Week 16 - Final Post

Final Blog

With the ever changing or rather evolving world of social media and communication I have come to learn that with all the mainstream platforms available I can maximize my business exposure with something as simple as a photo and a short post or blog. The skills and tools that I have obtained through the class and semester work have been priceless information that I can now use in my everyday life. Looking at the obvious patterns of the recent social norm of high internet use, we can easily agree that the use of social media to maximize your business has become a business 101. As a small business owner it is important to keep up with these new trends.

              It has been a challenge to pick up on some of the new trends that I did not have as a social norm growing up or even learning about as an adult. Having an iPhone for 5+ years doesn’t mean you are using the device to its full potential. At the beginning of the class I did not know what a blog was or even that Facebook had so many tools and options to help a user run a business. Having a Facebook for more then 4+ years has been very minimal and not as elaborate as some of the posts or pages that I have seen through friends and family. Whether its posting something personal or sharing a post I have seen myself using more of the tools available to do so. Once Upon a Treasure Box is the name of my business page through Facebook, I have been learning to tinker with the tools to advertise my product and services. Learning to reach out to friends, family, customers; and the masses through Facebook and other social media platforms has greatly changed through the course of the semester. I have found that using a short descriptive followed by an image of the product has worked out for me as opposed to the post after post of my product that just clutters my page. Also reaching out to customers is very efficient using the mainstreaming platforms, it is close as you can get to replying in realtime to address any questions or concerns.

              Since I have started using Facebook to advertise my business, Once Upon a Treasure Box, I have seen many changes in my business and the way that I look at social media. Learning about blogs has helped me in being descriptive and articulating my product and services in a written format to share on my page. I do this as well with my personal posts on my personal page, short descriptive post followed by an image, has generated more likes on my posts then before. Also, friends and family have come to show me that the networking and sharing is very important which is now something that I am working to utilize for my business page. I am know interested in researching how to maximize the sharing of my posts and ways to network with others to do so. These skills and tools that I am learning to makes me feels confident that the future in advertisement is in the mainstream social media platforms. You can become famous a simple short video on youtube or your business could become a hype that can generate insane amounts of money in a short time.

              Through the course work of this class I have become more comfortable in researching how to use social media platforms to maximize my business. Deciding on what platforms to use is a big part on how much time you will have to invest to keep everything up to date. I personally like to use Facebook which I use the most, Instagram, and twitter. I am still learning how to use Instagram and twitter for my business. I find it a lot more efficient to concentrate on Facebook since I get more replies and messages about my product through Facebook.

              Browsing and looking through other Facebook pages and also helped in researching pages that I enjoy, whether it be their layout and how they advertise. I get a lot of my ideas and inspiration while browsing through different pages. I have also found product and services that I wouldn’t have found at the store down the street. A lot of the ingredients that I find to make my homemade beauty products were found and sourced out through networking and following links to other pages. This has opened my eyes and that social media is very important for my business now and for future endeavors.