Week 17: Wrapping it Up

 This was by far one of the best classes I've ever taken.  I had no idea this would end up helping me work an important job for a nonprofit organization I work with.  I was very nervous when they gave me the title of "Social Media Manager".  At the same time I was just starting this class.  The timing couldn't have been more perfect. I feel much more comfortable using different platforms for social media and understanding the purpose of each.  

I love the first part of the book where the author describes what inspired him to write his book.  Social media is a powerful tool for business.  When used properly you can develop relationships with potential customers and it feels more like a friendship with business as a secondary.  Social media brings that personal touch that didn't exist back in the day with just brochures tv ads.  

For Carly's Cause I've been able to help in the growth of our nonprofit that benefits children with disabilities and their caregivers.  We started off with barely any activity on the Facebook page.  We created a schedule to live stream our meetings and post the replays to our Facebook page which has slowly but steadily increased our following and engagement.  We started bringing on guests to our meetings and get to interview them about topics people would like to hear about.  We provide variety and value people's feedback.  

I definitely feel more confident in my use of social media.  If I don't understand a specific platform, I still have the curiosity to learn more about it and I know that this class has provided me a solid foundation to understand the purpose of why I am posting and what my goals are.  That was my biggest problem in the past is I had no direction or goals as to why I was posting.  I was too in my head.  The thing that got me out of my head was having a goal and plan.  

My viewpoint of social media has definitely changed.  I didn't have a good relationship with the way I felt about social media because it had been something that brought stress to me.  I mostly stressed because of lack of direction and therefore I wasn't able to have any expectations of results or understand how I got a certain outcome.  It was all unknown to me before.  If I posted a pic and it did well, I didn't really know why.  If I made a video or a blog and it did well, I couldn't understand how it happened.  It just seemed like random luck.  That is a very frustrating place to be stuck in where you are just shooting in the dark trying to hit something. 

When we researched businesses I mainly noticed the opportunities in the business I was working with, my old profile that felt like I failed, and also businesses of friends and places I go to, such as the yoga studio I attend.  I saw so many points of opportunity that I can see so much potential for the businesses I looked into.  Things like a yelp page, an online store to sell merchandise, links to social media, blog content would all help these businesses immensely.  I realized we all could probably use a solid audit.  There's so much value in an outsider's perspective.  Sometimes when you're in the middle of everything it's hard to see where you're doing right and where you can improve.  

What surprised me about learning the various social media platforms is that I would enjoy learning about the platforms that I didn't understand whatsoever or had shunned in the past.  This class helped me see why each platform serves its own purpose.  I even gained respect for the email newsletter which I thought was so annoying.  Now I see when they're done properly they can bring so much value and keeps a business connected to its customers.

It would be really cool to have students do audits of each other's current social media that they struggle with or feel stuck in.  I love getting an outsider's perspective.  So much inspiration and realization can be had by the creative ideas of a classmate who is just looking at a profile and seeing potential that the person cannot see.  Also, I'm fascinated by audits because there are people out there that charge a lot of money to audit a profile.  There was one girl on TikTok that was giving great advice to creators that were struggling.  She shared the creators that blew up after she advised them how to grow their following.  When she first started out a year ago, her fee to audit your profile and come up with a gameplan for you to grow your following was $75.  Now she charges $1000 and she only has limited time to take on clients for audits.  She now teaches paid classes where she teaches people how to grow their following.  She considers the audits a one on one service that she saves for only a few people since she is so busy these days.