This week I started my my Social Media and Marketing training course at The Apprentice Academy to prepare me for the workplace. The staff at The Academy have already introduced us to an extensive amount of theory and many of the key factors to consider in relation to Social Media and Marketing, which will all be highly applicable when I arrive at my work environment.
Some examples of useful information we have been taught over the past few days include learning more in depth about the importance of SEO (Search engine optimisation) and SMO (Social Media Optimisation). We discovered that both can be crucial to a companies growth and success, for example SEO is a great way for a business to attract more attention to a business which potentially leads the way for more customers. This can be done for free by focusing primarily on the keywords used on the website, or it can also be payed for using PPC (pay per click) or PPI (Pay per impression) methods. All three methods essentially allow for a Businesses website to improve their page ranking on the site (for example appearing at the top of Google). Therefore, SEO is a great way to utilise promotional tools to gain publicity for a company.
SMO does a similar job in that it helps to promote the business and its services, however instead of the promotion being done directly on a search engine, SMO involves the use of multiple Media sites and apps to attract more traffic towards the Business and whatever it has to offer. This is often a free promotional technique, however having the ability to pay for certain posts/tweets to be broadcast to more people means that it can be a payed technique as well. This again has a positive effect on the business.
We have also been taught about the importance of management in Social media and Marketing. For example Social Media management tools such as 'hootsuite' allow for a user to run multiple Social Media sites on one page and schedule posts/tweet times to your liking. This is great for Businesses as it keeps the user organised, whilst making the experience easier and more regimented. However some things a business must be wary of when using these sites include the risks you take when scheduling tweets (for example does it appear as spam and will/has the news effected how the post/tweet may be portrayed by it's audience). Additionally, a Business must take into consideration that a lot of Social Media management tools cost a lot of money, and must weigh up whether the cost is worth it in the long run.
Finally, we also looked at the importance of Digital Crisis management. We noticed that monitoring risks is crucial for any Businesses success, and to have plans in place for when things may take a bad turn in Social Media is the first step to resolving the problem efficiently and hassle free. For example, if a Company is receiving abusive language from an angry customer, it is important that the business has guidelines to follow in relation to dealing with the problem accordingly and professionally, as this means that the business' credibility and reputation remains in tact. As well as this, companies must take precautions in relation to potential hack risks, as it is always a good idea to have a back up if a hack does occur to ensure the safety of the businesses online reputation.
These are just a few things we have covered over the past few days with the Apprentice Academy, and I believe this information will prove useful when I begin my work at my company.
