by Michael Mahaffey
Effectively communicating a message to your intended audience takes strategy, social media expertise and analytic skills. OU Online’s Master of Arts in Strategic Communication and Digital Strategy is a 33-credit program that prepares graduates to create coordinated, proactive messaging campaigns for modern media channels, opening doors for career advancement at the highest level. The program can be completed in as few as 20 months.
The 100% online program, designed to meet the needs of working adults, is fast-paced, affordable and flexible. You’ll learn the research skills needed to use data analytics for campaign evaluation, leverage the power of social media to create communities, produce engaging content, successfully handle crisis communications and build media relationships in a way that best fits your busy schedule.
“I hadn’t been in school in quite some time, over 20 years, and I wanted to get information about social media marketing and the latest, up-to-date digital transformation because that’s what I do at work,” said Denezza Thomas, global digital communications release manager at FedEx Services World Headquarters Technical Center and graduate of OU’s online strategic communication program. “This program takes you through the evolution of the digital transformation and sets you up for the future, including how to get there with your customers and how to take them there with you.”
All courses are taught by industry experts and instructors from OU’s Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication. Drawing from their own experiences, instructors share informative, engaging and interactive coursework. Courses feature the most advanced curriculum, preparing students for career success. Courses range from eight to 16 weeks and feature a blend of asynchronous coursework and live online classes focusing on strategy, social media expertise and the development of analytical skills.
You’ll learn to leverage data to direct the strategy behind communication and leverage media channels in a variety of ways, from crisis and cross-cultural communication to planning digital communications and brand strategy. You’ll also learn to craft messaging to reach external audiences where they are and how to transmit those same messages internally, so that every aspect of an organization knows how to play its part in achieving overall organizational objectives.
The program provides students with a solid foundation to ask good questions and to translate what they learn from their data into meaningful communications strategies and tactics, said Michael Bagalman, who teaches marketing and media analytics in the program.
“Very few organizations these days run on gut instinct, but very few people running them have a real grasp of strategy,” said Bagalman, who also serves as vice president of business intelligence and data science for the Starz networks. “This program provides a solid foundation for leadership, for being able to lead a team and assume a leadership role in your department, your company or whatever area you’re at.”
In addition to learning from and interacting with their instructors, students in the program also learn from fellow students, whose differing professional backgrounds and viewpoints broaden their understanding of each topic.
“A CEO could benefit from this program,” Thomas said. “You’re doing strategy, marketing, social media, channel management, crisis communication, research, media analytics. You’re justifying budgets. It covers everything a CEO should know about running a business, not just a marketer.”
The fact that the program explores communication from various viewpoints creates a well-rounded experience, said program graduate Jason Nabb.
“There’s a leadership component, a psychology component, a digital behavior component,” he said. “I’ve spent my career in production largely – commercial photography and advertising, film and video production – so I knew the production side of things. I felt like if I wanted to lead a team, I needed to learn more to complement that.
“Every course and every teacher in this program allowed me to take my current situation and apply it to what we were learning in the moment. I got to meet one-on-one outside of class with all of my professors, many of them on more than one occasion, and I was really thankful for their personable approach and desire to see me succeed.”
To learn more about the online master’s degree in strategic communication and digital strategy, visit our website.
