Week 17: Wrapping It Up

         Before entering this class I wondered why businesses had social medias because I felt that they were just trying to be trendy which is silly since I look back and know now that social media can be a great tool to bring traffic to a business. I've learned that with recognition of the right audience and the knowledge of their preferred platforms you can create social media posts that may draw them in to purchase a product or service from your business. Whether it be through organic searches from potential customers or sponsored advertisements, having an active TikTok, Instagram, Facebook account or whatever platform works best can create some great traffic. I do see a lot more now how powerful social media can be. 

        I do wish that we had gotten some tips and tricks on how to make our social media accounts as aesthetically pleasing and effective as possible. I posted a lot of different content on Facebook and Instagram, but if I were a person who discovered my page I wouldn't be impressed by first glance, but that's really important because the visual representation gives you that first impression of a business. I know I could probably figure this out on my own but it would definitely take some trial and error. I've noticed, though, with a lot of podcast social medias there isn't a particular theme to their pages. It'll be random promotion which I completely understand because it isn't a product that you're selling it's videos or audio clips that you want people to see. However, I think that if I had a visually pleasing social media account that I could bring in a lot more traffic than other starting podcasts. 

        When I think of other businesses that utilize social media, one of the biggest successes that I've seen are those visually pleasing pages that are easy to navigate. They're not too crowded, there aren't 7 posts a day, no obnoxious visuals or colors, etc. A neat and clean social media account definitely has the most success in my book. I think back on looking at two very different businesses and social media accounts/websites: a hair salon and a fencing company. Now I know that I haven't done a lot of research on fencing companies because I haven't needed that kind of service, but I think I know an ugly website when I see it. The two companies were a night and day difference. The fencing company had a very crowded webpage with about 60 hyperlinks in a list that I would have a difficult time navigating, and I remember that there were a lot of pictures with disproportionate caption sizes. The hair salon website was so easy to navigate with around 4 hyperlinks, and the most important information was at the top of the page. Their business logo was also in the top left corner to let me know exactly who I was researching. Overall, the biggest takeaway from the positives and negatives of other businesses' social medias is that simpler is better. 

        I couldn't say that there were businesses that I discovered that I intend to use in the near future but I did throughly enjoy the hair salon because the next time I need a haircut or new style I would like to try them. I do think that the exercises from class have made me more conscious in how I view a businesses website or social media. When I come across a potential business that I could support I look at how clean and informational their pages are. With a social place I try to find photos from events they've had or just see the environment that I could walk in to. With a product based company I look at the photos of said products on their Instagrams or find TikToks demonstrating the products. Essentially, I have come to do much more in-depth research before buying a product or service for things that I'm going to spend a better chunk of money on. With those little cheap products I don't research as much, but sometimes I do out of curiosity. 

        This class had really given me insight into what I want to do to promote my business. I've been very lost with where to start, and I know that the first thing that I need is to crack down on myself and actually develop the podcast because I've been wanting to do it for a while, but something that has hindered me from actually creating it is how I'm supposed to promote it. I've now found some ease with what to do to promote it. I really believe that if I hone in the skills from this class along with knowledge from some other business management classes that I can successfully promote and run a podcast. Look out for me on Spotify because it's going to happen!!