– Dec 11
Showcasing what you have learned. ESSAY: Discuss the impact the class has had
on your business and your overall view of social media.
I have always been a social type of person with tons of
technical content to offer, but always fell short in my abilities to express it
(or at least until know). I, like many, had understood that sites like Facebook,
Twitter, or LinkedIn were powerful tools and incredibly entertaining for most, but
for whatever reason it never seemed to resonate with me. I couldn't see how
posting to these places equaled success. What I actually discovered this
semester is that these sites are not a means to an end (e.g. write this and drive
traffic) but a support component that helps facilitate the conversation, a pathway
if you will. So for all intents and purposes, I needed to dig beneath the
layers of what’s popular on Facebook to see its core—a serious business model. So
in an essence, what has changed for me is my perspective on exactly how these tools work and their social impact
in the business community around me.
Here are two key points to my argument:
1). My Facebook
Business page needs to be targeted toward a very particular audience. It needs
to be crafted like an interdepartmental memo between heads of departments. The focus
has to be geared toward business growth, specifically social media strategies—an
area of business expertise most know little about. For example “If we collaborate together the benefits
will eventually drive revenue”. I call it the direct pull method. Like minded companies will become
interested while unlike ones will
not.
2). Building
a Business Facebook and Twitter following has its start-up problems. I prefer
not taking years to jump start this
component of my operations when I need momentum now. To do this I will
personally contact the people I want to work with and ask them to like & subscribe.
In return I will provide valuable beginner social media tips that are related to
the home improvement industry. My hopes are to stay ahead of the curve, remain relevant,
and hopefully needed! To support this statement I have filled notebooks full of
ideas, spent 60+ hours on YouTube, and burned through text books to answer this
question.
In retrospect, the purpose for taking this class is to shift
my dependency off of review based companies like Angie’s List, Thumbtack, or
Yelp and begin to drive my own traffic. The challenge with these sites is that a
single negative review can disrupt your business for weeks or even months for
any reason. There is no mediation for
disputes thus making the customer always right. Home owners can even go so far
as to use it (poor reviews) as leverage to receive free additional work.
Today, what I have discovered is that the next step is to go
beyond just posting on Facebook or Twitter with words but to develop me, Eric
Bateman, in a video format by providing short relevant clips that accurately promote
my brand. The theme of my technical story will be filled with humor,
personality, and words of encouragement. Google Blogger was the first fun and
exciting tool I ran with in this class, and thanks to many the most commented
on—thank you! But something really unexpected happened, the blog began to take
on a life of its own and took off according to Google Analytics. This was very
encouraging to me because it’s almost like living the dream when others are
waiting to hear what you have to say next.
My understanding of the term Business social media has greatly evolved over the course of this
semester. For one, the process of creating new content requires both computer application
skills and artistic creativity (which are
generally opposing parts of my brain). In my opinion, business social media has
so many layers of depth that there is just no way of telling just how far it will
go. The bottom line—it’s a lot of work. In my
estimation, it will take at least six months of (daily) implementation to
set it up the way I want it.
As a final side note, if a new student came to me for direction (in this social media certification program) I would suggest the following classes in this order:
Jill Ringer CSIT 105 part A &B
Brian Cushing BUS 132 Marketing;
3.0
Claudia Faulk CSIT 155 Social
Media for Business; 3.0
Kathy VanPelt CSIT 137
BUS 132 Advertising and Promotion;
3.0
CSIT 120 Fundamentals of CIS; 3.0
Don Davis CSIT 146 E-Commerce and Web Presence; 3.0
