Social Media Marketing and Brand Storytelling Course

About the class

Social media platforms are ubiquitous in the marketplace. The content created, shared, and viewed via social media constitutes a powerful force in business and society. It is used to promote sustainable business practices, to challenge oppressive labor structures, to enable human connection, to give voice to marginalized consumers, and even to alter democratic elections.

 This course, Social Media Marketing and Brand Storytelling, merges the ‘how-to’ practical approach of social media marketing with a critical and ethical examination of content marketing practices through the lens of brand storytelling.

This course provides students with real-time, real-world case immersion in understanding the complex tensions in using social media as a tool for business communications. For example, in January 2021, in the wake of the attack on the U.S. Capitol, brands such as Axe, Coca-Cola, and Chevron took to Twitter to denounce the attack. This points to the broader role of social media and brand storytelling as it intersects with corporate reputation, power, ethics, democracy, and social justice – critical issues for today’s business students to analyze.

 The course asks: How is social media making society better or worse, and what role do brand storytelling practices play in the process?