10 things comms newbies should do their first week on the job

Starting a career is scary, exciting and unfamiliar.

You may have come straight out of college, decided on a career change or just landed your first real job. In any case, the first week in a new job can be extremely challenging.

I would recommend a few small tasks for marketing newbies. They won’t turn you into a marketing genius overnight, but they might just impress your colleagues and help you to settle into the company and your new role.

1. Change your LinkedIn presence.

If you haven’t done so already, update your LinkedIn profile to announce your new role. Make sure you are following your new company, and start “liking” and sharing company content.

2. Study the company structure, and start learning names.

The easiest way to learn names is to look at the company’s organizational chart. You can see the departmental structures, and because teams generally sit together, you can figure out where to find people in particular roles.

3. Make sure you are set up with a company email signature and business cards.

As a marketer, you represent your company, so you must use consistent branding throughout your communications.

Make sure your email signature has the correct details. If not, use your newfound knowledge to find the person who can help you. Business cards might seem premature, but you don’t want to be caught off guard if you have to attend a meeting or outside event.

[RELATED: How to attract—and keep—a millennial workforce.]

4. Set up your Chrome bookmarks.

In your first week you are likely to have a bit of downtime, affording you a chance to set up your computer. I highly recommend heading to Chrome and creating bookmark folders that might include:

• Reporting (analytics, webmaster, etc.)
• Events (exhibitions, conferences)
• Resources (stock photos, etc.)
• Company sites (main site staging, CMS)
• Industry (Industry resources, including Internet retailing, etc.)

5. Sign up for relevant industry resources.

Many industry expert blogs, communities, guides and other sources offer an email newsletter. Research relevant resources, and sign up to receive their newsletters. They are a great source of learning and can help you stay abreast of industry trends and news.

Don’t overdo it, though; select 10 resources, and create an email folder for the newsletters to land in for later inspection.

6. Sit with people at lunch.

Newbies tend to head out for lunch on their own. Don’t do it.

Sit in your office’s lunch area, and get chatting with people. You’ll quickly become part of the team, and it’s amazing what you can learn over a sandwich or salad.

7. Gain access to analytics accounts.

Whether you know a little or a lot about marketing, you can understand the company’s current marketing efforts by looking at their analytics. Ask for access to the Google Analytics account-making sure you save every password as you go-and start looking at data from the past year.

That will give you a complete overview of conversion rates, visitor numbers and bounce rates. It’s impossible to plan how to improve things without benchmarking first.

If you’ve never used Google Analytics, ask someone to give you a quick overview or sign up for a webinar to learn the basics.

8. Ask for website CMS training.

You probably will be updating the company website, so ask the relevant person to book a CMS training session. During your session, ask questions and take notes. After the session, request a log in to the staging/test website, so you can look around and get comfortable with the CMS.

9. Write a blog about your first week.

If you want to impress your new bosses, spend time penning your initial observations. The company might want to use it internally or even publish it on the website, so keep in mind that the post may go public.

After you have written your post, proofread it and send it to your managers, letting them know that your first week inspired you and that you’ve created your first piece of content for the company.

10. Go for a Friday drink with the team.

You made it to the end of the week. Celebrate by going out for a drink with the team. (Don’t forget to try out your name memory skills.)

A version of this article originally appeared on LinkedIn.

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