Debate: Should Universities Be Teaching Social Media Marketing?

A while back, I wrote a post about 6 interview questions you should ask a social media manager.

Little did I know that it would start a big debate in many LinkedIn groups I’m in as to whether or not I was holding the bar too high for hiring a social media marketing intern.

With questions such as:

Can you explain Facebook EdgeRank and its importance?
What is the difference between a LinkedIn Group and a LinkedIn Page and the benefit of each?
What is the most searched term in YouTube and why do you think it’s important?

I didn’t think I was out of line.

I got many comments along the lines of:

“You ‘re looking for more than an interns can offer”
“Interns don’t always have the skill set and are seeking real-world experience”
“You’re being unfair to a pool of interns”

Am I?

I argue that even with an internship, you need the basic skill set to do the job you’re applying for. If someone was interviewing for an accounting internship, would it suffice that they knew how to add and subtract? Or would you want the candidate to know at least some of the basics such as the difference between a credit and a debit or know what COGS stands for and its role in accounting?

My money is on the latter.

Just like simple math (adding & subtracting), anyone can post to Facebook and Twitter. For me to consider you as a serious candidate, I need you to demonstrate a basic understanding of “why” and not just “how”.

I don’t expect interns to have all of the answers, but this has opened my eyes to the question:

“Is it time for Universities to begin teaching the intricacies of social media marketing?”

While I don’t think that social media marketing is extensive enough to merit its own degree, I do think that marketing has had such a monumental shift that an “Online Marketing” degree should be taught and offered by most major universities as a part of their curriculum.

Online marketing is very, very different from traditional marketing and requires a large and vast knowledge of many things such as content marketing, search engine optimization, landing page optimization, community management, all in addition to social media marketing.

I mean, come on, if you can get a niche degree in Sports Marketing, why haven’t we caught up to the times?

What are your thoughts? Has online and social media marketing become so different from traditional marketing practices that it should be offered as a separate degree? Let me know in the comments.

 

-Lance Brown