For this assignment, I read "Inbound Marketing: Get found using Google, Social Media, and blogs" by Brian Halligan.
1.) The main theme of this book is the methodology of marketing on the internet in the 2010s. It focuses on the major strategies that lead to successfully building a presence in the online market and increasing visibility to consumers. It is similar to the book I read for the second reading assignment, but this one focuses more on a few major platforms and blogging, and it emphasizes how widespread internet use has made modern marketing different from traditional methods.
2.) This book connects with the course by giving detailed information about growing your social influence and optimizing your web pages for google search-result prioritization so that consumers can find it more easily. It treats social media as a tool we can use to maximize the number of potential customers who see our product or service. In other words, increasing your visibility in a crowded market. In the current day, this is everything. If you can manage to make a post about your service or product go viral, or if you can gain followers easily, then you will be a great position. I think that I am extremely likely to use the information in this book regardless of whether I actually pursue my business idea after this class, because I have other ideas for content creation.
3.) I could apply the same assignment I designed for the second book to this one, since they are so similar, but that feels like a cop out. Instead, I would have students keep a personal blog; not like this one for this class, where all of the posts are assignments directly relating to the course material, but just a personal blog about any topic that interests them. making blog posts would still be part of the assignments, but they would be graded based on completion, not content. This choice is because the book emphasized how blogs are a useful "hub" that you can use to connect your other social platforms together, and because each new post is its own web page, blogs are great for improving your ranking in google searches. The purpose of my proposed assignment is to get students used to and comfortable with blogging in a way that could easily continue long after the semester ends because the content wouldn't be based on a class; it would just be a topic that's important to them.
4.) I guess the biggest thing that surprised me in this book was just how much they emphasize blogs. Prior to taking this class, I had never blogged before, nor did I follow any blogs. In all honesty, I thought blogs were going out of style. Considering when this book was written (2009), I wonder how much of the information is gives is still accurate regarding the relevancy of certain platforms. A lot about internet behavior and the use of social media has changed in the last decade, so it wouldn't surprise me if some of the idea and strategies laid out in it are out of date. I would be interested in reading an updated edition in the future.
Kailey, I really enjoyed hearing what you had to say about inbound marketing. Many of the people around me work in marketing, so it was helpful to gain some insight into their world in a way. I liked the point you mentioned about how the book can help raise your social influence and how to create more customer awareness and accessibility. These aspects are key to success and it is good to see that they are highlighted in this book. I also like the assignment you mentioned because it keeps students on task and allows them to dig deeper into topics discussed in class that they relate to. Also, it was interesting to hear that blogs are so useful. I never would have thought that either before taking this class. Keep up the good work!
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