This blog post is a very big milestone for me. I embarked my 30th blog post! *YAY* I’m enjoying the whole blogging atmosphere and am excited to have gotten to this point! But moving on, this blog post is dedicated to a more in-depth analysis of the HootSuite Certification that I just recently completed.

Before taking the HootSuite Certified Professional Exam, I completed 4 sections centered around Social Media Courseware. The first section was about setting up social media profiles. This section went through each form of social media. Those were Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and LinkedIn. I really enjoyed learning more about LinkedIn and Google+ because I wasn’t too familiar with these social media channels.

The second section was on using Social Media in an Organization. What I really took away from this section was how beneficial using and having social media profiles in a business can be. I feel there is going to be an increasing demand for a job position dedicated to social media after learning this section.

The third section was centered around social networks for an organization. This section was different than the one before it because it focused on the interaction that can happen between an organization and its customers. Just interacting and communicating with customers can build a relationship that can lead to future sales and loyalty to a brand.

The last section for the Social Media Courseware covered how to grow an online community. Again, this section was different that the previous because it focused on how to create and maintain a community relationship. In this section I got to hear from the former HootSuite Director of Marketing and current VP of Community, Dave Olson. Olson shared some vital information that was new and different from our guest lectures in class. One thing that I took away from his section was how companies can use email in addition to the social media channels. He talks about the consistency that needs to be held across all the social media platforms, but how it also needs to be shared within the company so the employers know what is going on as well. Sometimes I have an attitude where information needs to be pushed out to the audience and customers but then I forget that it’s just as important to make sure the internal stakeholders and employees know as well.

Overall, the social media courseware learning objectives were fun to follow along and learn more about. I feel more comfortable knowing I have something to show of my social media analytic understandings. And it also makes me feel official and cool. That’s all for now, until next time!