(UPDATED 8/28/2025)
Best Ways to Reach Me
- Canvas Messaging (preferred)
- Email: spencer_ross@uml.edu
- Phone: x45305, WhatsApp
Basic Course Information
- Course Meeting: Tuesdays/Thursdays 11:00a-12:15p, PTB 120
- Office Location, PTB 232 (If on campus)
- Office Hours: Tuesdays/Thursdays 12:15-1:45pm or make an appointment on Calendly
- Canvas Course Section
Table of Contents
- What’s this course about?
- What materials will you need?
- How will you be evaluated?
- What’s being evaluated?
- My course policies
What’s this course about?
The emphasis of this course is on understanding consumers’ social interactions, examining the various social media channels available to marketers, learning how to build social marketing strategies, and practicing how to track their effectiveness. In particular, this course will draw an explicit focus on brand strategy and how social media is used to enhance brand communications.
What should you be able to know after successfully completing this course?
| GOALS | OBJECTIVES |
|---|---|
| You’ll know/understand: | You’ll be able to: |
| How to differentiate between social media for personal use and social media brand strategic use. | Define social media marketing. |
| Apply professional (versus personal) standards to social media use. | |
| Create deliverables that execute on social media brand strategy. | |
| The theories and concepts behind social transmission of information that makes social media marketing different from traditional marketing. | Discuss the workings of social networks and how these networks augment marketing communication. |
| Discuss the role of social influence as a function of social transmission. | |
| How to use social media as an effective tool for strategic marketing planning. | Create clear goals and objectives for a social media campaign that creates awareness, consumer consideration and conversion. |
| Align target markets according to platform characteristics. | |
| Design a creative campaign that accounts for social media budgeting. | |
| How social media platforms vary in their tactical execution. | Identify the critical features of key social media platforms. |
| Create platform-specific content that is relevant to target markets and communities on social media. | |
| Leverage an understanding of social media platform features in the face of platform disruptions. | |
| Make decisions regarding which platforms to include in a social media campaign. | |
| Why strategic measurement is important to determine the effectiveness of social media marketing. | Identify social media KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) to determine the effectiveness of a social media campaign. |
| Link KPIs to strategic objectives. | |
| Monitor and evaluate the successes of a social media campaign using KPIs. |
What materials will you need to be successful in this course?
Simternship SIMULATION
Social Media Simternship, Stukent. $70 for the simulation. ISBN 9780996790079
The Simternship simulation will provide hands-on practice of concepts we discuss and will be graded as well.
Optional Text
Optional Resource: Social Media Marketing: A Strategic Approach | 3rd Edition. Cengage. eBook for $69. ISBN 9780357710982.
I’m mindful of the costs of student textbooks when assigning them; they need to be beneficial to justify those costs. Social media is a topic that is constantly evolving and it can be difficult to find textbooks that are up to date. This assigned text is optional as a resource.
Additional information on how to navigate the Stukent platform can be found here: Navigate the Stukent Platform
Canva
Canva is a basic graphic layout and design tool to create digital marketing content. The Canva Design School has a number of modules to help you create social media content. You are more than welcome to use other tools to create content, however, this is a good free one if you don’t have prior experience.
CANVAS
I’ll post links and readings here, as well as assignment submissions here, the gradebook will be here, etc. I know that we’re all figuring it out, so will give grace to everyone in using it (in return I’m hoping you’ll be flexible with me as well as I figure out what’s where and what I can do/not do compared with other tools.
Additional Readings
As business students, you should naturally be visiting business related news sites (e.g., WSJ, FT, Bloomberg, Mashable, Business Insider, Social Media Examiner) and coming to each class ready to share articles and events relating to marketing topics. Part of your course engagement grade will heavily depend on being able to present, discuss, and debate these current marketing topics.
How will you be evaluated?
Summary (Points)
| Assignment | % Contribution to Course Grade |
| Case Study Analyses (3 @ 5%) | 15 | Simulation Rounds (11 @ 2%) | 22 (lowest round dropped) |
| Applied Skills Portfolio (5 @ 3%) | 15 |
| Course Engagement | 10 |
| Manning BeHub Research Credits | 2 |
| Client Social Media Plan | 15 |
| Client Social Media Presentation | 15 |
| Project Peer Evaluation (online link) | 5 |
Performance Scale (Points)
| Excellent to Good | Satisfactory | Unsatisfactory but Passing | Failing |
|---|---|---|---|
| 94 – 100 = A 90 – < 94 = A- 87 – < 90 = B+ 84 – < 87 = B | 80 – < 84 = B- 77 – < 80 = C+ 74 – < 77 = C | 70 – < 74 = C- 67 – < 70 = D+ 64 – < 67 = D 60 – < 64 = D- | 0 – < 60 = F |
What’s being evaluated?
INDIVIDUAL WORK (65%)
Case Study Analysis (3 @ 5% = 15%)
We’ll be looking at current cases and evaluating how they demonstrate issues with brand strategy in social media contexts. Aside from writing a memo on the case, you’ll also be expected to participate in full class discussion and analyzing their implications for brand strategy. The point of these assignments is to evaluate your reading comprehension and ensuring you’re keeping up with materials for classtime.
SIMTERNSHIP SOCIAL MEDIA SIMULATION (11 rounds @ 2% = 22%)
The Simternship Social Media Simulation has you developing and executing social media strategy for the fictional Buhi Supply Co. (pronounced “Booey”). Each round, you’ll be required to spend some of the company’s social media budget to achieve social media goals. Different rounds will focus on different objectives. You’ll get various types of metrics-based feedback that you can use for the next round and each round will be graded (except the lowest). The point of the Simternship Simulation is to help you a) practice strategy, tactics, execution, and measurement of social media strategy in the confines of a simulated environment b) gain knowledge to leverage later in applying it to a live client with real-world business challenges.
Applied Skills Portfolio (5 @ 3% = 15%)
We will have applied skills labs to discuss and tinker with creating various social media brand deliverables. Almost every other week, you’ll be submitting your work to demonstrate your developing understanding of social media brand strategy. The point of the applied skills portfolios is to have you practice execution of social media brand strategy.
Course Engagement (10%)
Communication skills are extremely important in marketing (after all, it’s one of the things we do!), which is why I grade course engagement on active participation and contribution, not mere class attendance (you’ll note I don’t have a formal attendance policy). I also expect everyone to actively engage in class discussions, any class exercises, and make quality contributions/discussions on Canvas. All of this counts as engagement. And since this class is going to run partially like a social media marketing agency, being a contributing member of the team is extremely important!
Therefore, course engagement is a function of: (in-class active participation + outside-class on Canvas)*(volume)*(quality). Both inside and outside of classtime, I encourage us to work hard to create and maintain a supportive, respectful, and empathetic environment. While I’ll help guide you, the class should be a thought lab to express your critical and analytical thinking, while also considering the backgrounds of others in and out of the class.
While you must be present in classes to be able to participate in them, I guarantee attendance alone will not earn a full 10% engagement mark (for example, attendance but no participation may earn closer to 80% while no attendance but a lot of participation may earn closer to 70%). Your involvement and participation are vital to the success of yours and your peers’ learning experiences; consistency and quality matter. I encourage actual, real discussion in and out of classtime. The point of course engagement is to foster communication and collaboration skills with peers, as well as to actively engage the content, both inside and outside class lecture.
Manning BeHub (Behavioral Hub) Research Credits (2%)
You’re required to participate in at least 2.0 credits of Manning BeHub research studies (or, if you choose, see me for an alternative credit task) as part of your course grade. 2.0 credits is approximately 2-4 studies in a semester (1.0 credit = 1% of final course grade). Most studies take between 10-20 minutes per study. If you accumulate credits for my course in excess of the 2.0, up to an additional 2.0 credits may be awarded as extra course credit
Many studies will be online studies that can be done at home, though occasionally, in-person “lab” studies will be offered for credit or other incentives. I’ll send out announcements on Canvas to the class as the BeHub periodically announces new study availability. You may also direct BeHub questions to me as one of its co-administrators. Study availability may be ongoing through the semester. However, studies are usually only open for limited periods of time before they expire and are then unavailable for participating credit. Please make sure you participate in studies before they are closed. The point of participating in research studies is that these studies will help your professors (including me) generate knowledge and insight about business, as well as give you firsthand experience of how business research is conducted
TEAM WORK (35%)
Client Social Media Plan (15%)
The culmination of the course is a social media plan that ties together the course goals. We will be working with real local businesses as our clients. Different teams will work with different clients, but each team will function like a social media marketing agency, with groups within the teams having different functions. Your groups will then contribute to the team’s social media plan. This plan will be due by the end of the semester and will incorporate everything you’ve learned
The groups will be ~5 members and there will be different points where teams will work on something and then we’ll critique/discuss strategy as a whole class. If there is a problem within the group, you should inform me as soon as problems arise.
Groups may meet with me during any class workshops or outside class. If there’s a problem within the group, you should inform me as soon as problems arise, not the week before deadlines. The point of the social media plan is to showcase written communications skills, to work on interpersonal skills in a teamwork collaboration, and to demonstrate social media strategy, execution, and evaluation in a cumulative fashion.
Client Social Media Presentation (20%)
Your team will contribute to a 15 minute pitch of your social media marketing plan. In contrast with the plan, which should have a lot of written strategy, the presentation is an opportunity to bring your plan “to life” with a presentation of the content. The point of this presentation is to demonstrate oral communications skills in a visual presentation that communicates to a client, in cumulative fashion, how to use social media as an effective tool for strategic marketing planning.
Online Peer Evaluation (5%)
A link to a rigorous online peer evaluation form will be distributed in the last week of class. Failure to submit the evaluation by the assigned date will be an automatic “0” (zero) for your own evaluation score, as I use your peers’ scores to calculate your own evaluation grade. If you can’t be bothered to give your peers their scores, I won’t be bothered to calculate your score.