Week 16: Final Post

I have to say, I find making this final post makes me a bit sad...I have really enjoyed this class, all the readings and exploring the world of Social Media!  Anyone who knows me outside of this class, knows that my knowledge of computers and social media are quite limited and way out of my realm, which is one of the reasons I really wanted to take this class and I've loved it!  So, on to what I've learned about social media and marketing a business online. 

Well, it's been quite an extraordinary experience for me, personally.  I was a bit intimidated initially just setting up a Blog and not wanting to mess it up, but I found our instructor was quite encouraging about our exploring different looks and paths and I felt that it was totally ok to explore our creative side and not worry about it.  It was really nice to be able to not feel constrained or limited by any particular expectations.  I felt like this was more of an art class in some ways, exploring the different forums and being allowed to express ourselves and our businesses to see what worked and didn't work.  I really enjoyed trying to design a layout and play with different fonts.  I'm sure you'll notice that the look of my blog is never the same.  It's because I'm always exploring and I loved that!   If I actually owned a business and wanted to start a blog or create something on social media, I would find a style and a look I liked and keep it consistent, but with this class, it allowed us to explore those different avenues without constraints and I really appreciated that!  If this was a real business that I was blogging about, I would never have explored the different options on this site, or the combinations of fonts or the different colors or realized that I could insert images or video content.   This has been an eye opening experience. 

I didn't take full advantage of operating a business by utilizing all of the social media platforms the way I would have liked to.  I mean,  I used them for our class and for my friend's business, but not to the extent I would have if it had been my personal business.  Mostly because it was difficult to get her participation and get images of her products to post on these platforms.  I had a vision of what should be done for her business to get it going on social media, but without much participation from her,  I had to create what I thought would be her business on these platforms.  it's not her fault.  She's incredibly busy, but I was given the impression that she wanted her business to take off on social media and I thought I came up with a good plan of action to make that happen, but only one of us was participating after a couple of weeks.  I think I learned a lot from that as well.  if anything, I understand that running a business is hard work and to make a business successful online, using social media, you have to have a lot of time to dedicate to it be consistent with it, be relevant and create good content.  You really have to find out which platforms work best for your business, understand your target market and keep using analytics to hone in and tweak your vision.

I think Social Media is an amazing tool for marketing a business and if you take the time to use all the tools available to you to market your business properly, there's no reason you can't be successful.  You have to be diligent though about staying on top of the trends and be disciplined.  Once you start posting, don't stop.  The public gets bored easily and if your not front and center and miss a post here and there, they could forget you.  It's also important to engage with your audience and to give them more than you ask for.  I think the more you can connect with your audience, and the more you can be authentic with them, the more likely you will be successful.  

it's essential to understand who your target market is and adjust it when you recognize you have it wrong.  be clear about what your goals are so you can use metrics/analytics to measure  those and adjust them if necessary to keep you on track and most of all, believe in what you are selling, because if you don't believe in it, no one else will.  

Thank you for the opportunity to explore our creative options in the world of social media!  You've been such a warm and Caring instructor!  Have a safe and happy holiday and good health to all and to all a good night!