Your Second to Last (Required) Post

This week is another "Choose Your Own Adventure" post where your post can be about anything as long as you make sure that you relate what you write about to the theme you've been establishing in this space and that whatever you write is appropriate, of course.

Meme courtesy of Cheezburger Memes

Have fun! Be interesting, authentic, and you. Posts are due by end of day on Friday.

Analysis Projects!

I think the last assignment of the course is one of my favorites because you can see how all of the things we've talked about all semester come together AND you get to flex some of your creative muscles by making creative suggestions for a client that you select. You can read all about the Analysis Project on the assignment sheet posted to Canvas, and we'll talk more in depth about it in class on Tuesday. 

For this week's blog post, you're doing the first small part of the Analysis Project, which is to select a local (to you) small business or organization and do a little background research on them. Specifically, the assignment sheet says: 

Choose a small organization or business (non-profits, local/home churches, student organizations, businesses in Emmitsburg/Frederick/Gettysburg with which you have familiarity, or businesses local to you in your hometown). Preview your “client” in your blog post (this will be blog post #11) due on Friday, April 23. Your preview should include basic information about your client and a SWOT Analysis (see handout on Canvas.)

The business can and should be in an area that interests you because you'll probably feel more passionate about completing this last project for an organization or cause that you care about. (Note: I know it's been a long semester. It has been for me, too.) 

As you begin look into their online presence, complete a SWOT (analyzing their Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) and provide a little background information about them. 

Image courtesy of Word Stream

This will help you to start thinking more about the analysis paper you have to write and potentially even give you some inspiration for creative suggestions.

Blog posts are due on Fridays. 

The Importance of Social Media Measurement and Evaluation

In class over the past several weeks, we talked about how being creative on demand is difficult and creating content for a social media account isn't as easy as it seems. Last week, you created a branded image for your blog and explained your creative process. 

Gif courtesy of Giphy

This week we are talking about measurement and budgets. So now, we have a pretty complete picture of what professionals in social media do - it's a little bit of writing, it's a little bit of creativity, and it's also a little bit of math (shocking!) For your blog post this week, give me a little bit of feedback (oh hey, it's an evaluation...)

• What have your favorite topics been so far? 
• What's been the most boring topic to cover?
• How do you think you'll be able to apply what you've been learning so far to the real world?
• Is there anything you thought you'd learn in class that we haven't covered yet?

I plan to take tips from your posts this week to help tweak the class for future students, so be honest in your responses. And don't forget: Blog posts are due by end of day Friday.

Gif courtesy of GIPHY Studios

Branding Your Blog and Creating Content

Now that we're nearing the end of the semester and have had several weeks of learning content about branding, this week I'd like you to think about your blog presence for our class. Given our new material on content creation and the intro to Canva from class on April 6, try your hand at creating a logo for your blog that is consistent with the content you've been sharing this semester. Think about your theme, color scheme, and your overall presence. Share your logo and describe the creative process you underwent in creating it for this week's blog post. 

Happy creating!