Week 17: Wrapping It Up

Photo by Sincerely Media on Unsplash

 My initial goals for taking this class were to fulfill a requirement for a Business Productivity Software Applications degree and to gain real world social media skills. A number of jobs in this area require you to have competent social media skills. This class has definitely helped me improve my own social media skills for business use. 

The class readings, research, and activities have enabled me to gain a clearer understanding of how to engage viewers with social media posts related to a business. Seeing the posts my classmates created was often times an "aha" moment for me too. I was particularly impressed by the variety and ingenuity displayed to showcase their chosen businesses. I'll be honest that I find sharing a personal preference or creating a personable tone in a social media post to be a lot more comfortable than sharing personal details of my life. For the past two years I have sold a piece of artwork through Oceanside Museum of Art's Teeny Tiny Art Mart. All proceeds from the Art Mart go the Museum's Education Program that supports the schools here in Oceanside. This year I received two separate images about the Art Mart from the Museum to promote this event on social media. I happily posted the images and corresponding information on my Trulyours Designs Facebook and Instagram business accounts. This was a first for me.

I've been uploading photos on ViewBug for many years as a free member. I've really enjoyed being a part of the ViewBug community. This class has opened my eyes to a different path through which I can take my photography. The research I've conducted has revealed print on demand platforms I can try to sell my work through as floral wall art. I've also learned oodles more about marketing my work through social media. In addition, I've discovered that I really enjoy writing about flowers and am committed to producing and maintaining a blog. I certainly would not have embraced creating a flower blog and using social media for marketing had I not taken this class.

My viewpoint of social media has definitely expanded over the past seventeen weeks. I've learned how to engage through queries, surveys, and the content of a post. Taking a moment to ponder about my intent, audience, and possible responses relating to a post opens up a new level of social media engagement. I've also learned the value of posting regularly without oversharing.

Prior to this class I would sometimes post recognitions I received for my photos from ViewBug on Twitter or Facebook. I hardly ever received any type of engagement with these posts. Reflecting on this now, the posts were just social pat on the backs I was sharing with the world. I now have a better understanding of how to use content to be likeable and reach a target audience. This can be done through surveys, questions, and blog posts. I'm pretty enthused about writing a blog about flowers. I now understand that someone may buy a floral wall art print of mine because they feel a kinship with me from reading my blog.

The three social media platforms I intend on using to promote my business are: Blogger, Facebook, and Instagram. I intend to use Google Analytics to assess and finetune my use of Blogger. I also will use Facebook Analytics to review what's working and what I need to improve with my Facebook posts. Both of these analytic tools are free and they would be the initial tools I would consult to up my social media game. When I have the money, I would subscribe to Buffer for a year to provide feedback on my Business Instagram page.

In closing, I would like to share a quote from Theodore Roosevelt, "Do what you can, with what you have, where you are." I currently feel I have skills to use with with a number of social media platforms, and I am embracing a "can do" attitude. The plethora of free social media platforms available makes it easy to utilize a couple different types of media from which to promote a business. Today's smartphone capabilities enables one to capture, create, and post wherever one may be. Ease of use, free accessibility, and portability is ensuring the use of social media as a marketing tool in today's world.