The students at the University of Lynchburg took a leap forward in merging their studying and real-world practice under the guidance of Dr. Tim Schauer in the Social Media Marketing class. His vision is to give students an insight into marketing through a platform with which they are familiar — social media.
Class with Live Projects
The process of turning a user of social media into a marketer who understands how to leverage the technology is one of the primary aims of these sessions. Dr. Schauer’s cool approach led to a partnership with Claytor Nature Center.
The students in Schauer’s class, instead of relying solely on theory, planned and created a comprehensive social media marketing plan to be presented to their client — Claytor Nature Center. They challenged their team management and presentation skills, aligned their strategies, audited the center’s existing efforts, identified audiences, and sought options for influencer partnerships.
At the Ground Level
The adrenaline rush is thrilling for the students, marketing major Evan Gavin ’24 notes, “The most exciting part of the project is being able to help Claytor.”. Talking about challenges, Lindsey Hair ’24, a statistics and data science major, confesses, “trying to come up with ideas that are not very costly. A lot of my first ideas were expensive and [we] had to find a way to either make them inexpensive or brainstorm other ideas.”
Goals and Future
Working on live projects takes the learning experience to another level. Half of the class already has plans to work in this field or explore it as an option. Seeing the demand for social media classes, the University plans to introduce a Digital Media Marketing major this fall.
Finally, with a word of encouragement, Dr. Schauer reminds that you have to market yourself.
Tags: #SocialMediaMarketing #PracticalLearning #UniversityOfLynchburg #ClaytorNatureCenter