SmartPulse — our weekly reader poll in SmartBrief on Social Media — tracks feedback from leading marketers about social media practices and issues.
Last week’s poll question: A number of business schools are adding courses on social-media marketing. How important a role does education play when hiring someone to manage your company’s social-media engagement?
- A combination of education and experience is ideal. 55.42%
- Education is important, but it’s not the only thing that matters. 22.89%
- I would consider only candidates who had real-world experience. 19.28%
- Education is the most important factor. 2.41%
I guess the answer to this question was obvious, education combined with real-world experience trumps any other combination. (Of course, isn’t that the case with any type of job?)
Like many of you, my social media “education” was learned via on-the-job training, often combined with additional “homework” in trial-and-error. While I’m excited to see colleges and universities include coursework (or even degree programs) on social media, I believe there are aspects of this discipline that do not lend themselves well to a classroom setting.
For example, because social media is ever evolving, textbooks will be outdated almost the moment they are printed. Instructors will have to be committed to staying on top of industry trends, virtually in real-time. (Of course, the underlying tenets and principles would remain the same.)
The aspect that most excites me about this is that it provides evidence that social media has, indeed, become a career path. More and more, companies are adding social media managers as part of their marketing/pr communications teams. Job boards are replete with listings of positions that contain the term “social media.” Even President Obama is looking to hire someone.
Let me leave you with a couple of questions: Do you see a need for social media to be taught in the classroom? If so, what types of courses should be included?
Paul Chaney is the Internet marketing director for Bizzuka, author of “The Digital Handshake” and a member of the SmartBrief on Social Media Advisory Board.
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I teach personal branding to both undergraduate and MBA students at The University of Nevada, Reno. Your book is one of our readings. Even though it is personal branding, I cover all the principles and practices of good inbound marketing. it is a new course, but demand is high. My students have gotten internships and jobs based on their experience. I've even had some get offers during the course they were learning the tools.
A combination of the two – real world and classroom – is definitely ideal. Basic HTML is a must. I learned that the hard way. And the differences in marketing between B2B and B2C, another experience that I could have learned through coursework. As a Marketing & Social Media Specialist athttp://www.accuform.com, I wear many hats, and coursework would/could take away many hours spent learning shortcuts and internet linkage issues.
[...] Social media careers: Education and experience are a winning combination Published: April 14, 2010 Source: SmartBlog On Social Media SmartPulse — our weekly reader poll in SmartBrief on Social Media — tracks feedback from leading marketers about social media practices and issues. Last week’s poll question: A number of… [...]
As somebody who did a course module at university called "The Internet" (this was back in 2000), I can attest to the fact that not a single thing I 'learnt' in that course has had any significant impact on either my career or my life in general. When big social media agencies can't seem to come to a single conclusion on what social media 'is', I can't see how any school or university could hope to teach with any meaningful impact. The only way to learn social media marketing is to give it a try, or learn from your peers. That combined with a bit of initiative and a good sense of imagination will be the real winner when looking for a career in this field.
I have recently quit my job to attend university to study marketing and although I would absolutely love for this type of thing to be taught as an official class at university I personally don't believe that Social Media is at a stage where there is a distinct set of do's and don'ts that is needed for a classroom environment. I also think it is developing at a pace that is too quick for academic textbooks and classes to catch up.
I think it would be beneficial to include modules such as 'online marketing' which would include social media and maybe personal branding etc. But I personally also only think these modules would be truly effective if all curriculum is updated to acknowledge the online world. I know I study many units that never mention anything about online marketing, in cases where it would be very effective, for example relationship marketing.
I also think it is perhaps a bit of a shady area because as far as I am aware there are still different ideas out there on the optimum uses of social media or online marketing for that matter and institutes may have to be careful about the message they put across.
I think for now, university should focus on online marketing generally whilst discussing social media. However due to the fast changing nature of social media just now, textbooks and curriculum just can't keep up enough to teach a whole semester on social media without having to say, this is what people did last year.
My recent post My Favourites From Around The Web This Week
@LouiseGriffiths I'd like to revisit this discussion with you. I agree that social media is moving very quickly, too quickly for textbooks and set curriculum. Therefore, I think it would be beneficial for students or employees of social media to take online training courses. These may be a better option to stay current in ones realm of expertise. Let me know your thoughts.