Favorite Social Media Tools

My knowledge before this class was limited to facebook, twitter, and a tiny bit of Youtube.  I've come so far with so many social media tools.  I think they are all important but I think the thing that I was most amazed with this semester was Google tools, mostly because I had no idea how much Google could do.  I think these tools woud probably be most valuable to a marketer because they could pretty much create an entire ad, budget, and measure the results of the campaign.  They can utilize search engine optimization and have a successfully targeted campaign.  I would still say that Facebook and twitter are my personal favorites but for a marketer, I think Google tools is really amazing.  

I actually really liked all of the Google tools that we learned last week. I think they will be greatly valuable to me in the future if I ever start my own advertising agency. It is always a great benefit to be able to track your ads and to be able to see which keywords are working best to generate the most clicks and pull-throughs. Google makes this all very easy to do now, and it's a resource I previously didn't know existed until taking this class. The analytics department and key word search tracker will all probably be used by me many times in the future.

I have been very interested this semester in the fact that a company's sucess, especially online, can be measured by changing or adding certain words on their web sites. It's been interesting tracking my company throughout the semester on Google Alerts and seeing how they market themselves online. To me, the most important tool I have been taught, is how to utilize social sites and other media tools, such as blogging, to drive action to a particular page. I understand that any tool, that especially if it is expensive or free, can be the most important to master. SEO is the tool that if I can master, it will help me and those around me profit greatly. The subject has inspired me to read Search by John Batelle. I am excited to read this book aout SEO/SEM and to see if this is an avenue I am interested in pursuing for my career. And if it is not, I am certain it will be valuable for any company I am involved with in the future.

I think Google Adwords and SEO were my favorite things that we learned this semester.  Internet advertising is becoming bigger and bigger every year and these are two of the main areas that companies are focusing on.  It is interesting to see the different approach that businesses need to take towards this type of advertising as opposed to old traditional advertising.  I also enjoyed learning about social media beyond Facebook and Twitter, because it is important to know what is out there and how to utilize it best. Before this class, I did not really think about a career in digital, but now that I learned more about it, I would be open to a working in digital if the opportunity arose.

I believed the Google tools and Google AdWords to be some of the most interesting tools that we explored throughout the duration of this class.  Both provide extremely useful marketing tools as well as both of them proved to be a very intricate piece in making businesses well known and easily accessible.  I also really liked exploring marketing tools through Twitter and Facebook because they proved to have many more useful functions in addition to being social networking sites.  I will most definitely be exploring Google AdWords further along in my career path which I hope to direct more into the field of digital.  This class was extremely beneficial in bringing awareness to the fact that the world is becoming more tech savy and more occupations are available to those who can navigate it thuroughly.

Overall, I enjoyed our blog activity the most. I think it's really cool how nowadays people can create an online presence so easily, and connect with others interested in the same sorts of things. In terms of what i think will be most useful - I'd have to say learning to use Twitter and Facebook effectively for marketing will benefit me in my career. This class has inspired me to look for a job that has a social media aspect to it.

Even though isn't useful to me at the moment, learning about Google AdWords and all of the tools they offer to advertisers was very interesting to me. I love that instead of just offering the AdWords service, they provide all of the support you could ever need to set up and then evaluate your ad campaign. Knowing how to use these tools will no doubt benefit me in the future. Beyond AdWords, knowing about SEO is interesting because it makes me wonder how much my search results are influenced by these techniques.

My favorite assignment so far in NMDL would be creating my own blog.  I read blogs everyday, and I always wanted to see the work that goes into starting a blog.  I enjoyed seeing the different outlets you can blog on, and I feel like it helped me understand the importance of blogging for businesses.  I will take with me the knowledge I learned about how businesses need to blog and communicate with their customers directly online.  

Currently my favorite social media tool is Foursquare, though I don't use it frequently. It's nice to gain some benefits such as coupon, special tours by frequent check-ins.The most exciting part is I can see the tips sharing by the TV program I'm watching, the university I'd like to visit and the brand I'm using. The more I get familiar with social media, the more intriguing I feel it is. It's really an amazing place where individuals can express and share anything they want and corps can educate and interact with their target audience. The NMDL course is really helpful.

Before taking this class, I thought I knew a good amount about social media. I knew about all the main social media sites but I didn't know very much about search engine optimization. I think that is the most beneficial thing that I have learned in this class. I never knew the important of keywords and making sure that they are unique so they get more quality clicks instead of mass amount of clicks. I can now apply what I have learned with SEO to my internship. In addition to SEO, I am glad that we built out our LinkedIn accounts. Although, I did have a LinkedIn before the class, I never fully built it and ultilized it like I should have. I have connected with a lot more people and even seen several job postings via LinkedIn. I also learned a lot with google+ because I never heard of it before I took this class. I am thankful that I took this class because I feel more confident about finding a job with social media based on the many lessons learned in this class.

Throughout this course I feel as though the one thing that has resonated with me is the SEO and SEM we have done for our respective companies. The fact that you can change words and phrases to attract your market, while at the same time tracking your success is amazing to me. Being able to understand the market and ultimately lead them into the buying process is something that will definitely help in my career. The work we have done with tracking and Google Adwords and Analytics has given me a head start on things that we will eventually have to learn in our industry, and has forced me to do a lot of research that I would have otherwise probably not done. 

From everything we learned so far in this class the most useful has been Google+. I did not know anything about Google+ until having this course and now I cant get enough of it. The ability to have video chats with 5 people at the same time has been great. I am able to use hangout to see my family and friends all at the same time and have a converstation with everybody at the same time. Google+ also allows for a search engine on social media which has been very helpful when wanting to find information. The uses of Google+ are endless and as I continue using it I keep learning more and more about it.

I do learn a lot of digital marketing from New Media Drivers License. For me, my favorite social media tool is location based marketing. Not only I'm a heavy users of foursquare, but also LBS provides unprecedented opportunities for retailers to directly contact with consumers. Since users of LBS use this kind of applications as a game, users might engage in checking in and have commitment to some retailers. Therefore, I think retailers or other businesses can take advantage of LBS to appeal to customers and then enhance their loyalty, which is a final purpose of marketing for marketers. I'm not sure I will go into the field of digital; however, I think nowadays most of businesses need to conduct social and digital marketing. Therefore, it's still important to know digital marketing no matter in which businesses.

From what I have learned in this course, my favorite would be learning to use blogs for insider information. I have started reading blogs on different topics that interest me and I have found many benefits. One of the benefits is finding links to other websites that are giving out weekly deals on new products for extremely low prices. That as well as getting great information that I otherwise would not have found is why Blogging is the favorite thing I got out of this course.

Building out my LinkedIn was what was most exciting for me to finish. I was able to fill everything out completely and generate a great resume with the LinkedIn Labs program. Building out this tool has aided me in making connections in the business world that I definitely would not have had a chance to accomplish without the helpful tips I got about LinkedIn profiles. It was also great to learn about keywords choice and SEO optimization because in my job I work with an web development company that is alwasy looking for new insight into marketing tools. I was able to take the knowledge I learned in this New Media Driver's License class and apply it to real life situations.

My favorite and most beneficial assignment that I did this semester in NMDL was making my linkedin account. Being a senior it was about that time that I built my profile and I know it will be helpful when I begin to network with people in the business world. It will be great to find people and be able to communicate with clients and getting to know companies around the world. It is a great way to build relationships and begin my career. Rather then just a resume, businesses use this site to understand potential employees who want to work for their company. 

The most beneficial assignment of the semester (in my opinion) was building out my LinkedIn profile. I had an account created, but it was not nearly as complete as it is now. I now have all of my educational, occupational, and club involvement added to my profile . I went into detail on what each of my prior jobs entailed and also built up my "summary" section. A large percentage of the connections that I have on LinkedIn were added after taking this class. Now, after I have an interview or go on an ad agency tour, I look up and connect with the people I talked to. I feel this will be really useful when looking for full-time employment. I can send them a quick message or an updated resume to see if a company has any openings. Overall, my experience with LinkedIn is something I am grateful to have learned this semester.

I came into this class thinking I knew the majority of what there was to know about social media. I knew the importance of social networking sites, social media marketing, Google tools, and the like. What I underestimated though was how crucially imporant blogging is! By simply writing a blog daily, maybe even weekly, you and/or your business significantly increases outreach, brand awareness, internet presense, and SO much more. I seriously underestimated the power blogging has, and definitely intend to start using this simple tool to improve any marketing strategy I become involved with in the future.

I think this class has definitely effects any potential career path options for me.  Ever since my social media marketing internship over the summer, I have now considered making media relations a career option. Taking this class has opened my eyes to the importance of this continuously growing field, and I now feel like I have an even bigger advantage to any competitors in this field because of this class.

The important point that has stuck out to me encompasses the entire internet marketing plan. I never really thought about buyer personas before and picking keywords and content to match these segments of the market. This benefits not only search engine optimization, but helps to cater directly to your customers. The idea that you are providing solutions for customers problems that they are searching for on the internet really stuck with me. I can't wait to start writing more specific content for people and then using social media to connect with people and network with them for my current job at the Henry Center and for future companies I work with either at a PR or marketing firm or within a specific company.