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Overview: Essentials of Social Media Marketing Book

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As the end of the semester approaches, it is a good time to reflect on what I have learned from the Essentials of Social Media Marketing textbook and the blogs I wrote alongside each chapter. These blogs helped reinforce the key ideas from the course and gave me a chance to think more critically about how social media works beyond everyday use. Looking back, I can say that this class changed the way I view social media in a meaningful and practical way. One of the most surprising parts of this experience was that I actually found the textbook interesting. That is not something I usually say about academic reading. The book did a strong job of presenting important information in a clear and direct way without unnecessary detail. It focused on useful insights and backed them up with data and examples that made the material easier to understand. For example, learning about engagement patterns across platforms stood out to me. A simple idea like avoiding posts on Sundays because they tend ...
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Navigating the Final Stretch of My First Year

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Sitting on the bus during our three-hour trip back from a game, with mandatory study hours in progress, I found myself reflecting on everything that has happened this semester. As the school year comes to an end, everything seems to be accelerating at once. There is a sense of urgency surrounding both academics and athletics, and it feels like there is very little time left to accomplish everything that still matters. As a softball team, we are nearing the end of our season, and as a student, I am approaching the conclusion of my first year of college. It is a strange realization, especially considering how quickly the year has passed. From an athletic standpoint, this season has been a learning experience. There was a strong sense of confidence and excitement at the beginning. As a young team, we believed we could exceed expectations and show what we were capable of. While the results have not always reflected that early energy, this season has challenged us to grow, adapt, and stay c...
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The Social Dilemma: When the Creators Sound the Alarm

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It starts with something most people recognize. You pick up your phone for a quick check, maybe just one notification. Minutes later, you are still scrolling, not entirely sure how you got there. Watching The Social Dilemma in my social media class made that experience feel less like a habit and more like something designed. It pushed me to think differently about the apps I use every day and the systems working behind them. One of the most intriguing parts of the documentary is how open former tech employees are about the systems they helped create. These are not outsiders criticizing the industry. They are people who held high-level roles at companies like Google and Facebook. Their honesty feels unexpected, especially in a classroom setting where we often study these platforms as successful business models. Their opinions almost go against what their job titles once represented. Instead of defending their work, they question it. Watching this in a social media class adds another lay...
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Balancing the Demands of Softball

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For weeks, my life felt like it was moving somewhere between a highway and a deadline. Classes blurred together through Canvas uploads, bus rides replaced classrooms, and learning often meant teaching myself the slides instead of hearing them firsthand. So when we finally had a full week of attending every class, it felt less like a routine schedule and more like a reset. Being back in the classroom reminded me how much I had been missing. There is a difference between reading material on your own and actually experiencing the instruction, asking questions, and engaging in real time. For the first time in a while, I felt caught up instead of constantly trying to close a gap that kept widening during our travel-heavy weeks. That gap has not been easy to manage. Missing more than half of my classes over several weeks made it difficult to keep up with assignments and exams. On top of that, I cannot use bus time to be productive because of motion sickness, something my whole family deals w...
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List of Tragic Events

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There are moments in a season that no team expects, and for our softball team, this was one of them. As many of us have now learned, our new softball field was severely damaged after a recent storm. What made the situation even more difficult was how unexpected it was and how quickly everything changed. One day, we were practicing on our field, and the next, we were told we could not step on it at all. The damage began after what seemed like a normal practice. As we always do when bad weather is expected, we took time to tarp the field to protect it from the incoming storm. The tarp was secured with tires, and for extra protection, our coach placed a Gator in the center to help hold everything down. At the time, it felt like we had done everything correctly. There is no reason to think the field would not be protected. The next morning started like any other. I was at a social media workshop with my teammate Karlie when I noticed that my phone had several messages during a break. Some ...
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Why YouTube Feels so Addictive

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I'll be honest, YouTube is probably the app I use most, after TikTok, without even thinking about it. I open it to watch one video and somehow end up there for an hour. After going through this chapter, I realized that it is not an accident. YouTube is designed that way, and marketers know exactly how to take advantage of it. What surprised me most is how massive YouTube actually is. Over 2.5 billion people use it every month, and billions of videos are watched daily. That means brands are not just posting content, they are fighting for attention in one of the most competitive spaces online. It also acts as the second-largest search engine, which explains why people go there not just for entertainment but also to learn, solve problems, and research products. The algorithm is really the engine behind everything. Before this, I thought videos just "blew up" randomly, but now I understand it is much more calculated. YouTube tracks what you watch, how long you stay, and what ...
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What a Social Media Workshop Reinforced for Me

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Going into this past week’s social media workshop, I already had a strong foundation in social media marketing from class. Concepts like branding, engagement, content strategy, and analytics were familiar. What made this workshop valuable was seeing how those concepts are applied in real-world situations, especially through the perspective of professionals working in different roles. While each session offered something different, one presentation that stood out the most was from Tim Stried from the Ohio High School Athletic Association. One of the first things he shared was that social media only makes up about 35 percent of his job. This immediately shifted my perspective. It reinforced that working in social media is not just about posting content. It requires a broader skill set that includes communication, media relations, and understanding how to manage a brand's overall presence. It made it clear that being well-rounded is just as important as being creative. A major point h...
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