Zazzmatazz
Jun. 23rd, 2019 01:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
darksolezIt seems like I lead 90% of my blog entries with an apology or explanation. So I'll skip the excuses this time and just say that I'm glad to be back writing on my blog. As it turns out, setting up a blog was key to my recent successes, employment-wise. Okay, it's not something I'm ready to show off to the wider world just yet, but the fact that it exists and I have been posting on it is enough to make conversation.
So, I'm three weeks into my new job at Zazzle. Zazzle, for those not in the know, is an online marketplace, with their European headquarters based in Cork. It specialises in customisable products, whether they be t-shirts, mugs, wedding invitations, greeting cards, or posters, and you can use any artwork or design you've made to create ultra-personalised, high-quality gifts. If you want, you can upload your design to the website and make it a template for other people to use, and when other people use your design you'll net a percentage of the sale as a royalty. All of what I've described so far are things I have very little experience of doing, I think: IT (like, 'real' IT, with two monitors and data reports and so on), design, and online retail.
But recently, Zazzle advertised for a Content Specialist, which is the job I applied for (and the job I'm now doing). As Zazzle grows (it's really big in the U.S.), it's branching out into other forms of content: social media posting, blog articles, and affiliations with licenced brands like Marvel, Harry Potter, and Pixar. Any of the writing that's involved in these affiliations, such as product descriptions, introductions to brands and characters, and promotional articles, are tasks that I may be asked to do (and which I've already started working on). Zazzle also posts daily articles on its site which are related, thematically, to the things it sells, and which I'll also be working on. These can be as broad as a piece about designing wedding invitations or Christmas cards, but they are growing more specific as of late (for example, an article on Marvel characters or a review of E3, the gaming conference in LA). I've already received an article title, so that should appear on your screens in the next few weeks. I'm also helping to prepare products before they are posted on the site, with a view to SEO (Search Engine Optimisation). This involves describing, naming, and tagging designs in a way that will make them popular when searched. In essence, it's all about creating, and about writing, brainstorming, and proofreading.
I know it's only a month in, but overall, it's been fantastic so far. It operates like Google, Facebook, and other big Silicon Valley companies, which means the culture is upbeat but relaxed. You're not chained to your desk all day, there's food and drinks provided, they offer health insurance and discounted gym membership, the hours are fairly flexible, you can work while listening to music, it involves pop culture (about which I am quite knowledgeable!), and the people are very nice. I've never worked in a place like this before.
So that's why the blog posts have slowed down, if you were wondering: it requires a considerable amount of motivation to continue writing at home when you're writing at work! But I'm quite happy. I'll share more another time, but this post should suffice to explain the burning question on everyone's mind: what does Zazzle do, and what do I do there? Took me a while to figure it out myself!
So, I'm three weeks into my new job at Zazzle. Zazzle, for those not in the know, is an online marketplace, with their European headquarters based in Cork. It specialises in customisable products, whether they be t-shirts, mugs, wedding invitations, greeting cards, or posters, and you can use any artwork or design you've made to create ultra-personalised, high-quality gifts. If you want, you can upload your design to the website and make it a template for other people to use, and when other people use your design you'll net a percentage of the sale as a royalty. All of what I've described so far are things I have very little experience of doing, I think: IT (like, 'real' IT, with two monitors and data reports and so on), design, and online retail.
But recently, Zazzle advertised for a Content Specialist, which is the job I applied for (and the job I'm now doing). As Zazzle grows (it's really big in the U.S.), it's branching out into other forms of content: social media posting, blog articles, and affiliations with licenced brands like Marvel, Harry Potter, and Pixar. Any of the writing that's involved in these affiliations, such as product descriptions, introductions to brands and characters, and promotional articles, are tasks that I may be asked to do (and which I've already started working on). Zazzle also posts daily articles on its site which are related, thematically, to the things it sells, and which I'll also be working on. These can be as broad as a piece about designing wedding invitations or Christmas cards, but they are growing more specific as of late (for example, an article on Marvel characters or a review of E3, the gaming conference in LA). I've already received an article title, so that should appear on your screens in the next few weeks. I'm also helping to prepare products before they are posted on the site, with a view to SEO (Search Engine Optimisation). This involves describing, naming, and tagging designs in a way that will make them popular when searched. In essence, it's all about creating, and about writing, brainstorming, and proofreading.
I know it's only a month in, but overall, it's been fantastic so far. It operates like Google, Facebook, and other big Silicon Valley companies, which means the culture is upbeat but relaxed. You're not chained to your desk all day, there's food and drinks provided, they offer health insurance and discounted gym membership, the hours are fairly flexible, you can work while listening to music, it involves pop culture (about which I am quite knowledgeable!), and the people are very nice. I've never worked in a place like this before.
So that's why the blog posts have slowed down, if you were wondering: it requires a considerable amount of motivation to continue writing at home when you're writing at work! But I'm quite happy. I'll share more another time, but this post should suffice to explain the burning question on everyone's mind: what does Zazzle do, and what do I do there? Took me a while to figure it out myself!
