Social Media Management

Managing an organization’s social media means making continuous strategic decisions: who to reach, with what content, on which platform, with what resources, and how to measure whether it worked. It requires method, not just creativity. This course provides that method. Starting with core principles that remain valid even as platforms evolve, students will progressively build a complete social media plan for a real company assigned by the instructor.

The course is organized into five thematic blocks.

• The foundations: how the social media ecosystem works, how users behave, how algorithms operate, and how networks of influence are structured. Understanding these dynamics is the prerequisite for any strategic decision.
• Strategy and planning: how to move from a brief to an operational plan, how to set measurable objectives, how to select the right mix of paid, owned, and earned media, and how to build a coherent content calendar.
• Content and formats: from community management to social publishing, from video to emerging formats, through to social commerce. It also addresses the implications of artificial intelligence in content production and distribution.
• Data and measurement: social listening, analytics, A/B testing, and the difference between vanity metrics and indicators that actually inform decisions. Students will learn to read data and translate it into concrete recommendations.
• Critical and professional dimensions of social media management: ethics, crisis communication, online incivility, and how to present a plan to a client or internal stakeholders.

At the core of the course is a semester-long group project. Each group is assigned a real company and tasked with developing a complete social media plan. The plan is built incrementally throughout the semester, integrating what is learned in each module. 

By the end of the course, students will be able to:

• Analyze an organization’s social media landscape and identify opportunities and risks
• Build a structured, goal-oriented social media plan
• Select platforms, formats, and approaches based on audience and available resources
• Read social data and translate it into strategic decisions
• Critically evaluate campaigns and strategies, identifying why some succeed and others fail

In presence

Lectures provide the theoretical and methodological framework. The real work happens in applied sessions, where groups advance their plans with instructor support. Attendance is compulsory at 70% (group work is done in the classroom).

The final course evaluation will consist of: 

• Group project (50%)*
• Written exam (50%)

*The group project grade is only awarded to students who attend at least 70% of classes. Attendance will be recorded at every session.