Over the summer, I was enrolled in the digital marketing course at Western Washington University. It was an awesome experience, and I have met a lot of really smart people who have bright futures ahead of them. I would especially like to thank my professor, Mark Staton. He has made the class extremely interesting by gearing our learning towards current, relevant topics. I really enjoyed discussing current events every day with my fellow #wwudigimark classmates.

Certifications

Over the summer, I have acquired several marketing related certifications. I am eager to utilize this knowledge in my future as a marketer. I am proud to say I am now certified on these platforms.

Google Analytics: I have learned how to fully take advantage of Google’s analytical software. Everything from creating and analyzing reports, to tracking a unique marketing campaign, I have learned the ins and outs of this popular analytics software.

Hootsuite: Hootsuite is a valuable social media management tool, and I learned all about how to manage multiple social platforms from inside Hootsuite’s software.

Hubspot: I completed the Hubspot Inbound Marketing certification. I learned about the different strategies used to optimize inbound marketing efforts.

Google Ads: I learned about how to become an expert on online advertising through this helpful certification.

Google Search Advertising: Finally, I learned how to manage search engine ad campaigns through this Google course.

Class Concepts

I want to look back at some of my favorite topics from class. I learned a ton of new things, and for a more in depth look at any of these subjects, I encourage looking at my blogs on linked in where I covered all of these topics in detail.

SEO: One of the most interesting things we discussed in class was SEO optimization. I learned about things such as crawlers, search ranking, link building, and took a look at some issues in the SEO industry. SEO is the future of digital marketing, and I am one step closer to being an SEO guru after this course. Check out my full blog on SEO here.

Analytics: I came into the course with a little prior knowledge in analytics. However, discussing the future of big data is always fascinating to me. With the help of the Google Analytics Academy, I learned how to analyze data to make business decisions. I also learned about tracking specific marketing campaigns and appealing to your target audience. My full analytics blog is here.

Email: Honestly, coming into this class I was not expecting to learn about email marketing. I figured it was a thing of the past, but I quickly learned how wrong I was. Segmenting your email list along with lots of A/B testing can lead to results that are even stronger that social media campaigns.

Paid/Organic Social: As we move further into the future, social media is consuming our lives more and more. I learned about how to optimize both paid and organic social media campaigns to develop a stronger brand.

This is just a glimpse into what I learned over the summer. I am one quarter closer to graduating college, and I can’t wait to continue pursuing a career in the field of marketing. It is classes like this that make me feel really happy with my decision to come to college and study marketing. Not only did I learn marketing concepts, but I developed my writing skills and learned how to be a more efficient researcher. Once again, I’d like to thank everyone that contributed to this experience. Until next time digital marketers!