Almost every employer, from Nike to Netflix, has a social media presence. On this exciting new course you’ll develop cutting edge and highly transferable skills to meet the growing need for social media managers.
Become an expert in social media platforms with the ability to create, curate and share content, and analyse and engage online audiences. Learn media law, with the unique opportunity to gain an additional qualification recognised by leading employers nationally.
Gain valuable skills in the management of social media channels and online communities, while developing your personal online brand.
Use cutting-edge tools as part of an experimental approach to content creation, tracking and reaching audiences. Develop transferable skills in self-management, critical reasoning, interpersonal awareness, communication and presentation. Take optional modules from media and marketing courses to enhance the flexibility of the course and your skill set.
In our innovative mediaHUB you’ll work on live websites and social channels, and rub shoulders with BBC Newcastle digital journalists and content creators as you prepare for a rewarding career in the creative industries.
Why us?
- Work alongside our experts including YouTube certified teaching staff and specialists in Media Law
- Superb industry contacts with regular masterclasses and newsdays run by Sky News, Sky Sports News, BBC, ITV and Guardian journalists
- Rub shoulders with BBC Newcastle, Made in Tyne and Wear and internationally award-winning Spark FM; all based in our dedicated Media Centre
- Life-changing educational trips – plus guaranteed placements and excellent job prospects with recent graduates working at Sky Sports News, West Ham United, BBC (including Radio 1), MTV, Elle, The Guardian and many more
- Cutting-edge kit and facilities such as 360 degree cameras, the bustling mediaHUB, TV studios, radio studios and our 203-seater cinema
- All students studying on-campus undergraduate media courses can take up a CV-enhancing work placement
Course structure
This course will enable you to develop key skills identified as areas of high demand by employers. You’ll be working alongside leading researchers and experienced industry professionals, including Rich Keith, Chief Revenue Officer of Yogscast, a YouTube network with over 23 million subscribers and 100m monthly views.
In your first year you will realign your understanding of social media as a professional business tool. You will learn how to get the most out of existing social media platforms and begin to create content using the latest visual and storytelling tools. You’ll also begin to look at online audience behaviour and use data to analyse and manage those audiences, engaging in academic arguments about the role of social media and digital communities. To support your social media skills you’ll also learn essential journalism techniques like how to identify a story and a clear angle, enhancing your ability to communicate through social media. You’ll also learn media law to ensure you are legally safe to publish social media content, and you’ll learn the basic public relations principles of protecting and building a brand.
In the second year you’ll continue to develop your content creation skills, learning short-form video production, and data analysis and visualisation. You’ll also be learning to develop social media and PR strategies for businesses and putting learning into practice on an industry placement. This culminates in the final year when you’ll work on a social media management project developing a strategy, producing content and managing audiences for a specific client. Meanwhile, you’ll consolidate your PR skills, master online community management theory and practice, and experiment with the latest digital content creation tools from 360 video to AI, to enhance your third year social media project.
Employment
This degree prepares you for an exciting career in social media management, marketing and the digital industry. It is also highly relevant to many positions in industry, commerce and the Civil Service, as well as to jobs in the arts and voluntary sectors.
Real-world experience, right on-campus
Rub shoulders with BBC Newcastle journalists, get advice from former Sky News journalists and see a Newsroom in action in our innovative mediaHUB. Students are responsible for all news-gathering, programme production and advertising.
Other opportunities for real-world experience available on campus include Spark online magazine, Fashion North, SR-News, Northern Lights and SportsByte, which are all linked to our Journalism and Media courses.
Superb industry links
Be inspired by our academics and their strong industry contacts. We have excellent links with national employers, social media managers and bloggers across the country. These include Armani, BBC, ITV, Michael Kors, NHS Trust, Sky, Traidcraft and Premier League football clubs – all destinations for recent graduates of our media courses. We also have strong ties with regional media, public relations and marketing companies and students will have the opportunity to network with prospective clients and employers.
Rub shoulders with regional and national high-profile journalists such as Kevin Maguire, Associate Editor at the Daily Mirror and Visiting Professor in Journalism at the University, and ITV News Correspondent Alastair Stewart. Both regularly visit the University along with a host of experienced journalists to give insight into the industry via masterclasses and lectures.
Broaden your horizons through inspiring trips. Recently students have enjoyed visits to London fashion masterclasses, press access to Wembley finals and Europa league games at FC Shalke 04 in Germany.
Work placements
All students studying on-campus undergraduate media courses can take up a CV-enhancing work placement, a University-led industry initiative, or a professional and business development boot camp. By the term placement, we are offering you a taste of the industry which might last anything from two days to four weeks on a part-time basis.
Join award-winning students
Our students and graduates have been making a splash, winning awards and prizes across the board.
- Sophie Dishman (pictured), highly commended for Best Reporter in the National Student Publication Association (SPA) Awards 2017
- Ben Holden won the NCTJ Sports Journalism award 2016, winning a space in the NFL press box at Wembley match to see the Washington Redskins and Cincinnati Bengals
- Eve Conlon, took Bronze at The Charles Parker Prize 2016 for her piece Student Gamblers. and featured in a special programme on BBC Radio 4 Extra
- Alice Winney, won the Royal Television Society North East Student Award for News 2017 for her story about flooding in Corbridge
- Bethany Elsey, shortlisted for Royal Television Society North East Student Award for Best Documentary
- Amy Stark, won NCTJ Best Student Project 2016 for her project Weird and Wonderful Subcultures
- Luke Bidwell, highly commended NCTJ Student Sports Journalism Award 2016
- Ryan Lim, shortlisted for Best Photographer in the National Student Publication Association (SPA) Awards 2017
