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BLOG Post # 1
I have to admit that when it comes to monitoring and measuring social media, I am still an apprentice. But like any good tradesperson, practice makes perfect, and my on-the job training is starting to pay off.
To successfully use social media in business, you need to be paying attention to your accounts and listening to what people are saying. It’s the only way to truly measure the return on investment that you are getting from your social media posts and interaction.
For me, the buck stops with Twitter. The interaction is quick, timely and above all it is to the point. You can figure out very quickly whether your post has any traction, based on the number of retweets, favourites or the comments posted back to the tweet. Plus, you can link Twitter to your email or Facebook page to get updates when someone has tweeted something to your account. When news happens, Twitter is the place to be.
My work involves a lot of public relations and recruitment of students to the college I work for, and therefore Facebook is another social media avenue that I pay a lot of attention to. Using Facebook’s insights, a lot can be learned about who is reading your posts, how many “likes” are being picked up each week by the site, how many shares are happening, what type of posts are getting noticed, etc.
My LinkedIn account is also very helpful in keeping in tune with the latest trends in social media. I have joined some groups that share excellent information and I follow “Mashable,” a great source for topical blogs that provide a wealth of information on how get the biggest bang from social media.
As we all know, social media never stops. I’m afraid I’ll be an apprentice a while longer!
Algonquin College Social Media Certificate Program 
I think that we will all continue to be apprentices. Just as your get into the mastery realm, social media changes and you get to start learning all over again. Not to be a downer, but it is simply the reality of the social media world.