Online marketing courses a hit as firms eye netizens

CHENNAI: Management institutions and MBA students are taking a shine to social media marketing. With retail chains and other businesses increasingly targeting netizens who frequent social media websites, a number of B-schools in the city are cashing in on the trend by offering courses in this niche segment.

It's clear that the courses are hugely popular: A large number of MBA students in the city are opting for them in colleges that offer the subject as an elective. Social media marketing equips students with the expertise to promote a brand on social media networks such as Facebook and Twitter.

"One of the newest ways of marketing is through social media. It is booming because companies see it as vital to their business and sales strategy," said Rev Peter Xavier, director of Loyola Institute of Business and Administration (LIBA).

He said many companies who recruit candidates on campus now want students who have a background in social media marketing. Online service providers like Sulekha and various matrimony sites and online marketing companies like Jabong, FlipKart and Zovi are among the larger recruiters of MBA graduates with skills in marketing on social networks. Companies are also using their expertise to promote brands like Wills Lifestyle and W.

"We have altered the curriculum to address contemporary marketing challenges in social media," Xavier said. LIBA offers the subject as an elective in its two-year full-time MBA programme.

According to Xavier, an increasing number of students are opting for the elective after it was introduced two years ago. "Almost all our management students have taken social media marketing as an elective this year," he said.

Besides LIBA, SRM University and Great Lakes Institute of Management also offer the subject. Chennai also has various centres that offer crash courses in social media marketing and management.

Retail chains and online portals are recruiting students with knowledge of the subject at salaries that start at Rs 6 lakh or more. Some of the newly minted MBA graduates are starting their own firms that provide companies with strategies to brand or sell their products and services on social networks.

Students see social media as an ideal platform to create and build brand awareness. "Everyone is on Facebook or Twitter these days, so an intelligent and creative campaign could go viral and really drive business," said S Senthil Kumar, a student at SRM University who is doing a thesis on the subject. "It is something youngsters relate to so firms are looking to build brands or drive traffic to their websites."

Source:The Times Of India