Can you believe 2020 is going to be here in just a few days?!
It is quite amazing to see how fast this decade has gone by. The 2010s marked a lot of change, opportunities, and exciting events for me both professionally and personally. This was especially the case as I ventured in teaching social media earlier in the decade (amazing!)
2020 is going to mark my seventh year teaching social media (8th total) at the University of Louisville. This class has evolved and changed each year. However, as I ventured out in my sabbatical earlier this year, it did give me some time to ask myself:
2020 is coming around the corner – which marks a new decade – how will this impact my social media class?
I realized earlier this year – based on the conversations I’ve had with professors and industry professionals – that my class was going to need an update. These are not *HUGE* updates by any stretch of the imagination – but it’s all about testing out new opportunities, assignments, and projects.
What am I doing for 2020? Let me share w/ you a few exciting things I am going to be doing w/ my students in the next semester.
I am actually going to use my social media book for my class. You may be thinking – Karen! Your book was published in late 2018 – and you are just NOW using your social media book? As I mentioned, I was on sabbatical for Spring 2019, and this is usually the semester where I teach my social media classes.
The book was written based on the material I had covered and emphasized in my classes previously – so that has not changed. What has changed is that I will be able to 1) consistently use a book that goes along with my material for class and 2) tell the students if they have questions from the book – they have a direct contact to ask! 🙂
Slight changes for Twitter Class engagement. This is a big one for me. I will of course have my designated hashtag for the class (#Freberg20) which is consistent with how I have approached my classes before. However, the students will be asked to create content to fulfill their media mix component of their personal brand.
What does this mean? I had my students curate content for the community (ex. articles, blog posts, videos, etc) and create blog posts on various subjects. What I am doing differently is 1) reducing the number of written posts to focus on quality AND multimedia integration (video) within the posts so they still get the writing experience and 2) increasing the video production to be shared directly on Twitter.
The second part is different – but my goal here is to have students show the human side of their personal brand through video via social media – but also it will help them create content via video that first has to be written out, planned out, and edited to be consumed by audiences. The students will be asked to create video content based on certain subjects this week – but it will allow them to be able to not just share and write the content, but speak on it with authority and confidence. This practice will help students in their confidence to talking about this material. This was based on the work I have seen Dennis Yu do with his one minute videos (thanks, Dennis!)
The reason for this change is that it has come to the point where we can all share content and write a post about it – but we need to elevate our expectations for our students and ask them to create their own content based on critically thinking about a range of different readings and topics, and practice on synthesizing the main points down concisely – and in their own voice.
Certification Update. I am going to be assigning my students to do two certifications for the class. One is the new Facebook Blueprint Digital Marketing Associate’s certification. I have had the chance to work with the great team at Facebook Blueprint (Nicole, Mark, Keith, and Dave) on the material as a subject matter expert, and this certification will allow my students to get some industry insights on what they need to know from a paid media strategy to how to manage their personal brand online. If you are an educator and interested in learning more about this certification, please check out their Educators Portal!
I will also use Hootsuite for my class as well (7+ years now assigning this certification for this class!)- but this certification will not be a stand alone certification – but a part of what students have to do BEFORE they create content for their class client, Louisville Bats. So, it will be part of the social media plan assignment as an add on.
*New* twist to Influencer Assignment. Influencer marketing is of course being integrated one way or another in many different classes. I did my first influencer class activity early 2018 as a field trip to the Kentucky Derby Museum, and then gave an assignment with my PR class for the Breeders’ Cup back in 2018. Both are great experiences for the students to learn how they can be influencers. BUT – how can you teach students the skills in creating content for an influencer – but not in their own brand voice?
That’s the key – and that’s what we will be doing in 2020. Our class has partnered with an influencer in Louisville where the students – through the exercises I have outlined in my book – have to create content in the brand voice for the influencer. There will be lots of policies, research, identifying PIs, and of course discussion on brand voice that needs to happen before activating content for the influencer, but I am excited for this opportunity for my students!
Bigger portion on grade towards managing personal brand audit assignment. This assignment has evolved from an eye opening experience for students to realize how they present themselves to an assignment where the students will be asked to create a document that shows how they will implement and activate their personal brand based on the insights they gathered in the audit. I have always felt the audit is a good check on where students need to be in terms of understanding their brand, but I felt it didn’t do enough for students to act on these insights during the class.
So, that’s where I came up w/ Part 1 and Part 2 of this assignment. Part 1 is still the audit – same as shown in my social media book – but Part 2 is the creative activation of these insights for the personal brand. I am excited about this new addition and will let you all know how it goes!
New guest speakers, areas of focus and topics. Of course, like all things in social media – new platforms, topics, issues, etc all come up and you have to include them in your class. That’s what is exciting! So, I have done this in covering areas of focus to address – but also adding in new recommended readings for my students (like Lifescale by Brian Solis and including the new lesson plan from HubSpot w/ David Meeman Scott on Fanocracy).
Summary
With the new year and decade coming around the corner, it is time to see where we are going in our industry and profession.
I am excited to see where my students go with these new updates in my class and would be more than happy to chat about this some more if you are interested!
If you would like to follow along with the class and see what my students create next term, feel free to follow the hashtag #Freberg20.
Have a great day!
Best Wishes,
