Reflection

Web marketing wasn't at all what I initially expected it to be. Although, I can say confidently that I have more insight and knowledge about how marketing is conducted via the internet. Social media is a large component for marketing products and services, and in the last few years it has increased awareness for those who use this medium. It has taught me to look at ads on social media a lot more carefully and has changed my perception.

Due to the brand evaluation assignment I learned that it is crucial for companies in the 21st century to market and advertise their products and services online. Many individuals spend the majority of their time on the internet rather than reading newspapers or magazines. Although, I learned that many companies haven't utilized social media to increase their brand awarness. The company I did my brand evaluation was on Petsmart and it is one of those companines that can benefit through more online marketing.

Finally, the flash mob. I have to say it sounds easier and more fun than it actually was. Aside from the creative component it required a lot of hard work and coordination to get the groups and individuals outside the group to participate. However, the end result is what made the experience worth while.

I hope everyone had a great semester, good luck in the future :)

Erum Bakhsh

Reflection Post

Web Marketing - Reflection on Class 

When I started taking this class in September I thought, woo easy A.. I thought I knew everything about the Internet, I do use it everyday.. haha. Then the class actually began.. 
A lot of what i learned will be transferred to any business setting workplace i next end up in. I enjoyed learning about SEO and how it works and functions. I learned how it is quite hard to advertise your company online since there is so much advertising going on on every webpage.  
I wish we could have spent more time learning about the different types of online ads and even the graphic design part behind it. It would be cool actually designing an ad and seeing how effective it is (and how difficult). So much thought goes into Web Marketing and before taking this class I did not realize that. 
Class was most often engaging doing group work and online activities. Also I found it very helpful having the slides posted on eLearn to refer to again after class. 

Tori Le Page

Reflection

Reflection

This course has taught me a great deal of new and important information that will be useful for my future marketing career. It inspired me to stay up to date with new content and programs on the web, and stay connected with this type of communication. With marketing mainly focusing on reaching your company or brands message to consumers, the internet is now one of this generation’s most popular form of communication. This is important for any marketer to understand, so that they can better or further their knowledge with the web. This is another main reason I was inspired to learn about the content being taught in this course.

            I believe one of the main focuses of content that I learned during this course, that I will further the use of in my future career would be social media. With social media booming with the current generation, it is something that all marketers should be using to promote their company. It is one of the only ways for companies to gain 24 hour access to their consumers, therefore being a major strength for any company. Another part of the course I found very informative and interesting, was the flash mob assignment. It was a great change for myself and classmates to work as a team, and to share creative ideas to make up one final project.

            I would have liked to spend more time on search marketing and metrics. I found those topics in class very interesting, but did not gain enough knowledge from in class lectures. Although the text book was a very good source of information to continue my learning of this subject after the lectures given that day.

            The new form of blended learning was a new experience for me. It is not something that I enjoy or would choose to do again. For me to fully be knowledgeable or intake the best information, is through in class lectures. I can better understand information from hearing the teacher speak and also by writing down the information. This helps me to retain information better as well. For future classes I would rather steer away from the style of blended learning.

Reflection Post

Reflection Post

My experience in this course was positive. I learned a lot of new things about marketing on the web. This is very useful because marketing on the Internet has become a crucial part of doing business and communicating with consumers.  I was very interested when I learned that there are so many social media tools that I have never even heard of before. I would have normally assumed that a presence on Facebook and Twitter was the right way to use social media no matter what. In the future, when trying to connect with a specific target market through social media I will be more inclined to look at different options other than Facebook and Twitter to see what sites the target market is using.

I really enjoyed the flash mob project. It was a really great experience. I want to be involved in event planning as a career, and this project allowed me to get experience in planning something I’ve never planned before. I will definitely include this project in my portfolio. There is not much I would improve in this class. However, I found components of the brand evaluation to be unnecessarily tedious. For example, having to find out what page the brand showed up on in search engines when typing in specific key words. This was very time consuming because sometimes the brand wouldn’t show up until page 52. Overall, this project helped me to understand how poor online marketing can be a serious detriment to the brand’s image. 

Kaila Schouwstra

Reflection

Since taking Web Marketing, my knowledge on the subject has expanded past that of what we learn on the consumer side. I've learned about all the thought processes and planning that is crucial when hosting a webpage for your company - and how essential it is - through the brand evaluation assignment. SEO was by-far the most interesting subject for myself, as its something I've always wondered about before taking the class.

I wish we would of had more time to study and work on the flash mob project. It's biggest challenge was trying to coordinate with only a few people and somehow creating an effective flash  mob with no experience or resources. The overall project, however, was an interesting change in our curriculum here at Mohawk.

Overall, the class was very interesting. It's helped me develop the skill needed to work with brands online, as well as through blogging, which is also an important skill in web marketing. My one wish for this course would have been to spend more time on SEO, as well as social media and how we can use it more effectively for managing a companies brand. Lastly, dividing the class time into separate classes would have helped a lot, as taking in everything once a week in a single two hour class can be difficult to learn from. Regardless, I enjoyed the class and I look forward to seeing everybody after the holidays!

-- By: Robbie Halloran

Reflection Post

When I first saw that we were studying Web Marketing, I was trying to  figure out what there is to learn about this topic. I thought that there wasn't going to be enough information to learn and thought the class content would be dry and boring.  When the class started I realized that there is a lot to learn when it comes to marketing on the world wide web. 

When I first thought of marketing on the web I began to think of what avenues companies can take. There were annoying pop-up ads, social media and sponsored search ads. After a few weeks I quickly realized that there were a lot more avenues businesses can take. There are so many options for us as marketers to consider when we are ready to market our products and/or services via the web, and I am happy that I have learned these options over the course of the semester. 

As a students, we are all aware of how much time we spend online and I believe we have become so used to seeing online marketing campaigns on the web that we don't even realize what they are. I know that for myself, I don't even realize that when I see ads online, whether it be on my favourite websites or social media networks. These marketing campaigns surround us every time we use the internet and there is no escaping them. 

Learning about these different options we can take when we develop marketing campaigns in the future will be very beneficial and I am happy to know that I know about these options. I enjoyed learning about different 'behind-the-scenes' aspects of web marketing(SEO, analytics, etc.) and I enjoyed completing the flash mob. Although the flash mob was hard to get ready and plan, I think we executed the flash mob very well and I am excited to see how many hits we receive on YouTube.  

Our brand evaluation project(s) showed me what brands can do right and what they may be doing wrong. Although it was time consuming it was very interesting to learn about what a brand does, and what they can do better. It was fun to uncover these details that most consumers overlook.  

Overall, I enjoyed my time in this class and I am happy that I learned what I did. I am happy to know that I am leaving this course with knowledge I did not have when I entered the course. I wish everyone good luck in the future! 

Happy holidays! 

Ryan Lancaster

Reflection Post

Since starting web marketing I can say it has been an enjoyable course from the beginning. To be completly honest going into this coruse I thought it was going to be a waste of time, growing up around the internet I thought I already had a firm enough grasp on the topic and that anything learned would just be things i had seen before.

However I can say since starting the course I've learned a great deal about the more in depth elements of the web and how advertising works on it, I particularly enjoyed learning about  social media advertising, as this form of advertising is sure to be a huge market in the future.

In terms of a review of the functionality of the how the class room was ran I can say  that it was good overall, using the traditional slideshow explanation style of teaching is in my opinion one of the best ways of getting messages across as it ads a visual element to the experience, I enjoyed the numerous informative videos that were displayed throughout the term as well.

In conclusion I can say that taking the web marketing class has been enjoyable overall with many interesting topics covered. And I look forward to continuing this style of learning in Market Research.

Sincerely, Matt