some research for posts for Summit Vans social media output for next month. I finished off the week with innovation time, completing some really useful Google courses as well as also doing some more preparation for the content planning I’d be doing for Pentland Hills Gin and Summit Vans in my third week.