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