Course Overview:
The overall purpose of this digital marketing course was to teach us how businesses promote themselves online and connect with their customers. Throughout the semester I learned new concepts such as search engine optimization, social media marketing, email marketing, and website development. What made this course especially valuable was the mix of learning new concepts and actually getting to put them int practice through our projects. This hands-on experience has helped me apply what I have learned in real-world situations and build skills i can use in the future.
Theoretical Knowledge Gained:
During this course, I was able to gain a strong understanding of how digital marketing works and how businesses can use it to reach their target audience. One of the most important concepts I learned was how consumer behavior influences marketing strategies. We took a deeper look at how people search for information or products online, what affects their decisions, and how businesses can then take that data and adjust their technique to connect with them.
We also were introduced to search engine optimization, where I learned how key words can help websites appear higher on search engines like Google. This really taught me the importance of creating content that is not just interesting but also easy for users to locate.
We also learned about social media marketing and email marketing. I learned how businesses use different platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn to connect with their target audience and to help them spread the word about their brand. As for email marketing, I learned that companies could send automatic emails right away when a new item comes out or something is low on stock. In our course we used email marketing hands on by creating our own email chain list and then it sends updates when we would make a post.
Overall, these concepts have helped me learn more about all the different areas within digital marketing that work together to create a strong and effective marketing strategy for a business.
Project Summary:
This course has taught me a lot about different marketing strategies by completing and learning from our hands on projects.The main project being creating our own website, from picking out the name to content creation, this project has given me a lot of experience with learning web design. We then picked out two companies to analyze through our eight blog posts.
We also had the chance to create two customer personas for our companies we had choesn. This had really helped me learn about how companies find their target audience by looking at the ages, behaviors, and interests of most their customers. For these customer personas we also had Ai-assist us in certain posts by giving it a specific prompt to generate responses.
Lastly, we went over SEO keyword research, where I learned how a company can help their website be found easier on Google by using the correct wording. We also had an assignment where we had taken both positive and negative Google reviews for both companies and with the help of Ai we analyzed them and found what words were being used the most in the reviews and the least.
Key Skills Acquired:
Before taking this course, I have never created and maintained a website, worked with email automation, or Google Analytics which are all new skills I have acquired from this course.
Website creation was my favorite part, from picking out the website name to learning how to make a post it was all new and exciting to me.
Email automation and Google Analytics were both interesting to me. I really liked learning about all the different types of data you can see on Google Analytics, like how many people have clicked on your website and where they were coming from when they found my website was really neat to learn about.
Ai Tool Utilization Experience:
Many times throughout the semester I had the opportunity to use Ai in my blog posts to help analyze and better my content. On of the main tools used was having Ai create a customer persona and break down the companies Google reviews to find out how the company could improve and what they were already doing good at.
We also used Lenoardo. Ai to generate images of the companies and what a typical day in each business might look like. Creating the images not only saved time but helped me add more visuals and creativity to my blog posts.
Data Analysis Capabilities:
An important part of this course was learning how to analyze your website’s data using Google Analytics (GA4). I first learned how to connect it to a website and then I was able to track total users, sessions visited, and engagements on my website. This helped me to better understand how people are not only finding my website but how much time they interact with it.
I was also able to see what pages or blogs were drawing in more visitors. This metric helped me to know what pages were successful and what pages could use improvement on.
Real Company Analysis Experience:
During this course I was able to analyze two real companies and think about they could improve their digital marketing strategy. The companies that I choose to analyze where Avera Health and Wells Fargo. Using these companies helped me better understand how different industries use digital marketing to connect with their target audiences.
Avera Health Analysis and Proposal
Avera Health is a healthcare organization located in the Eastern part of South Dakota. When taking a deeper look into Avera Health I could see that Avera does a strong job of providing quality health care services and information to their communities. Their website was easy to use and professional, which helps patients easily locate clinic locations, different medical services they provide, and health care resources. In addition to their website, you can find community updates, health tips, and information about their wellness programs on their social media pages.
One improvement Avera could make is improving search engine optimization by creating more posts focusing on the common questions asked by patients and common healthcare concerns. This is one way that could help more people come across Avera’s website when they are searhing up healthcare infformation online.
Wells Fargo Analysis and Proposal
Wells Fargo is a bank that provides online banking tools, making banking more convenient for their customers. Wells Fargo has multiple chains located across the United States as well making them accessible for almost all their customers. Their website and mobile app are easy to use and allow customers to manager their bank accounts, pay bills, deposit checks, and access financial resources quickly.
One area Wells Fargo could continue to improve in is customer engagement on social media. Many people, including the younger audiences, would rather see content that feels more personal and interactive. Some examples could be creating more financial education videos on platforms such as instagram, Tik Tok, and Linkedln to help their customers better understand topics like budgeting, saving money, and how to successully build credit.
Social Media Utilization:
This semester I used Linkedln to share my work and connect with classmates and others. This gave me experience with professional networking and content sharing.
Most of my Linkedln posts where announcements that I have published a new blog post, but it also allowed me to me to connected with my class mates and see their posts. But it also allowed me to connect with other marketing professionals.
Key Achievements:
Linkedln Engagement:
- 3 Likes
- 0 comments
- 0 shares
- 10 new connections
Total traffic in GA4 (March 1 to May 3)
- 123 active users
- 131 sessions
- 34 engaged sessions
Future Application Plans:
In the future I plan to apply these skills that I have learned not only in a professional way but a personal way as well. I hope to continue to grow in learning more about digital marketing by getting even more familiar with website creation and management, social media marketing, and data analytics. These skills will be skills that I will carry with me into future internships and job opportunities as many businesses rely on digital platforms to connect with their customers.
I also plan to apply what I have learned from using Ai to help me improve my website and content creation. This course has given me a great head start for learning about new digital marketing trends and what the future could possibly look like for digital marketing.
Contribution Plans for Target Companies:
The skills I acquired throughout this course will help me to contribute to companies in many ways. I will be able to help improve a company’s social media presence, create content, and analyze website metrics to help the company better connect with their audience.
Personal Growth:
From the beginning of the semester to now I have experienced a huge amount of both personal and professional growth. Before taking this class I have never created or maintained a website and very little digital marketing knowledge. But by completing the hands on projects I feel more confident in my abilities. This course has taught me how to think more creatively, use a varity of different tools, and how to analyze different marketing strategies.
This course has also helped me continue to improve my communication, problem-solving, and computer skills. This course has really shown me how much time and effort goes into bulding a successful online media presence.
Portfolio Links:
personal Linkedlin:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/madison-carpenter-172b74306
Marketing linkedln:
https://www.linkedin.com/company/111504271/admin/page-posts/published/
Blog posts:
Acknowledgements:
I would like to take some time to thank my teacher Sangbong Lee for teaching me these vital skills and for taking the time to always help me and answer any questions I may have had. I would also like to thank the Black Hills State School of Business for uploading our posts to the school’s business page.
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