GRA 6443 Topics in Digital Marketing
GRA 6443 Topics in Digital Marketing
Rapid developments in digital technology and available data have transformed how companies and organizations communicate with their audiences. Digital marketing activities are nowadays established in the daily routines of marketers in addition to traditional marketing techniques to achieve a wider reach and closer connection to the audiences of interest. Companies interact with audiences in new ways, develop new products and services, and expand into new markets leveraging digital technologies and vast amounts of data. Consumers now regularly interact with each other and with brands on social media and through mobile devices sharing information about products and brands. This has changed how they approach and interact with products, services, and brands and the way they search for information. In addition, younger generations of consumers are hard to reach through traditional marketing channels. At the same time marketers are struggling to coordinate their digital marketing activities, to build a unified (digital) marketing strategy, and to evaluate the effectiveness of their digital marketing activities.
This course addresses some of the challenges and focuses on the larger strategic decisions that marketers face today in digital marketing, utilizing academic insights to support decision-making. It provides an overview of the digital customer journey, digital marketing activities, and the assessment of their effectiveness, and how to strategically align them. In addition, it covers selected aspects of how digital technology, artificial intelligence, and the availability of big data impact the digital customer journey and customer behavior, as well as reflections on potential problems and ethical considerations of digital marketing practices (e.g., consumer privacy, algorithmic bias, etc.).
On completion of the course, students should:
- Gain an overview of the digital customer journey and relevant (digital) touchpoints.
- Acquire knowledge on current practices, challenges, and opportunities in digital marketing.
- Understand important metrics and methods as well as typical challenges when measuring digital marketing effectiveness and campaign success.
- Know how marketers can utilize online social media within their digital marketing strategy.
Upon completion of this course, students should be able to:
- Communicate and critically evaluate scientific insights in the field of digital marketing.
- Critically assess digital marketing activities from the perspective of a marketer, consumer, and from an ethical perspective.
- Make informed decisions about digital marketing activities by analysing relevant data and metrics.
- Reflect upon potential problems and ethical considerations of digital marketing practices (e.g., consumer privacy, algorithmic bias, and data integrity).
Upon completion of this course, students will learn to:
- Assess alternative solutions and derive strategic implications.
- Develop a mindset for data-driven digital marketing assessment.
- Apply relevant scientific research in the field of digital marketing to improve marketing decision-making.
- Critically evaluate own work and the work by others.
Digital marketing is a fast-developing field in marketing. This course will cover some selected topics in digital marketing but is not intended to give a complete introduction to all digital marketing activities. The topics will center around the following five aspects. The more specific sub-topics are exemplary and can be subject to change.
- Digital customer journey
- Important touchpoints and customer journey models
- Current trends that are shaping/changing digital customer behavior (e.g., the role of AI in digital marketing)
- Overview of digital advertising activities
- Forms of digital advertising: display ads, video ads, search engine advertising, programmatic advertising, native advertising, etc.
- Targeting and personalization
- Measuring the effectiveness of digital advertising
- Important metrics to evaluate digital advertising
- Attribution, AB field testing, selection bias, etc.
- Social media marketing
- Strategic roles of social media marketing
- Social media engagement and outcomes
- Social listening
- Influencer marketing
- Ethical reflections around digital marketing
- Data privacy, targeting/personalization, algorithmic bias, filter bubble, etc.
In addition, we may take deep dives into more specialized and state-of-the art fields of digital marketing research.
This course is designed using a variation of learning activities that support students in reaching the learning outcomes stated for this course. Through a combination of lectures, in-class discussions, group collaboration, feedback, and asynchronous activities students have the opportunity to work with the subject matter and are expected to utilize all learning activities. Our synchronous sessions will be organized around becoming familiar with selected topics illustrated by state-of-the-art empirical marketing research, theoretical concepts, and practical business problems in digital marketing. Students are expected to participate and contribute to an active classroom environment by discussing, asking questions, and reflecting on the subject material and activities.
Please note that while attendance is not compulsory in all courses, it is the student’s own responsibility to obtain any information provided in class.
All parts of the assessment must be passed in order to get a grade in the course.
All courses in the Masters programme will assume that students have fulfilled the admission requirements for the programme. In addition, courses in second, third and/or fourth semester can have specific prerequisites and will assume that students have followed normal study progression. For double degree and exchange students, please note that equivalent courses are accepted.
Disclaimer
Deviations in teaching and exams may occur if external conditions or unforeseen events call for this.
| Assessments |
|---|
Exam category: School Exam Form of assessment: Structured Test Exam/hand-in semester: First Semester Weight: 60 Grouping: Individual Support materials:
Duration: 3 Hour(s) Comment: Written examination under supervision. Exam code: GRA 64432 Grading scale: ECTS Resit: Examination when next scheduled course |
Exam category: Submission Form of assessment: Portfolio Assessment PDF Exam/hand-in semester: First Semester Weight: 40 Grouping: Group (3 - 4) Duration: 1 Semester(s) Comment: This exam is organized as a portfolio assessment where students are given several smaller assignments during the course. They will get feedback along the way. Exam code: GRA 64433 Grading scale: ECTS Resit: Examination when next scheduled course |
All exams must be passed to get a grade in this course.
| Activity | Duration | Comment |
|---|---|---|
Teaching | 36 Hour(s) | Some class hours may be asynchronous activities |
Prepare for teaching | 36 Hour(s) | |
Group work / Assignments | 45 Hour(s) | |
Student's own work with learning resources | 40 Hour(s) | |
Examination | 3 Hour(s) |
A course of 1 ECTS credit corresponds to a workload of 26-30 hours. Therefore a course of 6 ECTS credits corresponds to a workload of at least 160 hours.