Marketing

MKT 459- Social Media Marketing

July 1, 2016

takes on ECHO Marketing Challenge: Client Facebook Custom Audiences

Every year, the social media marketing class (MKT459) participates in a client project, giving students in their senior year the chance to work with business professionals and develop skills to add to their resume. Previous clients have involved Fox Sports University (UFC, Golden Boy Boxing, and the UEFA Championship League), and a youth privacy campaign project with the Digital Trust Foundation. In spring 2016, the Nazarian college offered a unique opportunity. As part of a competitive application process, Dr. Kristen Walker, Associate Professor of marketing, chose four students to take part in the Marketing Edge Collegiate Echo Challenge, sponsored by Facebook. (From left to right) Heather Ticzon, Collin Glueck, Summer Malone, and Sisian Ghahramanians were the four students selected for the class project.

 

In this competition, the group, Matador4, developed an integrated marketing plan for Facebook, particularly its core Direct Response (DR) targeting products, Custom Audiences. The course begins with an overview of the social media industry and then prepares students to develop a thorough IMC plan for the client, focusing on social media. The group, Matador4, submitted their Facebook Custom Audiences IMC plan at the end of spring of 2016. Dr. Walker believes that, “Matador4 produced one of the finest projects I’ve seen. Their work and effort will bring recognition to the Nazarian College of Business and Economics in this national competition. We look forward to finding out where they placed at the end of July.”

Sisian Ghahramanians remarked that MKT459 helped her “gain a tremendous amount of knowledge on the industry of social networks and mobile marketing.” She continued, “I have already carried that knowledge over to my current internship, which I landed thanks to this class, along with B2B marketing strategies, financial projections, and issues regarding consumer privacy in the digital age.”

Ultimately, this class prepares students to enter the digital marketing industry and is aimed to equip seniors with an experiential client portfolio. “I believe my personal development through this class helped me land my internship at iHeartMedia. I showed my boss the marketing plan my group and I produced, she was very impressed,” Collin Glueck said. Another group member, Summer Malone explained that “After graduation, I want to work in social media marketing. By taking this class, I am more confident in my marketing abilities and excited to jump into the digital marketing world”.

When asked to give advice to future social media marketing students, Heather Ticzon replied, “Research, research, research. You must be prepared to cite and explain your reasoning.” Summer recommends that groups, “get together as a team as much as you can, and split the work up evenly. Prepare to give it your all and ask for help!”

MKT459 is offered in Fall 2016, on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 11:00am to 12:15pm, taught by Dr. Walker. Pre-requisites include MKT304, MKT 448 (maybe taken concurrently with instructor approval). Email kristen.walker@csun.edu with any questions.