Tweeting for an MBA

March 31, 2010 by Paul Richlovsky

As the traditional marketing curriculum catches up to the current world of online marketing, the need for social networking expertise is starting to gain recognition in academia.  A new special report from Fiona Mackay in the New York Times illustrates to what lengths some top business schools are going to remain relevant in wake of high demand for professionals with commercial expertise in social media.

Via the Times, schools offering social networking programs include:

• Harvard Business School
• London Business School
• Insead, a Fontainebleau, France-based international business school
• École des Hautes Études Commerciales (H.E.C.) in Paris

As quoted in the article,

This is a learn-by-doing class,

… said Professor Daniel Goldstein, assistant professor of marketing at London Business School, on his syllabus for last year’s M.B.A. elective called Internet Marketing.”

“Learn By Doing”

As is common to Internet subjects and themes, there tends to be more learning-by-doing in the curriculum than reliance on theory from textbooks.  Often this is because the textbooks haven’t been written, but just as important is the uncharted nature of so much Internet phenomena.  As aptly noted by Professor Goldstein, empirical trial-and-error is integral to Internet marketing strategies.  My 3.5 years of Internet marketing experience serving clients at an SEO firm (Fathom SEO) would surely testify to the importance of using adaptive, read-and-react techniques with search-engine optimization and social-media campaigns.  I would go so far as to say that without making ongoing adjustments to its bedrock Internet marketing principles over the years, Fathom SEO may have been run out of business.  Where does this empirical-learning concept lead?  To the importance of practical education and the principles behind it.

Practical Education

The need for practical education has been previously explored on this blog and recent Miller Center/PBS debates on global competitiveness.  It is a subject we are sure to hear more about, as non-traditional schools become more successful/popular and traditional liberal-arts colleges look for ways to be more economical and rooted to post-graduation realities.

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Photo courtesy of Editor B via Flickr.