A few weeks ago, I came across the #MakeoverMonday challenge on Twitter -- which is a weekly data visualization challenge put out by Eva Murray and Andy Kriebel.  The aim is to rework an existing dataset and visualization (viz) into a new creation -- as a way to learn, grow and think about how to communicate data more effectively.  It really piqued my interest, as this is an area that I've been  trying to grow in. Although most participants use Tableau to create their visualizations (vizzes), I decided to use Excel because it's what I am most comfortable with and use most often at work. I have dabbled with Tableau just a bit -- usually only using it for some mapping features -- but looking at some of the awesome vizzes people have created, it looks like a really great interactive tool for presenting data.  In my professional life, I'm more often presenting a snapshot of data via PowerPoint or even a snip via email, so I haven't gotten to really play around much with interactive options (other than some crazy, nerdy fun with pivot tables, of course!).

I was recently asked to meet with someone just starting out in a Social Media role for fairly new food company to provide a sort of "Social Media 101" and overview on how to get started. The company has no presence on Social Media, so she will be building everything from the ground up. Being in the CPG industry myself and building up our company's Social Media presence from scratch over the past eight or nine years, I've definitely learned some things along the way. While I've never considered myself an "expert" on the topic (and think that the title of "Social Media Expert" is overrated and used too loosely as it is...), I think and hope I was able to provide some valuable insight.