BUS 318: The Business of Social Media

Term: Spring/Fall

COURSE DESCRIPTION

Over the past decade, new digital platforms have profoundly changed how we live, work, and conduct business. The business world is undergoing fundamental changes in how consumers interact with brands and each other. Social media is changing how business is done around the world in almost every industry. Social media has helped give consumers a voice and connect them with their friends and other like-minded people, and it has also opened up numerous new communication channels available for brands to connect with current and potential audiences. Therefore, the importance of social media’s role in modern marketing efforts can no longer be ignored. It’s an integral component in almost all successful marketing strategies. With this increasing emphasis on integrated social media strategies,the importance for modern businesses to understand the need for a strategic social media presence cannot be understated. From creating an outlet to directly connect with consumers, to providing insight into buying behavior, to boosting SEO rankings, social media has evolved to serve as the glue that binds together and enhances a digital marketing strategyand the overall brand experience for consumers. The goal of this course is to analyze these technologies. This course is designed to help students understand how business and marketing have (and have not) changed due to the rise of social media and changes invarious underlying contextual factors, such as dramatically increased speed of information dissemination across consumers and brands. Note that this course is NOT about specific online social media platforms students may knowwell from a user perspective (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat). The emphasis of this course is instead on understanding audiences’ social interactions, examining the various social media channels available to marketers, learning how to build social media strategies, and practicing how to track their effectiveness.