Study-Unit Description

Study-Unit Description


CODE MRK5813

 
TITLE Digital Marketing Channels

 
UM LEVEL 05 - Postgraduate Modular Diploma or Degree Course

 
MQF LEVEL 7

 
ECTS CREDITS 5

 
DEPARTMENT Marketing

 
DESCRIPTION Over the last two decades, digital communication channels became essential marketing components within organisations. The emergence of digital communication presented opportunities that many organisations successfully harnessed and adapted to their specific needs. This ground is highly dynamic. Both the number of communication channels as well as the digital marketing tools are rapidly increasing. Service providing platforms are continuously adapting algorithms, operating procedures and revenue models that are shaping the digital ecosystem. This study-unit consists in a series of lectures, hands-on practice and presentations from industry practitioners that aims to empower students to use and optimise digital communication channels. Students participating in this study-unit will learn how digital communication channels evolved and function. They will also appraise the limitations and opportunities that each channel affords.

This study-unit covers the following topics:

- Online Presence;
- Social Media and SNA;
- Email Marketing;
- Mobile and Apps;
- Content Marketing;
- SEO;
- Paid SM Ads;
- Search and Display Ads;
- Influencer Marketing;
- Online Events;
- Marketing technology trends and foresight.

Study-unit Aims:

This study-unit aims to empower marketing students to make best use of digital marketing communication channels. Students need to be familiar with the leading digital channels, be able to develop and assess content, drive customer engagement over each selected communication channel, understand the terminology of each channel and identify key performance indicators to measure effectiveness. Moreover, at this level, the students are expected to go beyond simply using digital channels but must be able to identify future opportunities to build competitive advantage out of upcoming technological change.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Knowledge & Understanding:

By the end of the study-unit the students will know how to:

- Differentiate between digital channels and their application within leading industries;
- Review existing channel strategies;
- Explain key terminology and industry measures for each communication channel;
- Establish test variants;
- Compare and contrast the value of different channels.

2. Skills:

By the end of the study-unit the students will be able to:

- Identify optimum channels for different marketing scenarios;
- Develop and review content for each channel;
- Identify KPIs for each channel and compare measures with industry standards;
- Construct an optimisation strategy for existing digital communication channels;
- Experiment multi-deployment variants;
- Identify future opportunities and upcoming trends.

Main Text/s and supplementary readings:

Main Texts:

- DEMPSTER, C., (2015) The rise of the platform marketer: performance marketing with Google, Facebook and Twitter, plus the latest high-growth digital advertising platforms. Hoboken: Wiley.

Supplementary readings:

- CHARLESWORTH A., (2014) Digital marketing: a practical approach. 2nd ed. Hoboken: Taylor and Francis.
- CHAFFEY, D. and ELLIS-CHADWICK, F., (2016) Digital marketing. 6th ed. New Jersey: Pearsons.

 
STUDY-UNIT TYPE Lecture and Workshop

 
METHOD OF ASSESSMENT
Assessment Component/s Assessment Due Sept. Asst Session Weighting
Assignment SEM1 Yes 100%

 
LECTURER/S Daniela Castillo
Franco Curmi
Tanya Sammut Bonnici

 

 
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The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints.
Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice.
It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2023/4. It may be subject to change in subsequent years.

https://www.um.edu.mt/course/studyunit