What is #DrurySMS?

It’s an immersive summer program taught each July at Drury University’s beautiful campus in Springfield, Missouri. People of all experience levels are welcome!

2018 curriculum

Dates: July 7-27, 2018 (online and seated).

Location: Drury University (Springfield, Missouri)

In-person meeting time: 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays (July 7-8, July 14-15, July 21-22).

Virtual meetings: The class, designed for working professionals, will meet in some online spaces between the weekend classroom sessions. Times will be flexible.

About the course: Our students work through a boot camp to connect social-media technologies strategically. Through readings, discussions, and hands-on exercises, students apply media-usage and marketing theories through real-world cases and experiments. Managers and practitioners will learn to recognize the connective opportunities in these online spaces.

Over the weeks of the seated course, students will develop a personalized social-media strategy with one-on-one coaching from the chair of Drury’s Communication Department.

By the end of the experience, graduates will have the skills necessary to create a strong online narrative for their organizations, whatever the context.

To register for the course, students can apply via two different ways:

  • Apply as a non-degree seeking student. Fill out our online application, pay the $25 application fee, and send an official copy of your undergraduate transcript (showing the degree was conferred). The complete cost of this three-credit-hour course (tuition and fees) is $1,407.
  • Apply to one of our graduate programs. The course counts as one of the 10 classes toward two of our degree programs: Master of Arts in Communication and Master of Nonprofit and Civic Leadership. To pursue one of these degrees, students must complete an application packet that includes an online application, $25 application fee, GRE scores, two letters of reference, and an official copy of your undergraduate transcript (showing the degree was conferred). Per credit hour tuition rate and fees is $462.

For more information about College of Graduate Studies, please visit us online or email us at grad@drury.edu.

Course outline

Day 1 (Orientation)

  • Setting up a basic integrated presence with WordPress, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn

Day 2 (Content)

  • Audience/competitive analysis
  • Online storytelling (using Instagram, YouTube, SoundCloud and other multimedia communities)
  • The importance of narrative
  • Responsive design/mobile
  • Design thinking
  • Understanding media usage
  • The power of images

Day 3 (Building connections)

  • SEO and the power of search
  • Expanding the social-media ripple (Snapchat, Pinterest, Tumblr, Reddit, Google+)
  • Email newsletters/e-books
  • Understanding innovation
  • Cultural/community analysis

Day 4 (Listening)

  • Defining online engagement
  • Measuring engagement (Google Analytics, WordPress stats)
  • Listening tools
  • Semantic analysis
  • Choosing key performance indicators
  • Managing comment communities

Day 5 (Building community)

  • User-generated content
  • Crowdsourcing/crowdfunding
  • Understanding participation
  • Collaborative communities
  • Culture creation/development

Day 6 (Presentations/evaluation)

Questions? Contact us

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