College Students: Educate Yourselves on Digital Marketing
In her article for Business Week, "Teaching the Facebook Generation," Dr. Elaine Young posits, "Young people may seem like social media mavens, and employers may expect them to be, but students need to learn how to exploit digital tools."
Here was my response to Dr. Young:
I agree that our universities are frequently not doing enough to prepare young marketers for the reality of digital marketing and social media. I also think that enterprising students have the opportunity to educate themselves on these issues and can probably do so on their own much more effectively than sitting in a classroom.
First, they should start a blog. Using their researching and writing skills will help them to improve and can only serve them well in the world of business.
Second, they can practice their social media skills by building communities of friends and followers and promoting their compelling blog content within these communities.
Finally, even on a student budget you can take advantage of Google Analytics for free and learn how to track what is working and what is not as they experiment with driving traffic to their blog.
Extra credit: add Monster and Amazon affiliate links to their site and use any revenue to sponsor an Adwords campaign. The end result is a digital portfolio that speaks louder than any puffed-up, boastful resume'.
