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Almost there...


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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