Business professionals—from small blogging business owners to CEOs of large corporations—are more than aware how important it is to create a “successful” social media marketing campaign. After all, social media’s relevancy has sky rocketed and is now one of the best ways to attract young consumers (whom are often said to be the hardest target group to break through). Unfortunately there aren’t many higher education institutions that offer social media marketing classes for their business students to enroll in. In fact, 36 percent of the 25 best ranked business schools in America don’t even offer a single social media class, according to U.S. News and World report. And out of the ones that do, only one school mandates that its business students take a social media class to complete degree requirements.
So what does this mean exactly? Possibly that while the next group of young business leaders may know how to “chat” with their friends on Facebook and post links, they may not truly know how to utilize the social media platforms to help boost business sales and increase SEO. However, there are a few online MBA programs that do offer concentrations in social media. If you’re interested in returning back to school to enhance your skills or want to send an employee to continue his or education to help your online business grow, then check out some of these programs below.
Southern New Hampshire University
SNHU, which is a private, non-profit “hybrid-online” university, offers a social media MBA that is designed to teach students all of the foundational principles he or she needs to run a successful online marketing campaign, including how to generate leads, how to analyze and conduct social media research to make campaigns stronger, as well as how to construct specialized campaigns for unique target audiences—like millennials. Not only is this accredited institution considered to be one of the pioneering social media marketing programs, but it also received a Tier 1Universitity ranking from U.S. News and World Report.
Excelsior College, which is also a private, not-for-profit online institution, just currently started offering a Social Media Management concentration within its MBA programs this past March. Although the program is relatively new, it still does a great job of teaching students the core principles of social media marketing strategies including: building web communities, creating online brands, how to engage with customers and provide good service, as well as how to monitor that engagement.
Last but certainly not least is Lewis University, which also recently implemented a social media marketing concentration within its Graduate School of Management program in spring 2012. Those who choose to take the concentration will take some of the following classes: Search Engine Optimization Methods, Social Media Analytics, and Social Media Strategies just to name a few.
Maria Rainier is a devoted blogger who writes on topics concerning higher education and technology. She has her finger on the pulse of the online education industry, and she delights in writing about the benefits of online bachelor’s degrees in our digital society. Please share your comments with Maria below!
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