Top 5 Reasons to Attend the Ateneo-DigitalFilipino Certified Blog and Social Media Entrepreneur Program

If you are a blogger, writer, social media enthusiast, student or a marketing professional who would like to understand blogging and social media more, you have stumbled upon an article that can help you with this pursuit.

I am a blogger and a marketing professional as well. I started blogging way back in high school (2004-ish) and it is only last 2010 that I discovered that there is more to blogging than what I used to know it for. Bloggers are actually earning through their blogs and a lot of opportunities come their way such as career in social media marketing, special seats in cool events, appearances on TV and many more. These things alongside my passion for writing and marketing compelled me to take blogging really seriously.

A great opportunity knocked last October 2011, when Ms. Janette Toral of DigitalFilipino, a well-esteemed digital marketing practitioner, posted a writing contest online for a chance to win a slot in the Ateneo-DigitalFilipino Certified Blog and Social Media Entrepreneur  Program  (aka CBEP) where she is teaching. Without much thinking, I gathered my thoughts and answered as spontaneous as I can the essay question, “Why do you want to become a Blog and Social Media Entrepreneur”.

I can’t describe to you how much of a blessing from God it felt for me to be singled out from the many by Ms. Janette Toral herself and be chosen to attend a 9-week intensive digital marketing program with her and with Ms. Fleire Castro of Third Team Media.

Now that I am already done with the program, I’d like to look back to the 9 weeks that I spent learning about blogging and social media marketing which truly helped become the effective marketing professional that I aspired to be. While I was writing this article, I have just recently accepted a social media management position in a young and aggressive creative agency which I think can help me discover more about what I can do in the field of digital marketing.

There had been a lot of offers that came my way. There even was a big advertising agency that called me up for an opportunity to work with them but then I chose to be in a company which I believe can develop the entrepreneurial skills that I have in me alongside the current skills set that I have.

If you are a driven and passionate young professional like me who would like to explore this exciting industry, I can say that attending the Ateneo-DigitalFilipino program will undoubtedly equip you with everything that you need to know about digital marketing. Allow me, through this article, give you a walkthrough of my Top 5 Reasons to Attend the Ateneo-DigitalFilipino Certified Blog and Social Media Entrepreneur Program.

1. Complete and strong program design. One thing that I am truly proud of for being a graduate of CBEP is because I know that I have just undergone a program that was well-planned and well-thought of. The design is complete and strong that you can literally create an agency of your own after you complete the whole program. The individual modules (it has 3) are also strong by themselves and will suit those who are not really after the certification but are only after some specific topics. But if you wish to really become an entrepreneur or become a social media executive someday, I strongly suggest that you find a way to attend all the modules. The titles of the 3 modules are as follows:

• Blog Launch, Copywriting and Social Media Promotions
• Professional Blogging, Social Media Marketing and Advertising as a Business
• Make Money from Blogging and Social Media as a Service Provider

Take a look at the topics under each of the 3 modules by looking at the image located at the bottom of the page on this link.    

2. Well-esteemed mentors. Being a student of Ms. Janette Toral herself with Ms. Fleire Castro, 2 of the most well-esteemed personalities in the digital marketing industry gave me the constant assurance that I have chosen the right program to spend my time and energy on in my pursuit of being a digital marketing professional one day. I describe my mentors with words such as committed and generous. They are committed to really helping you become the professional that you want to be and I can attest to that in so many instances even after the program had ended. They are also very generous for they shared to me all that they have learned and experienced being seasoned digital marketing practitioners that they are. In my more than 9 weeks of relationship with them as my mentors, I never felt that they ever held back in supplying me with advices and insights that can help me with my projects.

3. Close and supportive mentoring. The benefit of having only 2 mentors all throughout the program is the value of being “watched closely from start to finish” as you grow into becoming a digital marketing professional. The importance of having this kind of relationship with your mentors gives you the assurance that your activities are more closely guided and your progress more supportively sustained. You have to have a mentor who can focus on you and whom you can focus on as you learn your way towards becoming a digital marketing professional.

4. Practical application not just theories. CBEP is not for typical students who only wanted to learn by listening to the teacher, taking some notes and so on and so forth. CBEP is for people who would want to make things happen! I consider the social media campaigns I created under CBEP as 2 of the most important achievements I have accomplished as a marketing professional. Looking back, all those college-like sleepless nights and hard works were all worth it knowing that my performance was assessed based on what I can actually do and not just on what I know. I created the Intramuros Bloggers Challenge 2012 and Chef Hasset Go Bloggers Night along with the actual blogs that were the basis for these campaigns. I can never have the motivation to turn those ideas into real projects if not because of CBEP.

5. Entrepreneurship not just expertise. Lastly, I believe that what sets CBEP apart from the other digital marketing certification programs out there is its entrepreneurship approach. In the program, I was honed to become an entrepreneur and not just a mere professional. I was trained to be able to stand up on my own and become more innovative and cutting edge rather than just become an ordinary employee who shall do what his boss orders him to do. In CBEP, we were trained to think and do. In fact, we can’t pass the module without much thinking and doing- for we are evaluated based on our outputs. I truly enjoyed the process of creating an idea and turning it into real campaigns. Being equipped as an entrepreneur is a must in an industry that is constantly innovating and renewing itself. No one can really claim that someone is an expert in social media for every single day there are new campaigns being created, new applications being launched and new platforms being developed. We can’t just afford to be mere spectators in this “Like” and “Tweet” industry. We have to be leaders. In CBEP, we can become leaders in our own respect by becoming entrepreneurs or intrapreneurs.

To know more about CBEP, check out this link.