Changing Company Culture

In reviewing the outlook of web analytics for GM it looks very promising. Earlier this year GM made a public announcement that they were pulling Facebook ads. They cited the lack of return on investment. These actions lead me to believe that they are constantly reviewing their web presence and are concerned about the direction they take. I do however think that they may be slow to act on emerging markets and are still overly cautious with making web related decisions. The company is very traditional and is accustomed to working in a particular manner, these ideals will be difficult to change.

I think that it would be beneficial for GM to try to do some smaller campaigns in smaller niche web markets that are generally youth oriented. Even if the ads don't bring direct sales from the youth, they can influence their parents to create sales. It will also raise the "hip-ness" factor of the company to bring a desire back to the brands. GM once tried to market Oldsmobile with the "This isn't your fathers Oldsmobile", but they still targeted an older generation, and it never took off.

Hiring Analysts

I did a search of candidates on LinkedIn to fill the Web Analysts position for AutoAnything and found Kevin Eggers. His background is in managing teams, projects and web products at a company that does similar work. He is currently working for Dataium where he describes them as "Dataium is the largest aggregator of online automotive shopper behavior data, and the only provider of streaming, in-market shopper intelligence. Dataium provides an unprecedented view of the shopping stream by offering a cross-source, multidimensional view of online activity from almost any point of origin."

His background of working in the web realm at a company that specializes in data acquisition and aggregation seems very relevant.

In an interview I would try to isolate ways that he creatively worked with the data. I would also try to see how specific he was with recommendations that he might have provided for growth scenarios.

I would really like to see creativity when dealing with the numbers to get fresh ideas for growth. The attention to detail also needs to be high.

Web Analytics Jobs

I did a quick search of Dice.Com to look for a web analytics position that looked interesting. The one that I found for AutoAnything seemed promising. They are looking for a Web Analytics Manager. The position covered much of the work that we have done in class as well as included some other skills that I have acquired from my current position.

The first thing that made me choose the position was that it was in a field I find interesting. I enjoy most everything related to cars, working on them, racing them, or just talking about them. The company has also been around for several years, since 1979, which makes it more attractive compared to a small start-up.

The key skills needed for the position are to be able to analyse the data coming in, and be creative in the interpretation. The person also needs to be a good communicator to be effective at being a liaison between several departments.

The biggest hurdle with this position is that they are looking for a specific amount of experience in the field. To make myself more attractive, I would have to find a way to relate my current career experience to apply to this position. Also, by doing some preliminary scenarios for the company prior to an interview could be useful.