Social Strategy and Management (SOCL)

From the inception of communication technologies to the mobile devices of today, the need to connect socially drives continual innovation. Through this evolution, society has adapted to new platforms and navigated complex ethical issues. Students examine the influence of social media on cultural discourse through topics such as monetization, privacy and fair use, platform variation, media consolidation and future possibilities.

Consumers wade through thousands of messages each day. How do brands cut through the clutter? In this course, students build unique, scalable, strategy-adherent messages that marry content with purpose. By focusing on messaging over promotion, students discover how brands communicate and capture attention while maintaining distinct style, personality and values.

Brand marketers harness social data to develop strategies and curate content that resonates. In this course, students analyze content performance against key performance indicators to gain insights and accelerate data-driven storytelling. To thrive within the fast-paced social landscape, students develop the skills to shape brand marketing and respond in real-time.

Impactful social campaigns engender brand loyalty. With today’s increasing content demand, social media professionals must reach audiences across multiple platforms, at every point in their journey. By mapping lifecycle milestones to engagement funnels, students prioritize strategic content to deliver on value propositions and achieve brand goals.

Social media-savvy consumers demand more than advertising and sales copy, requiring businesses to take a more strategic, relationship-building approach. Understanding the impact of marketing initiatives allows brands to adapt to audience behaviors and ever-evolving platforms. In this course, students learn to use channel-specific best practices to optimize content and amplify reach.

Social media creates opportunities and connections with consumers that brands never thought possible. Synthesizing consumer and brand research, students investigate this competitive landscape to develop fully integrated marketing strategies that optimize consumer experience, and translate art and commerce in an ever-evolving space. By learning how to use social media effectively, students create forward-thinking best practices that intersect design and marketing to captivate audiences and increase revenue.

In preparation for competitive professional opportunities, students combine design expertise, business acumen and consumer-engagement strategies to propel brand awareness and profitability. Building on audience and brand research, students select appropriate platforms and budgets to create compelling content and maintain strategic intent. Students present a comprehensive and viable brand strategy through a fully developed social campaign in the context of a specific market.

Internships offer students valuable opportunities to work in a professional environment and gain firsthand experience to help them prepare for careers. In an approved internship setting, a student typically spends one quarter working with an on-site professional supervisor and a faculty internship supervisor to achieve specific goals and objectives related to the program of study.