A long course title, but Macleay College’s new Diploma of Digital and Social Media Marketing packs a lot of marketing know-how and digital skills into its latest accelerated Diploma that’s designed to meet the emerging needs of the marketing sector.

There is little doubt that digital communications, and in particular Social Media, have revolutionised the marketing landscape and become essential components in any marketing and communications strategy. The American Marketing Association reported in its publication eMarketer that around a third of the world’s population now active social media users, a statistic that is growing by 1,000,000 users per day globally.

There is increasing demand in the job market for graduates who understand the intersection between marketing and digital strategy, have specialised digital production skills in areas such as digital design, written communications and producing assets for social media campaigns – and have the option of taking electives in digital photography, advanced digital design or coding and data analytics.

Macleay College has a strong history of offering industry-focused and future-facing courses in Business, Media and Communications. Their new course in Digital and Social Media Marketing fills the gap between the more traditional university marketing courses that are struggling to keep up with digital trends and the popular industry non-accredited short courses in social media marketing that with often just 2 – 12 weeks of study, do not tackle the deeper principles of marketing and can often not be used for credit for further study. Social & Content Manager at Connecting Plots and Macleay graduate Callam Hanks helped develop the new course and adds:

“At university, in a 3-year degree you have to do a lot of irrelevant courses (and pay for them) and in 3 years a lot can change in the industry. Whereas the industry non-accredited short courses can be too lightweight, so having a weightier marketing course than can accommodate fast change with possible elective options is ideal.”

Designed and delivered by industry professionals such as Zeina Khodr, previously General Manager at JWT’s content agency at Colloquial and now principle at Paper & Spark, Zeina’s current knowledge of industry practice and emerging trends gives Macleay’s newest course currency, depth and relevance.

Macleay’s Diploma of Digital and Social Media Marketing is made up of 8 units of study that can be completed in 2 trimesters, or 8 months of full-time study. As an accredited higher education provider, the course fees can be deferred over the Government’s Fee Help program, and all units of study can be used to apply for credit into Macleay Bachelor of Digital Media or Bachelor of Business – or also at other institutions.

With over 30 years of experience, Macleay College has a well-established reputation as a higher education provider. The college currently offers Diploma and Bachelor qualifications in Business, Marketing, Journalism, Advertising and Digital Media. Macleay’s courses have a strong industry focus and aim to be leading edge of the sectors they provide graduates for. Macleay is an agile education provider who teaches the application of knowledge and skills to meet the emerging needs of industry.

For further information contact: Ian Thomson on ithomson@macleay.edu.au

Photo caption: Macleay’s Head of Digital Media, Ian Thomson and Lecturer and principle of Paper and Spark, Zeina Khodr checking the latest trends in digital and social media marketing in preparation for Macleay College’s new course launch. Photo: Ben Strum.