COM0015 Blog 4: Out of the Box

Photo by Florian Pagano on Unsplash

Hard to believe the course is ending already – although in some ways I feel like I’ve been learning about social media for a while!  I’m grateful for the interactions along the way, the tools and skills we’ve learned and for getting me into the habit of posting blog pieces online.  I truly hope to continue this practice and increase my presence online by participating more, and interacting with my audience as authentically and honestly as possible.

What’s New & Interesting (to me..)

There are many new things in tech and social media that are quickly becoming the new normal including AI, further development of voice technology and the growing field of accessibility. While these are all very interesting to me; I think human traits like honesty, empathy and kindness will be taking over the way we do business in the future because it’s hard to hide your true self online, so it’s almost forcing us to be real – not only with our audience, but ourselves as well.  Influence and attention can be very powerful tools when done right. It’s very interesting to live in a time where the youth can have their voices be heard on social media before they can vote!

It’s About Perspective…

Gary Vaynerchuk’s content has provided me so much value over these past few months and I’m grateful for stumbling across his videos on Facebook – because he used marketing across all forms of social media to get in front of as many people as possible to provide value and build his brand.  While a lot of his lessons are very basic and not necessarily new, it’s his delivery and fresh take on the new uses of technology and human psychology/consumer behaviour – our reactions/comments and where is our attention. In his video “Do You Need to Fix Your Perspective in Life?” he says ‘personal brand development done right is just strategy’.  It’s comforting to know this type of content is becoming more relevant, popular and is available in many accessible formats.

…And Self-Awareness

Photo by rawpixel on Unsplash

Self-awareness is crucial to figuring out your strengths and discovering what value you can provide that serves a growing need within your community. This is an ongoing and potentially life-long process as we are always changing, so while some may find their life-long passion early on in life, others may continue to try new things and not necessarily stick with one specialty. Both are perfectly acceptable these days – the key is finding what works for you!  Being of service to your community, creating value and finding/being yourself  are keys to achieving happiness to me (among spending time with loved ones, in nature, reading, etc.)

But how do you best share your worth?

In Conclusion: Be Yourself!

We’ve talked a lot about finding communities online (and the platforms they use most), joining in conversations and participating in events to network, the other aspect of course is having valuable content that is easily sharing across social media platforms. I think the growing trend of ‘Documenting instead of Creating’ (thanks again GaryVee et. al.) is a very exciting application of social media and marketing one’s personal brand with honesty and transparency. It’s also a lot less pressure than constantly making-up engaging content if you are able to just be your charismatic self and document your thoughts within day to day life – again providing valuable content for your audience within your fields of expertise.

What do you think are some of the trends that will become popular in the future?