Benefits and Problems with Developing Social Media/Networking
Skills in Marketing Students
Denny E. McCorkle, D.B.A.
Professor of Marketing
Schoolof Management and Marketing
Monfort College of Business
University of Northern Colorado
Campus Box 128
Greeley, Colorado 80639
phone: 970-351-1140
fax: 970-351-1097
email:
James Reardon, PhD
Chairperson Marketing Department
MCB Global Programs Director
Professor of Marketing
Monfort College of Business
Campus Box 128
MCB UNC
Greeley, CO 80639
phone: 1-970-351-1251
email:
Introduction
Social media and its use for networking and communication have grown considerably over the past few years. Individuals, businesses, and now professors are embracing its use for communication, marketing, and education.
As a professor, there are two distinct uses for social media in the marketing classroom. First, social media can be used in course management. In a recent survey it was found that 80% of college faculty are using social media, with half using social media tools to support their teaching (e.g., communication with students, online teaching) (Pearson Education 2010). Second, marketing professors can use social media for real-world assignments or projects with the purpose of developing transferrable social media/networking skills in their students. For the most part, academic research in this area has focused on the use of blogs or wikis (Workman 2008; Cronin 2009; Kaplan, Piskin, and Bol 2010).
The benefits and problems with pedagogical methods for developing strategic social media/networking skills in the marketing classroom are presented.
Benefits to Students
Social media/networking assignments present numerous benefits to students. One, they learn to create, develop, and maintain a personal learning network (PLN) in order to have current content for sharing in the social media. A PLN also provides supplemental content to their marketing courses and provides a skill for future self-learning and career. Second, real-world experience and professional interaction is obtained thru social media/networking activities. Third is the benefit of social learning(Bandura 1977), or learning from others behavior or social media activity. Besides learning from the content, readers will also recognize proper formatting, set-up, design, and content topics that are most interesting, engaging, and successful with readers. Additionally, the fifth benefit is the opportunity for students to learn from their own social media/networking behavior. Unlike many other marketing projects and assignments, social media/networking activities are real-world, real-time and easily measurable thus providing this benefit. The sixth benefit involves experiential learning and marketing skills. Granitz and Koernig (2011) review that Web 2.0 tools, such as social media, can enhance student experiential learning and develop skills including: technology expertise, critical thinking/problem solving, leadership and teamwork, communication, and creativity. The use of social media in assignments and projects also provide the more modern and recently demanded skill of social networking.
Problems/Obstacles for Students
Based on the authors’ four years of experience with teaching social media/networking in the marketing classroom, the following problems/obstacles are identified.
First, student management of time and procrastination is a big problem for a majority of the students. Second, set-up and management of social platforms (especially with blogs) require a certain amount of technical know-how and detail orientation. Third, the real-world, real-time nature of social networking opens the potential for unprofessional and even unethical student behavior being broadcast and shared with the world. A fourth problem involves social networking that is more personal and less strategic in focus. Some students start out with social media/networking behaviors that are more like their personal experiences with Facebook and less like used by marketers for professional purposes. A fifth problem involves work load. Social media/networking assignments are most likely completed by an individual and not a team, thus requiring more time for the student to complete and more time for the professor to grade. A final problem experienced by the authors involves personal privacy. For almost every social media/networking assignment or project, there are one or two students fearful about sharing their personal information or their original work on the web for others to see.
Recommendations for dealing with the above student problems will be addressed in the conference presentation and discussion.