Introduction
Social Media Marketing is a dynamic and practice-oriented course that introduces students to the principles, strategies, and tools used to promote brands, products, services, and organizations through digital and social media platforms. The course explores the marketing potential of major platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube, while emphasizing audience engagement, content strategy, digital branding, and online community management. Students will gain practical experience in creating platform-specific content, utilizing AI-powered tools for content development, planning and managing paid advertising campaigns through Meta Ads Manager and Google Ads, and analyzing campaign performance using industry-standard analytics tools. Through hands-on projects, case studies, and real-world campaign development, the course equips students with the knowledge and professional skills required to design, implement, monitor, and evaluate effective social media marketing strategies in today's rapidly evolving digital environment.
Unique Selling Propositions
Objectives and Learning Outcomes
This course aims to provide students with a comprehensive understanding of social media marketing principles, strategies, and contemporary digital communication practices. It equips students with the knowledge and practical skills required to develop effective content strategies, create engaging platform-specific content, and utilize AI-powered tools for digital marketing. The course also enables students to plan, implement, and manage social media advertising campaigns using platforms such as Meta Ads Manager and Google Ads. Furthermore, students will learn to identify and target appropriate audiences, monitor campaign performance through analytics and key performance indicators (KPIs), and make data-driven marketing decisions. By the end of the course, students will be capable of designing, executing, and evaluating integrated social media marketing campaigns that address real-world business and organizational objectives.
Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to explain the fundamental concepts, principles, and significance of social media marketing in the digital communication landscape. They will analyze the features of major social media platforms, audience behavior, and emerging digital marketing trends to develop effective marketing strategies. Students will create compelling, platform-specific marketing content by applying storytelling techniques and AI-powered content creation tools. They will also be able to design and execute paid social media advertising campaigns using Meta Ads Manager and Google Ads while applying appropriate audience targeting, budgeting, and campaign optimization strategies. Finally, students will evaluate the effectiveness of social media marketing campaigns using analytics, performance metrics, and key performance indicators to recommend data-driven improvements and enhance overall marketing performance.
Key Topics / Related Concepts
Activities and Learning Strategies
Students will engage in interactive lectures, case study discussions, and hands-on workshops to develop a comprehensive understanding of social media marketing. Learning activities will begin with an exploration of major social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, X (Twitter), TikTok, and YouTube, focusing on their marketing potential, audience demographics, content formats, and business applications. Students will analyze the dynamic social media ecosystem, platform algorithms, user-generated content (UGC), influencer marketing, monetization strategies, audience growth techniques, and the identification of influential customers using social listening and analytics tools.
Practical sessions will introduce students to AI-powered marketing technologies, including ChatGPT, Canva AI, Adobe Express, Grammarly, Buffer, Hootsuite, and other generative AI tools to create, optimize, and schedule digital marketing content. Students will produce platform-specific content such as text posts, images, infographics, stories, reels, short-form videos, blogs, and vlogs while applying storytelling techniques, branding principles, and audience engagement strategies. Workshops will focus on writing compelling captions, developing persuasive calls-to-action (CTAs), creating visual identities, and producing professional marketing videos using contemporary AI-assisted design and editing tools.
Students will design integrated content calendars and marketing plans using scheduling and project management applications such as Buffer, Hootsuite, Trello, Notion, and Meta Business Suite. Classroom activities will emphasize content planning, publishing strategies, audience engagement, community management, chatbot integration, and customer relationship management through AI-powered communication tools.
The advertising component of the course will provide hands-on experience in creating and managing paid social media campaigns using Meta Ads Manager and Google Ads. Students will develop advertising campaigns by defining campaign objectives, selecting target audiences, creating advertising creatives, allocating budgets, selecting bidding strategies, and optimizing advertisements for different social media platforms. Practical exercises will include campaign setup, audience segmentation, A/B testing, Meta Pixel implementation, responsive Google Ads development, display advertising, and conversion optimization.
Students will further develop analytical competencies by monitoring campaign performance using Google Analytics, Meta Insights, Hootsuite Analytics, and other social media analytics platforms. They will evaluate campaign effectiveness using key performance indicators (KPIs) such as reach, impressions, engagement rate, click-through rate (CTR), conversion rate, cost per click (CPC), return on advertising spend (ROAS), and customer acquisition metrics. Students will interpret analytical reports and make data-driven recommendations to improve campaign performance and marketing outcomes.
To strengthen industry readiness, the course incorporates performance marketing concepts, digital branding strategies, influencer marketing practices, and emerging trends in AI-driven social media marketing. Students will critically evaluate successful local and international social media campaigns through case studies and group discussions, enabling them to connect theoretical concepts with professional marketing practices.
The course culminates in a three-stage Social Media Marketing Project. In Project I, students will conduct market research, analyze target audiences, perform competitor analysis, and develop a comprehensive social media marketing strategy. In Project II, students will create platform-specific content, design paid advertising campaigns, develop content calendars, and publish marketing campaigns using appropriate digital tools. In Project III, students will monitor campaign performance, analyze marketing analytics, evaluate campaign effectiveness, prepare a professional marketing report, and present strategic recommendations based on campaign outcomes. This capstone project enables students to integrate strategic planning, creative content development, digital advertising, analytics, and performance marketing into a comprehensive social media marketing campaign aligned with industry standards.
Ms. Iqra Saeed is a lecturer of School of Media and Communication Studies, University of Management and Technology (UMT), Lahore Pakistan. She did MS in Communication Studies, with Research specialization from University of Punjab and she is PhD Scholar. Her role revolves around teaching, supervising master and MS Thesis, batch advising and research publication. Previously, she is associated with Journal of Applied Research and Multidisciplinary Studies (JARMS) as associate editor. She has a vast teaching experience of more than six years in the field of Media, project management and digital marketing. Her role revolves around teaching, supervising Masters/MS projects and theses, batch advising, and research publication.
