When I first took Marketing in the Digital Age, I didn’t know much about the digital world or social media. I thought Twitter was the latest and greatest, I thought Facebook was invite only, and I thought Myspace was the most popular of all (okay, maybe not those last two). But after taking a Marketing in the Digital Age course with professor Krueger, it feels like I know so much more. I not only learned the up-to-date stuff that most people seem to know, like how Twitter is on the decline, Snapchat is the latest and greatest, and Instagram is taking the social media world by storm. But I also learned some inside stuff, like how to assess different paid search keywords to see which are profitable, or how to analyze data like click-through rates, bounce rates, and average visitor value from an Excel spreadsheet, or how easy it is to find out how many people are searching a particular topic on Google at any given time (including those searching your own name!)

With each new topic we learned, I saw how being savvy to the digital world could help with seemingly basic stuff, stuff so useful it felt like I should have already known it. For one example, I learned that if I want to build a website, a good first step is to use WordPress and Lynda.com and go from there. I didn’t know that! If you asked me how to build a website, I don’t think I could’ve told you anything, besides maybe using Godaddy (which may not even be true, I’m just guessing off the top of my head). For another example, I learned that if I want to send an email, I should write an effective subject line so the email has the best chance of getting opened. Although we technically learned email marketing in the context of emailing potential customers, the concepts probably apply to most emails. Tips like “clarity over creativity” instantly rang true with me in a quick flashback of the email subject lines I’ve clicked on and opened in my life.

In this day and age, everything Internet seems to change at breakneck speed. But even if you feel pretty much up-to-date, why not get ahead of the curve with info from Marketing in the Digital Age?

Best,

Eli

Eli Sonkin is a student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.