Two Careers That Didn’t Exist Ten Years Ago

Two Careers That Didn’t Exist Ten Years Ago
February 1st, 2010 Author: Lis Hubert
As a user experience designer, I find it extremely challenging to describe to others what I do. I’m sure there are many reasons why this is, but I think the biggest reason is that my career is so new. In fact, it has been in existence, at least in the web world, less time than I have!
Knowing my struggles in this arena, my good friend passed along to me this article. As I scrolled down the list, I noticed numbers:
7. Social Media Strategist
8. User Experience Analyst
Seeing both side by side as separate titles threw me off. I mean, isn’t part of making a website enjoyable and easy to use integrated with having a social media strategy? Don’t I do this day in and day out with each and every client I work with? I would be extremely hesitant to hire a social media strategist that didn’t have a user experience/usability background.
Here’s why: when business owners hear social media they tend to think about getting more customers to interact with their brand at all costs. “Oh, this is a free way to sell my product.” A social media strategist without a user experience background can help you get more followers on twitter and more fans on Facebook, but I’m unsure they’d be able to get you the right followers and fans.
For me as an entrepreneur, it’s about quality over quantity. Quality followers and fans are different for each brand. Finding this quality group, that’s the job of your user experience designer.
As a user experience designer, it is my job to first know your user base, your business and your competition and to help you do the same. A UX (user experience) Designer will do research to see where the intended user and business requirements intersect and help to promote and attain the needs of both. By doing so, the UXD brings to life the user behaviors of your target customer and that is important for your social media strategy. Knowing your customers, how they act, think and behave is key to knowing how, when and where to implement social media.
The point? Having more followers is great and yes helps, at times, to contribute to sales and word of mouth. But having followers that are engaged with your company, that have a relationship with it because your company meets and exceeds the customer’s expectation is invaluable. These are the followers that will be with you through thick and thin, answering the questions:
Who will buy your product and evangelize your service so you don’t have to?
Who will bring your business from average to extraordinary?
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About the Blogger: Lis is the Founder of Hubert Experience Design, a botique user experience firm based in NYC. Her firm has worked with a wide range of organizations, from Fortune 500 to start-up. Hubert Experience Design takes pride in making websites better and easier to use.