I recently came across an interesting article in BusinessWeek discussing the importance of incorporating social media training into today’s higher education curriculum in order to adequately prepare the next generation of employees.
The article titled, ’Teaching the Facebook Generation by Dr. Elaine Young, an associate professor of marketing at Champlain College reveals that broad skills particularly in marketing, advertising and public relations used to be sufficient, but the rise of social media has forced recent graduates to demonstrate a set of concrete technology skills in order for them to succeed in the workplace. These skills include basic knowledge of HTML, search engine optimization, Google Ad Words, ADOBE and strategically leveraging social networking platforms on behalf of an organization.
While it’s no secret that today’s students are well versed in social networking platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, these mediums are primarily being used for personal use. Dr. Young stresses, ’Professors need to lead students by example by knowing the mechanics of social media and showing our students how to use them strategically for the good of their employers.
She also says, ’The reality is that many businesses are struggling to wrap their arms around these developments as well. They actually are looking to new graduates to help them manage their digital strategies for them, with the assumption that because they are young they are familiar with the social media world. But our students cannot know how to leverage these tools professionally unless we teach them how.
When I first started in PR 11 years ago, the most critical skills I needed to posses to land a job were solid writing and verbal communication and a basic knowledge of Microsoft Office. Everything else I learned on the job – including technology. As social media becomes more and more relevant for organizations, the next generation of our workforce has to bring a more comprehensive skill set to the table in order to be successful in their careers.
If youíre looking to strategically leverage social media within your organization, drop us a line at [email protected], weíd love to share our ideas with you.