With a new school year beginning, the latest issue of Marketing magazine takes stock of Canada’s post-secondary programs for marketing, communications and advertising. Marketing asked one young marketer, Danielle Faber, now social media coordinator of the Toronto-based agency 88 Creative, to share her undergraduate experience.
At university, my education in communications began with lectures on the telegraph. We received the full history, starting from the beginning. From there, my classes at McMaster University, where I completed a bachelor in communications in 2009, evolved into studying more modern media like broadcast TV, radio and newspapers, but never quite made it to social media.
Today, as a social media coordinator, I create content calendars, manage Twitter and Facebook pages, and write blogs on behalf of clients at 88 Creative, but back then my use of social media was purely recreational. Facebook was more for establishing friends I’d made in the residence cafeteria than exploring brand stories. Sure, I knew that there was someone behind Twitter feeds of brands that were online, but I didn’t think about who they were or how they got to that point in their career – and my courses didn’t encourage me to.
Many college programs have now incorporated social media into their curriculum. Mohawk College, for example, has removed print and direct marketing courses in favour of interactive ones, and schools like Centennial College and Sheridan College have added new courses or updated old ones to include new skill sets like community management and analytics analysis.
But many of the ever-popular undergraduate programs in communications and media that take an academic approach, as mine did, have been slow to adapt to today’s media landscape. I recently reviewed the course list for my program at McMaster and it appeared almost exactly the same as when I graduated four years ago.
For those who choose four year bachelor of arts or communications programs at traditional schools like my alma mater, getting into the marketing industry – and certainly into social media marketing – will require further education. For me, that meant a series of internships, attending conferences and finding mentors willing to teach me about the business.
It also may mean pursuing more education, like the certificate programs offered at the University of Toronto and George Brown College aimed at working professionals. As I settle into my position as a social media coordinator, I’ve begun looking at certificates I can work towards course by course in the evenings.
No matter where a social marketer went to school, their education is never over. The social web moves quickly and marketers and educators alike must chase it. It’s a business that demands never-ending learning.
As told to Russ Martin
The Sept. 16 issue of Marketing explores how post-secondary schools are serving the industry – where are they succeeding, and where is change needed? It also profiles 30 of the top young minds in the industry in our annual 30 Under Thirty listing. For all this plus more insights into the Canadian marketing industry, subscribe to Marketing, available in print and on your iPad.
