Social media has come a long way since it first emerged as a new way of interacting with others remotely in the early part of this century. So all-encompassing has it become in the lives of countless numbers of people that practically every enterprise, private or public, now requires an online marketing strategy. Even single person, cottage industry operations have at least a Facebook presence. And while marketing degrees of old were suited to the world of broadcast media like television and newspapers, marketing in a social media environment requires not simply knowing about the tools of this electronic trade but also thinking differently.
For example, the particular dynamic of the Internet has the ability to enable posted content to go ‘viral’ over social networks. Of course, information has been able to be spread in this ‘virus-like’, person-to-person way throughout recorded history. Even in earlier, pre-literate cultures, folk tales and oral poetry would spread ideas and traditions among groups of people. But never before could such things spread as fast as modern technology allows. And the implications for reaching consumers – and in a way that attracts them to one’s brand through fostering a deeper than casual connection with them – are far-reaching for the worlds of business, advertising, the media and so on.
Stanley College is an educational provider based in Perth, Western Australia, offering vocational and higher education. In addition to popular courses such as Commercial Cookery, Early Childhood Education and its Bachelor of Business, the College has recently introduced a Diploma of Social Media Marketing.
.jpg)
Stanley’s Jeanne Elliott (Faculty Manager – Business, Leadership, Translation & Accounting Professional Year Program) says the socioeconomic transformations unleashed by social media technologies necessitated the educational provider introduce this new course: “[The] College is always consulting and monitoring feedback from our stakeholders including industry representatives, students and agents to ensure our course offerings are providing the best outcomes for our students. With the current shift in the way companies are marketing and engaging marketing graduates, we identified that the Diploma of Social Media Marketing was a course we could provide quality and industry current training for…[One] that will provide our students with the skills that are currently in high demand in the Marketing field.”
Seeking to offer students an opportunity to gain training and accreditation in what is now arguably the primary means of marketing a business or product, the course is designed to produce graduates who understand effective ways to use social media to build brand awareness, improve brand loyalty, boost search engine rankings, increase web traffic, convert more customers and lower marketing costs: “[We] provide students with access to the latest technology using new techniques to bring old industries into the forefront using social media. It has been designed to ensure students develop the knowledge and skills required to either market their own business or become a social media guru for a company.
“Our approach to the qualification was geared towards the maximum benefit for our students. We have selected complimentary units from our Diploma of Business which provides the students with an opportunity to also develop key business skills including project management, budgeting and financial management, [and] marketing communication planning.
“At the end of the course the students leave with a well developed portfolio that can be presented and used as a template for their future ventures.
“The course Diploma itself has been designed by the leading experts in their fields, ensuring that our students benefit from [such] extensive knowledge and expertise [- and] this is iterated in our careful selection of the trainers for the course.”
.jpg)
So whether you’re from a business or IT background looking to add to your existing talent stack or whether you’re someone with a general interest in the field, if you want to master the art of sharing information, ideas, personal messages, and other content (such as videos) in a way that builds and connects with an audience of potential customers, then consider Stanley College’s Diploma of Social Media Marketing.