The ‘Social Media Research & Techniques’ course provided me with a lot of insight and ideas that I will be able to use not only in my professional life, but in the way I use the various platforms in my personal life as well. I knew quite a bit about the popular platforms, but that course certainly helped fine-tune my approach, has made my posts more appealing, and helped adjust the way I interacted online.
For work we are in the process of revamping each of our existing websites and placing a focus on social media. In the future we will be incorporating monthly blog posts (or eNewsletter) to discuss industry trends, product innovations, what is happening within our organization, and be used to help promote new products. The main skill learned involved my approach to blogging will definitely help me condense content and write in a manner that may be more beneficial to the end goal. I have the bad habit of elaborating on topics and this course taught me to produce a “less is more” approach to my writing style and make my posts more accessible to the reader.
The main skill I learned in class was how to utilize the various social media platforms in a more effective manner, especially in a business sense. The course taught me that social media is not just one-way promotional tool and opened my eyes as to how to engage and interact the audience more effectively. It has already proven effective with the approach that I am taking with my company’s social media efforts and has assisted in the way I interact with our followership. I am now taking a more interactive and informative approach rather than just sending out one-sided messages.
The class also taught me how to work in groups on a virtual level, something I have not had a lot of experience with. In the past (both professionally and in school) group projects were often done in a face-to-face environment, so the final assignment taught me how work within a team without actually sitting around the same desk; I’m sure an experience I will be able to build on in the future.
With social media becoming a more popular way that people are getting information, I’m looking forward to leading my company’s efforts and being on the forefront of the marketing tools available from Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and whatever other platforms prove beneficial in the future. It is exciting being a part of the social media revolution and assisting my company’s efforts on being heavily active with the marketing capabilities available.
I am most exciting about utilizing YouTube in my future marketing initiatives for work and learning how to produce and promote those efforts. We have a number of promotional ideas in mind and the video route is an avenue that we as an organization are very excited about. We will be able to show people the numerous benefits of our various products, demonstrate installation techniques, promote our trade show efforts, and produce appealing videos to launch new products.
We live in an exciting time and I can’t wait to see where this social media revolution goes and how marketers use the tools available in the future.