COURSE NUMBER: MBA267.11

 

This course is cross listed with the EWMBA Program.

 

Please note the unorthodox format of this course which meets all day on two Sundays.

 

COURSE TITLE: Social Media Marketing

 

UNITS OF CREDIT: 1.0

 

INSTRUCTOR: Zsolt Katona

 

E-MAIL ADDRESS: zskatona@haas.berkeley.edu

 

CLASS WEB PAGE LOCATION: http://faculty.haas.berkeley.edu/zskatona/someclass.html

 

MEETING DAY(S)/TIME: Sundays, 9:00 – 5:00PM, on September 16 and October 7

 

PREREQUISITE(S): MBA206

 

CLASS FORMAT: Mix of case discussions, lectures, and guest speakers.

 

REQUIRED READINGS: Cases, Course Reader.

 

BASIS FOR FINAL GRADE: Mixture of class participation, individual and group exercizes.

 

ABSTRACT OF COURSE'S CONTENT AND OBJECTIVES:

 

This is a 1-unit compressed version of last year's 3-unit class. The course takes an in-depth look at social networks, social media platforms and online advertising to offer students an advantage in many positions involving marketing, consulting and brand management both on the buyer and seller side of social media. Students with an interest in entrepreneurship will also find the course useful as new businesses often rely on social media marketing.

 

Social media is continuously transforming the way consumers interact with each other and firms. The course covers the implications of the evolution of communication on marketing strategy in the new landscape where traditional and digital media coexist and interact. While advertising spending on traditional media has recently declined, increasing amounts are spent online in addition to unpaid media. These new communication channels, however, are presenting significant challenges to marketers in selecting the best strategies to maximize returns. The course covers a number of topics including

 

                The differences and interaction between traditional and social media

                Two-sided markets and social media platforms (including verticals such as gaming, shopping and entertainment)

                Basic theory of social networks online and offline (graph theory, sociology, information diffusion)

                Consumer behavior and digital media

                Best marketing strategies for paid and unpaid social media

                Implementation, analytics and measurement of ROI

 


 

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH: Zsolt Katona is Assistant Professor of Marketing at the Haas School of Business. Before joining UC Berkeley in 2008, he received his PhD in Marketing from INSEAD. Prior to that, he had studied mathematics and he completed a PhD in Computer Science in his country of origin, Hungary. Zsolt's current research focuses on how the Internet and especially social media transform marketing. He studies how the new technologies enabling wide-spread social interaction affect the firm’s marketing strategies. His research has been published in the top academic marketing journals including Marketing Science, Journal of Consumer Research and the Journal of Marketing Research.