About

Course Description

While many PR professionals present themselves as social media “experts,” those who can demonstrate true expertise are rare and much sought after. This course narrows the focus from the broad field of social media marketing to give practitioners the tools and best practices needed to conquer PR 2.0 and beyond. Students participate in a series of interactive discussions with experts to learn techniques that mesh traditional PR competency with the brave new world of social media. Discussion topics include applying core PR principles to social media engagement, content creation and syndication, working with bloggers and empowered consumers, search engine optimization, and PR’s role in developing a social media strategy. Guest speakers include agency and in-house PR executives, content creators and publishers, online community managers and independent PR consultants.

Goals & Learning Objectives

At the completion of the course, students should be able to:

• Match communications objectives with social media strategies and tactics.
• Understand and use popular tools for social media monitoring, measurement and engagement.
• Make a compelling argument (to clients and/or in-house management) for investing in social media PR.
• Develop a basic social media PR plan outline.

Students who register for this course are expected to possess at least a basic understanding of major social media platforms (social networking, blogging/micro-blogging, photo/video sharing, bookmarking, etc.). They will also be required to have accounts on key sites (e.g., Twitter and LinkedIn) and post information publicly as part of their participation in the course (you’ve got to practice what you preach!).