Today was the start of our company visits in Sweden. We were invited to Skapa, a content marketing company. Skapa was founded by Erik Ekholm and his wife Annika Ekholm in 1996. Skapa is a content marketing firm and does website building, app designing as well as blogging for other businesses. Some of their customers include Volvo Penta, CAT, Skanska, Densplay Implants and Andeasson Musilk. The philosophy of Skapa that has helped make them as successful as they currently are is their ability to attract new businesses and develop loyalty be delivering relevant and updated content that meets the needs of their customers.
Erik, who is the CEO of Skapa, discussed with us the tools that they are able to use to help their companies drive traffic onto their websites to help build their customer base on all platforms. One of these are google snippets. Google snippets are the short answer to a question when its searched in the search engine before the results. While Google snippets can be purchased, Skapa’s customers have been able to acquire the coveted spots without purchase. Google picks their website’s as the general answer due to their dedication and thoroughness to provide the right information to consumers.
Erik discussed the importance of building companies websites correct from the start. It is easier to start from nothing and build something great than to try to fix something that did not have a lot of effort put in to begin with. The work that his company does should be considered an investment versus a cost. Creating compelling content that is creative for the audience is one of Skapa’s main goals.
Erik ended our meeting with a few questions as well as some words of wisdom for those of us preparing to graduate and enter the workforce. Erik suggest that young professional enter into big companies or companies that give them the ability to grow and develop.
After meeting with Erik, we headed to Goteborg University. We stopped for lunch at their cafe before meeting with Professor Claes G. Alvstam and Professor Martin Oberg. Professor Alvstam gave us a presentation about Gothenburg’s Economy. Some characteristics of the Swedish economy include: natural resources such as minerals (iron, copper, silver, and gold) as well as wood and limited volumes of coal. Their main source of income is providing services, more importantly digital services. Their newest successful digital services include: Klarna, Truecaller, Mujang, King, Spotify, and Skype. Sweden is a well developed country but they face challenges as well. Brexit will mean that Sweden will be losing a close ally and ultimately Sweden will also feel the negative impacts.
After a short presentation on the History of Goteborg, we were given a chance to talk to University of Gothenburg students. We were given a chance to ask them what being a student in Sweden is like. Due to my interest in residential life, I was curious to know if the students also lived on campus. One of the students does live in housing on campus as she is from northern Sweden. The other student we spoke to was a commuter, who commutes everyday by train to get to school. It was so interesting to talk about the similarities and differences of being a college student.
After meeting with the students we headed back to the hostel to get ready for dinner. Tonight was an open dinner so Jackson, Jenna, Peyton and I walked down to Linnegaten to look for somewhere to eat. We ended up going to John Scott’s which seems to be a local chain of pubs.
Tomorrow we will be visiting Qualisys and SKF. We have heard these companies talked about in class and by other people we have met here so it will be very exciting to get to meet with their executives and have an inside look.
3 Takeaways
- Starting a business with your husband/wife can be scary but beneficial
- There are commuter students in Sweden too
- Sweden’s largest export is services
Leslye's Travels 