The Final Chapter

As we are coming to the end of this course it is crazy to think that just 8 weeks ago I had absolutely no idea what social media marketing was, but I believe I have come very far since then. There are so many amazing things that I have learned about from this class, numerous takeaways, and an abundance of ways to apply the information I learned. Some of the things that I have learned include; reviving “dead” social media pages (more specifically instagram pages), the importance of having a social media plan/calendar, and even the more important aspects like how to analyze and perform a social media audit. 

The importance of the above mentioned things are not just to have a good social media presence, but to maximize the quality of all of the different social media pages. This may be Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or even Snapchat for that matter. Social media is important because you can not only boost your personal brand, but also in a professional matter on those platforms as well. This assists in networking and communicating within your field, weather that may be connecting with followers or potentially looking for job opportunities. Social media is often seen as a way for teens to stay stuck behind a screen, but what many don’t realize is what everyone is doing on those screens. For some, it is a way to connect with people from afar, but for others it is potentially a way to show off their work or further their businesses. Something that I personally found interesting through our discussions in class, according to Backlinko.com, 3.96 billion people in the entire world use social media. 40% of those people use social media for work or business purposes. While many of the generations before us think that all we do is sit on TikTok or are constantly snapchatting each other, some of us support small businesses that we didn’t think existed, or maybe even learn something new. The future of social media can often be studied, but really it is unknown. It is constantly fluctuating and adapting with each coming year. An example of this is the famous app called TikTok, which is mainly common with our generation, but you often see that anyone of any age can create content. It is a booming platform where you may see new ideas or businesses building their brands. The things that influence the changing climate of the many different platforms are simply the amount of people that interact with it. Therefore, this makes studying social media difficult as you can never predict with 100% certainty what the next trend will be.

My main unanswered question is that aside from excellent, good quality photos in your posts, what other ways than being active can you maximize your business? While I am fully aware that this is not a business class, nor am I a business major, the main goal behind owning a business is to be able to make money while doing what you love to do. What if those regular postings are perfect to the standards taught in this course, yet they still don’t attract the volume of customers needed or maybe even the right communities?

Learning things from a class is beneficial but most of the time the hard part is learning how to apply the knowledge you learned from the course in real life situations. A good example of not knowing where and how to apply your knowledge you learned from a class is like a graphic designer taking a calculus class, what and how are they going to be using that calculus information there is very little for that to be applied for. Whereas there is so much information that I have learned that I can apply to the real world. The biggest one for me to apply is doing the social media audit and planning for my business social media pages. I have a very small photography business that I have just started and I am working on getting the social media pages off the ground. I now am working on a plan of when to post and what to post for each of post, Im working on learning how to sell merchandise like photo prints as well as other things like apparel and more, all of these things have if not been initially learned throughout the process of taking this class but has been very much assisted by the information within this course work. 

This class has been so much more than just a basic degree requirement or prerequisite. It has been an opportunity to see marketing from a different perspective, as well as being able to continue learning about the numerous branches of graphic design and how to implement them.

How many people use social media in 2021? (65+ Statistics). (2021, February 01). Retrieved February 04, 2021, from https://backlinko.com/social-media-users

Nikkitravelled. (2020, December 23). 9 predictions to fuel your social media strategy in 2021. Retrieved March 12, 2021, from https://later.com/blog/social-media-predictions/