Mass Communication Problems
Comm 350 M04
Course Outline
Instructor’s information
Name: Michael Gallina
E-mail: huemansdesign@gmail.comThis e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Website: www.huemans.com
Office hours: By appointment
Course information
Term and date: Fall 2011
Course number and section: COMM-350-M04
Credits: 3
Meeting times: Wed 3:00 – 5:00 pm
Building and room number: West 61st Street, Room 919
Required texts (including ISBN numbers)
Inbound Marketing: Get Found Using Google, Social Media, and Blogs by Brian Halligan, Dharmesh Shah and David Meerman Scott, ISBN-13: 978-0470499313
Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff,
· ISBN-10: 1422161986
· ISBN-13: 978-1422161982
Recommended
SmartBrief on Social Media: http://www.smartbrief.com/news/socialmedia
Social Net Daily: http://www.socialnetdaily.com/
Course description from catalog
From blogging to Facebook, LinkedIn to Ning, social media use is increasingly widespread and is garnering more and more media attention. Traditional outbound methods of marketing and advertising are proving less and less effective as the medium and means for delivering our messages are increasingly becoming dominated by social media technologies. As society and businesses struggle to understand how to communicate within this new process, innovative web and mobile implementations are being developed every day. Mass communication problems seeks to investigate and understand how businesses can successfully express their brand and their product in this new socio-technological landscape.
Course goals and introduction
This course will teach students how to develop a social media plan for a company, use the most popular platforms well for business purposes and measure its success.
Learning outcomes and instruments of assessment
Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:
- Leverage social media for businesses in order to increase awareness, influence, care and trust
- Develop effective marketing campaigns using social media
- Measure the effectiveness and quality of social marketing campaigns
- Discern trends on the web and stay ahead of the curve
- Determine which social media are best for different types of businesses and audiences
- Track and measure the progress of a company’s social media initiatives.
Methods of assessment will include:
- Class participation
- Student blog
- Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, wiki and other social media platform activity
- Viral video
- Peer review
- Final project(Culmination of course work as final campaign)
Grading formula
- 15% Class participation
- 15% Assignments
- 20% Twitter/Facebook/LinkedIn/wiki and other social media platform activity
- 10% Peer review & rebuttal
- 40% Final project
Description of assignments
Reading the assigned texts is pivotal to each class. Having that background knowledge will enable students to engage in conversation during the class by asking and answering questions and sharing insights and experiences.
Each week, students will be required to Blog on a topic of their choosing and to comment on at least one other student’s blog post. Blog activity will be graded based on best practices, including use of categories, tags, intra-text links, regularity and consistency as well as on comments to other student’s blog posts.
Students will set up Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn profiles and will keep the class wiki updated on their activities – how long they were on each site, what they did there, whose blog they commented on (if any). They will also drive the Facebook Fan Page once that is set up by providing updates on their blogs, activities, extra reading, etc.
Facebook activity will be graded based on a student’s engagement with the class Fan Page.
Twitter activity will be graded based on implementation of best practices, including topicality, consistency, Twitter handle, profile customization and URL shortening.
LinkedIn activity will be based on engagement with the platform through groups and questions, as well as profile best practices, as will be taught in class.
Students will keep a log of all their social media activity on their personal pages on the class Wiki. Wiki logs will include details of the use of each platform as each one is introduced. The wiki will also include optional discussions about class topics and assignments to allow the influence and conversations typical of social media to be reflected in the class.
The Peer Review is the equivalent of a mid-term exam. Each student in the class will review one other person’s entire social media activity within the class, including their Facebook, blog, Twitter and commenting activity with an eye towards all the best practices discussed throughout the class, including frequency, follow-up, engagement and thoroughness. The review will be written (3 – 5 pages) and handed in to the professor and the student. The following week, the two students, reviewer and reviewee, will discuss the review for 5 – 7 minutes in class, with the reviewee leading the conversation after the reviewee provides a brief summary. Students will be graded on the review they write and the conversation they lead about the review they receive.
The Final Project
Option 1:
Student will build an actual viral/inbound marketing campaign using social media and SEO techniques discussed in the class. This campaign can be based around any one of the options listed below:
- An actual product such as a tool, a clothing line, virtually anything
- A fictional product
- A digital product/products such as a mobile or web app, digital art, music, film or video
- Based around ones own fictional or non-fictional writing
Option 2:
Student will complete a 5 page written review of a company’s current construct a social media activity across all platforms – Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube and other video platforms, reviews, forums, blogs, etc. Students will use the lessons from the entire semester and the reading to evaluate how the company attempts to build a sense of community, review and critique what it does currently and make recommendations for how it can improve. The section on “how to improve” should be of significant length – at least one full page. Details will be discussed at length in class.
Policy for make-up exams and missed or late assignments
Under extenuating circumstances and in consult with a student’s advisor, extensions may be given.
Attendance policy
Be on time and do not miss more than three classes without a valid written excuse. Being late three times is equivalent to one absence. Being absent more than three times without a valid written excuse is grounds for dismissal from the course.
Withdrawal policy
A student may withdraw from a course without penalty through the end of the 8th week of class during a 14- or 15-week semester and through the 8th meeting during an 8week course cycle. After this, the student must be doing passing work in order to receive a W grade. Students who are not passing after the 8th week or equivalent will be assigned the grade of WF.
It is the student’s responsibility to inform the instructor of his/her intention to withdraw from a course. If a student has stopped attending class without completing all assignments and/or examinations, failing grades for the missing work may be factored into the final grade calculation and the instructor for the course may assign the grade of WF. The grade of F is used for students who have completed the course but whose quality of work is below the standard for passing.
Withdrawal forms are available in departmental offices and once completed must be filed
with the registrar. Students should be reminded that a W notation could negatively impact
their eligibility for financial aid and/or V.A. benefits, as it may change the student’s
enrollment status (full-time, part-time, less than part-time). International students may
also jeopardize their visa status if they fail to maintain full-time status.
Academic integrity and plagiarism policies
All social media activity, especially blogs, will be closely monitored for any unoriginal text and images. Content theft in any form will not be tolerated in this class and will be immediately escalated to the chair of the department and the dean of students.
From the student handbook:
Each student enrolled in a course at NYIT agrees that, by taking such course, he or she consents to the submission of all required papers for textual similarity review to any commercial service engaged by NYIT to detect plagiarism. Each student also agrees that all papers submitted to any such service may be included as source documents in the service’s database, solely for the purpose of detecting plagiarism of such papers.
Plagiarism is the appropriation of all or part of someone else’s works (such as but not limited to writing, coding, programs, images, etc.) and offering it as one’s own. Cheating is using false pretenses, tricks, devices, artifices or deception to obtain credit on an examination or in a college course. If a faculty member determines that a student has committed academic dishonesty by plagiarism, cheating or in any other manner, the faculty has the academic right to 1) fail the student for the paper, assignment, project and/or exam, and/or 2) fail the student for the course and/or 3) bring the student up on disciplinary charges, pursuant to Article VI, Academic Conduct Proceedings, of the Student Code of Conduct.
Library Resources
All students can access the NYIT virtual library from both on and off campus at www.nyit.edu/library. The same login you use to access NYIT e-mail and NYITConnect will also give you access to the library’s resources from off campus.
On the left side of the library’s home page, you will find the “Library Catalog” and the “Find Journals” sections. In the middle of the home page you will find “Research Guides;” select “Video Tutorials” to find information on using the library’s resources and doing research.
Should you have any questions, please look under “Library Services” to submit a web-based “Ask-A-Librarian” form.
Support for students with disabilities
NYIT adheres to the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and the rehabilitation Act of 1973, Section 504. The Office of Disability Services actively supports students in the pursuit of their academic and career goals. Identification of oneself as an individual with disability is voluntary and confidential. Students wishing to receive accommodations, referrals and other services are encouraged to contact the Office of Disability Services as early in the semester as possible although requests can be made throughout the academic year.
Schedule of Dates
Week 1: Introductions
We’ll be addressing the following questions: What’s marketing? What’s a brand? How do brands engage their audience and keep them interested. What was new media, what is social media and how did it come to be? Why is social media important?
Week 2: Communities, Blogs and RSS
We’ll be discussing: What a blog is, why we’re talking about it first, why it matters and how to do it well. SEO(Search Engine Optimization) basic concepts
Read chapters 1 & 2 in Inbound Marketing, pages 17 – 21, 31 – 34 and chapter 10 in Groundswell
Week 3: Blog Follow-up & Wikis
Wikis are platforms for collaborating on work. How can businesses use wikis to improve efficiency and enhance creativity across teams and between employees and vendors?
Read chapters 3 & 4 in Inbound Marketing, pages 24 – 26 & 220 – 225 in Groundswell
Week 4: Social Objects
Social objects are what make the Web an interesting place. They go by a variety of names – viral videos, retweetable posts, etc – but what are they? How do they make a difference and how can they be used by businesses to drive awareness?
Read chapter 5 in Inbound Marketing, pages 34 – 37 & chapter 3 in Groundswell
Week 5: Social Networks: Facebook, LinkedIn & Whatever Happened to MySpace?
From Friendster to MySpace to Facebook and LinkedIn: the evolution of friending and what it all means to businesses trying to engage their audiences.
Read pages 85 – 103 in Inbound Marketing, pages 21 – 24 & chapter 4 in Groundswell
Week 6 & 7: The Twittersphere Part 1 & 2
Is Twitter important or a fad? Are your friends busting your chops about taking the “Twitter class” or jealous you got in? How to compress your products, services, business, opinions and life into 140 keystrokes and have it make a difference? Why is the Twittersphere so big and why does it have the ability to create or destroy a brand’s reputation?
Read pages 103 – 108, 120 – 126 in Inbound Marketing, chapter 5 in Groundswell
Week 8: Demos & Presentations PLUS Peer Review Prep
The value of demonstrating products and even expertise is obvious. But how do you do it (and do it well)? We’ll also be discussing how to structure the peer reviews to be presented in two weeks.
Read chapter 8 in Groundswell
Week 9: Photos & Podcasting Your Brand – from Flickr to iTunes to YouTube
Everything is going social – even pictures and bookmarks. This week, we look into how they can make your brand more transparent, drive traffic to your site and interact with your audience.
And what’s a podcast? How can companies use podcasts (audio and video) and Webinars to enhance their brand, build their audiences and encourage sales? How does audio and video enhance blogs and encourage interaction? How do platforms like iTunes and YouTube help you get the word out about your business?
Read pages 108 – 120 in Inbound Marketing, chapters 7 & 8 in Groundswell
Week 10: Peer Review
This week, we will all be reviewing the status of all your online activity associated with this class. Each person will talk with their reviewer about their review in front of the class for 5 to 7 minutes to discuss the review’s contents. You will be graded on your review of someone else and how you comment on your own review for a total of 20% of your grade.
Week 11: The Future of the Corporate Website / Conferences and Events 2.0
How is all of this technology changing how more traditional business assets, like Web sites, and events and conferences take shape?
Reread Chapters 1 & 2 in Inbound Marketing
Week 12: Constructing a Social Media Plan
All these different moving parts are interesting, but a business needs to put them all together to make a cohesive plan. What do those plans look like and what makes one good?
This is prep for your final project, due on December 17. DO NOT MISS THIS CLASS!
Read chapters 8, 9 & 10 in Inbound Marketing.
Week 13: Hiring for Social Media
Companies are hiring right now for people who understand how to use social media for business purposes. What skills are right for these roles? Would you want to be a company’s social media expert? What qualifies someone as an expert in such a new technology?
Read Chapter 12 in Inbound Marketing, chapter 9 in Groundswell
Week 14: What’s New & Review
In social media years, we started this class eons ago. What’s emerged since we began? How is our text book already out of date? How can you incorporate these new things into your social media plan? We will also review everything for your final project, due May 27 and continue to discuss how to write a social media plan.
Read chapter 12 in Groundswell
