This is (almost) it! The last post for SMM class for this quarter.
It has been a very interesting course for me - very challenging and interesting
at the same time.
My social media naiveté was no
secret. Coming in to this course, I have always acknowledged that my knowledge
and exposure to social media and social media marketing has been mostly just
Facebook. Let me rephrase that. My exposure to social media before this class
was ONLY Facebook. There. It is out in the open.
This is the reason why the
class has been quite challenging for me. Not only did I have to create accounts
with Twitter, Blogger and LinkedIn, I had to learn how to navigate these
different platforms. It is only by the awesome patience of Dr. Guignard,
professor extraordinaire, that I have been able to learn many things, not least
of which is to post something properly on each platform. Dr. G's virtual
lectures and presentations have been very helpful to a neophyte like me. I have
not been magically turned into a Social Media Marketing guru, not by a long
shot, but I at least have some knowledge and understanding of how SMM works.
The biggest and most important
lesson I have learned in this class is that SMM takes a lot of thought and hard
work. The SMM Planning Cycle is proof that a social media marketer's work is
never done. There is always something to monitor, something to tweak and
adjust, to define or redefine. 
Which brings me to my second
point. Social media and SMM are constantly evolving. Even established platforms
such as Facebook are constantly introducing updates and features that are more
attractive to users. New platforms are born, die, or redesigned every day. The
market shapes the media as much as the media shaping the market. It is a
symbiotic relationship that is very dynamic. A skilled SM marketer needs to be
on top of all these changes and know how and when to leverage platforms and
tools to the advantage of his or her campaign.
Finally, I realized that SMM is
here to stay. It appears that SMM growth will continue to be in an upward
trajectory in the near future. 
While I do not expect to be in
the business of social media marketing anytime soon, I am glad I took this
class. It has brought me from under the rock I have been living in all this
time. Now have a profile on LinkedIn. Better late than never, right?
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