393455: Social Media Marketing
MGMT-X 460.398

Course dates - September 25 - October 29, 2023

This is a fully online course.  There are no physical class meetings.  However, there are two scheduled Optional live Zoom meetings offered as an opportunity for you to expand your knowledge in this field and connect with your instructor and classmates. The Zoom meetings are scheduled for the following dates and times. Attendance is optional.

How it Works

If you cannot attend the live Zoom meeting, you need to complete the homework assignment instead. 

The course schedule includes a week-by-week schedule.

• Week 2: Wednesday at 2:00 PM (PT) – October 4
• Week 4: Wednesday at 2:00 PM (PT) -- October 18

Note: Zoom sessions can be used to replace the homework assignment during Weeks 2 and 4.  These Zoom sessions will replace the homework assignment during the module.

The course schedule includes a week by week schedule.

HOW THIS ONLINE CLASS WORKS

Log into Canvas, our online learning management system. Review the course syllabus, connect with the instructor and classmates in the discussion portal.

• Retrieve course materials, which may include discussion boards, readings and videos, webinars, and other activities.
• Connect with your instructor with questions about your assignments, your progress, or to gain deeper insights on various topics.
• Submit your coursework via Canvas for feedback and evaluation.

This course looks at the channels of marketing, advertising, and communication that make up social media and the Web, exploring how these tools fit into a company's traditional integrated marketing strategy. Using case studies and real-world examples from large corporations and small businesses, students explore current examples and future opportunities of how marketing professionals embrace online social networks, user-generated content, and content sharing to create brand awareness and buzz. Learn practical tips and techniques, as well as see the bigger picture to help successfully leverage social media marketing for your own environment and purpose.

This is an exciting time for social media marketers.  One of the key trends in 2019 is the rise of stories which are becoming a powerful way to share content in social media – more powerful than the news feed.  Instagram has become the darling of the social media industry and has proven to be a great acquisition by Facebook.  Very simply, the discipline of Marketing has changed more in the past five years than the previous fifty.  In many ways, that change has been caused by social media.   In our course, we will explore the rise of social media marketing. Marketers are shifting from the attention economy to the emotion economy.  More than ever, social media marketing is about winning hearts and minds.  Marketing is the engine that drives revenue for the firm and engaging customers emotionally is a significant key we will explore in our course.

This six-week intensive online course looks at the new social channels of marketing, advertising, social employee advocacy, and communication that make up the social media and Web 3.0 space.  Using case studies and recent real-world examples, we explore current examples and future opportunities in how marketing professionals can embrace online social networks, user generated content and content sharing, blogs, and podcasts to create brand awareness and buzz.  Students learn practical tips and techniques as well as bigger picture outlooks to help them successfully leverage social media marketing in their own environments.

By the end of this course you should be able to:

• Critically evaluate various social media and determine their uses and drawbacks.
• Understand branding and how brands are perpetuated, enhanced and damaged online.
• Analyze the various stakeholders and how to integrate their needs into a campaign.
• Distinguish between rules, conventions, etiquette, ethics, and best practices.
• Plan a social media marketing campaign to achieve measurable objectives.

This class will utilize a number of current and relevant articles and blogs from some of the best social media marketing players in the business.  Four outstanding texts are recommended (but not required).  You have the option to watch the 18 minute famous Simon Sinek "Start with Why" TED Talk or you can read the book of the same name, and you will understand the absolute importance of what Simon Sinek calls "the Golden Circle."  Its importance to marketing, brands, and social media marketing has been significant since introduction.  A brand without a WHY, is not in a very good position to succeed in the transparent world of social media where brand purpose and brand storytelling are key and drive results.

Start with Why (recommended)

Watch this TED Talk video -- but, you need to paste this link into your browser to have it play for you. 

https://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action?language=en

Many students have asked for information on buying Simon's book, and if you are interested in his book, here are the details:

Publisher:  Penguin   |  Author:  Simon Sinek 

ISBN:  978-1-59184-280-4  (print version)

ISBN:  978-1-10114-903-4 (ebook/Kindle version)

Three other Recommended Texts (not required)

Tom Kelly and Dave Kelly, Creative Confidence, Crown Business, ISBN-978-0-385-34936-9.

Ann Handley & C.C. Chapman, Content Rules, Wiley, ISBN-978-0-470-64828-5.

Jeremy Gutsche, Better and Faster, Crown Business, ISBN-978-0-385-346-54-2.

Discussion Questions (guidelines):

Complete five 7-point Discussion Question (TD), writing one post with your initial thoughts due by midnight on Wednesday each week, and at least one response to a classmate's post.  These are "quality" posts and not short answers. 

Homework:

Complete three mini-cases worth eight points each based on topics discussed in this course.  Or, for two of the assigned homework dates, alternatively, we will schedule two live Zoom sessions in the course and conduct a live in-class online activity in breakout rooms.  If you rather do the Homework assignment, that will count for the points. 

Twitter Chat: we will conduct one 30-minute Twitter chat around mid-course.  You are required to make a minimum of three tweets to respond to the questions posed by the instructor.  More details will be provided including the hashtag address for the chat.  If you choose not to participate on Twitter, there will be an alternative assignment. 

Final Project -- For TEAMS to be created in Module 2

The final project will consist of completing these core components of a social media marketing plan.  Assigned student teams will select a brand and based on his/her review of the brand's website, blogs, and social media channels, will provide an analysis of the following: 

1.   Brand Value Proposition (BVP)

2.   Buyer Persona Development

3.   Brand Story

4.   Content Distribution Strategy

5.   Content Marketing Strategy

Details are provided in the Module 1 overview. 

DELIVERABLES

  >   Assignments:

Discussion Questions    5 X 7  =  35 points

Homework (cases)         4 X 7  =  28 points

Twitter Chat                    1 =           11 points

Final Project                   1 =           26 points

     >  Grand Total points:             100 points

Grading Scale

Grading Policy & Course Requirements

The following grading scale will be used in the course:

Grading Policy

The following grading scale will be used in the course: 

Instructor Expectations

As we begin our journey together please review what is expected of you during our time together in class:

Aspire to Greatness: Work earnestly with intent to learn and desire to succeed.

Avoid Emotional Responses: If you are angry or emotional, wait to write a post or speak in class. The ability to write and save messages for later review is one of the advantages of asynchronous learning.

Contact Your Instructor: Be sure to remain in contact with your instructor, especially if you encounter challenges that might affect your ability to participate in class or complete your work.

Customize Subject Lines: Change the subject line of a threaded message to reflect the changing topic. Disregard Simple Statements: Reading or hearing simple messages or statements that restate a point or add little to the conversation (e.g. “I agree!”) can be frustrating for everyone in the class.

Edit Discussion Questions: Remove irrelevant portions of the message when replying, leaving enough to place your note in context, or quote or summarize the relevant passage in your own message.

Format Posts Properly: Limit paragraphs to five to seven lines. Avoid fonts that have exotic fonts, style, color, or size, and avoid all capitalized letters except in limited circumstances.

Participate Respectfully: Ask questions, share stories and participate in activities, listening to others and respecting everyone's right to share their thoughts. Respect your classmates and avoid personal attacks.

Stay on Topic: While discussion is encouraged and expected in our classrooms, rambling and tangential conversations may not always be conducive to a quality learning experience.

Use Proper Grammar: Endeavor to post intelligible and intelligent messages; avoid grammatical, spelling, and typographical errors.

Policies and Procedures

Academic Integrity Policy: Academic integrity covers behavior in cheating, plagiarism, and fabrication of information. These behaviors are not tolerated. Students are encouraged to familiarize themselves with the UCLA Extension Student Conduct Code and the official statements regarding cheating and plagiarism at: https://www.uclaextension.edu/Pages/str/StudentConduct.aspx (https://www.uclaextensio n.edu/Pages/str/StudentConduct.aspx) All Grades are Final: No change of grade may be made by anyone other than the instructor, and then, only to correct clerical errors. No term grade except Incomplete may be revised by re-examination. The correction of a clerical error may be authorized only by the instructor communicating directly with personnel of Student and Alumni Services. Assignments: All written work should conform to APA guidelines. Be sure to indicate your name, course name and number, assignment title, and due date. Assignments should be electronically as a Microsoft Word file (.doc or .docx), Rich Text File (.rtf), or Adobe Acrobat file (.pdf) and posted to the appropriate Discussion Board Forum by 11:59 PM (Pacific) on the day on which this syllabus indicates it is due. Contact: When contacting your instructor identify yourself by name, indicating that you are a UCLA Extension student, and indicate your class. Unless extenuating circumstances arise, your instructor will reply to you within 48 hours. Note that your instructor is 11 hours ahead of Pacific Daylight Time and 12 hours ahead of Pacific Standard Time.

Deadlines & Late Work: Your work is late if it is not submitted by 11:59 p.m. (Pacific) on the day it is due. If your work is posted late but during the week that it is due, you’ll receive full points at the discretion of your instructor. Work submitted beyond that may be accepted at the discretion of your instructor according to the guidelines below. All work must be turned in by the last day of the course unless other arrangements are made with your instructor. 1 Week Late: Earned score is reduced by 10% of the points possible. 2 Weeks Late: Earned score is reduced by 20% of the points possible. 3 Weeks Late: Assignments three weeks (or more) late will not be accepted.

Evaluation: You will be invited to submit an evaluation at the end of class. Your feedback is a vital tool with which your instructor and UCLA Extension can provide a quality education for students.

Grading Timeline: Assignments are typically graded within seven days of the end of the week in which they were due. Incompletes: Your instructor may post the interim grade Incomplete/I if at the end of the class your overall work is of passing quality but a portion could not be submitted for understandable reasons (e.g. illness). It is your responsibility to petition your instructor for permission to submit work late and to provide an explanation, and it is his or her sole decision whether to accept the explanation. If permitted, the Incomplete/I grade will be posted and a time frame defined for you to submit the missing work, ranging from one to twelve weeks. Incomplete/I grades that remain unchanged after twelve weeks will lapse to F, NP or U. Receiving an I grade entitles you to submit only the missing work your instructor has agreed to accept late and does not allow other work to be retaken or oblige UCLA Extension to provide continuing access to course materials via Canvas. The Incomplete/I grade is not an option for courses that do not bear credit, such as 700, 800, or 900-level courses. For complete information, see: https://www.uclaextension.edu/pages/str/grading.jsp (https://www.uclaextension.edu/pages/str/grading.j sp)

Students are subject to disciplinary action for several types of misconduct or attempted misconduct, including but not limited to academic dishonesty, such as cheating, multiple submission, plagiarism, or knowingly furnishing false information to the University; or behavioral misconduct, such as theft or misuse of the intellectual property of others, harassment, or disruption of the learning environment.

All published and unpublished material, whether in manuscript, printed or electronic form, is covered under this definition and includes the use of material generated wholly or in part through the use of artificial intelligence (except when the use of AI has received prior authorization for assessment as a reasonable accommodation for a student’s disability, or when the use of AI is a specified part of the coursework, e.g. data science or user experience). Students are encouraged to familiarize themselves with the Student Rights & Responsibilities Policy and to report concerns.

In accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, UCLA Extension provides appropriate accommodations and support services to qualified applicants and students with disabilities. These include, but are not limited to, auxiliary aids/services such as sign language interpreters, assistive listening devices for hearing-impaired individuals, extended time for and proctoring of exams, and registration assistance. Accommodations and types of support services vary and are specifically designed to meet the disability-related needs of each student based on current, verifiable medical documentation. Arrangements for auxiliary aids/services are available only through UCLA Extension’s Service for Students with Disabilities Office at (310) 825-7851 or by email at [email protected]. For complete information, please visit Accessibility and Disability Services.

The interim grade Incomplete (I) may be approved for a student who has completed the majority of the course requirements, with passing quality (grade C or higher), but is unable to complete a small portion of the coursework by the course end date for good cause. For courses in which an Incomplete may be allowed, approval by the instructor of record and the academic program director is required. The Incomplete grade is not an option for courses that do not bear credit, such as 700, 800, or 900-level courses.

• It is the student’s responsibility to petition for an Incomplete by emailing the appropriate academic program department at least one week before the end of the course. The Program Department will initiate the petition process once the email is received.
• The student, the instructor, the CE/Program Director, and the program staff must complete the petition prior to the final course meeting or before the quarter end date. This process can take up to one week to complete. 
• The instructor will approve or deny the request. The instructor will provide details on what the student needs to accomplish in order to complete the course, as well as a due date for submitting completed work. The due date cannot exceed the end of the ensuing quarter when a final grade must be reported or the Incomplete lapses to the grade “F,” “NP,” or “U.” Visit UCLA Extension Grading Scale for more information.  

An Incomplete allows the student to complete only work that is outstanding and does not allow prior completed work to be retaken or resubmitted.

No change of grade may be made by anyone other than the instructor, and then, only to correct clerical errors. No term grade except Incomplete may be revised by re-examination. The correction of a clerical error may be authorized only by the instructor of record communicating directly with personnel of Student and Alumni Services.

The University of California is committed to creating and maintaining a community where all individuals who participate in University programs and activities can work and learn together in an atmosphere free of harassment, exploitation, or intimidation. Every member of the community should be aware that the University prohibits sexual harassment and sexual violence, and that such behavior violates both law and University policy. The University will respond promptly and effectively to reports of sexual harassment and sexual violence, and will take appropriate action to prevent, to correct, and when necessary, to discipline behavior that violates our policy.

All Extension students and instructors who believe they have been sexually harassed are encouraged to contact the Department of Student and Alumni Services for complaint resolution: UCLA Extension, 1145 Gayley Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90024; Voice/TTY: (310) 825-7031. For more information, please view the University’s full Policy on Sexual Harassment and Sexual Violence.

Protecting Privacy and Data During Live Instruction

Live meeting sessions for this class, when applicable, are being conducted over Zoom. As the host, the instructor may be recording live sessions. Only the host has the ability to record meetings, no recording by other means is permitted. Recorded sessions will be posted in the Videos area of this class unless otherwise notified. Due to privacy, recordings are not available for download and are only accessible via Canvas for the duration of the class. If you have privacy concerns and do not wish to appear in the recording, do not turn on your video and/or audio. If you also prefer to use a pseudonym instead of your name, please let the instructor know what name you will be using so that the instructor knows who you are during the session. To rename yourself during a Zoom meeting, click on Participants, click on your name, click on More, click on Rename. If you would like to ask a question, you may do so privately through the Zoom chat by addressing your chat question to the instructor only (and not to ""everyone""). Additionally, chat may be used and moderated for live questions, and saving of chats is enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this, please contact the instructor via Canvas Inbox.

Pursuant to the terms of the agreement between Zoom and UCLA Extension, the data is used solely for this purpose and Zoom is prohibited from re-disclosing this information. UCLA Extension also does not use the data for any other purpose. Recordings will be deleted when no longer necessary. However, recordings may become part of an administrative disciplinary record if misconduct occurs during a video conference.

Course and Instructor Evaluation

UCLA Extension values your feedback on course and instructor evaluations. We ask all students to take a few minutes to complete an end-of-course evaluation survey. Updates to the course and instruction are influenced by your feedback. Understanding your student experience is essential to ensure continuing excellence in the online classroom and is appreciated by your instructor and the UCLA Extension academic leadership.

Your participation in a survey is voluntary, and your responses are confidential. After instructors submit grades, they will be given an evaluation report, but this report will not contain your name.

Please note the following about online course components at UCLA Extension:

• Students must have basic computer skills, including the use of word processing software, email, and the ability to use internet browsers, such as Safari, Firefox, or Chrome.
• Students are responsible for meeting the technical requirements of Canvas and familiarizing themselves with the Canvas Learning Management System.
  • What are the browser and computer requirements for Canvas?
• Students are responsible for keeping a copy of all assignments and work submitted, and to be aware of all assignments, due dates, and course guidelines.
• Students have access to courses via Canvas for an additional 30 calendar days after the course end date listed in the syllabus (the first 14 days are full access; the rest are read-only).
• Students are encouraged to download/print content throughout the duration of the course and before the additional 30-day access ends. No further access is possible after the course becomes unavailable.
  
  To download all your assignment submissions in Canvas, please refer to the online support guide. for more information or contact Canvas Support via the help menu within Canvas.

For immediate 24/7 Canvas technical support, including holidays, click on Help (located on the menu to the left) where you can call or chat live with a Canvas Support representative.

UCLA Extension Academic Technology and Learning Innovation
The UCLA Extension Learning Support staff assists both students and instructors with Canvas-related technical support, as well as general and administrative questions.

Learning Support staff is available Monday through Friday, from 8 AM to 9 PM (Pacific Time), except holidays:

• Email: [email protected]

For students taking classes held on the UCLA campus and in and around Westwood Village, the UCLA Police Department provides a free walking escort service every day of the year from dusk until 1 a.m. Community Service Officers (CSOs) are available to walk students, faculty, staff members and visitors to and from anywhere on campus, in Westwood Village, and in the village apartments. CSOs are uniformed students who have received special training and are employed by the UCLA Police Department. To obtain an escort, please call (310) 794-9255 and allow 15 to 20 minutes for your escort to arrive. For complete information, see UCLA Evening Escorts.

Course Outline  

The themes of this course by week: 

Module 1: Getting Started with the New Normal   

Module 2: Social Listening and Developing the Brand Value Proposition & Buyer Persona 

Module 3: Developing the Brand Story  

Module 4: Developing the Content Distribution Strategy   

Module 5: Developing the Content Marketing Strategy