COM 366 Assignments
In-Class Assignments
At times these will be pre-announced, at other times they will be announced in class, day of. For example, the first assignment, "What is your brand" will be pre-announced. These assignments can only be made up with instructor permission.
Social Media Topics
For each assigned day students will be expected to share a current social media trend/news item/viral phenomenon etc. with the class. Students should introduce the topic and be able to facilitate a brief discussion and answer questions. The objective is to help the class stay current on relevent social media marketing trends.
Tools Presentation
Groups will research an assigned social media tool used by social media marketers and present that tool to the class. The presentation should include the strengths and weaknesses of that tool, a discussion of how it can be used, and an examples of how an organization is using that tool. Groups should also be prepared to facilitate a discussion and address questions. Presentations should be 15-20 minutes long (including discussion time).
Organization Analysis & Presentation
Each student will select an organization and thoroughly analyze its social media strategies. No two students may analyze the same organization. Organizations must be instructor approved. For the selected organization, find every kind of social media communication they are engaged in. Then, describe the different ways the organization uses social media and analyze the strengths and weaknesses of that usage. Students will be expected to integrate course concepts/materials into the analysis.
You should monitor your organization over a month long period (10/14 - 11/14). You do not have to write extensively about EVERY social media platform that your organization uses but you should hit the ones they frequently use. As you analyze your organization's use of social media you should consider relevant course material such as:
does the organization's social media usage fit with their traditional marketing (and, does it need too!)?, traditional marketing concepts such as push-pull, AIDA, SWOT, product positioning mapping etc.
any material from the tools presentations on the major social media platforms (there are links in moodle to each presentation)
any material from the social media concepts lectures (linked in the course outline) such as blogs, websites, going viral, monitoring etc.
A final section should look present, in light of your analysis, your recommendations for how the organization can improve its social media strategies.
There is no set length for the paper, just be thorough!
All papers are due on 11/20.
Presentations will begin on 11/20. The order of presentations will be set at a later date. More details on expectations will be presented in class closer to the due date. The basic idea is that the presentation shows the class how your organization uses social media.
This assignment will consist of a paper and a presentation.
Social Mimic
Students will participate in the Social Mimic simulation. Students will be expected to formulate a strategy for each round, execute that strategy, and then analyze what happened. We will be doing 18 rounds. Each round consists of two parts - the odd numbered rounds are the strategy rounds, the even numbered rounds are the answers rounds. You should be doing 2 rounds each week (and don't try to rush through!). Grading will be based upon how students do in the simulation relative to classmates, strength of answers in the even numbered rounds and posting to individual forums for each set of rounds. Each student will have an individual forum. For each set of rounds, submit a post telling me what your strategy is for each odd numbered round, what happened, and why you think it happened.