5 Things I Would Tell a Social Media Professor

by Samir Balwani on November 30, 2009 · View Comments

Last week I asked the question, “Should Social Media be a College Course” and received quite a number of mixed comments. In the end, I’ve realized that there is an absolute need for at least an interactive marketing course at the college level for marketing majors. New graduates need the tools to succeed online and they deserve to have learned at least the fundamentals.

So if a course is going to be taught what should it cover? How do you get past the fact that so much will change during the semester? I’ve outlined what I would tell the professor, but I want to know what you think too. Here are my thoughts on the subject.

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Have Them Wonder Why Social Media Works

Why does social media marketing work? What makes it different from other marketing strategies? These are questions your students should be asking themselves.

Before you can effectively create a social media strategy, you need to understand why it works. Is it relationships? Is it the platforms? Or is it because of the large number of consumers in one area?

Once the students can identify the individual effects of social media on a marketing strategy, then they’ll be able to incorporate it into a larger campaign.

Ask Them to Monitor Their Social Media Usage

Tell your students to watch how they use social media. What do they do on Facebook? When are they using Twitter?

Make your students take notes on what they do online and why they share things. If they can better understand what they do, they’ll better understand how people use social media platforms.

That knowledge is what helps a strategist differentiate from a campaign that will spread versus one that no one will take part in.

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Teach Them to Collect Data

A social media marketer should be collecting data on everything. If you’re on Facebook, how long are you on it? What did you do? How many pages did you go to? Why did you share that article? Why did you friends share that article? How many of your friends shared the article?

If the students aren’t taught to collect as much data as possible, they won’t be any different than any other social media user. Users only take advantage of social media platforms, strategist try to learn it.

Use Case Studies to Show Innovation, Not to Copy

One of my gripes with many of my professors is that they always showed the “one right way”. There is no “one right way”. Some things work and some don’t, there may be better ways, or you may fail miserably. To be a good online strategist you have to be creative and willing to try new things.

As a professor, use case studies to highlight how the team tried something new. Emphasize the creative thinking instead of the actual act. Let students see how they can use that thinking to create their own campaigns instead of copying what’s already happened.

Don’t Teach Platforms, Teach Fundamentals

Too many online marketers already focus on platforms instead of fundamentals, don’t continue the trend by teaching it to new marketers.

Right now, people think of Facebook Strategies and Twitter Strategies but you need to understand how social media works before you can create your own strategy. The person who outlines a FourSquare strategy will first need to understand the intricacies of how people use the mobile web and what drives consumers to “check in”.

Teach students to identify the fundamentals of why people do things online and how that can apply to marketing a product or brand.

Bonus: Convince Them to Write a Blog

What is the most effective way to learn online marketing strategies? Create a blog and promote it.

Inspire your students to write about what they like. They’ll be hooked from that first comment. Teach them to track analytics, test what worked and what didn’t work. Have them strive to make a better blog and teach them to monetize it.

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Social media should be taught in colleges. It should not be part of a single section, but instead needs to be at least a course. There is a lot to learn.

What would you add to this list? If you’re a professor, how are you teaching right now?

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Jared November 30, 2009 at 9:49 am

I definitely agree with this post. Not only should social media be taught as a course, but, different sections of Internet marketing such as “Search Engine Marketing 101″ should be incorporated into a degree program for marketers. Traditional media is not necessarily dying but colleges and universities should wise up to create an integrated marketing program that includes all facets of Internet marketing.

Samir Balwani December 1, 2009 at 9:49 am: Agreed, it would be wrong to not keep up with new ideas. Colleges are supposed to be a bastion of new ideas and creativity. A new marketing thought should be explored in academia.

Mark W Schaefer November 30, 2009 at 3:43 pm

I am a college educator and am teaching a social media marketing class. I think your points are right on target. Well done!

Samir Balwani December 1, 2009 at 9:49 am: Thanks for the compliments Mark!

Amit Klein December 1, 2009 at 5:21 am

Other things that should be taught:
* How to create a listening strategy
* How to government and NGO’s are leveraging these tools (i.e. recovery.org)
* How to use social media to promote offline events/conferences
* How to measure social media ROI / off-site analytics
* Creating a comprehensive online marketing plan including paid and social strategies

Cheers,
@amitklein

Samir Balwani December 1, 2009 at 9:50 am: Thanks Amit for the ideas. I totally agree. I’ll make sure to add these things if I write a follow up to this post.

Anna Green December 1, 2009 at 7:28 am

If a student is learning about marketing then i think the teaching should be at least 50% based on online marketing with a later specializing course.

Dylan Fedy December 4, 2009 at 2:03 pm

Samir, thanks for the thoughtful posts on the subject. There is huge interest in social media and many practitioners claiming to be expert. I think there would be value in a certificate that could help identify consultants/practitioners that had met certain proficiency requirements. I’d be interested to know what you and others thought about the value of a social Media credential/certificate?

Kevin Andreassend December 4, 2009 at 3:40 pm

I believe it is crucial that “Social Media” and all that that means should be taught. In fact I would go one step further they should be also taught how to create a product / service and sell it online. At the very minimum take some one elses product and sell it online. I mentioned this to politicians from the Labour Party recently of how students now need to begin learn this stuff from a business perspective. I mean they are already on MySpace, Bebo, Facebook. The feedback we got essentially was that prior to University it ain’t going to happen anytime soon. I think there is still a unconscious perception that the internet is dangerous, full of spammers, viruses, and scams and not the place for under 17yrs to lean how to effectively use and understand the online world from a business angle. I think we will need to wait a couple of years before we see university courses, degrees in this area…at least in New Zealand. Though I am aware that it is currently being seen as a “self development” courses for staff and suspect that Social Media may get an inclusion as part of marketing etc in general…watch this space I say. Interesting subject Samir.

Charles December 17, 2009 at 12:53 pm

Your post really made me think — so you have done your job, as they say. I am long out of college but new to social media. So it’s back to the fundamentals for me — why people do things on line and how I can apply that information. This was my first visit to your blog, but not my last, to be sure.

Jacob Stoops June 10, 2010 at 10:38 pm

I agree with the ‘Don’t Teach Platforms, Teach Fundamentals’ statement. Many people teach only how to use the tools, when social media is really about how you communicate. A social media platform (Tweetdeck for instance) is simply the tool by which we build the house, so to speak.

Whitney Segura June 22, 2010 at 3:50 pm

Hey there, I am an external internet marketing consultant at Beast Marketing and I just wanted to stop in and tell you that your very clever and thinking outside of the box. Good stuff, keep up the good work and I will keep reading it!

Samir Balwani June 22, 2010 at 10:54 pm: Thanks Whitney! Don’t hesitate to reach out to me if you have any questions or I can help with anything. Thanks for the comment again!