Chapter 5 Reading

There are a lot more elements to social media than just the casual user who posts pictures from

an important event like graduation. As I learned previously in this social media course, if a brand,

company, or influencer uses social media accounts then there is much more to just content

creation. Content creation by itself is a big enough monster to tackle already because posts need

to be tailored to each platform and target audience while still maintaining a constant brand voice.

But once all of the content is on a platform, where does a brand go from there?

Brands need to be able to analyze their posts and gain information that they can use to interpret

how effective their social media strategies are. As someone who currently uses social media in a

recreational and not a professional way, I had a vague idea that research and analytics existed in

social media but not to the extent that it truly does. All of the numbers and data are necessary to

justify a brand’s online social media campaign. Professionals who work in social media need to

be able to know how to get the right data, but they also need to know what to do with the numbers

once they have access to them. If I was a person who worked on a brand’s social media account I

would want to know how to show my bosses how effective my plan was. I would want to know how

to justify the importance of my job and show them how my strategy was implemented and how it

performed.

As a public relations major one of my mandatory core courses is CAMS 3001: Communication

Research Methods. I am interested to see what this class will entail because my professor told

me they are working on social media research. I do not have much experience with research so

I do not know if I will like it or not, but at least I will soon get the opportunity to get exposed to it.

There is also a social media minor available to ONU students of any major or college. I am not

sure if I will pursue that avenue but I think that there is certainly importance to what you can learn

from taking social media courses.