Summer has ended and school has started again. It doesn’t seem like that long ago that I was writing my first blog post for Stream Creative. Since that time, I have learned so much about social media, design, and inbound marketing.
One exciting thing that happened during this internship is that I achieved one of my goals. I became Inbound Marketing Certified through Inbound Marketing University (IMU)*. After going through and completing all 18 free training-videos, I learned a great amount of information on blogging, SEO, social media, and more. Here are my top 5 takeaways from the videos I watched and what I learned.
- When building a website, search engine optimization (SEO) is key. Using keywords, having a search friendly site, and using internal and external links all benefit a company and their website in being found online and building a brand image.
- It’s all about them. Building a online community is about building relationships with your customers and potential customers, learning how to use your products and services to benefit them. Listen to the needs of your costumers and adhere to those needs.
- Create and use Call-to-Actions (CTA) effectively. Using a CTA adds interest to your website. When you have CTAs, you can give the visitor an incentive to click the button, image, or link to download a free eBook or to request free information. If the CTA is in a location that draws attention, you will have a better chance of increasing the number of people that click the CTA.
- Using email marketing in your business allows you to deliver professional communication to an interested audience and provide valuable information. Email marketing gives an opportunity to make connections and build your contact list. When using email, it is key to create valuable and relevant content that makes it worthwhile for the viewer to open and read the email. Promote. Inform. Relate.
- Social media for a business is about learning and listening to your customers, not socializing. Take advantage of the multiple channels offered, such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc., to connect and communicate with your customers and audience. With social media, it is important to engage with the people, joining in on conversations and essentially sharing not just your content but content that is relevant and relatable to your business. And have fun with it!
So yes, I’m back in Milwaukee, hitting the books and going to classes, but my learning and education at Stream Creative hasn’t stopped. Now it’s time for me to put to practice what I’ve learned and use it not only for my benefit but for the benefit of the business as well. I have gained an extra interest and understanding of inbound marketing, social media, design and more.
*If you’re interested in becoming Inbound Marketing Certified, visit our Inbound Marketing Education Training page for more information.
