If you told me six years ago that this project I did for an SEO class would eventually lead to a career in digital marketing...well I guess I wouldn't have thought you were totally crazy :)
Anyways, since I've been regularly getting spam comments on this blog I'm sure there's some sort of traffic, so I feel it's important to share that my next blogging endeavor will be on a new domain, which I've actually purchased and am now trying to navigate the digital marketing waters of web development! Currently under construction (much like my home...) but you can catch me on: https://felicia.io
Anyways, I'll leave this site up as a legacy to one of the only school projects I didn't procrastinate on. Happy to say this led to a job I love at a great agency, as Director of Marketing at TRAFFIC Digital Agency.
Monday, September 3, 2018
Sunday, November 17, 2013
Digital Marketing Course Resources
Looking for more information about digital marketing programs at the University of Michigan Dearborn? Check out this site to learn more about digital marketing courses.
Saturday, December 8, 2012
Social Media & Customer Power
Something to consider when thinking about social media and digital marketing is the increased level of interaction with customers. Before the Internet, if a customer had a complaint, he or she actually had to write a letter and send it to the company. But other customers would never see this letter, and it was easy for a company to keep customer dissatisfaction under wraps. Sure, the customer could tell friends never to do business with that company, but they couldn't reach hundreds of people in a short period of time.
Enter the Internet, and fast forward to the emergence of social networking sites. Now a customer can post a rant on a company's wall that many, even thousands or millions, will see. These complaints can be hasty and even vulgar, but in the heat of the moment the customer doesn't care and probably feels better for a brief period of time (Personally when I look back on such posts I'm usually embarrassed).
So how can companies respond to such complaints? They definitely can't ignore them, because that just damages the image of the company even more. That is the topic of Cheryl Hanna's blog post on Customer Think, How to Survive Customer Service Blunders in the World of Social Media. Most important is the need to treat customers with respect, but also making the decision if the customer is worth keeping. If the customer seems like he or she just wants to start a war with the company for no reason, you just might have to lose that customer.
While customer service isn't part of marketing, the image of the company is definitely something to consider when choosing which social media sites to use. These types of scenarios are important for any school with a digital marketing degree to address so students can be prepared to face these situations in the real world.
Enter the Internet, and fast forward to the emergence of social networking sites. Now a customer can post a rant on a company's wall that many, even thousands or millions, will see. These complaints can be hasty and even vulgar, but in the heat of the moment the customer doesn't care and probably feels better for a brief period of time (Personally when I look back on such posts I'm usually embarrassed).
So how can companies respond to such complaints? They definitely can't ignore them, because that just damages the image of the company even more. That is the topic of Cheryl Hanna's blog post on Customer Think, How to Survive Customer Service Blunders in the World of Social Media. Most important is the need to treat customers with respect, but also making the decision if the customer is worth keeping. If the customer seems like he or she just wants to start a war with the company for no reason, you just might have to lose that customer.
While customer service isn't part of marketing, the image of the company is definitely something to consider when choosing which social media sites to use. These types of scenarios are important for any school with a digital marketing degree to address so students can be prepared to face these situations in the real world.
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Sunday, December 2, 2012
Digital Marketing Trends
If you need more proof of how digital marketing is a changing field, look no further than this article: Industry Experts Predict the Top 5 Digital Marketing Trends for 2013
If you want to go into something stable and consistent, where you know what you'll be doing in 10 years and it will be the same as what you're doing today, digital marketing definitely isn't for you. Just like in ITM, you can expect technology to change so much, even in just a year, that you could be working on completely different platforms than you when you started.
Important to note in the article is the growing importance of mobile. Reaching consumers on their smartphones is rapidly becoming the next big thing in digital marketing. I think schools that want to have the best digital marketing degree programs will need to include courses focusing on m-commerce.
If you want to go into something stable and consistent, where you know what you'll be doing in 10 years and it will be the same as what you're doing today, digital marketing definitely isn't for you. Just like in ITM, you can expect technology to change so much, even in just a year, that you could be working on completely different platforms than you when you started.
Important to note in the article is the growing importance of mobile. Reaching consumers on their smartphones is rapidly becoming the next big thing in digital marketing. I think schools that want to have the best digital marketing degree programs will need to include courses focusing on m-commerce.
Monday, November 26, 2012
Chandler University Digital Marketing
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| Chandler University |
The digital marketing courses include an introductory course to digital marketing, media effectiveness and measurement, digital marketing project, online social behavior and persuasion, cyber law, personal selling, consumer behavior, and marketing management. Students also complete a digital marketing capstone project. These classes, especially cyber law, provide good coverage for digital marketing. However, the curriculum at Chandler University seems to ignore search engine paid advertising and search engine optimization, which are two very important parts of digital marketing.
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| University of Michigan- Dearborn |
How does Chandler's digital marketing program compare to the University of Michigan- Dearborn's digital marketing degree? As I stated above, Chandler lacks a course focusing on SEO and paid search. While both schools have different curriculums, I give the upper hand to the University of Michigan- Dearborn.
Sunday, November 18, 2012
Corporate or Consulting?
When going into digital marketing, or even general marketing and advertising, you have quite a few options for where you could work. You could work on the digital marketing team for a larger corporation, or you could work for a digital marketing consulting firm, similar to an advertising agency. Sometimes companies rely solely on these firms for all their digital marketing, and other times a company might just use these companies to manage their Facebook page or update their Pinterest.
Which do you think you would prefer? Do you see yourself working with one company, creating strategies around their products/services, analyzing those strategies, and repeating that process? Or do you see yourself working on different projects, working with different companies, and having to be creative enough to understand many different companies and their customer bases?
Of course, each has their advantages and disadvantages. If you really want to go into digital marketing but you're not sure which side you would prefer, you should see your school's career advisor and try to set up an informational interview with someone from each side so you can get an even better picture of what working for a corporation and an agency is really like!
Which do you think you would prefer? Do you see yourself working with one company, creating strategies around their products/services, analyzing those strategies, and repeating that process? Or do you see yourself working on different projects, working with different companies, and having to be creative enough to understand many different companies and their customer bases?
Of course, each has their advantages and disadvantages. If you really want to go into digital marketing but you're not sure which side you would prefer, you should see your school's career advisor and try to set up an informational interview with someone from each side so you can get an even better picture of what working for a corporation and an agency is really like!
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
Digital Marketing- What To Expect
With digital marketing being a newer field, a lot of people might not be sure exactly what is involved with it. Many people make the mistake of thinking that digital marketing is just about social media, which means it's easy and anyone can do it. Contrary to popular belief, digital marketing involves both creativity and analytics, which can actually be challenging for many people. So the basic components of digital marketing include social media, search and display advertising, and search engine optimization.
Social media involves engaging with customers though various social networking outlets- Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, etc. When working for a company, digital marketers need to carefully choose which outlets are the best way to reach their customers and match their organizational values. For example, Pinterest is growing in popularity, but a construction company probably won't benefit from a Pinterest account. An interior designer, on the other hand, would definitely benefit from reaching customers on Pinterest. The main message here is that just because social networks are available, it doesn't mean that your company will need them.
Search and display advertising involves those ads that you see when you search for something on Google, or banner ads on your favorite websites. The best place to work on this would be through Google AdWords. Google has the largest reach on their networks, and don't forget this also includes YouTube videos. Keyword targeting and setting up ad campaigns is an essential component of digital marketing that you will need to know.
Finally, there's search engine optimization. SEO is all about having your website appear in the top results for certain keywords that your business is about. Face it, people are more likely to click the actual search results than the sponsored ads. So if your website isn't on the first page, there's very little chance that your potential customers are going to find you. If you're interested in digital marketing, you definitely need to go to a school where you can get the best digital marketing degree. A course involving SEO is essential to learn the basics that will help you be successful in digital marketing!
Social media involves engaging with customers though various social networking outlets- Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, etc. When working for a company, digital marketers need to carefully choose which outlets are the best way to reach their customers and match their organizational values. For example, Pinterest is growing in popularity, but a construction company probably won't benefit from a Pinterest account. An interior designer, on the other hand, would definitely benefit from reaching customers on Pinterest. The main message here is that just because social networks are available, it doesn't mean that your company will need them.
Search and display advertising involves those ads that you see when you search for something on Google, or banner ads on your favorite websites. The best place to work on this would be through Google AdWords. Google has the largest reach on their networks, and don't forget this also includes YouTube videos. Keyword targeting and setting up ad campaigns is an essential component of digital marketing that you will need to know.
Finally, there's search engine optimization. SEO is all about having your website appear in the top results for certain keywords that your business is about. Face it, people are more likely to click the actual search results than the sponsored ads. So if your website isn't on the first page, there's very little chance that your potential customers are going to find you. If you're interested in digital marketing, you definitely need to go to a school where you can get the best digital marketing degree. A course involving SEO is essential to learn the basics that will help you be successful in digital marketing!
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